Art Fair Applications

These images are from art fair submissions due tonight, so you can be the jury. Will I get in the show or be declined?

Right angle weave

Thanks for the comments. Welcome new follower and all. The banner is a free form peyote bracelet I made inspired by a seed bead mix called lilacs in springtime. I loved lilacs in my Grandmother's back yard. I have a new memory card for my camera, but Photoshop Elements is not working the way it used to so maybe I should send it to bed without any potato chips as a bedtime snack!

It is only fair to let you know I didn't make the bracelets posted a couple days ago immediately after reading Jeannette Cook's Beadwork article. My first multiple row right angle weave bracelet was made with Miyuki size 11 beads with two beads on a side and has 5 rows. The next bracelet I used delicas because I felt comfortable with the stitch. I have photos of the front and back of the bracelet to show here. I will list it for sale in my shop, http://KRDesigns11.etsy.com/

I used Czech size 4 mm rounds in a clear green to match the minty green seed beads. I had some vintage beads which I put down the middle row using a white opaque seed bead to stitch each bead on. These beads are larger than the right angle weave space so the bracelet isn't flat on the bottom, but it does lay flat on my wrist. If you made a bracelet using only the 4 mm Czech rounds, you won't have this issue. The closure is a peyote stitch bar and loop toggle, but you could sew on (with beads) a metal clasp.

Let me know how your bracelet turns out if you decide to try it. I love right angle stitch. You can practice getting the sides even; it's easier to do than peyote stitch. Unless you do two needle right angle stitch.

Photography Lessons

Welcome new follower and all. I'll get back to the right angle weave topic tomorrow.

I planned to take pictures today of my first attempts at multiple right angle weave bracelets. They're pretty greens and will make lovely photos. When I put the memory card in the camera, the camera displayed that it was locked. When I looked at the memory card, there was nothing to slide to unlock it. So another thing to consider when you buy cards is how likely will that piece come off. I have a 4gb card, but I bet I didn't use half of the memory--I don't want to know. So that is a expense I didn't count on. Tomorrow morning I will buy a new one and click away on my jewelry.

The lights I purchased with my new camera (November) are daylight CFLs and I like them because they do not heat up. I do have OTT lamps, but did not like the color cast. I, too, would love to photograph outdoors, but I live near Chicago and it's unpredictable--besides I'm not a morning person. Any comments on photography?

More on Right Angle Weave Bead Weaving Stitch

I searched for the photos of bracelets I made inspired by the Beadwork Magazine article written by Jeannette Cook which I used to learn right angle weave multiple rows. If you haven't looked at her work or found the article with pictures, she created a painting with crystals on a base of right angle weave. I also learned how to leave space open for a button hole.

The two scenes I decided to create were based on Monet Waterlilies and a Sunset. I'm going to let the pictures be the post. The photographs show the front which is crystals; the back is 12 x 50 rows of right angle weave using Miyuki delica beads with 2 size 11 beads on a side. That's almost 600 Swarovski 4 mm bicones. The button on Sunset is seed beads in peyote in the round.

Jeannette Cook's article inspired me. See my previous post for her shop url.

Right Angle Weave Stitch

Today I finished a Night Blue Swarovski pearl bracelet done in right angle weave stitch. It has hematite color size 15 charlotte seed beads connecting the pearls. Swarovski makes great glass pearls; freshwater ones and Chinese glass pearls often have tiny holes and excess coating on the hole ends. This makes for not a fun experience--picture me with my awl trying to get the holes larger.

Charlottes are seed beads with one side sliced off to give it a facet and more sparkle. These are very small beads. I often use the same style clasp in my work unless it is an artsy piece when the closure is usually a beaded one. Using the same clasp means I can order multiples and save money on the purchase price of each.

I like right angle weave stitch a lot and this style seems to be more popular and affordable than my one of a kind projects. I will take the blue one to the Illinois Artisan Shop in the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. I have a photo of a white pearl with silver charlottes and a sterling silver toggle clasp that I will put in this blog. I can either keep my commitment to myself to blog daily or take a photo of the blue one.

I am grateful to Jeannette Cook for her article in Beadwork Magazine teaching right angle stitch. If you want some eye candy, check her out. She has kits and instructions for sale. http://beadyeyedwomen.com/

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the bracelets I made inspired by her article.

Thanks to my first two followers from etsy. I learned how to "heart" a shop and to become a follower on a blog.

Use the Muse IV Contest

The challenge was to write an entry in your blog and post it by 2/24/10 linked to the use the muse website blog. Also I would be entered into a drawing for the coveted free beads if I wrote about my main motivation for entering Use the Muse IV.

The Use the Muse IV contest is officially starting. February 24 is the last day to sign up for a kit and receive the preorder price. http://usethemuse.com/ I ordered mine after Christmas, hoping it would make it start sooner, but patience is one of my life lessons.

My main motivation for entering Use the Muse IV is to set deadlines for me. This blog may not have existed if it were not for this contest. On Use the Muse III, I entered because I thought I wanted to see my beaded jewelry on an international site--it is there. I needed to purchase a camera and lighting equipment to photograph my entry by the November deadline, so I also added that skill. I used it to set up my etsy shop.
http://www.krdesigns11.etsy.com/

I felt I won, even though officially I didn't get any of the prizes--those gorgeous beads. Using the discount from
http://www.artbeads.com/
I purchased a jet black Swarovski cabochon for my bead stash. My personal treat for following through on something I wanted to do for me!

The entry purchases an attractively packaged group of beads the entrants work from plus the "MUSE" which is a secret component each entrant must use. The collections always challenge me to do something I haven't done before, new items, techniques, color palates. I haven't seen the MUSE IV yet, but the kit has wooden pieces and colors I have not created with previously. But I'm waiting to see the Muse which will be mailed out to me the end of this week before I decide what to create. After all, it is the Muse!