Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day, filled with chocolate and love! Yesterday was gray and rainy here, so I had a lovely cozy day inside. I do spend a lot of time looking out at my garden through the kitchen window (makes doing dishes a whole lot nicer) and my eye is often caught by a pair of bright red cardinals eating seeds from last summer's flowers. An interesting thing about cardinals is that they mate for life, so I was completely delighted when I discovered this adorable little red box by Pasaii Design Studio - how perfect! Her box is this week's 1000 Markets' Search Engine Find. My search terms were 'heart' and 'red', and returned a perfect selection as always. Be sure to check out her shop - it is filled with lovely and original designs!
As I started my market browsing with the 1000 Markets front page yesterday, my eye was caught by these lovely little peyote stitch earrings, aptly named 'A Hint of Passion', and decided to focus on bead woven art this week. In fact, I think I'm going to do a whole series on some of the many incredible techniques and mediums used by the talented artists who have shops at 1000 Markets. I particularly love how the the grey fades into white at the center of these little gems which can be found in the Njema Original Beadwoven Jewelry shop.
The work found in the Njema shop is interesting and varied, sometimes created from her own patterns, and sometimes completely freehand. Another stunning example of her work is the Purple Netted Cuff, which shows off her skill at freehand design, as well as polymer clay beadmaking.
No article about bead weaving would be complete without a piece or two from The Beaded Lily, one of the members of the Wearable Art Market. Her beadwork is amazing and original, and always with an interesting background behind its creation. I especially love her Catkill cuff, with its beautiful cat's eye lampwork bead paired with found bluejay feathers.
Also from The Beaded Lily is the stunning Ocean of Storms cuff, a masterful mix of blues and silver, and perfectly named as well. I love the way she has woven the wonderful silver tube beads in amongst the beads. The remind me of whitecaps on waves.
Another wonderful shop on 1000 Markets is Patricia Vener's Silver Dragon Creations. I met Patricia through the Art Jewelry Collective, another great group that I am a part of. I particularly love the fabulous and colorful earrings that Patricia creates, and these Red Sky earrings just take my breath away.
I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to the wonderful art of bead weaving. If you'd like to see more, check out this great book, by Carol Wilcox Wells - Masters: Beadweaving: Major Works by Leading Artists.
