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.  

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

Several of our gallery's members (as well as members of our parent guild) contributed their time and talent towards a very unusual upcoming exhibition. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History will display the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef October 16 through April 24, 2011. The Reef is the perfect intersection of advanced mathematics, environmental science, biology, and fiber art. Learn more about the project here.

The mathematical concept of hyperbolic space is best shown in crochet. Who knew! The majority of the pieces donated to the reef are indeed crocheted, but other techniques were also accepted.

This is a classic example, by Debra Lee. The colors represent a "bleached" reef -- where the corals are dying due to increased seawater temperature. (The Smithsonian reef will have three parts: healthy, bleached, and toxic--lots of plastics incorporated.)

Marla Rudnick knits in silver wire. Here's a close-up of one of her creations:

Elida de Souza Moore made a variety of fascinating coral reef shapes.

Eileen Doughty stitched layers of netting and organza, to closely resemble a fragile Glass Sponge.

She also used a sewing machine stitching technique to make vase sponges, entirely out of thread.

The Smithsonian's reef is truly a community project, with hundreds of crafters within a few hundred miles of DC participating. Debra Lee organized seventeen people in her own neighborhood to make nearly 200 pieces! Here's a picture of them all, before being delivered to the Museum. Awesome!

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef will be a don't-miss event, starting October 16.