Bag of Beads Reveal - Part 2

As promised, here are some more pictures of the creations made by Toronto Bead Society members for the 2011 Bags of Beads Challenge. 

Maureen Warland was our MC for Bag of Beads night this past Wednesday evening and she started by sharing with us the very first piece she ever made for the BOB challenge.  She said she was very intimidated by the whole idea of the challenge when she first joined and wasn't inspired by the beads in the kit that year.  In the end, she glued the beads onto a rock, make some flowers and attached them to the popsicle sticks that were the "stumper" item that year.  Maureen said she likes to tell this story to encourage new members that in the end, they should just start and see what they come up with, chances are it won't be any worse than her rock.  (but I actually think the rock is kind of cool!)

Darlene Eng made this beautiful broadcollar, inspired by Bette Kelley's style.  It took her over 30 hours to make and her advice to fellow beaders is to always buy more beads than you think you'll need, as she had been back to the bead store 3 times in the past 3 weeks after running out of what she needed!

Christine Kappas Dufrene beaded around one of those little alcohol bottles you get on the plane, using peyote, right angle weave and netting, to make a vase to hold the butterfly on its wire and a feather.

Rae Huggins made several pieces, inspired by the theme of "Lady Gaga goes to Trinidad for Carnival".  She was assisted by her 3 year old Joshua both in creating the flower piece and in making her presentation at the TBS meeting.

Several people mentioned that they had trouble with their cats eating, playing with or running off with the feathers.  In Mary Szatcker's case, her Pomeranian actually ate part of her creation!  This is all that was left.  As of Wednesday night, she was waiting for her dog to start pooping beads. :)

Jo-Ann Wolverton made this necklace after taking a month to decide what it was she wanted to make.  She was inspired by a woman named Colleen who was a fellow student in a recent class taught by Diane Fitzgerald at Beadfx, who was wearing a beaded peyote tube (perhaps a Colleen I know?).  Jo-Ann used flat peyote and zipped it together to make the tube, then wired the feathers on the inside and strung it from the gold chain.

Pam Kearns made this pretty little fascinator and advised that these purple feathers shedded more than her two budgies ever have!

Cindy Goldrick made two necklaces with various components, including a butterfly wing mounted on leather and edged with wire.  All of the items have personal meaning for her, from her sister's Brownie pin to a bead and wire wrapped key from one of 3 tobacco tins full of beads and bit and pieces that she inherited from a favourite aunt.

She also made a bracelet (spoon knitted with gun metal wire, I believe she said) with the feathers because they made her sneeze when they were close to her face in the necklace!

Last but not least is a cuff bracelet made by a woman named Dawn (sorry, I didn't get her last name), who took a class with Rachel Nelson-Smith.  She was inspired by patchwork quilts. The matching earrings feature the butterfly wings.

As always, I was impressed by the skill and inventiveness of my fellow TBS members in creating these beautiful pieces.  Well done, ladies!