hey, it's summer!

Kimmie here:

My felt bead came back from Bead and Button with the 'finalist' ribbon:

LOL I am glad that felt is unbreakable...poor sad ribbon all creased and crumpled! I hope Joan's big beautiful red one made it home okay.

Here in N County San Diego we were socked in with chilly, grey weather for all of June and July. I'm not complaining; I love 'June Gloom', and find wearing a hooded sweatshirt on the Fourth of July is just fine with me.

But the sun finally came out and it's warm and beautiful. And we are all complaining about this crazy, 75-degree heat. I am from Texas. I just spent four days there enjoying the summer sun. Seventy-five degrees is NOT heat. But it's incredible how quickly I got un-acclimated. Just moving some furniture this afternoon made me feel the intense need for a popsicle and a nap!

Didn't make a lot of beads this week, but I have some fun pieces from my workshop with Kate McKinnon (pictures in her blog). Learned to create a rivet post ring to hold my beads; the one I used is a vintage Michael Barley that I got at Embellishment (remember that?) in Austin(!) in about 1995. I have several pieces like that, that I've collected and held on to for years...my Joan Miller beads have their very own box ;-).

Also a staggeringly cool Feltzilla ring (again, see Kate's blog for pics): a tiny building in the process of destruction. FZ doesn't quite have all his details attached yet, but somehow I must make it a priority and get it done before the San Diego Bead Society show in August!

I ordered some more buttons from Anne Choi. I didn't know it but she has several styles. Going to make some great beads to go with them, and I'm thinking of writing a quick how-to on using buttons for bails. Oh, that's the other thing I worked on at the workshop: a new idea for a snazzy bail that will hide those boring wrapped loops. Yes!

More Springime Beads

Kimmie here, with more lentil-based animals from my torch.

Is it just me, or do they seem to be conversing?

Whenever I put two or more animal beads in a picture they end up looking to me like they are talking, or at least relating, to each other. I don't know if it's because they are so similar, or what, but it always tickles me! Maybe I have been looking in the flame too long. What do you think? Well, I hope that's not the case, because I am logging many hours working on new and fun beads for the Bead and Button show in June. By the time the show rolls around, it is entirely possible that I will be having whole conversations with these little inanimate objects, but at least I'll have lots of them to share!

Welcome from the West Coast side of the blog

Hi all, Kimmie here,

Thank you Joan for setting up this new blog, we are going to have a lot of fun here sharing our latest work and ideas! I am also hoping that we will be able to get together in person before too long.

I have been working on some new beads this week, adding to my selection of animals based on a small lentil shape. My current favorite? The frog, seen above. I think the belly button adds a lot but don't always remember to stick it in there. The guy on the left seems to be wondering why his buddy doesn't have one!

I already have bunny rabbits, sheep, cows and ladybugs on my roster, and along with the frogs have added penguins and baby chicks. More to come, for sure. I love this concept, and these little beads look great in bunches. How small are they? The base lentil shape is about 10mm, a bit smaller than an M&M candy. Sweet!

My focus has been on a springtime theme, not counting the penguin, but if you have an animal suggestion or request, please post a comment and I will try to make it.

It has been a super productive week for me, and I look forward to sharing pictures of my latest work, including a pretty cool new project...stay tuned!