Bead Dreams 2010

Yesterday was a kiss-the-postman kind of day. He brought me a nice, fat envelope from Bead & Button Magazine with good news - both of my entries for the metal clay category have been juried into the finals of the 2010 Bead Dreams Competition.

As sad as it is to admit, it has become traditional for me to tear my hair out, weep and have at least one major meltdown - during which my little boy comes up to me and asks me if he can kiss my boo-boo better - while trying to complete my entry for Bead Dreams. This year was particularly difficult, as my son and his health has been my priority this spring and the time I have been spending on jewelry was cut down to virtually nothing. I had one piece prepared before his diagnosis, but I sort of kissed the second one good-bye after our hospital stay. That I was ultimately able to finish the second piece is due entirely to the generosity of my family - who helped me free up enough time to work on the piece - and the fact that my son is a remarkably brave and good child. All of which is not to say that I did not follow tradition to a "T" and weep and cry and carry on, et cetera, up until the competition deadline, of course.

Anyway, here's a sneak peek of the first piece I made for competition. You can probably kind of guess the style of piece it is (if you know my work at all). However, after the super-cool, substantial response I received to those ceramic teeth last summer when I posted a pic on the blog (go here to view), I just wanted to follow up and let you know that, yes, I used them and, moreover, I used them all together. :) They do make a statement, right?

Thanks for letting me brag a bit - this has been a bright spot in the year for me, and, well, I couldn't resist sharing.

Bead Dreams 2009

I was trying to wait until tomorrow to post this, but I'm afraid I'm just too excited. I received a nice fat envelope from Bead & Button Magazine today in the mail. A fat one, rather than a thin one. (It reminded me of those days in my youth of waiting for a college acceptance letter.) So, I started hyperventilating a little and, okay, I might have ripped open the envelope.

It turns out my hellish days (see here) rushing around at the 11th hour to make the contest deadline were fruitful after all. I have made the cut for the finals of the 2009 Bead Dreams competition. I suppose if I were a more mature, sensible person, I'd wait until the contest were actually over first to talk about this, but, well, I'm not. My real(istic) goal has been to make the finals of Bead Dreams (I entered last year but was not successful), and I am completely thrilled to have made it. I actually leaped up into the air and did my happy Snoopy dance after reading my letter (the Short One was highly entertained).

Here is a sneak peek of the piece - it is a large belt buckle, entitled Natural History. This is new work whose design I have been working on since the beginning of the year. I'll post a complete photo later (addendum: I posted it here) with full description during the Bead & Button Show. It should be on display there in June.

Thanks so much for listening. If I told the Muggles (aka, non-beaders) about this, I would just get blank looks back, at best!