New beads and new hair.....

Hi everyone,

    Well, I admit it....been lazy this last couple of weeks....normally I am busy getting ready for Tucson...making beads, re-doing my displays buying any loose little bits I may need and trying to sleep, wash clothes and pack in between!   I am still working on my new beaded designs and I went to the Baltimore Bead Show last weekend to buy a few beads....came home with 300$ worth! Granted, that is a few for me but they were all seed beads, and a lot of them!  I got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while and that was nice to be able to catch up.  I did get some beautiful 2mm crystals and am planning on using them on my beaded polymer cabs as the accents around the face.  

    I am also involved in a secret project(I will let you know when I can) and had to have my hair done and photos taken....so I had Brandon come over and do me up and then he took my photo....hair looks good but the photo isn't the glamour shot I hoped for!  Oh, well....have to work with what you have....

    I signed up for my classes at Bead and Button and am way excited!  I am taking a glass casting class with Susan Lenart Kazmer and a enameling class with her also. Then I am taking a PMC/enamel on glass class with Vicki Hallmark and another enameling class with Gwen. A couple of seed bead classes with Leslee Frumin and a image transfer class with Sherri Haab on PMC and one with Donna Faulkner on transferring images to fabric.....I am looking forward to trying some new things!  I noticed that a lot of my friends aren't going to be there which is a shame since it seems like I never have enough time to shop with them. I am so hoping things get better soon!  So, today I will show you one of the necklaces I am planning with one of the beads I showed you last time.....I think it is going to be pretty once it is finished. I need to go to Beadazzled up in Baltimore to pick up some needles to sew it up...can you believe that I went to the bead show and forgot to get needles and thread and beeswax!   Anyway, hope you like the pictures....and before you ask, no pink since I am not going to Tucson....maybe for Bead and Button!  Have fun in the studio, Kelly

Working on....?

Hi everyone,

   Well, we are still working on the cabinets...since we are making them from scratch...cutting the wood, gluing and nailing, fitting the supports, fitting the doors, etc. It is going to take longer than a weekend or two.  I am looking forward to painting it...have already picked out the colors. I am planning on a beautiful shade of teal for the base with a creamy ivory with a touch of mint for the top coat and then I will sand back the highlights to expose the teal. I also picked out this really rich purple for the living room walls, yum!! 

     During the week, while Ed is at work I am trying to decide what to do with my schedule....I am not going to Tucson (what a bummer!) but it looks like my work will be there. Andrew Thorton from Green Girl Studios is going to bring some of my work there for me....isn't he the sweetest?!  So, I am thinking of sending some of the necklaces that I am working on along with some beads....I am actually going to string up the pretty little moon and owl piece that is pictured in the sidebar to the right with some antique black 3-cuts (that I just finished cutting off a damaged antique purse and washed down....took me 4 hours to get ready!)....and I am using some little 2mm bicone crystals in clear to look like stars among all the 3-cuts.  I am thinking of using some of Lisa Kan's beautiful plum blossoms in among the black to remind one of a garden at night.....I will post the photos when I have finished. 

     I am also working on 4 or 5 other necklaces that feature my beads that have polymer in them. I am going to be showing my work at the Synergy Conference here in Baltimore (in Feb) and want to have some new pieces just for the show. I am very excited about them. I am using an antique pearl collar as the base for one of the necklaces and adding copper electroformed pods and more of Lisa's flowers and some crystals in peachie red....have to let your mind play with that until you see it...I am starting that piece today! Way excited!!!  Anyway, now I need to go...too excited to sit here any longer!  I am posting photos of some of the beads I am using in the necklaces I haven't told you about and the one with the pearl collar....any comments are always welcome!  Have fun in YOUR studios today! Kelly

    The top piece has a tiny piece of roman glass in the center and a tiny black opal set off to the side and the lady on the dragonfly has a colored background done with colored pencil and the third lady is a inlaid tearaway with colored pencil and antiqued with paint after I attached the PMC border....guess which one is the center bead for the pearl collar!  

Happy New Year!!!

Hi everyone,

    Well, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and will have a great New Year!  I am making a lot of changes and will probably even change the changes!!!  I am thinking about doing a showcase of beads I will have for sale, three every Saturday, so those of you who have wanted to know where to get my work....here it will be. I am also working with a couple of seed bead designers on some kits for necklaces and bracelets featuring my centerpieces of silver and polymer. These will also be sold on this site. Please let me know if you would like to see anything in particular.  The last thing I am thinking of doing is writing up some step by step instructions for some beads and centerpieces. I am planning on taking some classes this year to move in some new directions. Some polymer with Dan Cormier, some bronze and copper clay with Gordon Uyehara(I hope I have spelled that right), and another bronze class with Barbara Becker Simon. I am also teaching a Surface Technique seminar with Barbara at the PMC Conference in Perdue this summer. and then there are all the seminars at Synergy and the PMC conferences and I may even go and take classes at Bead and Button instead of going as a vendor....lots of changes....

   At home, we are building a wall of cabinets 16 feet long and 8 feet tall, with all the bells and whistles.  I am going to paint it a beautiful teal and then over the top of that, a creamy ivory with a touch of mint (mostly cream) and then sand the highlights back to antique it all. We are even doing the pretty curved arches on the top of the upper bookcases and doors and 3" trim on the bottom. Yeah! Storage!!  

   We had a nice Christmas eve dinner and both the boys were there. Brandon and Alex even brought a bottle of wine for the hostess! Talk about all grown up!  I got some great books, like nobody guessed that would be what I would want(!), and even a book card to get some more....so I went and picked up a great book on caterpillars, one on butterflies, one on treasures of museums, one on weird bugs and then one on steampunk jewelry to round things out!  I also picked up "Inkheart" and "Inkspell", and for those of you who haven't seen the movie, you should!  Sherlock Holmes was really good, too!  So, between picking out paint, helping build cabinets and cutting wood, going to the movies and reading (and of course, eating good food) I haven't been at the journal....which I expect to remedy this coming week....I hope you have all had a great holiday season and will have fun playing in your studios, Kelly    

     Thought you might enjoy the bird, the butterfly and the bug (the caterpillar photo was taken by Tonya Davidsons husband while I was out there teaching a couple of years ago)...I still have no idea what kind it it...but it is cool looking! K

Some journal pages....

Hi everyone,

     I have been busy ripping up magazines and have now started to cut and paste!!  I went and got two big journals and thought I would have them filled in no time!  I now know that I really don't have a good grasp on time management!  It took two days and one swollen hand to cut up half of my pages! I thought I would just breeze through that part! Wrong! I filled half a shoebox with the cut images and so I thought I would start pasting....and two days later, I have about 10 pages done.....man, is this going to take a long time!  I do like the pages that I have done so far. I have made some that represent an idea for a bead or a series of beads and then some of them are just colors put together for me to use when I am working with the polymer or resin. I have a page for interesting ideas on setting stones and some with ideas on different bead shapes inspired by ceramic and wood items. Since I am not going to Tucson, I am planning on experimenting in a big way!! I hope everyone has a great holiday....I will try to write after the big day and before the other one. I know I am getting some books, I bought them, but didn't peek inside, so I am looking forward to that.....my brain may explode by New Year's with all the ideas rattling around now! I tried to take a nap today and found myself constructing a beaded bezel in hot pink beads with a PMC center!  Looked pretty good, so I may have to make it! I am posting 3 pages that deal with color....I think they look good enough to eat!  Have fun with your journal pages, Kelly

Photos of my upside down tree....

Hi everyone,

   Since I have had requests for photos of my upside down Christmas tree, I thought I would take some....it isn't decorated as heavily as I normally do but you will get the idea. It looks great when I put on the expandable tinsel....it looks like a waterfall of silver.  Hope you like it. The first photo is the whole tree and the second is one of the little vellum lampshades that I put around the bulbs and the last is one set of the little glass birds that hang around the tips of the branches. I may even take it down this year and redo it next year. One year we had it up for 4 years....the boys loved bringing home their friends to see it!  Need to make some new lampshades though....maybe in a color!  Purple sounds good!  Happy Holidays everyone! Kelly

Nutcrackers and more magazines....

Hi everyone,

   Well, as the title said, I am still working on my magazines, ripping them apart and throwing out the parts I don't need. I now have a box full that I have to start cutting up so I can start sticking them down in my journals and the instruction pieces can go in the filing cabinet!!  Watching the "Nutcracker" with the Royal Ballet on tv while working on the magazines....great music!  There are some really weird "Nutcracker" ballets out there....my favorite is still the one designed by Maurice Sendak (the guy who wrote "Where the Wild Things Are"). He did some great designs for the sets. I would like to say that I put up my Christmas tree but as it has been up all year, that would be a lie. It still looks nice though. It hangs upside down from the ceiling and has little light shades that I made out of vellum on the little light bulbs. Lots of icicles hanging down, a bunch of Chris Radko ornaments and little glass birds and bells. I will try to get a good photo and post it this week. I hope everyone has had a good time in the studio making gifts for family and friends....so, since I haven't played (just filling the well)..I will post some of my other photos...hope you like them, Kelly        The first and second photos are of beads I did about three years ago and the second one was the front cover of the PMC Guilds magazine.  The third is the inside view of the ring I posted last time. The watch glass on the top is a magnifying lens so the "diamonds" look bigger than they were....great engagement ring! K

WOW! Time flies.....

Hi everyone,

   So sorry that I haven't posted in a bit. Ed offered to help me put the "library" in order and get all my books up off the floor and onto the bookshelves. I actually ran out of room and so I decided to go through 8 years of magazines to pull out the bits that I want to keep. So far, I have cleaned off 2 1/2 shelves and only filled one box with the saved bits. Now I have to go and buy some blank journals to fill....maybe I can put books on my Christmas list!!!  For those of you who see me in Tucson, I have to tell you that I am sorry that I won't be coming out this season.  I am planning on putting my time to good use and experiment with some things I have had cooking in the back of my mind. I am also working with a wonderful bead artist to make some kits featuring my centerpieces.  Hopefully I will be able to get back on track with the Master's Registry pieces....have some catching up to do!  Well, back to ripping up magazines, filling the well, as Christie Friesen says....gonna have to get some more glue sticks too!  Have fun playing, Kelly        Thought I would post some of my rings, I ran across some of my old ads that showed the pearl ring and I had forgotten how pretty it is. Hope you like them. K.