My Bead Soup Creation!

This has been quite an adventure for me!  Thanks first to Lori Anderson for hosting this tremendous project.  It's been a lot of fun to participate!  Next I'd like to thank my partner Jane Haag.  She is a very sweet and kind person that I'm so happy to have met...long distantly.  I've enjoyed working with her little works of art so very much.   

Now, I thought I'd start out by showing a couple of teasers so you could get just a taste of what I'm serving up.

Everyone should know by now that I'm not really a jewelry maker.  I made most of the lampwork beads in the necklace and bracelet for this Bead Soup project.  I chose some of my favorites to compliment what my partner sent me.

Hungary Yet?

Double Helix is a silvered glass which when exposed to a reduction flame brings out all different kinds of shimmer.  The main bead in the middle of the top picture is made with two different types of DH glass. The side with Psyche is where you see the green, purple and pink luster.  Triton is the other side with the rich purple luster.  The pinkish beads are made of Aurae, another DH glass that really is sort of unpredictable, sometimes gold, sometimes pink and sometimes a soft magenta!

My partner Jane Haag, sent me the most beautiful silver hammered pieces that she made herself.  I really love how Lori Anderson paired us up, with both of us being artists that create the components of jewelry.

I love what Jane sent me too, and when I saw all the ingredients I pretty much knew what I wanted to do.

If you read one of my blog posts a while back, you know what I mean by "Who am I making this for?"  The answer is, I made it for me.

I've always loved necklaces that have different tiers of strands with kind of a whimsical, random look.  I also like necklaces where you see the exposed silver wire that space out the beads or charms.  So that was my plan.

Looks Good Enough To Eat!

It was a no-brainer that I was going to use the sterling silver flower as the focal (she sent an alternate which I used in the bracelet).  That was the main piece of the bottom tier.  The silver hammered rings were stunning, but she only sent me three!  The challenge there was how was I going to make this work....remember I'm no jewelry designer.  I played around with different ideas and came up with the idea of wire wrapping one of my beads to link two together.  So that was the focal of the next tier.  Finally, on the last tier I used that last ring to attach the sweet little charms together.  Joy, calm, and bliss.....well, not yet.

I could write a book about the struggles I went thru putting it all together, but I know you have other blogs to hop.  Let's just say that I felt that joy, calm and bliss after about 3 weeks working on it...on and off.  I had to get away from it at times to collect my thoughts and think how to solve the many problems I encountered during the construction.

Triple Layer Bracelet with Kazuri Focal Bead

By the time I was finished with the necklace, I was totally exhausted so I got some of that memory wire and started using up what was left of the beads that Jane sent me. 

This is How We Hang!

Since it was necessary for me to show how the necklace would hang around someone's neck. The only person around I could use as a model was my husband, so that was out.  I could have modeled it myself, but naaahh. Please excuse the less than perfect photography.

It worked out fine with the necklace display piece, even though it was dirty.  I covered it with a pretty piece of fabric.  In order to get it to hang right, I had to wrap the back of the necklace around the front, which shows off the lovely clasp that Jane made.

Sorry to have kept you so long.  I did go back and do some editing....really!

Happy Hopping!

Who Are You Making This For?

Yesterday my husband and I went to an opening reception for local artist Nancy Brittelle.  Her work is on display in Blowing Rock at Arts and Artifacts on Sunset.  


The announcement for the reception was in the one of our local newspapers, and the description of her work made me very curious so we went!  When I entered the room where her work was displayed, it took my breath away!  It was one of those moments when you see something beautiful and say to yourself, why didn't I think of that?

 Nancy incorporates things that all of us throw away when ever we receive something in the mail!  Boxes, packing materials like Styrofoam, egg cartons, and "peanuts."  She arranges them into patterns, adheres them to a surface and then paints them with a combination of metallic paints like silver, copper, and bronze.  Who would have ever thought that such materials that everyone throws away (or recycles in the usual way) could be assembled to create such beautiful pieces of art?  Not me, but I wish I had!

 As my husband and I stood there, practically with our mouths open, Nancy approached us to thank us for coming.  We didn't know her, but I feel like we made a friend.  She was so warm and delightful!  My husband BK used to run a gallery here in Boone many years ago and is familiar with many of the now famous local artists around here.  So he told her why and how he was so impressed with her work (does that make sense?).  Her response seemed genuinely delighted that he would express such interest in her.  She was very open to answering our questions and was very articulate in her descriptions.  Bottom line, she fascinated us!

As did her work.  I couldn't find pictures of my favorite pieces so I must describe the amazing imagery and intricacy of some of the pieces at the show.  My favorite piece was a large one that hung vertically and was divided into horizontal spaces of repetitious forms. These forms were wine bottles!  We used to have wine shipped to us and I thought, what a shame to throw these Styrofoam forms away....certainly we could use them for something!  She created a line of patterns using the positive side of the shape, then in another line she used the negative side of the shape!  She also used other pieces of Styrofoam to repeat smaller patterns to frame and divide up the larger sections.  I wish I could describe it better, but it was almost spiritual (pardon the pun!) to behold it.


Another piece that held me spell bound was a smaller one with intricate spaces.  It compelled me to get closer to see the details.  In this piece she used strips of the very thick (but not dense) cardboard to create patterns of spaces.  This was the kind of cardboard that is two horizontal sheets divided by many many lighter vertical sheets.  The impression was of little secret spaces all different and all magical little doors of curiosity.  I wish you could see it!

Something she said about her jump, moving  from realistic 2D work to 3D nonobjective work left me thinking.  


She was extremely well known for her drawings and paintings of old places "still standing" around the countryside of Watauga County.  Her work in this genre sold extremely well and people were dying for her to do more and more.  She recently went to Italy and took tons of pictures with the intention of coming home to continue in the same vein of successful, sales worthy work.  However, when she started trying to churn it out, she hit a wall and just didn't feel the same energy to create it.  


She asked herself, "Who am I making this for?"  A light bulb came on and she realized that painting for someone else wasn't what made her happy.  She needed to do art for HERSELF!  That's when the light bulb came on for me!

I churn out beads all the time with the pure intention of making some money.  Well yeah, I gotta pay for my glass and gas somehow, but is it making me happy?  More than often, I find myself veering away from "the plan," and I just play with my molten, colorful, reactive glass.  It's not always about success, even fails can be fun.  That's when I'm making beads for me.  


As artists, that's the best thing we can do for ourselves, is just create to please YOU.  The more you do it, the more likely it will be that you end up doing something that pleases others in ways that exceed your own expectations.  How awesome that must feel!

So I leave you now to explore the links above to the story of Nancys' work on her website, and in the news paper stories about her.  There you can get a feel for the warm, lovely and talented lady she is, plus see more of her work.

Enjoy!