Swap 'n' hop partner

 So, my bead partner for the Bead Peeps Swap 'n' hop is Floridian Rebecca White. You can find her blog here. Of course, I'm envious of the warmer weather she has down in Florida, since in the Northeast we have been getting hammered with snow so far this month. I really looking forward to sending her some things that I think may stretch her imagination a little and give her the chance to work with something new. Here is an example of her work from her blog.

Finished!

I finished the collar I've been working on, and with all of the snow days we have been having, I put a few things in my etsy shop.

About me

After signing up for the Beed Peeps Swap and Hop, we were all asked to answer a few questions about ourselves. Ultimately, I found that I answered many of them in one of the original posts on this blog (here), and that not much has changed.

I really like to make cuff bracelets; however, I really dislike wearing cuff bracelets. They always seem to get in the way of my daily life, so I quickly take them off. I also find myself making pins a lot, which I, myself, don't wear, but that I seem to sell fairly easily. (Though I've been told too many times that I don't charge enough for my work, so that probably has something to do with it). I also like to make big collar necklaces, but have only made two (working on the third) because what to do with it once I'm done is always in my mind. Selling it for what I would be satisfied with seems unlikely.

Right now I'm in love with using Shibori silk in my bead embroidery. I honestly want to buy it in every color. Right now I'm trying to hold off on buying more until I use what I have. I love the colors and folds of it. I love how the colors inspire me to make something I hadn't originally planned. I dislike how it's harder to use in the winter because it's so dry here in New Hampshire, and I'm terrible at moisturizing my hands. Any little rough patch on the skin can rough up the silk and cause little snags.

I avoid using big beads. At times people have given me some larger beads that many would use for stringing. I don't know what to do with them. I'm a seed beader! What am I going to do with a bunch of 16mm beads? The only time I buy anything big is if I could use it as a focal or a cabochon.

When I look at my seed bead collection, I have tons of greens, blues, and purples. I have almost no yellows and few reds and oranges. One thing I love to do that works well with bead embroidery is buy mixes. I find that it's a great way to get some yellow beads if I only need a few, instead of buying a whole tube of something I'm not going to use again.

Here is a picture of what I'm working on right now.

What I've been up to

It has been a long time since I have posted anything, too busy beading, working and spending time with the family, I guess. (Though not in that order!) Here are some things I have made since my last post. 

Precedent

I don't know if I'm setting a huge precedent for myself, but I made this for Riley's kindergarten teacher as an end of the year gift. 

1st Shibori embroidery attempt

So, I've been in love with the colors of Shibori silk ribbon embroidery and have wanted to give it a try. By the yard it's just so expensive for me and it's a big commitment to a color to buy a yard, I felt. I was happy to find it on etsy by the half yard, so I could buy two colors! I wanted to make a cuff originally but didn't have any blanks for the base and was worried he silk would get wrecked from wear. So, I made this brooch instead and think it may be a retirement present for my mother in law.

Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal!

Yay! Finally! The bead soup reveal date is here! Last year I participated in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party for the first time. It was such a challenge and so much fun; I absolutely LOVED it. (You can see my post about last year's hop here.) This year, I knew I had to do it again. So I signed up and started looking at the calendar only to realize that the reveal date (original date of May 3) was the same day that all of the final work for my Masters degree was due by. Always one to work better under a really long to-do list, I managed to complete everything with time to spare. Then, the reveal date was pushed back one week, so I even had time to procrastinate writing about my piece and taking pictures.

This year I was paired up with Liz E. of Bead Contagion blog and the color palette she sent me was quite a challenge. Because of my mounds of schoolwork, I didn't want to create anything too complicated. BUT that didn't really happen. During this same time period I also started to Zentangle. I think my end piece for the blog hop reflects this new skill, but in bead embroidery form. (Which happens to be really similar to bead embroidery in a lot of ways.) I have really been into the neon colors out recently, and the winter was REALLY long. I also tried to mimic the shape of the round focal throughout.

In the end, I love/hate it - which is exactly the same way I felt initially about what I created for last year's party. I have created something I totally love, but it is SO not me and big for me, I think. I ended up wearing it to work last week for my Masters research presentation. The perfect day to wear the other thing I had spent all spring working on. Also, everyone else loved it and thought it looked just fine on me - not too big at all! :)

Enjoy my pictures below. Visit Liz's blog here to see what she made from what I sent her. Have fun hopping other blogs by heading to Lori's blog to see the big list of all the bloggers. Enjoy!

Bead Soup!

Loving neon!

The focal can spin.