https://youtu.be/VD5mPHNABRY?si=1VTrI3btR5aE54DK

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.”

ANOTHER ORDER DONE

                     Just put this butterfly collar piece in the mail. Filling orders, feeling good.

TEACHING AND THE BONDS WE MAKE

2020. First blog of the new year. This year I'm teaching two classes. These are always so much fun and I'm excited for the opportunity to travel and meet new students and see old friends. But there is more to it than just that. In a world with so much anger and division, we can preserve what is best in humanity through these gatherings. The sharing of knowledge, the love of beads, the very simple act  of being in each others presence and sewing. These things bring us together in a profound way. For me, being creative amongst other people who are being creative is a blessing, and I count myself lucky to have these moments in time when everyone comes together with needle in hand...
The first class is June 13th in Anchorage put on by the Ak Bead Society. We will be making these fun little "Floral Needle Cases"  If you are interested you can contact:   https://www.akbeadsociety.org/guest-artist-program.html

The second class is September 17th at the Colorado Bead Retreat. We will be making these wonderful cell phone bags. http://www.coloradobeadretreat.com/welcome.html   The Colorado retreat classes are full, but check out the website anyway.There is always next year. The retreat looks like a really special event!

WINTER SOLSTICE

Finishing up this winter solstice piece. The beadwork is done and it's time to attach it to the leather. I'm torn between brown which brings out the hawk and wolf colors or black which sticks to the dark mood of the piece. My plan is for the bag to have loads of fringe so envision that when you make your color choice. Which do you like? The darkness this time of year seems to just sap my energy so it's a miracle I'm getting anything done. Coffee works for awhile. It's cold this morning, in the single digits. The birds hit the feeder as soon as the low on the horizon sun comes up, and my old cat Crazy is nestled by the wood stove soaking up the heat. We have about 6 hours of day light this time of year. No problem though because I find time passes so quickly, the season flies by. So wishing you a magical solstice, no telling what kind of mischief happens in the dark...

HOT COLORS IN A COOL CLIMATE

I've been working on this order that I got in Santa Fe during the show. It's from a really wonderful lady from Florida named Farrah who loves PINK! She wanted a ruby throated hummingbird, dragonfly and flowers. Hope you love it Farrah and Merry Christmas everyone!!!

FEATHER EARRINGS

Grace modeling the earrings

Whew, the Blue jay feather earring kits are finally done! I only do one kit a year, and these turned out beautifully. I feel like last year the kit was a little hard, probably for more advanced beaders but these earrings are very straight forward. They have lots of straight lines which is easier than lots of curves and corners and can easily be done by beginners. Hopefully these videos are helpful. The first one is demonstrating the couching stitch and the second one is showing how to finish up with the edging stitch. You can stop by the gallery to pick one up or call me to order. The kit costs $45.00 and $3.50 shipping if you want me to send you one. My phone number is 907 567-3539

 HAPPY BEADING!

SUCCESS

 Okay, I guess I do feel a little different. The life of an artist is filled with uncertainty and always the insecure nagging that your work might not be liked/loved/bought by anyone. But that is not the case this time! After a brief moment of panic when the stock market crashed on Wednesday and I heard from another bead artist that nobody was buying, and beadwork had been dubbed passe, I was worried. But on Thursday there were some big sales and all weekend continued to be great! Now I have a extra spring in my step and I'm so grateful that I'm still making a living with my beadwork. Super fun trip with my family and as always with my time in Santa fe, Vivi and Milt made it possible. Thank you to them, the gang, my patrons, and the universe!

 

ALL THE BAGS THAT SOLD!

GOING TO SANTA FE

Headed down south on the 13th. I'm so happy to be working on the final bag for the show, it's been a long haul. Excited and nervous. You would think after all the years of doing these shows that I wouldn't get nerves but I'm just not built that way. I'm so glad that I have Vivi to take care of everything and all I have to do is show up! She is the best. If you are in the Santa Fe area come into the Eldorado on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (15th thru 18th) Hope to see you there!!!!

HAPPINESS

There is so much I like about this bag. For one thing I love the way one bluebird is looking up and the other is looking down. So often I do my beaded birds and animals so they are looking straight ahead or I use a simple profile angle so to get this look made me happy.  Also, yellow is not usually my jam but the yellow rose turned out great using an all black line effect. And last but not least Robert did a FANTASTIC job on the leather work. You can't tell by the photo but this bag has the most thick, gorgeous, soft deerhide fringe. Yes it makes that swishy noise when you walk. Like I said, happiness!

p.s. Crazy is always happy on a big piece of cardboard.

MOTHER'S DAY

Spring is in the air. Mothers day comes at a wonderful time of year around here. All the birds have come back to have their babies, the moose are having babies, and the new plants have wonderful bright green growth all around. The gallery has started to pick up with people getting out and about. I had a very fun customer who bought lots of buttons!

I put the last of the background on the Beauty beadwork late yesterday and already have my next piece on the hoop. I enjoyed doing the lupine on this last piece so I designed another lupine bag with hummingbirds. Spring energy is light and easy, Happy Mother's Day to everyone. Things are humming...

WHAT'S ON THE TABLE

I've almost finished this piece. "Elk Magic" It's been on the table since December 12. I marked it on the calendar just to see what we are looking at time wise. Only a little bit of snow left to do and I have lots of snow outside my window to inspire me. The white satin has turned out just right to use as a snow bead...

OLD STUFF

Looking through some boxes under the floor (our storage space) and came on this photo of my Oprah bag.  At one point in my long career I thought the key to being successful was to have a famous person carry one of my bags. I want to say somewhere around 1995-2005, giving myself lots of leeway because I really can't remember. Anyway, I sent the bag to Oprah, with no luck, no fame, just a form letter. I use to wonder who really wound up with the bag and then I just forgot about it. I'm just revisiting this because I found the picture but I do think that there is a moral to the story. Nothing wrong with trying a bold move in your marketing. Nothing wrong with the long haul of endless sewing and putting in the work. And nothing wrong with nothing coming of any of it. Really, now I realize the joy of doing the art is a life well lived.

NEW YEAR

The Chief Bag is in the mail. Such a wonderful wrap-up to 2018. It always feels good to finish a challenging project, yes, faces are challenging for me. Should he look happy or serious, anyhow I went for both, sort of. So now I can start 2019 with a new piece.Yay! Here's wishing everyone fun new projects to work on and a great start to the New Year...