Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Paper Beads

Well, it's not Friday and I'm not finishing anything... actually, I'm starting something new... shhhh!

It's funny what can be inspiring... I got this magazine in the mail and was "wow'ed" by the colorful border. After trying to get into the "Beadles" class at the Inspired workshop I'm attending in May and not being successful, I did a little research. So I'm trying it out on my own and playing with some different mediums for glazing the beads.


I began with the magazine and cut off the border. Then I cut diagonally to create the triangles.

Here are the beads... I rolled the paper around a straw and glued the end down.
Now comes the difficult part:) I used Diamond Glaze to dip the beads in. I'm not sure I like this medium because 1) it takes a while to dry, 2) the glaze drips down and closes up the hole while drying, and 3) expensive! I'll keep playing with this part. I've seen that other artists use Utee... I just didn't want to have to go out and buy something new.

Here's what I made with my first beads. I'm sending it as a hostess gift for one of the swaps I'm in. I actually really like it!

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Heart Charms

SWAPS... I hadn't done a swap for a while. But with the advent of the Inspired Artist Workshop that I'm going to in May 09, I've gotten back into some creative swapping.

Here's the product of one of my swaps.
From wire and wool yarn...

I took my jig to create the heart shape.

Then I wrapped the yarn throught the loops in the wire and added a lobster claw clasp.


This has been a really fun project! I've now made blue and pink heart charms. The last color grouping is purple and then I'm done!!