Category Archives: Design

Favorite Titian

2 April 2021

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“Favorite Titian”

Welcome back, dear Readers! A word of explanation is in order. I said Au Revoir on November 30, 2020, telling you I couldn’t cope with WordPress.com changes and upgrades. In January, I searched for new platforms but none were a fit for me due to advertisements, complexity, transferring readers’ emails, etc. So I drifted into inertia, too overwhelmed by technology.

Enter my Rescuer! Yulia Shea, my nephew’s wife and talented IT consultant! She and my nephew are here in Hull on a house-hunting trip, hoping to soon relocate from New York City. She suggested I stay on the WP.com platform and offered to train me. Contact her at yulia@yuliashea.com. She did an excellent job! Thank you, Yulia!

It feels good to showcase my work again even though I haven’t beaded for a while. I actually shut down my beading on July 28, 2020, since all my selling opportunities were Covid-cancelled. I stayed busy, however. I became a serial Zoom art student: watercolor, abstracts in acrylic, image transfer portraiture, and fun with metallic acrylics which reminded me of the colorful poster paints one uses as a kid. It has made me happy to dedicate eight months to my hobby of painting; it has challenged me intellectually (watercolors require a lot of mental engagement!) and artistically.

But now I am back to beading, my first love since 1995, and still resplendent 26 years later!

Today’s necklace features etched copper beads and rock crystal nuggets with a magnificent centerpiece of rock crystal shards encased in sculpted metal electroplated in copper. A word about copper. It and sterling silver vie for first place in my beading heart. Sterling doesn’t need an explanation since it is universally loved and appreciated. Copper is sort of a color to me: rusty, orange-y, Hermes-y and peach. Yet it is a metal which is an excellent partner and counterbalance for beads. The clasp is also copper, crafted in Mexico, as are the spacer beads close to it.

I named it after Titian who was the significant artist of his era (High Renaissance) because my bias for copper considers this a significant necklace of my hand. Priced at $99 for the set which includes earrings. $9 shipping or contact me at priscilla@beadleful.com to pick up. It weighs 7.1 ounces, less than half a pound.

A Max Moment

Max too has been missing sharing his adventures with you or so I intuit. I shall pick up where I left off–with his blankie (security blanket), which I pictured in the September 1, 2020 blog (and here, below right) as 20′ long and falling apart. I asked for help in how to get rid of it. Thanks for your advice–I kept cutting off a foot or two until there was nothing and swapped in a new fleece sofa throw during the holidays. Here it is mere months later, still providing him comfort and the forbidden bite when I am not looking.

Final Thought

How naive I was in 2020 regarding the Coronavirus-19, as I called it. In July of that year, I said the posted necklace was probably the last one I would make during Covid, as I call it now. I actually thought it was ending. It wasn’t and I have no idea when it will. As I did then, and do now, I offer my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to Covid. Let us pray it will end soon.

Petal Power

1 February 2020

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“Petal Power”

This necklace is very pleasant, pleasing and a joy to wear. Front and center are vintage Lucite flowers, in subdued shades of olive, orange, teal and yellow. Nestled inside the flowers, and appearing in the necklace, are vintage glass beads with multi-colored markings. The basis for the necklace is rock crystal. The clasp is a treat for the back of your neck: an orange circle and a silver metal toggle.

Lucite is clear acrylic plastic first manufactured by Dupont in 1937 for military use. Dupont also offered to license it to several costume jewelry makers who found they could carve it, dye it, and make lightweight jewelry. From the 1940’s until 1970, it was hugely popular.

I like working with rock crystal and use it often. It is pure colorless quartz which doesn’t sound as interesting as rock crystal. It is often seen as a six-sided one or two-inch carved prism of pure light and energy known as the “Perfect Jewel.”  For centuries, metaphysical practicioners have considered rock crystal to be a healing stone.

The necklace is 20” long and the matching earrings hang 1.5” from the top of the earring. The set is $89 and shipping is $7.

 

A MAX MOMENT

On a recent sunny winter’s day, I put Max out for some fresh air. This is Max following an airplane’s flight path. He is a curious puppy, now 21 months old.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day, Dear Readers!

The Bunch Series

1 November 2019

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“Clarity and Subtlety”

A couple of years ago, I had the idea of bunching a group of related-by-color beads with a two-color necklace. I was pleased with the results, so I make one whenever the inspiration strikes. Presented here is November’s offering plus one from this year and another from last year.

They are fun to make, even if the wire work is a tad laborious. But they serve another purpose: I can utilize my special beads which don’t suffice for a full necklace, but can be the highlights of a Bunch Necklace. That is how they are born—open a drawer, find a bag of a half-dozen beauties left from a big project—lay them down on my desk and keep adding more beads until some colors announce that they are happy with each other. Lay those colors on a design board, search other drawers to find what’s missing, then celebrate the “aha” moments as a real necklace designs itself!

Not easy for a beginner, but after 25 years, I’ve learned to look and listen to the beads. They know what colors they want to be beside. Sometimes they surprise me. They have been wrong a few times and I have had to take them apart and return them to their drawers for another chance at greatness.

November’s choice could get you through this year’s holiday parties. The necklace is composed of sparkly black and clear faceted crystal glass with some rhinestone spacers. The bunch features black and white swirls on clear blown Venetian glass with additions of silver, vintage pearls, a vintage plastic flower and leaf, and vintage Japanese black glass drops. Matching asymmetrical crystal earrings. The necklace measures 20”. $99 for the set.

This necklace was born in my busy 75th year (2017) when I set aside a bag of vintage molded glass shells from 1950’s West Germany. They posed a design challenge (how to wire them) until this summer when I said, this is easy, and threw them together! I think you can see how the beads dictated that the jasper semi-precious and vintage yellow (plastic) colors would work together. Length: 19”. Matching earrings. $99 for the set.

 

 

 

 

This Bunch started when pink and aqua met on my desk, so I built on it. I wire-wrapped Venetian blown glass, “sugar” beads as I like to call glass with dotted textured surfaces, and vintage glass leaf stick pins and bunched them. The pink became matte and shiny Czech glass juxtaposed with a bit of aqua. 19” length. Wear with your silver earrings. $79

 

 

 

 

A Max Moment

I worship at Glastonbury Abbey, Hingham, MA, which has beautiful woods and grounds walked by locals and their dogs.  A long-time occurrence each October is the Blessing of the Animals.  Max was a beneficiary this year, under a gorgeous blue sky, along with about two dozen other dogs and some cats.

 

 

Me holding Max tightly so he won’t jump on Abbot Tom who celebrated the Blessing.  The Abbot had just finished asking the human participants what their pets meant to them.  I answered that he is someone I can talk to and no one thinks I am crazy but was upstaged by a 9-year old who said “a lot.”  Clearly the best answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the occasion of my husband Don’s interment in Glastonbury Abbey’s Columbarium, my four sisters funded a bench in his name inscribed with these words:  “In memory of Don Beadle who had a smile for everyone.”  I wanted to connect Don and Max and here is what it looked like.

Three Shades of Orange

1 August 2019

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Usually I control myself from making too many orange necklaces since it is my favorite color and I don’t want to impose it on others. Similarly, I restrain from making pink necklaces because it is a color I don’t like. I suspect the nice pink necklace from my 2017 one-necklace-from-each-color-drawer program sensed my distaste and won’t sell.

The sultry hot weather of the last two weeks of July drove me to the orange drawer where I found materials for not one but three lovelies! My favorite, of course, is the ultra-chunky one of XL-sized faux cinnabar/real resin beads measuring 1.25” from hole to hole. It also has an outrageous and amazing dangle that is 11” long.  It was made by my ophthalmologist’s sister who lives in the Philippines. The resin beads are made in Indonesia, making this a thoroughly Asian necklace.

This fun necklace is 19” long with an 11” dangle. Wear your gold earrings with it. $79.

 

The next chunkiest necklace in my orange madness features three sizes of black water buffalo horn—a sustainable product—with a nice shine to it. The orange beads are glass with millefiori bits inserted during the manufacturing process. I do believe they are made in India. Coordinating earrings with sterling silver ear wires drop 2.5” from the earlobe.

This 19” necklace is $65 for the set.

The last one I wish to present is a two-strand square coral opaque glass seed bead necklace with a special 8-strand dangle. It is special because I made it many years ago in my San Luis Obispo, CA, studio for a project I fell out of love with so I saved the dangle in my tassel box. I love tassels whether made of beads or fabric, whether made by me or not. Many door and drawer knobs in my home are decorated with tassels.

The tassel consists of orange seed beads and milky multi-colored resin beads tied together and connected via a vintage fluted brass bead.

The necklace is 20” long and the tassel adds 4.” Wear your gold earrings with it. $89.

 

A MAX MOMENT

MAX THE LABRADOODLE

15 MONTHS OLD

July’s weather got to Max too. I was enjoying the 5 o’clock hour at my sisters’ beach cottage when he got away from me and dashed for the water. Except there wasn’t any water. It was “dead low tide” which means the tide goes out beyond the rocky beach to expose extensive mud flats. Max was in heaven and jumped around, sprinted up and down, and finally started digging…for clams?…and put his face, front paws and chest into the stinky mud.

 

Meantime, I am down on the rocks calling Max.  Ha! Temporary deafness! Unresponsive!  Finally a neighbor found some kind of a treat, ran down her dock above the mud and waved it in his face. He went for it and she teased him up to the rocks. I brought him back on to the grass, then the street, and turned on the hose until he and I were rid of mud.

The next day, the neighbors came over and we laughed a lot. One gal who had a standard Labradoodle said she remembered more than one occasion when her dog did the same thing.

Whimsey Bird

1 June 2019

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A touch of whimsy always makes my day.

This lampwork glass bird is one of many whimsical beads Stephanie Sersich, Topsham, Maine, creates.  Sersich today is 43 years old and introduced herself to the bead world at age 25 with a public lecture and an article in the legendary “Lapidary Journal.”   Two big influences contributing to her success are her creative Mom and a major in metalsmithing and painting.  As she says, “I learned engineering and color which led me to making my own glass beads.”

She then developed her own “Spiny Knotting” method to allow her to bind many of her colorful beads into a single bracelet or necklace.  Check them out on her website sssbeads.com.

I have often wondered why I preferred the hunt for fabulous beads like Stephanie’s instead of making them.  It has a lot to do with the fact that my youthful focus was on getting an English degree, living in Paris and Lisbon, and being a corporate HR professional.  I didn’t buy my first bead until I was 50 and living in Hong Kong, entertaining myself while my husband organized his company’s South Asian footprint.  But I loved the hunt!  From the Hong Kong Jade Market to Beijing’s outdoor flea markets, Shanghai’s treasure-filled antique shops, from small entrepreneurial silver shops in Bali, to the giant pieces of turquoise I found in Tibet, and the amazing beads on small Indonesian islands of Sumba, Komodo, and Flores.  For two years, I never thought of making my own beads.  Just acquiring them.

And I can safely say that is true today, 25 years later.  I was determined, however, to put my own creative stamp on each necklace.  To balance color and texture, to be bold, chunky and fearless, but above all to never stop searching for the odd, eccentric, remarkable bead.  And to do that, I expanded my search to fulfill the true definition of a bead:  something with a hole in it which can be strung.

Stephanie’s bird and fiber dangle is 3.5″ and the pink Czech glass bead necklace is 24″.  Featured in the necklace are molded glass pre-war German semi-circle beads plus glass flowers at the end of the necklace and in the earrings.  $139.

 

A Corrugated Necklace

1 March 2019

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“A Corrugated Necklace”

This necklace draws attention coming and going. I strive to make all my designs attractive from the front, but it is only a few necklaces that can achieve that high mark from the back. This is one.

These paper beads were made by an unknown artist in Murano, Italy. I bought them on a trip there four years ago. They look like corrugated paper sliced in ribbons and crafted into architectural shapes…to my mind. What a labor of love! They are treated with a matte varnish to protect the surface. They are very sturdy.

I wanted them to be paired with special beads, both texture- and color-wise. For that honor, I found a dozen handmade glass beads from the tiny shop in Carmel, CA, called Two Sisters. The remaining spacer beads are pale wood.

 

The creative clasp is a resin circle in pale beige coupled with a wood toggle featuring four different woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matching earrings of the stylized paper and sterling silver are 1.75” long. The necklace is 21” long.

$149 for the set.

Welcome 2019 and the American Sleeping Beauty Turquoise

2 January 2019

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“American Sleeping Beauty”

 

I remember when I was first introduced to American Sleeping Beauty Turquoise at one of my beloved bead shows in Northern California.

Whether it was Oakland or Santa Barbara; what the exact date was; I have no recall. I saw the clarity of a robin blue strand of really big faceted turquoise beads, and just like the first Tiffany boxed gift you receive, you are transfixed by the color and you know you are in the presence of something iconic.

The strand was expensive ($39 per bead), but I intuitively knew it was worth it. And guess what? I never saw turquoise from the American Beauty mine in Globe, Arizona, again. After my research for this blog, I know why: the mine closed in 2012*.

Close-up of the front of the centerpiece showing artistic use of boring ole electroplate. There are two pieces: the flower shape on top and the rectangle of dyed magnesite on the bottom.

Turquoise mines in that area date back to the Anasazi era (200 BC to AD1500) of Native Americans. The Navajos mined it into the 1900s. An American entrepreneur took it over in the ‘60s and closed it in 2012 to mine copper.What made this necklace possible was my discovery of the creative centerpiece at my favorite Boston area bead show this past October. Currently it is the only show I attend since I am well-stocked after 24 years in this endeavor! But like all acquirers, I can’t stop looking! And buying….

The vendor didn’t tell me the name of the designer even though I asked, so I can’t give credit. I have two more to use later. Can you see me smiling?

What attracted me to this centerpiece was the creative use of copper electroplate, usually seen as smooth and sleek. This inspired artist made it to the consistency of mashed potatoes and just piled it on, with a few balls of pure copper accenting the bumps. S/he picked dyed magnesite (often confused as turquoise, and, worse, often claimed as turquoise by unscrupulous vendors), then cleverly added a “flower” in the spirit of more is better. There is even more: the top bead of frosted rock crystal is artistically embellished, crowned by a generous circle to attach to a necklace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The back of the centerpiece:

electroplated copper on dyed magnesite.

 

 

 

The third component to this magnificent piece (forgive my abandonment of humility) are the Swarovski pearls which the world-famous crystal producer made by using a crystal instead of the usual shell irritant, resulting in faux pearls in a myriad of colors! So this necklace is the classic high/low I often see in home design magazines. They are reasonably priced, but a quality pearl: the low to the above two highs.

Now for the summary: this American Beauty Turquoise necklace is 20” plus a 3” long centerpiece. $259.00 including earrings.

 

*Not to say American Beauty Turquoise cannot be found. Many people, especially the miners, have stashes of it. Prices have increased, as they do for all scarce commodities.

Happy Holidays!

3 December 2018

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“This is the Most Angelic You will Ever See Me”

 

These wings were a buzz item at the Summer 2018 Open Studios of my neighbors and colleagues, Donna and Paul Goes, mentioned previously in these pages.  A most creative couple, they taped the wings to a wall and invited visitors to be photographed.  Over 100 visitors enjoyed it!  (Except me since I was hosting my own Open Studios.) To continue the fun, they brought the wings as well as a surfboard background to Hull’s annual “Endless Summer” Street Fair where Hull Artisrs sponsors a Kids Tent with art projects.

I immediately saw this as a Christmas/Hunakah/Holiday greeting!

One of my favorite pastimes is to take time to laugh.  Me in angel wings was a grand opportunity to do so!  May the Holidays and the New Year give you many moments of laughter!

“Max and Priscilla” by Michael Domina

Michael Domina is another of Hull’s most creative artists and a close friend.  Some time ago he did a contemporary self-portrait and we discussed doing my portrait in that fun disjointed style.  Well, when the time in his schedule arrived, so had Max.  Quick change of plans.  It’s me and my doggie companion on a new road in 2018.  And in case if your viewing screen is small, let me tell you it is a very orange work of art.  I’m so happy Michael interpreted me so on the mark!

Closing this last blog of 2018 by saluting my readers, offering much gratitude for following my meanderings.  It gives me great satisfaction to write, to share my craft, and to laugh.

Sending special wishes for you to close out this year with a bang and to enjoy 2019!!!

 

Bauxite.

2 October 2018

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“Crossroads”

I wonder how many of my dear readers said “Bauxite?”

Well, that is what I said when I bought these oddly interesting beads over twenty years ago.  And all I knew was aluminum is made from bauxite.

Turns out there is a small village 60 miles north of Accra, Ghana, Africa, that maintains a relationship with the bauxite-bearing hills just 2 miles away.  For four generations, the families of Abompe have the exclusive market on bauxite beads.  The hills are also the abode of their guardian spirit who protects the village from over-exploitation of the bauxite.

Everyone in the village has a different role in the making of a bead:

  • miners make the 3-hour trip to do their work
  • miners sell lumps of raw material to village families
  • a family member smashes lumps into smaller pieces
  • a different family member forms beads with a knife made from a worn-out machete
  • a kid drills holes in the beads with a spindle contraption made from wood and metal.
  • kids string the beads on wire (recycled from motor vehicle spokes)
  • someone polishes the beads on a grinding stone, resulting in a dull colored bead.
  • The last step is the person who treats the beads with oil to make them shiny.

Back to the necklace I am presenting today,  notice the natural crevices, especially in  the center bead.  BTW, these beads date from the early 1900’s.  The  brick color (from the iron naturally found in bauxite) continues to develop shine from the human necks who have worn these beads for the last century, minus the 20 years they have sat in my apothecary chest drawers.

Other beads in the necklace are Mozambique glass trade beads and yellow-dyed coco beads.  I am feeling compelled to tell you I bought the trade beads in a flea market in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1966 when Mozambique was struggling to gain its independence from Portugal.  Believe me, I had no idea that 30 years later, I would be having fun designing bead necklaces!

The clasp is hammered brass.  The necklace measures 26″ and weighs 6 oz.  $89.

Drawer 44: Turquoise

1 November 2017

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“109th Mala”Week 44/Drawer 44: November 1, 2017: “109th Mala”

I remember buying this large Tibetan piece in the early 2000’s in New York City in a shop well-known for ethnic beads and objets.  The price tag still stuck on the bottom said $150, but my note on the plastic bag said I paid $140…not my best negotiation!  It was sold as an ear ornament from Gujarat.  I accepted it as an ear ornament but when I looked up Gujarat, and learned it is in India, I doubted that was the true provenance.

This was clearly Tibetan. I’ve been there twice and have made necklaces with many pieces of their inlaid silver or brass with turquoise or coral:  I know their style.  So, I conducted a lengthy internet search and, after scrolling many pages on www.indianamulets.com.au, I found it! It was the only such piece out of a couple hundred images!  To improve my negotiating image with my dear readers, allow me to inform you it was priced at $375, hanging on a silver chain.

On the keft, I present you the 109th mala (prayer bead).

 

Buddhists and Hindus pray with 108 beads knotted and strung. One prays by meditating, touching a bead and saying this mantra,

“All is well.

Everything is perfect.

Wisdom and compassion uphold every atom!”

then on to the next bead, until one reaches the 109th bead; called a stupa bead.  A stupa is a Buddhist prayer hall and its steeple is in the exact shape of the centerpiece of this necklace.  The 109th serves a very special purpose:  a pause.  The pause offers silence, a moment to offer gratitude, and a practical way to keep count of their mantras and chants.  Faithful Buddhists don’t just go around the mala once; they can meditate for hours.

I was interested to learn the significance of 108 beads: it is a mathematical (12 Zodiac houses x 9 planets) metaphor for the omnipresent universe which is also our most innate self.  I would need to meditate for a long time to understand that metaphor!

The necklace features turquoise cylinders from Drawer 44 separated by sterling silver beads with a silver clasp. I made a nautilus-style sterling silver loop to attach the mala to the necklace.

The centerpiece Tibetan stupa bead is mixed metals—silver and brass—rising in a pattern to the pinnacle which is modeled after a Lotus flower with six petals inset with turquoise and coral cabochons.  This 109th mala was owned by someone who had the means to commission some very nice design and workmanship.  It is strong, sturdy and magnificent!  It is not heavy since it is hollow.

The necklace measures 25” and the mala is 5” long. Wear your silver earrings with it.  $199.