Neuschwanstein Castle

This is Neuschwanstein Castle, located in Bavaria, Germany near the village of Fussen. The foundation stone was layed in 1869 and construction was finished in 1886, after King Ludwig II untimely death. The castle receives over 1 million visitors per year, and during the years 1984-87, when I lived in Germany, I can't begin to count how many times I visited the castle. My first visit was during the summer of 1981, when I traveled to Germany with my friend Tricia. Want a great meal in the shadow of the beautiful building? Check out The Hotel Mueller and check out the views from the Sun Terrace. It's wonderful.

My castle is about 6x4 inches, pretty small for such a grand castle. With the background, I think it will end up about 8x10 inches or so. The castle beading will be completed using all size 15 seed beads.

Do I dare????

February Bead Journal Project

Ah, February - it was a short month, and flew by quickly. I didn't finish this until last weekend, and I still have March to start. February is a dancer. She is a glass piece by Ann Hoke, from Oregon. I beaded her arms and then attached her and all her fancy hair to the orange background. She's joyful, playful and a happy piece to look at.

Joe's Spirit Doll

Joe is a co-worker of mine at the hospital. He and his wife are in the process of trying to adopt a baby from Vietnam. This is a picture of the spirit doll (a class that I took years ago from Robin Atkins through the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild) that I have made for them - with all sorts of Eastern good luck charms on it. The vines represent a "growing" family.

Joe, I hope that the adoption is successful. You are a great guy.

Whew!

Finished putting up pictures on the GLBG 2008 Bead Daze classes that were held in February. As computer un-savvy that I am, I think that I am doing okay with the web site. I try and keep it as updated as I can.....

The above picture shows bead artist, Rachel Nelson-Smith and a very clear diagram showing a precise thread path. Clear as mud??

Schwartzenbeader Blog

Check out Sue's Blog about the Round Robin Project!

Urchin Bead with Lentils

Look what I did to Marcia DeCoster's urchin bead! I took out the 3mm crystal and added a small lentil bead in a coordinating color!

Loomatics Round Robin Project

I am really excited about this project. The Loomatics are a study group of the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild and we are working on a round robin project. This is something new for us and I know that every piece is going to turn out wonderfully! Above are two pieces that I have worked on. I know that you can't tell what they are, but I don't know if they read my blog.

Basically, we all started with a design on a piece of fabric to work our bead embroidery on and we beaded a portion of it. Then we hand our treasure off to the next person. My piece started on it's journey with Madeline, then onto the next person. We won't see the piece until this time next year. We are allowed to put some guidelines for the other beaders (no pink, no flowers, no penis beads, etc), but once the project is out of our hands - we have no control.

When we meet on a monthly basis, we talk about our work and our visions. The person who "owns" the piece leaves the room for a couple of minutes to let the beader of the month talk about it. The laughter that comes from the room really makes you wonder "what are they doing to my beadwork?" but I know that it's going to turn out wonderful because I know that none of the women involved would do anything ugly or hateful.

I've had Sue's and Deb's work come through me and added my little touches to their visions. Because of my sense of humour, and the fact that I started off with a moose, I know that mine is going to have little pieces of my personality through it and I can't wait for it to be finished!

p.s. It's pronounced "loom-a-tics" with the emphasis on the loom, not loo-matics.