Dulcey Heller

By Hand – By Water – By Mind

Dulcey Heller — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:04:16 +0000

Scott Schuldt has some of his beadwork on display at the Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, Oregon. “Scott Schuldt’s artwork is remarkably wide-ranging, encompassing statements of political and social import created by painstakingly embroidering beads on canvas, as well as more conceptual pieces that document the waterways around Seattle and explore nature in an urban setting.” The exhibit ends August 27th, and there is a panel discussion on August 18th.

Tyler Museum of Art Cherokee beadwork show

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:06:08 +0000

The Tyler Museum of Art in Tyler, Texas (100 miles east of Dallas) has a show running through August 15th on Cherokee beadwork. It showcases the works of contemporary Cherokee beadwork made by fourteen artists, almost all of them of Cherokee descent. Martha Berry is the guest curator, and there is an article about her and the show in the Tyler Paper. Berry is presenting a talk at the museum on Thursday entitled “The Rise, Loss, and Revival of Traditional Cherokee Beadwork.”

Finished twisted right angle weave necklace, BFAC 2011

Dulcey Heller — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:28:38 +0000

I’m quite pleased with this necklace. The beads selected by Beki from Out on a Whim are beautiful, and were easy to use. My twisted right angle weave stitch variant makes a lovely, flexible rope, with the drop beads adding texture. The pendant and bar of the clasp create strong horizontal lines to contrast with twisting texture of the rope.

Beading for a Cure combines a beading challenge and a competition on an annual basis to raise money for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Association, in memory of beader Layne Shilling. Everyone purchases the same kit of beads (I believe 75 kits were sold this year), and we all must use at least one of each bead, and may only add one additional bead.

Auctions begin in March 2011. I will post again when the auctions begin!

Pendant for the twisted right angle weave

Dulcey Heller — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:28:23 +0000

I really like how this turned out. The pendant is removable, and looks pleasing with the rope. It also reflects the bar of the clasp. Isn’t it great when a design pulls together?!

I’m going to keep playing with photographing this, and then post a photo of the complete piece.

Twisted right angle weave clasp

Dulcey Heller — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:37:04 +0000

I’m testing out a light tent and lights; I usually just use Ott-lights on white paper for these blog posts for simplicity. This year for Beading for a Cure, we take our own photographs for the auction, so I’m working on getting good images.

I’m still not entirely pleased with this photograph. Anyone have a photography set up they’re willing to share? This is a homemade light box with vellum sides and top, white paper sweep, and 100w soft white bulbs through both sides, and an Ott-light from the front. I ended up cutting the background out, as I do on essentially all of my photos, as it doesn’t end up being true white. The colors are much better than the ones taken below of the rope alone!

Beaded molecules

Dulcey Heller — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:52:36 +0000

Five scientists in Taiwan have a wonderful blog, The Beaded Molecules : the wonderful world of beaded fullerenes, where they show examples of how they use spherical beads to represent represent chemical bonds. Their recent blog post includes pdfs of two articles that they have written — one written in Chinese two years ago, and one just published in English in The Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society. Click on the various promising molecule names in the column on the right in the blog for some wonderful shapes.

19″ of twisted right angle weave, waiting for a clasp

Dulcey Heller — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:04:09 +0000

I think I’m at the full length, a little over 19″.

Next up, a beaded bar and toggle clasp, hopefully this weekend.

Contemporary Beadwork II: “Wearable Art”

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:56:45 +0000

One of the current shows at the 18 Hands Gallery in Houson, Texas is on wearable beadwork art. Contemporary Beadwork II showcases bead artists from the area and and across the country. Juried by Jeannette Cook, it looks like a great show to see. It’s on view until the end of July.

Introducing a new beading stitch variant: twisted right angle weave

Dulcey Heller — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:53:31 +0000

I am so very pleased that this idea worked! I purchased some of those small peanut-shaped beads a few weeks ago, and designed this stitch variant for them. I wasn’t very excited with my Beading for a Cure project as it was — I think the idea would still work, but I was forcing the beads to fit the idea — so decided to try this twisted right angle weave idea with the BFAC beads. It is an excellent rope; the spiral is tight enough to be able to see the colors wrap around the diameter, and because it’s based on right angle weave, it has a really nice drape. It bends easily, making loops with an inner diameter of 1/2″ or so.

Only four of the beads in the kit are in the rope (the 11s and the drop beads), so the remaining kit beads are for a center pendant befitting the rope. The clasp will be a bar and toggle clasp, made of the kit beads.

I think there’s lots of possibilities for this stitch. Beyond changes in bead colors and shapes, the diameter could be larger too. I’m just delighted. I hope to write instructions for this.

Green stone pendant

Dulcey Heller — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:28:43 +0000

I’ve told myself that I cannot start another project now. I must work on Beading for a Cure! I found this stone pendant today with no identification. I don’t know stones very well; my guess is that it’s perhaps variscite?

Sorry for the glare on the stone. The bail is a half circle of silver at the top of the back. If you know what this is, please let me know.

Even though I can’t start on it yet, notice I’ve picked out a seed. I think I’d like to find a small brown stone bead as well.