Bead Arts

So, I’ve managed to end the year still on schedule! I spent the month of December thinking about how the word beaver makes me giggle in a very juvenile way, and realizing that I really didn’t want to do an actual portrait of a beaver on my beaded page for November’s Beaver Moon.

What to do, what to do? A friend had shown me how to do simple needle felting, and I ended up using that technique to create a log that had been “gnawed off” by a beaver. It was fun to try something completely new. I used an off-white pipe cleaner for the armature of the log, and letting the ends stick out does look somewhat like chewed off wood. Ok, that’s a stretch, but I’m happy with it!

You can find links to more of the Bead Journal Project’s participants on Robin Atkin’s blog.

You can also click on “Bead Journal Project” under “categories” in the right-hand sidebar (of my blog, that is!) to see the past five months’ beaded journal pages. Here’s a link for last month’s page.

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Keeping my eye on you

This is just the beginning of Rebecca Brown’s amazing work!

You can pick up inexpensive seed beads, or even the micro “beads” that don’t have holes, at any craft store. Don’t use expensive beads for this project…the idea is for the frame to be encrusted. Mix several colors together to get a wonderful impressionistic look. Not only is this project really fast, but it will make the gift of a framed picture into something really special for your giftee! Another great project from DIY Network!

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Here is an extremely clever idea to dress up a photo that you might want to give as a gift! Instead of a frame, this holder can be used to swap out pictures quickly and easily. You could make up a bunch of these really quickly too! Great gift idea, thanks to Ben Franklin Crafts! Even though they’re suggesting it for Mother’s or Father’s Day, I think it’s a great idea for any holiday.

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Thank you to Tammy Powley over at About.com’s Jewelry Making site! Tammy has compiled links to 8 different beginner projects, at least 5 of which would be fun for Christmas and other winter holidays. One of the projects is a simple ornament cover…once you try one of these and see how they work, the more complicated ones will not seem quite so daunting!

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HobbyCraft has directions for a beautifully simple beaded ornament that you can make for your own tree or to give as a gift.

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This is beautiful! Just think of all the ways you could dress up a basket using this method. Note that the trim is the pre-beaded variety, so it won’t take as long to make this as you might think!

You’ll find the list of materials and instructions for this gift idea at PattieWack.com

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This card is so simple, but so cute! I’m sure you could make it a bit more elaborate if you wanted to, but I really like the simplicity of this design. Combine your card-making and your beading manias together…what could be better? Thanks to HobbyCraft for this idea!

beads, beading, card-making, paper-arts, tutorial

This tree looks a bit like the old German feather trees that you see occasionally in antique shops! Don’t wait until the last minute to make this one, because it’s going to take a bit of effort and time to wire all the parts together. Is is worth it? I think so

Donna Dickt came up with this beautiful heirloom project. Thanks Donna!

beads, beading, wired-beading, tutorials, mixed-media

Hunter’s Moon

Even more warm browns and golds! I spent the month of November reflecting on the month that had just passed and creating Hunter’s Moon. There isn’t really any hunting symbolism that really appealed to me to bead, so I decided upon the pawprints following a trail…or are they creating one?

You can find links to more of the Bead Journal Project’s participants on Robin Atkin’s blog.

You can also click on “Bead Journal Project” under “categories” in the right-hand sidebar (of my blog, that is!) to see the past four months’ beaded journal pages. Here’s a link to last month’s page.

bead-embroidery, beads, beading, bead-journal-project, mixed-media

Mexico Connect has put together a beautiful website filled with artwork by the Huichol of Mexico. There are links to articles on the culture and symbolism, as well as many fine images of artwork, much of it the beaded style that most of us immediately think of. This site is a treat!

Eclipse

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Harvest Moon

At last! The warm browns and golds that I love so much! I spent the month of October reflecting on the month that had just passed and creating Harvest Moon. I think I’m going to have a very hard time with the moon for October, which I’ll start the first week or so of November. It will be the Hunter’s Moon. It’s not that I have anything against hunting, having grown up in a school district that took the first day of deer season off without any sense of irony. It’s just that there isn’t really any hunting symbolism that really appeals to me to bead. Oh well, hopefully I’ll think of something, or else I’ll just make it an abstract.

You can find links to more of the Bead Journal Project’s participants on Robin Atkin’s blog.

You can also click on “Bead Journal Project” under “categories” in the right-hand sidebar (of my blog, that is!) to see the past three months’ beaded journal pages.

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And the winner is…Grace Danel! Grace is one of the participants in the Bead Journal Project, and we are so proud of her! Her 6 x 4 inch piece is called Justine.

Margie writes about the piece:
“Grace Danel’s bead embroidered piece uses a very muted, amethyst purple with bright yellow, and creates one of the most usual, and successful combinations. She very consciously limited yellow to a few distinct focal points. Her piece won by slim margin because of how successfully she used a wide variety of purple, violets, and lavendars with yellow. She combined an amazing array of tones and tints in exquisite balance.”

You can see all the other winner’s at Margie’s website. I think many of the pieces are amazing, but I have to be honest that I’m somewhat biased towards Grace’s since we’re both involved in the Bead Journal Project.

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Sturgeon Moon

Once more, I spent this month working on the moon for last month! It’s not that I’m behind…I decided in the beginning to work on the month that has just passed, hoping to gather more inspiration while I’m experiencing it! You can find links to more of the Bead Journal Project’s participants on Robin Atkin’s blog.

You can also click on “Bead Journal Project” under “categories” in the right-hand sidebar (of my blog, that is!) to see the past three months’ beaded journal pages.

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Artist: Karen Paust
Business name: Take me to your Beader
Location: Wellsville Pennsylvania

Website:
Karen Paust

Karen, how do you describe your work?
I create botanical jewelry and sculpture.

What is your creative process like?
I usually am inspired by something very complicated, something that challenges me. I do a lot of sketches and watercolors as studies for pieces. I collect material, dead insects even pull moths and butterflies off the grill of the car to use as samples. I would never kill an insect, so my bug collection is a little rough. I used to bead all the time, (sometimes 8-12 hours a day, sometimes 5 or 6 or 7 days a week), now I try to balance my life with other things I love to do.

What kind of training did you have which helped you achieve your current level of artistry?
I am completely self taught as a beader, but I did study painting, and also botany before I went to art school. I have always been trying to merge my love of nature and art together. I have been creating with my hands most of my life. I have crocheted and sewed at a very early age, and knitted soon after. The beauty of beading is that it reflects how the world is made up of little pieces of energy. Then in addition the light interacts so spectacularly with glass beads.

Is there a tool or material that you can’t imagine living without?
My eyes, I am such a color junky, it would be very hard for me to not be able to see the endless combinations of colors.

What inspires you to create?
I can be inspired by dreams, day dreams, I’m always waiting for the next vision to flood my life. In between those I usually am inspired by nature. I am constantly amazed by the color combinations and shape of very common creatures. Many people have asked me to bead orchids, just look at a thistle that grows along the railroad tracks, it is every bit as beautiful as an orchid. I like putting a spotlight on the ordinary.

What inspires you to keep going when the work gets frustrating or tough?
I have a strong ability to finish projects, although I have some unfinished knitting projects sitting around. If I don’t like the direction the piece is going, I usually start over or try to figure out why the momentum is waning.

What is your best piece of advice for those who would like to rise in their level of artistry?
Experiment as much as possible, figure out what you are passionate about.

What takes up the majority of your time besides your art?
Wild mushroom hunting, camping, canoeing. I also make my own knitting needles, I recyle chopsticks and turn those into needles and I make circular needles from tubing, bullets and wood. I put beads inside the tubing, and my label is Fearlessknitting. If I need a button I make it from a piece of wood. I knitted a shoulder bag with different colored mountains and a blue sky and clouds so I carved a bird button to go on the bag as its closure.

What’s your favorite comfort food and other favorite things?
Pesto, I could eat it every day, I make big patches of it and freeze it for the winter, not in little ice-cube trays, in good size containers. I also invent new recipes, we grow these little tart oranges so I have been putting them in the pesto, best pesto ever. I also love watermellon.

My current favorite color is carmen. I’m not sure if that’s the right name, it is orange and pink mixed together, with some salmon.

There are so many good books, one I really enjoyed was Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem.

Other artists who work with seedbeads:
Tina Koyama
Diana Neamtu
Melissa Earley

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