Bead Maniac

She's a maniac, a maniac with the glaze...

Yeah, so my weekend I worked on over a hundred beads. I've been rolling them at work for designated projects and necklaces, but had no time to coat them.  After all weekend of this, today at work I'm crocheting!

More Beads! You know you're excited about those

I long for the days when I can make dolls again.

The necklace is one I made for work. I'm wearing it on my other blog, A Day in the Life of She Who Is...

Just Another Day of Pen and Ink

Took three days, actually, to finish this piece. This one is meant more to showcase my patterns so that when I'm making a design and I feel stumped, I can reference this. I notice I'm less geometric in my designing.

Mostly exhausted the last few days. All set to go back to work on that evil day, Monday. I know I'll go through spells like this, so fingers crossed that this is the last before January. :-)

I love this article

Doodles and Zentangles - About.com

She says exactly what I feel. I resent someone coming along and copyrighting/trademarking the very idea of the same type of thing I've done since I was 15, then saying that theirs is better because they make it meditative. Art is very much a method of connecting to the paper and pen. It's a form of mindfulness. I now mentally fume when working on my art because just getting my pens I really didn't want people to think I was tangling when I'm creating my art/doodles.

Brain Yoga Doodles! Just kidding :) Just Happy Doodles

My art is not a zen anything, but it is yoga for the soul.  I liked making these much like in school. The main difference now from twenty years ago was that I included more dragon scales and wings in my doodles then and now I have more swirls. I use most of the same patterns. I really have been missing this. I started to do it a little bit on my not yet finished owl drawing (that is further in this blog.) 

 These babies need a name! My daughter thinks I could or should sell them. 

It's a two piece set. 

Two Bracelets and a Dragon

Working on some gifts and I'm really not sure what I think of these. Thoughts? Paper beads as the central focus. 

This one is a dragon I'm working on. It's slow. I can't do this too much right now. It's acrylic too, which I've not really used since school. (Jr. High) 

To Mend a Broken Heart

I'm surprised I left this one unfinished for so long. She was started in plenty of time to have ready for Valentine's Day 2013. She was made for that holiday, and yet, I finished her this evening.  The challenge was that after so long of not touching her, I could barely see my sketch lines and it was fun trying to remember what my original plans were for her. 

Finished piece. Difficult to scan, I noticed. 

The first pic is where I began tonight, then I added more details. 

The finished here shows the colors far better than the scan does.

 The gold is metallic watercolor. 

Here are some of her details. I do like her. She's vibrant and not 

quite like most of my past art pieces. 

Later I'll put her on DeviantArt and on Etsy. I have to decide what she'll cost. She is 9x12 on Arches cold pressed watercolor paper. I use mostly Grumbacher watercolor paints, with a few others. 

Tiiiiired. Last update for today. Done for now

Two more bracelets

Paper beads and glass on cotton thread

She really likes these! She approves. 

Working on Swaps!

It's been a little while since I was able to do much arting stuff. I didn't take photos of the envelopes I'm making also. I've been slowly working on some jewelry for swappies. Swappies are basically other people who are sick with chronic illnesses. We just try to cheer each other up. :) I'm very slow on mine because my left hand is still extremely numb/hurty. I have no idea what it'll take to get that to work again. I've been checked for carpal tunnel and don't have that, last we knew, but I'm fairly sure there is a nerve pinched somewhere around my elbow.

Welcome to my messy craft area! This is our art desk. Justin asks me what I'll do whenever he's ready to actually create art. Um...guess I'll be packing my stuff up then. :)  I want this to be usable by both of us. I'd love to see him create art. 

Here is just one bracelet set for swapping. I'm working on a lot more. I can't wear metal, but I might do some with metal closures too. These are loop and bead ones, 7 inchers with a little give.

Addendum:

A few hours later, this necklace is done as well. It's a 16 inch choker. I hope I find the right swap partner to receive these bits of jewelry. I worry I'll send to someone who will hate it :( 

Paper beads, black cotton cord, peridot-colored glass chips and hemalike beads. 

Just a Preview

I spent yesterday mostly on the couch with my sweetheart, since I was so heavily fatigued. It allowed me time to draw and decorate two homemade envelopes for two of my penpals (I'll show them after I send them) and to start this 11x14 drawing in pen and ink. I didn't realize how much my hands were shaking when I took the photo, sorry. This is only one third of the picture, a dragon triskele of sorts. It hasn't gone quite as planned, but I plan to make another after this to see if I get the form a bit more the way I desire. 

No arting today. Neck is in knots and the headache is severe. I'm proud of where my art is going, however. Any fellow artists know an awesome paper for pen and ink with added watercolor elements that won't buckle? I'll use the color in this one, but probably mostly dry color.

Taking Time, Blues and Candy Sweet

I'm slow even on working on beads right now. Here are my current pieces. They're watercolor painted on paper then cut and rolled. Unique and all one of a kind.

This set is a random cut set, an experiment. I didn't measure any of the pieces and am using 2 types of scrapbook paper. 

Another New Creation....and a Cat.

New Bracelet

I'm glad I can finish a few things off and on. I've made many bead sets, but finished few.  Definitely haven't made much into actual jewelry. This one is fairly simple, but comfortable. I set it back to sell though. Wish me luck!  In the meantime, I'm still working on that same picture from last week. I hope to feel better later to do something else on a theme. There's a  masquerade and fairy theme in a group I'm part of. Or the tail end (I think) of sketchfest? Cleaning house has to come first today, however. It'll be slow. Apartment inspections for appliances this week.

I worked on this one with a heat pad on my right knee. Zoey zonked out and just let me bead away.

New Bracelet Set

Pink Simplistic.

Took awhile tonight and I had some assistance.

I listed to bracelet set on Etsy. It's affordable. $.9.50 + basic shipping.

Pink and Aqua Paper Bead and Glass Bracelet Set - 3 Bracelets - $9.50

Discovering Some New Stuff

Now, I'm not trying this right now. I don't have the supplies or the money. I have a hideous headache, so thought I'd just link this stuff to check back later. Due to a group I'm in for chronically ill crafters and artists, I discovered...Viking knitting.

Viking Knitting by Awesome Cool and Quirky artisan

This girl is so cool, I've subbed to her channel now. I want to keep watching her speed dry brushing vids and her tutorials.  One thing other than wire that one needs is a tool for stretching. She made her own.

Here's her website: Blue Kitty Creations
Check under Gallery and Sindri Collection and you can see exactly what Viking Knit is. Her bracelets are stunning.  I do want to try this eventually. I don't have....well I might have wire that's appropriate. I'm not sure. She sells her stuff on Etsy and is working on more as well.  We had a blast watching her tutorials and videos last night for A.) the stuff she shares is cool and B.) she's quirky and FUN.  Love her personality. Makes me miss having a webcam though. Someday we will. We've wanted to vlog.

Here is where you can buy a Draw Plate

I've heard people use the circle wrenches, key holes, anything they can to stretch the jewelry.

And look! It's a cat :)  Zoey is my art assistant. I'm in too much pain to function today, but she's keeping me company. Ignore the dirty carpet. It's our art space. There are fuzzies, string and who knows what lost beads one might find.

Finished Necklace

Necklace Available on Etsy - $25.00

The beads are paper, of course. They have a daisy floral pattern with shades of green, gold, black and white. I made the necklace with black, teal, green and gold beads.

Had fun setting up a way to make this. It fits about the same as the one I made for myself, so slightly longer than a choker.

Just Waking Up

I crashed out at a reasonable time for once. I've had a lot of difficulty with sleeping of late. Took part in Sketchfest a little bit last night. With Sketchfest you choose from prompts that are posted and spend only one hour on a sketch. It was my first time, really. Problem is, I loved it so much that after posting the image, I've been working on it.

The Prompt:  Owl Princess.
Feathered Regalia on Sketchfest

Here's the image pre "mess around with the colors to get it to look brighter."

It has been a very high pain/fatigue day, so I can't sit at the desk for long. I settled in on the floor for a little bit with my tools and my freshly charged iPod. Had some Tool going on.  Then later I moved to the desk. Too tired to finish it last night. Maybe more will go into this today. 

Something a Little Different - Owl

Awhile back I made up this little concept of an owl. It's fairly simplistic in that it's easy to crochet. What I like to do that is different, however, is add on some fabric and hand-beaded accents. I thought about sculpting beaks, but decided the little chip would be better. I think they're just glass chips, not actual amethyst or anything, though. I'm working on more of these.

I plan to finish the necklace featured in the last post, but I haven't had the chance yet to just sit down and do so. I'm in that mentally non-functional arena today.

Too tired to have words

Still in progress.

Now For Something Completely Different

OKay...not completely. It's still on a papercraft theme. I decided to see if it would be possible to do a bookmark using a similar technique to the paper beads. I can also try pendants like that later. I used Prismacolor indigo blue and Prismacolor watercolor in goldenrod to fast sketch a dragon doodle onto normal mixed media paper. I then coated it with Elmer's school gel glue. Right now it's drying. I'll add more coats and then coat in the triple thick when I'm done. The idea is to figure out where my hole punch went, and then add paper beads and regular beads in a tail to the bottom of the bookmark. I don't know if this will work out, however. It's an experiment.  This is all leading up to the large bust sculptures I have planned for "Dolls."

Finally finished!

I finished the medallion necklace. It's a head with a dragon buddy, wings and all. This is made with cotton crochet thread woven together with glass beads and handmade paper beads. The beads are water resistant (not waterproof, they're paper, after all) and varnished to protect them. The only metal is the wire through the medallion itself.

I really need better photos. This is choker length, however. Great conversation piece, doncha think?  Now I need sleep. Badly. My schedule is a wreck and we have a birthday party to go to. Do believe I'll make this one around $20-25.00 with shipping about $3-5 depending on area. Hmmmm.

A Mini Update

I wanted to kick it up a bit. I have so many packets of beads now and I want to make them into pendants. I also plan to list some on Etsy and give some as gifts.  Last night I sculpted an odd face pendant. Today I'm finishing out the barrel beads that will go with the regular small bicones. I plan to pair these with black beads and a nice matte set of larger seeds.

 Here is the pendant. It's a dragon type creature with a dragon pet atop its head. I have no clue who would want to give this type of thing a home, but hopefully someone will.

Here are the strips of paper for the barrel beads and the beads I've already made to go in this set. I'll update tonight if I manage to get a complete pendant going.