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

2010 Boudoir Beautiful Competition - Midnight Mistress

It is becoming clearer and clearer that if you do not have a vast network of support you will fail to secure a seat on the Swarovski train to designer glory. Some entrants to this contest have in excess of 2000 votes, yet Midnight Mistress is struggling to reach 250 votes. I have exhausted every avenue of support. I really do feel that Midnight Mistress is a worthy entrant but how can one compete against an entrant with 2000+ votes. I do not know if a contest has successfully be carried out like this before, whereby a finalist is determined by the public popularity vote.

How can the playing field be viewed as a fair when the voters per each entry are an unknown quantity. For instance 'Butterfly' is sitting in first place of the Top Ten on the e-beads entry site with a 3.3 average. Yes this is a pretty necklace but by no means is it a first place entry, it is ordinary in every sense of the word. Yet it holds first place based on its count of votes and the quality of its votes, so I ask does the entrant have a vast network of supporters? I say yes. Butterfly captures absolutely none of the Boudoir Beautiful theme elements as stated in the contest pitch. Nor does 'Peacock Garden' with a vote count of 158 votes and a 2.7 average. Many hours and much skill have gone into the creation of this entry, but it is not following the theme.

The purse by Blair Scott has 251 votes and a 2.7 average, yes a great design but the central design does not even sit centrally on the purse? Avante Garde by Marta Brennan is a lovely design but again, by no means does it capture Boudoir Beautiful yet it has 1372 votes and a 2.9 average. Firecracker..? great design and colour choice but there is nothing Boudoir Beautiful about this design. Seriously am I the only one that is dissilluisoned by this contest .. I would love to hear your thoughts ..