Christmas Bazaar Dec. 5

I will be at the Newberg Indoor Park Christmas Bazaar, along with my good friend Jenny, who makes wire-wrapped jewelry.

The bazaar is organized by Newberg Indoor Park at the CS Lewis Academy in Newberg (708 E 2nd St.) this Saturday, December 5th from 9AM to 4PM

Come on out and support NIP and local vendors by attending this great event!

Christmas Gifts - Christmas Decorations

Baked Goods - Food and Fun

Snowflakes

This weekend I wanted to make some beaded snowflakes. I have made beaded flowers and stars before, but never snowflakes. I had to experiment to come up with a pattern with the look I wanted.

I started with a six pointed star in the center:Then I added branched structures to represent ice crystals. My first branches were a little bit floppy, so I added more branching to add to the "iciness" of the snowflake and also to help stablize the whole shape. The end result looks like this:

Featured

I am so flattered! I have been featured in a blog. The entry features a collection of leaf-themed beadwork in honor of the season.

The other items alongside mine are beautiful examples of beadwork by the Etsy Beadweavers Team. You can search Etsy for "EBW Team" plus any keyword that interests you to find more stunning beadwork from talented artists.

>> Click Here to See

My item is the amulet bag.

Etsy Beadweavers Team

I just joined the Etsy Beadweavers Team. I am pretty excited - this is a very talented group that focuses on the same style of beadwork that I love. I have a link to the team's blog on my sidebar. Check it out to see some excellent examples of beadwork.

Where does the name Asterope come from?

I chose it because I love astronomy. Asterope is the name of one of the Pleiades (which is a beautiful star cluster in Taurus). Though it looks like a single star to the naked eye, a telescope or binoculars reveals that Asterope is actually two stars.

Example of Netted Beadwork

This is an example of a necklace I made using netting, one of the first techniques I learned.

In this technique I string a group of beads, then "pass through" one of the beads in the string again. This creates a loop. As I keep building up the loops, they become a lattice.

Beading

I am an engineer by day and a beader by night. I've been beading for about 5 years now. I favor intricate, hand stitched designs.

Much of my inspiration comes from the natural world - colors and shapes, textures and lighting in the sky, land and water. Sometimes I am inspired by a stitch - the way the beads fit together give me an idea for a new piece.

This is how I got into beading: I was in the library (always a dangerous place). My pre-school aged children were dissolving into tantrums. If I wanted to get a book, I had to do it fast. I saw a new paperback with a beautiful netted bead collar on the cover and wondered, how is that made?

After I checked that book out, my fate was sealed. Once I started beading I fell in love with it. The first time I went to a bead store, my reactions to all the colors, textures and shapes were so intense, I just wandered around for hours (still a problem). I saw visions of new patterns while I was at work. I felt driven to finish a project just to see what it would look like. Then I was off to the next one.

As a result, I have way too much jewelry! (and beads)