Well, I have to admit that the beading retreat at Berry was just a wonderful experience! It was a really fabulous group of ladies who all shared thier knowledge unstintingly.... just BRILLIANT! Here's a link to the page if you want to keep in touch for next years retreat, I can REALLY recommend it http://www.aussiebeadingretreats.com/.
I went along on a bit of a whim, identifying myself clearly as a "lampy girl" rather than a jewellery making girl and was a little bit concerned about being bored.... well what a joke that was! I got to nudge in as an extra on a wireworking workshop were we all make our own clasp using coils and even got to beat the buggery out of it with a hammer and anvil...... GREAT FUN! Amanda Katz (http://www.yourjewellery.com/) the teacher was a lovely lady who makes truly beautiful things and is a great teacher to boot.... obviously I will be keen to duck in on her workshops next year! The other formal workshop I did was Jan Cahill's lovely freeform peyote reef necklace. I have always loved Jan's work and really enjoyed the freedom of this style. Here is a pic of mine 1/3rd embellished.... there is a LOT of work in it, but it is fun to make. I can see why seedie necklaces are so expensive too, apart from the time to make the cost of the japanese seed beads is quite high. This is my night-time project for when I watch TV (more accurately listen to TV). I LURVE IT!
Being the pain in the butt that I am, I added lots of really bright and dark colours to mine even though Jan provided a lovely kit with some gorgeous pastel colours (which I have also used). Everyone in the class seemed to be coming out with something completely different even when only using the kits beads.... interesting to see when all finished I am sure!
I am back onto my torch this weekend and taking the time to sort out all those little jobs that people are waiting on. I have a few big things to sort out like getting my etsy store set back up and on track and have a large order for honey dippers to finish making. I have decided that April is sort it out month.... I am dubbing it ANAL APRIL, time to get anal about all the UFO's and projects and SORT MYSELF OUT........ meantime, I shall somewhat relax and enjoy the rest of March..... he he he, lazy slug I am!!!
The necklace is turning out great. I'm so impressed with what you guys created in such a short about of time.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to Anal April
Thanks Tammy, It is loads of work, but it is looking really lovely IRL. We were saying that it would have been good to do Jans workshop on the Saturday morning to have the whole weekend to work on it in-between other stuff....I think I would be obsessed the whole weekend then though ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is a BIT obsessive, it would kill me to spread out my obsessions. :-)
ReplyDeleteHey Nat! I have just stumbled across your blog. What a great write up on the retreat! I am glad you enjoyed it and we hope to see you in December. Jan can't make it so if you would like to do some demos or one-on-one workshops that would be great. Alida :)
ReplyDelete