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.

Three in Three Years ... the dream faded.

2012 and 2013 were consecutive and successful beading years for me.  Four of my beadwork designs were selected and made their long journey to Milwaukee USA from Australia to be inside the Cabinet of Dreams. 

What cabinet is this I'm talking about you ask?? .. At the entrance to the Bead & Button show every year is a glass cabinet that contains the Finalists and winners of the Bead Dreams contest for that particular year. It is hallowed ground for beaders.

This year I beaded a single design to enter the Bead Dreams 2014 contest with. Dearly hoping I could achieve 'Three in Three Years with my work being chosen to be either a Finalists or even a winner of this epic contest.

Now I understand completely that there were no guarantees that my work would have even made the cut this year, but everyone can dream .. right .. This is the Bead Dream contest after all.

Despite gruelling hours of beading right up to the last few hours before the contest closed I was unable to complete my design. I packed it away and sulked for a few days.

I achieved Two in Two years and I am grateful and happy with that achievement. I will enter my 'as yet unfinished' design into the Bead Dreams 2015 contest. I have more than plenty of time to finish it graciously.

I have many friends whose work has already been chosen as Finalists. Currently their work awaits final judging that will be announced around when the Bead & Button show kicks off. I wish all of them the very best of luck.

Happy Beading my friends .. x

Finalist & Crystal Jewelry 3rd place Winner
Bead Dreams 2012

Finalist & Seed Bead Jewelry 3rd place Winner
Bead Dreams 2012

Finalist
Bead Dreams 2013

Finalist
Bead Dreams 2013

The International Bead Awards 2015

 

Earlier this year I was invited by the (then) Editor, Verena Greene-Christ from the European beading magazine Perlen Poesis to be a member of the judging panel for the European contest, International Bead Awards 2015. (see link for more details).

Delighted, I agreed.

The judging panel consists of Melissa Ingram (me), Isabella Lam, Sherry Serafini, Martina Nagele and Helena Tang-Lim.

The details for the contest are:

Beads must be strung using thread or wire in the commonly known techniques; they can, however, be combined with other materials such as polymer clay, paper, leather, metal, etc. Lampworkers are also welcome.

 

The world — its nations and peoples are many and varied. We want to showcase this with the help of your beadwork.

  

There are two categories WEARABLE JEWELRY (for both men and women) and OBJECTS OF ART. There will be 5 winners in each category, as well as a Readers’ Choice Award

  

Entry begins: October 1, 2014
Deadline: December 31, 2014

Nominees will be announced in the Spring 2015 issue of Perlen Poesie. Winners will be presented at the 5th BEADERS BEST Bead Art Fair in 2015.

Oddly the prizes for the winners has not been advised at this time.  I will update this blog with the details as soon as I know.

 

Marcia DeCoster Presents Interviews with 30 Beaders on Inspiration & Technique

Melissa Ingram with Willo and Hudson.

I think it must have been mid to late 2012 when the lovely Marcia DeCoster messaged me on Facebook enquiring if I would like to be included in her third venture with Lark Publishing. The book was to be a compilation of 30 Beaders sharing their inspirations and techniques.

 

I answered with an immediate 'yes please'.  I mean ... who would not!! How exciting to be invited to participate in such a publication.  It took me all day to float down from my hyper happy state.

 

The book shares insights into each represented beaders thought processes, where their inspiration's arrive from, techniques and images of their work. This book is a must for every beader. 

 

I share the pages with talented beaders and friends.  I am deeply honoured for the inclusion, without a doubt this is one of the true highlights of my beading journey.  I thank Marcia DeCoster deeply for the invitation.

 

Marcia DeCoster and I. Melbourne, Australia 2010.

Marcia is a leader in the world of beading and shares her experience, knowledge and skills of beadwork with the beading world and the beading world love her for it.

 



Now available on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Marcia-DeCoster-Presents-Interviews-Inspiration/dp/1454707976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383410320&sr=8-1&keywords=marcia+decosters+presents

 

 

Goodbye 2013 ... Hello 2014

2013 for me will be remembered as a year that was not particular eventful in terms of my beading.

 

Unlike 2012 I was spectacularly silent in terms of beading. 

 

Ok .. so having said that I was a finalist with both Arabesque Armour and The Jewelled Net of Indra at the 2013 Bead Dreams contest.  Then my bead embroidered neck piece, 'Drama Queen' came 2nd in the British Bead Awards.  I was delighted with those achievements.



Drama Queen
2nd Place. 2012 British Bead Awards
Beaded Jewelry Category

Marcia DeCoster's 2nd book 'Beads In Motion' was published and included in the Gallery of this magnificent beading book is my design 'Hepzibah's Pendulum' neck piece (pg. 121).  The neck piece includes an actual moving pendulum which required significant engineering for it to actually swing. I dearly thank Marcia for the opportunity.

 

I withdrew from beading as far back as May and not because it was a conscious decision to step away but rather because other parts of my life required my attention.   

 

Inspiration and my meddling muse however, did not stop.  In fact my journal is full of scribblings and notes that were offered to me as suggestions for designs or thread path wanderings.

 

I do hope I can produce some really good work in 2014.  Happy New Year everyone x

Pinterest. My new Friend

Pinterest was launched March, 2010, but oddly I did not discover Pinterest until  early 2013.  Pinterest is a wonderful tool for collecting and storing digital images, Blogs and links on a 'Board' you create within an account, online.  For non-business Pinners like me, it's Free. 

My current count of boards is a total of 70 with more than 11,000 Pins.  I know this will increase as I discover new ideas and interests.  I am a serial Pinner.  What is that you ask?  Well, I pin everyday.  If I'm waiting for my coffee to be made at a coffee shop. . I'll pin whilst waiting.  If I'm standing in a queue ... I'll pin whilst waiting.  It's a magnificent time filler and you get to see or learn about so many things. 

 

For my beadwork I draw inspiration from everywhere, thus I am able to 'store' my inspiration sources through the use of these 'Boards'.  My interests are many and varied and include Art Deco Jewellery, Antique Jewellery (Jewelry), Art Noveau Jewellery, Colour (Color) ways from Nature, Bow Chic, Textile Embellishment, Chanel, Soutache Jewellery, The Great Gatby 2013, Paris and Audrey Hepburn,  and Swarovski (to name a few).  I love being a Pinner, it is a really great past time. 

My Beaded Beauty (wearable and non-wearable art) Board is my most followed board, with over 1000 pins (images) I have currently more than 700 followers.  Who are followers you say?  Quite simply they are fellow Pinners whose interest is also beaded jewellery.  They, the fellow pinners like to repin Pins to their Boards or simply just watch the pins in their Home Feed when they feel like visiting Pinterest.  At this moment in time collectively 1652 people (followers) actively follow what I Pin to my Boards, this increases every single day.  I get a kick from new followers joining my Pinterest gang, they're more than welcome to join my Pinterest sojourn.

 

There are Pinners who have more than a million followers!

 

The current tally for worldwide Pinners is more than 70 million! Pinterest have a Blog, Facebook, Press Page and are based in California.  

 

A few weeks  back whilst looking through Pinterest and following threads I came across a particular Board that fell under the genre title of 'History'.  I followed the thread and discovered daguerreotype post mortem portraits which were very common in the nineteenth century. Mortality rates were high in these times, particularly for infants and children.  Early Victorian's preferred to have an image of a deceased loved one rather than have no memory at all.   Because photography was in its infancy it was extremely expensive to be photographed, thus usually this was the only photograph taken of a family member.  Eyes were painted on closed eyelids, colour was added to imges to add a 'life' like look to the decesaed. Custom metal frames were used so that the deceased could stand upright for their photograph.  Sometimes, 'alive' family members were included in the photograph along with the deceased. Some may say creepy .. but I say it was their way of honouring their loved ones and having a lasting momento.

 

As a pinner I have followed countless threads within Pinterest and consequently I have seen images of  the beautiful Evelyn McHale, the woman who ended her life on the 1st of May 1947 by jumping from the Empire State building and landing on a parked car below.  Photography student, Robert Wiles took the last sad image of her which was then published in Life magazine at the time.

 

I have seen JFK's body on an autoposy slab following his November 22, 1963, assasination. I have seen grizzly crime scenes, the shocking scene of Sharon Tate lying dead following the Manson's murderous rampage.  I have seen the image of an overweight woman who suicided in a bath of water. A body allowed to decompose for a consierable length of time in water is not a sight that many could stomach. I have seen dismembered and decapitated bodies that the Mexican Drug Cartel's were responsible for, learned about "The Body Farm" (a plot of land where bodies offered for science are left so that Forensic students can learn about exposure and the process of decomposition).

 

I have seen images of murderers and learned and sometimes seen image/s of their horrific crimes.  Seen colour photographs of car accident victims, pedestrian accidents, suicide by gunshot or hanging.  I saw a moving image of a grief stricken, Anna Nicole Smith cradling her beloved son Daniel after he had died from an overdose. Holocaust photographs, graphic colour autopsy photographs, human genitals in plastic bags and exhumed bodies.  I discovered and saw photographs of the atrocity known as the Nanjing Massacre, by the Japanese against the Chinese in 1937, unpublished images of 911 and a post mortem photograph of Osama Bin Laden,  

 

The list of horrific images is long as was the time I spent watching the macabre photostream on my Ipad  Why did I look?  I was driven by nothing more than curiosity.  I imagine I have seen everything there is to see of this sort of imagery on Pinterest now.  I will not look again.  Following the marathon of looking at the images I was left with a sickness in the pit of my stomach that would not go away for a long time.  The images plagued me in my dreams a few times, but mostly it just left me with a heightened sense of mortality, a deep sense of sadness for the victims photographed and a restless feeling of being unsafe. 

 

Despite my journey into the macabre and disturbing I still value and adore Pinterest as a wonderful form of Social Media.  I know that there is a dark side, but I have closed that door.

 

Interesting Pinterest facts on Wikipedia

Note: I work hard to include the Artist along with the image on my Beaded Beauty & Soutache Boards.  I apologise for any misrepresentation of an image that may be yours.  Please contact me to rectify any discrepancies. 

 

Bead Dream Winners 2013

This year I was delighted to be a finalist in both the Seed Bead and Crystal Jewelry Categories in the prestigous Bead Dreams, Bead Artistry Contest (Milwaukee, USA). 

No wins this year, but a finalist for two years running is an achievement I not ever imagined possible.

Congratulations to each and every winner and finalist at this years Bead Dreams contest.

Crystal Jewelry Cateogory Finalist 2013.  The Jewelled Net of Indra

The Jewelled Net of Indra



The Jewelled Net of Indra

Seed Bead Jewelry Category Finalist & Top 5 Battle of the Beadsmith Finalist Arabesque Armour

Arabesque Armour

Best in Show

Carpet "Anastasia" by Tatiana Fitzpatrick

Best in Show runner up

Mira by Sarah Thompson, Wash.

The People's Choice Award: to be advised after June 12.

Lampwork/Glass

1st Place - Floral Wedding Set by Barbara Caraway, AK,

2nd Place - Winter Dreams by Susan Matych-Hager,

3rd Place - Bee Hive by Stephanie White, Ga.

Polymer Clay

1st Place - Reggae Necklace by Melanie Muir, United Kingdom,

2nd Place - Gigantical Fantastical Spider Ring by Kathleen Bingaman, Mich.

3rd Place - Les Fleurs de Paradis by Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg, Conn.

Crystal Jewelry

1st Place - Crystal Waterfall by Alla Maslennikova,

2nd Place - Mukades by Guzialia Reed,

3rd Place - Tattered by Diane Hyde,

Metal Clay

1st Place - The Ruins by Christie Anderson, Ariz

2nd Place - Growth by Julia Rai

3rd Place - Mokume Gane Tortoise by Cindy Pankopf, Calif.

Wirework

1st Place - Mira by Sarah Thompson, Wash.

2nd Place - Phoenix Jacket by Vanessa Walilko, Ill.

3rd Place - Penny Pincher by Omniobadiah Mee

Handmade Buttons or Beads

1st Place - Robot Party by Joan Miller, Fla.

2nd Place - Dragonflies by Joan Miller, Fla.

3rd Place - Tuscany Flowers by Vladislav Ivanov and Kremena Ivanova

Finished Jewelry

1st Place - Demon of Screamin' a Dedication by Sherry Serafini, Pa.

2nd Place - Angel Armor by Heidi Kummli, Colo.

3rd Place - Jurassic by Anneta Valious

Seed Bead Jewelry

1st Place - Blue Feather by Andrea Grzabka, Calif.

2nd Place - Picnic in May on Lilac Way by Marsha Wiest-Hines

3rd Place - Violet Blossoms by Gabriela Mendez Fernandez, Spain

Objects or Accessories

1st Place - Carpet "Anastasia" by Tatiana Fitzpatrick

2nd Place - "Peep Show" Beaded Corset by Laura McCabe

3rd Place - Baas by Gabriella Van Diepen