Magical Door Series

Door
Hope; opportunity; opening; passage from one state or world to another; entrance to new life; initiation; the sheltering aspect of the Great Mother. The open door is both opportunity and liberation.

I am enjoying creating magical doors, fairy doors, doors into the otherworld through a stump, a tree a castle wall. Hope you enjoy them as much as I have creating them.

earrings

These are fun to make! Bright and colorful, and flashy enough to draw attention.
Habit forming to make. The original pattern was in an early Bead& Button and the design was taught by Alice Korach. I have more to show you soon.
Meanwhile I keep doing outdoor chores while the sun shines. Still picking tomatoes, cutting lettuce and chard. The honeysuckle, nasturtiums, dahlias and zinnias continue to bloom and I don't have the heart to cut them back, (yet.) But a fire in the fireplace, on the other hand, is a blessing!

The second bracelet looks very different due to the choice of colors, It looks to me like a tropical breeze in the jungle at the edge of the beach.

Mini-scenic pendant beads

These are little polymer clay scenes. Formed and carved and meant to be used in a beaded pendant. I love making these, usually beginning with several sheets of natural colors of blended clay. Designing right on the clay with a stylus I will sketch trees, rocks, stumps, mountains etc. Then I choose a neutral background color and use a template to cut it into a circle, square or oval.
Next I use a craft knife to carefully cut out each scenic object. After refining edges I place the components onto the template in the order of the background, middle grounds and then foreground or focal point.Then each piece is lifted, brushed with liquid pc (as a glue) and replaced. I may roll lightly with an acrylic rod to assure a good adhesion. These are then baked to cure for 30 minutes. I may finish with Future acrylic floor finish or may buff and leave uncoated.

Native Maiden Pendant Focal Bead

I remembered a drawing I'd done of a beautiful African maiden and wanted to see how she would look as a focal pendant. here is the result. I made three, each similar but each also very different in color tone, background mat and background piece.
I drew the design onto a blended piece of polymer clay (black, a touch of red and a tiny bit of iridescent gold)using a ball stylus. Then I carved into the clay where I wanted deeper impressions, and carefully removed bits of excess clay. When I was happy with this stage I baked the pendant. When it had cooled I used irridescent powders to highlight certain areas. The eyes weere emphasized with polymer inks. The design was placed on the tore, carved, textured background pieces and baked again.
I hope you like her.See more at my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5191681
Suggestions?

Katie's Beading Blog

I love this necklace! I love Katie's style. Bet you will too.



Dreams of Topaz


browse necklaces

click to enlarge Designed by Katie Hacker
Materials
17 champagne 1-hole CZ-Gem Dropz in assorted shapes and sizes
4 ½-yards of .006” white Dandyline beading thread
3 dark brown transparent rainbow10g packs of 11/0 Toho seed beads
2 gold beading cones
1 gold lobster clasp
8” length of 22-gauge gold ColourCraft wire
Tools
Spin-N-Bead with bent-tip Big Eye needle
Flexible beading needle
Beading scissors
Round-Nose pliers
Wire Nippers
Jeweler’s Cement


Instructions
Finished Size= 26” with dangles
Note: Use the Spin-n-Bead to string seed bead sections. When threading back through beads to create the beaded dangles, use a straight flexible beading needle. You’ll have lots of leftover beads but it’s easiest to string beads quickly when the the Spin-N-Bead is full.
Cut the thread into three equal lengths and attach a stopper bead 3” from the end of each thread.
First strand: string 6” of seed beads. Pass the needle through a CZ-Gem Dropz and back through 2 ½” of seed beads. String 4” of seed beads. Pass the needle through a CZ-Gem Dropz and back through 2 1/2” of seed beads; repeat five more times. String 3 ½” of seed beads and a stopper bead.
Second strand: string 7” of seed beads. Pass the needle through a CZ-Gem Dropz and back through 1 ½” of seed beads. String 3” of seed beads. Pass the needle through a CZ-Gem Dropz and back through 1 ½” of seed beads, repeat three more times. String 5 ½” of seed beads.
Third strand: string 7” of seed beads. Pass the needle through a CZ-Gem Dropz and back through 4” of seed beads; repeat four more times. String 3” of seed beads.
Cut the ColourCraft wire length in half.
Make a wrapped loop on one end of the wire.
Remove the stopper beads from one end of each beaded thread and tie them to the wrapped wire loop. Place a drop of jeweler’s cement on the knot and cut off any extra threads.
Place the wire end through the wide end of the beading cone and make another wrapped loop on the other side of the cone to attach half of the clasp.
Repeat Steps 6-8 for the other end of the necklace.



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Copyright 2007 Beadalon

Check out this blog

http://cristalline.blogspot.com/

The above blog is written in French but you don't have to know another language to appreciate the beautiful polymer clay work shown here. The tutorials photos are so clear that many could be done quite satisfactorily despite the language difference.
Check it out.

Color Forecast

http://www.fashiontrendsetter.com/content/color_trends/2007/Pantone-Fashion-Color-Report-Spring-2008.html

The above link will take you to the Pantone color forecast for spring 2008. This is a great guide to bead and jewelry makers. I heard of it on the Bead Art site.
http://www.bead-arts.com/
Check it out!

I'm smiling

Because I am excited about this new Blogsite and what I want to do here.


An art project a day.


Clay

polymer clay

beads

paint: acrylics, watercolor, pastels, mixed media

matting, framing

paper arts

paper making

fabric

found objects

wood carving

doll making/art dolls

jewelry

glass

recycled art

computer art

book art

hints and helps

patterns

designing

Are you ready?