Collaborative Work

Vanessa Parker is a very talented Jewelry Artist. We have been working on some collaborative items for an upcoming show. Vanessa is the Artist of the Month at St. Luke's United Methodist Church on Westheimer and the show starts Sunday so drop by if you are in the area. There are three cases of Vanessa's jewelry that will be located in the Rotunda Art Gallery during June. This is an example of a bracelet that she made using my beads. I love what she has done! I also made some cabs for her as shown in the pendant. Look here to see more of our collaborative work: http://www.betojdesigns.com/page11/page9/page9.html

Summer is Here!

We went from Spring straight to Summer! It was 95 one day this week and today's predicted high is 93. I have been doing lots of bead crochet when I am not constructing jewelry. Here are a few photos of beads with the coordinating ropes.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am back to making beads again after a whirlwind session of jewelry making. It is hard to capture the depth of this bead but it has many layers. I have not made raised florals in a while and they take some preparation because of all the canes that have to be made in advance.
I hope all the Moms out there have a great day!

Market Street Jewelry

Today I am still working on jewelry, but I am running out of time. I always do this to myself before a show but I seem to work better under pressure. The weather is supposed to cooperate so let's hope Saturday is a beautiful day. The show is from 10:00 to 7:00 in the West end of Market Street. Stop by and say HI!

More Photos!

I have more for Market Street! The Bright Bumpy Necklace looks so much better in person. It is 36" long and can be worn as one strand, doubled, or wrapped around the wrist. We were making bright bumpy beads to send to Beads of Courage and I was having so much fun that I kept making them. It is not a style that I normally do but I have to get out of my comfort zone occasionally. More later!

Here are a couple of more new pieces. I reworked the bent bead necklace three times before I was happy with it. I finally just put it down late last night and started over with fresh eyes this morning. Now the fun part of inventory lists , tags and prices. More later!

Market Street Art Show Jewelry

I am working on jewelry this week for the upcoming Market Street Art Show. May 3 will be here before I know it, so I am trying to get myself on a schedule ( like that is going to happen). Here are some new pieces that I will have in the show. I will post more later as I photograph them.

Trunk Show at Bead Connection

A few new beads for the show April 26 at Bead Connection in League City. It is cloudy outside so these photos are not great but I hope you can use your imagination. Beads always look better in person. I have some new big holed beads for the Pandora style and some of them are made out of the new expensive silver glass.

Bead Crochet

I finally made something out of one of my completed crochet ropes. I am very pleased with the way this turned out. I have also made it so the pendant can be interchanged. I have lots of photos to edit so more coming soon.

April Events

There are several events coming up soon. The Woodlands Waterway Art Show is this Saturday and Sunday. I will be in a tent along with other artists from The Woodlands Art League doing demonstrations. This is an opportunity to see all kinds of art in progress. April 26, our ISGB Chapter will be in League City at Bead Connection for another trunk show. It is a great bead store and I am looking forward to hanging out with my bead buddies. May 3 is the Market Street Fine Art Show. I will be in a tent with four other artists from the Woodlands Art League and we will be selling our art all day. I will be selling beads and jewelry and the other artists will be selling paintings. I will post more photos soon. I better get busy!

Evil camera!

She normally runs when she sees the camera but this time she just gave me a dirty look. I wish I could sleep like she does!

Thimble Mandrel

Linda Campbell came up with an idea for a Thimble Mandrel. I thought that was very ingenious but I wanted one to use as a bead cap mandrel. The tricky part is getting the hole in the top because the mandrel is flat without a hole. I poked an indention in the middle while molten and then used my Dremel with a tiny diamond bit to make a hole in the end. These have great potential for fabulous necklace designs. I have one in mind but I have to make two matching "thimbles" which is not an easy task.
There are several events coming up soon which I will chat about at a later date.

St. Patrick's Day is Monday March 17th

If you are out and about Monday, please come by to see us. There will be some great deals on pottery, jewelry and other art. In addition to the sale prices, you can pick a gold coin out of the Pot of Gold for a discount on a regularly priced item. It should be fun!

Spring Beads Trunk Show March 15

Our ISGB chapter is going to be at Spring Beads again Saturday March 15. Thank you Deanna!
We have so much fun selling our beads and buying other beads from the shop. They have a great selection of seed beads, findings and anything else you could want. Here is a quick group shot of a sampling of beads I will have with me. Hope to see you there!

Where did February go?

It is March already? It seems like we just got through Christmas.
Green is probably my favorite color and I am tempted to keep this one but I already have lots of green. I hope someone else likes it as much as I do.

More disc pendants!

I seem to get stuck on one thing when I come up with something different. Here are a couple of more Disc Pendants. These are probably going to the Potter's Guild soon so if you see one you like, let me know because this phase will probably end soon.

Shards

What is a shard? It is a sliver of glass that is broken off of a very thin bulb of glass that has been blown from a glob off the end of a hollow tubing. Clear as mud? Why would I want to do that? Shards just add another layer to a bead and they are fun to play with. You can leave them on the surface with the rough edges curled, melt them flat, twist them around or encase them under transparent glass. Those are just a few things that you can do with them. My studio looks like a mad scientist has blown something up. I promise to clean it up soon but then I could not find anything.

Disc Pendant

New Things at The Potter's Guild

I put together a few new pieces for the Gallery in preparation for the March event. I almost kept the turquoise disk pendant, which happened to come to me during the middle of the night when I could not sleep. That happens quite a bit.

Hearts for Beads of Courage

Here is the photo that I promised. I am so proud of our ISGB chapter for their hard work in making all of these for Beads of Courage. Way to go!