Bead Perles

I've been featured on Bead Perles website.
I'm so honored!!!
I've known a lot of artists who really inspire me a lot reading those interviews, so it's weird and exciting to be there.
Thanks a lot!!!!

Soup arrived in Poland!

My soup for Dorota has just been unpacked by her!
That was soooo fast, I was worried about the snow but looks like it didn't matter.
Yesterday it's been snowing hard the whole day and this morning too, so it is time for a REAL soup - also these last weeks I enjoyed soups a lot being sick and all.
I usually make chicken soup, adding some vegetables to have more vitamins and flavour. But I also love a typical Italian minestrone, with lot of parmigiano in it (how funny it is to crave for something that you've been hating for your whole childhood - and more?!)
I asked Dorota to send me a Polish recipe for a soup and will publish it when I'll get my own bead soup here.
So stay tuned :)

This time I didn't throw it.

Remember my beautiful-broken-at-the-last-minute-necklace?
Here is the matching bracelet:

I still need a picture of the necklace, but this Christmas I saw it worn a lot of times and felt really proud of it.
This goes in the mail today and hopefully it'll be opened for Valentine's day.

A European soup

It's about time to talk about my partner for the 7th Bead Soup Party!
Now that contact has been made, let me introduce Dorota properly.
She's from Poland and she's a talented seed beader both with beadweaving

and crochet

and also very good at soutache, as you can see

(I'll never have the courage to try soutache!)

She told me she's really into flamenco, which I love, and let me sneak peek a picture of her - I'm not a stalker but it's nice to associate faces to names! Plus, I had my reasons...which you'll understand lately.
I hope the snow won't slow down our soups travel because we both need something to warm up our days!
Even though it took longer, snow arrived in the north of Italy tonight and will be go on for a couple of days, so I'm seeing a lot of beads in the near future. And tea.

February EBW challenge: Japan

It's finally time to vote for this month Etsy Beadweavers Challenge! Theme: Japan!!!

"Japan has a most exciting culture. There is a distinct division between past and future: ancient traditional values with their strong rituals, art forms and language on one side, versus the crazy dazzling fashion modernity, neon colors, and plastic kitsch on the other side. Pick ONE of these two styles to create a piece of jewelry that shows the important criteria needed to convey either the traditional or the modern Japan. OR: combine both styles into one piece accentuating the contrasts!"

Vote for your favorite piece of art from today until the 16th on our team blog!

Logged off

Yesterday I had to send my laptop away to be fixed, and the reason is so stupid I'm even more pissed off.
My BF laptop is slow and has a lot of issues and his tablet, well, let's say I don't really get along with touch devices...plus no photoshop (with a mouse I mean!!!), problem with writing more than a sentence and...did I mention I don't like touch devices? Only my Kindle touch is "friendly" to me.
Guess I'll have a month full of free time (no Pinterest is one of the main reasons why) which I mean to spend reading more, working out at the gym to fix my back once and for all and, of course, beading.

source: Pinterest

I'll try to update the blog regularly somehow, since I'm working on two custom orders which I really want to show off, and the Bead Soup is on its way both towards me and my partner Dorota.
Can't wait for this month to pass!

Bead Soup Party, here I come!

I'm finally taking part in the Bead Soup Party! When I first discovered about it, it was already on. The following time I wasn't picked. Third time I was on holiday and moving a lot, so I didn't partecipate, even though it had become open to anybody. So this is the right time! In the meantime I have partecipated in a couple of swaps and have "warmed up" for this. I'm finishing to cook my soup right now after a couple of rough weeks: stomach problems first, a very bad back pain last week and, just when I had recovered completely, a terrible pharyngitis I'm dealing with right now.

source: Pinterest

Seems like you get thousands of ideas when you aren't able to bead at all, so I'm eager to go back to my table and create something after too much bed. My partner is Dorota Żerańska and I can't wait to start this adventure!

New sushi tutorial

Just listed a beaded sushi tutorial :)

If you want to try and make some salmon-avocado maki yourself...you also have the tuna version!

EBW February challenge: Japan

Progress is necessary for a country to move on and improve, but tradition is indispensable.
Traditions give roots to people so they can always have their feet firmly on the ground and start again whenever they fall down.

Having experienced many differences moving from one place to another, all in the north of Italy -so very different from the south in a million ways- I know for sure that whenever I'm feeling down, or just don't know how to behave, traditions from my family and my town are what really cheer me up and make me feel confident again.
Can be a conforting recipe from my grandma; a saying in my town slang, full of wisdom; a festivity we try to celebrate even though it is not known where we live now.

Japan is a country which has endured a lot of tough situations, and I think it owes that to its people strong faith in tradition.
Bombs, earthquakes, tsunami, just to name some.
Everytime they fall, they always stand up again, more fierce and determined than before.
Fall down seven times, stand up eight.

My piece for this challenge wants to celebrate some typical, traditional Japanese symbols.

Its cooking tradition (sushi); the famous cherry blossoms; a kokeshi doll; a koi, the symbol of perseverance in adversity and strength of purpose; national pride, with the country flag and the rising sun;

mount Fuji, or Fuji-san, the (almost)sacred volcano;

the Daruma doll, symbolizing the ability of recovering from troubles and stand up again.

And I swear, it's really comfortable to wear!
I'm so happy with this bracelet. I really made something out of my comfort zone and love the result.
Can't wait to see all of them all together in the mosaic!

Japan beaded beads

My piece for the Etsy Beadweavers challenge of february is almost ready.
I wanted to show you what I've been doing today...since most of my piece is made of beaded beads, which is virgin territory for me, I tried to make a bead with a landscape of the mount Fuji.
To make you understand better, here's a rough graph I used

The result is...well...weird.

Pictures don't really make you understand, but I'm quite happy with it, although it realy needs a bit of imagination to be interpreted!
Tomorrow I'll make the last beads and shoot some decent pictures.