Saturday, October 19, 2013

October 2013 Program and Class

Multimedia Artist Robin Dudley Howes

October 19 and 20, 2013

 

In October, we are featuring prolific mixed media instructor and artist Robin Dudley Howes.

Please join her on an eclectic journey into the mixed media art arena through her lecture and demonstration On Saturday the 19th.

The topic of her presentation is An Eclectic Journey into Mixed Media Art. 

She will have her jewelry, handmade beads, and art dolls for sale at the program.

If you are not familiar with Robin's work, click the links to visit her blog, and her classes at a glance.

On Sunday Robin teaches the Starfish Bracelet.


Specific materials and tools required will be emailed to registered students. Please email us if you are interested in taking this class.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

September 2013 Program and Class

September 21 and 22 Program and Class 

featuring Nikia Angel

Bead artist and teacher Nikia Angel will be our featured speaker on September 21, 2013.

The topic of her speech is Steal Like an Artist.

Crystal clay class will follow on Sunday September 22, 2013.  

The class will show you how to make crystal clay pendants, rings and/or cabochons.  

Using a two-part epoxy clay (Crystal Clay), we will create a series of cabochons, pendants or rings.  

Kit cost is $35.  That includes clay, findings, stones, focals, mica powder and tools needed for 2-3 pieces.  Or, provide your own clay and the kit is $25. Class is 3 hours long.  Students can finish 3 or more projects in class which will be ready to wear in 12 hours.

Nikia will bring an impressive selection of additional stones, focal beads, and findings for purchase. 


Students who would like to use their own supplies  can bring whatever they would like to use.  Because it is epoxy, anything will stick to it.  It doesn't have to be rhinestones, it doesn't have to have a pointy back.  Nikia will also show how to use seed beads to make patterns in the clay.

Get inspired and make a unique new gem in this fun medium. Unlimited creative possibilities are yours.


Cabochon example

Pendant examples

















Saturday, April 6, 2013

August 2013 Program

Our guest speaker on August 17, 2013 is Steve Rossman who specializes in photographing jewelry and beads.  He teaches many classes locally in his studio in Escondido as well as adult education and college venues in San Diego.

You will learn how to use your camera to take lovely pictures of you beadwork, or metal jewelry. 

There program speech will give an overview of what you need for taking good photos, including how to use light, how to set up the object, how to use a cell phone camera. Examples of concepts will be presented in a slide show.

A sample studio will be setup at the front of the meeting room to show you basic tools you need.  There will be handouts for Steve's classes at the city college or at his private studio in Escondido for people interested in learning more and getting hands on practice with their cameras.
 
 

July 2013 Program

 
Christmas in July! 



Come join us to work on ornaments for our December Nights tree, make tiny beaded flowers to use in future projects, or bring your own project to work on and your favorite dessert or appetizer to share in a potluck bounty with your San Diego Bead Society friends.



A special thank you to Diane Fitzgerald and Interweave Press who have graciously agreed to allow SDBS to copy pages from Diane’s book (The Beaded Garden) for distribution at our July 20 meeting. 



If you would like to make the cupped flower, bring your basic beading supplies (needle, thread, scissors, mat (light, if you need one), etc plus cylinder beads in your favorite flower color.  To make the herringbone flower with base bead, bring flower colored cylinder beads with a 14 mm wood base bead. 



If you want to add stems to your beaded flowers, you will need to bring 22 gauge wire and green size 11̊ seed beads to put onto the wire.  Beaded leaves can also be added to your flowers. 



If you are more in the mood for dragonflies, you will need to bring two 30mm bugle beads for the bodies, eight 15mm dagger beads for the wings, four size 6̊ seed beads for eyes and two size 11̊ seed beads for the tails.  (If you are going to want to use your dragonflies for earrings or some other project where they will dangle down, bring closed jump rings to be stitched onto the head so that you can easily attach them to your project later.) 



The ornament pattern that is posted on our blog is “Serenity” and was created by Crystal Bead Designs and posted on line for beaders to download and use.  This pattern is elegant but simple and allows the beader to easily make substitutions and adjustments to incorporate different size or shape beads or to make a larger ornament. 



This pattern will make an ornament cover for a 2 5/8” round ornament.  You will need (2) grams of size 11̊ seed beads, (1) gram of 5mm bugle beads, (18) 3mm fire polished crystals, (36) 4mm crystals, (12) 6 mm crystals, and (12) 5x10mm (approximately) top-drilled glass drops.  (There will be a limited amount of medium blue bugle beads and coordinating size 11̊ seed beads available at the July 20 meeting at cost.) 



As we know from having seen her beautiful ornaments, SDBS member, Sharon Meng, is an expert at making beaded ornaments, and she’s going to share some of the tips she has learned along the way. 



Sharon once told me that it is a good idea to make “ornament covers” so that you can switch your “ornament cover” onto different colored ornaments or if the glass ornament breaks.  Guess who didn’t listen and ended up with some glass shards and a dustpan filled with assorted beads and bits of thread when Dimitri climbed the Christmas tree and batted a beaded ornament off the tree.  Come to think of it, someone mentioned that you could use plastic ornaments that don’t break ...



A good thing about making ornament covers is that you can make them now and later this year (when the stores have Christmas items out) buy a package of the appropriate size and color of ornaments to put them onto. 


June 2013 Program




Our guest speaker on June 15th is Eva Sherman.

Her topic is:
Principals of Design for the Jewelry Artist

The Ribbon Cuff




Eva Sherman began beading as a way to spend time with her daughters but soon beadwork became her life's passion. 

In 2005 she traded in her architectural career for the opportunity to spend all her time among beads, and opened Grand River BeadStudio in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Eva has recently closed her studio and now spends her time creating, writing  teaching, and traveling to wire and metal conferences. 


She has discovered an affinity for working with wire and metals, and prefers to design in an organic and unstructured style. 



The Drum Cuff






Ring of Fire Pendant

  
 
Roman Ring of Fire

 
The Dune Cuff







Currently, Eva is writing a book on designing jewelry with sea glass and submitting tutorials for national jewelry publications.

Some of her pieces will be available for sale at the June meeting.





Sunday, February 17, 2013

May 2013 Program



Diana Friedberg is the producer of the multi-award winner documentary series World on a String. 

Her passion for beads was the inspiration to travel the world and to document the story of beads in cultures across the globe through the ages. 

The series has inspired museum exhibitions around the world and will soon be an integral part of the Corning Museum of Glass exhibition on glass beads opening  summer 2013.
 

Recently Diana and members of the Bead Society of Los Angeles traveled
to Kenya to explore the beadwork of the Maasai and to investigate other bead
producing facilities in that country. 


She will share her discoveries and adventures in pursuit of the bead in Kenya at the May meeting.


 
 Maasai woman 









Maasai woman beading a collar



Diane will be offering her DVDs of World on a String series for sale at the meeting.

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Saturday, February 16, 2013

April 2013 Program and Class

Our April 20th program features Cindy Holsclaw a bead artist and a scientist specializing in geometric beaded structures. 

She developed an eclectic background in beads and crafts from a young age, but expresses her fascination with geometry through the mediums of modular origami and beaded art. Her foundation as an academic shapes her approach to her beadwork designs as well as her teaching methods, and she enjoys teaching beadweaving classes across the country. Her latest work can be found in Beadwork Magazine.

The topic of her presentation is Geometric Beadwork: Influences from Mathematics and Science

Mathematics and science often intersect with the arts to create fascinating reflections of the natural world. 

In beadweaving, these principles are prominent in the intricate structures of geometric beaded beads. 

These little structures can be created from a variety of shapes and sizes of smaller beads such as seed beads, crystals, and semiprecious stones for an infinite number of possible structures. 

Mathematics underlies this field of beadweaving, as the shapes of beaded beads from simple cubes to the pointy, stellated dodecahedra all correspond to the geometric solids known as polyhedra. 

In addition, beaded objects also relate to scientific fields such as microbiology, chemistry, and astronomy. 

In this talk, Cindy will explore these relationships between math, science, and beaded art, and will also share her insight into how she uses these principles in her own designs.

On April 21st, Cindy will teach a class on making her beaded beads based on mathematical principles.  Two advanced beaded beads, each taking half a day are featured. Purchase of a kit is required.

Bauble kit is $30.  Tila Garden kit is $40.



Bauble Beaded Bead
Tila Garden Beaded pendant.


Contact us for class information or to sign up.

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Thursday, February 14, 2013

March 2013 Program



On March 16, 2013 our speaker is Bonita Chamberlain. She is returning for the third time by popular demand. The topic of the program is Legends and Lore of Gemstones and Diamonds.

Gemstones have mesmerized people for centuries. Every culture has myths and legends that have followed these gemstones until today.  Think about the image that is brought to mind when the Hope Diamond is mentioned. Many more stones have stories and legends to equal that of the Hope.
  • Offer a libation to the dead while wearing white quartz, and you give the dead the gift of happiness. 
  • Rubies will pale in the presence of poison while amber will blacken, and blue sapphires will change color to warn of an enemy's attack. 
  • White chalcedony will increase a mother's milk.
  • Citrine will increase prosperity. 
  • Opal, often connected with healing diseases of the eye, is known as the thief's stone because of its ability to sharpen the wearer's sight while dimming a pursuer's vision, thus conferring invisibility. 
  • Aquamarine is a stone of courage and a protection for sailors, though emerald is also valued by travelers for its ability to calm stormy seas. 
  • Topaz not only dispels nightmares but cures madness and cowardice. 
  • Diamonds, which have long been a symbol of purity and invincibility, guard the wearer against phantasms, sorcery, snakebite, fire and floods.
  • Turquoise not only protects you from evil but from falling from a horse.

 The beliefs about a gem’s value, influence, and innate powers are highly specific, and influenced by the time, place, and culture in which they arise. To collect the beliefs ascribed to any one stone, is often to find that someone somewhere believed it capable of just about anything.


You will be taken through the birthstone months with examples of famous pieces of jewelry, the legend, lore and myths, and healing properties of the stones. 

About the Speaker

Bonita Chamberlin has spent more than 30 years working in Afghanistan under five regimes: the monarchy, Soviet occupation, civil war, Taliban and now the Coalition Forces.

From 1976 to 1980, she interfaced with the Afghan government and multinational corporations, especially SunMaid and Lummus to facilitate business and economic development. Chamberlin designed and executed profit and income-generating projects primarily through natural resource development and agriculture.

In the mid-1980s Chamberlin was asked to return by Ahmad Shah Massoud, to assist them in mining the gemstones being uncovered by the Soviet bombs. From 1983 until 1997 she crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains with the Mujahideen dressed as an Afghan man to avoid Soviet detection. 

Under primitive conditions, she assisted the local tribesmen of Panjsher, Badakhshan, Nuristan, and Sorobi in the proper mining, marketing, and sale of the gems and minerals.

As a result of this extensive work, Bonita has walked the country, mapping it, thereby being a resource for the Department of Defense after 9/11. Her research was published in the 1995 book she co-authored, titled, Gemstones of Afghanistan, regarded as the original and most complete study of Afghanistan’s gems and minerals.


Samples of Afghan Jewelry to see from Bonita's collection follow.


Colorful stones

Earrings of Topaz

Purple lovers' pendant

Amethysts and Geodes

Moonstones

Aaquamarine Pendant

Citrine Pendant