French Quarter Balcony Pictures

I was telling my pal Barb Switzer about my love of wrought iron scroll work and she reminded me of the balconies in New Orleans. I have never been there but of course have seen amazing pictures. So I did a quick web search and look at this. These pictures put me in a daze...look at all that work. I love it!!! Thanks Barb!

Lucy's eye to eye

My 5 year old, Lucy, got quite intrigued with the God's Eye weave I was doing with wire this afternoon. Previously this morning, she was a grump because she couldn't make a spiral as well as her big sister. So I got her weaving a God's Eye. She rocked at it, and we now have 4 of them hanging around the house.

Wirework...stealing my sleep!

Ah, this happens about every 3 or 4 months. I get an idea and design in my head and I obsess! I have to stop everything, including sleeping, and work on that design until I get it right.

Here is my latest obsession. I have always been drawn to classic hand forged wrought ironwork pieces. When ever I go to San Francisco I spend the journey with my nose pressed up against the car window (when I am not driving), focusing on the railings, panels and doors adorned with crazy crazy scroll patterns. It just blows my mind. I have always wanted to sit with my wire and replicate them. There was an amazing gate in the movie "The Other Boylen Girl" that got this idea back in my head. I have wanted to replicate some of these classic patterns for about 10 years, but lack of time kept them from exiting my brain and taking shape on my pliers. Until yesterday.....and last night, and late last night, and early this morning, and after meeting Dallas Lovett (who was in town teaching) for lunch....yes, I didn't sleep much last night. I spent most of the night scrolling and binding and scrolling and binding. The few minutes I did sleep, I scrolled and bound in my dreams. I didn't have any Sterling wire at home so I used some of my kids craft wire. Humm, lovely blue, red and copper....yikes! It made for a dang ugly piece but the structure and design are there. Please ignore the red piece, I kinda lost it down there.

Today I ran to my studio before lunch and picked up some Sterling and continued with my obsession. It is going quite well and I think I have FINALLY figured out my project for Hooked On Wire. I will get a few pix up here soon....for now, below is a practice piece in Sterling.

The work desperately needs to be oxidized and cleaned up a bit (those ugly blunt ends on the inside of the spirals should be hammered and tapered before beginning the spiral). The final HOW piece will be bigger, more intricate and most likely a necklace. I am sure most will say "put some beads on there girl!", and I probably will, but I really like the simplicity of just wire.

Summer Camp

I am up to my ears in summer camp plans. Last night I spent 2 hours with a spread sheet, 3 city parks and rec brochures and 6 webpages opened, trying to plan my kids summer. It is so hard to get the schedule just right. I have to work a full week so the dream summer of sitting by a pool or lake ain't gonna happen. We will squeeze that in, as much as possible but I need to keep my girls busy! They have the coolest camps these days; magic camp, lego camp, sewing/fashion camp (oh yeah we are all over that!) science camp where you grow crystals and my favorite, hip hop camp. Can't I go to some of those camps....why don't they have camps like this for mommys?
Anyhow, we will work it out. I am glad that summer can be a time of trying new things and meeting new friends for them :)...cause mama's gotta go to work and make some jewelry!

New class....I LOVE MAKING JEWELRY

ok, the name of the class is not "I love making jewelry", I just felt like yelling that because I love this new piece so much. This is actually a bead I made TWO years ago. I am just now getting around to embracing it and transforming it into a teachable project. It is so fun and looks great just strung plain on a chain.
It is called "Coiled and Stitched Focal Bead".....whoa creative title huh? Coming up with class names is the worst! Sometimes I get creative, like ShaBangles, and sometime I just hit ya with a straight forward title, like this one. Anyhow, I will be adding this to my circuit of classes.....hope ya like it!!!!

Welcome to the new blog

Hey all....we have re-done my site and decided to use a new blog program. We had to trash all the old posts from the last few years and start a new. That's ok, change is good :) I will be adding to this blog periodically. I will also be adding many posts to our other blog at beaducation.com.
Stay tuned....glad to have ya :)

What have I been doing lately?...trying to finalize my piece for the Hooked On Wire Retreat. Sometimes a new design comes easily, sometimes it is a bit more of an adventure. This one has taken me more time than usual. I have written about this design in a few posts at beaducation.com. I will be reworking my design, which I don't mind....I love the process.

Philadelphia....here we come!

Here is a link to my classes. Hope to see ya there!They just posted the classes and info for Bead Fest Philadelphia. The show is August 21-24. This is a great show. If ya live back east, you should definitely consider coming.