Beading Competitions

It’s now about halfway through the allocated time for the biggest of my 2015 beading competitions: the Battle of the Beadsmith, so I thought it was about time I gave you all a little preview of what I’m doing this year…

…although I can’t actually do that since my piece is shrouded in the deepest secrecy until the big reveal on June 8th! So, I can show you the piece of beadwork that I made alongside my 2014 BOTB entry. It was a handbag, designed to look like a rose, but capable of opening up and carrying the bare essentials. (I tried it out at a wedding and it did really work, although it was a little heavy!). I had planned to enter it in the British Bead Awards 2014, but then I was appointed editor of Bead and Jewellery Magazine, rendering me ineligible to enter the competition. I’m not sorry though – this is definitely one of those pieces of mine that falls into the category of, ‘great idea, not too sure about the execution’. Or, to translate, I still love the idea, but the finished piece of beadwork is very inferior to the image in my head. So much so that I’m thinking about taking it all apart and trying to make it differently. I had to make sure I kept a photographic record first though and we’ll see whether the scissors are taken to it at some point! Bearing in mind that I made it in exactly the same timeframe as my BOTB entry, and all whilst moving house, I probably shouldn’t be surprised that it didn’t turn out quite as planned! This is the first time I have revealed it as I thought about entering it into one of the other major international beading competitions in 2015, Bead Dreams, but when I took it out to fill out the entry form, I decided it really wasn’t up to the required standard!

I’m happy to say that I don’t feel the same way about my BOTB 2015 entry. Of all the beading competitions I’ve entered over the years, I think BOTB has to be one of my favourites. There’s no prize and I’ve never made it past the first round (although I remain eternally hopeful!), but it gives me the opportunity to spend two months letting my imagination run free and creating something that tests my personal beading boundaries. Every year I learn a lot from the process and this year it has been particularly appreciated as it has given me the chance to do a lot of beading without having to think about writing up the patterns afterwards! So, I can share a few facts about my battle piece with you…just don’t tell anyone!

Firstly, the process of beading this has been so enjoyable that I don’t want it to end.

Secondly, my battle piece and I started out in a bit of a love/hate relationship as my inner critic loudly proclaimed that I was making ‘rubbish’ on one day, whilst my ‘inner child’ would feel quite pleased with its achievements a couple of hours later…and so this went on. I’m happy to say that my inner critic has now been well and truly silenced and I love this piece and can’t wait to share it.

Thirdly, once again I’ve created something with a level of complexity that is going to make it a photographic nightmare…will I ever learn?…probably not…!

Fourthly, I have a feeling that a lot of people will see this work as being a little different to my ‘usual’ battle style….but you’ll have to wait and see!

I find I just can’t resist the temptation to challenge myself, so all news of beading competitions is very welcome to me. I know I mentioned in an earlier blog that the Beadworkers Guild were holding a competition in conjunction with Swarovski, to celebrate the 15th anniversary (crystal anniversary) of the guild. Well, of course I had to enter didn’t I? The results are going to be announced at the Great British Bead Show at Daventry this weekend and the finalists’ work will be on display there, so I can’t wait to see who wins. I can safely say that it won’t be me…I didn’t make it through to the finals, which I confess was a little bit of a disappointment after the many, many hours I spent creating a beaded handbag. This one measures about 8″ along each side, so it involved a lot of beads and a lot of sparkle. It fastens by way of a beaded strap and it is designed to go with a whole range of outfits. I loosely named it my ‘mood boards’ bag as I created each of the three sides of the bag to explore a different mood: industrial, natural and romantic. I had a lot of fun creating this though, so it will certainly take a prominent position in my beading display cabinet, even if it never gets used!

If all this talk of beading competitions has got you interested in entering one, then I have just the thing for you. In the most recent issue of Bead and Jewellery Magazine, we announced that we will be running a competition to celebrate National Beading Week. It’s very simple, all you need to do is make a bead. It can be any type of bead and you can make as many different beads as you like and enter them all, so do pop over to the competition page and get your beading caps on to create your entry…good luck!