Short and Sweet

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date...

The fab folks from The Beadin' Path just sent me a YUMMY stash of autumnally appropos lucite beads. If you've not seen their stash of vintage beads, you simply must go look! I'm absolutely mad for the frosted lucite leaves and I'm scheming up some cool designs that I hope to share with you soon.

I've been a busy, busy gal here lately and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down. So today's post is short, sweet and mostly to the point. I'll be back tomorrow with a brand new free teen craft project for iLoveToCreate...until then...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Madge's CHA Show Jewelry!

Hootenanny Jewelry Set Copyright 2009 Margot Potter

Moulin Rouge Jewelry Set Copyright 2009 Margot Potter

Don't Eat the Daisies Copyright 2009 Margot Potter

(Click on images to view in close up!)

I'm leaving in a week for the CHA show in Orlando. Because I'm a designer, it's important that my accessories be flawless. Yesterday I worked on a few pieces to wear to the show. Because they're for me, I didn't have to tone them down. It's so much fun to work in a larger than life scale. I would love to design for the Haute Couture runways or for the theatre, because that's the way my brain works.

Heather DeSimone of The Beadin' Path recently sent me a stash of vintage plastic beads and components and I've been brewing up some design ideas ever since. I have been wearing vintage plastic beads for years. I love them because they are lightweight, so you can pile them on and never feel weighed down. Plus there's so much whimsy and color to be found in vintage plastic.

The first design uses vintage plastic beads, Beadalon polyester chain and resin beads from Plaid's fresh line. Those owls make me so happy I could cry. They're 3-d! They come in a wild array of colors too! I was imagining a vintage evening party with strung lanterns when I designed this. I'd like to get more colors and make another version of this necklace.

The second piece features a 2.5" Eiffel Tower pendant from Blue Moon Beads Noir line. I've been daffy for black and white striped beads recently and I've always had a soft spot for anything French themed. I hand knotted Irish waxed linen cord for the vintage plastic beaded segment and added coated black chain I scored in NYC on the back. Knotted linen gives both structure and fluidity to your designs, and it's so easy to knot you don't need an awl.

The third design takes a cue from design maven Jen Perkin's work, with layered vintage plastic flowers and Beadalon Quick Links chain. The earrings are ridiculously HUGE, but light as a feather. I'm mad for the color combination on this one. This is so Lovely Howell! Heather has a huge selection of these flowers and lucite filigrees and it's so fun to layer them up, you just thread with a head pin and loop the tip on the fine end of your round nose pliers.

I am going to make one last jewelry set and them whip up a new purse and then I'll be ready to rock and roll.

Rebekah Meier is giving away a signed copy of her book Fabric Art Collage on her blog. I reviewed it here last week. If you're into mixed media...you have got to get this book!

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Good Day, Sunshine

Copyright 2008 Margot Potter

I made this necklace last spring and posted the pic on my Impatient Blogger blog. It's been so dismal around here this week, I decided to reshoot it and post it again. The lovely ceramic flower, ice cream cone clasp and striped square beads were my focal points. Jennifer Heynan of Jangles does whimsical better than anyone I know. The colors in the ceramic beads worked perfectly with the saturated pastels of these vintage Lucite moonglow effect beads(you can find similar beads at The Beadin' Path.) I added a smattering of Hill Tribe Thai silver pendants that looked like rays of sunshine to continue the sunny vibe. I played around with a few other Thai silver accents, moving things around the bead board until I was satisified and ended up with this delightfully asymmetrical design.

For me, each design is a journey. I’m trying to make the beads sing. I want every element to make sense and propel the story of the design. When I use art beads, I am particularly mindful of creating a design that celebrates them and doesn’t compete with them for attention. Every element has to support the focal pieces. Though this is a simple, strung design, it was a creative journey.

Every design is a journey. A designer isn’t just a person who slaps paint on a canvas or plops beads on a string. A designer is someone who thinks deeply about every element of the design and takes the time to really see it and to translate what they see into something that makes sense and is wearable. Everything should work with perfect synchronicity, even if it’s a dissonant concept it still needs to be controlled chaos. I try to picture the person who would wear every design I create. This one is for a gal who loves Lilly Pulitzer dresses, straw hats and bare feet. She’s got immense amounts of joie de vivre, an infectious laugh and a sunny but not cloying outlook on life.

I’d quite like to meet her, wouldn’t you?

I called this Good Day, Sunshine. Insert Beatles’ song here. I’ve not been able to find this necklace a home in a publication, which surprises me because I think it’s a very well executed idea and the colors are so unique and different from the dark, drab, rusty, serious stuff that seems to be taking over as of late. We can’t always be gothically delicious, even if it is wicked good fun. I rather like feeling like a cartoon character some days.

I’m officially retiring this to my personal collection. I have to get another ceramic circle so I can remake the earrings, one of them got broken (you can see them below.) So this design is apparently not everyone’s cup of tea! So it’s not Earl Grey...a little Red Zinger with a slice of lemon is a nice change of pace now and again.

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge