My creative space...

Lady Spring has been blessing us with glorious sunshine, warm breezes and the eruption of wildflowers that Western Australia is renowned for.  


The scent of renewal and awakening drifts through the open windows in the house, and my mind swirls with endless ideas and inspiration.  

So many ideas...

I have been dreaming of ways to combine metal and beads...

...the lure of metal is irresistible...

...it haunts my dreams, distracts me, delights me...

...and I feel the only cure is to create!

~*~

 But alas, my metal must wait...

Our move from Perth to Melbourne in less than a week away,


so with all but a few of my beads, tools and notions packed away, weaving a few components is all I can manage...

...just playing with ideas...

...and new concepts, based on old ones...

...they won't be completed until after our move to Melbourne, but my hands cannot remain idle...as if packing boxes isn't keeping them busy enough!

~*~


Now that my *Marrakech* Cuff is completed, of course I have to make another one...


...in turquoise AND orange...

...I just love colour, I can't help myself...


...I try to enjoy using neutrals and browns and blacks...

...but colour is what really makes me happy :-)

~*~

What does your creative space look like today?

Evergreen Unfurling

This necklace began with a tube of size 6 Czech seed beads. My lovely Mum picked the tube, drawn to the earthy hues which ranged from emerald green to milky cream to mottled amber. And I promised to make something for her with them.

Six months later, and they are finally at home in my 'Evergreen Unfurling'...

The size 6 seed beads were woven into a twisted tubular herringbone rope along with some green delicas. Using beads with such a size difference results in an obvious 'corkscrew':

The unfurling fronds were made with two-drop square stitch, and the golden flowers with two-drop ladder stitch and simple fringing:

And a flower bud yet to bloom, a Czech fire polished bead encased in seed beads:

Lately I've enjoyed combining bead-weaving with chain. The lazy part of me likes this form of instant gratification. This necklace, had it all been beadwoven, would have taken me three times as long to make. With my beading time so limited these days, I'm all for a shortcut here and there ;-)