Rainbow Bead Garden Stake Project!

I had this pretty garden stake that used to have beads hanging off of it - over time, the cording they were on broke and the beads were lost.  But I still had this cool garden stake. 

It has five little hooks soldered onto it, and I thought, well, rather than get rid of it, I'll make it a SueBeads project! It was painted that flat black color, so first I painted it with a metallic spray paint. Then, I made a rainbow of baroque beads with gorgeous wispy glass rods from GG Glass.

I had a think about what I would use to hang the beads, and I decided to use beading wire and crimp beads.  So I went about gathering my supplies. I did not use my most expensive cording, nor did I use my most expensive crimp beads, as this will be outside in the weather.

I needed cutters, pliers and a crimper.  I cut five pieces of beading wire, and decided I needed to start at the end of the wire first.  I made the middle string first, as it was going to be the longest. When I put the first bead on the wire, I found that the bead hole (even though I made the bead on a 1/16" mandrel which is a small 1.5mm hole size) was too big.  So I went through my newly acquired seed beads from Bead Fest Spring and picked out some matching colors.

So this is how the first bead that went on looks.  I used matching beads so you wouldn't really see them too much. After that, I had to keep holding the wire up to the garden stake, to make sure all the beads would fit on in a pleasing manner!  I chose the beads in a random size pattern, instead of making them all the same or making them in ascending or descending order. Cuz that's the way I roll.

 This is how the first string looks.  Pretty cute, huh?

Next, I laid out the other sets of beads - not the entire rainbow spectrum of beads would fit on the stake, as it is a circle and gets smaller in length the closer to the outside the strands get, so I decided to do partial rainbows.

And here's the finished project!  It looks really pretty in the sunlight, and should last quite a long time given the beading wire is pretty strong.

I hope this little project gave you some inspiration to use your beads in ways other than jewelry!  Cuz beads belong everywhere, right?

Susan Kennedy

Inspiration at the Zoo

One of my favorite things about living in Nashville is having a zoo membership.  I love to go early in the mornings on Saturday or Sunday and get a good walk in on the paths - the zoo is large enough and hilly enough that I can get a pretty good workout in...if I don't get distracted by all of the inspiring colors, shapes textures and critters around me.  The natural world is far and away the biggest source of inspiration for my beadwork... I know I'm not alone in this!  I hope you will follow along with my creative inspiration tour of the Nashville Zoo!

Foliage and Texture - inspiration abounds in the foliage, landscaping and structures at the zoo.  I have a fascination with beading leaves, and have yet to stumble across a technique that i'm really satisfied with.  Looking at these ferns and hosta leaves is giving me some new ideas!  Check out the texture on that Osage orange...wouldn't that be interesting to recreate?  The net and tree bark are giving me ideas for different bead netting patterns.  And then there's the fact that green is one of my favorite colors to work with...

Flowers - ah, flowers...one of the most prominent sources of natural color palettes, and a lesson in how contrast works.  When you start looking deeper, all of the layers offer up more textural and structural inspiration.  I can't help thinking of short little fringes when I see the stamens on the iris. And those bachelor buttons...can you see them turned into tight spiky bead ruffles?  Hmm, or maybe a doll tutu...

Birds of a Feather - I love birds.  When people describe themselves as cat or dog people, I think of myself as more of a bird person.  Between the colors and variety, eyes, and fantastic brightly colored skin, birds are an endless source of eye candy.  Just look at all the variety of texture on the flamingo, the color combination on the cassowary, and intensity of the hyacinth macaw blue...My fingers are itching to create.

Earthy Animal Colors - Ok, so we all know how much I love color - bright and jewel and contrasting. But when I feel the need to create with a more subdued palette, these are my inspirations.  I find these critters a good reminder that even when the colors are not so saturated there is still contrast to be found.

Reptiles and Amphibians - Snakes, caiman, and tortoises, Oh My!  Reptiles and amphibians have always appealed to me...and I love these pictures for so many reasons.  Again, color and texture abound.  But why not drag out the boxes of animal beads and find a tiny golden frog fetish to incorporate in a project?  Or the malachite crocodile fetish I've been hoarding...maybe it's time to do something with him?  Or maybe that old Galapagos tortoise is telling me it's time to make another turtle totem for my other half...hmmm...

Majestic Koi - The zoo has quite a fun collection of aquatic life in their small indoor aquarium...but I always end up testing out my camera settings to take pictures of the large Koi outside - sometimes it's tricky to choose a setting with a fast enough shutter speed, that will still read the colors and not capture too much glare from the surface.  This trip I tried out the "sunset" setting and I think it might be my favorite!  These fish are so used to being fed that they congregate around if you lean over the barrier blocking the edge of the pond.  This means I can snap a pic from less than a foot away!  Koi can grow to be quite old, and I've been taking pictures of these fish for at least 7 years.  That big speckle white and black with the orange eye spots (bottom left) is my favorite!  And somehow that big orange one (far right) ended up looking like a dragon!  So cool!

Have you been to your local zoo, aquarium, or botanical garden lately?  Tis the season!  Life is bursting outside right now - get out and get inspired!

Bead Cruise 2016 Recap

On Monday, I arrived home after a week of fun on the 2016 bead cruise, hosted by Heather Powers.

Cruise ships in port in St. Maarten

This was my third time attending and this year my husband, Colin came along with me.  He also took all three of Heather Power's  polymer classes!

Coco Cay

Day 1 was boarding the ship and the welcome party at night.  Day 2 was our stop in Coco Cay in the Bahamas.  This was a nice, restful beach day.  I explored and found conch shells, sea urchins and lots of little fish.  

Tango by Beki Haley

Day 3 was our half-day classes.  I chose Tango by Beki Haley.  I struggled with right angle weave at first but Beki is a great teacher and got me on the right track.  I haven't finished the pendant yet but I'm pretty sure I will get this one done!  We also had part 1 of Heather's Van Gogh Sunflowers workshop in the afternoon (more on that below). 

St. Thomas

Day 4 was spent in St. Thomas.  Colin and I were originally going to spend the day at Coki Beach but we caught colds on the airplane and didn't feel up to it.  We decided to take a bus tour of the island instead.  We got to experience some fabulous views, go shopping and I still got to dip my feet in the turquoise water at Coki Beach.  

St. Maarten

Day 5 we docked in St. Maarten.  We walked towards town, found a small local art gallery and then shopped some more.  We lasted a couple hours before the heat got to us and we returned to the ship. After a shower, we spent several hours enjoying the view from the lounge on the ship.  Also, food. There was lots of eating involved...it's a cruise afterall!   

Van Gogh Sunflowers Class

Day 6 was the second part of Heather's Van Gogh Sunflowers class.   This class involved the most intricate polymer canework I've ever done.  It was a bit frustrating for me but it makes me appreciate Heather's work that much more.  You can see a few of the beads Colin and I created in the lower, left hand photo.

Tropical Bon Bon class

Day 7 was the final day and Colin and I signed up for an optional class.  I had so much fun in Heather's Tropical Bon Bon class!  I can see myself making more of these, including them as cabochons!  We had some free time after class and then went to the farewell party.  

Misc. scenes from the trip

On Sunday, we headed back to the hotel in Orlando and enjoyed the pool and some dinner with other cruisers who were flying home on Monday.  It was a nice way to end the trip.  

I just love everything about the bead cruise; the people, the workshops, the ports...  I highly recommend you give the bead cruise a try!  There are still a few spaces left for Bead Cruise 2017!  Click here for all the details and to register for the best bead vacation you will ever take!  You won't regret it!

A big thanks to Heather, all the instructors, sponsors and fellow beaders who made 2016 a wonderful experience!  I look forward to Bead Cruise 2017!

Getting back into my groove

I have mentioned that the beads were not talking to me, probably too many times lately,  It has been very disturbing for me because of all the artistic outlets I have this is the one I am most passionate about.  I have all these beads I shouldn't have a problem should I?

I was trying to work on my component of the month project and it just wasn't coming to be.  I needed to get back into my groove but I wasn't sure how.  Then it hit me.  I was searching for a necklace to wear and realized that I did not have a bracelet to match it,

Those of you who know me know I love to have a matching set for every outfit or occasion,  So I just picked the same beads as the necklace and added a funky two hole tipp bead and set to playing and this is what happened.

Well that went so well I looked at my abundant UFO tray and guess what I had another necklace orphan.

So I finished this bracelet.

Then I finally began to feel adventurous so I picked some crescent beads, pearls and seeds to match this necklace.

It took quite a few tries but I like the design process so much.

I am not so thrilled with the color play on this one because the crescents are a bit too lavender but it wears so pretty and matches the color of the blouse I paired it with that I am not going to change it.

Now I feel like I can finally take on some larger challenges which excites me.  How do you get back in your groove?