Latest Works in Progress

Bracelet started in yesterdays class

Had a smaller class yesterday teaching Freeform Ruffles at Fusion Beads with only six students.  One of the things I love about the store is that as long as a class has four students, they let it run (at least for their local classes - not sure what they do with out of town intructors).  The smaller class size is really nice because I feel like I have more time to give each student individual attention.  

Since it's a freeform class, everyone gets to decide what type of project they want to make; they all chose to start on bracelets.  With six hours of class time, I warned that they'd likely be able to complete a smaller project like a pair of earrings or pendant, but would only get a good start on a larger project like a bracelet. My dream is to one day teach this as a two-day workshop.  The first day we'd cover the basic technique and structure, the second would give us time to look at all the various nuances of finishing a piece.  The design work that you don't really get to until you're well into the project.

Lamp worked bead by StudioJuls

Since I only had one day, I had to cram it all in to the time available.  Hopefully in an organized fashion.  I can only stitch so fast in a class setting, so right now I have several different works in progress I put together to show various stages of construction (in addition to the samples that will never be more than samples).  

Besides the bracelet I started in class, I have a pendant/brooch that's somewhere in the mid-stage of construction.  It's designed to show adding a focal bead, building alternate bead paths with bridges, and softening the blunt ends of the peyote stitch.  The focal bead is by Julianna Cannon of StudioJuls. I stung it with size 8 beads to either side, solving one of the potential problems of incorporating lampworked beads into seed beading.  Their larger center holes tend to swallow the smaller size 11s whole. The colors for this piece are drawn entirely from the focal.  While in the final design the blue/green/lavender will dominate, I'm drawing some darker lines first with the dark chocolaty, matte beads for contrast, though for some reason they look much lighter in the photograph.  Hmm...

Nearly finished

And I have this bracelet that's just a hair's breath away from completion.  I need to add the button, but before I do that, I need to decide if it is really and truly done.  Do any of the sections need more ruffling?  Do I want to add an accent edge of the shiny red rust beads to the central red ruffle?  Do I want to add a new bead bridge and potentially a whole new ruffle to the narrow edge (at the left of the square beads in the photo below)?  Or do I like the contrasting widths along the length of the bracelet?  It's the perpetual question of when exactly is an abstract piece 'done' and there's no definite right or wrong answer to any of them except that a paper clip is not an acceptable closure.

Trying to decide if the ruffles need more ruffling

Today and tomorrow, I'm focusing on earrings - two more days of my earring challenge and I'm so far behind it's just sad.  Can I complete 31 designs in 31 days?  It's not looking good, but we'll give it a shot.   Then, come February, I think it will be time for focus on several UFOs, including these three.