Skip to main content

Beading to the Extreme

I watch a certain amount of public television, some Canadian and some from the States.  Nancy Guppy's Art Zone from Seattle, WA is a weekly show that keeps me up to date about what's going on in that city.

David Chatt's creation made from beads
You can image how easy it was for me to follow the story associated with this image.  What you're looking at is a toast purse, eggy glasses, bacon earrings and a slice of orange brooch all made from beads.  And they are all free-standing works (not sewn to a shape).

Nancy Guppy in her October 28 episode spends just over 5 minutes (see video) talking to David Chatt the artist who creates this work.  Mr. Chatt expresses his wide ranging interests and the desire to do something creative.  If you watch the video to the end you'll find he articulates this drive better than most.  I find in him a kindred spirit, that drive to do something inspired, if not a kindred skill set.  Just to save you some time looking through Mr. Chatt's gallery, here's another of his creations.

Wisteria Vessel
The vessel is obviously a vase covered in beads, but the gentle curves and colours of the wisteria are just beautiful and again they are all made from beads.  I've worked a little bit with beads and I know the challenge in manipulating the tiny ones used here.  I'm amazed at the talent of this sculpture/artist/carpenter.

Thanks to Nancy Guppy for showing what one talented person can create with these little decorative objects.  And thank you David Chatt for putting into words so effectively that desire to create.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m