Against All, Um, Some Odds

So my brag for today is that out of 485 applications for 68 slots at Bead Fest Santa Fe in March next year, I was offered two of them for these classes:

They tried to talk the leafy one into a half-day class, but I persuaded them that there were too many components of the piece that I'd have to simply not teach (there's the clasp, and the way the chain splits and rejoins to get the fullness at the front), although of course they'd be in the handouts - but then what's the point of personal instruction if the bulk of the material isn't covered while you're there?

I haven't been to Santa Fe since the last century when I was dating someone out there, but what I remember most is the little gallery where I saw an incredible hand-knotted rug made from handspun, natural-dyed yarns WHICH I DIDN'T BUY and which I obviously still regret more than ten years later.

I'm psyched, needless to say, though I guess I said it anyway.

In other news, I'm working on my BFAC project, the title of which will be something like "Armful", since my plan is to make an armful of bangles, only one of which is so far finished:

I've been through a few iterations of planning for this one, but this was the first idea that actually inspired me to get started, rather than putting endless rough sketches with incomprehensible notes (I have awful handwriting which sometimes even I can't decipher) on multiple scraps of paper. What I found challenging about coming up with something is the fact that there are so few size 11 seed beads (which is the bulk of what I use for almost everything) and so many larger (size 6 and 8) and shaped (hex and bugle and cube and drop) seed beads.

The larger seed beads are good for shaping instead of using increases, or for accents sometimes, but I never use bugles, and have a hard time with hexes, and only rarely use cubes, though I do use drops as accents fairly regularly. The problem was finding something that used them all, and the only thing that worked for me was a coordinating set of bangles.

I also made another little pair of earrings, because I need distractions apparently:

I also relearned how difficult it is to photograph white.