WILLOW, HUMMER AND RABBIT

 Finished an order for with the request of a hummingbird, the desert willow and a rabbit. The new owner is in Joshua Tree CA, so I was trying for a dry, airy feeling on this one. Also, I've done alot of rabbits so I wanted to do something different. I went for the rabbit in motion, instead of sitting, and was pretty happy with the way he turned out.

RAVEN AND SKULL

I finally finished my Raven and Skull bag. It's one of what I call my book reports, which is to say I read a book and then after mulling it over for a bit, I design a piece of beadwork about the story. The book in this case is " A Raven Named Grip" by Marilyn Singer. The story goes that Charles Dickens had a raven ( actually several ), Grip who could speak. He made him a character in his book "Barnaby Rudge". When Dickens went to America from England he met with Edgar Allen Poe who had read the book and Poe saw a portrait of his children with Grip that Dickens carried. This stuck with Poe and later he was inspired to write the poem " The Raven". So in this piece of beadwork I was trying to capture a mood, a bit victorian, a bit spooky.  The challenge with this piece was all the black. I had to put the leaves behind the raven beak to keep all the dark colors from running together. Ofcourse, ravens and skulls are some of my favorite subject matters and I do love to combined them with bright red roses. 

8 VIDEOS FOR CHICKADEE CUFF KIT

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XXQp2aPIQYU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2f9_vzr13w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de07Yqsjv2U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U2Q5jy5ykc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ2BAOi414Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SudBeNeI_xI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x299B2ePAYQ&t=6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVUOe3ZKk4w

NEW BLOG!

 Hi guys. This page is no longer secure.There have been all kinds of crazy, weird comments so I've moved to a new home. Kate Boyan's Beadwork Gallery  Goodbye living beadwork, it's been great.  Thank you to everyone who looked in on me over the years, I truly appreciate it. Hope to see you over at the new site.   That's a link,  so here is the address:    https://kateboyan.blogspot.com

CLOSED FOR NOW, ( COVID-19 related.)

  First let me say, I love my gallery and I love my patrons. Normally this time of year I would be bustling around getting ready for the shorebird festival. The birds are here but the festival is canceled. I’m not the kind of bead store that would be good at internet sales. There are already so many great places out there for that. With me it’s all about the experience of Kate’s Gallery, and the comradely that all of us share. We love the colors, and the textures, and art that can be made with beads. Right now, I feel unable to move forward or decide about being open. So for now, I’ll just stay closed. It doesn’t feel right to open the gallery. We’re not an essential business and I don’t want to be part of the problem. Stay apart is what the experts say, and it seems like an extremely sensible precaution, considering the times we are living through. I’m hoping that if we do this physical distancing, things will get better and in a not too distant future we can be together. Thank you to all my compadres for understanding. Right now, life as we find it, is the life that we lead…

I've been trying to reply with no luck lately, so I'm sorry if you don't get a response to your comments.

MY PROCESS

Because we are all staying home and sheltering in place, I thought I would share a little bit of my process. My posts are usually far a few between because beadwork takes along time, so I thought I would talk about how I get to where I'm going. First it's the idea, which is all over the place for awhile. When my mind settles down, I usually refine the concept as I'm falling asleep at night. I think I mentioned awhile back, that I was thinking of doing a rabbit. It's been a big rabbit year, we go in cycles, but I didn't want to do another winter scene. I've been looking at a card, a picture and a vintage bag. These are informing my color scheme this time around.
The design faze is using lots of books, I'm particle to 1970's kids books like an old favorite "The Rainbow Book of Nature". Also, I use my folders full of past ideas and of course, the net. Then draw some stuff, play around with it and try to refine the concept. I use tracing paper because it's thin. Then color your piece, using markers and colored pencils. When that is done, I glue it to the backing, which for me is two thicknesses of wool felt.  Then, because it's thin, you can bead right over the paper. It's great because you've colored the paper the same color as the beads, so if there is a small bit showing through, it's the same color. This enables you to not crowd the beads, which can make your beadwork look bunchy and lumpy.
So that's how I get started. Please feel free to share your color schemes and ideas, I'm interested in how you do what you do!

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

Color inspiration

WHEN I'M 64

“When I’m sixty four.” If anyone told me that on my 64th birthday we would be in the middle of a global pandemic, I probably wouldn’t have been surprised. I am a science fiction fan after all. All the emotional swings and distress I’m feeling does surprise me though. Normally, I tend to be on an even keel. Honestly, it’s not all because of the virus. Did you know that our Department of Justice just announced that they want to suspend constitutional right during coronovirus emergency. Please, say it isn’t so.We are all stressed enough without this bull crap. But, I do realize that I’m one of the fortunate few in this world. I’m working on a beadwork order for a beloved customer and Robert is sitting on the couch showing Crazy (our cat) a video of squirrels and birds. She’s old. Truly we are the fortunate ones. It seems that many many people are dying with no air in their lungs. So, my lovely beadwork friends, I want you to know how much I appreciate all of you. Be safe, social distancing is

easy. Sew, sleep, read, watch shows, listen and observe nature. Deep breathes. Change is the only constant.  I leave you, as I started, with a song lyric.     ” Strange days indeed.”