Sunday, October 11, 2020
Glowing Rocket Ship
Saturday, September 19, 2020
It's Glowing To Be a Good Time
I've been working on a new thing with my pieces. Black light reactive beadwork!
For a bit of a back track, I must first tell how this idea came about. Immediately after graduating from college, circa late 2011-early 2012, I had picked up a second job at an indoor glow in the dark putt-putt place in my local mall. It was a low effort and somewhat slow job. After tiring of the selection of books I had to read, I decided to bring small projects to work on and make utilizing the small desk light by the register.
Lo and behold I learned that some of my beads glowed under the overhead black lights in the room! This opened up quite a few possibilities for me. Unfortunately I do not have photographs of those early pieces, but I have purchased new lights for my home and oh boy, do some of my pieces glow!
My reversible King of All Cosmos/Robo King loom woven bracelet is one such piece:
It's available here for purchase here:
Friday, July 24, 2020
Piano Hammer Necklace and Some Other Work
My other recent finish was this braid stitch necklace designed by Virgina Jensen. I was in a low brain power mood the other night, but wanted to bead still. Why not learn something new where all the really hard parts have already been done for you? I think it turned out nice and has a lovely drape. However, beadwork of a solid stitch tends to get repetitive for my brain, and it begins to lack a challenge. Regardless, I did manage to finish and list it, for which I am very proud of myself!
*pats self on back*
I am also extremely happy to have figured out the Buy Now button option for my EcWid store plugin. Whoo!!! Have a lovely weekend.
I'll 'bead' around.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
My Work is Changing and I'm Learning Things
Monday, August 27, 2018
Watermelon Cool Down Time
But no more than usual. I did have the foresight to limit my daily yard work hours so that I finish by 11AM. It can still get hot by then though.
So guess what I've been making???
WATERMELONS!!
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Bracelets |
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Earrings |
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Wait....I spy a pizza. Hmm..... |
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Pendants |
None of them actually cool anybody down, but they do make you smile! You can purchase the red pendants from my Etsy shop as of now. The rest have yet to be listed, but just let me know if you want any. As of this writing, all are available.
Tamara
P.S. Today's listening pleasure is Musical Starstreams, an old ambiance music broadcast I found playing on UNT's college radio while in DFW yesterday. So....relaxing.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Tip #9: Fuze Your Photos
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FotoFuze.com Edit. |
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Photoshop Edit |
Unedited |
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
My Mother Always Said Ideas Come in Waves
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Fire Powered Plumbing. 2008. |
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Ice Circles. 2010. |
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Pastel Teardrop. 2018. |
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Acrylic Beaded Fan Pendant. 2015. |
Embellished Gears. 2015. |
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Brick Stitched Box Chain Pendant. 2016. |
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Button Ring Pendant. 2018. |
Friday, July 13, 2018
A Farmer's Market on the Horizon
Last week, I set up for Peach Day. I had a great time! Saw lots of friends. Sold a few things. Even had produce type things for sale. See:
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Current Setup |
I keep saying that I have to change out these drapes. They're just too busy. Time to spend way too much time in Hobbly Lobby again...
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Orange/Blue Watermelon Pendant and Earrings |
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Orange/Blue Watermelon Bracelet |
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In Progress Loomed Peach |
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Square Stitched Peach Pendant |
All the fun fruits! No veggies yet, but I'm working up a plum design. And I have to make peach/plum bracelets and earrings before moving on to the next edible. I probably have to make lots of red watermelon. They're selling better than I could have hoped! Thanks Wichita Falls! I love them too.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Tip #8: Go WAAAAAYYYYY Back
This is a strange one, I know, but it comes in handy for expired websites, and also has a function for downloading old free books. If I'm not mistaken, you can hunt for out of print magazines as well! (Creative Beading Australia, anyone?) :-)
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The heck is this even? |
The above example was apparently a special issue of BeadStyle. Raise your hand if you remember that magazine. I do! I also remember when it went out of print. This issue was published in November of 2007. Freshman semester in college, that. Over a decade old. And the archive preserved it in all of it's outdated layout glory!!! I love it. Might be good for a stroll through memory lane and maybe even some inspiration when I get stuck.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Tip #7: DMC to Delica Conversion Chart
Well, Caravan Beads and Fiber Gypsy.com have created a conversion chart specifically for this purpose! Check it out. It's by no means complete, but serves as a great starting off point to help you round out the desired color set.
Now, if I could find the color chart for this beautiful Manny Calavera, I could loom him up, right?
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Originally by Jsutcliffe, found on mrxstitch! |
Isn't he AWESOME?!?!?! I highly recommend getting a copy and playing Grim Fandango if you haven't yet. Right now. I'll wait for your gushing comments.....
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Hello all!
I've been quietly staying busy in my home studio. I think I need to get out more. Hopefully, the Dance Dance Revolution pad at my local barcade isn't still broken. *fingers crossed* DDR is a great way to get a workout and boost your coordination. I don't care how much you think you suck. Go find an arcade and play. You'll be glad you did!
On to what I've actually been doing:
New vinyl stickers from JD! |
Embarrasingly dull booth setup. :-/ |
Yeesh. No wonder my day was a bust. I don't fill out 10x10 booth spaces as well as I used to. I definitely need to rethink my display. Again. The layout was comfortable for me to move around in, but didn't do me any favors in attracting.....
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Viking Knit and Shaped Beads Cuff |
Click here to purchase. This cuff was an experiment in trying to embellish viking knit. I succeeded, mostly in making it way too big for my personal taste. But it was great fun to make!
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Flared Hubble Stitch Sampler Bracelet |
Click here to purchase. This was my first foray into hubble stitch. I think. I'm pretty sure I've never tried it before. Anyhow, the other night I just felt like trying it out with what was left of my favorite blue/orange combo. I'm really going to miss those bead colors, but I have a nice dainty bracelet for everyday wear!
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Twyla Harbick's Dragonfly Bracelet in Red and Brown |
Click here to purchase. At some point last year, I was in a creative rut. The best thing to do? Make somebody else's pattern! I was flipping through the August/September issue of BEADWORK Magazine for inspiration and thought I'd give this bracelet a try. It came out...okay. It's much too big for me to wear, despite following the directions to a T. Okay, well not to a T, but close. I swapped the O beads for hematite heishis and the Delicas for 11/0s. Oh wait, that's why it's not small enough. Tamara, when will you learn? 11/0s are always bigger than Delicas, duh.
Friday, June 15, 2018
A Successful Collar!
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Lilly Pad Necklace |
Available now in my Etsy shop. Here's the listing! This was last year's attempt to enter the Fashion Colorworks beading contest. I did not win, FYI. I didn't even submit pictures half as good as the one above. And this one even has some issues. The pictures I did submit were quite embarrassing, which is why I don't use my phone for product photography. But hey, I made the deadline! That counts for something.
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Individually embroidered components. |
I think it helps that I kept the components simple, yet the same. I just alternated the colors. Each have one row of bead embroidery, brick stitched to a leather backing. Also featured are brick stitch washers with a glass button sewn down the center. There are holes in the copper disks behind each element. :-) It was quite a fun construction, which I have employed several times since.
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Lucite Button Focal |
The lucite button is the real reason this necklace came together. It was originally from a necklace I made about a decade ago.
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Finalist: 2010 FMG Pearls, Organic Beads, and Modeling Clay |
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Arranging. |
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Gluing to bead backing. |
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Back stitching. |
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More arranging. |
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Assembly. |