Sparkly Earrings to Match a Sparkly Necklace

The beaded bead pattern by Laura Landrum in Bead & Button's February 2012 issue seemed a perfect way to use up the leftover crystals and pearls from this necklace.

So I made two beaded beads to wear for earrings, and a third in darker shades just because.  Aren't they pretty?

I strung the beads onto a headpin with a crystal and silver bead cap on each end, and then added silver ear wires:

Perfect for the next time Mr. Beadgirl and I go out for, uh, pizza and a movie.

Crazy Pumpkin Finished!

After trimming the edges, I realized I didn't really need to add anything more, except a pumpkin vine with pumpkins made from bullion knots:

I then backed it with some great shimmery orange silk, quilted around the cross stitch pumpkin and tied the two layers together:

Binding the edges with a slip stitch seemed too neat and boring, so I used crude embroidery stitches to hold the binding in place.  The result:

It's quite satisfying to have finished this well in time for Halloween.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

This is a perfect example of how the best young adult novels can appeal to readers of any age.  Howl's Moving Castle is an absolutely engaging fantasy novel that plays with fairy tale tropes before detouring abruptly yet seamlessly (if that makes sense) into another world.  It's also a sweet romance, a magical adventure, and a coming-of-age tale; Jones even finds time for quoting John Donne (love him) and Shakespeare.

And if that weren't enough, there are some subtle but interesting gender politics in the book.  After Sophie, a somewhat meek young woman, is turned into an old lady by a witch, she realizes that

It was odd. As a girl, Sophie would have shriveled with embarrassment at the way she was behaving. As an old woman, she did not mind what she did or said.  She found that a great relief.

And indeed, Sophie does gain quite a bit of confidence and assertiveness throughout her adventures, feeling that her (apparent) age and appearance allow her to get away with behavior that would not otherwise be tolerated.  It reminded me of the Witch in Into the Woods, who gains back her youth and beauty at the end of the first act (spoiler!), but loses her magical powers in the process.  Back in law school I was the costume designer for a production of the play, and the director and I (hi Emily!) briefly considered dressing the Witch in a dowdy suit and helmet of hair, calling to mind certain female politicians.  Like the crone of the triple goddess, older women can sometimes command a great deal of authority and power, and can be intimidating or scary.*

Another way to look at it is the freedom that comes from being old and ugly in a society that values youth and beauty in women.  If no one really pays attention to you because you are past your prime, you can do whatever you want, and will no longer feel constrained by the desire to be appealing.

What makes Jones's version of this interesting is that the male protagonist falls in love with Sophie while she is transformed.  It's a longstanding fairy tale tradition, of course (and see "The Wife of Bath's Tale" for a proto-feminist take), but the fact that Sophie's transformation allows her personality to fully develop (which is what makes her desirable to her future husband) puts a modern spin on it.

Best of all?  There are two sequels, which I am tracking down.



*Which isn't to say that there is no power in youth and beauty; there is, but it tends to be romantic or sexual in nature, and dependent on other people.

A Literate Pumpkin

I got this idea from Cloth Paper Scissors's Sept./Oct. 2010 issue -- gluing printed text onto a plastic pumpkin.  I "borrowed" one of the Beadboys' pumpkin containers we use for trick-or-treating (after promising repeatedly to buy a new one before Halloween) and pasted on strips cut from dictionary pages (thinner than other printed pages):

Funny how even though the dictionary was old and redundant, I felt guilty every time I ripped out a page.

I couldn't decide whether to make it a jack-o-lantern, but I used some charcoal (sealed with more glue -- that stuff gets everywhere) to go over the facial features, figuring I can display either side:

The strips aren't completely random:

Almost Done

I've covered the last seams of my Crazy Pumpkin, with beaded and traditional feather stitch:

Chevron stitch with bead picots and french knot stalks (which kind of look like fiddlefern):

and chain stitch with beading:

I also tacked on some beaded "marigolds," from a pair of calavera earrings that didn't quite work out:

There's not much left to do.  I'm going to trim the edges to get an idea of what the finished product will look like, and then decide if I need to add any more embroidery, beads, or doodads. 

African Beads

I picked up this strand of African trade beads:

But they looked so nice together, I wanted to wear them as-is.  They were tightly strung, so I restrung them on hemp, with a knot between each bead to set them off and to improve the drape of the necklace:

So easy!

More Crazy Quilting

A beaded paisley:

 

The pattern is from the June 2011 issue of Bead&Button, and is part of a bracelet.  I intend to make two more for earrings.

Buttons and beaded trim:

The trim came from a garland that belonged to my mom.  I'm kind of a magpie when it comes to anything beaded, and I remember once sneaking through her Christmas decorations to snip off small lengths from all the beaded garlands.  The buttons are near the bottom of the panel; once I've finished the edges I may add more to fill in any gaps.

Ribbon embellished with french knots and bugle beads:

Wired ribbon smushed into something approximating a rose:

Gimp embellished with aluminum flowers and a variation of the cretan stitch:

Jewelry connectors tacked down with beads, and embellished with tulip stitches:

Portuguese knotted stem stitch with mother-of-pearl buttons and more tulip stitches for the stems.

I like the Portuguese stitch quite a bit -- pretty and intricate and more stable than another, similar stitch I used long ago which name escapes me.

Beaded leaves, adapted from Designer Bead Embroidery:

Spiny chain stitch with sequins and beads:

Dare I say that I'm almost done?