2018 Swap & Hop

It's reveal time for the 2018 Swap n' Hop!  My lovely partner is Jenny Kyrlach, who blogs over at Anafiassa.

Jenny couldn't quite decide what to send, so she sent two packages of beads - one from a green and earthtone mix and one from a red, white and black mix.  Jenny's specialty is her hand-made paper beads, and I was lucky enough to get seven sets of those - in brown, green, grey and white, light red/white, medium red/white and red.  Her handiwork is impressive on those beads - they are so consistent and lovely to use.

I have to admit that my beading mojo was at an all-time low over the last month.  I didn't even torch once, and so completed a couple of things with what I had on hand.  I'll continue to add to the work as I get things completed, so stay tuned for more work.  I did complete two pairs of earrings - one large drop featuring vintage buttons, Jenny's paper beads and some metal beads/  The next pair featured the lovely matte black and transparent red/black glass, plus some German glass from my own collection.

Swap n' Hop Intro - 2018

The lovely host of the Swap n' Hop swap (Linda Anderson) has invited us to prepare a bit of an intro to ourselves, both so she can match us to partners and so our partner can prepare our packages.  Linda's kindly provided some prompts

1. Why or how did you get started in making jewelry?
 The jewelry really came about after I fell in love with beads.  After all, it's super convenient to have something to actually do with the beads.  I fell in love with seed beads after seeing an interpretive guide at a local history park use beads in loom weaving as a kid.  One craft loom and a bunch of small vials of size 11/0's later, I was off to the races.  I would have considered myself a seed-beader throughout most of grade school and early adult hood, but I ran into a woman in my travels who was into (mostly buying) lampwork beads.  Another big light bulb moment occurred - if she was buying them, someone was making them - you could make beads!  Again, one class at a local art college and a trip to a local glass store, and I was off to a different set of races, one that's subsequently included many other classes and hours of torch time.
 

2011 - Bead Journal Project

   














 

Lamp work made by me

2. What style(s) of jewelry do you like to make?

Yellow, orange and purple.  With glass, ceramic and metal.

 Not matching.

I create jewelry as a hobby only, so really I like to make things that I will wear (shocking, that).  I like monochromatic and things that match until I don't.  And then I'll combine all the colours and all the materials and all the textures.  I'd consider myself more modern than not, mixing things up to keep life interesting.

White Glass - All matching!

 

 3. What materials do you prefer to use (and which ones do you avoid)? 

I'd be lying if I said I didn't like sparkly things.  It's the title I use for the blog, and given that I started as a seed beader and continued on to lampwork, glass has played a big part in my jewelry practice.  Anything sparkly is fair game though - crystals also work, as do some gemstones.  I will use most things, but don't naturally reach for most gemstones, wood or plastic unless they are good quality and will enhance whatever I'm working on.

There's plastic in here.

And in here!

Gemstone here

And wood here

 

4. Which techniques do you prefer (and are there any that you don't like)?
 On the technique side, I like to string, and can do simple wirework - wraps and headpins and links.  I took a proper jewelry making class at an art college, so in theory know how to do more advanced stuff like solder, but my current set up doesn't allow for those techniques.

One of my very favourite pieces - hand made headpins, riveted charms and soldered chain.

 















5. What colors do you use most, and which do you run screaming from?



I hadn't really thought about this much until the question was asked, but I tend to like strong, clear colours.  Black, white, primaries and secondary colours are my preferred palate.  I will use muted or pastels, but try and mix them up in an unusual way - peach with mauve.  Oh - and I wasn't kidding when I said the charm bracelet above is one of my favourites, even though it's all browns.  I also try and vary the textures and saturation or transparency of beads in a work - perhaps frosted with opaque or metallic with transparent glass.

Some other random trivia: 
-  I share a birthday with Price William
- I used to cross-stich, but haven't had the muse in several years.  I got the sewing and quilting muse several years ago.
- I love to bake, and will quite happily volunteer to make treats for almost any occasion

Karin

2018 Update

It's been a while since I updated the blog - most of my updates are now on Instagram, but since that's mostly a "life" account rather than strictly a crafting/beading thing, I thought I would update here as well.  I've been quite taken with quilting, and have pieced a number of quilt tops.  This one is foundation paper piecing, and I love the ombre effect on it. 

The next one is Libs Elliot's rebel quilt.  The "rebel" block is the one whole block in the quilt.  She gives a piecing guide for 7 colours, all of mine are shades of cream and tan.  I've been on a monochromatic kick lately.

And finally, my WIP of Lib's Weight of Love pattern, exclusive to the class she teaches.  There are 17 colours in this one, mine are all shades of Red, Grey or Black.  Maybe the monochromatic thing is catching up with me!

Bead Peeps Swap and Hop (3rd Edition) Reveal!

It's been a tough go on these bead reveals - I've been out of town for work a lot, and there has been no time to torch, meaning I mostly had to pick from my existing stash.  It's been kind of a fun exercise though, as I think the limitations mean that I have been more creative than I otherwise would have been.

My partner is Divya Narasimhan, who blogs over at Jewels of Sayuri, and lives in Chennai, India.  All though I'm only in Canada, most of the bead swaps pair participants outside of the US with others outside of the US, so I'm always excited to see where my next partner will come from.  Divya is very active in the Bead Peeps group, and offers up lots of inspiration and thought provoking ideas, so I was excited to see what she would send.

She included lots of locally made components and lots of colour!  I sent her an entirely monochromatic bead soup, so the two sets of components could not have been more different.

First up, a bracelet featuring one of two toggle clasps that Divya sent - I added seed beads to complete the toggle, dig out a bunch of seemingly random lampwork that was at the bottom of the bead box, and added a few wood beads to mirror the texture of the clasp.

Next up, another bracelet with some of the painted wooden beads that Divya sent.  I added a few of my handwoven beads, some vintage German glass and a metal focal to compliment the beads that I picked out of the soup.

 And lastly, two pairs of earrings - one pair with the green glass drops that Divya sent, along with some cloissone from the local bead shop, and a pair of handmade lampwork headpins with the glass galaxy beads that Divya provided. 

I had great fun working with all the colour in this soup!  More with the other beads soon.

Bead Soup Blog Party - Reveal (from Joanne Louvaine Bell and Johana Nunez)

Welcome to the Bead Soup Blog Party, hosted by the amazing Lori Anderson.  Lori's been through a lot of health challenges in the past few years, and has only recently felt well enough to host another Blog Party.  There are about a 160 of us - down from the 500plus numbers of the biggest hop, but a manageable number, and one that I hope to get to over a few days.  Saturday, my nephews and I have plans, the exact variety of which I'm not sure, but I suspect that it will involve some sort of play structure and some variety of sugar.  I have two partners, and this is a long post, so grab some coffee and settle in!

My first partner is the lovely Joanne Louvaine Bell, who blogs at TwinkieDinky, and sent an amazing Bead Soup filled with her hoarded specials, as well as some of her own work.
 

She packaged everything in little cloth packages, which I hope to recycle in other projects.  The beads consisted of:

Joanne's own Resin Wings and Polymer Beads
Lampwork from Juliette Mullete, Karin Hirza and Dee Howell
Lampwork focal from Hendri Lourens
Bronze from Anna Chernykh
Ceramic and Polymer Flowers from Cherie Irwin and Lysa

and, what she notes as the most special, the Kim Snider wing, that she stayed up until 4 in the morning to get!

I've been massively busy with work, and had only managed to get a quick cell snap of the package, which does not portray the contents in their full glory.

Lampwork Pendant Necklace By Maverick Beads

Since Joanne said the wing was her most precious, I set out to do it justice.  I quickly decided on a necklace of some sort.  But there were so many options, and I picked out a few beads from my hoard that would match the scale of the wing.  Rooting around in the lampwork bead box, I picked out bead after bead, trying to find something that would compliment.  And then there was one.... a failed execution of lampwork technique, something that might have ended up in the garbage had I been more ruthless, might have been overlooked, but was suddenly was perfect. I pulled out a pewter grey leather, and suddenly it was simple. One wing, one bead, a piece of leather.

Fearing I had failed Joanne, and her precious hoarded bead with something so simple, I made a bracelet to match.  It was all of the beads I'd intended to use for the necklace, but somehow the serendipity of the simple necklace took over.

Bonus Bracelet for Pendant by Maverick Beads

Joanne also sent some very lovely resin wings which are her own specialty.  They are truly gorgeous!  I paired the wings with a few of my lampwork beads and some crystals for some lovely long drop earrings.

Resin and Lampwork bead earrings  by Maverick Beads

The next pair of earrings is also a set of resin wings - paired with a matte set of handwoven seadbeads beads, some silver beadcaps, crystal and silver earwires, I hope they compliment the resin wings.

Resin and Handwoven Bead Earrings by Maverick Beads

And finally, a third pair of earrings!  Joanna sent a lot of things in pairs, so I hope she's not disappointed to find a bunch of earrings in the reveal.  The third pair features a lovely pair of ceramic buds by Cherie Erwin of New Zealand.  Finding inspiration in the olive green colour of the tops of the buds, I paired them with a couple of chain connectors and some of my own lampwork beads for a lovely pair of spring earrings.

Ceramic and Lampwork Beads by Maverick Beads

 I still have more to come from this bead soup - there are more lovelies that I will work into jewellry as the inspiration strikes!

My second partner is the equally lovely Johana Nunez, who blogs over at Art Incendi, sent the following Bead Soup, filled with all things spring!  I was lucky enough to get Johana as a partner when her original partner did not feel comfortable sending beads to Puerto Rico.  Luckily, Lori posted at the same time I was on-line and our partnership quickly came together.  Puerto Rico is not that far away from Canada, and so her beads were the first to arrive. 

 This is what she sent:

Blue Berri Beads - Ceramic Yellow Bird
Serena Smith Lampwork - Lampwork Flower Buttons
Swoon Dimples - "Give More" Pink Polymer
Bo Hulley Beads - Bracelet Blank
Jade Scott - Resin Pendant
Glass Flowers and Enameled Metal




Johana provided an amazing variety of beads, but what to make?  I started playing around with the purple enameled metal beads on a bead board that had some yellow lampwork that I was intending for another project.  The yellow glass was hand pulled cane, which produces beautiful striations of coloured and transparent glass.   I also discovered that I had a set of lampwork spacers in precisely the same colour as the enamel.  The glass used to make the spacers was discontinued about a decade ago, so I have no idea what possessed me to make a bunch of spacers from it, but there they were in the bead box.  I also had a couple of bright orange lampwork beads kicking about.  With the addition of the yellow, purple and orange a bracelet soon started to come together.  I wouldn't normally do an elastic bracelet for a blog-hop with art quality beads, but because of the size of the enameled beads, it seemed like the only solution.

Enameled beads on colourful beaded bracelet by Maverick Beads

Next up, a pair of earrings with the same enameled beads - a pair of lampwork headpins, the enameled beads plus some vintage German new stock glass are stacked to form earrings that are a statement piece without being two heavy.

Enameled Beaded Earrings from Maverick Beads

I was not sure what to do with the amazing Swoon Dimples bead, which says "Give" on one side and "More" on the other.  I had still had some of the beads considered for the first bracelet kicking around the bead board, and decided to make a super fun spring coloured confection!  It's still pretty gray days around here, with the last of the snow slowly going away.  The pretty pink polymer clay pairs with a couple of handwoven lavender beads, more of the veiled yellow lampwork glass from the first bracelet, and bright aqua vintage acrylic beads. 

Swoon Dimples Bead on Colourful Spring Beaded Bracelet from Maverick Beads

Last up, a pendant - the first piece that came together.  The little yellow Blue Berri ceramic birdie seemed so happy on top of the lampwork bead and a lampwork headpin that the piece came together quite quickly.  I love the combination of yellow and green in this - seems so fresh and springlike!

Blue Berri bead on Spring Pendant from Maverick Beads

I had a fantastic time working with everything Johana sent - I'm looking for the perfect compliment to the pendant, bracelet blank and lampwork, and figuring out how to mount the lovely glass flowers, so stay tuned for those in a future post.

Recieved by me - Package One - Bead Soup Blog Party

Johana at Art Incendi really spoiled me - a lovely bunch of spring pretties just at the bleakest point in winter.  Yummy grape enamelled beads, a ceramic birdie, some lampwork buttons, a sweet little bird charm, a winged bracelet blank, a bright word bead and a selection of glass flowers!  So spoiled.

Johana selected beads with her favourite theme - birds, wings and flowers.  I've got lots of ideas to play around with this lot!

Received by my partner - Package One - Bead Soup Blog Party

The lovely Joane Louvaine Bell received my package the quickest - yeah for Canada to UK postage!

Here's what I blogged earlier:

and here's what she actually received:

The requirements were to send a hoarded bead.  I sent two Sarah Hornik lampwork lovelies - an artist I'd long admired, a ceramic disk, a copper focal, a bunch of my own lampwork, a good chunk of vintage (middle column - either French flea market or German new stock) and a bunch of things that I'd consider "ordinary" - right column.  It was a bit of a risk - purple, green, and orange!  What kind of mean partner does that?  Fortunately, Joanne loves this, or so she tells me, and I can't wait to see what she does with these!

Another Bead Soup - Lori Anderson's Blop Hop 2017

Because of a mix-up, I now have two bead soup partners!  This (very disguised soup, via two filters) is currently at the post office, on it's way to Johana in Puerto Rico.  I had picked out the soup before I knew anything about Johana, but I think she'll really like the soup.  I can't wait to see what she might make with her lovely hand enameled creations!  A proper introduction soon...

Bead Hoarders Bead Soup and Swap and Hop

I signed up for two swaps/blog hops in the upcoming months.  One is the Bead Peeps "Swap and Hop", where I've been partnered with Divya, who blogs at Jewels of Sayuri.  I picked out something I'm hoping she'll like, but will be a challenge to design with - after all, why participate in a swap if you're only going to get things that are your own style.  Disguising the beads in the swap so they'll be a surprise to Divya was a challenge,but I found a filter that did it.

The second swap is what I think will be the ninth edition of the Bead Soup Party.  This time, host Lori Anderson has designed the swap as a Bead Hoarders swap, so I can pick out my beads before hand.  I dipped into my stash of lovelies, and found a couple of things that I'm hoping my swap partner will appreciate.  The beads were a challenge to colour match for the rest of the soup, but I'm hoping my partner will appreciate what I've set aside.

Stay tuned for the reveals of both swaps!

Swap and Hop - April 8th
Bead Hoarders Bead Soup - March 25th

Earring Duo - Blue Birdie and Carmel Steampunk Gears

These cute little birdies were found at my local bead store - most of the charms and dangles they have are not really my style, but when I found these folky little brass birds, I knew they would be perfect.  Paired with handwoven beads in a matte silverlined blue, they'd be the perfect piece to attract attention at a casual gathering.

 

I haven't made many pieces recently without handwoven beads in them - once the muse took over, so did the beads!  I took apart a necklace recently that just wasn't working, and the little clay steampunk gears and the colourful lampwork rounds ended up on my work table next to each other.  They'd be perfect for a steampunk enthusiast who wants something that's a little more subtle or casual than your ordinary steampunk garb.

Blues and Greens - Casual Essential Oil Diffuser Bracelet and Vintage Apple Green Earrings

It's completely the middle of winter here,  maybe getting a little lighter each day, but still mostly just dark and grey.  So a little colour (and fun!) is in order.  The bracelet is an essential oil diffuser bracelet - the little white ball in the middle of the white and turquoise petals is made of felt, so you can include your favourite essential oil within a wonderfully fun bracelet.  A sterling silver clasp adds to lampwork beads, a handwoven beaded bead and some vintage acrylic flowers. 

The earrings are more lampwork - apple green disks and donuts, mini dark blue spacers and vintage acrylic navy rounds. 

Links to purchase are here and here

Romantic Duo - Peach and Violet Bracelet and Earrings

 

This isn't my comfort zone.  Peach and Violet?  Not me.  But sometime karma and glass speaks to you.   And you go rummaging around the beadbox for "something" and a large acrylic cube just kind of sticks out at you.  Sure, it's been there for 20 years, but it needed to be in this bracelet. 

The peach and light lavender beads are my own lampwork - some times its not as exciting to make spacers, but there are other times, like this, where the simplicity and striations of the glass make everything just right.   

If you'd like either of these pieces for your own collection, the earrings are here and the bracelet is here

Northern Lights - Essential Oil Diffuser Bracelet in Subtle Light Blue

I've become slightly obsessed with making beaded beads out of seedbeads, as seen by the lovely, just barely there blue coloured beads.  Not a seedbead colour I would normally work with, but it worked well in the bracelet.  This particular bracelet also has a felt diffuser ball, so it can also be used with essential oils.  Just put a couple of drops on the felt ball, and you'll benefit from all of the healing properties that essential oils have.

My Etsy shop has been sadly neglected, but the bracelet has been listed here

Bead Soup Blog Party #8!!

Today's reveal date at the Bead Soup blog party.  I know I'm way late, and didn't even let you know I was participating, but it's been an extremely busy spring, and well... life happens.  Hosted by the fabulous Lori Anderson, the bead soup blog party is an event where two people swap a group of beads, and make items with those beads.  The beads must include a clasp and a focal, but can include anything else the two people want to send.  There are 468 of us participating this year, and all of the creations will be available for viewing today on the blog party.  My partner is Karen Jones, a lovely lady that lives only an hour and half from me, and who blogs at Off the Top Creations.

Karen sent me the following pretties to play with - a gorgeous selection of green beads, some stone, some ceramic, with some copper accent pieces and a few lovely brown pieces to balance it all out.




I picked up an issue of Bead Stringing this week, and used Lorelei Eurto's bracelet recipe to make this bracelet.  I used the glass and wood beads from the soup, combined them with a clasp from TheaToo, and added my own lampwork focal and accents to the mix.  I really love this bracelet, and will think fondly of Karen and the lovely things she sent me when I wear it.

Next, on to what I did with the clasp that Karen sent.  I had quite a hard time with this one, as the clasp was a different shape than what I'm used to.  I tried several different combinations, including one version with hot pink beads, before settling on this.  I also used the copper round butterflies and some of the serpentine that Karen sent, along with chain and vintage glass from my own collection.

 Lastly, I created a quick pair of earrings out of some fancy jasper and a couple of lampwork rounds.  I'm quite happy with these, and think the bronze beads at the top and bottom add a lot to the earrings.

Of course, I also sent Karen some goodies to play with, and if you'd like to see what she's done with these, head on over to Off The Top Creations to see her reveal:

If you want to see all of the other pretties, this link will take you to all of the other participating bloggers in the Bead Soup Blog Party!