Battle DragonRyder

Today I just don't have any energy after this past week dealing with my husband's health issues. He had a kidney stone which went well, but then he developed nausea and vomiting.  I see a repeat from the health nightmare of 2010/2011 he had in and out of hospitals for 2 straight months trying to find an end to the relentless nausea he suffered with.  This time, I hope it is resolved faster than last time.  For one thing, since I changed jobs I'm able to take him to Ohio Health instead of Mt. Carmel.  So far his treatment at Ohio Health is far better than with the other hospital system.   I'm just hoping he recovers and comes home soon to me and our Sammy.

While I was working on this piece for the past several months off and on, I kept thinking to myself that the doll must be a warrior on her mount.  Originally when I finished her, I wanted to call this Battle of the Bulge as I decided that this is the time to do something about my own weight and health.  I've always had weight issues my whole life.  My Mother was a very small woman as so my one brother and sister (but I never realized their low weight was because they all had bad oral health which  kept them from eating normal).  Beside them, I always felt like a giant and when it came time for clothes shopping, I was never a happy girl.  Everyone would be looking for clothes on one side of the store while I was on the other.  My Aunt called me chubby and when she's bring clothes she got tired of for me she would have me try them on in front of her and then comment that I needed to lose some weight to fit into them.  I dieted all the time roller coasting from up to down never thinking that all that yo-yo dieting was doing damage to my body and my self esteem.  Name a diet in the past 40 years, and I can probably say that I was on that.  Pills, diet supplements, exercise programs...well they all worked but never stuck.  Then about 15 years ago I read a book called Woman Who Run with Wolves.  This book struck a cord within me and let me realize that I am who I am and I needed to be proud of that.

In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Dr. Estés unfolds rich intercultural myths, fairy tales, and stories, many from her own family, in order to help women reconnect with the fierce, healthy, visionary attributes of this instinctual nature. Through the stories and commentaries in this remarkable book, we retrieve, examine, love, and understand the Wild Woman and hold her against our deep psyches as one who is both magic and medicine. Dr. Estés has created a new lexicon for describing the female psyche. Fertile and life-giving, it is a psychology of women in the truest sense, a knowing of the soul.


I learned that I was never going to be Twiggy thin now would I ever wear a size 8!  I learned to be happy with the body I had...then........ life just got in the way.  Doesn't it always?  Stress from both our jobs, early retirement for him and then his health problems just made me lose track of my own health.  Plus taking another job where a donut shop was open 24 hours didn't help me at all.  I let myself go in the past 6 years and started to see the weight slowly go up.  I ignored it saying I'd do something tomorrow.  Well, tomorrow just never came and I kept eating like there was no tomorrow.  Then I started to see pictures of myself and realize that tomorrow was here.

 I've been following a facebook page of a courageous woman who daily tells her tale of weight loss, exercise training, and how she copes with the success and the failures.  She has been a true inspiration for me.  But just reading and cheering on someone else doesn't make ME healthier, does it?  Not at all.  SO...on June the 4th 6 months until I turn 60 my Tomorrow arrived.  I AM going to take control and find the Wild Woman within myself and embrace her.  I've never really admitted my weight anywhere, but I'm going to be just as brave as Sig and post that here.  Six months before I turn 60 years old, I weighed 194 pounds.  What a number!  What is my goal?  I'm realistic here and decided that I would love to weigh 150 pounds which was what I weighed all during my teens through 30s.  I can't believe I thought I was fat back then...heck I was healthy and looked pretty good.  So I want to lose 44 pounds in 6 months, but I'll be happy if I can achieve a 20 pound lose in 6 months.  SO this is my tomorrow and I have my doll to help cheer me on in my Battle for Health. 

Here I am in May at 194 pounds.

Suzanne Golden Presents...review

Many of my friends are heading out today and the rest of the weekend to Milwaukee for the Bead and Button show.  I had to chuckle last night when I saw someone refer to it as the BEAD MECCA.  And it truly is a place of camaraderie, awe, and just plain old fun.  I wrote to several this morning as they were getting ready to get onto the train, plane, or automobile wishing them good travel weather and then complaining to them that I had to stay here and just be green with envy.  I thought about all those hours upon empty hours as your stomach is churning with excitement to see old friends, lots of glorious classes and shopping, meeting new friends in classes and events, but mostly seeing the displays of jewelry and bead sculpture adorned on people walking through the convention center and on display for the Bead Dream Challenge.  If it was me waiting for the next connection or just at the road side stop for a snack before jumping back into traffic, I would want to wet my appetite for the big show with Suzanne Golden Presents: Interviews with 36 Artist Who Innovate with Beads.  Well, unfortunately for me, I'm not able to attend this year, but that is not going to stop me from taking this week and enjoying using Suzanne's book to cruise from page to page getting to "meet" new artist and "revisit" with those artist I follow on either Facebook or their blogs.  I must say that though not like being there with all the excitement but Suzanne Golden Presents makes feel as if I AM in Milwaukee.

Suzanne's book was published in April 2013 by Lark Jewelry and Beading.  Once again, Lark has given us a delicious book filled with Suzanne's interviews with bead artist throughout the world.  The book "offer...lush images and interviews with every artist [personally chosen by Suzanne}, this volume is pure inspiration.  Suzanne herself is an inspiration for any artist indulging in beads or any other medium through her use of bold colors and beads "that nobody else would have the courage to touch for fear of not being taken seriously"'  Well now, doesn't that just want to make you jump over to her website and check it all out for yourself?  Or why not friend her on Facebook and follow her on her journey of just living full steam.

With Suzanne Golden Presents: Interview with 36 Artist Who Innovate with Beads, I've chosen with this review five artist that I had never been introduced to before.  I've seen their work in magazines or on the Internet, but had never really be "introduced" to them.  I chose these three because they all work with the artistic form just as I love to do.  Many of them like myself use whatever they can find such as plastic toys.  I'd like to also introduce you to these five artist who have made my heart pound a little faster seeing some of the fantastic creations they've come up with. 

Felieke Van der Leest

Felike van der leest is an incredible bead artist  from the Netherlands.  Her work can be seen in galleries in Amsterdan, NewYork, and in Tokyo.  I really enjoy the humor in her work, and she likes to recycle her collection of plastic animals  into works of art that amuse and delight viewers.  She uses bead crochet, bead embroidery, and other bead weaving techniques.  Masterfully designed with a big dash of humor makes Felike an artist I can identify with and am excited to have been introduced to her and her work.  You can see more of Flike's work here on her website.

Sari Liimatta

Sari uses a technique I haven't seen done since I was making Christmas ornaments back in the 70s.  She uses toy animals and actually pins the beads onto them creating unique and original pieces of art that amuse and makes the looker want to reach out an caress  the piece.  Sari says that "I find a toy animal which I examine thoroughly to get an idea of how it NEEDS ME.  Then I connect the toy with a suitable story...sometimes the theme of the piece needs to be told in a very forced manner.  Letting the pins show is a way I can do this.  It is a tool....."  Each of Sari's piece does pull a piece of emotion from the viewer.  You can see more of  Sari's work on her website.

Jan Huling

I got to discovery one of Jan's pieces the year I went to Bead and Button show in Milwuakee.  I stood and gazed at her A Gentle Man getting lost in the multiple colors and hypnotizing designs.  I was amazed to find out that Jan glues her beads onto the form.  Jan states that "I tried needlework, jewelry making, decoupage, and other things but didn't feel super inspired.  Gluing beads onto stuff just felt right".  And she has found an amazing way to share her magical palette and imagination with the work.  More of Jan's work can be seen on her website. 

Uliana Volkhovskaya

Uliana is a self taught artist from the Ukaraine.  She is a supported in her creative work by her husband and her daughter.  Her work is whimsical and announces the joy of life and small things in life. But her work is far from small.  The intricate weaving explodes giving her figures life and joy to the viewer.  What is also amazing is that Uliana states "most of the figures I make are dynamic with MOVABLE LIMBS.  I am inspired by cartoons, funny pictures and scenes from daily life".  To see more of Uliana's work you can visit her website. 

Christy Puetz

Christy works with a group called Beads of Courage, a nonprofit organization that creates arts-in-medicine programming for children coping with cancer and other serious illness.  I really felt drawn to Christy's work as I myself have just started working at Nationwide Children's hospital in Columbus Ohio.  I intend to spend more time investigating this group and found out how I too can make a different on the lives of those small children who are so brave while learning to cope.  Christy has a series that really intrigued me called "Lost Forest".  She states that non of the creatures have eyes.  They hold poses that that make them appear frozen in time, waiting for onlookers to exit so they can secretely move around in the shadows.    She says that choosing beads for a piece is "like going on a treasure hunt with a specific map".  Her pieces all awake a primal desire to further investigate the mystery behind the pose.  More of Christy's work can be seen on her website. 

These are just five of the thirty six artist in Suzanne Golden's book.  There are so many more that are familiar to me and just as many that I've never be exposed to before.  I hope like me, you take the time to explore each and every single one of them.  Enjoy the interview in the book and then go out onto the Internet and further immerse yourself in glorious beads, glorious ART.  Enjoy. 

Disclosure...As a reviewer of  products from Lark Books, I receive the book above free of charge. I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion of the products...positive or negative. I am not being compensated by Lark Books for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

One Month with our Sammy

Today we've had Sammy for a whole month. Can't believe in just this short amount of time, he's just settled into our routine and taken over a big chunk of our hearts.  He is probably one of the sweetest Scottie boys I've ever met.  Such a loving little personality that only wants to please.  We've laughed more and actually feel lighter in our souls thanks to this 18.7 pounds of joy.

Sammy loves sitting at the top of the stairs like so many of our other Scotties in the past.  He realized that he can see out the front windows downstairs and see everything that is happening.

and he loves to bark!!!!!

Some things from his past I try to keep in his routine.  Pam would give him a rawhide stick, and so I am doing that every other day.  I ask him if he wants a "STICK", and he gets so excited.  He takes it to the studio which he decided is his bedroom and enjoys his treat

He also discovered the big basket filled with dog toys.  I think there are items in there that I originally bought for Fala back in the early 90s.  He one night picked every single toy out of the basket to inspect his new treasure.  He fell in love with Frodo's old red dog.  Then he decided to destroy it.

Here is the during picture of the "degutting of the Wobbie".  Can't you hear the thing scream...oh wait...that is Sammy huffing with enjoyment.

And Sammy figured out how to jump up on the big granite boulder at the back end of our property.  He sits there like a king surveying his domain.  He loves sitting there barking at the bunnies on the other side of the fence and at the squirrels chittering away at him from the upper branches of the Maple tree. 

Wishing upon a Star

Next month most of my friends are going to be traveling near and far to spend a wonderful time in Milwaukee at the Bead and Button show.  ME?  Can't go, but so wish I could as I would love to have been able to take the Master Class with Marcia DeCoster.  I think I've probably taken more bead classes with Marcia than anyone else, and since Liz is going to be her assistant there I just KNOW they are going to have a blast.  I don't have the vacation time since I've started my new job, and it is a little late to try to get into the second Master class with Marcia.  So instead of just pouting, I've been doing my own home version of Marcia's Master class using components. 

Early I had shown how using the totally unappreciated Czech seed beads, you could do some marvelous bead weaving.  So I've taken that one step farther.  First off, I've finished my version of Marcia's Pacific Morning Glories using Czech beads for a necklace.  Then I decided to take one of my own bead embroidery components and add it to several of the components from Pacific Morning Glories and another of Marcia's designs from her book Beaded Opulence.  Can I add one more thing?  I can't wait for her new book to come out in August.  It is all about Motion!

Pacific Morning Glories Necklace all completed using Czech Seed Beads

Experimentation using one of my components with three different component designs from Marcia DeCoster's class kit instructions

My component with two of the Pacific Morning Glories pinwhells

Asymmetrical chain using two different design components from Marcia DeCoster

Very clever closure from Marcia's Pacific Morning Glories

Stanley class

It has been almost 10 days now since Artistic Figures in Cloth and Clay has ended, and I still haven't had a chance to download pictures or unpack the sewing machine.  I always have such a fun time at AFICC and since it is only once every two years, getting to spend time with old friends and making new ones is a highlight of the year.  Cyndy Sieving does such a wonderful job making everyone comfortable and having loads of fun. 

This year I got to spend two days with one of my favorite teachers and friends Ute Vasnia.  Two years ago while taking a class with her up in Akron with Time for Dolls, she showed us Stanley her naughty troll, and we all begged her to come up with a class.  She did.  I jumped for joy.  I signed up for the class.  I got to make my own Stanley.  I got to spend two fabulous days laughing and creating. 

I should warn you though that Stanely should not be pinned to Pinterest. They have a policy about nudity even if it is an art doll.  So Please don't pin any of these pictures as I really don't want to get you into trouble.

Stanley really has some attitude.  I used glass eyes which give him this really ghoulish look.

Ute colors Stanley while Christine watches

Ute suggested that wouldn't it be funny is Stanley was scratching his behind, and I agreed.

Conga line of Stanleys

After two days of extreme fun, we all got to take our own Stanleys home with us

MEET SAMMY

I'd like to introduce you to our newest member of the family: 

SAMMY

Afton Trailblazer: Sammy

We were missing having a dog in our home so bad since Fi left us.  We thought about a puppy and had our names on several list.  Barb Zink from DanZin Scottish Terriers, whom I've known since very first getting on the internet, suggested that I get in touch with Pam Williams.  Pam Williams is another member of the Scottish Terrier Club of Greater Dayton.  I met Pam years ago when she first got into showing Scotties.  Pam offered me her 2 1/2 year old retired Champion Scout.  We decided it would be great to have an older Scottie join our family.  So Saturday April 13th 2013, we drove down to the Cincinnati area to Pam's home and picked our new boy up.  Pam's has Afton Scottish Terrier kennel.  We got to me all her girls and the wheaten boys.  It was great to see her again, and spend some time with a pack of loving fun filled Scotties.  The drive back to Columbus was so quiet.  He took quickly to our home and way of life.  And he stole our hearts.

We decided to change his name to Sam Wise Gamgee.  For those who are Lord of the Rings fans, he is named after Mr. Frodo's companion.  But he just didn't see to be a plain Sam...so we named him Sammy.

Czech Seed Bead...a little Respect....please

I guess my subject line just sort of shout outs what I've been thinking these past few days after seeing a few comments on Facebook about the woe of having Czech seed beads.  I had to stop and give that some thought.  Do they get used as much as Japanese seed beads?  I guess I'd have to say no, they are not as desirable in the bead weaving community as their counterparts, but they do have a place in our bead world.

When I first started beading years ago, my favorite bead store had one of the largest selection of Czech seed beads in sizes from 6 to 11s.  I'd stand in front of the way where there were so many different colors "winking" back at me.  I used them in every class I took at Byzantium and incorporated them into my beaded dolls are landscapes as much as I could.  They worked so well by actually not being uniform in size.  You could always cull through the piles of beads and find that one perfect size that would fit nicely into a tight spot completing the row and making the piece look almost flawless.  Then most of the time when doing other types of bead weaving techniques the Delicas were always the bead of choice with their square uniform size that just "snapped" into place making a smooth flawless transition in color and texture.  But they were expensive to use and no one at the time used them except to do peyote caged cabochons.  Then our local bead stores started carrying more and more Japanese seed beads in 11s, 15s, and 8s.  The color selection wasn't that impressive, but they did work better in Right Angle Weave and Netting.  They still were a little wonky with Square Stitch or loom work, but they were very versatile in bead embroidery.  As more an more colors hit the market, bead stores eventually displayed them in a more pronounced area of the store.  Meanwhile the lowly Czech seed beads found themselves in the least desirable portion of the store either next to the rest rooms or in some dark corner.  It became even harder to find them online.  Once I heard a student say they had to buy their Czech beads online for their Native bead work because none of the stores in town carried little more than a handful of colors.  I looked, and it was true. 

Eventually, even myself turned from my Czech beads.  I still have a large collection of them when I "rescued" them from the two closing bead stores in town or purchased from another beader who just didn't want them any more.  They became less and less a part of my palette while doing any type of beading.  So when I read that comment about them, I thought to myself are they such bad beads?  Are they really just "trash" to be discarded in yard sales and donated to the local thrift stores?

 So I decided to pull out my stash of Czech seed beads and see if I could reconnect with them and try to show them that they are more than just fillers for those unseen spots on a bead embroidered piece.  I decided to use them in a project from Marcia DeCoster's Beading By the Bay class called Pacific Morning Glories.  I loved the pinwheel design where you can have this amazing piece twirl with the ability of motion.  I got out two different color size 11 Czech seed beads from my storage in the studio and began to construct the pinwheels.  They might not be as lovely as the ones I made with the Japanese beads while in Marcia's class, but they do have this earthy feel and hominess visual appeal.  Not even culling out the imperfection from the piles of beads, I think they look rather lovely.  I intend to experiment more by creating a necklace with this design using ONLY the Czech seed beads and some of the "rescued" crystals I also found hidden in a box of unlabeled offerings from a closing bead store.

So come on bead world...let's show the Czech seed beads a little more respect.