Layne's Legacy - Beading for A Cure...

Mark your calendars! It is almost time for the annual "Beading for A Cure" auctions. They will begin on March 7 and run through the end of April. That means each week there will be all new, beautiful creations for you to bid on, I highly recommend you take some time now to figure out which are your favorites.

I just spent some time gazing at the brand new gallery of pieces for this year and they are absolutely spectacular! If you would rather see them as a slide show you can do that here.

Please consider printing out a flyer and sharing with friends, business', etc. You can find the flyer when you CLICK HERE

The beauty of it - so many stunning entries every year up for auction at very reasonable prices, all the while raising money for a wonderful charity.

This is my third year to participate and my little bag ended up being one of my favorite pieces ever. It was really hard to let this one go.

You will want to bookmark the auction site, so do yourself a favor and go there now in order to have plenty of time be ready to bid on your favorite piece(s) when the auctions start.

If you would like further details on the organization click here.

For a gallery of all pieces that will be auctioned this year, click here.

If you would like to read the blog post about the piece I created for this auction and see more photos of it, click here.



Note - for quick access to the auction site, I have added a photo of my project which provide a direct link to the auctions.

Check back often and bid HIGH!

BFAC Project for 2010

I recently finished my Beading For A Cure project and oh what a joy it's been! I showed the kit in my last post, so here I will share photos of the items I added as well as the finished piece.



First up, the additions. There are multi-colored glass cabs from the 1940's; tear drop vintage clear green glass cabs; vintage sequins in 2 different colors; 4mm Swarovski sew on stones in 3 colors - Olivine, Erinite and Light Sapphire. My added bead is size 8 sparkly green lined transparent aqua, which was only used in the handle/strap.



I was inspired by one of the projects found in "Beaded Embellishment" by Amy C. Clarke & Robin Atkins, the original project found in that book is for an amulet bag. I made mine quite a bit larger. It measures just about 5 inches at it's widest points from top to bottom and side to side not counting the fringe. The strap/handle is about 17 inches measuring from one side to the other. The dichoric cab added to the front flap was made (and gifted to me) by Noel.



There are a couple of firsts here for me... first time I made a bag, that was fun learning experience. I copied the pattern from Beaded Embellishment, but enlarged it quite a few times



And it was my first attempt at a Spiral Rope as found in "Beautiful Bracelets" by Jill Oxton



I was beading away on the front of the bag when an unintentional angel seemed to appear (to me anyway). This is also where I added the Swarovski sew-on stones as well as the wonderful Olive colored Rose Montees which were included in the kit.



All cabs were attached with a little bit of glue before adding the bezel. I beaded the back and front flap as one continuous piece. The front part of the bag was a separate piece. I basted paper to each piece as a stabilizer, so on the front piece where there are no beads - there is a bit of a crinkle sound from the paper underneath. I imagine as it is handled the paper will soften up and the crinkle sound will dissipate.



After each side was completed beaded, I added a lining of aqua Ultrasuede before I sewed the two pieces together.

My original intention was to add the lampwork bead to the bottom of the bag and have the fringe spread out from there. It didn't look right to me. Next I tried adding it into the strap/handle and again it didn't look right, so it found it's home dangling from the side of the bag.

Now, to give it a name...

As always - all photos are 'clickable' for a larger view

Beading for a Cure 2010

all photos are 'clickable' for a larger view

I hope you've had a chance to check out the gallery for the BFAC (Beading For A Cure) auctions on Ebay and even better if you've been able to bid on any of the wonderful items! There is an amazing array of bead art up for grabs at very reasonable prices.


As mentioned in an earlier post - I received my kit for next year and instantly fell in love with all the beads. All participant's have their kits now so we can reveal the beads as well as our plans for them.



Would you look at these colors??? Some of my absolute favorites (especially the Rose Montees)! Heaven... I'm in heaven. My immediate thoughts on this was a water theme ... hmmmmm, mermaid doll? Within the first day after receiving the beads, I checked my fabric stash. I have such a small sampling, but managed to find the perfect compliment to the beads. I thought I must be headed in the right direction, it was all coming together in my mind and with my components.



I had visions of the perfect mermaid doll, but I'm not so great at making forms and even worse at making faces. I talked to my friend Monica about using my fabric to make me a doll form, the DH designed a pattern for me, I picked out a face for the doll, and then...

I got impatient at the thought of waiting... I wanted to get started. Waiting an hour, let alone days just didn't sit well with me. I started looking at various cabs I had on hand, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to make something different for the event this year. Funny how that happens.



I dug out some really neat vintage glass cabs, the one pictured above is from the 1940's, there will be 3 of these on the finished piece, my photos can't capture the beautiful colors and sparkle in these cabs.



I also added some vintage clear light green glass tear drop shaped cabs that are beveled around the outside and because you can see through to the fabric, it looks like a little swimming pools to me. And the sequins... vintage as well, purchased from a woman who sold off her grandmother/great aunt's beads and sequins that had been packed away for many years. They are nice in that the colors do not rub off like I have found with some of the newer sequins.



In pouring through my stash, I found a dichroic cab made by on old friend (Noel) from a Yahoo doll group I belonged to a few years ago. Another case where it looked perfect with the bead kit and the fabric, so it HAD to be added!

So my project it almost finished, but I'm only showing small pieces of it for now. I have had a couple of challenging weeks at work - and since I run to beads as my outlet for stress, I've been beading most evenings for several hours. Ah... sweet relief!