In a Natural Vein - January 2014 Art Bead Scene Submission

"In a Natural Vein" is my submission for the January Art Bead Scene monthly challenge. Here's the inspiration piece:

It's a textile design for cretonne (a heavy unglazed cotton, linen, or rayon fabric, colorfully printed and used for draperies and slipcovers), circa approximately 1928. It's by Lois Mailou Jones, in tempera on paper.

Loïs Mailou Jones wanted to be remembered as an artist, not an African-American or woman artist. Her life spanned almost all of the twentieth century—a time of unprecedented changes in American history—and she was an active participant in the development of African-American influence in the arts. She was a trailblazer, a respected college professor, an artist ambassador, and an international expert on culture who documented everything she saw and did as a painter in the Harlem Renaissance, as an illustrator for Carter Woodson, a colleague of Alain Locke and Langston Hughes, an educator and mentor, and a champion of black artists in Africa and the Caribbean.
I was fortunate to have a perfect focal piece in my stash for this month - a porcelain cabochon by Nancy Schindler of Round Rabbit. It not only had the veined leaf motif, it also had the black and grey of the predominant design of the inspiration piece; I surrounded it with a beaded bezel in black and chartreuse. I used veined grey and black jasper beads and black stone nuggets for the bulk of this asymmetric piece. But it needed a bit more color...

And of course, I to find some more chartreuse!

The enamel over copper clasp and bead are from BeadSwedeSupplies and proved to exactly the punch of color this piece needed.

Available for purchase here.

A Winding Journey - The Start of a Long Term Project

Labyrinths are ancient; labyrinths have been found all over the world dating from the earliest antiquity. Their origins are lost in the mists of time. The labyrinth was a central feature in many of the European Roman Catholic churches in the middle ages and many of these still exist today. The most famous of these remaining labyrinths is at Chartres Cathedral near Paris, France. The labyrinth at Chartres was built around 1200 and is a classic 11-course form. It was walked as a pilgrimage and/or for repentance.

I've had a long term fascination with labyrinths - it's pretty easy to see where the inspiration for

"Palm Up/Palm Down" came from!

Grand Hotel has a beautiful labyrinth tucked away in their gardens; it's a wonderfully peaceful experience to walk it's twisting path.

Awhile back, I purchased this canvas mat, printed with a depiction of the labyrinth at Chartres. It's just been sitting around - one of those "what was I thinking?" kind of things.

Every beader knows that all projects result in unused beads: random bits and bobs, too much to discard, but not really enough to use - except for bead soup and I sure don't need anymore of that!

So here's my thought: at the conclusion of each project, all those "leftovers" will be stitched to the canvas, slowly wending their way to the center in non-planned steps of color.


The end result is unknown, as is the time frame for completion - years, I suspect!

Variations on a Theme

I liked my "warm toes" so well, that I made some more - this time as a donation to a fundraising event and all a variation on the basic theme.

This pair is covered with a swirling asymmetrical chain stitched design and the cuffs bound off with a bit of knit trim, there was jussst enough - it must have been meant to be!

This pair ended up with a fold over cuff and studded with a variety of vintage mother of pearl buttons. When I cut these out, I preferred the inside of the felted wool sweater, it had an interesting honeycomb look - so my advice is "look inside before you decide".

These are fun, appliqued dots, in random sizes and placement.

This particular sweater was light weight, so I lined the slippers in the same wool - making them warmer and hiding the applique stitching. I used a fancy stitch on the sewing machine to join the outers to the lining. I had considered a red cuff, but it looked to "elf" like for my taste.

The results: a nice donation of useful and fun items... and no purchase of supplies needed, it all came from the STASH!

Warm Toes are Important!

It's November, cold, grey and drizzly and there's not much better after biking home, up the hill in the cold, grey drizzle, than kicking back with a hot cup of tea, a good book and a pair of slippers to warm up the cold toes.


But I've never had much luck with commercial slippers - they're always way too wide and won't stay on my feet, very frustrating!

So I started looking for a ideas to make my own and found this: instructions and template for felt slippers. I liked the concept, but I didn't have any wool felt, but after a bit of digging through the stash, I found a wool sweater that had inadvertently been felted - finally it could be useful.


So I made them up...and they were way too wide.

But having the seams on the outside made it easy to adjust; I just put them on, pinned to fit, sewed a new seam and cut off the excess. Custom fit is such a pleasure!

I wore them for a couple days and they just seemed to need a little something, so back to the stash. I found some wool crewel yarn, which resulted in just a bit of chain stitched embroidery. I also found some chunky black chenille yarn, perfect to use for a button hole stitch around the ankles.

I'm really pleased with them, they're warm, they're cute, they are easy to construct, they fit and they were free - everything came out of the stash.