Bead Journal Project in progress, January

This is January's work in progress, photo taken on the road. Yes, I do get lots of beadwork competed while John is driving. This clearly shows the layout and design of the little pregnant "goddesses" that have become the vehicle for my beaded project. The outline is printed on a new water soluable product called Tranfer-Eze. Best used for stitching projects, I thought it might give my pieces a bit of uniformity...at least at the start...We'll see where they end !!!

The two Goddesses represent my two sweet gals going through their pregnancies almost side by side. my daughter is expecting in July, then my daughter-in-law is expecting in September! We are calling them our twin cousins! So, mirror imagery came to mind first, then the white light for the "light of my life" or the "light of the universe" that these two babies represent. These will be our two first grand-babies! The cabochons are actually hand made glass by BeadStarr, the flash of rainbow color are the result of dichroic glass. The bead embroidery is laid onto Stiffy Stuff, next pieces will be in color since I have gotten packs of Nicoloe Campanella's beadbacking. Lots of white beads from my stash, mixed into a bead soup of various of shades and surface finishes were used for this piece. More to come soon! This is great fun...just finding time for it all is the challenge.

Wire Knitz Cuff

All this prettiness in just a couple of hours! The beauty of Wire Knitz, a new wire knit product, from SilverSilk, is that is can be manipulated in so many ways. Look for a few new versions in the coming days. By adding little tiny "belt loops" at each end I can change the bracelets I wear with the cuff. Small Antique Brass snaps will be added to the outer edges to help hold the wide cuff in place.

This particular focal bracelet was created with a few simple twists of the wrist using wire wrapping techniques to hold the flat glass discs into place. The leaves were attached using headpins with lampwork glass as the heads, awesome eh? A very clever artist, Starr May created these for me...all of her other glass pieces may be seen at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Plam Desert, CA.