DESTASHING:  The "art" of finally letting go of treasured baubles and stuff.

I love destashing.  It gives me another chance to discover things I thought I'd lost, to reorganize, and to get ready to find new homes for those little babies I've been hoarding for way too long.  I loved them in the beginning, but today my styles have changed just enough that I don't use the same beads and findings.  But somebody can!  And I have way too much stuff!  (Is there such a thing where beads are concerned?)

I do most of my shopping on-line at favorite "stores."  Thus I have accumulated some items that perhaps were not what I thought they would be.  Have you ever bought way too many of the perfect bead and when it arrived it was NOT the chartreuse you thought, but lime green?  In the destash basket.  How about those clasps that are way cheaper when you buy a dozen, but you only ever used eight?  The orange daggers that "came in" sets of five strands, but you only need three? In the destash basket.  Or the chrome seed beads that are perfect for spacers, but you had no idea how much a quarter kilo amounted to?   In the destash basket.  

I do several DeStash Events throughout the year, so I periodically update my DS baskets and trays.  Right now I'm getting ready for a bead retreat where 75 women gather to bead, take classes, learn from each other by watching and informal chats, and eat.  Lots of the latter.  But many of us bring things to "liquidate", shall I say, so if we sell something we often bring home other people's treasures too.

The energy is AMAZING for that weekend.  I always take bead projects and spread out my tools, beads, findings, and light, but I get so distracted.   I make a few things but I find myself wandering around the room several times per day to see what is being designed, invented, tweaked, auditioned, mulled over.  Mostly the latter.  And see what other people are liquidating. . . I wouldn't want my stash to get too small, after all.

Here are a couple of the baskets and trays that are in the "think I'll take that" stage.  Do you see those lime green beads?  And the daggers?

It's been a couple of days, and I think I have sorted all I can.  I packed up a couple of plastic totes with towels and placemats between the trays. There are paper plate "shopping carts" for those who need the beads I'm movin' on out.  I found some polymer clay buttons and charms I did a while back.  They're still fun so I had to save a few.  (I might knit.  Someday.)

My new issue of Stringing magazine for Spring 2013 arrived this week.  I've been submitting pieces for publication since 2009, and I was anxious to see what was new.  Well, it's my "Maria" bracelet made with tagua nut.  It's a "no-metal" bracelet for those who cannot wear metals because even the toggle clasp is made with tagua, a sustainable material from Ecuador (and other Central and South American countries.) It's also commonly called vegetable ivory and is widely used in colorful jewelry.  

Tagua nut is one of my most favorite stringing materials.  I love the way it works with glass, especially lamp work beads, and metals. Many colors are saturated, and the texture is smooooooth! Plus it's lightweight, perfect for the longer earrings. .  

 I have several bracelets in the Mixed GlassWear section of the website where you can see where I've used those together.  Also fun are the tagua bangles in those hazy, not quite pastel hues that I'm just loving lately.  Here are a couple of those to see what I mean plus a pair of clip earrings.

I am scheduled to have a necklace published in the summer issue, and I'm working on pieces to submit for the fall issue.  So when they "debut", I'll let you know.

Round 2 of Suze's jewelry redesign project was delivered today.  She was delighted!  We're calling it the Band Practice Collection because of how it came about.  For several years, Suze taught music lessons in her studio to a group of ladies in their golden years who wanted to learn something new or brush up on old skills. Due to health and other issues, it came to be that all the ladies needed to meet at one home, and Suze delivered the lessons to them.  Over the years, they formed a "group" and called their sessions "Band Practice."  Her payment was a sum of money that they insisted she use for herself only...no bills, no gifts to anyone, just something special for herself.  She saved it up, and this jewelry redesign is what she chose.

She will be at the Spirit of the West Cowboy Gathering in Ellensburg WA February 14-17, and some of the new pieces are for this event.  She is performing and wanted new stage eye-catchers.  So I delivered.  We'll start with her favorite.

Here are a few more redesigns.  Each uses mainly the beads in the original, but I add glass, metal, or findings from my own stash to "make it right" and to put my own style on it.  Sometimes it needs to be longer (or shorter), or chunkier (or slimmer), or more symmetrical (or a bit crazy).  It all depends on what the beads in the original tell me.  

Here is a necklace that just needed to be lengthened into a rosary-style.  So I added quite a bit of glass and some coral.  Suze wanted more red and liked the two colors of turquoise in the original piece.

Here is a necklace that needed to be tamed a bit.  It's hard to tell it's the same set of beads!  The blackened copper filigree pendant is fabulous.

You can see Suze's style and color palette preferences in the necklaces above.  The next project is a real change of pace.  The crystal links had languished in a jewelry box for far too long.  They had been part of a necklace years ago, and Suze wanted it updated into pieces she could wear.

In October 2010 I met with a friend who wanted me to update her vintage collection of inherited jewelry, gifts, and her own purchases over the years.  She didn't wear it anymore, or never had in some cases, but she wanted to honor the memory of some pieces handed down from dear relatives.  So we met to brainstorm, and in the end she gave me a box of jewelry, some intact and some just remnants, and a list of projects that I completed by the end of the year.  

Suze Spencer Marshall is an award-winning musician, entertainer, music teacher, and record producer in Vancouver, WA whose western musical roots go way back to the 30s and 40s.   We first met at her house where she showed me fabulous collections of her stage wear: vintage western shirts and boots, lovely velvet jackets, and beaded garments from the early 20th century.  With these in mind, and knowing that she wanted what would look fabulous on stage, we planned the remakes.

Here are a few before and after pictures of what was done:

Those are five of the original remodels I did for Suze.  There were more, some with white glass pearls and very traditional, some with black nailheads in a netted design, some with glass chips that just needed more room between the beads so they could move.  All were fun.  As I work on Round 2, I'll show you the process.