MORE FEATHERS

Still playing around with the feather necklaces...

FRUSTRATED AND BORED

When I took on this project I knew it was going to be a lot of work. But now I'm back beading more sand. I really feel bored beading the small tan and grey beads on the rather large area because I just finished doing that. I know it has to be done for the sake of uniformity but it's no fun. I liked beading the seagulls because they were a challenge and the fish head was cool because I did it upraised, but now the drudgery of the sand has got me down. Nothing to do but force myself to stay at the table and do the work. I took a break and beaded this seagull feather and made it into a simple necklace on a silver chain. It looks good.

It's a new idea, so I don't

know how well they will sell. Any how, it was a fun distraction from the endless sand. Sigh...

YEAR OF THE DRAGON

The year of the dragon, hope that's a good thing. Here's a dragon teapot that belonged to the grandmother of my husband and I thought it would make a good piece of beadwork. The color of the tablecloth is that periwinkle blue that I really like and use a lot. It's a little washed out in this picture. So anyhow the other day I found this vase ( at Salvation Army ) that is the periwinkle color, I thought that was unusual so I grabbed it. When I cleaned it up and got all the many stickers off the bottom, it said Yalos Casa Murano on the bottom. I know Murano is the famous town in Italy that is known for glass making. Does anyone recognize this vase or know anything about it. I bought it because it reminded me of a favorite bead color but now I think it might be a find! FUN

ONE DOWN, FIVE TO GO

Here's the finish piece. One down and five to go! This is because I'm doing three pieces that are looking east (up river) and three pieces looking west (towards the mouth of the river). The east looking sides will be the morning high tide and the west looking sides will be the evening high tide. These pieces will be free standing two sided bags but will be viewed all together. I'm very excited to be making an installation piece and feel like it's going to come together quite well.  The one thing I wanted to say about this piece is about the net. I'm a Nymo bead thread user from way back, but with the net I used the Fireline. Really good stuff, you can get a sculptural quality with it. Unfortunately it's to expensive to use all the time.
I wanted to put a little whimsy in each piece so in this one I did the little seagull fisherman. It feels good to have one under my belt, I'll start beading a new one tomorrow...

DIP NET SERIES

Well, only one more day before we start gaining some daylight hours. It's after 9 am and it is still pitch black out. These short winter days make me feel less productive, or maybe it's all the the holiday sweets I've been consuming. Sugar Blues... But I've got all my packages sent, cards mailed , presents wrapped and now I can get back to the bead table. Had to take some beadwork out on this one,(one of my least favorite things to do). I had drawn in a boat on the river and when I beaded it, it looked stupid, so I had to rip stitches, pull threads, tie knots and start over. Now I'm working on the endless sand, oh so boring. The sky will be so much fun by comparison. I need some little elves to come in the night and finish the beach for me...

THANK YOU VETERANS

Happy Veterans Day! A very special one, 11-11-11. A once in a life time occurrence. I'm one of those people who is always looking up and seeing elevens on the clock. Does that happen to everyone?

Thank you to all the troops who are serving and have served in the past. Especially to my wonderful husband who has been sick all week with a bad cold. Poor guy. He was just out of the military when we met. A hot young tough guy who was all muscle (after jumping out of airplanes with heavy equipment strapped to his back, Robert was Airborne in the Army). He was camping at a park that was across the street from the little cabin where I was living in Haines. Needless to say I was impressed and that was 25 years ago. Yikes where does the time go...

THE BEACH

So here's how the sand came out. Mixed all the colors together and then I attached them two or three beads at a time. I tried to be random but I ended up choosing the colors, just couldn't let it be. I like it but will probably try something different on the next piece. If any of you know a good source for sand colored beads or dirty water colored beads, let me know!

On another subject, the audit went fine, I was really nervous, the man was official but nice and it looks like I'm doing okay with my bookkeeping.  Kate's Gallery will be opening up in the spring and things will be business as usual. Whew...