Monday 26 January 2015

encaustic

"manny"
encaustic on wood panel
12 x12
 
a special project for my friend Elizabeth
this is her "baby"


Monday 19 January 2015

soutache statement necklace

"midnight leaves"
(statement necklace made with soutache cord, tilapia leather ,
vintage  cabochons, beads, pearls and rhinestone chain, all from john bead )
 
last summer my friend carmi gave me a preview copy of
 Fernando DaSilva's soutache book
asking me to create a few small samples
well little did she know that I would become addicted!!
a few months ago I was commissioned to create the a showcase piece for John Bead
using their  fabulous line of soutache cords
The necklace was displayed in their “New Innovations” booth at the
 Craft and Hobby show earlier this month

it was a pleasure to work with Fernando, 
at our first meeting I presented my ideas and
 with his guidance and materials selections i immediately got to work
  with his  full confidence in my artist abilities it was easy to get carried away
"the bigger the better"
I started out creating individual pieces, once I had about 20 components made
I started "collaging" them into groups
moving them around constantly until I found a combination I liked
every day I would work on a few pieces and whenever I walked by
my work table I would stop and rearrange
it took me a month to complete using over 50 yards of soutache cord!!
 
i am so grateful to John Bead for giving me this opportunity
( I would have never made anything this big)
thanks carmi for introducing me to Fernando and soutache!
 


Saturday 17 January 2015

back from the CHA show in Anaheim

 what a whirlwind!!
it was an amazing time at the craft and hobby show in California
 (more than 3,000 buyers and 400 exhibitors from 55 plus countries 
 for 5 days of education, networking and trade)
it was a mix of business, demoing soutache at the John Bead booth
and pleasure, taking classes and seminars plus meeting tons of people
 a visit from wendy russell and carmi cimicata
above my demo table and
below a sneak peek at some of the elements from
my showcase necklace
using dazzle-it soutache cord , metal complex fish leather
and a mix of new and vintage beads
all supplied by John Bead
i'm still trying to process it all
as soon as i can i will post more on the show and my necklace


this is the swag bag the delegates attending the CHA Canada Chapter meeting received
a special thank you to
CHA Canada Chapter Members Who Contributed
Amazenwords
BeadFX
Brother International Corporation (Canada)
Coats and Clark
Easy Peasy Patchs
H.A.Kidd
John Bead Corp
Eucalan
Northcott Fabrics
Westcott & C-Thru brands | Acme United Limited
Westminster Fabric

Designer Members:
Carmi Cimicata
Emma Ivemey
    Elizabeth Weait Glenday

extra thanks to Northcott for the fabric bag used to haul all the goodies home!

Tuesday 6 January 2015

soutache tie, cuff and earings set

ive been busy getting ready for the CHA convention
one of my projects was this set of soutache
it started with the necklace, which turned into a tie
which lead to buying a men's white shirt
( perry ellis , on sale for $20)
which gave me the idea for the cuffs
( i substituted beads for the buttons)
  and the earing's just finished it off
although the earing's matched they seemed a bit formal for me
so I worked on a few alternatives (below)


Friday 2 January 2015

i love resin

 my friend Carmi has launched her new resin blog
Carmi is the queen of resin and her blog is filled tons of inspirations
 
 in November , carmi purchased one of paintings and
 asked if she could use the image for a special project
of course i said yes and couldn't wait to see what she was up to 
 
 
see all the details on her post here
and join her facebook page here

Thursday 1 January 2015