BJP - #4

I participated in the Bead Journal Projects 2011 year.  Or at least I intended to.  I made it to about March or April, behind by only a little bit, and life happened.  If you're not familiar with the Bead Journal Project, you create a bead embroidery piece, one per month, over the course of a year.  But of course, life had other plans, and despite my best intentions, I didn't complete the project.  Not that I wasn't busy - I followed favourite rock band around North America for a month. I got a new job. I got another new job.  I went on another vacation.  And, if you judge by my pathetic attempts at blogging last year, 2012 wasn't much better.  The newest new job involves a lot of travel, and a lot of time away from home, and therefore beading.  But 2013 is another new year, and I thought I'd try and finish up the 2011 series.

I don't know if I really had an intention for the fourth series.  The second and third pieces just materialized.  This one was harder.  I will tend to monochromatic pieces if not driven in another direction.  I'd also picked this one up after over a year absence.  It was hard.  In beading it, it felt a lot like I was starting over.  I guess in many ways I have.

This was the summer....

I had one of the best summer's ever - a lot of good friends, many good beverages, and a lot of U2 concerts. Over the course of the summer, the pile of tickets, wristbands and goodies really added up! I've been a fan of the band for a while, but it wasn't until I went to Vancouver two years ago that I discovered what was really possible in getting to see the band. The last concert of the tour was in Moncton at the end of July, and it was a great time. It was sad to see all of the people I'd hung out with for a couple of years depart for the last time. All of the other times we'd said goodbye, I'd always been able to say that I'd see them in the next town, or in a few weeks. This time, it really was goodbye for a good long while. As sad as all of that was, I am so greatful that I was able to do it, and it felt like a new part of my life had begun.

So to celebrate, the August BJP is a butterfly, in bright beautiful colours. I love the fact that the colours remind me a lot of those used in a lot of native beadwork, as to me, there was a really spiritual element to the summer. I am enjoying doing the BJP again - it's nice to get a chance to stitch and just bead, without having to think a lot.

What I've Been Working On

Necklace (chain, lampwork beads, plus silk cord, not yet finished) and BJP for August (with many months in-between not yet started or unfinished)

Inspired!

I haven't felt like continuing on with the Bead Journal project for months, and suddenly inspiration hit me today. Here's the colour scheme, and I'll post more when I'm further along the project.

Feb BJP - On the wild side

Welcome to this month's BJP - I'd been doing a monochromatic colour scheme for the past 13 months, and figured it was time for a departure! This colour combination was put together by my favourite bead store. They have an awesome staff member who's excellent with colour, and this was a mix of colours that came in a package. I substituted out the bronze beads for a similar shade, so I'd have enough to do the background, and added the matte white delicas to compliment the matte square beads. The buttons are from a charity shop not far from my house.

January BJP Finished!

Here's the finished January Bead Journal Project - a 3" by 3" square, with lots of green on it. I like the organic grassy-ness of the project, and am still getting used to the new beading material. After picking buttons last year, which had their own challenges, the 6" wide interfacing has it's own characteristics, which I'm still getting used to.

Sneak Peak - BJP - January

The 2011 version of the Bead Journal Project has begun, at least in my house. Each of the participants creates 12 beaded pieces to commemorate, journal or represent each of the months of the year. I quickly realized last year that the beads had a way of taking over, and even when I wanted to represent something, it didn't always turn out that way.

For 2011, I have no plan, except to create 12 3" by 3" squares each month. The first one is green, and here's a sneak peek.

BJP - 2010 Finished

I thought I would take one last pic of the 2010 BJP, so I can make room in the side bar for the 2011 versions.

And the last one - December's done!

Here is the December BJP - a little "steampunk", I think. I had the intention of using 12 small black buttons to represent the 12 months of the project, but nothing seemed right. I ran across the grey/silver button, added it to the mix, and all of a sudden, things started jelling. A few more silver things, some matte black beads and just a few of those buttons, and voila, December is done. I've pretty much given up trying to impart deep meaning into each month's piece, and have learned to let the beads take over. This month this is what they wanted to be.

I'm trying to decide what to do for the next BJP. I have a few ideas floating around in my head, and lots of backing fabric, but nothing concrete yet. I liked the buttons, but I'm not sure I'd use them again - they were small enough that I could complete 2 or 3 of them in a month if needed, and were "self finishing", but because you had to press the beads together, everything needed to be somewhat flat and non-breakable.

New BJP - 11 done, one to go

November's BJP turned out much differently than I though - I'd picked the colours for all of the months (and set aside some beads for each one) even before the year began. November was supposed to be gray, but I loved the taupe/grey/brown spiral so much that I wanted to use it. And then other grey/brown beads jumped into my hands, and found their way into the piece. So November is now grey/brown, and not just grey.

On a roll - October Bead Journal Project

We went to the late showing of Harry Potter last night. I knew it was going to be a late night, so took an afternoon nap. I was *so* wide awake when I got home, so took advantage of the time to finish a few things off. I added the last few beads onto October's bead journal project. I'm not sure what it represents or what I was journalling, but I like the way that it turned out. I especially like that I was able to incorporate a larger lampwork piece into the work. (It's the flat disk - not fancy, but it's there)

I also have a new set to share - a couple of large hole beads, a larger focal bead and a couple of smaller spacer beads. I like the way that the large hole beads look sideways, and think they'd be cute on hoops.

September finished!

I finally finished September's Bead Journal Project - I wasn't really sure where this piece was going, but am really pleased about the finished result. September was a month where everything fell into line - I finally got to see the band I'd been waiting months in a series of awesome concerts, I got to see some amazing places and reconnect with some fantastic people. I think the beading reflects that - simple, orderly and more sparkles.

Back to BJP

I'm participating in the Bead Journal Project for the second year. Robin Atkins, who's a genius of all things beaded, is organizing yet another round of the project, and I decided I would give it another go. If you're interested, the homepage for the project is here. I'm still 3 (and a bit) works from finishing the 2010 version, so I need to get my beading needles in gear!

I actually like the BJP quite a bit - it has all of the elements that I really liked about cross-stitch exchanges, but in the end I get to keep all of the work that I have done. I like that this gives me the chance to work on new things, to work within a set of rules, and to stretch myself. I'm excited about meeting new crafty/artsy people and about discovering new things.

BJP - August

I am months behind, but catching up. I spent almost no time at home this summer, so am feeling very behind on a number of things, including the project.

This year has been mostly defined by trips, and August was no exception. August was a quick trip to Vegas, where I unthawed, shopped, and ate. Mostly in that order. (The summer here was so awful that it seemed like summer never really began. Wool socks in August is no fun).

I also broke out the size 15's on this piece. I promised myself I wasn't going to do that, especially in seed stich, as it just takes too long. But the prospect of many hundreds of little sparkles was just too much for me to resist, and out they came....

July BJP

Here's July's Bead Journal Project - inspired by a viewing of "Wicked" in New York, and a reference to my favourite (live) U2 song "City Of Blinding Lights". It's plenty sparkly, and totally random...

BJP - June

Here's the June bead journal project (yes, I am behind). June was a month that I had planned out carefully for months, until one day, everything was set at a right angle. I follow a band, and I'd purchased concert tickets months in advance. I'd carefully watched airfares to make sure I was getting the lowest fare, booked hotels, and made all other arrangements, until one day the band postponed their 2010 ticket until 2011. I knew it wasn't anyone's fault, but it still wasn't my favourite, and required a lot of re-arranging. It looks like all will work out, but it was a crazy, topsy turvy month.

I am following a colour wheel for the 2010 BJP - if you want to see the progression, all of the finished works are at the side of my blog.

May Bead Journal Project

When I started to bead the May piece, it came together as a collection of items - some from here, some from there. I'd had the large flower for a while - it came from a beadshop in Portland, which means it's about 5 years old. And the smaller flowers are new - purchased at a bead sale earlier in the year. Some of the beads (and certainly the buttons) are vintage, but new to me, so the button is a real mix of different things. It's also the first work to incorporate my own lampwork beads, even if it's a tiny, tiny spacer. I guess the work really does mirror how the month has gone - some good, some bad, somethings that just have to be dealt with.

I wanted to follow up on my colour wheel comments from the last post. In some respects, the colour wheel is limiting, but it is also forcing me to use and look at beads that I wouldn't have otherwise. The small yellow flowers are like that - I don't usually use flowers in my work, and I'm not a huge yellow fan, but they showed up when I was browsing beads at the bead sale, and I knew I had to have a few for this piece.

April Bead Journal Project

Here, and only a little late, is April's bead journal project. I'm enjoying the aspect of "journaling" through beads. I hadn't really thought much about representing my life, and the year, through beads. This month I think I've caught on to the concept, and the April piece, with its one blue dot against a background of orange, is about feeling alone in a lot of ways. My work situation changed drastically in the last year, and I'm still trying to figure out if the changes are good or bad.

Now that I'm 4 (almost 5 months) in, I don't know if I'd choose to do a colour wheel again. It gives me a chance to work in a lot of colours that I don't normally use, but there are colours I really don't like, such as orange, and having to put together a whole piece with that colour is sometimes tough.

March Bead Journal Project

This is perhaps the most literal of my Bead Journal pieces to date, in that it actually represents an event that took place in the month. The idea of a fish swiming in water is to commemorate a cruise taken early in the month. The cruise was the perfect holiday - too much food, a little good wine, very little connectivity to the outside world, and the company of good friends.

About the red fish ....I received the fish many years ago as a "treat" in a secret swap program, and decided that the fish would fit this month's chosen colour of "red" perfectly. (For those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, or more hopefully, are enjoying too much BJP eye candy and can't keep up with what everyone is up to, I decided to do form all of my BJP on button covers, for a 1 7/8" round shape, and decided to complete a colour wheel during the year. It seemed like a good idea at the time....)

The fish is joined by lots of seed stitches in opaque and transparent red, along with some off-centre/bubble/magatama beads to form the ground. I think the off-centre beads are actually amber, but look slightly red, and when combined with red background fabric, seem to be a perfect garnet colour. I also threw in to the mix 3 red circles purchased in New York last fall (again, while on holiday). I'm not entirely sure of the significance of three, other than it felt right, and it fell into my new mantra of trying to edit less and bead more.

The original January BJP

I found this picture when I was cleaning out my photos the other day - this was the "too busy" version of the January Bead Journal Project. It had dimensional flowers, buttons, a few pressed glass beads and who knows what else on it. I liked the colour scheme, but ended up being much happier with my finished product instead.