Marcia DeCoster Presents ...

Hello everyone!

Do you remember back in October of last year when I was lucky enough to spend the day with Marcia DeCoster? Besides wanting to meet her to see her beautifully intricate work 'up close and personal' and to thank her for years of encouragement and support, I also wanted to thank her for including me in her new book Marcia DeCoster Presents: Interviews with 30 Beaders on Inspiration & Technique. As we sipped tea and stroked each other's beadwork, we talked about our love of the Internet and how it has helped so many beaders from around the world connect with each other giving us the opportunity to share work and ideas, congratulate each other on successes, pull each other through the hard times and form lasting friendships even though we may never have met in person. The network that bonds the worldwide beading community is one of the primary ideas behind Marcia's new book and I am hugely grateful to be a part of this.

The '30 Beaders' are from all over the world (from the United States, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Singapore and more) and each has their own style of beadwork from cute beaded critters to elaborate embroidered collars and everything in between. There are no instructions in this book, it is a book filled with pictures of gorgeous beadwork designed to fill you with admiration and inspiration, a book to make you oooh and ahhh as you turn each page. Marcia has also asked each artist a set of interview questions about materials, techniques, design ideas and aspirations and she has also included a special question that is unique to each person. Even if I were not fortunate enough to be included in this collection I can hand on heart say that I would still want it to be on my bookshelf - it is a simply beautiful book.

Thank you Marcia!

Kerrie ♥

Prima product of the month - August!

Hello everyone!

It's time for my Prima Bead Blog Team monthly post and I have to say that this month has been quite a challenge for me. First of all the 'products of the month' were from Prima's Kumihimo range and although I have read about this Japanese art of braid making (Kumihimo literally means 'gathered threads') I have never actually tried it and so I spent several nervous days panicking about what kind of misshapen rabbit I might be able to pull out of my hat. Secondly, I have spent the last few weeks away from home, staying at my father's house, trying to sort out some more of Mum's stuff and trying to get used to the fact that no matter how hard I stare at the rose arch that leads down the garden, her beautiful smiling face will no longer appear there. It hasn't all been hard work and tears though - I have been for lots of long walks down the leafy lanes, had some lovely trips to the coast and managed to fit in some beading time nearly every day. In fact, once I got the hang of it, I actually found the repetitive nature of the Kumihimo to be very soothing and so this time has definitely shaped the end results of my braiding experiments. Before I started I spent some time asking questions, following up valuable links that my Facebook friends kindly sent me, researching, Googling and watching how-to videos and then I boldly warped up ...

My first piece 'Autumn Sunset' was directly inspired by walks along Chapel Lane which runs past the house. It's a lovely little country lane with a huge variety of wildflowers growing in the verges, only a few cars a day travel down this lane and so you can walk in the middle of the road while butterflies flit around you and birds merrily chirrup and tweet. At this time of year the hedgerows are covered with dark purple sloes, pinky red hawthorn berries, orange rosehips and juicy blackberries. When I opened the Prima pack the rustic looking brown cord the bright orange acrylic beads and the gold metallic thread made me think of the lane and its berry laden hedges glowing in the Autumn sunshine. I added one strand of orange embroidery thread to my braid to pick out the colour of my 'berries', created golden beaded endcaps with a matching central connector to hold the two sections of braid together and fastened it with findings from the Prima range before adding a bunch of orange berries as the finishing touch. With its mix of streamlined beadwork and rufty-tufty braid, this is a very different piece for me but I am pleased with the way it turned out as I think it captures the feel of those hedgerows with their crispy leaves, bits of brown twig sticking out at all angles and smooth sun-ripened berries.

My second piece 'Maritime Chic' was inspired by trips to Dungeness and Rye Harbour (which are both on the coast) and as I wandered past the fishing boats looking at piles of coiled rope, fishing nets and lobster pots I was reminded of the tan and silver twist cord from Prima which was waiting for me to do something with it. I kept this one really simple and created a couple of lashed loops at either end to give a feel of rope and rigging and knots. Using the silver rondelles I added three simple beaded circles and a couple of finishing touch dangles to try and pick out the silver in the cord and to add some fiddle factor to the finished bracelet.

With a couple of pieces under my belt I was feeling ready to attempt adding beads to my braid and so using size 8 beads from my stash I made the very simple 'Moonlight Braid' bracelet. I am not keen on using glue in my work and so I made a couple of beaded endcaps to hide the knots in the braiding and topped it off with a silver toggle clasp. If you follow my blog you will know that I recently spent 14 months beading in this one colour of beads creating my Midnight Garden collection and after all my recent neon work it felt good to have them running through my fingers again.

Still wanting to mix beads and braiding without using glue I made a pair of quick and easy 'Kumihimo Blooms' earrings. As you can see from the photo above, I was directly inspired by the campanula flowers that are one of the few things left over from Mum's beautiful garden. These little flowers are blooming everywhere with their bright little heads bobbing and swinging from every hanging basket (along with all manner of naughty weeds that Mum would never have tolerated) and so I thought that creating a small tubular flower and threading it on to a short length of green braid would give a similar effect.

Still on a floral theme, my final Kumihimo piece 'Flowercup Cascade' is much more my usual style and uses a mixture of seed beads and some beautiful glass Flower Cups from yorkbeads which I have had for some time but never got round to using before. I was really pleased with the way the flowers and seed beads braided together and I can't really think of another beadweaving stitch that would have created this effect and so I guess that makes me a Kumihimo convert! Despite my initial reservations I will definitely be doing more Kumihimo and I have other ideas of ways I can use it in my designs. Thank you Prima Bead for introducing me to something I might never have otherwise tried.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Neon News (and sparkles do not last forever) ...

Hello Everyone!

Following on from my big stripe reveal a couple of weeks ago, I have more news as Preciosa have now sent out their August newsletter showing all the pieces I made with their neon beads during May and June of this year. Preciosa very kindly linked to my Midnight Garden work and that prompted one or two people to ask about the garden and what happened to it and whether I have abandoned it, so I'd like to reassure my readers that everything is as it should be. In true fairytale style, the garden has been temporarily frozen while the gardener (that's me!) juggles lots of sparkly things that have been sent her way. Sparkles do not last forever and should be accepted with playful delight when they appear. When the sparkles begin to dim, I will contentedly return to my Midnight Garden. BUT in the meantime ... ta da!

When I first opened the package of neon beads it truly was like lifting the lid on a box of sunshine and I was a little apprehensive about where to start. Neon beads are very 'now' and I have seen several people say that neons are not for them and to be honest, I may have said the same thing a few months ago (after all I am a middle aged woman not a teenager!) but it is my job to show alternative ways of using beads and hopefully to inspire and so here is my neon collection. First of all I made a little trio of bracelets using the pink, orange and yellow neon seed beads:

Next I began experimenting with the Farfalle and as I haven't worked with these before I decided to keep it simple and created a set of roll on/roll off bangles. I chose the green Farfalle as a base and added the yellow, orange and pink seed beads as I thought it gave them the look of fruit or flowers amongst the foliage:

By then I was really getting into the swing of the neon beads and so I decided to make a much bolder bracelet to really try and capture the neon summer moment. For this one I mixed the neon Twin ™ beads with seed beads and pearls to create a floral explosion which I named Tropicana Cuff. The piece was used in the Preciosa advert in issue 57 of Making Jewellery magazine:

After having mixed Farfalle with seed beads and Twins ™ with seed beads I thought it would be good to try and mix all three bead shapes in a single piece. I chose the green and orange beads as I think these colours go together so well, but when I started working with the long orange Twins ™ and the round green seed beads and the piece gradually expanded, all I could think was that they reminded me of a plateful of peas and carrots and so that name stuck and here is Peas and Carrots bracelet:

Pink and orange was another colour combination that really appealed to me and so for the next piece I decided to concentrate on using the pink and orange seed beads but toned them down a bit with the use of black seed beads, pearls and ribbon which resulted in Jardin De Cancan:

And by then I was running out of time but I still had lots of lovely beads crying out to be sewn together and so as I enjoyed the look of mixing black beads and neon beads, I whipped up a set of three flower pins.  This is where I think neons could be worn at any time of year by any age. Imagine how a single Neon Nights pin, with their stained glass effect, would liven up a simple black jacket in deepest darkest winter!

So there you have it - the results of my neon experiments and where two months of my life went! The beads I was given to work with are actually the opaque neon beads and so despite looking very bright when they are in their original bags, they have a lovely soft matte feel to them and the yellow neon beads seemed to be amost a primrose yellow. I found these beads to be a joy to work with and I hope that my experiments will perhaps inspire you to look at neon beads in a new light. Some of these pieces will appear as projects in future issues of various beading magazines so be sure to use the 'Follow by Email' box at the top of my blog if you want to be kept informed of all the latest beady news.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Fab Four!

Hello everyone!

The latest issue of Digital Beading Magazine is now available and although I don't have a project in this one, I do have a slot in their regular 'Fab Four' feature alongside Edgar Lopez, Aurelio Castano and Lucy Duckham.

So if you want to read my answers to questions such as 'What do you enjoy most about the creative process?' or 'What were your early beaded creations like?' or even 'Tell us about your work with Preciosa?' then follow this link to purchase your copy of the latest issue. It is packed with a wide range of inspirational projects and at $US4.95 for 163 pages it's great value for money too!

See you soon with more beady news!

Kerrie ♥

Yorkie and the Midnight Garden!

A couple of weeks ago the Midnight Garden had a visitor.  Of course I couldn't show you on the blog at the time because of the contest, but as he proved to be quite a popular character on my Facebook page, I thought I would share his story with you today and also ask him if he would kindly make a return visit to pick the lucky winner of the giveaway!

So that was Yorkie's first experience of the Midnight Garden, but I have a feeling that some kind of magical spell was cast on him that night and that now he will be a regular visitor.  He was only too glad to come back into the garden to pick the winner of The Bead Shop Manchester giveaway.  Mr. and Mrs. Prickles oversaw  the proceedings to make sure that everything was done fairly and a small group of onlookers huddled in the corner, waiting with baited breath to learn the name of the winner ...

 

 And the winner is ...

Iha Vahlberg Orre of Sweden!  Congratulations Iha - your beautiful beads will soon be winging their way to you!  A big thank you to everyone who entered the contest and of course special thanks to Yorkie too!

 Kerrie  ♥

A Midnight Garden themed giveaway!

I have some exciting news!  In conjunction with The Bead Shop (Manchester) I am running an easy to enter contest to win a fabulous hand picked selection of beads and it is open to international entrants!  All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning this stunning prize, is answer two simple questions and leave a comment on this entry of my blog, along with your name and a valid email address (or some way for me to contact you) to enable me to contact the lucky winner to arrange delivery of the prize.  If you have been following my blog you will know that for some time now I have been working on what I call my 'Midnight Garden' collection - using a very limited colour palette of beads I have been creating a themed body of work with a fairy tale feel to it.  I have a mental image of a secret walled garden bathed in the light of the full moon at midnight, all overgrown with twisting vines and leaves, full of night blooming flowers and mystical creatures, where magical things happen if you are fortunate enough to witness them.  One of the key pieces (shown below) is called 'Gateway to the Garden' and it represents an ancient arched entrance to the garden with an old gnarled tree curving round the door and lots of leaves and long grasses growing up the wall.  I have worked around a piece of labradorite and if you look very closely through the archway I am convinced that you can see the fairies dancing in the moonlight within the garden.

I was thrilled when The Bead Shop (Manchester) first contacted me to discuss the possibility of us doing some work together and we decided to start by doing something a little different.  I have carefully filled my shopping cart with the beads that I would love to incorporate in my Midnight Garden (shown below) but instead of them being delivered to me, we will be giving these beads away to one lucky winner to enable them to create their own imaginative piece.  The prize includes a delicious mix of Miyuki Delicas and Duracoat seed beads in midnight greys and silvers, lots of shadowy grey Swarovski crystal pearls, some super sparkly Swarovski crystals including an incredibly twinkly star pendant and a selection of whimsical charms that fit in perfectly with my theme.  It would be lovely if the winner decided to show me what they make with this wonderful selection of beads, but there is absolutely no pressure to do this!

So how do you enter this exciting giveaway?  It's very simple - leave the correct answers to both of the following questions as a comment on this blog entry along with your name and a valid email address (or some way for me to contact you):

1. In what year was The Bead Shop (Manchester) established?
2. How many different beading patterns do I sell directly from my website?

The closing date is the 18th of December and after that date I will put all correct answers into a hat and the lucky winner will be notified by me and then contacted by The Bead Shop (Manchester) to arrange delivery of the prize.

Make sure you tell your friends about this fun giveaway so that they can be in with a chance of winning this Midnight Garden themed prize.  Good luck everyone!

Kerrie  ♥
  

Stepping Stones ...

I am sure you are all tired of me telling you how much my life has changed since I discovered beads - but it's true, things have evolved both personally and professionally and there are even more changes afoot.  Although change is scary, I do like to keep moving forward and this is especially true where my beadwork is concerned, but sometimes I like to pause, take a breath and glance over my shoulder at the path behind me and an email I received this week reminded me to do just that.  It was actually an email from Interweave with news of a big sale they are having, but as I looked at my old patterns that they still sell, I saw that OK, I am working in different coloured beads nowadays, I am incorporating different materials, I am experimenting with different stitches and my photography has certainly improved - but I noticed that my style of beadwork hasn't really changed at all.  As you know, I am completely immersed in the Midnight Garden at the moment and I understand that some of you are disappointed that I simply have not had time to write the patterns for some of the garden's 'inhabitants', but I thought perhaps now might be a good time to remind you that there are already lots of my patterns available to purchase from various sources and many of these will provide the stepping stones to the kind of work I am currently creating, such as these Olive Earrings from Interweave.

So first of all, let me tell you about the Interweave sale - if you visit this page of my website and click on any of the project titles, it will take you to the Interweave store and if you purchase any of the patterns via that page, after you 'Add to cart' you will see a box with the words 'Coupon Code' - be sure to enter HOLIDAYTHANKS into that box and a further 20% will be deducted - but please note that this sale ends on Monday November the 26th.

Many of my patterns that were published in Bead magazine are still available to purchase too, so if you want to make your very own Maid Marian's Quiver for example (as shown above) just follow this link and it will take you to a selection of my patterns in their on-line store.

The patterns I have had published with Bead & Button magazine are also still available, so if you would like to make yourself a Double Dragon, follow this link to view my patterns that are available to purchase and download from them. 

And finally, don't forget that I also sell a selection of patterns from this page of my website so if you want to make your own Core Beaded Beads, Popper Flowers, Rivoli Daisies etc. - just follow the links and your new beading pattern/s will be with you within minutes.  There are new patterns in the pipeline but this is generally a slow process (especially where books and magazines are involved) and so I am hoping that you will find something in the links above that will interest you until I am able to share new work.

Yours evolvingly;

Kerrie ♥

Coming out of hibernation ...

Well, here I am, slowly nosing my way out of hibernation, stretching, sniffing the air and gradually adjusting to Life After Mum.  I am picking up my needle and thread again, accepting all sorts of beady offers and blowing the cobwebs off the Midnight Garden - I am back in business!  Mr. and Mrs. Prickles have also come out of a long sleep in order to lend their support to York Beads who had to close for a whole week following hurricane Sandy due to a complete loss of power.  Mr. and Mrs. P. owe their very existence to York, as without them, there would have been no beautiful dagger beads to adorn them and then they would have looked like very different creatures indeed - have you ever heard of the naked mole rat?

When I was a 'hobby beader', if I had read the term 'wholesale' I would have immediately switched off, thinking that I would not be eligible to buy from them - but I have learnt that actually, York sell 'wholesale to the public' which means you do not need to be a business or have to do anything complicated or scary.  True they do have a minimum purchase amount, but that is only $100 (currently around £63/79Eur/97AUD) and as we all know, it is not hard to spend that kind of money and more on those must have beads, and there is nothing to stop you getting together with a group of friends to organise a bulk order.  So if you want to get your beady paws on some of the most innovative Czech beads around (such as the dagger beads, spike beads or the new gumdrop beads) go to the York Beads website, click on 'Sign In Here' and 'Apply For An Account' and if you have any difficulties, feel free to email them via the 'Contact us' page.  Oh and right now they have a very attractive sale on of 10% off all items with free flat rate domestic shipping and an international shipping rate of only $16.95.

So that's all from me and Mr. and Mrs. P. for now, but we will be back soon with news of new designs, tutorials and published projects, so if you don't want to miss anything, make sure you either click on the 'Follow by Email' button located on the top right of my blog or click 'like' on my Facebook page.

Bye for now!

Kerrie ♥

Into each garden some rain must fall ...

Of course I have corrupted a line from Longfellow's 'The Rainy Day' in the title of my post today, but it perfectly expresses my feelings.  Due to family illness the Midnight Garden exhibition has had to be cancelled - but that does not mean an end to the Midnight Garden!  Unexpected and disappointing things happen.  In my real life garden a cheeky little mouse has made a tasty meal of my baby carrots and voracious slugs and snails have made short work of my runner beans - I was looking forward to eating those homegrown vegetables myself, but it was not meant to be this year and it does not mean I will not plant new ones.  The walls of the Midnight Garden are still firm,  the twisting twirling leaves and vines are still thriving and the owls, hedgehogs and turtles are still watchful and waiting for a time when new creatures will join them.  The garden was already beginning to take on a life of its own and new ideas were starting to take shape, so perhaps this change of direction was always on the cards - the gardener just wasn't aware of it!

So, although I cannot go through with the physical exhibition in September, I will continue with my personal colour challenge (albeit at a slower pace), I will still be the caretaker of the Midnight Garden and I will carry on with my freelance work.  Talking of which - I have just managed to complete a couple of new Thorn Flower bracelets in different colourways!  These will join the existing bracelet at the York Beads booth at Bead Fest in Philadelphia from August the 17th to the 19th.  And don't forget that you can purchase the pattern for the Thorn Flowers via this page of my website!

 

To round off today's post I would like to thank everybody for the wonderful support the garden has received so far.  I would also like to reassure you that although my work will no longer be displayed at Stitchncraft in September, I will still be working hard on creating this body of work and I will of course keep you updated with all news on my blog or Facebook page.

Bye for now!

Kerrie

From the office to the garden!

I used to have a normal 9 to 5 job - it paid the bills but it made me miserable and every day I would gaze out of the window longing to be on the other side.  So now I work from home and nearly every day is different.  Some days I work from 7am until 11pm and weekends are very often cancelled to enable me to meet a deadline, but other days I can skip off into the sunshine and go and talk to the trees.  Some days I spend quietly beading, lost in my own thoughts and not talking to a single person until Simon comes home.  Other days are a flurry of non-stop calls and emails with my mind whirring as all sorts of possibilities and ideas unfold - a far cry from my old life and most days I can hardly believe the transformation.  The last few weeks have been particularly surreal and as I made the collage below I had to pinch myself to check that I really was looking at pictures of NanC Meinhardt and Marcia DeCoster holding my work at the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee.

Of course I wasn't at the show in person, only Midnight Garland and The Thorns got to travel and to meet all those amazing beady people while basking in the limelight.  I stayed at home, quietly tending to the Midnight Garden and gradually four flower pins with four different petal shapes and four different centres, bloomed from my fingers ...

 Bye for now!

Kerrie

Hedgehogs in the garden!

Well here I am ... already 8 months into my beady experiment of using one colour of beads for a whole year to create a themed body of work - Midnight Garden.  I am quite pleased with the meandering route the garden is taking with lots of twists and turns and the occasional unexpected but welcome nocturnal visitor.  So I was very happy when Perry at York Beads sent me some dagger beads because when I saw them my first thought was 'hedgehogs' - and really, what self-respecting rambling midnight moonlight garden would be complete without a couple of magical hedgehogs snuffling around the place?  And so here we have Mr & Mrs Prickles - she is a little smaller with a lovely shiny body and a playful twinkle in her eyes and he is larger and sort of dull (and a bit camera shy!) but he's solid and dependable and I think you can tell that they are very much in love ♥ ♥

Bye for now!

Kerrie

 

 

Midnight Garland!

After my last post about the new Thorn Flowers, I thought that my work with 'spike beads' was done and that in true butterfly style I could flit on to another shape, another bead, another flower.  But then Perry at York Beads offered to display a couple of pieces of my spike bead work at his booth at the Bead & Button show in June and it seemed like a wasted opportunity to just send what I had already created and so another idea started to form.  After ten days and many hours of making lots of intricate heart shaped leaves, some twisty vine and a few thorn flowers and thorn flower buds - Midnight Garland is ready to be packaged up and sent off on her travels.

And if you were hoping for a Midnight Garden story:  Deep within the Midnight Garden an insignificant looking vine appears.  As the moon waxes the stem begins to grow, small tendrils sprout and uncoil into tiny heart shaped leaves that twist and creep along the ground.  Little buds start to form and as they swell the petals begin to part showing glimpses of an inner light.  The Midnight Garland grows and grows, climbing and spreading throughout the garden, gathering strength until gradually the petals unfurl revealing the centre - and at that special midnight full moon moment the powerful silver spikes point moonwards ...

Bye for now!

Kerrie