Vintage Porcelain Doll Face Cabochons

From left to right 'Lola', Missing #7, 'Nadine', 'Whitney', 'Veronica' and 'Edith' is centre (GI Jane is not shown).

Coco - Guardian Girl (Private Collection)

I purchased a large booty of vintage (1940's) minature, handpainted porcelain doll face cabochons from the US back in 2008.  The dealer knew very little about them; other than they were made in Taiwan and possibly from the 1940's.

I have 6 different  and beautiful face cabochons in 3 sizes listed in my Etsy store.  There is a 7th face cabochon, however I am having some difficulty locating her.  Each face is delicately handpainted and while each may look the same if you compare them they are in fact unique.  Some imperfections are present in some of the faces, but they are slight.  There are  no cracks or chips in any of the cabochons.

I got busy with them and created perhaps, twenty or so beaded girls.  I called the collection 'Guardian Girls', they all sold.

I lost interest in beading my girls, boxed and shelved them in my bead stash cupboards and moved on to beading other jewellery bits and pieces. 

I posted a pic of Coco (who now resides with my dear High School friend, Jane) an elaborately embellished Guardian Girl on Joanne Browne's (of JosJewels1) Facebook page as she was seeking inspiration for beading some face cabochons that she had been gifted. 

The interest in my girls was so great that I decided to list them in my Etsy store for others to share.  I listed them yesterday and overnight there was a flurry of activity.  I've got girls travelling to Mexico, Israel, the US and a few orders within Australia.

I charge only what Australia Post charge me ie there are no inflated postage rates or handing charges.  I will refund any postage over charge, guranteed.

I will reserve some girls to take with me to the Aussie Beading Retreats in September of this year to offer at the mini market (Friday night) along with other fabulous bits and bobs from my giant bead stash!!

Take heed though .. if you 'want em .. git em quick'.  The supply is not infinite and so when they are gone my friends, they are gone.  Happy Beading

Jenny (Private Collection)

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.

4 Year Anniversary with Australian Beading magazine

This is cover of the April 2012 edition of Australian Beading magazine, Vol 6. No.2.  This edition is especially poignant for me as both a project contributor and a beading artist.  The Editor, Kelly Nealon and the team announced me to the readers of the magazine as an 'Internationally Acclaimed Beading Artist'. 

It felt peculiar too have such high accolades not only spoken but printed on the cover of a magazine! 

I was emailed the .pdf of the cover prior to it's release but I did not see the top caption at first .. just saw my Spanish Dancer earring design (top right) on the cover.  Terrific .. I thought .. wow .. Mel, that is 5 times on the cover of this popular bead mag.  I looked at the mag cover at least 3 times again before I noticed the thin pink line at the top of the mag with white letters.  My first reaction was a big belly laugh .. I don't know why .. it just felt right.  I still now feel a little uncomfortable with the title.  I try to push aside my insecurities and difficulties with 'self promotion' I literally forced myself to include the title on such things as my Linked profile, my website, Facebook and other networking threads. My thought process being well if Australian Beading feel this way .. then so must I.

I thank the magazine deeply for their support of my jewellery projects and articles.  I have been writing for this publication for exactly 4 years this April.  It is fitting too that the April edition, my 4th year as a contributor that I have grown to become an 'internationally acclaimed beading artist'.

ps for those wondering how this came about .. two of my beadwork pieces were included in the prestigous 500 Series by Lark Publishing.  Lark Publishing a US publishing house will release on August 2012 'Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry'.  I am extremely proud to be a part of this publication. I have two beadwork pieces currently in the US with the Bead & Button team awaiting further jurying for both the Seed Bead Category and the Crystal Jewelry Category.  I have one other piece of beadwork also in the US with Fire Mountain Beads & Gems as a finalist with their Swarovski Crystal Jewelry Competition.

pss The Spanish Dancer earring pattern/tutorial appears on page 108.

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)

No More Commissions - So Sorry.

It is with regret that I have to withdraw providing private commission bespoke jewellery.  Why?. Time, or rather lack of. 

There really is no room in my busy life for beading at all, yet I pursue this passion because it is very much an essential part of my being and life journey which includes such things as cell division and breathing.  It is that important to me.  However I am feeling incredibly strained with all of my beading commitments so much so that I have had to say no, somewhere and commissions have to cease at this point in time.

I will continue with my Beadwork competition pieces, samples of Beading & Soutache experimentation and exploration, teaching workshops, Australian Beading magazine projects and tutorials and the odd piece of finished Beadwork or Soutache that I will make available for sale in my Etsy store, Facebooking, Blogging and general other Beading or Soutache 'stuff'.

I was never in this artform for any financial gain, it is just something that is intrinsically a part of me and something that I must do and be involved in despite the exhausting effects of juggling family, domestic duty, sleep, exercise ... and of course the list goes on and on because life is just so busy these days.

Mel

Tequila Sunrise - A Beadwork Fan - Bead Dreams 2012

Tequila Sunrise - A Beadwork Fan Neckpiece

April last year I failed to complete my first ever Bead Dream beadwork entry due to many factors, primarily we had to move (ever so reluctantly) from Melbourne to Brisbane due to my husbands employment.  The submission date passed and I steadily toiled to complete 'Melbournian' which in fact was my 'grief' piece to settle my nerves at having to leave my beloved Melbourne.  All was not lost though as months later 'Melbournian' (along with one other design 'Magic Carpet Ride' Cuff) was selected for inclusion in the Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry book that will be released August 7, 2012!!

Bead Dream 2012 I was absolutely determined to make the submission date so I began designing and planning my submission back in late August/September 2011.  It did not take me long to visulize a fan design and I began looking at lots and lots of images of fans through 'Images' on Google.

Looking at the images on Google I was able to understand the actual fan design and construction, the different styles and ways the fan was decorated or embellished.  I searched 'beaded fans' and surprisingly only two beadwork designers (well known and highly talented designers I might add!!) had designed some beadwork pieces that resembled the familiar and classic fan shape .. Smadar Grossman of Smaders Treasures and Marcia DeCoster of MADDesigns.

I wanted my piece to be large and of course that meant sculptural.  I had taught myself cubic right angle weave (CRAW) thanks to Heather Collins of Studio183 YouTube video demonstration (which I highly recommend).

The beadwork fan is largely cubic right angle weave, the curve of the fan was achieved by CRAW beadwork sections then joining them together. Embellishing the fan was just a natural progression of design 'play' and I purchased a lot of elements as I went along that I thought would work well with the design.  Consequently I have a huge box full of elements that did not work with this design .. I am sure they will work with another though.

Tequila Sunrise

More times than I like to remember I undid hours of beadwork and redid just to achieve a particular look or shape to the fan design.  About 200 yards of Fireline, Wildfire and Invisbraid beading threads are worked into this piece.  I have not used a single Delica in this design all the beadwork is either Toho or Miyuki seed beads in sizes ranging from size 15 up to size 6.  I have used Toho glass drops in Matt Gold which were really expensive and acquired from Laura McCabes website.  The colour way (color way for my American friends) is made up of many, many different bead colours and types.  I opted for the more expensive Duracoat seed beads as I definately did not want the colour rubbing off.  Some of the colours used included Dyed Smokey Light Rose Alabaster, Topaz Gold Lustre, Galvanized Champagne, Galvanised Dark Berry, various Bronz/Gold tones and Gold plated size 15 seed beads. 

I used a very rare and vintage Swarovski stone as my focal an Art. 4723 Topaz Cal which was a special edition, they are triangular.  I used Albion Stitch to bezel the stone then heavily embellished it with size 15 Toho seed beads and Swarovski Crystal pearls.

Art. 4723 unfoiled Topaz Cal Special (vintage)

I used vintage gold plate Maderia Topaz 2 hole montees which are sewn between the base of each of the blades of the fan design.  Swarovski Crystal 3mm bicones in 'Copper Crystal' adorn the blades along with vintage Swarovski Crystal 47ss Chatons in Maderia Topaz.  Each 47ss Chaton has been bezzeled using three beading stiches, each took about 40 minutes to bead.  It took me weeks to design a thread path method of beading a bezel for each of these small Chatons.

The collar is similar to that of my beadwork neckpiece 'Melbournian', although it is quite different in many ways.  I devised a way of being able to 'anchor' the pearl strand to the beadwork which makes it remarkably strong.  The collar is made up of various sized Swarovski pearls leading towards a structural piece which is tube armature, surrounded by right angle woven beads, then further embellished with netting stitch.  The toggle clasp has been constructed by using a Swarovski Cosmic Ring attached with a section of my 'winged bail' design.  The 'toggle' has been woven using embellished CRAW and the ends of the toggle have oval shaped Topaz Montees sewn into the void

Close up of the 'collar' and Toggle Clasp.

How did I visualize and bring Tequila Sunrise to life ... don't know .. just did.  I simply loved the idea of a beaded fan and felt immensly challenged as to how I could articulate the 'fan' design in my head into reality using only beads.  I hope you enjoy looking at 'Tequila Sunrise' as much as I did creating her.  She was a trial but also a joy and I miss that I can no longer work on her.  I will be investigating my beadwork fan designs further though .. I am in total love with the concept and embrace the challenge. The next one will not be quite as large though!

Tequila Sunrise as a name for this beadwork piece was born of the actual fan design and the colour way which lends itself to the classic cocktail 'Tequila Sunrise' as the Grenadine floats and diffuses through the Orange Juice.

I wish every entrant to this fantastic competition the very best of luck and may the best design in every category win!  Good luck!!

Happy Beading my friends.. Mel

PS ... So utterly intense was my ambition to complete this piece that I worked on it night and day solidly for about 6 weeks which equates to about 200+ hours of actual bead time. I wear prescription glasses and used my lit magnifyer every time I worked on the piece but despite this I am now awaiting my new prescription glasses .. so I in fact wore my eyes out!!

Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry - Lark Publishing

Last year I submitted three pieces of my beadwork to Lark Publishing as hopefuls for inclusion in a book that was to form part of the very popular '500 Series'.  I completed several beadwork pieces and had them professionally photographed by Thaddeus of TWK Studios who expertly took the photographs. Lark Publishing stated that a 'great' photograph was everything as you could present a fantastic design but be denied due to the quality of the photograph.  So for me this was a 'no brainer' just hire a photographer!!

February I received an email that contained the most amazing news ... my beadwork neckpiece 'Melbournian' had been selected for inclusion in the book.  I was so in shock and excited all at once that I actually had to sit down on the floor straight away.  How could this be I thought ... Melbournian is in .. she's in!!  I emailed all my family and phoned my husband .. so high on life was I.  I shared the news with my Facebook friends then shared the news with my peeps on my page.  I was on a high all day .. I decided that I needed a lie down as the excitement was (dare I say) a little too much.  I laid down and then picked up my iPhone and scrolled through my messages then noted a second email from Lark Publishing that I had missed earlier?? I clicked and to my utter astonishment my beadwork cuff  'Magic Carpet Ride' had too been selected for inclusion in the book!  I took a deep breath was this so .. had two out of my three submissions been selected.  This was so huge I did not do anything for about 10 minutes, then I phoned my husband and shared my news, emailed my family again and advised my Facebook friends and peeps of my 'missed' email news. 

I was always remember that day, it was a highlight of my beading career and my life.  The book will be released August 7, 2012.  I look forward to that day I have 3 copies pre-ordered for family members.  Lark Publishing will send me a free book due to my beadwork inclusion in the book.

I deeply thank Lark Publishing, Ray Hemachandra (Editor) and Lark Publishing staff for this honour and amazing opportunity for selecting my beadwork for inclusion in such a wonderful book 'Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry'.