Chamberlain Ranch Shoot is This Weekend

Super busy making things for the Chamberlain Ranch Shoot near Los Olivos, CA. Last year it was rain and mud. The forecast this year looks amazing. So I need to go home and pack personal and camping gear, as well as all the craft booth stuff. Hope we can fit it all in!

Coyote Bead Weaving

Roadrunner Bead Weaving Project

I made good progress on some bead weaving today. It's a roadrunner design. Then when we were driving down the street, a roadrunner ran across the road.

Also a bird built a nest over my front porch light. Wildflowers are springing up everywhere. And there's a mushroom growing in full sunlight in the sand in our backyard. No baby quail yet, but I did see some hummingbirds mating yesterday.

Talk to the Hand

I don't believe I've ever talked about the little felt hands I've been beading.  I made them for bardic tokens.  So if I'm at an SCA event, and I see a bard strolling around or doing a presentation, I like to 'give them a hand'. I don't normally do it at competitions, because they have an audience and get tons of attention.  I give them out to bards that go out of their way to go to SCA events and stroll around singing, or juggle for the children, or recite poetry to the queen, and so on.  I just like to reward them if I catch them doing something entertaining.

Some of the hands have a pin so they can wear them.  But recently I've started making some with loops so they can hang them from a hook, or a Christmas tree, or their mantel or whatever. I should go take photos to help you visualize.

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

Actually the day is almost over. I would tell you what I got for Valentine's Day but the censors would bleep me....soooo.
I did more beadwork today. I finally got to do peyote (gourd) stitch around a cabachon. I can't tell you how many years I've been intimidated by doing that, and it's really not a huge deal. I glued the stones down first with fabric glue designed for gemstones and let them dry a few days. I guess that was the missing step. I never knew that it was okay to glue them down. There is something sacred about stones and it didn't seem right to put glue on them. But all the books said glue, so glue it is. And it keeps the stone securely in place while I put the beads around it. I can't believe I let such silly things intimidate me. If it doesn't look right I can easily pick it out and start again. No one is going to get shot or anything. So here it is Valentine's Day and I putting beads around hearts. I also used some freshwater dyed pearls. I've been wondering what I did with those pearls for years and then I found them a few days ago, just in time for this project. They were actually on the floor underneath my necklace rack. I don't know if the string broke or the cats knocked them down or what. But before I lose them again, I sewed them down. They won't get away this time. They are a very pale blue.

Remember when I mentioned I'd made woven earrings before sometime in the 80's? Well in one of my bead boxes I found some of those missing earrings. And they look brand new since they were tucked safely in a bead box. I got to thinking I made those when the first Long Beach Renaissance Faire started, so that was back in the 80's. Maybe 85 because I lived in Carson then. I got married in 1981. Anyway, I wonder if the thread would stay strong for 25 years. I'll probably just wear them myself. I wouldn't want to risk them breaking if a customer bought them. But it made me wonder just how much stuff we learn to do, and then forget we know it, and then we have to learn it all over again. Feels like I've been in a time warp for 25 years. Shouldn't I be doing new things instead of walking the same path over and over again? Come to think of it they are now vintage earrings. HA HA HA. Shows you how old I am.

Greenman Bead Embroidery

I've been digging apart every box and bin in every room of the house looking for more green beads for my greenman bead project. And I know I have more squirreled away somewhere. I know I have a tan fishing tackle box of beads that I tripped over in the hallway for months and now I can't find it to save my life. The good news is I can start consolidating my old beads and new beads into some semblance of order. This is the first monochromatic piece I've worked on and it's a challenge to focus on tones instead of color. But it's coming along nicely.