#wearamask - BeadFX

Tales of the Past, and Present!

By Anne Marie October 19, 2022 October 18, 2022 0

Tales of the past, and present relates to the way my mind has been working lately. I just came back from a vacation up north. My creative energies were channeled into my colourful photographs, but other than that, the muse was remarkably quiet. I hate these mental roadblocks! What causes them? A simple change in location? I won’t let that worry me. I am back home, and I’m confident that the ideas will start percolating shortly. Remember my freeform peyote pandemic project? I’ve pretty much decided that it’s finished, and unless we get a big Covid wave this fall/winter, it …

A Bead Muse Muses

Reaching Back: Far back!

By Anne Marie September 28, 2022 September 27, 2022 2

This is the time of year, that I find myself reaching back, far back, to some of my earlier days of arting. I’ve been creating for a very long time, and it’s a good thing that I’ve always been good at maintaining my photo files. Actually, that was until I had a fatal computer crash, but that was a long time ago, and most of my photos were also saved on another device. Let that be a lesson to us all, backup, backup, backup! Do you want to know how much creating I’ve been doing this week? Not a heck …

A Bead Muse Muses

Fibre First, but Beads Next!

By Anne Marie September 21, 2022 September 20, 2022 0

In my world, it was fibre first, but beads next! Does that mean that fibre trumps beads? Not really, because everything is equal in my world. It all depends on what I feel like working on at the time. After learning traditional quilting (by hand), I quickly morphed into making art quilts (by machine). Stitch was definitely first, but when I learned that embellishments raised my quilts to another level, I never looked back. For me, it’s always about the texture! A couple of my early art quilts! The pear was my first, and only, attempt at raised bead embroidery. …

A Bead Muse Muses

Pulp With a Side of Fibre!

By Anne Marie September 7, 2022 September 6, 2022 0

Pulp with a side of fibre, refers to the fact that the photos in this blog post, relate to paper, or fabric, or both. My stash runneth over in both areas, so it’s only fair that I get a chance to showcase them today. Let’s start with my paper bowls! I started out making them as plain as can be, but then I challenged myself to embellish them with some beading. I actually used wallpaper paste to form the bowls, but that made them brittle, and hard to easily bead. I’m sure that methyl cellulose would have worked, but instead …

A Bead Muse Muses

Intuition Rocks!

By Anne Marie August 31, 2022 August 30, 2022 2

I Intuition rocks, and that drives just about everything I do! It doesn’t matter if it’s Freeform peyote, Intuitive Bead Embroidery, painting, or even writing this weekly blog post. Yes, I can do traditional beading, and am a firm believer that you need to learn the rules, before you start breaking them. But breaking them is more fun for me, and yes you have permission to call me a rebel! A few photos to illustrate my point of view! Let’s start with these little houses, that I bead embroidered (years ago) with my rather intuitive style! Some say that it’s …

A Bead Muse Muses

Wee Bits of Beady Goodness!

By Anne Marie August 24, 2022 August 23, 2022 0

My focus this week, is on wee bits of beady goodness! I’ll start with that, then slide into some other beauties. You know that I can’t stick to just thing, don’t you? Tiny little landscapes, lovingly embraced by metal bezels. Once upon a time, I taught this course, and who knows, I might be persuaded to teach it again. My family of tiny landscapes! Individual shots. Although I would categorize my Embellished Orb (in progress) as larger than “wee”, it’s very bead intensive, and I’m using all sizes of beads (including 15/0’s), buttons, and other goodies. It’s coming close to …

A Bead Muse Muses

A Concrete Solution: Is needed to cement your ideas!

By Anne Marie August 17, 2022 August 16, 2022 0

A concrete solution is a capital idea! I’m afraid that I’ve been slacking off during the summer, so it’s definitely time to cement my fall plans! Let’s start this blog post off with some jewelry that I made out of Artist’s Concrete (purchased at BeadFX, of course). I absolutely love this stuff, because it has a clean industrial look, no smell, and is very easy to work with. I have taught classes for this in the past, and the necklaces in the first photo (and the directions for making them), were published in the Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine in 2019. …

A Bead Muse Muses

Landscapes of my Mind!

By Anne Marie August 10, 2022 August 9, 2022 0

Landscapes of my mind are near and dear to my heart! I used to call them Serendipity Landscapes, and I expect that I will alternate both descriptions in the future. Dreamy landscapes are probably one of my favourite things to create! Small ones, are even more precious, so I challenged myself to see what I could fit into some of the bezels that BeadFX carries (they’re not just for resin). Ahem, I might add that I’ve probably harassed a few people, to make sure that we get just the right bezels for my tiny landscapes. I do admit that some …

A Bead Muse Muses

The Art of Letting Go!

By Anne Marie August 3, 2022 August 2, 2022 0

The art of letting go is not always an easy thing to do. I sometimes get caught up in what I think that I should do, versus what I really do want to do. So I try to compromise, and generally come out ahead of the game. This summer has been hot, hot, hot, and that did not exactly encourage me to create. On top of that, I don’t have any long-term projects on the go right now. Those time crunches really rev up my creative engine, and I often find that’s when I’m most creative. Crazy, I know! None …

A Bead Muse Muses

Freeform Frolics – and all that entails!

By Anne Marie July 27, 2022 July 26, 2022 0

Freeform frolics is an all or nothing, type of beading, and I simply love it. I started by making earrings, graduated to pendants (including some with natural elements), then finished with bracelets. At least for now, that is! I’ve always been fascinated with freeform peyote, so much so that I joined the Freeform Peyote Beading Facebook group, and lurked there for quite a while, before posting any of my work. Real progress was made, after I purchased the “Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading” book by Karen Williams. I highly recommend it! I went on to design three different workshops, that …