Rosettes

was poking around the internet looking for pictures of rosettes or medallions for some inspiration and came across a blog where she was sharing all her patterns...they are very nice and I tried one of them; came out pretty good but I had to make some adjustments. She uses 11/0 delica hex beads but I have the regular seed which are often slightly different in width (but I just love the French luster finish). I have some delicas coming next week in a Crazy Crow order so I will try them out...they are said to be more uniform in size & shape so I may eventually shift over to them for rosette work. I will sew them onto small canvas bags from Hobby Lobby as a little gift for the kids who go to Caddo camp. This one is bright and sunny despite our recent gray skies

fan

I got a promotion at work so to celebrate I decided to buy myself something nice, probably a new Pendleton blanket. But instead I bought a turkey feather pow wow fan made by a very gifted Caddo artist (I fell in love with the small green feathers) and I asked her to also bead the handle to match the dress that another friend will make for me from green wool broadcloth. I still need to make the rest: medallion necklace, hair ties, and moccasins but I'll use Tracy's bead work to tie it all together somehow. Think I'll get brass conchos for the belt as they will look better with the green wool and I'll add my beloved brass sequins near the hem too (its starting to sound Northern style).

beading for relaxation

its been a stressful time lately (the end of the semester always is...papers to grade, exams to write, extra credit odds/ends showing up in dribs/drabs) so I turn to bead time for my relaxation. I offered to provide some things to the Caddo nation for their culture camp this summer, some little things to give to the kids or use as prizes etc. I have some things left over from a craft fair to toss into the mix as well. So I've been making small dolls and found some small colored metal rings to attach them to backpacks or whatever; modified the pattern to include a boy doll but its a bit larger in size. After doing a few of these I've shifted to some rosettes just so I don't get bored doing the same thing for too long...I'll come back to those little dolls. I'm told there will be about 50 kids at camp, yikes...don't think I can make enough but maybe the organizers can add my stuff to whatever else they get.
I decided to try something a bit unusual for me, something less traditional but full of color... I have been collecting images from Ebay and Google of various beaded items and keep them organized in folders. A while ago I found a rosette being sold at Dean's Pawn in Oklahoma City; the original looks Crow style and I think it was Kiowa made. I used it for inspiration but changed the colors and tweaked the pattern a bit. Think I'll get a small canvas bag at Hobby Lobby and sew it on then add some edge beading....should look nice for a young girl. I really like how it looks during the day when it gets natural light. Next rosette will be more traditional but its nice to try different approaches.