Janet is the first to make my limited edition kitted design that marries bead crochet with the textured and fun bezels for Swarovski rivolis (available as kits) with a stick pearl-petal slide using right angle weave and peyote.

Wish me luck in finding more stick pearls in that amazing green color. I've prepared a couple kits with other pinky-peachy pearls but, that color green really moves me.

So in the throws of final preparations for the 8 classes I will teach at the Bead & Button Show starting Sunday, and the kits I will offer at the Meet the Teacher event for those who could not get into the classes, don't you just know that technical issues erupt. Yipes. Yes, after making an instructional video for the Felted Bangle Bracelet with Beaded Bead kit, I just couldn't figure out burning it onto a dvd. There were two 3 hour sessions with Dell tech support over the ocurse of 2 days. There was Fran's capable assistance and familiarity with Roxio, that led us nowhere. And even after doing all the critical updates they asked for, they only support the 10.1 edition...an additional purchase I didn't wish to make. But I did buy ConvertXtoDVD program that one of the Dell techs could recommend from personal experience. Finally, Dell decides it is my optical drive and sends a tech with a new one. That didn't do the trick and oops, something occured that locked up our wifi. So today, another visit with the Dell tech with a new optical drive and motherboard to install. Plus, he figured out how to undo the wifi mess created yesterday....and I'm back in business. Whew.

I did get the DVDs burned and am very excited about adding this media to my felting kits. Ahhh, but I digress. The flower here, what's the story? In the depths of the above tech misadventure, what's the best thing to do? Bead and/or felt. So, this felted lariat is the first collaboration with Carolyn Baum, the lampworker who made the glass center. Now I'm even more eager to get to work with more of the glass components she gave me last month when I visited her studio.

This closeup pendant is on one of the new series I'm concentrating on: Felt Component Jewelry. It is also the name of the week long workshop I will likely teach in Australia in April 2011, at Tafta Forum in Orange. (Though I had not signed the contract accepting this engagement, it went on-line for registrations and so, I am seeking to bookend a couple more workshops to that week, and I'll be going back to Australia!)

The golden merino felt is the perfect foil to the embedded swarovski stone. The crescent component utilizes an armature technique I appropriated from a method Pier Voulkos uses for polymer clay. The components are connected with a polyester chain and embellished with antique dark bronzey metallic 2-cuts. It is a gift to Fran, who will wear it for her ordination in a couple weeks. She said I can "borrow it from the collection of..." when I need to for demonstration purposes for workshops.