I'm thinking of doing my "Eagle Bag" as a kit. So far I have used many vintage size 15 beads so there will quite a few of the little guys in this design. I do love the graphic black ocean and mountains. I've been studying alot of sunsets over the mountains and inlet this winter, so I have a very clear idea for the sunset. The eagle is still on the bead table, a good piece to ring in the new year with.
Well 2025 pretty much sucked. We spent the last half of the year driving back and forth to the Anchorage hospital. Robert joined the club of the multitudes of people with cancer. After his surgery, he is doing well and I feel like things might be looking up in 2026. Mostly, I'm feeling gratitude as we head into the new year. Things go wrong, we are all getting older, but the kindness of our nearest and dearest was exceptional. Thank you, so much, to all the family and friends who supported us! And thank you to modern medicine, and all the fantastic advancement in cancer treatments. Thank you to all you wonderful doctor and nurses who do the day in, and day out, hard work. Basically gratitude is what I'm about these days. On the bead table, I am working on my book report pieces. This piece is for the book " The Curious Eat Themselves" by John Straley. A murder mystery that takes place in southeast Alaska. While we were in the thick of things it felt very appropriate. A grim reaper in a Helly-Hansen Raincoat. All that is left is putting the leather bag together and then do the lining and whip stitch. It's interesting how this piece will always place me right back to this time, 2025.
I've just finished my Magpie Bag. It's one of the book report bags that I've been working on. The book that inspired this piece of beadwork is " George" by Frieda Hughes. It's a magical endearing memoir. Frieda, living in the Welsh countryside rescues the poor little abandoned magpie baby. I think we all have had the experience of taking care of the baby bird who has no home. I remember a little sparrow that we took care of when we were kids, feeding him bread soaked in milk with tweezers. We called him Flutter and he successfully grew up and flew away. So, I loved this book! And I love the truly unruly Magpies that we have here in the yard, they are endlessly entertaining.
Okay, this is what I've been up to. These bags (the leather part, are 9 by 6 and 1/2 inches and the beadwork is 5 by 7 inches ). There is a one inch gusset so they hold the just right amount. I have a wallet, cell phone, keys, comb and glasses in mine and it fits quite nicely. What I'm trying to figure out is if there any interest for these larger kits? And if so which one is more popular or do you like both? I've been counting the beads as I go so now it's time to start weighing and bagging beads but I don't want to start before I know if you guys are interested. There kits would have to be $200.00 each plus shipping. Also, they really are not for beginners. If you have done any of my kits in the past you kinda know what to expect. I only have the supplies for 20 bags, 10 of each. So these are my question to you, is it too expensive and which one do you like or both? Thanks for your input fellow beaders. I've had requests for larger bags so here they are. What do you think?
The snowy owl, the arctic fox and the sweet little deer went into the forest... As the longest night of the year is rapidly approaching I find myself huddled around the bead table working these ornaments. Tis the season! I'm using these wonderful little woodland creatures (polymers clay cabochons) as the focal pieces in my beadwork. They are from an artist in Chernihiv Ukraine, Katerina Piskunova. I'm selling these three ornaments for $350.00 each. Just contact me at custombeadwork@yahoo.com if you are interested in adorning your tree with these little guys. I can take a credit card over the phone. With these pieces I was trying to capture the feeling of being in the woods on a long winters night so I kept the colors muted and earthy. Really they are just a very fun expression of the winter season. Thanks for looking!
Finished an order 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.
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 he saw a portrait of Dickens children with Grip. 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 on the beadwork was all the black. I put the leaves behind the raven beak to keep the dark colors from running together. Contrast is always the name of the game. Ofcourse, ravens and skulls are some of my favorite subject matters and I do love to combined them with bright red roses.
To follow up on my last post, thank you everyone for helping me decide on which bag to carry. The wolf won! While I love the image, I do think the fringe was the deciding factor. I love fondling it. I think I'm going to have to do more fringe bags. Back in the day, I made tons and tons of fringe! While living in Juneau I had orders for regalia for the dancers. I wonder if anyone in southeast ever sees this killer whale cape at Celebration?? This was probably 40 years ago, omg, that's shocking. LOL When you're dancing you must have the swaying, swishing, swinging fringe!
I've decided to change things up and take a new bag for myself. It started with me carrying a wristlet, when my arm was really bad, but then I found out that it was just too small for me. So these are the bags that I've got for sale in the gallery right now. I've carried them all downstairs to the living room and laid them out on the couch. For a few days now I've been pondering and trying them on. Decisions, decisions! The single pic of the bald eagle and the dog is my current bag and I'm ready to go with something new. I only do this once every 5 years or so. What I want to know is, if you were me, which one would you choose??
As I sit here today looking at the giant stack of kit boxes ready to be mailed tomorrow, I'm feeling good. This is the final batch of the 53 kits that were ordered and it's always a sense of accomplishment when a project is completed. But, really when I analyze why I feel good, it's because of all of you who responded when I posted about my fractured shoulder. I was sort of crying the blues, and you all ordered kits. This kept me busy, and then by buying them, you helped me pay for all the doc and physical therapy bills. The silver lining in this was all the connections made, wonderful conversation from wise and witty beadworkers had, and the genuine goodwill and warmth spread about by all. So, this little Christmas ornament (which was a previous kit from long ago) will be a gift. I'm putting all of the kit buyers names in a hat, or maybe a coffee can, lol, and will have Robert draw one name. We will do it on Tuesday, and I will announce the winner on Facebook because that's where I correspond with you all. Hope this small token of gratitude will be fun! Keep a look out on Tuesday for the winner! Thank you!!!
So I just want to say something about the construction of the needle cases. You can go to BLOG ARCHIVES, here on the blog. It's right under the little pic of Robert and me. The go to August 2021 and the 10 videos post.You will see everything you need to know about the beading of your piece. I'm finding the making of a video thing one handed isn't working so I'm just putting up a few pics. You will see in your kit you have three pieces of felt. Two of these are for you to do the beadwork on, I like to double up the felt. The third piece will be cut into the shape of the needle case, folded in half, stuffed with the white poly and then basted together. This is where the needles will live. SEE THE PIC This is in the instructions but I just thought a picture would be helpful. Feel free to call with any questions you might have. Also I've used the lazy stitch and whip stitch instruction for all three kits using the blue lotus design. This is the simplest of the three so that was my thinking there.
About the of the origin of these needle cases. Probably around 15 years ago I did a class using this cool little antique Iroquois style needle case as my inspiration. In the original class we used the velvet style with the up raised beadwork. But true to form for me, I'm back to my beloved couching style of beadwork. I hope you have alot of fun with these, and thank you everyone for your support. When I fractured my shoulder I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself. Being able to put together these kits one handed has saved me from the ennui I could feel setting in. Life throws you a curve every now and then, but I feel grateful to be part of such a wonderful beading community even when I can't bead!
I'm thinking of doing my "Eagle Bag" as a kit. So far I have used many vintage size 15 beads so there will quite a few of the ...
