It's all about love

I have new things to tell you! And thinking about it, it's all about love. Quite a while ago, I answered to someone that I bead to create emotions. This remains true.

For my lovely physiotherapist who is awaiting a baby girl, I made a long necklace with a small "Mexican Bola", also called Chime bead, Pregnancy or Harmony ball. She chose the colours and I happily obliged. At first I tried to make a bola canasta for her, of course, because she saw them. But it didn't work, which I expected, because the chime bead has to be free to sound right. So I made a larger one, which didn't seem right for her. So I turned to an older of my designs, the Open Heart. It looks smaller, more feminine. I can't wait to give it to her. And to my surprise, when I posted a short video on Facebook about how it sounds... many of you ordered the tut to make one too! Thank you so much!

Left to right: Small Bola, Open Heart, a bit larger bola

 

I also want to tell about 4 women I would like to celebrate. They (and others) make the world a better place.

Let me start with Carol, who is such a sweet person. She sells crocheted items for charity. She made soft mask adapters during Covid and gifted hundreds of them to nurses and paramedics. One day I asked to buy a pair of fingerless gloves and a matching beanie. She sent them to me but she never wanted to be paid. I was surprised! I promised myself to do something to thank her. But there is not so much that I can do... So I named my Laroque Girandoles after her (because they look as sweet as she). I reversed 2 letters and voilà! I was stunned that they landed on the cover of the 101st Beadworkers Guild Journal this month!

Laroque - Girandoles

For the note, these "Girandoles" were created within the framework of a long article about seed pearls and how incredible creations were made with them back in time. I hope that you will enjoy learning more about it. If you click on the image below, a link will take you to the Pinterest album with all the pictures I gathered while investigating about this wonderful art.

 

My 3 Bowlas - for which I just planned 3 workshops (see more details here) are obviously also named after persons, and they're awesome:

The turquoise Bénédicte is named after Béné, whom I met on Zoom and Facebook. She and I bonded immediately. If there is something like cosmic sisters, we must be two!

The yellow Martina is for my wonderful friend living here in Switzerland. It's going to sound strange, but I wish that we lived closer. Lol! She lives in the mountains, at quite a distance driving, and has a busy job. But we manage to meet from time to time, and love to bead together, and help one another with other things when we can.

The red Sabine is named after the most lovely customer one can dream of. She is incredibly supportive of my work, through email and on Facebook, she often posts an encouraging comment. She also has bought every single pattern in my shop, but in addition to that she also has bought some of them more than once to support me when things were tough for me. Let that sink in... She doesn't need them. She just buys them out of sheer generosity. 

Bowlas: the Sabine, the Martina and the Bénédicte

 

I'm so grateful for these women. And for other women too. From now on, I will name more of my creations after people who rock my world.

Last but not least, I finished writing the tutorial for the Pilot Wings, the slide pendant that so many of you asked a tutorial for. Here it is! I called Silver Wings the one made for the stand of the Beadworkers Guild in Daventry and at other shows this year - they celebrate their 25th anniversary! Happy Wings is the name of the one that I made to do the tutorial. I hope that you will make Blue Wings, Fairy Wings, Rainbow wings... Many wings!

 

Thank you for reading me and for beading with me. And if you have a story about a friend or about some random kindness, something that made your day or the world better, please tell me about it in the comments!

Cath

To love, to care and to make some magic

In January I received a package with lovely soft pink and lilac beads from Preciosa's "Natural Colors" range, together with their Candy Rose beads. Preciosa asked the designers to focus on wedding and babies, which I did with happiness.

I made a Rose Walk necklace design with the Candy rose beads.

Preciosa published this design already some time ago, but I don't remember telling you about it on my blog. I don't remember well how I made it.

The soft seed bead designs have been published only today. I made 4 items for them:

1) a pair of bolas canastas earrings, for which I also wrote the instructions and which are now published on their website. Have a try at bolas! You can make so many things with this method.

I think that it is important to put beautiful toughts in our beadwork, so for this  key charm, made for an old rusty key which. I thought of the very charming, old hotel where the love of my life and I had our honeymoon. I added a charm which says "believe in love".

I also made a baby rattle. I thought of a lovely FB friend, beader and designer who happens to love pink as much as me and who was pregnant back in January. I asked Preciosa Ornela to send the rattle to her for her lovely baby girl to enjoy the music. I think that it is important to show that we care when we have an occasion to do so.

Last but not least, to add a bit of magic, I made a sweet scent bottle, which is completely self-supported. It contains a cotton with a lovely Ylang-Yland and Blue Lotus essential oils mix. I believe in the power of flowers. Scents have magical properties.

And the cherry on the cake is that Preciosa wrote an article about me on their news page!

I see *La Vie en Rose*. Visit Preciosa's album on flickr with photos of the many beautiful creations made by other designers.

Nefertum's Wesekh

When I saw the Beadworkers Guild challenge theme for 2019, "Jewels of the Nile", my first thought was to not make a collar. No way! Because there are so many out there already and amazing ones. So I searched for what could be another Jewel of the Nile and found the Egyptian blue lotus flower and god Nefertum.

Oh my!

Nymphaea caerulea. The Egyptian blue lotus is, in fact, a waterlily, but most call
 it the Egyptian blue lotus

I instantly fell in love with this beautiful waterlily and started my first creation immediately: a small vessel for tooth picks representing the waters of the Nile with the flower floating atop of it.
    
However, this was not a very stable construction, and the crystal beads in the vessel  - which is a bola canastas made with diagonal Cellini peyote - cut the thread without mercy. Twice...


This had the merit to answer my question as to keep the flower as a toothpick holder or not: I repaired the vessel mimicing the art of Kitsugi to forever remind me that crystals are not bola-friendly, and made that a nice toothpick holder, and created a barrette with the flower (not yet finished).

This is a sign that Eddie didn't hear it this way (Eddie is my muse and tyrant). He wanted a wesekh. Nefertum's wesekh. Bead woven. Of course!
The rules of the Guild's challenge say "we urge members to concentrate on the personal challenge - to be as good as they can, rather than pitting themselves against others". Bead embroidery would not have been easy for me. Rather the contrary. But to weave a dense collar with a curve that doesn't ruffle yet still moves with the wearer's movements, is a challenge, at least for me. So I gave in.

But before writing more about the making of the collar, I wish to tell more about lord Nefertum and his attribute, the sacred blue lotus:

Antelope with
lotus flower

The Egyptian sacred Lotus flower

While doing my research, I discovered that lotus flowers can be seen in countless ancient Egyptian tomb wall paintings and temple carvings, from the oldest to the most recent dynasties. It is everywhere: in people's hair or hands, in large collars, on piles of offerings to the gods, etc. Even around an antelope's neck. Some temples even have columns with lotus-inspired forms.

Painting of Funeral banquet in Rekhmire's tomb at Luxor,
showing servants offering lotus flower necklaces to
female guests who are seated on mats.
Photo Mick Palarczyk and Paul Smit

The god

In early Egyptian mythology, Nefertum was believed to be the first god, the young Atum (Nefertum means beautiful Atum, or youthful Atum), who came out of the blue out of a blue lotus that emerged from the primeval waters of Nun. He cried because he was alone and his tears created humanity.

Egypt, Tomb of Ramses I, Pharaoh (center)
presenting offerings to Nefertum (left)

Atum was a solar deity, so Nefertum represented the sunrise. He matured into Atum during the day before passing into the world of the dead with every sunset.

Later, as time wore on, Atum became assimilated into Ra (as Atum-Ra), the sacred scarab became the symbol of the rising sun, and so it came to be that people regarded Nefertum as a separate deity. The lotus flower never lost its popularity though. Rather the contrary.

Another funeral banquet (of Nebamum) showing
musicians and servants dancing and offering
lotus flowers and flower necklaces to guests

The Egyptian geranium
smells like roses

In the Pyramid Texts (book of the death), Nefertum is said to be the scent of the lotus flower which is held before the nose of the aging god Ra:

"Rise like Nefertum from the blue water lily, to the nostrils of Ra (the creator and sungod), and come forth upon the horizon each day."

Priest (botanist or
aromatherapist?)
 with botanical
attributes and
offerings.

I think that the heavenly smell of the flower is both a memory and a 'promise': the soon to come rebirth in the lotus flower (the next morning). For the Egyptians, the flower represented rebirth and they celebrated the passing of a dear one as the beginning of a new life. Of course there are many other - sometimes contradictory - legends and myths and gods.

Nefertum eventually became the lord of perfumes, patron of the cosmetic and healing arts derived from flowers. Associated to other medicinal flowers, such as geranium (another divine smell) and cornflower, he could be described as the archetypal aromatherapist.

Actually, this blue lotus study made me order blue lotus essential oil. It smells divine and has no narcotic effects. Learn more about my love of scents in my article Perfumes and Pomanders.

What is a wesekh and / or a menat

I thought that a broad collar was called a menat, another name of goddess Hathor, whose attribute was a collar with a heavy counterpoise. It was used by her and her priestesses as a rattle for blessings.
In fact, wesekh is the name of the large Egyptian collar, thought to have many (protective) properties, hence worn by men and by women, and the menat is the name of the counterpoise, keeping it in place.

18th Dynasty Menat (approx. 1300 BC)

Many ancient Egyptian wesekh represent the wings of a vulture or a scarab. The golden counterpoises in the one shown below can hold it without need for a clasp. If you look at the two images below in full screen you can appreciate the fine craftsmanship of the Egyptians.

Senebtisi's collar, formed  of two golden falcon
heads. Approx. 1850-1775 B.C.
© The Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New-York

The colors

The Brooklyn Museum experts say: "For the Egyptians the lighter shade of blue was almost interchangeable with green, the color of the sea, plants, vegetation, and thus health and life. The darker shade of blue was associated with the dark primordial waters out of which creation first appeared, as well as the night sky through which the sun-god traveled to be reborn every morning. Naturally, blue-green faience and blue glass were cheaper alternatives to turquoise and lapis-lazuli."

Obviously, bugle beads and dagger beads are not new beads :) Isn't this amazing?

Broad Collar, ca. 1336-1327 B.C.E., ca. 1327-1323 B.C.E., or ca.1323-1295 B.C.E.
Faience, 14 7/16 x 4 7/16 in. (36.6 x 11.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum,
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 40.522. Creative Commons-BY
(Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 40.522_SL1.jpg)
Visit the Brooklyn's Museum page to learn more about this piece.

Techniques

The ancient Egyptians invented enameling. They were master goldsmiths. They were masters at bead making and bead weaving. They even made some sort of seed beads. The piece above includes incredibly tiny seed beads. Looking closer at it, I realized that my collar looks as if it is made with a method very similar to the one they used.

The Egyptians already used peyote stitch to weave seed beads. A pair of beaded sandals found back in King Tut's tomb attests of this technique and of the "seed" beads existing already back then (although probably not made like seed beads, but rather one by one, by hand...)

King Tutankhamon's sandals made with "peyote" stitch

Making of my challenge piece, Nefertum's wesekh

I found the idea of humans created by the tears of the morning sun or god a wonderful legend, so I planned on including teardrops in the collar as a main design feature. Even if faceted gemstones, or diamonds, are not present in ancient Egyptian jewellery, this was the story that I decided to translate

Like all important deities, one of Nefertum's attributes is the Ankh symbol. I first thought of using it for the clasp, but my second carnelian cabochon had a white stripe across and was begging to be transformed into a scarab. I made a scarab clasp with it.

Techniques used: a mix of netting and DW for a dense weave. It was difficult to get the curve right, but the result is so delightful to wear. It perfectly adapts to my neck and movements and doesn't ruffle!

Decisions, decisions....

For te bottom row I tried several options before deciding on the final one.

Matching earrings

 

As for challenging myself: nearly everything in this collar was out of my comfort zone: unusual colors (for me), stitches I nearly never use, bead embroidery, and a difficult theme for my usual style: it is hard to keep proportions small or medium when it comes to this magnificent civilization.

My beading mat looked like a battle field.

Clasp

 

I couldn't be happier with this necklace. When I wear it, I feel amazing! 

Cherry on the cake: the hubby said that Cleopatra would have killed to have it!

One more photo of the earrings:

I love how they let the light shine through.

Thank you very much fore reading this long article!

Cath,

incredibly happy winner of the first place in the "Expert" category of the BWG 2019 Challenge.

Become a member of the Beadworker's Guild - we're a beautiful family of beaders united by our love of beading, and get their beautiful Journal 4 times per year

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

Bolas Canastas & Cellini peyote freaks

You may have noticed by now that I am a Cellini Peyote freak. And a pearl aficionada. My moto could be

"If it ain't got pearls, it's got to have swirls."

Because I love pearls too. I love to use them together.

Cosmic Spiral (not Cellini peyote, but it's got pearls and swirls)

After coming up with the dimensional Cellini peyote shapes within the framework of my 'Waves and Flames' study, I asked you, people of Planet Bead, if I should make a tut for each  or for all, and if I should create a group on Facebook where to share ideas and many answered that you wanted "all". Of course!

Lotus Bangle, Mermaid Tails,
Parrot earrings, Precious
Pomanderand Tulip Tassel

"Open Heart" - pendant, earrings,
bracelet and necklace

So I made nearly all the tutorials, individually, and also listed them as bundles: duos, a trio and  a quintet for the pieces I made with the 'Flames start; and 1 tutorial for several designs made with the 'waves' start.

I haven't made tuts for everything yet, but I have created the proposed Facebook group, to share ideas with like-minded beaders, who love this stitch too: the "Cellini Peyote Freaks" group. You are welcome to join.

'Waves and Flames, unfinished'

In this group you will find my paper about the principles of the "Waves and Flames" start, including guidelines to make a "Waves and Flames, unfinished" bangle. If you are not into Facebook, you can send me an e-mail via my website to ask for it.

To have something new to photograph for the banner of the group, I beaded up something swirly, of course: a Cellini bezel, which became a beaded bead.

The Cellini bezel is an old idea, left in a drawer, which I took out for the pink ice CZ in Anthea's Tiara - I wanted the bezel to match the Yukka Flowers. It is based on diagonal peyote.

Pink Ice cubic zirconia on top of Anthea's Tiara

And as explained in my previous post, this gave me the idea to make a gigantic bezel for a tape measure.

Cellini Measure Tape

My first try was not what I wanted for the tape measure and so it became a beaded bead.

Because of its resemblance with Mexican woven basketry (canastas), I called it Bola Canastas. 

It provoked something inside of me. Something I cannot explain in words, but these bolas are addictive. I made more. 

And more.
And more!

Rounder, longer, double etc. 

It's so much fun.

Because I have to take a break to rest my arms, instead of adding this to my pile of stuff to tutify, I posted a short, pretty bad video in the group, to show the beady world how to do it. It's just a technical trick... Amazingly, many beaders got instantly hooked too. Enthusiasm is infectious! I love that. But my video was unclear, so I made a graph and a new video, which you can watch here too:

In the Cellini group, many members seem to actually never have done Cellini, so I created class rooms and made the first graphs for 2 basic techniques, so that they can get started. There is still more to do. It's a nice place, with advanced beaders and beginners, and members are helping one another. Isn't that awesome?

Interaction with other beaders is what I love most. It is what keeps me going and writing patterns and inventing new designs. "Drink me" will probably be a tutorial (perhaps the tape measure too!). Perhaps even a kit, but I will have to find a better quality tassel.

Unfortunately for my arms, all this provoked massive tendon-overload, so now that my video is up, and you beady peeps can fly, I am going to slow down the pace, and thus...

I need help

I need a little help in the group. Thankfully Elisanne M. McCutchen joined nearly immediately as Admin. I am so grateful for her help. But we need moderators. So if you have a passion for beading, are inclined to help fellow beaders, and know Cellini peyote, maybe you will like to help moderate the group? It's not complicated: approving (sometimes rejecting) new membership requests, help newbies finding this or that information and perhaps delete a post that is off-topic.

My dream team would be composed of one more person in the Americas, two from the East (Asian, Australian), one or two more from Europe / South-Africa (or anywhere in between) and a Russian and a person from the Middle East. That would really be awesome. One instead of two would already be awesome, but you've got to aim for the moon to land among the stars, as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said so well.

Enter the rabbit hole. Let's celebrate Cellini peyote together.

Thank you!!

Cath