Wednesday, November 7, 2018

I love to be(ad) together

Except for the Fake website warning (annoying but necessary, and proof that interaction is vital), it's been quite a while since I wrote my last article, and I have lots of things to tell, and they are all happy things! (Note for those who might wonder: I leave the mean stuff out: you and I don't need negativity in our lives, and I refuse to waste my super precious time writing more than one sentence, and that is this one, about people I don't want to see, hear or deal with anymore).

First, let me share my happiness with you, for being a gold-gold-silver medalist in this year's Fire Mountain Gems beading contest! Yeehaw!

This is the dream trio:

Takato, Spirit of the Goldfish, got a beautiful second place in their purses category
Anthea's Tiara and earrings got a first place in the jewelry set category, and
Octavio the Octopus got a gold medal in the sculpture category.

If you follow the links above, you will learn more about each piece,
the making of and/or the inspiration behind each piece.

But there is more to all the above pieces than winning a medal: they are all representative of my 3 Facebook groups - 3 groups where I share what I love most about beading: beading itself, 3D peyote stitch with or without Cellini, lots of colors, a lot of interaction, mutual support and encouragement. "Bringing beadworkers together", which is the motto of the Beadworkers Guild, of which I am a proud member.

Takato was made using petals for his face and fantail. 3D Petals and pods are taught in  the "From Petal to Pod" group. You are welcome to join.

Some of the creations made by the members of the Petal to Pod group
I still have tons of ideas for the petals. I wish that I had more hands!

Octavio was made using my latest 3D Cellini peyote tulip design and has Cellini herringbone arms, and you can learn Cellini peyote and many of its applications in the "Cellini Peyote Freaks" group, including Bolas Canastas. It is a great design to play with and take further.

Some of my bolas. Somebody on FB said "Barbapapa".
Barbapapa Bolas would have been a super name too!

Katerina Bacikova from the Czech Republic wrote instructions in Czech for the readers of the magazine Koralki how to create her Bolas Canastas necklace. Can you spot it?


Basic instructions how to make Bolas Canastas should also soon be available on Preciosa Ornela's website.

Anthea's Tiara was created with the colorful Yukka Flowers created within the framework of last year's year-long-bead-along in the International Beading Week group. And the bezel at the top of the piece, the Cellini peyote Bezel, gave birth to the Bolas Canastas (as explained in my article about the tiara).

Official banner of International Beading Week

You can still participate in this year long bead along! Just ask to join and bead one component each month in the monthly color (you can catch up the 3 past months progressively) and at the end of the year, we all assemble our components to make a fabulous rainbow!

My IBW year long bead along Bolas Canastas.

In the Cellini Peyote Freaks group, you can participate in the COLOR CHALLENGES. There will be 3 challenges, and the first, which has already started, will end on the 31st of December. A draw will designate 2 winners among those who challenge themselves to participate in these challenges and THIS is what the lucky ones will win:

5 Tidy Rings (only 3 shown)
A wonderful pack of beads and the amazing book "Story of Czech Seed beads" 

The book included in the prize lot offered by the wonderful folks of Preciosa Ornela is a very special and beautiful book. I made a short video to present it to you:



Now something very important and new for me, that took quite a bit of my time to organize, but how worthy it was! I gave my first introduction to beading workshop to a group of ladies who had never ever done it before. It was in the framework of the art-therapy class of my ergotherapist - we had two 2.5 hour sessions. The aim was to see if the participants would like this activity, and at the same time to see if I could teach to completely newbies, and if the lack of light in the room would be a problem for the students - it was not as long as they had their lamps and I wasn't exposed to said lamps. The ladies all loved it, I loved it, and the ergotherapist loved it. Even she wants to bead on! I have no photo of this event - because a therapist cannot disclose the identity of the patients. But it was lovely. I am very proud. We all had a very good time, all wish to continue beading, and we can't wait to meet again!

Now I need to find a place where we can all meet on a regular, not therapy-related basis and where the lights won't bother me. I welcome your wishes of good luck, fingers crossed and good vibes, for it is not easy to find a place in my region, and if you can, please visit my shop and buy a few patterns to support me. 

In French, a workshop is called an "Atelier", and so I will call it my "Cathelier". 

Use coupon code CATHELIER to get 25% off of all patterns - valid only on my website until 30.11.2018 (not on Etsy).

Thank you for your support and for beading with me! 

Cath

9 comments:

  1. They are all so beautiful! Very talented Cath!tough decision! Will contact you!

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  2. Lovely news about your latest class. Beading is therapy for many of us:-)

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    1. Thank you very much! and yes, beading is therapy for many, and so I think that it will be good for others to discover and learn. ;)

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  3. I had a rough year. I'm hoping to better participate in the International Beading group thus time around. Great news about your class; I'm proud of you! Congratulations on your awards as well. You are an exceptional artist & I'm glad the world is getting to see it. 💜💜💜

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    1. Oh Onye, thank you for hopping by and for your lovely compliment. I am so sorry to read that you had such a rough year. I hope that it all is behind and that the coming year will bring you some compensation and satisfaction. It will be my pleasure to see you participate in the IBW. You make such incredible beaded beads!!! hugs!!

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  4. Bonjour Cath,

    J'admire votre travail, et j'ai cru comprendre que vous organisiez des ateliers.
    Je suis très intéressée, et je n'hésiterai pas à me déplacer pour pouvoir apprendre avec vous.
    Surtout, faites-moi savoir si à l'avenir vous décidez d'en organiser.
    J'espère à bientôt, et félicitations pour vos magnifiques créations.
    Carole.

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    1. Bonjour Carole,
      Merci pour votre message - c'est gentil. Je voudrais en effet orgagniser des ateliers mais pour cela je dois faire quelques démarches. Si vous pouviez me dire dans quel type d'atelier vous seriez intéressé, je vous saurais gré. Pour cela, vous pouvez me contacter par ma page Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cath-Thomas-Designs-SamohtaC-570800222931655/ Merci!

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  5. Congratulations on the prizes! They are all worthy of prizes. Thank you for the inspiration, and the Facebook groups that helped explore new shapes and ideas. I admire you going out and teaching - it's such a gift to the students and it's not easy.

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Your comments are welcome!