A Half-Baked Notion

Monday, March 11, 2013

Crochet Tutorial by Miss P...

If you love those popular crochet and chain combinations, I found this beautifully written and photographed tutorial over on Portia's blog Miss P... I'm going to try this one out! Portia writes about fashion sewing, repurposing, thrifting, DIY, crafting, knitting and enjoys the occasional jewellery foray. She offers lots of enjoyable, easy-to-understand tutorials and has a great chatty style that makes her blog fun to read. Do check her out!

Saturday, March 09, 2013

We Shall Go To The Sea (A Blog Hop)

Welcome to my reveal for the Bead Table Blog Hop II - Sand and Sea Edition, sponsored by Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist. Back in December, when most of us were still getting used to having snow around, Lisa offered some sweet reprieve. Namely, a kit of beads in either "sand" or "sea" colours. I was tickled to receive my set of pretty blue and green, glass and pearl, with a little gold thrown in for good measure! As I rarely work with gold components, I felt challenged, in a good way!

I had a ball with these beautiful beads: faceted and smooth glass, mother-of-pearl daggers in two shades of blue, dusky pearls and neutral seed beads, all accented with delicate gold bead caps and spacers. All unusual for me... and I love the results.

Love these mysterious and dramatic green beauties!

I made three separate strands.

A little twist before joining the strands.

That sweet little seashell tile was included in my bead kit. It's by Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp of Skye Jewels. The silk ribbons were some short lengths remaining from a previous project (besides basic findings, it was the only component not in my original kit). The silk was purchased from Marsha Neal Studio... I am partial to a little fabric in a bracelet design, and these ribbons really soften the "feel" on my wrist.

I had enough beads left over for a pair of matching earrings:

I have very few beads remaining from my kit. It was tempting to add "extras" to my design but I resisted! In a way it is liberating to be so limited in what one can use, and still have fun and come up with an appealing design. Thanks for this great event, Lisa!

Now here is a completely gratuitous photo a friend emailed me this week. I couldn't resist sharing!

Ahhhh! Now THAT looks cozy!

Thanks for visiting! Now check out what these creative artists have come up with:

HOSTESS Lisa Lodge A Grateful Artist
Eleanor Burian-Mohr The Charmed Life

Mary Govaars MLH Jewelry Designs

Tanya Goodwin A Work in Progress

Kathy Lindemer Bay Moon Design

Toltec Jewels Jewel School Friends

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson Sharyl's Jewelry

Marla Gibson Spice Box Designs

Melissa Trudinger Bead Recipes

Dot Lewallen Speedie Beadie

Ema Kilroy Ema K Designs

Kim Booth The Pink Martini Boutique

Jami Shipp Celebrating Life

Leah Tees My Beady Little Eyes

Christie Murrow Charis Designs Jewelry

(YOU ARE HERE) Monique Urquhart A Half Baked Notion

Gloria Allen Gloria Allen Designs

Cindy Anderson Wilson It's My Sea of Dreams

Suzi Campbell Suzi Campbell Creations

Shaiha Williams Shaiha's Ramblings

Annette Rivers Mamaowl's Mess

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Unique Goddess Beads (Giveaway)

I learned yesterday of these amazing Goddess beads being offered by Louise Ingram to celebrate the coming of Spring. (Thank you Bonnie of Jasper's Gems for the heads-up!) Fittingly, this draw will take place on the first day of Spring - March 20th! Here's a pic of Louise's creation:

Don't they look like they are ready for bright sunshine, longer days and warmer winds? Louise creates these gorgeous glass ladies in her studio in Merrickville, Canada, and offers them for sale in her Etsy shop, Fireseed. For this "welcome to Spring", she is giving away not one but three beautiful pendants, one for each of three winners. Read all about the awesomeness on Louise's website. Good luck, everyone!

Monday, March 04, 2013

Sand and Sea Sneak Peek

Quite a while back, I received this sparkly collection of beads from Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist blog, in conjunction with her Bead Table Blog Hop II (Sand and Sea Edition). The bead collections are in two possible colourways: either "sand" tones (tan, brown, etc.) or "sea" tones (blues, greens, etc.) Lisa made the selection for each of the twenty participants. I was absolutely thrilled when I opened my parcel and learned I would be creating with a blue palette!

Here is a photo collage of what I received from Lisa:

A pretty selection of glass and pearl!

No, that top photo is NOT my design! *TeeHee* I just needed to string my collection so I could get an idea of relative sizes and weights.

The idea is to use just the components provided by Lisa, and possibly combine some extra/leftover/miscellaneous stuff from our own bead table. We will be sharing what we have created on **MARCH 9th, 2013**, next Saturday. We will have a list of participant links, so you can enjoy a leisurely blog hop and be inspired by the colours of Sand and Sea. Hope to see you there!

Friday, March 01, 2013

L'Hiver: 2013 Challenge of Music

This is one of the easiest decisions I've made in my journey to becoming more confident in my jewellery design: selecting a piece of instrumental music to inspire my creativity. Such was the request of Erin Prais-Hintz, of Treasures Found for this year's Challenge of Music. Almost instantly I knew I would be using a composition I have loved since childhood, the Winter Concerto from Antonio Vivaldi's 1723 "The Four Seasons".

I have always considered these four concertos "different" from other music of the Baroque Period. While following the "rules" of that period, this music nonetheless contains many innovations, including the use of solo instrument and the imitation of the sounds of nature. I learned much about both Vivaldi and his most famous musical work while researching.

There exists an abundance of recordings of this very well-known work. I chose the Vang Church venue, site of yearly Christmas concerts broadcast internationally from Hamar, Norway. The featured soloist is the ebullient Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelson. I chose this particular recording not just for its musical and architectural beauty, but also its northern location, as part of the winter symbolism.

Awesome, isn't she? Mari and her brother, cellist Håkon Samuelsen, are world-renowned musicians and often perform together.

As always, the actual design of my jewellery proved problematic. I made several false starts (I won't call them failures because I didn't FAIL to learn from them). I knew I would incorporate polymer clay. As I sat pondering my storage space, I saw one of my "brain canes", and that was the starting point for my successful design.

That's the original cane design on the bottom right, and my version to the left of it. My first sucessful "cane adaptation"! The original is from a tutorial by Cindy Lietz, one of my favorite PC innovators and teachers.

The swirling pattern brings to mind the fury of the winter wind as evoked by the first movement (allegro non molto) of Vivaldi's concerto. For balance I wanted very quiet and restrained elements, as represented by the white quartz and elegant silver (that chain is actually a pre-made bracelet). This symbolizes the slower second movement (Largo). The third movement (Allegro) reminds me of moving swiftly through snowy fields and forests... perhaps in a horse-drawn sleigh? I added the large crystal snowflake and created a charm using the Snowy Tree Cane I made in 2011, another of Cindy Lietz' designs.

It amazes me how something composed almost 300 years ago continues to inspire similar emotions with audiences in our age, just as it did in Vivaldi's day. I love the contrasts in this musical story, but also in the approach Vivaldi chose. He was certainly ahead of his time! Though he respected the framework and the traditional motif of his time... three balanced movements: fast, slow, fast... his composition was filled with much that was unheard of in his time. He took the tools available to him and came up with new and wonderful uses.

In our own small way, I think we as artisans are dreaming of innovation as we play and design with each new process put before us. I felt like one such dreamer as I worked through this fun challenge. Thanks so much, Erin... it has been a thrill as always!

You can find links to the other participants by scrolling down below this final collage picture: