KR Designs 11 - Beadwoven Jewelry Blog

This blog is for my comments about making beadwoven jewelry, my inspirations, frustrations, and love of color.

The banner is Lilacs in Springtime, a free form peyote bracelet.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Art Fair Jury Photos

Applications for Art Fair season are due well before most people expect. The larger ones that are run by professional promoters are due in January in my area, with a few run by Art Leagues etc. accepted in the spring months. Amdur Productions has a January 3 deadline, so the holidays are a busy time to create new work, photograph the chosen items and then describe them using the specified number of keystrokes. I want to try to get into the best events that suit me, where my ideal customer will likely be.

I wanted to create items that appear to be in a collection, so I chose beads in a color family. Since I was inspired by Noreena Jasper which has grays, maroon reds and orange golds, I collected beads in those colors. I also try to create items which have a variety of price points to appeal to all pocketbooks, which can be a challenge in this economy. The jury will be viewing items in winter which my customers will see in the summer to early fall, so I chose neutral darker colors over pastels which may not appeal to the jury. There is no metal on any of the items.

My lowest price point is an all seed bead bracelet made in ladder stitch which is embellished with seed beads with a toggle closure.



My second item is a bracelet in tubular right angle weave which is embellished with Czech glass rounds, again with a toggle closure.



Using a Noreena Jasper bead as a pendant, I created a necklace with a spiral weave chain and toggle closure, using free form brick stitch around the jasper bead, attaching the pendant to the chain with loops of seed beads and ending with an asymmetrical fringe.



Using the Noreena Jasper, I created a bracelet around a large flat bead in free form brick stitch with a button and loop closure. It has lots of embellishment.



In case you are wondering where the Swarovski is, the maroon pearls are made by Swarovski and the button is Swarovski crystal.

Since I display my jewelry in shadow box cases by color, I will be adding earrings, more bracelets, and maybe a necklace or pins to the collection before show time. The jasper red has fire energy and is grounding. It is mined in western Australia.