Bad News, Good News

Okay, I'm going to start out with the bad news right up front and in one sentence. My two dolls DID not get into Bead Dreams. There. I said it. I have no idea why. I have had really a hard time getting the beading community to accept bead dolls as Art. I think I either have to give up trying to stop entering them into competitions or take a step back and instead of doing whimsical pieces try to concentrate on pretty figures with pretty faces.

Now to the good news. My piece Mother's Love came in 5th in the Beading for a Cure competition AND don't forget that she's up for auction starting next Monday. I was told I was to receive a winning prize & it came yesterday. Wow is about all I can say. I was shaking with excitement as I opened the box and treasure after treasure kept pouring out. I'm going to try to tell you everything that was in the box & if I've forgotten to thank anyone then my apologizes to all. First off was books and folder with all kinds of posters off Crystallized Swarovski Elements. Some of the posters are going to be put in in the studio as the colors are just amazing and will give me color suggestion idea. There were two boards with crystals colors with real crystals embedded in the board. Now I won't have to guess what color crystals I want to order as there they are for me to actually match up. I also got Crystal Chic which is by Debbi Simon. Lots of great ideas in there to push me to start using metal and crystals together.


Next was a great brown and blue craft bag from BeadinPath with a package of lucite beads inside. AND a $50 gift certificate inside an envelope. I am going to go crazy trying to decide what kind of lovely lucite beads to order from them. Then a kit from Jeannette Cook called "the tiles of Antoni Guadi Cuff". Jeannette is coming to Columbus this Summer to teach at 1 Stop Bead Shop so I'll have to get the story of what that name means then. I got another kit called " Silver Lining" but there was no name of who the designer or the contributor of this is. Thank you to whomever this mystery person is.

Then in a box was a beautiful necklace and earring set from Beads: All about it from Gainesville Florida. Lovely colors with a sweet Czech button as the focal piece. Then a book from Rita Sova of Butterfly and Fairy Designs all in brick stitch. Wow! I'm going to have to back track and rediscover brick stitch to make some of these beauties. Then a bag of Vintage Cabs from Marilee Layman. WoW! These are amazing. I can see some lovely cuff coming from these. In another plastic bag was a lovely glass focal bead from Ann Sherm Baldwin. It is BEAUTIFUL. I sat and starred at it looking at the design and colors and dreamed of the ocean off Kauai.

Then opening another envelope there were two gift certificates for $25 each. One was from Betcey at Beyond Beadery and the other was from Beki from Whimbeads. These are two of my favorite online bead stores and boy am I going to have fun trying to figure out what I need.

The very last thing was a mind blower as this is what Beading for a Cure is all about. IN a bag donated by Jeannette was one of Layne's beads she owned & left to Jeannette after she passed away. I was in tears & I still am. It is a beautiful focal bead made by Nancy Tobey. Layne bought it & treasured it so therefore, I'm going to treasure this piece of Art that Layne loved enough to take home. I never really knew Layne as she passed away before I joined the online group, but I would love to think that she held this bead in her hand and loved it. I'm going to do that too & send my prayers to her and every other person on this planet who has had to receive the news that they have colon cancer. I also will send prayers to those family members and friends who have had a loved one pass away or who is still fighting the fight.

Thank you the board of Beading for a Cure. Thank you the judges. And thank you to everyone who takes time to go to our auction site and purchase a piece of our Art so that we can help make sure no one else has to go through what Layne has

Scottie Sunday

I have been neglectful of Scottie Sunday and haven't had a chance to get any pictures of the things I have collected over the years. It is Spring, and I have a bad bad case of "puppyitis" since people have been showing pictures of new puppies all over the Web. So, I had Chris get out the file with the pictures of Frodo as a puppy. He with two other brothers and one sister were born 8 years ago next month. Fiona is his mother. Now Fiona is a wheaten colored Scottie and back then it was extremely difficult for me to find a male with the wheaten gene that was not related to her. I would have had to have sperm flown in from Canada to find a male I could safely breed her with. And it would have been really expensive. My mentor told me that since she wasn't "tested" or in other words hadn't had a live litter yet, we should wait before spending all that money. So I breed her with a WildWind black male. The puppies are all brindle which is hard to see when they were still so young, but if you look really really close, you can see a bit of brown fur by one puppy's closed eyes.


I don't know who was more excited about the puppies...me, Chris or Skye. Fiona could care less & it took three days before she finally became a Mom. She did a great job, but she really didn't care for being a Mom so this was the only litter of puppies she had. We have Frodo, Cynthia had Forrest (he passed away last Summer), Irene has Andy, and Fiona's breeder HAD the only girl but her husband "lost" the puppy when she was only 9 months old.



So enjoy some really Scottie Sunday pictures from me. Fiona has the red collar on in the above picture and Auntie Skye has the black collar on.

SteamPunk ShowDown

Chris & I have been having fun doing more collaboration pieces. This one is a semi Steampunk set which is called "SteamPunk ShowDown". It is for the DollStreet Dreamer's Steampunk challenge that will be displayed at AFIC the last weekend of this month. Chris did the Bot and I did the boy.


They boy started out as my new pattern. My New Year's resolution to myself this year is to learn to make my own doll forms so I can use them for my work without having to give credit to other artist. Plus in the future, I hope to sell my patterns or actually teach doll making. Therefore, I spend time drawing patterns, sewing them up, stuffing them, tweaking them, needle sculpting them, and doing it all over again until I can be happy. I wanted to make this a chubby little boy who spends more time tinkering in his work shop building things such as the robot he is facing with his remote control. He's dressed up in his space boy helmet and has a cape around his neck as he's always trying to figure out how to fly. His helmet is an old glass votive holder and the remote control box started off as a flippie container for beads. His eyes are vintage nail heads and he is standing on a piece of lucite. The only thing I'm unhappy about with this is the shoes. I didn't have time to finish up around the shoes so he just looks like he is standing in a puddle of mud. I've been experimenting with faces, and here I gave him a gap tooth grin which is hard to see from these pictures, but he does have a sweet little smile.


The bot started out as a metal canister of bath salts and with Chris' imagination he turned into a full fledged bot with his innards magnified with a lens from our collection of corrective eye glass lenses we bought years ago. Chris used his supply of radio tubes, ploy clay, and other things we have in our stash to give his bot life. His glowing eyes are volcano crystal rivolis I beaded. Chris gave the Bot his own remote control as really who here is in control? The Boy or the Bot? The Bot or the Boy?

To see more pictures of the Bot click here which will take you to Chris' blog MacRadioBot

These were so fun to make & we already have more ideas for collaboration after AFIC is complete.

7000 Bracelets for Hope

I decided to join the 7000 Bracelets for Hope after reading about this cause on Lori Anderson's blog. Please click here to read more about the cause and click here to see Lori's list of blogs to visit.
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If you are interested in joining please read below and think about adding your "voice" by sending a Bracelet of Hope to Global Genes Project.

It’s easy to help show support for kids suffering from rare disease and disorders!

The Global Genes Project (GGP) volunteer team is collecting blue jean/denim inspired bracelets for families living with rare disease, the campaign is called “7,000 Bracelets for Hope.”

To help raise awareness we’re asking 7,000 jewelry designers, volunteers from the craft community and various artists to donate one bracelet to this campaign to show their support for kids living with rare disease, disorders or conditions. These bracelets will then be distributed to participating families in December 2011.

24701 La Plaza, Suite 201 Dana Point, CA 92629

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These are the three bracelets I'll be mailing off Monday.

Whew...deadline

Well, I managed to make the Deadline for the 2011 Bead Dreams challenge. The deadline is April 5ht, but I was afraid I'd have some computer issues or anything else to get in the way so I completed the entry for just now. I entered Gaia's Playground which is what I called the piece Rachel's Dream after I've spent over 50 hours completing the piece after it was returned to me from Best of 2010 in January. I was never really happy with it as I got so lazy at the end and didn't finish the edges. I made so many flowers and covered the edges all the way around with new types of flowers, crystals and pearls. I'm happy and now say it is DONE! I also entered Wild Wet Ride which was my attempt at making an original doll with my own pattern AND using flat peyote sewn onto the doll using the fabric as a pattern. Last year, I didn't get my two pieces into the show so I'm not holding my breath for this year either, but hey! we have to try don't we??




I was writing to Cynthia that since I decided to let the dolls to the side an concentrate on beading, now all that pops into my head is how to make this doll and that doll. I've actually been drawing patterns and coming up with new ideas for new dolls. One of my AFIC pieces for the Challenge "Look Ma, No Stands" has 7 individual dolls using three new patterns I made by myself. It is close to getting done. All the sewing is done, and tomorrow we are going to finish the top layer, then all I have to do is a little tweaking here and there. I think everyone is going to be blown away at AFIC by this as it is TALL and it has very few beads on it. I've also got on the table another new pattern for the Doll Street Dreamers' Challenge for AFIC calling for Steampunk. I don't haven time to do everything that I want for this piece, so Chris is making half and I'm making the other. I contacted Judy Skeel & she said it was okay as long as I met the criteria and got it to her by the 15th. I've got some sewing to do for this one, but I must admit that Hal and I are fast becoming friends...really...I want to sew now! Imagine me saying this 4 years ago...I don't think so.


Meanwhile, to keep my fingers nimble and to keep beading, I've come up with this little project that I'll be teaching at Bead Club in May at 1 Stop. It might turn into a class. We'll see. It is called Finger Cuffs and yes! it is not an original idea, but I think I've done some things to make it mine.
I've also been working on some beaded bangle to sell at AFIC. I need some slush fund money for my trip in June to Bead and Button.


As for the Scotties, it is that time of the year with thunderstorms and swamps. I keep hearing the weather alert radio going off reminding us that we are in a Flash Flood Alert. I really don't worry to much about that here as our house sits highest in the neighborhood so we rarely get flooding in our basement, but luckily this Winter Victor put in a big new sump pump for us while Chris was sick. I can hear that thing roaring to life all the time, but it keeps my Art Cave dry.

Well, enough for now. I really have to make some dinner and get myself in the mental mood for four more days at work.


{It has been brought to my attention that I have been remiss in several things concerning the ring cuffs pictured above. First is that I did not link to the blog where I had gotten the original inspiration. The blog I was referring to was Nicole Campanella's BeadWright. The post was from March 19th about her Comfort Rings. I follow Nicole's blog all the time, and find great inspiration from all the things she creates and shares with us. Secondly, I should have checked the actual name "Finger Cuffs" to see if it had been copy right by any other artist or was being used in a similar project. Lastly, I will not be teaching a Ring Cuff class as I find it is too challenging for a beginner to work on such a small area while learning basic bead embroidery stitches. Dot. 7/20/11}

ROCKET MAN

I've been pretty quiet this past week. Work has been extremely wicked with the Emergency Room full every night, and you know that means those folks need lab work done which means...I'm on the feet all the time. I get home in morning and after feeding the three Scotties, I'm in bed. Yet even when I get up my feet are aching. I bought new shoes, and they are making the pain a little better, but I think I'm going to have to break down & visit my Podiatrist again & see about getting more steriod shots. Sound awful, but it does work.



Chris & I are going to be having a vendor table at AFIC. I'm taking classes there, but Chris is going to man the booth Friday night, and then all day Saturday and Sunday. I'm so excited that he'll be able to show off some of the great work he has been doing in the past two years. He wanted for us to do a collaboration to show off at AFIC, and I agreed it would be fun to work together again. He went rummaging through the basement where we keep boxes of things we've accumulated in our thrift store wanderings. He found an old lamp and a box of Christmas tree lights from back when we were kids (think we found them at a flea market). So out came the vacuum tubes and he began on a lighted Rocket. He challenged me to then make an Astronaut that could ride the Rocket. I sat down and drew up a new doll pattern and began to audition fabric. I didn't want to paint the doll body to make it look like a space suit and was so excited when down deep in a box I found this fun fabric I bought last Halloween. I also wanted my doll to look cute, so instead of the big noses I usually sew for my dolls, I went for a tiny little bump of a nose & it worked fabulous. Then, it went to Chris & he came up with this perfect item for the Rocket Man's helmet. It originally came from a child's toy we found at the thrift store. Chris cut an opening in the bottom, and the Astronaut's head fit perfect. Then it was back to me to finish up the space suit. I added two life support packs on the front and back with crystals to mock lights blinking off an on, and I made a collar so the helmet would sit properly on the shoulders. Then back to Chris. He posed and mounted the Rocket Man. Then he plugged in the lamp. The flames light up and it really looks like it is headed for deep space.


We had so much fun working on this project together. We are now doing another piece I hope to finish and enter into Doll Street Dreamer's Steampunk challenge at AFIC. I've been drawing a design & he's been cutting and getting the pieces together. I'm so lucky.

Scottie Sunday

I thought I'd do a little something different this Sunday and hope to carry
through with this idea. It is going to be called "Scottie Sunday" where I'm
going to share some of my Scottie Dog Antiques with you all. I don't think many
people know that before I got obsessed with beading and doll making, my biggest
passions was collecting Scottie Dog pieces. It all began back in 1989 when I bought my first Scottie
dog named FalaPink. We wanted a Scottie dog after going to Hyde Park and saw a picture of FDR with Fala hanging out the window of the car. On FDR's desk was Fala's collar. I grew up with Dauschunds so I had no idea how a terrier would change my life. Boy, did Fala ever do that. I remember taking him to my vet after purchasing him from an elderly couple on the south end of town. My Vet asked me if I knew anything about Scotties. Well, I didn't as I just thought they were cute. My Vet laughed and told me do I have a lot to learn as terriers are unique and have a wee bit of a controlling attitude and can be stubborn. And yes, I learned that real fast with Falakins. So with my new four legged baby boy taking over my life and changing it forever, I began to surround myself with trinkets and knick knacks making my house look like some Scottie dog museum.


This is one piece that I was lucky to find at a Scottie Dog Antique convention in Cincinnati called Wee Scots started by Donna Newton. This is a pair of Hubley bookends. They are cast iron and have been painted. This pair is in fair condition. Here is a little history of the Hubley company out of Pennsylvania:

Hubley Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania by John Hubley and produced toys throughout its history. Early Hubley production consisted of many cast iron toys including various horse drawn vehicles, guns, and household objects such as doorstops and bookends. Many of their cast iron objects were dogs, and they are highly prized by collectors today. With the automotive age, cars, trucks, and other transportation became their focus. The Hubley Company made accurate metal replicas of Model A Fords and other cars for many years; for example, there are 7 Model A Ford body styles alone: Sedan, Station Wagon, Coupe, Roadster, Roadster Pickup, Victoria, and Phaeton. Though mass produced, Hubley toys and doorstops were painted by hand, so each has become a unique treasure appreciated both for its subject matter and the �folk art� quality of its paint, form and design. After WW II, die-cast zinc alloy models for the most part replaced the cast iron ones. In the casting process at Hubley, metalworkers would carve out a form of wood, or hammer the doorstop or toy design out in metal. The form was then pressed into finely compacted sand, making an impression. Cast iron heated to 3000 degrees was poured into the sand mold and, when cooled, the form would pop out and rough edges were filed off. In the decorating department, painters applied a base coat (usually white or cream but sometimes black) to the doorstop. Then, colorists used a variety of hues to highlight important details, usually only on the side that would face toward the room. Many doorstops bear identical color schemes, suggesting that decorators may have copied a model finished by a master artisan. A well-cast iron doorstop will be smooth in texture. Small chipping of paint is acceptable, but there should be no repainting of an antique item.

I do have a few of the Hubley door stops in my collection, but most of them have all be packed away for the future. Someday, Chris & I are going to get all those boxes out of the basement of closets and go through what I have. I collected for over 25 years so there is quite a bit of those pointy ear dogs residing in my house. I haven't sold any of them as I decided to just wait until I retire, and then "rehome" some of them like other members of Wee Scots passing on their treasures to me.