My Beaded Dragonfly!

my completed dragonfly

Early in August, I took a one-day class at the Adirondack Folk School in Lake Luzerne.  The class was called 'Bead Embroidery: Freestyle Jewelry Design' and I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into (or I might not have taken the class!!)

True to form, my first project was kinda big.  I don't seem to understand the concept of baby steps; I always jump into new artsy-craftsy stuff fully committed, and this time was no different; I went whole hog!  Once the teacher explained what we would be doing, I decided I wanted to make a beaded dragonfly brooch.  Dozens of hours (no exaggeration) and almost two months later, it is done, but not without some detours.

As the dragonfly got close to completion, I realized it was too big for a brooch.  I'm not a big person, and this thing pinned on my sweater would bump into my shoulder rather awkwardly.  So I decided to make a purse for it.  (By the way, I googled free patterns for purses and bags, and came up with so many!  I need to remember to search for sewing patterns on line for free.)  So I took the almost-done dragonfly and off I went to JoAnn's to buy fabric for the purse.  Somewhere in the store, the dragonfly slipped out of my shopping cart, onto the floor.  I picked it up and didn't notice right away that one of the beautiful bead eyes had cracked and half of it was missing.  When I made the discovery, I searched and searched but could not locate the missing bead half.  I paid for my fabric and sat in my car and cried.  By the time I got home, I was calmed down, and emailed the teacher, who called me that evening to tell me she had two more of those beads.  She explained to me how to remove the leftover part of the bead, and how I could use tweezers and gently move the bead netting I had sewn around the eye and tuck the new bead inside just like the old one.   I followed her instructions and finished the project.  The new eye has a slightly larger hole, so the tiny bead that sits in the center sunk deeper inside, but it isn't very noticeable.  I sewed this cute little turquoise and black purse and stitched on the dragonfly.  Here it is, DONE!  Actually, after I took this photo, I sewed a Velcro closure on the bag and stitched a black button over it, on the central downward curve.

my dragonfly bag

Below you see the inside of the bag, and the dragonfly before I cut it out and edged it with stitched beads.  I picked out the funky fun fabric for the inside of the bag, but I didn't think about the fact that I needed to stitch right through it in order to put on the dragonfly in a way that it can be removed if I ever want.  So the inside isn't quite so pretty any more, but hey, nobody will actually see it, right?

Creative Challenge completion

A while back, I chose to participate in a pay-it-forward 'Creative Challenge'. The idea was to make something creative for 3 people, who in turn each make something for 3 more people, and so on. There were very few rules or guidelines. I originally had all sorts of crazy ideas of what to do, but with my looming retirement and the end of the school year, I got something started and then put it off, and then put it off some more. Then my gift from the person that the challenge had come from arrived in the mail, and finally, I said to myself "this must get done NOW."

As you can see, I mostly went with a dragonfly theme, and my creations were totally NOT done in my usual style/medium. I used the challenge to experiment, so I hope the recipients weren't disappointed. They are collages that begin with fabric, mesh, beads, and texture mediums, and were completed with acrylic paint, including some metallic samples, and a few little jewels for the eyes.

You are probably thinking "wait, she said THREE but there are four images in this post" and you would be right. Four people responded to my challenge when I posted it, and I said "why not?" and went ahead with them all. The fourth one, the turtle, is for my blogger-friend (and probably yours, too) Mr. E, who I was pretty sure had a thing for turtles, so it seemed appropriate (though he did also get a dragonfly). I knew a bit less about my other recipients, so I went with something personal to me instead for their gifts. They were all going to have dragon/dragonfly quotes on them but it finally just got too time-consuming so that didn't happen. Since it took me so long to get them done, I also included a piece of jewelry (earrings or necklace) with each one. The 2 male recipients got jewelry for their wives, not for themselves.

By the way, I don't know whether you can really see what they look like from these pics, since the metallics and the textural effects didn't photograph well at all.

A retirement home for aging dragons

There is NOT a dragon in the Art Room. As our time at North Warren Central School winds down, Lucy had to find a new place to live. I think she'll be happy at Loon Lake.

First, a nervous Lucy sunned herself in the grass, and then perched on a rock (hunting for prey perhaps?)

When she was more acclimated to the environment, she relaxed on the dock, and explored the woods, even practicing a little tree-climbing.

Tired out, and hot from the sunshine, she headed to the bunk room for some rest. I think perhaps she's worried about Sparkle, her baby, who hasn't left the art room yet. Sparkle suffered some injuries this year and needs a little surgical intervention from the dragon doctor (me) but I have assured Lucy that Sparkle will be joining her when she is healed.

In the meantime, perhaps she can find some friendship in some distant relatives already residing in her new neighborhood, such as this lovely dragonfly I spotted today.

Here are some views of Lucy's new home.

The Adirondack chair on the porch is the traditional retirement gift from my teachers' union. On the right is the plaque on the front of the chair. Pretty cool, huh?

Another marsh, another dragonfly

Actually, these flowers weren't in the marsh, but by our lakeside cottage. That's a gloriosa daisy. I think it deserves the name!

Cool dragonfly, isn't it? And look at that marsh! There's so many waterlilies it looks like a field of snowballs. This marsh was so choked with late summer growth, and I have such a passion for following little channels between weeds and islands, that I got STUCK in my kayak. Panic!!! Hubby was in his canoe, but had taken a safer route and was on the other side of a "peninisula" in the marsh and didn't see or hear me freaking out, as I was surrounded by brush and tall weeds, having cut through somewhere that I shouldn't have. I always assume my kayak can go anywhere no matter how shallow; today proved me wrong. So much of the marsh was impassable with muck and growth.

Obviously I got myself out alive, but after a strenuous paddle back to the dock I spent the rest of the day on a lawn chair reading a book (Dear Theo - VanGogh's letters to his brother - so this is actually an art teacher post!) and eating watermelon chunks and tortilla chips with homemade (and homegrown) cucumber/cream cheese dip.

Lovin' my summer bugs

Dragonflies and damselflies everywhere! I adore them - they don't bite, they just flit around looking pretty and dragon-like, and sometimes stopping fleetingly to get a frustrated photographer (me) rushing for the camera. They are very tough to photo since they don't stay put. And then blogger goes and rotates some of them sideways... Anyhow, since I can't have a real live dragon, a dragonfly is a reasonable 2nd best. (The damselfly is kind of like a dragonfly but the wings go back instead of out to the sides.) You've really got to click on these photos and enlarge them to see amazing details!


I also am in awe of the amazingly gorgeous leafy sea dragon, though I've only seen them in photos and it's not likely I'll ever see one for real. So the abundant dragonflies flitting about by the lake will satisfy me. Here's a sea dragon:

And here's a bug on a water lily:

And a creepy (but cute) spider!
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Oops, not a bug (below), just my silly cat. Does she think she's hiding? Yes, that is a rope you can see in the photo. She's not tangled. She is basically a house cat but goes outside merrily with a harness and rope tied to the porch. "Dope on a rope"!

beautiful day

My husband and I dropped everything we were supposed to do today to spend a few hours at Loon Lake, in the foothills of the Adirondacks. That's where our 'camp' (summer cottage) is located. The air was autumn-fresh, sunny and cool, and I took the opportunity to get my kayak out on the lake. The colors are just beginning to turn; in another week or so the hills (behind me in my kayak) will be flaming with reds and oranges and golds. There's nothing like autumn in the Adirondacks. We spent about an hour just sitting on the dock marveling at how beautiful the day was.

It was rather windy on the lake when I was out in the kayak, and when I tried to shoot photos of these birds and the vibrant red dragonfly, I kept getting blown into rocks, and when the wind calmed down, the dragonfly flew away with an identical friend. Good thing I have a trusty kayak, as it was REALLY windy for a while! I have to look in a bird ID book and find out what these really cool birds are. I've never seen them on the lake before. Does anyone know what they are?

Fun and fundraiser

Both projects I'm posting here today have been shamelessly borrowed from other bloggers. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Unfortunately, I can't find the blog that posted the dragonflies last year, I think to give credit for the idea. I thought it was Deep Space Sparkle, but I couldn't find the lesson there, so now I'm not sure. If it's your lesson, please let us know! Please note the artwork posted has both a sun in the corner and a face on the sun. I did not say no to the 9 year old artist, and frankly, I absolutely love the joyful look of the whole piece.

The zebra project (that's a complete bulletin board in the photo) came from Anne at http://useyourcolouredpencils.blogspot.com/2010/08/zebras.html. She credits someone else at her blog, but it was her post that really grabbed me.

Back to the dragonflies ~ they were done by grade 4 for the fundraiser project I'm currently completing for our PTSA. The PTSA is very nice to me, subsidizing much of the cost of matting and framing student artwork for permanent display, so I would never say no to the fundraiser. But it's a struggle to come up with ideas, as I consider it sort of a throwaway lesson, that is intended to sell rather than for learning, and that never gets displayed in the school. I have to get them done quickly to meet deadline, so we dive in, complete them, and then move on to my 'real' lessons. I do something different with every grade level, and I change it each year so siblings don't bring home the same artwork as their older sibling the year before.

These cardboard and clothespin zebras are not a typical lesson for me, but just couldn't be resisted. My son went to South Africa and took this photo of a zebra on safari, which I showed the kids:
Then the 3rd grade teacher told me they were studying South Africa, and with Open House coming soon it seemed like a fun way to get a bulletin board up quickly, so in between steps on our PTSA project, the 3rd graders also made these adorable zebras. They are a real hit in the school!