Hepzibahs Pendulum Neckpiece gets published!

Hepzibahs Pendulum .. you say?  What's that you say?  Hepzibah was the name given to my maternal great, grandmother we just called her Dais or Daisy Belle.  She lived until she was 92.

 

I named this piece in honour of her.

 

My beading bud (bbbf), who lives in Sydney, Patrick Duggan was invited by Marcia DeCoster to submit designs for a new book Beads in Motion.  I was very excited for Patrick and this opportunity, it got me thinking tho ... hmmm could I design something that actually moved using only beads.  I quickly slipped into Melly World (an annoying state of mind for those who know me, particularly my husband, children and mother).. it is a state of mind that I can 'shut my ears off' and tap into my creative muse.  I sketched out only one design.  Patrick, in the meantime had contacted Marcia to enquire as to whether I might submit work for consideration.  Marcia was delighted with the suggestion so I set to work.

 

My design journal

The concept that I had in mind was a swinging pendulum as an actual neckpiece. I had an amazing faceted 34c Amethyst bead in my stash that I wanted to use as the actual pendulum weight, so the colour way was determined by the use of that single bead (joining Amethyst would be reds and golds). 

 

How to make it swing?  First I bezzeled a divine Swarovski Dentelle in the colour 'Light Siam'.  Size 60ss this sweet baby is vintage and discontinued, consequently a rare beauty.

 

From the Dentelle grew the barrel that the pendulum would swing from.  Next a beaded ring from which to suspend the pendulum. So that the pendulum did not slip around I had to design a chanel for the pendulum to sit within.  The beaded ring, barrel and chanel still had to allow for 'ease of swing' so significant fine tuning of the design was required at this time.  Now how to make it a vision of beauty ie a neckpiece worthy of the Gallery section of the esteemed Master Beader, Marcia DeCoster.  Not daunted I let the design 'rest' whilst my muse delivered the design .. I did not have to wait long.

 

The pendulum and side view of the barrel

The pendulum has to be at the base of the focal, where all good pendulum's are.  I designed a top half of the pendulum using another 60ss Dentelle, this time more heavily embellished and larger to aid in the balance of the focal. 

 

An initial join of the focals, but was abandoned.

The two focals joined using the rope feature

Then the next design hurdle presented itself ..how to join the two components?  I decided upon creating another barrel for the top Dentelle focal, then joining the two with a strap of herringbone.  Joining the top focal and the pendulum focal required the most design time.  Why?  Balance had to be considered, the pendulum had to swing unobstructed and it had to look beautiful.  Days of bead engineering, sampling, undoing, redoing, frustration and a couple of times total dispair as I could not achieve harmony between the focals. 

 

But patiance and engineering prevailed and the two focals were successfully joined and achieved all the target specifications ie to swing and to be functional.  I changed out the length of the pendulum to a shorter version, then created a bead cap to add further weight to add in functionality of the 'swing' factor of the pendulum.

 

Close up of the 34carat Amethyst drop

Next part of the project was to hang the pendulum focals.  I decided on twin strands of Swrarovski pearls and the addition of another two 60ss Dentelles. 



Connector lengthens the neckpiece

Connector removed shortens the neckpiece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the clasp.  I am a fan of magnetic clasps, I source the finest and the strongest from around the world.  The magnetic clasps used in this design are gold filled and small. 

 

An addition of a single beadwoven ring of beads sits between the clasp focals which are two, 60ss Dentelles. This acts as a neckpiece connector, ie remove it and the neckpiece is shorter by an inch or so.  Hepzibah's Pendulum required 2 full weeks of beading and designing.

 

An email from Dawn Dillingham arrived this morning from Lark Publishing.  The email confirmed that Hepzibah's Pendulum was selected and will be included in the Gallery of Marcia DeCoster's second book 'Beads in Motion'.  I am so thrilled and I am so delighted.  I am uncertain of the scheduled release date of the book, but it will be 2013.

 

Late last year, 2012 I submitted Hepzibah's Pendulum to the Fire Mountain Beads & Gems, Seed Bead Category contest, which is run annually.  I received confirmation that Hepzibah's Pendulum had been selected for second round judging, she is currently in the USA.  I look forward to hearing how she went.  I will let you know as soon as I do.

 

Patrick informed me today on reading my blog, that he too has had work accepted to appear in the book.  How fabulous to share the pages with my delightful and talented friend. 

Thank you to Patrick Duggan and Marcia DeCoster for this amazing opportunity to share my work with the world.  I am deeply grateful.

 

Happy Beading

Mel

.... currently heading off into Melly World to absorb inspiration for Bead Dreams 2013.

ps you may note that a photograph of the completed 'Hepzibah's Pendulum' is not included in this blog post .. once the book is published I will share a pic.


ps news to hand (April 2013) Hepzibah's Pendulum won the 2012 Bronze Medal, Seed Bead Category in the Fire Mountain Gems & Beads, jewelry contest which is run annually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Achieving Soutache Symmetry

Venetian Tango

Venetian Tango - Focal

Whilst wondering around Etsy.com in search of Soutache excellence to pin to my Board  'Soutache Extrodinaire' (yes I am Pinterest crazy right now).  I happened across a store that was selling a Soutache neckpiece for $175.  I looked closely argh .. cheap soutache, wonky stacking* and gasp .. symmetrical imperfection!  Now before I say anymore, lets just clear up that I do not claim to be the Queen of Soutache Embroidery, merely the Duchess of Symmetry (tongue in cheek of course).

Currently I am working on a Soutache piece entitled 'Venetian Tango' it's a vibrant piece using glass cabochons and beads from my vintage Venetian Millefiori collection,  The 'Tango' reference is ode to the vibrant red and black Soutache and sparkling movement the piece exudes.  I decided to share how I created two components for this to demonstrate how to achieve symmetry.

To achieve symmetrical perfection typically does not happen the first time you play with Soutache, indeed not the second or third time either.  Symmetrical perfection requires focus, steady hands, a good eye, technique and the final ingredient .. 'patience'. 

 

Creating Art is not a production line activity, so there is never a need to rush to finish, not ever.

Creating Symmetrical Perfection

Start by placing the components you want and lay them out in readyness.  I have two components here that require symmetrical perfection.

For these componets I precut  identical lengths of Soutache. I only use premium quality European Soutache. Soutache from 'Spotlight and/or Lincraft' is suitable for practice sampling only. 

I work from one component to the next, ie in tandem this way I am replicating identical components.

To ensure perfect symmetrical proportions of my fold back curls (we'll just call them curls for now).  I select the first component, ensure that my working thread (always use Fireline, typically I use 2lb or 4lb for sewing the Soutache) is exiting the edge of the back of the component (see pic below the 'white' line). 

 

See where the white line (Fireline) exits

Carefully fold back your Soutache stack of strands to form the curl, position them, ensuring the curl Soutache strands are carefully stacked.  Examine the curl, is it perfect?  If so, position the curl to the back of the cab by sewing through the ends of the Soutache and anchor it.  (At this point in time I like to sew through the curl stack to join the layers of Soutache).  Move to the second curl on the first cabochon.  Look at the first curl, then start creating the second curl.  Hold the ends with your fingers, now look at the curl .. ask yourself is it identical to the first curl? .. if not, redo it, keep redoing it until it is identical, then anchor it using your working thread.  Even after you have anchored the second curl, look at it again, from different angles, is it identical?  If not unpick and start again, as so often is said in Australia 'she'll be right mate' just will not do in this instance.

The first completed Compoent with Symmetrical Curls

The second component, this is where it starts to get a wee bit tricky as this one must be identical to the first component.  I understand that Soutache embroidery allows for 'organic movement' but typically the components must have symmetrical proportions.



Creating the Second Component
 

 

 

 

 

 

Once both components are completed, pick them up, look at them again 'Are they truly symmetrical?'

 

Remember your work is an extension of you, it reflects your design talent, craftsmanship, work ethics and your attention to detail.  Which in turn will reflect in your sales and return customers who will wait eagerly for your new designs. 



Symmetrical Components

Anneta Valious is releasing her new book, Soutache 30 Designs this June through Lark Publishing. My work appears in the Gallery of this book. 

 

If Soutache interests you this book is ideal for your library.  Keep out a watch for it on Amazon.com in the book section, typically new books from Lark Publishing are available for pre-order which saves you money from the cover price.  I will include the link to Amazon.com when the book is listed with them.

 

*Stacking refers to the layers of Soutache braid that 'lie' together.



Soutache Embroidery - Covering the back!

Whilst working with Soutache (my second love behind beadwork) I discovered a neat way of finishing the back area of your Soutache piece's. I like the back to look tidy and professional. I've called it the MI Method!

Step 1

Remove as much excess Soutache tails as possible, the less bulk the better.  Pin on a piece of tracing paper or baking paper, over the area to be concealed, ensure you press down and capture the folds of the Soutache.  Using a marker, draw the out the area to be concealed. See Step 1. 

 

Note: The surface area is increased by the folds of the Soutache tail bulk, this must be factored in when preparing the template.

Step 2

Remove the pins and cut the template out, not to the marker line, just roughly around the template. See Step 2.  

 

Step 3

Pin the template to your section of UltraSuede or Leather (or whatever it is that you prefer to work with).  I have pinned my template to UltraSuede (see Step 3).  Cut out the template.  Lay it carefully onto the area to be concealed.  I like to find a particular area on the Soutache piece to lay the UltraSuede onto first.  In this sample I have started at the top (see Step 4). 

 

Step 4

I use Loctite glue for my Soutache work as it adhere's immediately. Ensure that you glue and press the UltraSuede into the folds of the Soutache tails (this part is important!).

Step 5

Using a pair of small sharp scissors, carefully snip the excess away from the Soutache perimeters of the area to be concealed (see Step 5).  Do this slowly and carefully, adding dots of Loctite to the area to be glued, pressing down to ensure adhereance, then moving onto the next area.

Step 6

Using the MI Method I have been able to proudly finish the back area of my Soutache pieces to a professional standard (see Step 6). 

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

Gold Medal Winner - Presidents Award

The lovely Lauren Butler who is the Gold Medal First prize winner of the 2011 Swarovski Elements Fire Mountain Beads & Gems (FMG) Contest, enlightened me earlier this week that my design 'Lashed Lily' had in fact won the Gold Medal Prize Winner - Presidents Award for the 2011 Swarovski Elements Design Contest held annually by Fire Mountain Beads & Gems.

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It was a very nice surprise.  My Aussie beading buddy, Noel Wyres scored bronze with her design 'Bouquet' so collectively the Australian's did very well in this contest.

Comments taken from the Fire Mountain Beads & Gems website from the President of FMG "Stuart, a trained aeronautics engineer, gravitated toward the gorgeous geometrics and cleverly hidden side clasp in Melissa Ingram’s Lashed Lily necklace. Melissa used tubular peyote stitch to construct the necklace body, then assembled the cascading centerpiece with mathematical precision".

Lashed Lily is a right angle woven (unlike FMG who refer to the stitch as peyote) necklace strap (beads over armature), the magnetic clasp is hidden in the necklace strap. However the focal resembles a toggle clasp which was created using the Swarovski Square Ring Article 4439 and two Swarosvki 'Lily Focal's' Article 6904 that I simply 'lashed' together to form the toggle part of the clasp, albeit a faux toggle clasp. The design focal is embellished with Swarovski pearls and bicones. The colour way is largely green and purple with matt sterling plated Toho seed beads forming most of the beadwork.

Happy Beading

Mel

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

Bead Dreams 2012 - Bead Artistry Contest

Tequila Sunrise

So the results are out .. in fact they have been out for weeks ... but I have been overwhelemed with so much that blogging has not been a regular event.  I am happy to report that my entries 'Tequila Sunrise' and 'Melbournian' were not only finalists but place holders .. both of the them in fact! 

When you submit entries to Bead Dreams you pay the submission fee of $US30 and for that you may submit two pieces ... so I submitted Melbournian, just because!  Some of you may already know of this particular piece "Melbournian".  Melbournian will be published in the book Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry (Lark Publishing) (August 2012) she was selected along with my cuff design Magic Carpet Ride.  Thus Melbournian is not only an internationally published piece but also awarded as she is a Bead Dream finalist and Bead Dream 3rd Place winner in the Crystal Jewelry Category. 

 

 

What you might not know is that Melbournian was my 'grief' piece created when we moved from Melbourne, Victoria to Brisbane, Queensland.  My intention was to submit Melbournian to Bead Dreams 2011 but I just became overwhelmed from the move and did not complete her in time.  To date she is my most successful piece of beadwork.

Melbournian

Tequila Sunrise is the piece that I created and submitted for no other reason than Bead Dream's itself.  The bead woven fan design neckpiece took 5 months to design and bead and has won 3rd place in the Seed Bead Category.

 

 

As a first time entrant to this contest I am giddy with delight that I managed to achieve such a feat, twice!!

Tequila Sunrise and Melbournian returned home to Australia this week, complete with their respective ribbons, a box full of Swarovski Elements, the Swarovski magazine 'Sound', a congratulatory note from Kalambach Publishing and the Judges Notes.  I plan to talk about the Judges notes in particular as a separate blog as they are of considerable interest.

 

 

I intend submitting an entry/ies to the 2013 Bead Dreams Bead Artisty Contest.  Ideas have already formulated in my mind, however they need to stay there awhile longer as I am currently preparing beadwork for a new beading book about worldwide beading connections of which I will be a featured beading artist. 

Happy Beading
Mel