Creating 'Athena' .. Battle of the Beadsmith 2014

Battle of the Beadsmith 2014 was not the smooth design ride that the inaugural BOTB12 was for me. I knew without hesitation what I needed to do for that contest. Arabesque Armour reached the Top 5 which was an incredible achievement owing to the level of talent within the group.  BOTB14, not so easy, not so easy at all.

My initial inspiration for the BOTB14 was an infinity knot as a focal, I had no clue other than that! I did know I wanted the clasp to be bead embroidered. I achieved the infinity knot that was in my minds eye .. but once I started arranging the jewels and adding embellishment to the knot .. it began to look less and less of a battle worthy design.  It got shelved.  Below are three of the many design shuffles.

New plan.... 

I knew what the colorway was going to be .. turquoise and peridot softened with creamy pearls.  Textually I had to include my new love Shibori silk ribbon. I wanted the design to be beadwoven with the inclusion of bead embroidery.  After many trials I was able to create a bezel using CRAW for all of my navette shapped stones. It was nice and tight and gave me a good surface for embellishment. I wanted to use rose gold as my metallic highlight.  I bought a few hundred rose gold bicones from my local bead store .. I added them to the design.  Then I noticed that the rose gold coating was breaking off in tiny flakes on the bicones, leaving ugly black flea bites in their place.  I knew the problem would only get worse and this would compromise my design.  5 hours later every single bicone was removed from my design. Will I use 4mm rose gold bicones again ..um no.

Whilst I was working on the main part of the neckpiece I was also working on the bead embroidered clasp. This is the only part of the design that I knew for certain from the beginning of the project.  The Shibori ribbon was supplied by (Lisa Kan) and the Arashi ribbon (Deborah Weaver).  I used Czech size 15 seed beads to outline my floral design. The clasp joins the neckpiece via snaps attached to the underside of the motif.  These attach with the other half of the snaps to the Shibori ribbon straps.

The bead embroidered clasp 'under construction'

After six weeks of expediting elements from the US, lots of worrying, lots of sketching of my thoughts, undoing and redoing parts of the design... it was finished.  I had booked my model and photograhphy session even before completing the design.  This gave me an absolute deadline and allowed the photographer time to edit the photos and allow for any reshoots. 

Deciding which colour Shibori to use for the necklace strap.  

Why call the piece Athena .. The Goddess Athena from ancient Greek mythology was the custodian of War (although she did not condone it, she was the Goddess of Inspiration and Weaving.  All symbols that in part define the Battle of the Beadsmith.

One of the many designs for the necklace strap that were not used.

These are a selection of photos from the Photo shoot, May 2014. Photography credits Frank Hurrell of Imago Photography.  Athena managed to move onto the next round, Round 2. I wish all Battler's much success.

The bead woven clasp

Battle of the Beadsmith 2014 - it has begun

 

I was an original battler when the inaugural Battle of the Beadsmith aka BOTB12 kicked off in 2012.  Battling legend and front man Steven Weiss of The Beadsmith was the brains behind the contest.  There were 80 original battlers (or if you like invited participants) and one winner.  The uber talented Alla Maslennikova, won with her achingly beautiful design 'Baroque'..... My design Arabesque Armour made it to the Top 5.

I withdrew from the Battle of the Beadsmith aka BOTB13 due to other beading commitments and general design fatigue following my Bead Dream design marathon.  However I was still involved with the contest, but as a judge which was a difficult task in itself. Ann Braginsky was the winner for BOTB13 contest with her exceptional bead embroidered piece, 'Tenth Wave'. 

BOTB14 I am again a participant.  I have been working on my design since April 1, which was the official start date of the Battle. There are 256 Battlers in this contest, so the contest has increased considerably.  Participants from all over the world have come together to push their design selves and interact within a vibrant and friendly international beading community.

Calmly I waited until April 1 then rummaged through my stash to get to the source of my inspiration for my Battle piece.  Deflated I found it .. it was not what I had remembered it to be like.  It was smaller and not as elegant. Damn.  I began a lengthy internet search in the hope of acquiring a more dramatic 'piece' to use for Plan A.  I discovered it in Germany, expedited shipping was 170 Euros plus the price of the 'piece' and I had not even ordered the beads yet.  Plan A got shelved.

I then began work on Plan B and tinkered with it for a few days.  I soon discovered that it was not Battle worthy and put it to one side.  I waited a few days giving my muse time to roll things around and commenced Plan C.  I liked Plan C and how it was evolving and continued with the design for a couple of weeks.  Soon my interest in Plan C was waning ... I put it down and returned to Plan B with renewed interest.  Gathering more inspiration, sourcing new design elements and wandering around on Pinterest seeking images that would inspire my design pitch for that particular period in history.  But. After a few days I returned to Plan C again this time with a completely new colour way.  I was excited about it this time, very excited.  I fiddled, then ordered more materials and was off again firmly with Plan C + a new colour way as my way forward. 

The main focal for Plan C morphed unexpectedly so Plan C + new colour way did a complete right turn, so I'm calling it Plan C.2.  The motif that I completed that would have been used as part of the focal has been cast aside. I am currently planning and sketching a new focal to replace the said 'meh' focal.  It is still at the drawing on a sheet of paper stage. Time will tell if it will be the actual focal used. 

With all of this flipping around with designs there as been a flurry of activity on various sites as I acquired the necessary materials to create what my muse ordered.  Expedited shipping from the US to Australia has been called upon three times so far.

I'm hopeful Plan C.2 will be my acutal piece to enter to the contest as I am running out of time for revisions and new Plans. The funny thing about this is the original Battle, BOTB12 I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I used every day available to me to build it.  BOTB12 was quite an unremarkable process compared to my BOTB14. 

All we be revealed after June 8. 

Happy Beading.

Battle of the Beadsmith Round 3 - The Creation of Arabesque Armour

An original pencil design from my design journal of how I envisaged my then unamed Battle of the Beadsmith entry.

How was I inspired to create Arabesque Armour? This question was asked of me and in all honesty I do not really know. I do not always understand this about any of the artisan jewellery pieces that I create. Sometimes I get just an image in my mind, then process this sometimes for weeks. Visualising thread paths and possiblitilies. I will make samples using Nymo (rather than expensive Fireline) to get a feel for what my mind sees. I can be inspired by many things cloud shapes, my very large bead stash, how food and colours are displayed on a plate, vintage couture jewellery, even words can inspire me such as my latest piece "Anna's Snowrose". "Anna's Snowrose" was inspired by my Facebook friend Anna Lindell whom I met as she too is a participant of the Battle of the Beadsmith contest. Anna commented one day that my design Arabesque Armour resemebled a "rose on a stem". Later I met Snowrose Feldman another Facebook friend and with that my muse got me busy creating Anna's Snowrose (I will blog about this design another day).

A second original pencil design from my design journal, still playing with concepts.

Where did the floral focal inspiration arrive from for Arabesque Armour I will never know. Perhaps it was when I sit and create samples and play with stitches, my drawings or it could have been when I saw a magazine cover earlier this year that had a floral shaped cuff bangle.  I looked at that cuff design and thought ..'I can bead that' .. with that I snapped a pic with my iPhone, then promptly forgot about it.  Why did I even choose a floral focal?.. again, I do not exactly know. 

Pic snapped with my iPhone

I fiddled with samples for the floral focal for some time and finally went with Cubic Right Angle Weave as the stitch to bring my floral idea to life.  As only a beader will know, you may have an idea of a design in your creative mind, but actually creating it using only beads can sometimes just not be possible as ultimately the beads are boss. Design limitations and time resulted in the floral focal that became central to my Arabesque Armour design.  I knew that because it was CRAW I could embellish it and create something wonderful. The next part of the design process was how best to display the floral focal.  I decided on a beadwork frame setting that would be embellished with Swarovski elements and seed beads.

Because this piece was being designed for the Battle of the Beadsmith contest I wanted to produce my best work as the audience would be large, very large.  I wanted to include something new and different. I included CRAW attachment points on my Rivolis within the beadwork frame so that I could join them seamlessly.  I wanted wonderful curls that I could embellish and most of all I wanted to produce something totally original.  I chose a colour way that I had not ventured into before. I wanted it to say nothing more than 'fun' and colour especially pinks, lemon, purples and yellows suggest fun (to me anyway).  The Battle is about friendship and uniting artists around the world so I wanted my colour way choice to reflected just that.

For a bit of Battle fun I decided that the tassel must be detachable for Battle purposes; my thoughts being detach prior to Battle so that a flaying tassel does not interfere with sword weilding, all tongue in cheek though.

Arabesque Armour is continuing on into Round 3, this time I am paired with USA Artist Christian Rodriguez and her wonderful design "Antigua".



Here I am deciding if the floral focal should sit above or below the CRAW beadwork.

 

This is the beginning of the curls that eventually sat either side of the beadwork frame. The curls sort of happened by accident whilst I was deciding how to hang the focal.

This is me wearing my completed design, Arabesque Armour

Battle of the Beadsmith 2012 - Arabesque Armour

July 10, 2012 was the deadline for submitting entries to the Battle of the Beadsmith.  On the 6th day (ie the 16th) Steven Weiss (Marketing Manager for Beadsmith and Creator of the Event) was still waiting for participants to submit their entries. I had to voice my concern which became 'an issue' but which resolved in time, decisions were made and the Battle proceeded. 

I felt that the participants who achieved the deadline had their effort's undervalued and not respected. A deadline is just that, an end point which must be adhered to plus the contest had 'alternatives' set aside for just this reason.  I totally 'get' that Steven was trying hard to accommodate and support each 'late' participant so that they could submit their respective entries but in doing so he was not supporting those who had submitted on time.  A difficult position to be in.

Battle Cuff

Battle Cuff

Arabesque Armour was submitted as my design entry for the contest, many of the participants began making celebration pieces as a sort of 'relax' piece following the mammoth effort to create and submit their respective entries on time.  I created the  'Battle Cuff' which matched Arabesque Armour.

Voting for Round 1 has well and truly commenced, the results should be released any day now.

Arabesque Armour is largely a cubic right angle woven neckpiece, 49 individually bezzeled vintage 47ss Chatons in Amethyst were carefully beaded, each bezzel takes approx. 30 minutes to complete.  The focal necklace and the choker are joined as one complete neckpiece through the use of a beadwoven clasp and 3 magnetic clasps.

I did want to create the piece so that the choker and necklace could be worn independantly, but this was not to be as I simply ran out of time.

The Chatons are teamed with Swarovski Rivolis & Oblong Stones (Article 4161) in Jonquil, Burgundy and Rose, Chessboard Rounds in Rose, bicones, drops and rounds in Fushia Brandy, Rose Brandy, Jonquil AB2x and Crystal Luminous Green.  The Swarovski Crystal pearls are 'Powdered Almond' a perfect accompaniment to the colour way as they have a soft pinkish hue.

The seed beads used are largely Miyuki 'Duracoat' Seed Beads and Rocailles.  Czech, size 15 seedies are also included in this design.  Stitches used CRAW, RAW, Peyote, Herringbone and Picots.

Happy Beading

Mel

Battle of the Beadsmith .. Begin It Has.

The Battle of the Beadsmith began without fanfare on May 14 2012, May 15 here in Australia owing to the global time zones.  The participant number increased from 64 to 80 due to controversy*.

My colour way had already been selected and the large bundle of bead filled tubes and assorted components already purchased.  My decision to choose this particular colour way was based on two elements 1. Fun and 2. a colour way I had not ever worked with before. I cleared my work area .. took a deep breath and opened the first factory package of vintage Swarovski Chatons that I managed to source from the UK.  This particular colour was hard to find and I thought I would never find it despite extensive internet searches.  Then the task of individually beading them commenced .. each one takes around 30 minutes to bead .. and I have alot to do. 

I had sketched out my initial design in my trusty handmade, leather bound journal; but as always it morphs into something that only slightly resembles the original design.  I have beaded other parts of the design and do this when I get tired of continually beading the Chatons.  I always design like this .. constantly moving around the design.  If I get stumped I walk away and let it rest and give my mind time to visualise the design and explore solutions.  I have what I call 'on board CAD software' that is I can visualise, rotate in 3D and design in my head.  I can see thread paths and bead intricate designs using my minds eye. I like to do this quietly, it's a sort of meditative process.  I can block any white noise around me and just focus.

This Tournament for me is not about trying to out do each other, it is about celebrating beading as an artform and sharing in the moment with other like minded bead artists.  I am truly honoured and grateful for being invited to be a part of the Tournament. When it comes time for my design not to progress into another round, do not be sad for me .. do not think ... 'oh, she must be disappointed'. Please just be happy for me that I was a participant of this wonderful fun, Tournament. I will politely curtsey, smile and usher graciously to whom I am paired with to step forward to the next round.

*The participant number increased from 64 to 80 owing to some controversy. I will elaborate .. Initially the Tournament, created by Steven Weiss (Marketing Manager for Beadsmith) was a secret group on Facebook, with members invited to participate by Steven. When the Battle of the Beadsmith group became 'Open' a Canadian woman became unhappy that Canada was not represented in the group. Her thoughts were that this was a global Tournament when in fact it was not. Anyhoo the upshot is that there was lots of discussion, some pleasant some not so pleasant so Steven made the hard decision to increase the participant number to 80.

2012 Battle of the BeadSmith

In an effort to create more awareness of some of the incredible bead artistry being executed by bead masters worldwide, Steven Weiss (Marketing Manager for The Beadsmith) thought it would be fun to set up a beading "Tournament" where original works could be viewed, shared, and celebrated both by the participants, and the beading public alike.

64 seed bead artists were invited to participate in an elimination "Tournament" to determine which piece of their original beadwork best captures the imagination of 101 of their fellow designers, specialty bead shop owners, and members of various beading magazine editorial staffs.

I, along with Patrick Duggan, Joanne Browne, Neva Brown and Lauren MacGregor were all selected for inclusion within this Tournament and collectively we are representing Australia in this event. I personally am not only honoured but flattered with the inclusion as I am keeping company with some extremely talented artists from around the world.

Just cast your eye over the incredible Participants list of beading artists!

May 14th sees random artist pairings created, establishing a first round of competition, consisting of 32 artists vs. artist "contests". (For example, round one might have the work of Californian Linda Roberts paired up against the work of Vermont's Nancy Dale, and so on.)

Artists will have seven weeks from the announcement of the first round pairings to create, a single piece of original beadwork. The 62 competitors not involved in a particular round one "contest", plus 41 invited judges, will vote for the piece that best captures their imagination. A majority of at least 85 of the possible 103 total voters will be enough to determine a winner. All necklaces, bracelets, earring, brooches, headpieces, belts, handbags, or any other wearable adornments are acceptable for submission. The deadline for all of the submissions, by the artists, is July 10th, Tuesday

The 32 winners of round one will be randomly paired again in one of the 16 new "contests" in round 2 and the voting process will begin again.

The 8 winners of round two are again randomly paired in 4 new round 3 "contests" to determine the final four competitors.

The 4 winners of round 3 are randomly paired in two "contests" to determine the final two competitors.

Round 4 determines the winner.......

Competitors can use almost any beads or materials, so long as the piece falls under the umbrella of beadweaving, or bead embroidery. Japanese seed beads***, Metal seed beads, Preciosa Czech seed beads, semi precious stones, Swarovski and Preciosa Crystal, fire polished glass, and individually created art glass and ceramic beads etc are all perfectly acceptable.

***As the Beadsmith has a relationship with the Miyuki Company of Japan, they have requested that competitors preferably use Miyuki Seed beads when using Japanese beads for this competition.

The Participants:


Olga Petterson-Sweden
Sigifredo Contreras-Mexico
Linda Roberts- USA
Heather Kingsley Heath- England
Sharayah Sheldon-USA
Helena Tang-Singapore
Nancy Dale-USA
Cynthia Newcomer Daniel-USA
Patrick Duggan-Australia
Marsha Wiest Hines- USA
Carol Dean Sharpe-USA
Annie Hatvani-Hungary
Christina Neit-USA, Sue Horine-USA
Ann Braginsky-Israel
Lea Palickova-Czech Republic
Alexandra Sydorenko-USA
Betty Stephan-USA
Callie Mitchell-USA
Christian Rodriguez-USA
Eva Dobos-Hungary
Katka Vaclavikova-Czech Republic
Misan Tejre-Sweden
Kinga Nichols-USA
Melissa Ingram-Australia
Anneta Valious-France
Mikki Ferrugiaro-USA
Miriam Cielo Shimon-Israel
Amy Katz-USA
Elke Leonhardt Rath- Germany
Irina Chikineva-Russia
Edgar Lopez Disenos-Dominican Republic
Kassie Inman-USA
Orsolya Füzesi-Hungary
Jill Thomas-England
Ibolya Ingesné Barkóczi-Hungary
Éva Csizmadia Lajosné-Hungary
Nausikka Dahllof-Sweden
Nella Moskvichjova-Russia
Julia Turova-Russia
Alla Vizir-Ukraine
Lynn Davy-England
Dini Alves-USA
Guzialia Reed-Japan
Alla Maslennikova -Russia
Sandra Dokter van Esveld-The Netherlands
Olga Haserodt-Germany
Joanne Browne-Australia
Jennifer Chasalow VanBenschoten-USA
Rosita Pisarchick-USA
Roxan O'brien USA
Christine Boyer Maj-USA
Kathy King-USA
Susan Brackett-USA
Olga Shumilova-Russia
Neva Brown-Australia
Ella Des- Belgrade Serbia
Katherine Gezey-Ukraine
Lauren Macgregor -Australia
Hannah Rosner-Ohio
Ekaterina Kalinina-Russia
Marta Koudelova-Czech Republic
Terri Richards-USA
Marina Nosova-Russia

The Judges:

Sabine Lippert-Germany, Smadar Grossmann-Israel, Maggie Roschyk-USA, Adele Rogers Recklies-USA, Diane Hyde-USA, Jean Campbell-USA, Patrizia Tager-Israel, Zoya Gutina-USA, Jana Tarhala-Finland, Kerrie Slade-England, Laura Boudloche Zeiner-USA, Cath Thomas-Switzerland, Heather Collin-South Africa, Claudia Schuman-Germany, Chloe Menage-England (Bead Magazine Editor), Laura Andrews-USA, Kathleen Mccabe-Elsey- USA, Julia Gerlach-USA (Bead and Button Magazine Editor), Diane Fitzgerald- USA, Verena Greene-Christ- Germany (Perlen Poesie Magazine), Jean Power- England, Ana Garcia-USA, Paulette Rosner Baron-USA, Amy Blevins- New Jersey, Kelly Nealon-Australia (Australian Beading Magazine Editor), Melinda Barta-USA (Beadwork Magazine Editor), Karin Nilsson-Sweden, Jo Lochhead-Scotland, Kandra Norsigian-California, Kenj Katsuoka-Japan (Miyuki Company), Juliet Browse-England, Jamie Cloud Eakin-USA, Pamela Hawkins-USA (Bead Design Studio Magazine Editor), Marjon Donker-The Netherlands ( Editor Polymer To Art Magazine), Kate Bannister Tracton- USA, Deb Moffet Hall-USA (Bead- Patterns The Magazine & Quick Stitch Peyote Card), Barbara Conrad-USA, Lea Avroch-USA, MaryLou Holvenstot-USA, Anna Elizabeth Draeger-USA, Galina Pchelkina-Russia (Editor of Чудесные мгновения Magazine)