My Beady Friends :)

I have made some new friends, and some new pieces, but let's talk about the new friends first!

If you haven't joined Artisan Whimsy yet, you should be ashamed of yourself!  This is a group of jewelry artisans from all over the world, who can come together to learn new methods, blog about their craft "envy", and chat with others who feel the same way about making jewelry that they do.


Visit Artisan Whimsy

Not only do they consist of wonderful personalities, but the wealth of knowledge that must be contained within those virtual walls must be tremendous!  Imagine a place where you can go at any time of the day to find an answer for a whole beady host of questions!  How do you finish the back of a bezeled cabochon?  How do I choose the right colors for my piece?  I need motivation, someone help me?

Sure, you can find some of these things on YouTube.  However, when you visit Artisan Whimsy (as a member, of course) you have access to real time people; whoever happens to be online at any point in the day.  These people are fantabulous!  I have made many friends in the first two weeks of the site being up and running, and have learned some new things, and also been handed some confidence by strangers!  What better place can you find to do that?

I live in the north (and there aren't too many beady people around up here), and let me tell you, it is such a breathe of fresh air to be able to log on and find one or two ladies already online and ready to say good morning and have a beady chat over morning coffee (or hot chocolate in my case).  I love this, and it makes my day every morning.

So, in my search for a bead swap partner, I have found two groups that I could now not live without.  Operation Tackle That Bead Stash and Artisan Whimsy are two of the most inspiring and motivating groups for me on the web.  I love all of you ladies! Keep up the great inspirations!

Ok, so on to new pieces...

When I joined the OTTBS group on Blogger and Facebook, I found out that they have some amazing challenges going on.  A new challenge every month, and every two months, a new book challenge.  So, in September I managed to get a small piece done for the September Challenge:  use green and gold only.  WOW!  That is a bit of a challenge!  But here it is:

OK, so it's not the most impressive thing I've done, but I only had a couple of days, and I thought why the heck not?  What have I got to lose?

Challenge number two:  Bead, Book, Bounce.  Every second month the ladies choose another book for us to complete one or more projects out of.  Since I came in near the end of September I figured I had enough time to complete a book project.  My first BBB book?  Little Beaded Boxes by Julia S. Pretl.  SNAP!  And I thought the first one was a challenge!  Well, needless to say, the challenge reveal date is November 6, so I still have time.  But in case you're curious, here is a WIP picture:

I am attempting the triangle box from page 43 of the book.  It's a challenge because I have never attempted a three dimensional piece before  now.  It's coming along, and I will have it finished by November 6th.  I promise.

Challenge number three:  October challenge.  Make a piece or component of jewelry from this picture:



This is an Alice in Wonderland photo (that I do not recognize) but look at the possibilities.  And there are no limits!  So, if the colors or designs on her tights inspire you, then go with it.  If you are inspired by the mirror in the background or by the trees standing behind her, go with it!  Cool, I like this kind of challenge, well, because anything goes! Here is my October challenge piece I called "Alice" (go figure...):

I think I was inspired by the contemporary but old world feel of the picture. 

And lastly, a personal challenge.  I challenged myself to make one of Sherry Serafini's contemporary corsage cuffs to wear at a wedding.  At the time I had three days to make the cuff.  Needless to say, I did not make the deadline, but I did complete the challenge!

And I have to say, I am very pleased with myself!  I think this is one of my most favorite pieces I have done.
Let's hope I did Sherry proud!

New friends and new challenges.  What a great start to the new school year.  I find the challenges are motivating, and inspirational, and also a challenge in the way that it is a challenge to complete a challenge without going to the bead store to purchase new beads for said challenge ;P