About Me

Lindsay M Starr is a beadwork and mixed media artist currently based in Nashville, TN. She spent her early childhood in Alaska, and her school age and college years in Oregon. Lindsay has a great appreciation for history, science, and nature and is consistently inspired by insects, sea life, color, and the significance of beads and beadwork throughout human history. She spends her days beading, walking at the zoo, and practicing yoga. Lindsay loves to share her knowledge and passion for beads and beadwork to hobbyists of all skill levels.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Art Jewelry Elements January: Use your stash challenge!

One of my favorite things about ringing in a new year is our Art Jewelry Elements challenge.  It's become tradition for January to be a "use your stash" challenge.  Over the years I've managed to hoard a great treasure trove of art beads and components from all over the world.  I'm really excited to show you what I've come up with this month.  Forgive me for being a bit short on words today, hopefully the pictures will make up for it.  Sleep deprivation is getting the better of me right now.
My first piece is inspired by the "Pines of Rome" whale sequence in Fantasia 2000...For some reason this sequence has always stuck with me.



I wanted the look of my carved bone whale to be something like it was transitioning from sea to sky.  Sue's lampwork cab made the perfect moon, and allowed me to bring some purple-y tones into the rest of the piece.  The vintage rivoli represents a distant galaxy, and the streaks of blue/green/purple/pink in the sky the dancing Aurora Borealis.
 Because I suspended the embroidered section from beading cable to string the sides of the necklace on, I was also able to leave a strand of drop beads below, almost like a stationary fringe.
My wire ended up being a little bit too short to match my preferred wearing length, so I connected some sterling rolo chain to extend the length and used a large sterling S-hook clasp.

While I was snowed in last weekend I also had time to make a necklace for my other half using a large raku bead from Caroline.


He had chosen this bead quite awhile ago, and I had already planned out the design I wanted to make with it...this necklace does not look like those sketches at all.  While I was stitching, this piece took on a mind of its own.  I had originally intended for a more pagoda-like top, but when i started connecting all of the pieces together I felt like the top needed to be circular, mirroring the designs on the bead.
Once I had the bead suspended, I had to go back in and place a strand of stitching across the back of the bead to keep it from rotating front to back.  I like that the smoke gray of the clay is still mostly visible.
Thank you for checking out my creations today!  I hope you will hop along and see what everyone else has dug out of their stash this month - I'm off to do that right now!

AJE team:


Guests: 

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Art Jewelry Elements Winter Sun Challenge

I'm not quite sure how another month has flown by, another year, but it is time again for another Art Jewelry Elements component challenge.  In December we decided to do another theme challenge:  Sun.  It might seem strange to do a sun themed challenge in the middle of winter, but it also makes a certain kind of sense.  Winter is the time of year we most crave sunlight, crave the warm, sun-driven weather of the spring and summer, crave longer days and shorter nights.  During December we experience the shortest day of the year, winter solstice, when the sun is in the sky for the least amount of time during the entire year.  So, it does make sense to be inspired by the sun at this time of year, right?
My problem is that I could not find inspiration for a typically "sun" themed piece.  Perhaps it's that I really love winter?  I grew up in Alaska, and the winter was definitely my favorite season at an early age.  I have fantastic memories of bundling up to go outside and play in our twilight days, flopping on my back in the snow and gazing at all of the celestial bodies in the sky in the middle of the day, the constant presence of the moon and stars in the sky, no matter the time of day.  I guess because of this when I think of a "winter sun" I don't envision our bright, yellow, celestial source of life.  I think of stars...and because each star in our night sky (or winter day sky), is a faraway sun for another world, I ran with this inspiration for the challenge.
Luckily, Jenny had recently sent me this polymer clay star focal.  It seemed to capture the feeling I was going for:  the twinkling, shimmering, subtlety of starlight on snow.

So this happened:
I started with the sling that holds the star in place in front and back.
As soon as the star was captured in beads, I was able to work off of it with some loops and 2-hole stubby spike beads in this lovely purple halo color.  The frame is worked off of the very end of these loops, to suspend the star in the center of the frame.
I used the rest of the stubby spike beads in a double strand neck strap...it was quite the challenge to convince my beading wire to fit all around the outside of the frame, but somehow it got through all the holes.
A simple copper slide clasp finished off the neckstrap, and an extra large Czech glass drop adds some needed weight to the bottom of the focal - just to keep it balanced while wearing.

I hope you all enjoy my winter "Sun" challenge results!  Please hop along and check out how everyone else was inspired!  I'm off to do that now!

Guest Designers

AJE Team
Lindsay Starr (you are HERE!)