Adornments Retreat 2018

2018 marks the second year for the fabulous Adornments Mixed Media Jewelry Retreat in Galena, Illinois.  I was lucky enough to attend last year as a birthday gift to myself and I just had to go back for year two!  Because all of us bemoaned the fact that we could only take two classes, and thus only get to work with two of the four wonderful instructors, they expanded the retreat by a day and shook up the format a bit.  Even with getting to select four different classes, it was still a really hard choice!!

Our fabulous instructors... Erin Prais-Hintz, Brenda Schweder, Jess Lincoln, and Heather Powers

With the expansion to three half day classes and one full day class, the retreat was one day longer this year.  The drive is a little long for me to drive down to start by 2 pm, so my road trip friend Jenny and I headed out on Tuesday after lunch.  This gave us a great chance to have a nice dinner with a fellow retreat goer that I'd never met in person before and check out a little more of downtown Galena in a leisurely fashion before the real fun started Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday was really all about getting everyone registered, digging through our goody bags, doing a fun pendant exchange, and creating our bead soup for the retreat's design challenge (more on that later.)  I received a fun beaded creation that reminds me of a sea creature from Cynthia Winter. 

Now, what you've been waiting for... a bit about the classes!!!  My first class was Heather Powers' Fairy Garden Headpins.  Now, in the past I've had a little bit of trouble getting the wires to feel secure in polymer clay headpins.  Because of that I was a bit nervous about this class... I really shouldn't have been!  I had a great time finding flowers, leaves, buds, and more on the grounds for a whole new set of molds.  (I brought the ones that I made a couple of year's ago at the Inspired By Nature Retreat too so that I'd have extra choices.)  I ended up with a nice little collection of headpins (and one pendant!) at the end of the day.  Unfortunately, we ran out of class time for painting our new goodies, but Heather was able to show us each of the techniques.  She had all the painting supplies out during our open beading at night, but I was too busy chatting and working on my design challenge piece.  I've got most of the paints I'll need at home, so I'll get around to it later.  (You've heard that from me before!!)

Next up, I finally got to take a class with the fabulous Miss Brenda Schweder!  After purchasing her awesome Now That's a Jig last fall, taking her Blanks for Makers class was just what I needed to get me comfortable with this tool and kick off what I hope will be many future jiggy adventures!  I know that what I completed in class doesn't seem like much, but these will get embellished and worked into finished designs.  This class was all about learning the basics, getting some tips, and gaining some hands on experience so that I wouldn't be intimidated.  I'm super excited about the possibilities and can't wait to play more.  I'm especially liking the smaller earring shapes on the right and have some ideas brewing for those!  I loved getting jiggy with it!

Last but not least, I took Heather's Tropical Faux Tin class as my third half day class.  While I had taken this class the first time Heather offered it, I loved the images from botanist Marianne North she chose this time and decided a refresher course wouldn't hurt.  Now I feel better prepared to try some things using some of Eric's photos.  I did manage to finish one fun pair of earrings in class and came pretty close to having a necklace done.  I should get on that!  

A new addition to the line up this year was an afternoon filled with fun make and takes!  Each instructor came up with a quick project that incorporated a flower theme.  They broke the attendees into small groups and had us rotate through the four different stations for 15 minutes at each.  Here's what I made (clockwise from top) with Brenda, Heather, Jess, and Erin.  The little ribbon rose with Heather was the furtherest from my wheelhouse, but I think all four mini-projects turned out super cute.  I'm thinking I may add some colorful seed beads or something to Brenda's flower shape to make a little sun catcher type thing...  the others will likely become part of necklaces down the road.  I really enjoyed doing all these fast and fun projects and I hope they'll do something along these lines again next year! 

The last day of the retreat brought our full day classes... I chose Jess's Vintaj Free-Form & Hand Forging.  I haven't taken a class with the fabulous Miss Jess since I did the Vintaj Two Day Workshop back in 2012.  I had just gotten my tax id and the first thing I did with it was to register to shop wholesale with Vintaj and sign up for the workshop in Galena.  It was one of the best things I ever did for my creative self and really jump started my love affair with Vintaj!  I'm telling you this because I bought my first pair of bail making pliers right after that trip and finally learned how to make use of them six years later.  I had a ton of fun learning to shape various Vintaj metal pieces (many of them already in my hoard) to use them in new and creative ways.  It was also great for my slow self to actually walk out of the class with several completed pieces of jewelry!  Check out what I accomplished during class as well as some action shots from the day below. 

One of the fun aspects of last year's retreat that they carried over to year two was the Bead Soup Design Contest.  Basically, they gave us a photo and color palette to inspire and guide us.  We were  instructed to bring the equivalent of 16 inches of beads to add to our table's bead soup mix on the first day.  We then mixed it all up and divvied it up between our table mates.  They gave us until the end o the last day to make a creation made up of at least 60% bead soup items and we had a little design contest.  Here's a look at the inspiration and my table's mix:

I didn't win a prize in the design contest, but I'm oh so in love with the necklace that I made using my friend Erin's gorgeous pendant!  (You can find her and her goodies at Tesori Trovati.)  Lucky me... I have another similar pendant still in my stash to play with at a later date.  Now I just have to decide if I'm keeping this one for myself!

After the wrap-party where we got to see what everyone had been working on for the last few days, many of us headed into downtown Galena for dinner and a fun-and-treasure-filled trip to Trish Italia's (Jess's mom, if you didn't know) lovely bead store, Rustic River Finds!  Of course, since I need another bead like I need another hole in my head, I had to buy a ton of fun new beads... mostly Czech glass and peanut seed beads in colors I haven't seen before.  Trish also had a cute make and take bracelet for us all to do.  It's so special that she kept the store open late just for our group... we all appreciate her time and talent.  This was a fabulous way to officially end the retreat.  Trish has more than just beads... she's got some cute home decor too.  It's totally worth stopping in if you ever find yourself in Galena!

Not wanting the fun times to end, a few of us met up for breakfast in downtown Galena and then hit up a few antiques stores before hitting the road.  I found a couple of fun things including a cigar mold that I plan to use for some jewelry display and some old Mattel molds from their Thing Maker that my sisters had back in the day.  (If you want a giggle, check out a commercial for the Thing Maker creepy crawlers from the 60's HERE.)

A huge thanks to all the wonderful instructors who bring their passion, enthusiasm, and creativity to make the Adornments Retreat such a special and inspiring event!  This retreat is more than just a educational experience... it's a fellowship of creatives gathering to learn, laugh, and share.  Some of my favorite moments were actually outside of the retreat proper.  Each night after the official events were over, many of us gathered in our room (I shared again with my friend Monica) for drinks, snacks, and gabbing.  Most nights we laughed until we cried... seriously, I don't remember the last time I belly laughed like that!  I love that such a diverse group of women can come together for events like this... I made many new friends and got to reconnect with old ones.

I'll wrap this up and leave you with a shot of one of the gorgeous sunsets that we enjoyed from the Chestnut Mountain Resort.  As is so often the case, my photo doesn't do justice to the beauty my eyes took in... but it gives you an idea of the view nonetheless.  Until next year, Adornments! 

Inspired by Nature Retreat 2017

I meant to write this up sooner, but I feel like I've been running nonstop since I got back from this amazing three day retreat with Heather Powers in South Haven, Michigan earlier this month.  I still wanted to do a little mini wrap up of my weekend reconnecting with my beady friends, learning new things, and just generally getting inspired!

If you haven't heard of the Inspired by Nature Retreat, it's the brain child (love child??) of Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  This was the 7th year of this event that is held in Heather's home town each October and my second year attending.  The last couple of years the whole event has been held at the Riverbend Retreat Resort set on a large piece of property along the Black River.  It's the perfect place to get back in touch with nature and your creativity!

After having some travel glitches last year, I decided to drive to South Haven this year.  Luckily for me, a fellow jewelry maker who lives on the East side of the Twin Cities was interested in road tripping with me!  A long drive is always more fun when you aren't alone!  Anyways, I picked up Anna Pierson of SagaHus and we set out on our adventure.  The first leg of our journey took us as far as the Chicago suburbs where we met up with two other retreat goers for a beady slumber party at Monica Pena's house before making the rest of the journey on Friday morning.  Having our priorities in order, Anna and I did stop for a wine tasting along the way to South Haven!

Day one of the retreat started out with getting settled in, getting our goody bags, and doing our charm exchange (so great to see what everyone came up with!).  Our first project started with making some fun polymer clay molds that we would then use to make polymer clay beads later in the day.  While I found the process fun and interesting, my results were mixed.  I learned some things that I think will make any future attempts go smoother, but mostly it's about practice.  Heather's beads are always so perfectly shaped and even.  Mine turned out a bit more on the lumpy gravy side!  

The top picture shows some of my molds.  The bottom are beads before painting.

We didn't completely finish with this project before it was time for our early dinner reservation in town at Taste... painting would just have to wait!  After dinner it was still a little light out and the weather was mild so we took a little stroll down to the pier and lighthouse.  It was lovely and a little magical to see the sunset over Lake Michigan!  After dinner and our stroll, we kept working on our polymer clay beads.  Some of us actually got painting done, but not this girl.  I work a bit too slowly!

Most of the group after dinner!

What a view!  I'm so glad that we took that walk.

After a good night's sleep and a filling breakfast, we were all ready to begin our next big project on Saturday.  Today was the day for the star of the show... Heather's amazing faux tin process!!  For obvious reasons, I can't share the magic of the process, but I did want to show you a few pics from the day.  One thing that I can attest to, is that having a good file made all the difference working on these components.  I have always hated filing... like, hated with a purple passion!  I can't honestly say that it's my favorite thing, but at least I'm now able to file metal edges smooth without wanting to bang my head agains the way!  No more spending stupid amounts of time filing metal only to to find that I've somehow managed to make it sharper!  (Seriously, don't ask me how, but this was apparently my super power in the past.)  Anyway... pictures!!

Are you good with puzzles?  Making the most of the space I had on my copper sheet!

My bracelet bars:  These are the only pieces that I got completely done... filed and sealed.  

We had a decent amount of down time during the faux tin process, so I finally got back to painting my beads from day one.  I didn't finish the process, going back to sand and add more paint is still on my post-retreat to do list.  You may sense a theme here...

These still need sanding and maybe some metallic accents!

Dinner was pizza and salad at the cabin.  We all hung out chatting and continuing to work fairly late into the night.  Several of my cabin mates toddled back to our little cabin for night caps of wine and cappuccino (not at the same time!).  

Sunday funday and we still had more to learn and make before heading home!  First up, Heather taught us how to do some cool braiding with leather and a lucet (i.e. an amazing fork that Jesse, aka Mr. Humblebeads, made for each of us to keep).  Getting this braid started was tricky for this girl who has never known how/been able to braid anything ever!  I'm so glad that I stuck with it through the awkward first stages because the end result is amazing.  I had some issues finishing the braided ends and Heather had to help me.  If I can't figure out how to do it all pretty on my own, I do have a back up plan that involves bead caps.  Stay tuned... I'm going to try it again very soon!   

The beginning stages of my braid on my trusty new lucet fork!

Forks up!  All hail Mr. Humblebeads!!

I'm really very proud of the finished bracelet... and not just because it's the only thing I actually finished at the retreat!  In all seriousness, for me it's not about how many finished pieces I leave with, but about what I learned.  By that standard, this year's Inspired by Nature Retreat was a huge success!  Anyway, back to the bracelet... other than Heather's disk bead and the jump rings, this piece is totally hand made by this girl right here.  This is the first time I've managed to make a toggle bar that I'm completely happy with... and I think I've learned the secret to making more in the future.  

The finished product!

Running behind a little bit, we ended up having lunch and then doing one last quick project before hitting the road.  Heather taught us how to use the Now That's a Jig system to make a really cool focal for a charm necklace.  We all had 20 brand new charms to choose from to decorate the pendant so the hard part was deciding which ones to use since they were all so fun and fabulous!  I'm excited to say that I went home with one of the scratch n' dent jigs that we were using for class so I'm eager to play some more with my new toy.

Full disclosure: I finished this at home after the retreat.

One last item before we all finished loading our cars and headed out... the group photo.  It was cold, windy, and a little rainy so we all huddled (for warmth and to fit!) on the porch while Jesse snapped the picture.  What a fun group of ladies (and one lad) to spend the weekend creating and laughing with!  Thanks to all (especially Heather and Jesse!!) for another wonderful event!

End of retreat group photo:  Can you tell it was a tiny bit windy??

Not wanting to lose momentum after I got back home, I sat down to finish filing and sealing the faux tin earring charms that I had started at the retreat and get the earrings all finished up.  I love how these little cuties all look.  The last pair is a keeper for me since I discovered that they were a great match for a newer top in my closet.  Now I have to get brave and decide what I'm doing with some of the larger "tin" pieces that came home with me.  Hopefully you'll see some necklaces and other goodies from me before too long.  

My keepers.

It's not done yet, but I had a third piece from one of the patterns and I know what I'm going to do with it.  My plan is to rivet the smaller faux tin piece to some of the etched metal that I did at Bead & Button.  Here's a sneak peek:

Thanks for stopping by and following along with my Inspired by Nature Retreat exploits!!  If you have the chance to take a class with or attend a retreat with Heather, you should totally make it happen... you won't regret it.