Last Bead and Button Post

While many of us who use fiber techniques when we do beadwork, there was an artist and teacher at the Bead and Button Show who uses a loom to create masterworks of beading.  I was fortunate to take a class from Judy Walker in small bead looming.  I loved it and loved her clever "paper clip" loom which eliminates the need for lots and lots of sewing in of warp threads.  Judy had some of her work with her and allowed me to take pictures.  These are amazing pieces.  All of them were done on a traditional bead loom with lots of thread to cope with afterward.  The sizes were about 18" x 24" except for the "rose window" which was about 20" square.  The red rug has 47, 695 beads according to Judy and she should know since she would have picked them up one by one.  This type of beadwork is definitely not for the impatient and faint of heart!

 

You can look for some loomed beadwork in the gallery in the future but not in this size or complexity!  This type of exposure to new ideas and techniques is why many of us go to conferences.

More from Bead and Button

I clicked on the wrong button while posting so now I'll try to upload a couple more pictures taken at the show.  this is a picture of an award winning piece of bead work.  It is called off-loom bead weaving when done like this.  Each bead is picked up individually and sewn into the next bead in a pattern (though it can also be done randomly).  Pretty amazing to see.  This is a life size piece

Reminds me of crocheted doilies like my Grandmother used to make.

 

 

This is a vendor who sells the frames (and yarn and beads) to make knitted purses.  This was all the rage around the turn of the last century.  The purses are elegant and not for the faint of heart knitter.  It involves stringing hundred of beads and knitting with very small thread on very thin needles.  But isn't the result worth it.  Gorgeous.

More from Bead and Button

This has been my month to blog and since I was going to be in Milwaukee at the Bead and Button show, I decided to blog about the cross over in media.  It has amazed me that in the seven years, I've attended this show (the largest consumer bead show in the world) that so many of the things a fiber oriented artist is drawn to have appeared at what used to be a mostly bead show.  It was easy to get lots of pictures but I forgot to take pictures of the beads for the most part.  

Felting at a "Bead Show"

A contemporary glass bead maker I've known for many years has branched off into felting.  She had many lovely vessels at the Bead and Button Show in early June in Milwaukee.  

She has also put together kits to tempt the beaders in the crowd to move on over to the fiber side of the world.  

For many of us in the gallery, attending a conference is a way to learn new techniques in our chosen medium but also a way to open our minds to new and different techniques.

For the rest of this month, I'm going to include some more pictures of the fiber and fiber techniques I saw at the Bead and Button show.  This show (billed as the largest consumer bead show in the world) has changed dramatically over the seven years I have attended it.  And the plus side is that once a year I get to eat at Madors restaurant a quaint, old and delicious way to end a great week in Milwaukee.

New Gallery Show: Opposites Attract

Monday April 11 a new show was installed in the Potomac Fiberarts Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA. The theme is Opposites Attract--or do they?

Not all new work must be theme related, but theme related items are eligible for awards.

Annabel Ebersole and Carol Holmes, member jurors for April stated:

Opposites attract! What a wonderful bounty of creative responses to this theme. It was difficult to choose among the many gorgeous black and white pieces, as well as pieces that highlighted circles and squares, lines and curves, soft and hard, smooth and textured, shiny and matte.

We selected Dorothy Miller’s Thai silk purse in black and white which also highlighted floral and linear and curved vs. angular. Zita Simutis’ felted and stitched piece with squares and circles of heishi beads with offset layout of the stitching pattern added visual interest. Joanne Bast’s two felted rocks with their wooly texture contrasted by brick stitch beadwork of a lizard and turtle exemplified the theme.

Dorothy Miller's purse, available for $65: Dorothy states I had pieces of silk left over from a formal blouse I designed and made ( could send a picture of the blouse). The pieces seemed to cry for use in the black and white theme. I played with the fabric pieces until I drew a design I liked. The beads on the zipper are from an old necklace a friend gave me. This theme gave me chance to recycle.

Zita Simutis's felted wall piece "Standout" , $165:

Zita's thought process:

This is the process I used to create “Standout”. Hand felted some
white wool. Dyed it with a light color. Dyed it again using Japanese
resist techniques with a darker color. Dyed it one more time and was
surprised about what actually happened to the felt with the layers of
dye. I always am. Colors changed, patterns changed with each dye bath.
Thought, turned it around. Pinned the felt piece on the wall. Looked
at it once in a while for over a year. Thought again about what I
wanted to do with the piece. Cut it up into little pieces to make
pins? Turn it into wall art? Wall art, definitely. Combine it with
other pieces? That is what I did. Several hand dyed felt pieces were
sewn together with tiny stitches. And then I embroidered, added some
beads – why not do one in a different color, and it was done. Magical
fiber art processes, thinking, and many tiny decisions over time
turned it into a little work of art called “Standout”. I loved making
it and I am honored that the jurors liked it too. Thanks to the
incredible Chad Alice Hagen for the inspiration.

Joanne Bast's beadwork animals ($135 for the turtle and $250 for the lizard) are organic forms constructed out of hard glass bead elements seated on softly felted rocks. I am fascinated by the ability to actually draw with brick stitched beadwork. Making the living elements out of hard inorganic glass and the nonliving base out of soft organic wool provided an interesting reversal.

Many of our fiberartist members interpreted opposites attract as black and white.

Floris Flam quilted a black, white and red wall hanging titled "BlackHole" which hangs next to Anna Yakubouskaya's dyed a silk panel/scarf called "Night Butterflies".

Black and white scarves by JanetBarnard, Roz Hopuseknecht and Jannet Stollnitz hand below.

Details of "Black Hole" and "Night Butterfly":

Black and white purses are also in abundance.

Merle Thompson's tote bag.

A black and white summer hat by Bev Baker:

Fossil Series, wire work in fiber techniques by Marla Rudnick.A Black and white jacket by Merle Thompson:

Beadwork necklace in black and white by Elida De Sousa Moore, peyote stitched with glass and resin beads:

Cindy Grisdela pillow:

Ann Liddle's hand made paper wall sculpture "Phases of the Moon" hangs above "Time Travel", a wall quilt by Cindy Grisdela.

Eileen Doughty stitched paper necklace contrasts squares and circles.

Jewelry items be Joanne Bast, Emma Bednar, Eileen Doughty, Barbara Rushworth and Roz Houseknecht contrast hard and soft, black and white, square and round, night and day, line and pattern.

Opposites Attract sure provided an interesting array of fiber items in addition to a vast array of additional artistic fiber pieces to tempt the eye and wallet. Joanne

Brick Stitched Beadwork continued

Because of the stiffness and stability of brick stitched beadwork structures, brick stitch is often used to create beadwork sculptures and vessels. The following freestanding figures are created by Gladys Seaward in brick stitch. Gladys states that she uses but is not limited to brick and peyote stitching and especially likes combining the various beadwork stitches in a single piece. Note the ease with which the brick stitched beads change both sizes and linear directions.

3 Dimensional Figure "Emergence" in brick stitch by Gladys Seaward

"Impaired Dancer" also brick stitch by Gladys Seaward

"Fantasy Goddess" by Gladys Seaward

"When U Wish" also by Gladys Seaward

The following are 2 Dimensional figures in brick stitch by Joanne Strehle Bast. Note that the original "bead ladders" with which brick stitch is started can be bent into any shape and used to "draw" the figures. The direction of design lines can be changed at any time by throwing another bead ladder and stitching off of the new line. Changing bead sizes also help indicate which limbs and/or torsos are in the fore and which are behind.

Charleston and Swing dance couples by Joanne Bast

Disco Dancers with their disco ball

Positioning the 3 sets of dancers into the desired composition

Filling in the background to produce the final 19"x 12" piece of beadwork "Clubbing the Night Away". Note the contrast of the straight lines of beads that the brick stitch produces within the figures and around the frame with the more amorphous background stitching. This helps the figures stand out from the background.

The final project involves photographing the beadwork and reducing it to the size of a playing card, the three sets of nightclub dancers from three different eras representing the Six of Clubs.

So we now come to the end of the month. I have been delighted to be the Potomac Fiberarts Gallery blogger for November. I will now pass the baton on the another member to continue for December. I will return as the blogger for the month of April.

The gallery is filled with fantastic fiber gifts. The Torpedo Factory (105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA 22314) of which we are a part will celebrate a Holiday Open House December 2 from 6-9PM in addition to our regular hours. Please visit. Joanne

Beadwork in Brick Stitch

Continuing along in my discussion of stitched beadwork as a fiber technique to be found in the Potomac Fiberarts Gallery is brick stitch. Brick stitch is an off loom form of beadweaving done with a threaded needle and involves picking up beads, one at a time, with the needle and stitching into the thread bridge that connects two previously attached beads. The threaded needle then passes up through the new bead snugging the bead down on top of the crack between the two beads of the previous row like brick in a wall.

This produces a flat piece of beadwork with a flat top and bottom row and staggered sides. Patterns may be produced by varying colors to create horizontal lines and diagonals but not verticals.

If you turn brick stitch on its side, it appears to mimic peyote stitch and visa versa. However, the stitches are not interchangeable. Peyote stitch involves stringing beads along in a straight line, interlacing into the line below while in brick stitch, the thread changes direction doubling back on itself with each additional bead. As a result, peyote stitch is more flexible that brick stitch and more appropriate for things that drape while brick stitch is used for vessels and structures that need to have more body.

The following sculpture is a peyote stitched one of mine: USA Duffle Bag I:

It is the first in a series, where the second was done in brick stitch. The brick stitched one is much stiffer as brick stitch contains more thread per bead as well as having the thread pull in two directions each stitch. The lettering (USA) had to be done differently due to the different handling of horizontal vs vertical lines. In addition, the colors of the peyote stitched bag appear brighter as the thread is almost completely hidden within the beads. In the brick stitched version, thread can be seen peeking out between the rows of beads, dulling the colors, but assisting in blending.

USA Duffel Bag I; peyote stitch:

USA Duffel Bag II; brick stitch:

These are necklaces of mine (Joanne Strehle Bast) where I used flat brick stitch to support artist fused glass pieces. Note, however in the back views, that the small rolls through which the strung cord is threaded are peyote stitch--peyote rolls better.

Brick stitch may be done flat, in a circle, in a tube, or freeform. Gladys Seaward creates a necklace of circular brick stitching.

I also used circular brick stitch to form the base of the Butterfly brooch.

"Summer Kite Vessel" By Joanne Bast is a container sculpture whose bottom begins with circular brick stitch then continues up the sides in a tubular brick stitch. Note the use of diagonal lines in the design.

While peyote stitch is begun by stringing a sequence of beads on a thread so that the beads are arranged hole to hole, brick stitch is begun by constructing what is called a "bead ladder". In a bead ladder, the beads are arranged standing upright like little soldiers, side to side with a thread bridge extending from the top of one bead hole to the top of the next and the bottom of each bead hole to the bottom of the next. This produces a bead snake that can be bent into any shape and fixed in that bent position by increasing and/or decreasing in the adjacent rows. This makes brick stitch especially useful in producing leaves and flowers with an organic feel as in the leaf earrings, ladybug brooch and starfish necklace by Joanne Bast.

Continuing further in this flexibility of line that brick stitch allows is Joanne Bast's "Tap Soul" where beads are actually stitched to wired taps. Each letter in the words STEP_STAMP_STOMP begins with a separate bead ladder which is squished into letter shape and then fixed in place by shaping the adjacent rows of brick stitch.

"Ode to Hundertwasser", also by Joanne Bast consists of brick stitching surrounding a rock to create a sculpture that derives motifs from the paintings of Hundertwasser. Note the shaping of the curving lines and the use of different sized beads to taper the lines.

Another of the advantages of brick stitch is the ease with which different sized beads may be incorporated together. In peyote stitch, each new bead must fit into the space between two existing beads-larger beads may be squeezed in, but their is a limit to how big. Brick stitch has no such limit as can be seen in Joanne Bast's unfinished "Shadows of the Shaman" figure where very large beads are incorporated along with very small beads to shape the petroglyphic inspired figure.

Figures in brick stitch are a special fondness of mine. Swingtime is a brooch.

The African Dancers are ornaments that hang.

I have also done several dancing couples including Charleston, Swing and Disco. I will refer you to my own blog archives of Dec 2009 for these. Older archives follow their construction in detail.

Finally I would like to include some pictures done in brick stitch. First is "Starry Night" after the painting by Van Gogh. Note the energy that the changing direction of design lines gives. The picture would be less dynamic if gridded into peyote stitching or loomed work.

Second is "Coral Sea" where fish and corals are pictured in brick stitch. The tendrils wrapping around the plexi armature are constructed of more flexible peyote stitch. Changing back and forth from one beadwork stitch to another allows me to use each stitch to its best advantage.

I will end today with an unfinished piece "No Where Is An Island", my most ambitious piece so far inspired by a trip to the Figi Islands combined with a 1996 Israeli rocket response attack meant for Hezobolah targets that hit a refugee camp under the control of UN soldiers from Figi. It struck me that even what most people consider a secluded island paradise is not unaffected by events halfway around the world. This is the top half of the piece, the bottom segways into peaceful tropical scenes. I have chosen brick stitch for this scene as I feel that it will give me the freedom of expression as well as the functional stability of a large piece of work. Joanne