Galaxy cuff work in progress.

I hope to finish the beaded part of this cuff today.  Photographing this piece is hard work, for the beads are metallic lined under clear glass, so there are many colors in them.  I am totally addicted to bead embroidery all of a sudden, and this is a good thing.  It has been many years since I felt passionate about a beading project to the point I don't want to stop to do anything else.  Alas, today is fluff my Standard Poodle day but I can also use the trip to stop at the fabric store for ultrasuede for lining the cuffs. 

This Galaxy is 2 1/4 inches wide by 6 1/2 inches long which is the measurement of the cuff.  I need to bead to the edges of the ink drawn lines yet.

Vintage rhinestone comets and shooting stars, freshwater pearl planets and a mirrored moon.

Cute little Swarovski pearl spaceship

Mirrored moon, enameled copper planet, vintage rhinestones, freshwater pearls and lots of beads!

Just plain fun.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!  My beads are calling...

Stephanie

Missing in action, sort of..

For someone who wanted to start coming here more often with updates, I sure haven't been doing a great job lately.  I have been busy beading, so obsessed with my current projects that I dedicate every daylight hour, and then some. 

Stopping to come to the computer & type is not going to happen when feverish beading is taking place.  I don't even want to stop to cook or eat.  I get enough interruptions over dog care to break up my day and Helga is learning to cool her jet's or paws, so to speak.  I have taken this opportunity to teach her long down.  A long down, for those of you that don't know dog speak, is when you put your dog in a down position, and use a hand or verbal command and teach her to stay put until you say it is OK to move.  In beginners dog class, if we should choose to go this Spring, Helga will have her long down exercise down pat.  The class long down is 3 minutes, but Helga will have learned to lay for an hour or more by the time she is in school.  Grant it, Helga is practicing her long down on a comfy couch with a squeaky or bone, but she is learning to stay put where I tell her to stay, and she is learning it well.  Go Helga.  Paris has learned this practice from an early age, and I swear I could put her on her grooming table and leave home and come back and she will be right there, where I told her to stay.  I like to take my girls places, so they need to have manners.

It is getting light enough at 7:30am to begin my beading day, so I will soon be at it, hopefully finishing the embroidery on the two current beaded cuffs I am working on, and maybe even start a third one.  I did say I was obsessed with this fun new to me adventure, didn't  I?

Here is a sample of the fist one.  Notice it is not finished, nor is it mounted on the brass cuff foundation.

 

The other one I am working on, I have no pictures but it is a galaxy theme, and has shooting starts, and planets and spaceships.  This is totally addictive and fun and I am having a great time learning this process.

On that note, off I go to beadland, have a great day & thanks for stopping by!  I will leave you with dancing dogs..

Stephanie

Sun Panda's

Over a period of two weeks, I spent many hours in my shop next to the woodstove hovering over my torch and melting glass, to make the 22 lampwork beads.  I spent many more hours weaving the six beaded spiral side focal beads but I had a vision.   I started out wanting a pink coral accent for this necklace, but when it came time to make a focal bead, I switched to light sky blue instead.   Incorporating everything I wanted to have in this necklace was a bit of a challenge, as I had this entire specific design in mind and getting it all in one piece without having it end up too long was my goal.  The necklace is 22 1/2 inches long, so it will fit most anyone.

Sun Panda's

Panda lampwork glass focal bead with dragonfly tail beaded bail

Panda lampwork glass beads and shimmering woven beaded spiral beads.

Vintage button and lampwork glass bead closure

Well, that was fun and all but I am so ready to work on something else!  It is supposed to be bitter cold this week so I plan on hunkering down and doing some seed bead weaving and save going out to the shop for days when it's a tad warmer and I won't have to use so much wood.

Have a day, make it great, and thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie

Pandamonium & Golden Spirals

I spent Satrurday hanging out in my shop with my torch and the dogs and became obsessed with panda's.  It was a very fun day, and the first ever panda's turned out pretty cute, though I imagine the next panda beads will be even cuter.  The first of anything is never the best, but a necessary process to get where I'm going. 

What will I do with the panda's?  I am going to make a fun necklace with them!  Yesterday I made four beaded spiral beads to use in the necklace and either today or tomorrow I'll have another go at the bear beads in my shop.  I'd run out there right now and make a fire but first I have to figure which day this week is best to give Paris a long over due groom. 

Here are the first cute panda beads.

I have a new favorite color combination for beaded beads as of yesterday.  These spirals shimmer as if sun is bathing them in warmth.  I likely will not use this panda bead, but you get the idea..

 Beautiful sun shiney golden spirals

Larger spiral beaded bead

I have a feeling I will be making a long spiral in this color, as I have some vintage crystals that are begging to become a necklace with this color scheme.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie

Tropical Fantasy & Tropical Wisconsin

I live in tropical Wisconsin.  It is something I have said in a joking way since I moved to this state a decade and a half ago from northern Minnesota.  I was driven to move here after a particularly harsh Winter, when for one week in January it never got warmer than -20° F below zero. Two of those days it was -40° &  -53° below, and I am not talking windchill.  With windchill factored in, in was in the -80°'s.  We do silly things when it gets that cold and our cars won't start and we want to go somewhere, like put a pan of heated coals under the car under the oil pan to heat the thickened oil, so that the engine might turn over.  I do NOT recommend this practice though, as my van caught fire one -53 below morning when I did this.  I was living in my log cabin on a lake and it was windy, so the icy cold winds blowing from the lake propelled those coals into a nice flame.  I was watching out my window while waiitng for the car oil to warm, so when I witnessed the sudden burst of flames I quickly bolted out the door and shoveled snow like mad to put them out.  The car only sustained minimal grill and bumper melting damage but woe was me later that day when I could finally bring myself to make that call to my insurance man.  He only laughed, and has heard this dozens of times.  I will never do it a gain, that is certain.  In hindsight, who the hell would want to go anywhere when it is -53°?  I obviously did at the time!  Later that year I moved to Wisconsin, for it is consistentely 20 degrees warmer where I am now in Winter than it is where I lived in northern Minnesota.   There is the exception once or twice a year but the coldest I have seen it here is -33° F so the 20 degrees difference rule still applies.

It has been almost tropical in northen Wisconsin & the rest of the lower 48 states this Winter compared to normal.  We have  been 15 to 20 degrees above normal a large percentage of the time.  Yesterday it was 47 degrees in the afternoon here, and after dark the temps kept going up.  I'd say that just does not happen, but it did.   I do not like it.  I want snow, and lots of it.   Snow is why I live where I do, we usually have several feet on the ground by now.  Todays heat wave left us with but an inch. 

Oh well, what can you do but bead?  So bead I did, and made this fun little tropical fantasy necklace.  The beaded focal stone and glass coral pieces are pretty fun if I do say so myself.

Tropical Fantasy

Beaded focal gemstone with transparant dagger embellishment

Handmade glass coral

matte finish bead strand & acrylic disc trade beads

I am off to make a fire in the shop pretty soon.  I might as well take advantage of this nice weather where I will use much less wood to heat the shop, so the dogs and I are headed out there for the day.

What ever you do today, make it a good one.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie

Tomorrow, Happy New Year, & Amethyst Spiral Necklace

Free beer tomorrow.  That was the sign in Toivo's country bar & restaurant in northern Minnesota where we would stop for a burger and beer once in while when hauling hay for the horses.   It was a fun sign and Toivo would giggle every time anyone pointed it out.  Sure enough, you would come back tomorrow and the sign would say "free beer tomorrow", all over again.

I was reminded of the sign this morning when I remembered way back last year on New Years Eve that I said I would be back with a new necklace "tomorrow".   Five days later, here I am.   Part of the reason I forget to post is raising a Doberkid pup is big work.  I usually write my posts in the mornings, and a Dobergirl in training is very active after a long restful night snuggled up in the nice warm bed.   When Helga takes a break it is much later in the day and by then I am full steam ahead into whatever project I start, and posting goes by the wayside.  This week it has been new year cleaning.  Out with the tree and away with the decorations for most of this year and I am finally almost finished organizing after a year and some of having my parents belongings come by the truck & trailer & car load.  I can't even begin to say what a relief it will be to finally have it all put away.   Any of you who are regularly subjected to a dog nose or complete head bumping your arm every two minutes while you attempt to type, can understand my other plight.

Alas, I have found time to do a little beading as well, though I have not been out to the shop to melt glass yet this year.  I will get out there soon, but getting organized is higher on my list of priorities. 

This fun spiral is made with Charlottes which are very beautiful.  The beads are cut on one side, which makes them shimmer and sparkle.  Here is a site where you can read about these beautiful beads if you would like: http://www.wildthingsbeads.com/article-ccsb.html

Without further adu, here is the fun organic spiral necklace...

Organic Amethyst Spiral Necklace

beautiful charlotte spiral

Stunning Grade A Amethyst faceted rounds..

Stunning crystal accents

 

This necklace is listed on my website, where I am now headed to list the second new necklace of the year.  Here is the link to this necklace!   http://beadedheron.kjwebdesign.com/view.php?View=172

Have a wonderful day & thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie

Years End, goodbye 2011 & Memorial Jewelry

I cannot say I will be sad to see it go.  The last two years have been hideous, for the lack of a better word, and though changing a single number on the calender year probably won't change things over night, it will aid in putting some distance between the present and the past.  Losing family members one after another in a short span of time to say the least, makes for a trying holiday season. 

I had a pretty busy December, making a couple of bigger cremains pieces and smaller items to list on my website.  The lack of snowfall definitely affects my creativity, for I feel like I come alive when the harsh elements come calling even if it is only due to the strenuous activity associated with snow removal and the like.    The lack of significant snowfall has been very uninspiring, though I must say I have likely accrued much less heat and utilities costs compared to Winters past, even though I actually turned the thermometer up a tad. New insulation and sheetrock are obviously helping as well, but the lack of snow cover is troubling.  A cold front is bound to come calling, and snow is the great insulator for sewer and water pipes.

This beautiful Memorial graduated spiral necklace containes spacer beads with cremains, as well as does the very large lentil focal bead..

Memorial Spiral Necklace

Graduated spiral beaded beads

 

Cremains spacer beads

Vintage Czech glass button closure

I'll Be Home For Christmas Memorial Necklace

Cremains beads, and 14 karat gold filled spacers

Cremains focal bead

Before I leave you for the year, I first must post these fun Christmas pics of Paris, Helga, and old man Ziggy.  Princess Paris was not amused to have to sit and pose with her wild sister Helga.  Helga is up for anything, though...and as you can see, she is almost all grown up now.

Princess Paris wanted to be in the pictures by herself, obviously...

Ziggy is also game for anything these days.  At his age I guess every opportunity to get the most attention is golden.  What a funny old sweetheart he is.

Well, that's it for today! I will be back next year (tomorrow) to post the three new necklaces and pair of earrings I made this week to kick off the new year!  I have to save something for the new calender!

Catching up on Christmas orders and listing Vintage Hats

I have  a few things to catch up on but for the most part my Christmas mailing will be done by tomorrow.  I only ship priority mail this time of year after seeing packages go wayward starting after Thanksgiving.  All of the packages did eventually make it to their destination, but some took as long as 3 weeks to get from Minnesota to California!   

 Since I have my schedule figured out as far as beads and jewelry & I am on target, today I started the arduous task of tackling a couple of listings in my ETSY VINTAGE STORE.  I have several hats to list that belonged to the estate of a northern Minnesota lady, and they were stored in boxes in a closet in a smoke free environment for over 50 years.  There is a lot more to listing vintage items than there is to things I make.  I know what the value of my hand made beads and jewelry is, and I try to give as fair a price as possible without hurting other artists, or myself financially. Vintage, on the other hand, each piece requires research.  Some pieces go together so a little research can go a long way.  Other things, such as Vintage hats, take a lot more digging around.  Finding like hats in the same condition in vintage  is not for those who give up on things easily!

Though the incadescent lighting in my house affected the picture quality greatly, I listed these two hats today.  I see that now the dark season is here, I need to finish building my little portable light studio asap!  I started it in Spring, but abandoned the idea as daylight became more available.  If it is a successful adventure, I will share what my materials are that I use.

Here are the two hats I listed today: They are lighter in color than this, closer to white and I will likely edit these and the images on etsy soon.

Made in Italy, this thick felted Angora laampshade hat:

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/88207690/coronadarcel-winter-white-high-fashion

I also listed this fun Angora beret hat, it sits on a cap style base:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88216273/rivera-off-white-angora-beret-vintage?ref=v1_other_1

 Edit to add:  I WILL be replacing the fur hat pictures.  In just the 10 minutes difference the lighting from the Lampshade hat photos changed that dramatically.

I have a new Cremains pendant to show as well, but I can't give away everything in one post!  I will save it for morning. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Stephanie

Octopus's Garden

I seem to be making ocean related beads a litttle earlier than normal this year.  usually the desire to do that strikes in the dead of Winter in January.  This little octopus is so cute, I think.  He is headed for the website this evening, after a long day of doing errands today.  I snapped his picture first though!

Before I leave, here's a little song to go with the bead pictures..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgPqmRNjoTE

Have a great day everyone!

Stephanie

Snowman Pendant GIVEAWAY Today!

I had so much fun with the Goddess giveaway yesterday, I am going to do it today, this time for a snowman pendant!

To enter, come to my beaded heron Facebook page and LIKE.  Then leave a comment on the comment area under the snowman post.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beaded-Heron/172135619479861

Drawing 8amCST, Wednesday Nov. 30, 2011. 

Have a great day!

Steohanie