Sunday, March 18, 2012

bjp 0112 - at last

I'm back and so the journey begins! After several false starts, I'm happy to say that I'm now committed to a simple shape for my 2012 bead journal project. It's smaller than 2010, but far more practical. My problem is that I want to do it all, so need to leave some time to swap and play with other techniques.

I started the shape and then decided on the colour. Blue always reminds me of winter, so what better colour to use for this first piece.



Add a dash of purple, white and metallic for contrast, then slip in a few buttons from the family jar.





One is for the month of January!!! And the result is.........



A house, of course!!

The number "1" and the tiny screws are from a circa, who know when, touch tone phone (I knew that I was keeping it for some reason). The tiny key was found in the bottom of my mother's old jewelry box. It's stitched, not glued, just in case I ever find what it belongs to! The dark metallic button is part of a collection I started in the 80's (that button store is long gone!). I thought that it was about time I started using them!!

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The base is 4" tall x 2" wide and made on a base of acrylic painted peltex. As usual, I've used an eclectic collection of beads, included three vintage flower sequins and then beaded them with a combination of peyote, back, stacked and bocce/boucle stiches.

My focus this year will be on the home......recycling, repurposing, making do and begging, borrowing and stealing numbers from my friends and relatives. The series of twelve will be tied together with a common thread of a unique number, combined with a vintage button. After that, who knows what I might get up to..........I don't guarantee that they'll all be bead encrusted..... and the size will restrict me somewhat......but that will just make it more challenging!

This year promises to be a mixed media exploration of the houses of the rich, eccentric and technique obsessed! Now, don't you want to pick up your beads and play?

Now on to February.......so does anyone have a cell phone or hand held calculator that they're not using? Giggle!!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a great start to your project! I am proud of you for limiting the size so you can participate in other things. Good luck on finding the rest of the numbers.
I think this project is probably going to turn out to be worthy of publishing. Read the submission rules on where you mind send it in order to know whether you should be blogging the whole photos ahead of time. Jes saying....

brandi said...

~so delighted to see your post come up...i have missed greatly seeing yoru gorgeous beadwork!!!

this looks as if it will be an exciting journey ahead...exploring the world of homes...you know what i do have a few cell phones laying around...i will get one off to you this week...are you still at the same address??? be well and keep creating such magical little bits for us to see...much love light and blessings~

Marty S said...

It's beautiful. You really have a talent for putting unexpected things together.

It was fun to see all your other projects, too.
Marty S
Crackpot Beader

Connie Eyberg Originals said...

You are off to a great start. It will be fun to see all of your variations.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Diane, Brandy and Marty, thanks!

Diane, I haven't really decided where this is going, but hadn't considered publishing as an option. Perhaps a show or two, but that's it! I think it would be too hard to hold everything in for twelve months. I'd probably explode!!

Brandy, thanks so much for your generous offer. It will be interesting to get some of my numbers from different countries. International BJP's.....yeah!!!! BTW, same address as before.

Marty, I'm glad that you poked around a little. My artistic A.D.D. helps me to think up weird and wonderful combinations. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't! LOL!

kaiteM said...

Blue - looks just like you as i know it's your favourite colour. Beautiful beading as You do, interesting collection of eclectics and a house! Hmmm, thinking, thinking, now where have i seen that theme before!

I look forward to seeing the next one #2. Like the cell phone number idea.

kaiteM said...

Goody - no ghastly indecipherable word to try to guess and waste time on. There should be more of us.
Well done, it encourages people to leave comments instead of just giving up in disgust.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Connie, thanks! I'm so obsessive when I start beading, that I'm sure the next one isn't all that far away.

Kaite & Kaite! I know that we've been discussing houses for the last while (6 months or so, or even longer), but I assure you that I've had all the pieces for this one cut out for ages. After all, wasn't I the one that suggested that you make a village? Now, I wonder who it was that told me that she didn't have the space?? LOL! 2012 is definitely the year of the home. Renovations, clean up, artistic nonsense and all sorts of other activities. BTW, thanks for the baby houses. I'll be starting on them as soon as I can.

I'll leave the word verification off until the spammers start annoying me. Drats that Blogger had to improve on something that wasn't broken. Sigh!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

What a great concept for your houses. I'll have to see if I have any numbers in my stash anywhere - hmmmmmm. I know I don't have any old cell phones or such lying about but there might be something buried in my component box (thanks to Arlee for that name!!).

Penny Berens said...

AM - Great shape/theme for the year and starting with cool, cool blues of winter.
I agree those new word verifications are a pain!

Kay Ashworth said...

Love the colors and the shape. The number is a great idea.

Linda Kittmer said...

Fun idea. I like the little house shape. I'm sure you'll have fun finding numbers in unusual places to use for the other months.

Robin said...

You can't even begin to know how happy I was to see your post on the BJP blog... happy you're back! You inspire me to put away the quilt I've been obsessively working on and get to work with beads!!! Your house-shaped piece is fabulous. I love the themes you've chosen. And I love your work, as ALWAYS! I'll give some look-around to numbers. Welcome back! R

Judy Ferguson said...

Your beading is always perfection with a bit of the unexpected, of course. This is no exception. So creative. I am anxious to see what else you come up with.

Anonymous said...

Very creative, I just love the shape and size! So fun to look at all the different elements!

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Wow! I'm behind on my comments. Thanks to all of you! The numbers are starting to come in, so I'm pleased that I won't need to lay out any money to proceed with my project. Not that I'm cheap or anything, I just like to use throwaway stuff!!