Art Bead Scene Autumn Entry

Autumn By Alphonse Mucha 1896

Happy Autumn!

I thought I would save this entry for the first day of Autumn since that is the theme this month from Art Bead Scene.

I have been very busy this month getting ready for my first Master class and working on this entry. When I first saw the picture for this month I was immediately hit by the colors. I do love the Art Deco era and have seen many of the works of Alphonse Mucha. I had planned to do one of  pieces in stained glass one day long ago when that was my 'medium' but never got to it, instead got into my own designs.

I was happy to have a chance of interpretation if not imitation with this selection. By the colors I knew the perfect art bead to use; one that I've had for about 3 years, bought at a Bead Show and held onto as too dear to 'do' anything with, (you all know about hoarding beads out there so I don't have to explain). But I thought, the time has come, be brave and do something with it!

As I looked at the bead I figured what I'd have to do is to bead a bezel for it, something I've never done before. I went to my teeny tiny seed bead collection and pulled out some golden beads, some 'root beer' and frosted green.

Funny thing is I didn't realize that the art bead had two holes in it for a soft neck lace to go through but I thought that would be good since I didn't want to rely on my beading skills to hold it all together and thought I'd figure out what to use later on.

So I beaded around the piece in peyote stitch but wanted it to be a bit more exciting than just flat work so I added different sizes to give it some 'texture' in juxtaposition to the smoothness of the glass.

A bit about the art bead; I purchased this at a Bead show years ago from a rep of Harold Cooney who makes fabulous 'trade beads' and is a master glass Bead maker. There were ones that were more vibrant, but I fell in love with this one, using almost my whole bead budget for that show on it! His work is phenomenal and he is composing an encyclopedic collection of glass beads to surpass any in history. He has collections designs for the different states in America and can be seen at his blog in the link above. He also sells through etsy at his shop hwcglass The Studio for the American Trade Bead. According to a forum post of his I think he's got many makers of beads and collectors beat because he saves his best for his own collection which two years ago totaled over 2,700 art beads! Now there's a record collection to beat!

~~~~~~~Special thanks to Ellen Marshall (the founder of the PAPCG)  who recognized his work and gave me his name yesterday at our guild meeting as I had not remembered the artists name nor could find any cards from my purchase.  

I decided that this would also be a non Polymer clay entry and thought this would be a great chance to try out my Kumihimo wheel I had purchased at the same bead show long ago. I have a huge 5 lb 'skein' of beige chenille thread (the kind used to make sweaters on machines I'm guessing) and thought this a good thing to use to practice. I wound all my bobbins and started. I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped but nothing seemed to happen. It was then I realized that the yarn was way too thin. So I cut some lengths of rat tail and tried with that and made a quick and nice cord. So, try again. I unwound all the bobbins and then rewound them with three strands each; this gave me the same thickness of cord as the rat tail. So now I had my cord made. 

Returning to the art piece it was then I noticed something I don't know how I missed before, maybe it was her flowing red hair, or those lovely spider mums which I have a penchant for but I hadn't noticed the two 'metal like' medallions that seems attached to her dress.

I looked closer and they looked so familiar......................had I seen them before on here and just didn't recall?


Or was it.............................OH! now I remember, I had seen those IRL on a belt I had bought to reconstruct in some jewelry piece. I couldn't believe how great the match was and was wavering
between ditching the glass bead for these, but I decided to try
and incorporate them together, only the cording I had tried so hard to make didn't make the cut.

So what I basically did was to finish the beading on the art glass and then I ran a wire through the holes and attached the two medallions to it with some bronzed chain.  These are then attached to a heavier bronze chain and I used two to give it balance.

The Art bead needed something and the picture was about autumn and it's colors which is reflected in the art bead of course, and also in the glass cabachons in the medallions but I saw my chance to incorporate the leaves of the picture and the maiden herself.

I used some copper patinated leaves from Vintaj as well as  the fairy princess. These dangle from beaded wires that incorporate some beads I had bought with the art bead, made to coordinate with them, made by the same man. These all flow out from an amber cushion bead in recollection of the golden grapes she gently holds in her hand.  

So there you have it, my entry for the Autumn 2013 Art Bead Scene Challenge!

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