Ring Repair before my Spring Ring Fling Workshop

reattaching the runaway flower

This weekend's my Freeform Peyote Spring Ring Fling Workshop at Fusion Beads. 

About time to fix this poor little ring!  After riding around in a plastic baggie in the bottom of my purse for at least a month, it lost one of its flowers.  Poor little thing!

As a beading instructor, I fear I am ridiculously hard on my pieces.  Luckily the plastic baggie caught the runaway flower (and the little turn bead too, for that matter).

You can see one of the things I absolutely love about freeform peyote stitch in this photo.  Even though a thread broke and I lost a flower, the rest of the ring stayed neatly intact.  No cascade of escaping beads to corral.  Since I had to stitch the one flower back on, I decided to run my thread through the other two as well, just for reinforcement.  But it wasn't strictly necessary.

ready to wear again.

Now the ring is fixed and ready to wear again. 

With Valentine's Day coming up, it would be easy to make a another Valentine ring or two.  But I did that last year.  So I'm likely to go on to something new.  Not sure what theme I'll work with this coming weekend. 

A friend from Seedbeaders gave me a wonderful, oddly-shaped black pearl that could be a fun focus for my next ring.  Or I may simply stroll the aisles at Fusion Beads and see what jumps out at me. 

It's also fun to see what my students bring to work with - every ring made is so unique!  If you don't believe me, do a search on my blog for 'ring'.  You'll see what I mean. 

a better photo of the pearl than of the ring

Want to come play?


There's still plenty of room if you'd like to join in.  Saturday, January 28th from 2:00- 5:00pm. 

I'm looking forward to it! 

Happy Fish and Freeform Rings - Winter Classes at Fusion Beads

Signups are now open for Winter classes at Fusion Beads. I'm excited to teach two workshops.

Freeform Peyote Rings

Saturday, January 28th

Interested in trying your hand at freeform peyote? These quick little rings are a great foray into freeform beading, using peyote stitch in creative ways to create fanciful organic designs incorporating crystals, spiked, or other novelty beads.  Each ring is a unique creation- no two designs turn out exactly the same! 

Happy Fish Bead Embroidery

Sunday, March 26th

Add a touch of whimsy to your day with these playful bead embroidery Happy Fish.  Enjoy a play day with a more freeform approach to bead emboidery while creating a fun fish brooch, pendant, hair ornament or applique.  Work with a variety of bead embroidery stitched to create your own unique design.    

One of the things I love best about both of these classes is that everyone's work will be entirely their own.  I think of these a supported creativity classes.  I'll be sharing techniques, tips, and lots and lots of design ideas, but there's so much room for the creative play and exploration.


Mine are only two of nearly seventy classes and workshops in Fusion Bead's new schedule.  As always, they have an amazing schedule of classes in bead weaving, metal work, kumihimo, resin work and more.  You can check out their full schedule here. 

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. 

More Freeform Peyote Rings - my new 'Spring Woods' Collection

Last week I shared a couple of Valentine's Rings I made in preparation for my weekend workshop on the topic at Fusion Beads.  This week, I thought I'd share the two rings I started in class. 

Going into the class, here's the one I'd originally planned:

Robin's Nest ring with three crystal 'eggs'

I wanted my own "Robin's Nest" ring, complete with crystal 'eggs'.  One of my students asked about incorporating bugles into a freeform peyote ring.  This was the perfect chance to use some 6mm bugles both in the base and while building the nest. 

you can almost see the bugles I used in the band from this view

The Robin's Nest was a great example of adding embellishments after building the bulk of the ring.  After I finished the base ring, I positioned the three eggs, then began building the nest around them.  (Not quite how mama Robin would have done things, but it worked for me).

Just starting to work on the 'nest'

Helping my students in class, I decided I also needed a sample where I added my focal bead in the first row/ring.  So I ran out into the store and purchased a 10mm round druzy that worked with the bead colors I had with me.  I'm really, really bad about taking process photos while I'm teaching, since my focus is on my students, not my work.  So I don't have a single process photo for this ring. 

Dogwood Blossom pinky ring

You can't really tell that the focal beads is a druzy in the ring's final incarnation.  It's entire look changed when I decided at the last minute to try adding some pressed glass leaves as flower petals around the core.   The 'petals' reminded me of a dogwood blossom, so I decided to run with it.  But they wanted to flop closed, so I added some beading inside the and between the ring of petals to hold them open. 

The funny thing is this ring's band is one of my smallest - sized to fit my pinky - while the dogwood blossom makes it one of my largest rings. 

Both rings side-by-side for comparison

Here you can see both rings together for comparison.   I've decided they are my new Spring Woods collection, created using a soft, muted palette of warm browns, antique coppers and lilac, with splashes of sky blue and olive green that reminds me of the earliest days of spring. 

I also found myself thinking that both rings would be right at home in the Hundred Acre Wood. 

Freeform Valentine Rings

Heart charms by Nunn Designs & pressed glass bellflowers

I'm typically not a huge fan of Valentine's Day - it tends to be way too pink and a little too sweet for me.  But this year, I decided to jump into the festivities with a couple of new freeform peyote rings.

It started with a trip to Fusion Beads to drop off class proposals for their summer session.  Since it was right before my Rings workshop, I decided to pick up a couple of new focals for new rings, and since it was almost Valentines Day, I decided, why not? 

Especially when I found these fun heart charms by Nunn Design.  The rustic, weathered look of the antiqued copper immediately made me start thinking of alternate "Valentine" color palettes.

My color palette focused on purples & copper instead of pinks & golds

"Prickly Heart" ring

My Prickly Heart ring includes a jagged line of twin beads which reminded me of stitches mending broken hearts. It's my experience that even in the best relationships, there's bound to be some heartbreak - the key is to mend it as best you can.  Here 'the' scar has become something beautiful.  I also added a line of five of the new dragonscale beads, which reminded me of arrowheads from Cupid's quiver.  And I finished it off with Nunn Design's rustic heart charm. 

You can really see the 'arrow heads' in this view

Staring circle of beads

I was having so much fun, I decided to make a second ring with the puffed heart charm.  With both rings, I started with a simple circle of beads, then built up my base using freeform peyote. 

The goal here was to create an interesting base that I could then embellish with the charms.  Both the charms and pressed glass flowers are thread magnets - so I prefer to add them at the very last moment.   With both rings, by the time I finish building the base, I ended up debating with myself whether or not I really wanted/needed to add the additional embellishments. 

Here's a photo I snapped of my second ring before I started embellishing, so you can see what I mean:

Be Mine Ring before I added embellishments

I really debated whether I wanted to stop here.  Except I was in a "more is more" mood, and I still had the puffed heart charm burning a hole in my bead mat, so I kept stitching. 

Flowers and a Valentine

I added the puffy heart charm on a short tether, then decided to add a little bouquet to finish things off.  What says 'Be Mine' more than flowers and a Valentine? 

I've worn both rings several times in the past week, and everywhere I go people comment.  They are intrigued by the fact that you can make rings out of beads (of course we can!).  It seems to be a toss up as to which people like more.  The charms make the rings especially fun to wear.  Because they are both sewn on short tethers, they can flip and turn, and add a dynamic element.  Such fun!

Last week I sent out a 'sneak peek' to my friends on my mailing list, something I've not done before.  My thought was to send it out early enough to give people time to make their own V-Day rings, if they wanted, because I seldom think of lead time.   One of my bad habits. 

So there's my first ever Valentine's beading.  Really! In all the years I've beaded, I don't think I've ever made anything for Valentine's Day before. 

Do you bead for Valentine's Day?  What do you make?  

Happy Valentine's Day!  Hope you have a wonderful time this weekend, whatever you decide to do. 

Happy Halloween Pumpkin Rings

Fall is my favorite season.  Halloween runs a close second to Christmas for my favorite holiday, and I absolutely adore the soundtrack to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Costumes, magic, a little spookiness, a chance to be someone else for a night?  I'm so there!   So the question wasn't 'do I want to work with a Halloween theme' for my Freeform Peyote Rings workshop at Fusion Beads earlier this month, but rather "what Halloween theme do I want to play with?"

My first thought was Disney villains - a ring for Maleficent or Cruella Deville perhaps? I could see a fiery crimson red jewel for Malificent, while Ms. Deville's would have to be in her iconic monochrome black and white.  Or maybe a witch's ring?  What would I do for that?  Instead, I opted to make myself a pumpkin patch ring.  Jack Skellington might be the Pumpkin King, but I could wear a Pumpkin Ring!  A magic pumpkin ring, wouldn't that be fun?  I'm sure I need a magic pumpkin ring. 

Ring #1 with a Carnelian focal

I ended up making two rings.  The first is a little more subdued, with a 15mm round carnelian stone that doesn't immediately scream 'pumpkin', but definitely plays to the autumnal theme with its muted color tones.  The little pressed-glass flower reminded me of pumpkin blossoms, so I decided to add it, but liked the violet color better than yellow.  So now I have a purple pumpkin blossom.  Let's hear it for creative license.

It also let me demonstrate the stages of work when adding the focal bead from the very beginning.

Perusing Fusion Bead's selections before class, I came across these fantastic orange and blackish-brown enameled beads.  I don't think they were originally designed as pumpkins, but aren't they perfect? 

I thought the apple-green & coppery-orange flowers might work as pumpkin blossoms and or a pumpkin cap.  While I was at it, I picked up a couple of different strands of daggers and spiky fringe beads, too.

Time for embellishments!

For this ring, I wanted the pumpkin to sit atop its 'field' at a jaunty angle, surrounded by vines.   

Working almost entirely with size 11s, I stitched my background.  I couldn't resist adding a few small accent beads - 3mm glass pearls, 4mm crystals and another pressed glass flower.  If I'd wanted a very simple ring, I probably could have stopped here. Or maybe right before I added the pressed glass flower.  If I wasn't going for a Pumpkin ring.....

A lot of the fun with freeform peyote rings is allowing yourself to go over the top.  With that in mind, it was time to embellish. 

I love how it looks perched on the graphite sphere

here it is on my hand - hard to photograph one handed

another view on my manikin's finger

you can see the little flower from this angle

Now I have two pumpkin rings.  As for whether its magic, I'll have to wait and see about that.  :)

Happy Halloween!