| Author | Content |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
January 20, 2009
01:21 AM Post #6027074
| I finally finished beading the sword fish bill. Here are a couple of pics. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
January 20, 2009
01:22 AM Post #6027078
| Here is another view 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
January 20, 2009
01:25 AM Post #6027087
| One last view. The entire sword was covered with beeswax and then beaded using size 13/0 seed beads. it only took a year to complete.
Part of my New Years resolution is to complete the projects I have started before starting anymore. Now that is a tough one to keep. |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
January 20, 2009
01:27 AM Post #6027091
| Whoops, here is the last view. Incase you can't tell it is two whales, a mother and calf 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Zanymuse
Scotia, CA
(Zone 9b)
January 21, 2009
05:04 AM Post #6031039
| Congratulations on completing your masterpiece! I can't get over how intricately detailed your pieces are. Absolutely beautiful works of art! |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
January 21, 2009
02:47 PM Post #6032603
| Thanks, insanity runs in the family, hehe |
UniQueTreasures
Beaumont, TX
(Zone 8b)
April 14, 2009
11:08 PM Post #6411949
| You must have incredible eyesight to be able to work with beads so miniscule! That is GORGEOUS!
Janet |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
April 15, 2009
03:45 PM Post #6414921
| No, I don't I use a magnifing lamp. I would be lost with out it. I used to have decent vision but with all my bead work and needle work etc. I wear bifocals and use the maginfing lamp for all my work. |
greyma
Mukwonago, WI
April 21, 2009
07:18 PM Post #6444366
| unbelievable work!!! |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
April 22, 2009
01:21 AM Post #6445946
| thank you, there are more pictures of the different gourd on the ornamental gourd forum.
Thanks
jan |
jmp24
Medford, NJ
June 27, 2009
08:56 AM Post #6744921
| I had more of these swordfish bills than I knew what to do with, given to me by pro fishermen friends when I lived in an area where there was a fleet. I think I eventually wound up throwing them away, wish I had your ideas! |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 27, 2009
10:11 AM Post #6745148
| My husband says I am the worst when it comes to throwing stuff away. I never do!!! What he doesn't realize is that I learned my expert gleaming from his mother, my DMIL. She is the worst or in my eyes the best.
Oh, I wish I had more of the sword fish bills. Please don't tell me you threw them all away. I wonder if there is a way to contact the sword fish fishermen and ask them to save and send me some of them. Do you know anyone in the industry still?
I have a huge gourd that I am working hard to finish as I am afraid my hands are starting to cause me potential problems in the future. Arthritis. It seems to be attacking me with a vengenece. I am going to be 60 this year and I have so much left to do and if my hands give out on me I am going to be in debt to my own goals in life.
Please let me know if you have any contacts with the sword fish fishermen.
Thanks
Jan |
jmp24
Medford, NJ
June 28, 2009
08:11 PM Post #6751244
| Hello
Unfortunately the one person I was close enuff to to keep in touch with was not a lifer in the fishing industry, and now lives in Texas. To be honest, swordfish are not the fish that the fleet in Barnegat Light fish for. I think that occasionally a swordfish would get caught in the nets, and possibly they took it illegally, or maybe it isn't illegal, and they are allowed to take a few. Not sure how it works.
You could try contacting someone at
http://www.barnegatlightbaitandtackle.com, it is right in Barnegat Light and that is the town on the NJ shore where the fishing fleet is based. See if they know of anyone who may have some, there is probably a phone number on the website, and most of the fishermen, both pros and for fun types, go to this tackle shop there. Also, I can't promise you anything, but a really close friend is in Florida temporarily to help a friend take tourists out fishing and one of the things they fish for are swordfish. I will see if he comes across any and let you know.
Jen |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 28, 2009
09:16 PM Post #6751466
| Thanks so much for the info Jen, I did look on ebay and found some pretty nice ones but I have decided to finish the buffalo gourd before I start anything else. In just a few months time my little finger on my right hand has develope RA. If it can happen that fast to one finger I had better get busy as this is going to take some time. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 28, 2009
09:17 PM Post #6751471
| This is my Buffalo of the Plains gourd 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 28, 2009
09:17 PM Post #6751476
| As you can see I have my work cut out for me. Heheh |
jmp24
Medford, NJ
June 29, 2009
10:18 AM Post #6753385
| oh wow, look at all that work! Sorry to hear of your impending RA, hope it doesnt get too bad. I am an artist too and that is one of my biggest fears, that and losing my eyesight! |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 29, 2009
12:13 PM Post #6753943
| Yep, that too is an impending problem. I use a magnifying lamp when I work on the gourds. The beads are too small to pick up with a needle without the lamp. Who ever said these were the golden years must have had someone to do all the work for them. Heheh |
Zanymuse
Scotia, CA
(Zone 9b)
June 29, 2009
01:18 PM Post #6754214
| I keep coming back again and again to view your work. It is so intricate and beautiful that it amazes me.
I am curious about the beeswax. I know it is a soft wax. Does it harden with age so that it won't melt away later or do you need to put some type of protective coating over it? |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 29, 2009
04:56 PM Post #6755149
| The beeswax would melt if it was near heat or in a sunny window but other then that it will last forever. There are things from hundreds of years ago with bees wax and they are still preserved. I learned the hard way about sunny windows. I was working on my Over and Under the Sea gourd, which I will show you a pic and when I started on it the sun was in one area. I walked away and got busy doing something else, as usual, and the sun had shifted and was beating down on the top of the gourd where I had just finished putting turquoise on the sky. I touched it and it practically slid off. Fortunatedly it was the larger pieces of turquoise and was easily repaired. You do have to take care of it like any fine art, you don't display it in a sunny window. I have had my African gourd now for over 10 years and the only thing that has happened is a few beads have fallen off but I would dare you to find the spot where they came from. There are hundreds of thousands of beads and one or two here or there won't make a difference.
Here is the gourd that got hit by the sun
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 29, 2009
05:01 PM Post #6755175
| This is another view. This gourd sold for $3,500 and is now in La Jolla, California 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
June 29, 2009
05:03 PM Post #6755186
| Also, in answer to your question about putting something on it, the answer is no. It hardens so that it won't just fall away and the beads pushed into it also keeps it in place. |
Zanymuse
Scotia, CA
(Zone 9b)
June 30, 2009
12:32 AM Post #6757169
| Thank you for the explanation. Your work is simply exquisite. |
Melissande
Chillicothe, OH
July 12, 2009
02:55 AM Post #6809120
| Can I ask, I love beading and love beeswax too, but have never heard of this technique. If I wanted to learn a bit more about it, what would I look for (online for instance)? I think I would really enjoy beading with wax. I love the whole mosaic concept, using bits of broken glass and crockery to make pictures etc. this sounds like that. |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
July 12, 2009
10:34 AM Post #6809793
| Well, there are no instructions online that I know of in this technique as this form is my own. However, the huichol indians began another form of this technique and that is where I got my ideas. Theirs is a one dimentional form where as mine is sculpted out of the wax and then beaded. There work is beautiful and there was someone in the ornamental gourd forum that was doing some of that type. I will show you a few pics of their work but if you have any particular questions on how to do this I would be more then happy to try and explain it to you. If you like and it would be easier to send photos you can email me at my email addy. It is gandolf183@aol.com . Let me know if you intend to do this so I don't accidentally delete your email. Let me know your email addy so I can add it to my address book and then it won't come up spam.
I am trying to make a tutorial but I just can't seem to get it together yet but I would be more then happy to give you step by step instructions on how to do it.
Here is a few pics of the Huichol Indian's work.
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
July 12, 2009
10:35 AM Post #6809795
| More 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
July 12, 2009
10:37 AM Post #6809802
| one more. As you can see, although very beautiful, it is entirely different in form then mine. Mine is a sculpted form and theirs is a flat one dimentional form. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
July 12, 2009
10:39 AM Post #6809813
| Okay, just one more. They bead theirs into wax also but on the inside of the gourd as a bowl or on the outside of wooden forms as a medium instead of paint. That is what got me started. I am a watercolor artist but switched to beads instead of paint. Now I paint dot to dot. It is sort of a pointillism in wax. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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Melissande
Chillicothe, OH
July 12, 2009
11:04 PM Post #6812470
| Interesting. I will contact you via Dmail and let you know what my email addy is in case I need to ask more than this: do the native peoples you know of add anything to the beeswax to thin it or harden it? I think I saw in a page I happened upon yesterday googlking around that someone added pitch or pine sap or something to the beeswax--though I can't recall whether that was to thin, thicken or harden it.
Prior to beads do you know if the native peoples you're familiar with used seeds, bone or quills to do the same thing or didn't it exist before trade and beads to give them the idea in the first place?
fantastically beautiful images BTW. Very inspiring. Those photos could make good patterns/inspiration for bead embroidery. |
Gourdbeader
Toledo, OR
(Zone 8b)
July 13, 2009
12:19 AM Post #6812733
| I don't know whether they added anything to theres or not. I know that some folks do but I have never added anything other then beeswax. I use sheets of wax and then keep building it up and removing the comb as I do. Before I bead I warm the wax under lights so that it is soft enough to apply the beads without breaking them.
I have also used shells and stones such as the turquoise in this one and it also had coral and sea urchin spines so I would assume that bone or any other item so long as it was supported with enough wax would be okay.
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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