Sping Ring Fling May Day Celebration and Blog Hop

A little May Day posy of Spring blooms

Happy May Day! 

I've always loved the idea of hanging little posies on friends and neighbors' doors to celebrate the optimism of the season on the first day of May.  I've never actually run around the neighborhood hanging mini-bouquets off of neighbors doors, but it always seemed like fun.  Instead, this year, I'm hosting a virtual May Day celebration with my first-ever freeform peyote Spring Ring Fling Blog Hop and Challenge.

Many, many thanks to everyone who accepted the challenge to make a ring or rings inspired by the season: 

* Svetlana, Svetlana’s Gallery
* Lori Finney, Using My Beads
* Monika Burzyńska, Sztuka Magiczina
* Teresa Shelton, KeyGirl Designs
* Vanessa Walilko, Kali Butterfly

Trees Budding celebrates the first signs of spring, as buds emerge on the trees

April found me traveling from Boston, to mid-Missouri, and back to Seattle.  I was struck by how much Spring's timing differs from place to place.  The wisteria and cherries had just begun blooming in our yard in early April.  Later that day, I discovered spring was just starting to unfurl in Boston.  It had snowed in Boston earlier that week and the snow had just melted!  So my first ring is for my friends over there on the 'other' coast. 

A view from the back/underside of the ring

Trees Budding (I'm still working on the name) celebrates one of the earliest signs of spring, as the buds swell on the trees.  So many of these early buds have a lovely red-orange cast.

Dyed jasper rounds nestle into a background of soft greens and the coral of dogwood stems. "Magic Apple" Riso seed beads remind me of the texture of the spiky maple 'flowers'.  (I checked on wikipedia, and they do call them flowers!)

This photo of apple blossoms from my yard started the ideas peculating for my second ring.  I snapped the photo as I was heading to the airport on my way to visit family in mid-Missouri, where I discovered my parents' cherry tree covered with snow white blooms.

Combine that with a foray to Itchy's, my father's favorite thrift shop where I picked up a 100yard spool of 3/8" white satin ribbon for a grand total of $5.00, and my second ring was born.

a side view of Karen's Apple Blossom ring

This ring was a little blast from the past - old favorites meets new(er).  I've always loved ribbon worked flowers, and used to teach how to make them back in the early nineties when my focus was more on crazy quilting and embellished embroidery.

I made three little blossoms and an apple bud, then set them aside and worked on my freeform peyote ring base.





 Once I had the base, I stitched each of the flowers in place, using apple green, transparent magatamas and 6mm bugles to add additional textures to the bouquet.

Worn, the blossoms almost complete hide the structure of the ring

The beading is almost a little secret for the wearer

So there are my little spring posies.  Now it's time for me to go see everyone elses' lovely creations in this May Day Celebration! Here's the list again:

Karen Williams, Baublicious (you're here)
Svetlana, Svetlana’s Gallery
Lori Finney, Using My Beads
Monika Burzyńska, Sztuka Magiczina
Teresa Shelton, KeyGirl Designs
Vanessa Walilko, Kali Butterfly

Teresa Shelton's Spring Ring Fling

Spring inspiration, Teresa Shelton

Teresa Shelton jumped into the Spring Ring Fling with both feet, creating not one, not two, not even three, but four separate rings.  Here's Teresa talking about her designs:

It’s been so long since I did freeform peyote work that I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the freedom of it. For the past several years I’ve primarily been doing a lot of geometric beadwork which is rigid in form and structure but still creative in application. Once I got started on the first ring, the joy of freeform expression was familiar and inviting, much like reconnecting with an old friend, and I savored the chance to fall back into those comfortable rhythms.

Spring is my favorite time of year and I can’t wait to see everything wake up again and return to life. The first ring is inspired by the first apple buds and leaves that sprout from dormant branches and yearn for the Spring sun. At our house, the apple tree vibrates and hums as the bees find the bounty in their early blossoms. The ring, Apple Blossoms, was started shank first with a single row of beads followed by several rounds of freeform peyote. The branch, leaves, and blossoms were beaded separately and then attached to the shank through a flat washer looking trade bead which has an added bonus of allowing the branch to rotate on top of the shank.

Teresa Shelton's Apple Blossom Ring

After the first ring was well under way, so many more Spring Fling ring inspirations hit me all at once and I wondered if I’d find the time to create everything I was exploring in my head. Daffodils are my favorite flower and one of the first Spring flowers to bloom in our yard. Several years ago, I purchased a lampworked daffodil bead from Serena Smith at a local bead show and tucked it into my purse. When I got home, I found one daffodil petal had broken from banging around against who-knows-what in my purse.


I kept the broken bead and figured I would find a way to use it in time (The beads tell me what they want when the time is right, I have only to listen and wait for their suggestions). First Bloom gave me the opportunity to use this beautiful but neglected bead. The single missing petal was created with seed beads, then a blend of freeform peyote and 5 sets of geometric herringbone increases was sculpted around the base of the bead. The shank was created and added after the flower, petal, and foliage were assembled.

Teresa Shelton's First Bloom

Teresa's First Bloom, worn

A side view of Teresa's ring (it's easier to see the beading)

Why stop at two rings when there was a whole month to create and rings only use a few hours of stolen time?

Spirals are everywhere in nature and the universe, and I seem to gravitate to this shape so why not explore it in beads. In New Zealand, the spiral-shaped Maori koru is reminiscent of an unfurling fern frond, symbolizing new beginnings – yet another Spring theme. I usually steer clear of pink in my beadwork and never pair pink with orange but a beader friend of mine recently made me some earrings in hot pink, orange, bright green and bronze. Everyone I’ve shown them to loves the color combination so I guess it was time to emerge from my habitually comfortable color cave and see what new paths I could discover. New Beginnings started with the spiral and worked from the center out. The shank was beaded later and has a diagonal transition in two locations between the hot pink and orange colors so they also spiral around the shank.

Teresa Shelton's New Beginnings spiral

a side view of Teresa's ring

starting point for Pacified

The final ring in this series, Pacified, blends my love of the geometric beadwork with the freedom of freeform peyote. I had an older exploded warped square (technique from Contemporary Geometric Beadwork) in pastel colors which reminds me of the soft, muted sunlight emerging in Spring. The shank is a simple square-stitch connection of two of the warped square tips which creates an open ring base to build from. To the base, I added several lacy trusses of netting and introduced peyote in subsequent passes to add structure and support for the heavier beads near the top of the ring. After it was completed, my husband commented that it looked like a pacifier with the center tear-dropped focal extending up so high.

Teresa Shelton's final ring, Pacified

Thanks Karen for organizing and facilitating this challenge as well as hosting me as a guest blogger on your site.

****

Teresa Shelton, who beads under the pseudonym Keygirl, has been creating art with seed beads for over 25 years. You can see more of her work on her Facebook Artist’s page or e-mail her at keygirl designs gmail com. 

The Color of Red Freeform Peyote Challenge

Thought I'd take a break from working on my upcoming Kickstarter campaign to share something fun happening over on the Freeform Peyote Facebook group.

Based off of the survey Mandi conducted last year, we've decided to host regular freeform challenges. 

This month, the challenge is:






  


The Color Red
Reveal: February 15th

Red. It's the color from Christmas, to Chinese New Year, through to Valentine's Day. The color carries so many meanings - love, passion, heat, danger, adventure. In old Russian, they used the same word for 'red' and 'beautiful' (guess how Red Square got it's name).  Mandi noted that red is also a color of wealth in feng shui, with people painting their front doors red to welcome wealth in.

What does red mean to you?

A little inspiration

This month, we challenge you to use red in one of your pieces. Anything from a wash of red to a single drop - the choice is yours. Then tell us about any special meanings the color has for you in your piece.

Your piece must include freeform peyote, but may include other beading stitches or mixed media techniques as well and is not limited to jewelry.

On February 15th, I will set up a special 'The Color Red Challenge' album to make it easier for everyone to find all of the pieces from this challenge.  Members of the group participating in the challenge can load your images to this album, making it easier for everyone to see the entire challenge as a whole. No signups required.




Mini Blog Hop February 15th

Because blogging is what I do, I'm also planning to host a mini Blog Hop for anyone participating in this challenge.  A blog post allows so much more room to talk about your piece and show extra pictures.

* If you have a blog: I will need your name and the name of your blog by Thursday, February 13th.

* If you don't have a blog and would like your work to appear in a guest post here on Baublicious, I will need your photos and a short writeup by Sunday, February 9th.

Captured Treasures Blog Hop: Incorporating Found Objects Freeform Peyote Challenge and Blog Hop

Quite the long title, but today is the reveal for the long-awaited Freeform Peyote Found Objects Challenge.  Many thanks to everyone participating in the challenge - it's you that makes it a success.

This time around I've tackled a much larger project, which you may have heard me talk about. I'm doing a beaded bottle that's supposed to look like it's just been dragged out of the ocean.

I always tell challenge participants that their work doesn't need to be totally complete: they can share in-process pieces as well.  That's very much the case with my piece.  As you can see from the photo its very much in process.  I took these photos Thursday night after dark.   I'd hoped to take more photos today, but that didn't work out at all.  

My plan is to totally encrust this bottle with freeform peyote, shells, rocks, sea glass and other treasures collected from beaches in Hawaii, the Bahamas and Carribean, and closer to home here in the Pacific Northwest encompassing about ten years worth of travels.

It looks a little more finished from this angle

As a side project, I'm trying to fill it with messages (Messages in a Bottle) from as many people as possible. So if you'd like to write a message for my bottle, here's your special invitation!  I'd love for it to be filled with stories, quotes, prayers, affirmations and wishes, real or imaginary.  Many thanks to everyone who has already sent me messages for my bottle!

I promise to post more photos as this project progresses.

Now here's the full list of participants, many of them members of our intrepid Freeform Peyote Beading Facebook Group:

Mandi Ainsworth - host
Karen Williams - host
Nancy Dale
Regina Roper
Lisa Jones
Romana Tschunko
Catherine Chinoy
Therese Frank

the bottle with some of the pieces I plan to add

Naan Pocen
Annita Wilson
Halinka Trolle
Sally Russick
SaraBeth Cullinan

Lisa Jones - Into the Deep

Into the Deep by Lisa Jones

Two of the artists in our Freeform Peyote Challenge don't currently have their own blogs, so I'm hosting them here as guest posts.  Here's Lisa Jones talking about her freeform peyote design:

I actually had a few found objects to choose from:  the big key found in the front yard, a small apothecary type of bottle found in the back yard and several old, rusty washers that I’ve been collecting from the front parking lot where I work.  I knew I’d used them sometime, as they have a great patina!  

The key kept grabbing my attention, so I definitely wanted to use it in my piece.  Keys are so symbolic and a myriad of ideas came to mind while thinking about it.  I began thinking about how our minds work, the conscious, the subconscious and the mysteries that lurk there, waiting to be discovered.  This led to the idea of the lock “box” clasp.  The color scheme sort of naturally came together as a result of my thought processes and the items being used.

The whole bracelet is symbolic, really, from black matte beads representing the mysteries of the deep subconscious to the quartz crystal drops, which represent moments of enlightenment.  I thought of the old, rusty washers as representative of the how our minds can become entangled (going in circles) in old, rusty thoughts which no longer serve us.  Red, to me, represents adventure, love, and stepping out into the unknown.  Gold and silver are the fun of life, the joie de vivre, lightness – AKA “The Good Stuff”.    The idea of the box clasp is seen as a vessel of sorts, sort of like our physical brain, housing our thoughts, dreams, hopes, memories, worries, fears and our neuroses.

full view, Into the Deep by Lisa Jones

At the outset, I wasn’t sure if the box clasp would work.  So I embroidered the lock first to see if I even liked it.  I do like it, but in the future, I would use size 15 beads, or charlottes to get a tighter embroider.  My 11’s look a little disheveled, so I would definitely do that differently.  The clasp does work well, although time will tell if it holds up.  It is a bit of an experiment.  Overall, I am pleased with the bracelet!  So much, I am currently working on a freeform necklace to coordinate with it!  I have had a really fun time working on this project and will most definitely work in freeform peyote again. 

Now take a moment to visit the other participants.  The full list is available here.

Regina Roper and Amelia Island Reliquary

Two of the artists in our Freeform Peyote Challenge don't currently have their own blogs, so I'm hosting them here as guest posts.  Here's Regina Roper talking about her two of her freeform peyote designs:

Amelia Island Reliquary by Regina Roper

AMELIA ISLAND RELIQUARY

I have lived on the ocean almost all of my life. If I wasn't right on the water, I've almost never lived more than 45 minutes away. I have also been a collector of stones and fossils for most of my life, so it isn't really a surprise that a lot of the jewelry I make has an ocean theme. Over the past 21 years, I have walked many beaches here in Florida, collecting fossils. But the place I usually go is a lovely little barrier island nearby called Amelia Island. The most common fossil we find are shark's teeth. I have jars full of the teeth of all possible sizes and species of prehistoric shark. I even have a few rare ones.

When I was thinking of this challenge, I knew I wanted to do an ocean-themed piece, so I chose to weave ten beautiful fossil shark's teeth into the body of my necklace, and drop an extra-special large specimen of a Whaler-shark (a large ocean going shark) at the bottom. I chose my color scheme of black and deep blue to reflect the mystery of the primal ocean.

100% of the seed beads used in this project are antique faceted 'charlotte-type' beads that were made c1900. The peyote weave is embellished with faceted crystal beads, bicones, cubes, drops and other things. When weaving the teeth into the piece, I knew that they wouldn't just 'stay put' unless they were totally encrusted (and thus completely hidden) by beads. What would be the point if you could not see them and know what they were? So I decided to hand wrap each smaller tooth with black Artistic Wire specially embellished on the shank with beads, and blend the wire wrapped teeth into the freeform peyote. That way they were 100% secure, and their detail could show. The larger tooth, I was able to drill and wrap minimally to hang as a drop. I am very pleased with the way 'Amelia Island Reliquary' turned out, and I have received many compliments on it.

Manawydan's Blessings by Regina Roper

MANAWYDAN'S BLESSINGS

I will keep using the freeform peyote weave technique. I actually use it a lot in making custom chains for my bead embroidery pieces. Bead embroidery is my first love, and I am always looking for new ways to make my work more interesting. I used extensive freeform peyote on the chain for a very large breastplate that I made about a year or so ago. Another ocean themed piece, this one incorporates a large fossil sand dollar, turitella fossil agate, agatized coral, opalized ammonites and fossil shark's teeth along with contemporary seashells and freshwater pearls. It is called 'Manawydan's Blessings'. Manawydan fab Llyr is the Welsh god of the sea, and all of the things used in the piece symbolize his gifts.

I would have loved to use this piece for my challenge entry, but in honesty, I did not actually find all of the components myself, so it did not meet the criteria.  This piece was recently awarded, winning second place in a local judged fine art show in the 3D/Mixed Media category.

Now take a moment to visit the other participants.  The full list is available here.

Looking for the Captured Treasures Blog Hop?

Looking for the Captured Treasures Blog Hop?  

It's been postponed by one day, so be sure to check back tomorrow, Saturday November 16th (Despite what the badge says) to see what everyone created working with this theme. 

Storytelling - Message(s) in a Bottle

Since I'm totally drawn to the ocean in my design themes, I've decided to play with the idea of the Message in a Bottle for next month's freeform peyote Found Objects Challenge.

First I had to find a bottle.  I scrounged up three.  The dark brown one came from Joe's grandmother's house and almost won the coin toss until he pointed out that you wouldn't be able to easily see that there were messages inside. 

On to the next: the Pyrat is a great shape, and it's RUM, but the bottle is ungodly heavy (heavy means more likely to damage any beads underneath).  And it's big!  While I'm not expecting to completely finish the piece before the reveal, I'd like to get somewhere close.

Which led me back to the third bottle in my photo.    Way back when, I came up with this grand idea of creating a six-pack of beaded Coke bottles.  Each with their own theme.  For the past several years, I've had exactly one and a half bottles complete.  This would nearly double my total!  Even better - You could definitely see a message through the clear glass, or messages, plural.....

So here's where you come in:

I want my bottle to be crammed full of messages.  Message on top of message on top of message.  Since I like making up stories, I'm sure I can come up with quite a few.  But wouldn't it be more fun if I weren't the only one?  Say there was a whole community of castaways and lost souls, with only one bottle between the lot of them - would they fight over the bottle, or decide it was community property and use it as the local post office before throwing it into the sea? 

I'm inviting you to send me messages for my bottle.  You can comment to this blog post below, or you can email (skunkhillstudio at yahoo dot com) me directly.  Funny, sad, witty, a wish, thought-provoking rambles, a story message from your imagination or from real life - anything but crudities will go in. 

Send me Messages for my Bottle - Please!

I love the little reverse on the theme, too.

Thank you for becoming a part of my latest project!

Oh, and for those of you who follow my Facebook page, the round, beaded disc I posted there yesterday is the base for my beaded bottle.  It comes from a suggestion by David Chatt.  From what I remember, he noted that a single layer of seed beads underneath a fully beaded bottle is very fragile - just the weight of the glass and the beads above can be enough to damage them.  As an alternative, he suggested using cubic right angle weave to provide a sturdier base, since it's three sandwiched layers of beadweaving.  So that's what it is: cubic right angle weave in the round.  Now it's time to start working with freeform peyote. 

Sign-ups are Open for our 2nd Freeform Peyote Blog Hop

Due to popular demand, Mandi Ainsworth and I are hosting our second Freeform Peyote Blog Hop and signups are now open.

Captured Treasures Blog Hop: Incorporating Found Objects

The theme this time is Found Objects - whether they're shells you found at the beach, bottle caps from your last cook out, or that strange thingamabob you found on your last walk with your dog - we challenge you to incorporate some interesting, non-beady object into your freeform peyote.

Signups are open through Saturday, October 12th. 

To signup - we're trying to keep one signup list, so we're asking that everyone email Mandi at 'mandibeads at gmail dot com' for signups.  Or if you'd really prefer, you can simply signup in a comment to this post - the key is to SIGNUP!  so we can put your name in lights.  Okay, so we can add you to the Blog Hop Roster.

What we'll need from you:  Your name, your email address, your blog URL if you have a blog.  Make sure that we have an email address to contact you so that we can confirm your signups! 

No blog?  No problem!  If you don't have a blog, let me know and I'll plan on working with you to set up a guest post on this here blog.  To give you an idea, here's the guest post I did for Bette Greenfield for our last hop. 

The Big Reveal will be Friday, November 15th.  

So here's your personal invite to jump on in and sign on up!  We'd love to have you.

Oh, and here's a smaller version of our Blog Hop bag, featuring the lovely work of artist Annita Wilson.  Feel free to grab it and use it to help spread the word. 

Time for me to get crackin' and come up with something fun. 

Choose Your own Adventure Challenge Wrap-up and Additional Thoughts

Additional entries to the Choose Your Own Adventure challenge

 If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take some time to peruse the list of adventurers in the Freeform Peyote Choose Your Own Adenture Challenge.  It's a true celebration of seed beads, bead weaving and the creative spirit as each piece is completely unique.

I've updated the list to include several people who for one reason or another didn't make it into the initial Saturday reveal.  My apologies for the difficulties on my end!  I'm listing the additions in this post as well.

  
Additional Adventurers:
Cynthia Machata
Debbie Rasmussen
Betty James
Deborah Humphrey

Allowing yourself the adventure

In my opinion, part of what made the Choose Your Own Adventure challenge such a delight was the sheer diversity of styles and talents.  We had everyone from people playing with freeform peyote for the first time through seasoned masters showcasing their art and craft.  At all levels, I saw an overabundance of creativity, curiosity and play.

But what I saw behind the scenes made me a little sad.  As one of the hosts of this challenge, I fielded quite a few emails from people who weren't sure their work was up to snuff to be included.  Every piece they referred to had something wonderful to recommend it.  But even if it didn't, even if it was a complete and total disaster (which none were), the most important thing would have been that they explored the medium. And maybe, with a little luck, they enjoyed the process.

There's a quote in her wonderful book, The Artist Way, where Julia Cameron reminds us that 'Anything worth doing is worth doing badly'.  What I believe she's saying here is:

1) Don't compare yourself to the masters when your just getting started.  It's not fair to you, it's not fair to your work.  And frankly, it's not fair to the people who've put in the time and effort to become masters. 

2) If it's something you feel passionate about, then Go For It!  Don't worry about whether your first piece is perfect; it doesn't matter.  What matters is that you're doing, trying, learning.  Everything gets easier with practise.  So if the first whatever it is doesn't turn out right, try again.  And keep trying. Because the corallary to 'Anything worth doing is worth doing badly' would obviously be something along the lines of 'Anything worth doing is worth putting in the effort until you can do it well'. 

This is a reminder to myself as well.  What would I be willing to try if I didn't have to do it perfectly?

Tales from the Road - Freeform Peyote by Deborah Humphrey

While challenge was named 'Choose Your Own Adventure', this particular entry truly is a tale from the road.  Deborah Humphrey sent the dispatch in while on holiday in Thailand!  Unfortunately, due to the time differences and Internet difficulties on both ends, it didn't make it quite in time for the general reveal.  So here's the trip report from Deborah:

freeform peyote necklace in progress by Deborah Humphrey

Here is my piece, an unfinished necklace that I don't really have a name for ...however, it was your work that inspired me to start freeform . In particular it was a bracelet on your website in orange (and pinks, i think ) that really caught my attention. I love the creativity and roaming in freeform (and how all mistakes can be made to look like intentional curves!).

I like buttons and those attached are from the 1950's, I really like the idea of 'functional' with a quirk and this is what the mixture of freeform and the buttons made me think of. As I have been writing about this, I have been thinking of the flickering in the old British 1950s electric fires and women sitting sewing by the fire....but enough romanticism from me!!!

I love freeform and will certainly be doing some more.


{Editor's note:  based upon the colors she mentioned I think the piece Deborah refers to above is my Coral Dancer bracelet, which made it's first blog appearance  as an UFO necklace, then reappeared as a finished bracelet in this blog post.}

Freeform Peyote Choose Your Own Adventure Reveal

Today is a very special and exciting Saturday! 
 A little over a month ago,  Mandi and I issued the challenge that like-minded bead weavers join us in exploring the medium of Freeform Peyote.   By it's very nature, freeform peyote is an abstract art form - no set pattern, no hard and fast rules.  Instead; an open-ended canvas for creativity.  Thirty six amazing women took us up on the challenge.

Today, it all comes together in the first Freeform Peyote Choose Your Own Adventure Challenge and Blog Hop.  While I expect to see many amazing pieces, this challenge focuses as much on process as on completed projects and we've asked everyone to share their stories as well.  Visiting the participants' blogs in preparation for today, I've been thrilled to see so many of you sharing just that, while holding back the final reveal for today.

I can't wait to see everyone's work and read their 'travel journals'!  I invite you to join me in exploring what they tried, what worked and what didn't, as each designer acts as a tour guide and forward explorer into the wilds of their creativity.  

My projects  I really debated what to do for my own entry, but I wanted to keep it simple and keep it process oriented. I decided to work on a bracelet, and explicitly share the process here in on my blog in two earlier blog posts on First Steps and The Ugly Duckling Stage.  Here now, I'll share the finished piece.  May I present, Winter Blues (as in Chase them Away):

A look at the full length of the completed bracelet

Visually, the bracelet above and below has come a long ways from its ugly duckling stage.  However, in terms of working time, I completed more than two thirds of the stitching in my first two posts.  Between my previous post and here, I simply had to fill in the awkward gaps and keep moving colors until my beadwoven band roughly equaled the width of my stone focal.  

I added a small amount of top work, using over bridges very sparingly in the bracelet as I was already quite pleased with the color movement and shapes.  I added the mother of pearl button last thing.  It's larger than many of the buttons I use - large enough that it definitely acts as an alternate focal as well as the clasp.

So that's my take on the challenge.  

Adventurer Roster  Now it's time to go visit the other intrepid adventurers (updated Feb 27, 2013):
 

Mandi Ainsworth - Adventure Guide
Karen Williams - Adventure Guide

Bobbie Rafferty
Sarah Meadows
Katherine Gale
Leanne Kirsch
Jean Hutter

Nancy Dale
Judy Riley
Natasha Wiegelman
Pam Chesbro
Romana Tschunko

Bette Greenfield
Mary Harding
Melody Marie Murray
Shirley Moore
Marj

Sally Russick
Therese Frank
Tanya Goodwin
Christine Altmiller
Lea Paličková
Ivona Šuchmannová

Kay Haynes
Tammy Bowman
Alisa Lehman
Lori Callahan
Tami Norris

Jane Kettley
SaraBeth Cullinan
Julie Schmidt Bowen
Tammi Clapper

Additional Dispatches:
 Cynthia Machata
Debbie Rasmussen
Betty James
Deborah Humphrey

Trying Your Hand at Freeform Peyote.   If you've considered trying your hand at freeform peyote and would like to ease into the medium,  hop on over to the Freeform Peyote Group on Facebook for a great support network and links to a number of great freeform peyote resources.

And if you'd like a bracelet similar to Winter Blues, I am putting together two bead kits that will be available on my Etsy store sometime this weekend (I'm running a little behind).

The kits will contain all of the beads that I used in my bracelet above (right now I only have enough of everything for two complete kits) as well as the most detailed photo notes I've ever taken regarding my process, including lots more photos than fit in the three blog posts. 

Tammi Clapper - Valentine's Day

Several of the Adventurers on our Freeform Peyote Challenge don't currently have their own blogs, so I'm hosting them here as guest posts.  Tammi was one of the first people to sign up for the challenge, but contacted me two days ago to say she had to bow out.  I discovered that she'd finished the piece, but her "critic said it was too big, too busy, and ugly."  After talking with her, she agreed to send me a picture of her piece, and then agreed to go ahead and join in the reveal and I'm so glad she did.

Here's Tammi Clapper talking about her first piece, a freeform peyote pendant.

Valentine's Day freeform peyote pendant by Tammi Clapper

detail, Valentine's Day by Tammi Clapper

My inspiration for my piece was Valentine's Day and more importantly my love for beading and trying every type of beading pattern ever made. I also am hoping that by doing freeform peyote it will lead me to hopefully develop my own pattern.

I love the colors and mixture of different size, texture and shape of beads I used to develop this first freeform masterpiece! Would I do things differently....of course there are a few things I would change, but for my first piece I think I got the general idea!

 
Return to the full list of Freeform Adventurers.

Bette Greenfield - Freeform Peyote Watchbands

Several of the Adventurers on our Freeform Peyote Challenge don't currently have their own blogs, so I'm hosting them here as guest posts.  Here's Bette Greenfield talking about her freeform bracelet and watchband designs:

Freeform embellished cuff by Bette Greenfield

I made this bracelet by decorating the top of a plain brown peyote band. The color patterns of the peyote band are freeform designed as well, and I used the band to anchor the threads.  I made this for a local art show and it sold in the first minutes of the opening.  

freeform peyote watchband by Bette Greenfield

I am a great fan of Freeform Beading.  After learning how to do many beading stitches by reading magazines and taking classes at local shops, I didn't want to continue copying other bead artists work.  It didn't feel right to me.  So I decided that freeform beading might be right for me.  

I Googled everything I could find on Freeform beading and found that this was the style for me.  I practiced with different colors and sizes, peyote and right angle weave, ripped and tossed, ripped and tossed and I eventually began to do combinations I liked.  And still, I wanted to do something different.  Enter freeform watch bands.  I practiced over and over again until I learned how to work the band firmly onto the watchhead.  

I still have not learned how to adjust the length for different size wrists. Advice anyone? 
  

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Alisa Lehman - Freeform Peyote Adventurer

Several of the Adventurers on our Freeform Peyote Challenge don't currently have their own blogs, so I'm hosting them here as guest posts.  Here's Alisa Lehman talking about her wonderful piece that seems right at home Under the Sea:

Alisa Lehman's first freeform peyote bracelet

This is my first try at freeform peyote -

 

detail of Alisa Lehman's first freeform peyote bracelet

I started by laying out some beads – I already had some left over beads in blues and greens from another project so I started with those.  There were a few colors of size 8 and some larger assorted beads.  I added some size 6s that I had hanging around, some bugles, some drops and some 15s.

 

I started the process by using a tutorial I found by Beki Haley that suggested making the first length of beads the length of your bracelet and starting with just one size.  I did that and just kept building out and adding bridges.  

For quite a while It went through an ugly duckling stage.  I liked a few bits, but some of the edges were rippling and some of the beads did not play nicely together.  Then I started embellishing the top and it started coming together.  When I finished, I felt like it needed a little something more and I found the starfish in my stash.  It seemed to work well with the blue/green ocean colors so I popped it on right on top of some of the top level embellishments (in hindsight, it would have probably been better to have added it early on and embellished around it.  I felt I need to balance the starfish color, so I added the 3 round gold beads on each side.

 

I used a glass button I had for a clasp.

 

I really enjoyed to process and I have already laid out my beads for my next bracelet (see photo at left).  

If that goes well, I would like to try a necklace.

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Kay Haynes and Vintage Wine

Several of the Adventurers on our Freeform Peyote Challenge don't currently have their own blogs, so I'm hosting them here as guest posts.  First up is Kay Haynes, talking about her first freeform peyote piece, a bracelet she's named 'Vintage Wine':

Vintage Wine, freeform peyote bracelet by Kay Haynes

Vintage buttons from her 88 year old friend

I used two vintage glass buttons given to me by my 88 yr old friend.  She has collected buttons since she was a young girl.  I drool every time I look thru them.  I picked beads from my favorite color scheme so that was fairly easy to do. 

I learned that it is NOT as easy to do freeform with no pattern and no rules since I am a person who needs structure and a pattern (or thought I did).  

front view of Vintage Wine in situ

I did not do any embellishing on my bracelet because I loved it the way it is.  Our local craft store has asked if I would teach a class in early April.  So, I will definitely be making more.  I'm working on a second one now that has beach colors and shells.  I'm in love with freeform peyote.  Wanted to try it for a long time and now that I have completed one, I'm going to be making more for sure.

I love the way my bracelet turned out.  It was so much fun to just go with the flow.  Thank you so much for allowing me to participate in your adventure.  - Kay

a process photo from the making of

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