darkemeralds: detail of beaded purse, caption One Bead At a Time (beadwork)
Today my niece came and took away my collection of beads.

Farewell, my little beads. )
darkemeralds: detail of beaded purse, caption One Bead At a Time (beadwork)
This post was going to be about thinking styles. [personal profile] azurelunatic and I were discussing the different brain processes in knitting and crocheting, and [personal profile] yourlibrarian and I were talking about pattern thinking and the autistic brain, and I was having Very Thinky Thoughts.

I riffed for a while on my brain, my making-of-things, my peculiar set of limitations and strengths. I took some photos. I coded some links, I wrote and deleted some sentences.

But it's a sunny Sunday in June. I had a bacon cheeseburger for lunch, I've spent my morning beta-ing the work of two writers, both brilliant, and you know what? My brain isn't up to the task of making coherent noises about itself.

So instead, here are some pretty pictures of beadwork, as metaphors for two modes my brain likes to use.

Photos illustrating what I'm not capable of articulating in words. )
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
While I sit in my hotel room trying not to die from anxiety about my replacement passport that has to arrive by noon tomorrow or I may not be able to make my trip, I've been finishing the Serenity coat.

As you can see, it morphed a bit from the original concept... )

But I'm pretty happy with the way it's turned out.

All together now: everyone vividly imagine Nathan trying it on!
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter

Zokutou word meter
8,535 / 8,534
(100.0%)


Ta-da! )

Next: throw together a red silk kimono-style coat, stick the beadwork on the back of the right shoulder, line it with red-and-gold, embellish it a bit more, carry it to Starfury Serenity2, and see if we can get Nathan to try it on.

Never let it be said that my ambitions are modest.
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
6,384 / 8,534
(74.0%)


A productive day of eye-bleedingly detailed craft work brings me within spittin' distance of the finish line.

I have to say, I'm pleased. )
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter

4832 / 8,534
(56.0%)


The Zokotou word meter seems to be broken, but Beading Serenity crept past the halfway point today as I listened to James Marsters read me the last bit of Storm Front by Jim Butcher. (It got better toward the end.)

Then I moved on to Dirt Music by Tim Winton (read, I'm pretty sure, by the author), a wonderfully-written contemporary Australian novel that [livejournal.com profile] wedjateye sent me.

A picture behind the cut. )

In other news, I sort of enjoyed Sean Maher's guest stint as a ghost on The Ghost Whisperer last night. He does up-close and emotional quite well. Also? Sneering disdain. Looks good in bike gear. The funniest part is his reaction to seeing the oh-so-ordinary-looking guy who received his donated heart.

He's very pretty, isn't he? )

It's an unoriginal, predictable show, but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be--the acting was good and the dialog almost fresh, with some interesting direction. But seriously: dead guy, organ donor, grieving fiancee, heart recipient...what do you think is going to happen?
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
3,971 / 8,534
(46.0%)


After an extremely frustrating session of fumbling, mistakes, and general brainlessness, I finally made some progress on my massive fannish project today. I might have the beadwork done in time to baste this sucker onto the back of my denim jacket to wear to the opening next Friday.

Progress )

The Serenity Coat, however, is going to take me till the London convention (mid-November) to finish. It has morphed in concept from Mal to Inara--from brown leather to silk and velvet.

Oooh! Look at the pretties! ) So. What do you think so far?
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
3,241 / 8,534
(37.0%)


There seem to be some color problems.

That's the trouble with beads...they aren't paints. )
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
2,187 / 8,534
(25.0%)


The image is starting to emerge! )
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter
Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
950 / 8,534
(11.0%)


Turns out Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is almost as great for beadwork as for passing time on the elliptical.

See? )
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter
Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
534 / 8,534
(6.0%)


Now we're getting somewhere!

A nicely-compressed photo of about 52KB shows where we are. )
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter
Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
146 / 8,534
(1.0%)


The first four rows are done! Proof. )

Only 8388 beads to go.
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter
Zokutou word meter
0 / 8,534
(0.0%)


For technical reasons involving inadequate software and pigheadedness on my part, Beading Serenity as originally conceived turned out to be stupid and nearly impossible, and I am forced to start over with Plan B.

Plan B involves a loom.

Ahead, warp factor 122. )
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
Well, it's a start.

DarkEmerald's Bead-o-Meter

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
40 / 9,100
(0.0%)
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
Some signs that I was done with beadwork--that the artform was, for me, no more:
  • I took my old beadwork website down
  • No one in the beadwork world talks to me anymore
  • I recently came thisclose to giving away all my beads and tools
  • My beadwork software is so old that it won't install on this computer
So it came as a surprise to me, this urge to make something beady again. But I have a mission: a Serenity convention in November.

A ten-inch circle of beadwork affixed to some garment or other is as far as I'm willing to go in costumed geekdom. )

Some signs that maybe beadwork lives again:
  • This icon
  • I just added "beads" and "beadwork" to my interests
  • I'm going to the actual local bead store now.
It'll be like old times.
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
It seems I'll be attending a Serenity-oriented convention in the fall. [livejournal.com profile] liquidize offered to make me a T-shirt for the event, and [livejournal.com profile] wedjateye actually sent me a lovely one that I wore to the last screening.

But no. I have a bigger idea. )
Because not only am I big Serenity geek and a minion of Joss, but I'm insane. And I can prove it.

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darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
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