The second piece I worked on while I was away is another bracelet, this one with the remaining frog beads to match the necklace I did previously. I did a peyote stitch base and added the frogs, leaves and flower beads. It isn't finished as I haven't decided what to do about a closure. The piece is rather heavy and I'm afraid a button closure will work loose with wear.

As I've mentioned, when I travel, I bead. I recently went to Rhode Island for my annual artist getaway with fellow artists. I did the base of this bracelet prior to boarding the plane and beaded during the flight. One of the airline attendants was a beader, so she was very interested in my piece. She said that she only did simple beading. This bracelet was inspired by the silver fish beads I bought at the Bead Renaissance Show in May. I wanted the fish to appear to be swimming through the grass & moss.

One of the egroups I'm a member of issued a challenge - Dolls with a Secret. This sounded like something I could have fun with, so I started to brainstorm. I'm not sure why butterflies in her stomach came to mind, but it did. I had fun creating this doll.

Last week was another road trip - my stepson graduated from Army basic training last and we drove up to Fort Sill (Lawton, OK) to attend Family Day and the Graduation Ceremony on Thursday & Friday. As I had already finished the mermaid necklace, I needed to find another piece to make. I was working on a couple of birthday presents and needed accent beads for them, so I looked in my lampwork box. I found those beads (and finished those bracelets), but I also pulled out two sets of beads I bought when my friend, Debbie Givens first started making lampwork beads. I added some glass beads that had gathered at various conventions and created this piece, which I finished yesterday.



My friend, Irene modeling the necklace. Her smiling face adds alot to the necklace, doesn't it? She said it was perfect for her - in her colors. Doesn't it look good on her? However, I did bring it back home with me. It doesn't look bad on me either.

When I went to the bead show this past May, I found some marvelous carved bone beads. I loved the detail on these beads. I bought several frogs and three mermaid beads. I also bought lots of leaf beads. I made the Garden Frogs necklace first, using only two of the frog beads. I created a triangle-shaped peyote base and added leaf and flower beads over the whole area.

My husband had a day surgery procedure last month and I took the beads to do the Mermaid Reef necklace while I was waiting. I got quite a bit done while waiting and finished it up the following week while watching television.

Last year when I was on a dragon-creating spree (thanks to Christi Friensen's book), I made this dragon and beaded the necklace with beads I found at the local bead convention.

When I travel I usually carry beading. It is one of the few artistic things that I do that can be portable. In April when I flew up to Rhode Island to take the class with Kathleen Dustin (I told about this in a previous post), I started working on the Octopus Garden necklace. I made the octopus with polymer clay using the instructions in Christi Friesen's book "Under the Sea". I thought they were cool and would make a great component for a necklace. The idea was to have the necklace look like a coral reef. I plan on adding to the necklace in a couple of weeks when I fly back to Rhode Island for my annual art pilgrimage.

Check out my Slide Show!

Check out my Slide Show!