Latest update on battle of the Beadsmith Tournament

Just to let my followers know I did not make it into 

Round 2 of The Battle of the Beadsmith Tournament. 

The image to the left shows the amazing creation of Olga Shumilova from Russia who designed a lovely handbag and 

delicately decorated it with beads. 

Olga's design was more popular with the contestants and the judges, gaining 11 more votes than I received. Congratulations Olga.

Being in this Tournament has been wonderful on so many levels.

I learnt a lot about myself, faced my own insecurities, doubts and fears. 

I created my first cubic right angle weave design with "Davinia" definitely not the last.

I made some wonderful International friends from the Tournament and am continuing to connect with others.

During all this I kept coming back to - "I am already a winner" -

just by having my name grouped with these amazing 80 designers from 22 countries around the world.

 This has been a great experience and I am enrolled for Battle of the Beadsmith 2013.

In the meantime I intend to "practise" with lots of new designs just to get it right so

I get another chance to "kick ass" as they say. 

Stay Tuned.

Regalia

Here is the finished "Regalia"

This was my alternate Battle of The Beadsmith Tournament design. 

I finally finished it this morning

and

I am thrilled with the end result.

Davinia up close

Here is a close up of Davinia.

It has been a couple of days since The Battle of the Beadsmith Tournament

launched images of half the contestant's designs. 

More will follow on Monday.

I was witness to the launching on Saturday morning (Friday in other parts of the world)

 and people were 

oohing and aaahing continually at all the amazing creations. I found it difficult to leave Facebook as the action was so exciting - and we still have only seen half the entries so far.

I have received some incredible comments on Facebook for my Davinia -

from other designers whose opinion I truly value. It has been a very humbling experience.

Like I said in my last post it is worth connecting to the Battle Facebook 

page and witness what is yet to come.

Davinia

Here is my Battle of The Beadsmith Tournament entry....."Davinia".....meaning Beloved.

The Battle reveal started this morning and I was an early posting. 

The Facebook "likes" are going crazy and I write this with tears of relief, sadness, joy....not too sure, probably all !

I urge you to go to Facebook, sign in and join The Battle of the Beadsmith page 

and watch what is happening as it is revealing beautiful works of art that will be spoken about for years to come. 

How could you not enjoy such a spectacle, especially if you love jewellery and beading.

More later.

Wednesday July 18th, 2012. Today my above necklace was used as an example for design
principles on the Beading Daily website. I am pretty thrilled by that.
Here is the link if you wish to check it out.

http://www.beadingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2012/07/17/battle-of-the-beadsmith-what-i-39-m-learning-from-the-battle.aspx

Copy and paste.
  

Regalia

Here is where I am with my alternate "Battle" design - "Regalia".

Note the centrepiece is a Siam rivoli and not the oval black glass bead I had in yesterday's post.
This large Antique rivoli was the gift of my friend Melissa Ingram of Social Butterfly jewellery,
a great designer. Many thanks Mel.

I spent this morning joining the components I had already made.

I am now debating whether to make this necklace 'spectacular' by making the remainder

the same as the rivolis each side of the centrepiece

OR

 just take a band in black and gold seeds off from what is there.

I shall sleep on it I guess. 

Please feel free to let me have your thoughts and comments

  

The back up plan

This is the centrepiece to my "alternate" Battle of the Beadsmith design.

I started this just as the competition began and put it aside so I could continue when 

everyone else started.

By the time the competition did begin I had another idea I wanted to pursue and therefore this piece became the possible "back-up".

I may now finish it as I have made a lot of the components and it would be a waste not to.

Battle of the Beadsmith

I have been spending hours and hours creating my necklace for the 

Battle of the Beadsmith Tournament.

Yesterday I woke and spent over four hours embellishing and checking the work - under the magnifier - to ensure everything was okay, no extraneous threads etc. 

This morning I intended making the clasp design I had in mind and finally finishing my entry. After over 6 hours of work, attaching one side of the clasp to the rope, measuring this on my next door neighbour to ensure all would hang properly, I realised I had made it a fraction too short.

Damn !!!! 

I also wasn't totally happy with the clasp and decided to make another.

More hours of work!!

I cut the clasp away, lengthened the rope, did all the extra embellishing needed and put 

it aside for the day as my back was not going to let me sit any longer. 

I reckon I spent almost 8 hours beading today....OMG !

In the morning I shall make the new clasp and attach it. Definitely!

I am determined to have it done. Then it is a matter of taking the pictures and sending it off to

The Beadsmith. Entries must be in by July 10th.

I highly recommend all those who love looking at jewellery to search for 

"Battle of the Beadsmith Tournment" on Facebook, subscribe or join the group. 

You will then be able to see all the 80 designs that will be part of the Tournament.

Can you imagine? 

80 new pieces of jewellery will be released into the world from some of the

best, most well known, published artisans of jewellery.

I shall post pics of my design as soon as the Tournament permits.