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.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

AJE Eye Love Beads Challenge Reveal

I'm not quite sure how it got here so fast, but it's time for another Art Jewelry Elements Challenge Reveal!  This month we were all inspired to create with an Eye theme for the challenge!  I had so much inspEYEration...but not so much free time.  Man, life is good right now...but finding time for beading is not happening much.  I did sit down a few days ago to rummage through my stash of eyes (if you didn't see earlier in the month, I shared over here) and whipped up a little beauty:
 I love these little Czech glass eyes so much, and had been wanting to make a small pendant with one for awhile.  
The cab is fully captured using delicas and 15/0 to 18/0 seed beads, then embellished with a row of drops and a row of little triangle shaped O beads.  So much bling!
I wanted to make the pendant a bit more substantial because the eye cab was so thin on the edges - it's hard to stitch a good capture when the edge of your cab is thin.  So I glued 2 cabs together!  The eye was a match in size (18mm) for some vintage glass coin cabochons I had.  This pairing also reminded me of the ancient Greek tradition of placing coins on the eyes of the deceased, intended to pay Charon, the boatman of the river Styx.  This extra thickness allowed me to stitch a nice solid capture, and makes the back of the pendant just as interesting as the front!  Sometimes on a small pendant like this, I don't like adding a beaded bail - they feel a little chunky somehow, and interrupt the continuous flow of the embellishment.  I stitched on a little soldered "8" ring instead - the smaller loop is stitched to the pendant, the larger is free to hang on a chain.  
Next on my plate will be this fantastic cab from Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay.  I wound up with not enough time to tackle an embroidery project this time...but soon!  The days are getting longer!

 Thank you so much for looking!  I hope you will hope along and check out how everyone else was inspEYEred by the challenge this month!  Please click the links below to redirect to their blogs!
Guests - 

AJE Members - 

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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: 
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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!)
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Sunday, November 29, 2015

Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month - November 2015

When I realized who was hosting the Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month for November, I was instantly excited.  Caroline's work always inspires me - for some reason I feel like our design and color aesthetic meshes really well.  Just look at these awesome lichen pendants and cabs that we got to play with this month!
I couldn't choose between the turquoise or purple, so I asked if Caroline would just choose one for me.  I already had an idea in my head...
This is not quite what was in my head.  I envisioned a fringe loaded with little beaded cups, just like the face of the pendant.  When I had them made and strung onto the fringe, I realized that I just didn't like it.  The movement was wrong, they didn't hang properly, the plain part of the fringe didn't fit with the rest of the piece.  
So I wadded it all up in frustration...and realized that the problem had solved itself!  I went back in with a new thread, tangled and sewed the fringe into a jumble - this allowed the little cups I had beaded to lay in a cluster facing outwards, like the cups on the pendant.  I added a few more short fringes with bright blue vintage seed beads, to add back in a bit of the wiggle I had taken away. 
More of the bright vintage seed beads and pretty labradorite ovals make up the strap.  I love that these stones perfectly match the grey on the pendant. 
These stones are really light, compared to some labradorite.  Because of this, the flash is a little subtle, but every single one twinkles in its own way. 
Here is a clearer view of some of the beaded cups and tangled fringe.  
I used a rhodium plated TierraCast toggle, as I wanted something substantial, and I love how the dimpled texture ties in with the rest of the necklace.  You can see the flash in some of the labradorite beads here...
Finally back to the beauty shot!  I'm really excited to wear this piece tonight!  And to explore this color combination again.  I'm finding that I really like a light neutral-tone grey with saturated colors.  

Please hop along and see what everyone else has done with Caroline's lichen pendants!  I can't wait to see how the other color combinations look!

Guests

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Sunday, November 15, 2015

Beading Back in Time - the Final Chapter - History!

Where has the year gone?  I can't believe it's time for the final chapter of our Beading Back in Time blog hop challenge.  It was this time last year when Sherri and I started talking about hosting a blog hop - a first for both of us.  It's been excellent having a partner to fall back on when life happens!  If you didn't notice, we agreed to delay the reveal date by 2 weeks this time - you know how busy this time of year is for folks.  I didn't get a chance to start my project until yesterday morning...even though I've had it planned in my head since January!

 I've been looking forward to this theme since then - Choose your favorite historical time period.  The time period I chose has resonated with me on many levels, for quite a long time.  Between being a theater student, studying Shakespeare out of necessity, costume history, and loving jewelry/textiles/embellishment, this time period is a natural fit for me.  So when did I choose?
Inspiration from Pinterest
Elizabethan - the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558-1605.  Ok, so who isn't fascinated by the clothing of this period, right?  The gowns, silks and satins, embroidery and beading, layers of opulence, pearls and gold, a time of technological and scientific innovation and revelation - what's not to love?  Since college, part of the fascination for me has also been the fact that the person that wrote the textbook we used in class had such obvious contempt for the dress of the whole period.  He used words like carapace, grotesque, contorted and distorted to describe the court clothing of the period.  I felt like making these statements as fact in his textbook had the potential to perpetuate his opinion that Elizabethan fashion should somehow be looked down upon because the silhouette was such an exaggeration of the human body.  In reality, the fashion of a period is always reflective of the geopolitical, cultural, social, architectural, technological, and scientific ideals and creations of the time.  You cannot discount the importance of the fashion of an era without ignoring everything that contributed to it!  I will not get into the history at all here - if you want to learn more, the two links above can get you started, and there are many excellent (unbiased) texts out there with fabulous pictures too.  
Ruff evolution - image found on Pinterest
Ruffs - perhaps one of the most identifiable clothing articles of Elizabethan clothing (the other being the farthigale) is the ruff.  This accessory evolved from the drawstring neckline and cuffs of an under-shirt or chemise.  During this period, the collar and cuffs became detached from the actual undergarment and became an article of clothing in their own right.  This allowed for the collar and cuffs to be laundered, re-starched, and even re-styled without needing to launder the entire garment.  As you can see, they started out fairly conservative...then as the years progressed, the aesthetic evolves until the extreme exaggeration that we all associate with Shakespeare plays and movies.
So, yes, I made a beaded ruff.  I've wanted to do this for YEARS!!!  But besides wanting to interpret one of the iconic clothing pieces of the period, I also tried to include several other fashion trends that I feel are representative of the period.  Layers of work, pearls and gold, leather, embroidery and beads in general, portraits/cameo/miniatures, and the richness/luster of the colors I associate with all of these things.  

 When I stitched the base, I ran out of the coppery gold twin I was using, so it ended up a bit shorter than I was intending.  This actually worked out great though - it gave me a chance to include leather as the underside of the cuff, and makes a nice flat section for when you're working at a desk all day!  There are 3 colors of twins over all:  the coppery gold of the base, the lemony gold of the first netting row, and a slightly greenish gold of the second netting row.  I used twins mostly because I needed the boost in time they make - because twins add more height to each row, you end up progressing in height quicker.  Remember how I started the project yesterday morning?  Yeah...any time saving option was important...
Along with all of the twins, I used pearly lustered 11/0's, and then in the final peyote row a gilt-lined opal 15/0.  The last 3 rows of peyote stitch added some stability and refinement of the overall piece.  Once the beadwork section was done, I stitched it to two short pieces of leather, stitched two vintage glass pearl cameo buttons to one side, and cut buttonholes in the other side.  Done!  What do you think?  
Please check out what everyone else has been up to - I'm excited to see which historical period inspired all my creative friends!  Thanks for joining us on this blog hop challenge journey this year!  Stay tuned in January...we might have something new in the works...
Sherri Stokey <-----Co-Host
Lindsay Starr <-----You are here!
Anastasia Kristala Urbanski
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Stephanie Haussler
Niky Sayers
Melissa Trudinger
Kelly Rodgers
Michelle McCarthy
If you've enjoyed this Beading Back in Time hop, you can find previous ones here:  Pre-Human Edition,  Early Human Editionand Early Civilization Edition. 
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Saturday, October 31, 2015

Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month, October 2015

How does this sneak up on me every month?!?  Yes, it's time again for another reveal of the Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month challenge.  Although...this time there was no component of the month, but rather a theme.  When Karen announced that we were all to challenge ourselves to be inspired by a Raven or Crow theme, I knew it would be fun!
Raven inspiration from Pinterest.
Growing up in Alaska, I have always identified more strongly with Ravens.  I love all the variations of black in their plumage, their antics, and all the lore surrounding them.  If you've never been up close to a raven, you should know that they are nearly twice the size of a crow, standing an average of  24" long, with a wingspan up to 50"...they truly are a majestic bird.  The images above give you an idea of the color palette I think of when I hear "Raven".  Unfortunately, none of the crow/raven components that I had in my stash already really fit into my preconceived color palette.  Then my buddy Katie Dirnbauer of Knoxville TN posted this piece on Facebook, and I had to have it...
Check out Katie's work on her Etsy page - KDD Jewelry
It's been really neat over the last few years to watch Katie's style develop and see her skill set grow.  In the last year or so I feel like she's really come into her own creatively, so when I saw this raven, I was happy to support a friend and fellow artist.  And now you ask...but Lindsay, this piece is finished!  How are you going to challenge yourself and create with it?  I admit, I was a little bit intimidated at first.  Then I remembered this piece I made for another artist friend a couple of years ago...
This friend wanted her fossil ivory feather to have some sort of arrangement where she could take off the beaded strap and exchange it for a strung or chain strap.  I got fancy after figuring that out, and made a few beaded charms that she could add or subtract as well.  So, how do I turn Katie's raven pendant into something like this?
First I made the beaded strap with loops on each end.  Then I scrounged around until I found a scrap of thick sterling wire.  It was already curved into some fancy shape that I never ended up using, so I hammered it out flat, cut it in half, filed all the ends smooth, and curled them into spiral shapes that I could slide the chain/beaded rope/and charms on and off of.  Oh yeah, the charms...
Each charm has a different look, different beads, different shapes.  I wanted each charm to speak "raven" in a different way.  There's a dimensional drop using some of my new quadratiles and the long Miyuki drops, a feather in dark oil slick colors, a captured rivoli with lampwork beads by SueBeads, Marie Sawyer, and my buddy Wilbur, and a captured vintage glass stone with a 2-holed Czech drum bead.  Because these charms dangle and twist around on their own, even the back of the captured stone and rivoli are fun to look at.  I didn't want to be constantly looking down adjusting the charms.
You'll have to forgive me this month, I was rushing to get pictures taken (taking them on the floor of my cubicle in the office), and missed out on the beauty shot (didn't miss out on the blur though...).  I guess there's always next time, right?  I hope you'll hop along and see what everyone else has created!  As always, thanks for looking!
Art Jewelry Elements Team:
Lesley Watt
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Phantasm Creations (you are here!)
Caroline Dewison
Linda Landig
Niky Sayers

Our Guest Bloggers:
Linda Newnham
Michelle McEnroe
Sarajo Wentling
The Paisley Lizard
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Saturday, October 3, 2015

Beading Back in Time: History, the final chapter!

I can't believe it's already time for the final installment in our Beading Back in time Blog Hop Challenge.  I think it was about this time last year when the brilliant Sherri, of Knot Just Macrame, and I were brainstorming ideas.  We had both wanted to host some sort of challenge for quite some time - but each of us was a bit intimidated to bite it off by ourselves.  Having a partner to lean on when life attacks has been helpful for both of us.

So now we are into our final chapter of the Beading Back in Time challenge - History.  If you would like to play along, all you need do is choose a historical time period and create!  Should you create something using materials and techniques of the day?  Something that a person in that period would have worn?  Something made with modern methods and materials, but looks like it belongs in that period?  Or perhaps let inspiration guide you in a more abstract way, and create something that is inspired by a concept or event or accessory that is unique to that period.  Do research, have fun!  If at all possible, get out to a local museum and see the history in person!  Get to your local library and check out the fashion history and art history sections!

Soon, I will share a few of my favorite periods for adornment with you.  Until then, have fun with your research, discover lots of ideas, and create!
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