Free Gift and Finishing Details!

As a little something special for the holiday season, we had these wonderful little Adorn Travel Tape Measures made up. They are really handy---perfect to throw in your purse or travel bag.  We will include them with every order we send out to you, until supplies run out.

The Adorn Travel Tape Measure

AND for all you Dolci students --- wonderful news. If you normally go to a finisher with your needlepoint work, we wanted to make sure you had that option for the Dolci Cyberworkshop. SO-- we have secured a finisher for the Dolci class who, if you so choose, can complete the Dolci beads from the stitched canvas you send her. She's been carefully trained, does marvelous work ---- we could not be happier with her skill. We will include her contact, pricing and ordering information in every kit!

A sample from our trained Dolci Bead Finisher

Back in a bit!

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The Awesome Days.

The holiest of the Jewish holidays begins tonight.  Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement. On this day we atone for the sins of the past year, we search our souls and ask forgiveness for our sins against God.  While this is most important, as we plea to God to inscribe our names in the Book of Life, I find the second part of our duties on this day to be most beautiful.  It is our duty to ask forgiveness for the sins we committed against our fellow human beings.  We are asked to shed our bad thoughts, our anger, our guilt, and to come with outstretched arms toward any person we may have mistreated, asking for forgiveness.  Doing this wholeheartedly has no perks.  It does not insure our fate in the coming year, it has nothing to do with our relationship with God.  This is between us and our neighbor, our family member, our perceived enemy.  We hear a lot about how forgiving someone who wronged us lifts a burden off our own shoulders, frees us from the weight of anger and hate.  These are not modern day concepts, they are at the center of this Holy Day, Yom Kippur.  We ask forgiveness, we forgive others and in doing so we free them and ourselves of the burden of anger and resentment.  We set forth into the coming year lighter, unburdened, and with a loving heart. 

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GIVEAWAY WINNER and DOLCI IN DEPTH

Hello All!

We have decide to go into detail about the options for the new Dolci class, to answer any questions that may be out there.  Let's start off with what you guys like best: THREADS!

Any Option that includes threads in the title includes the following:

 12 skeins--- 2 metallics and the rest silk. It also comes with seed beads to do the sewn beadwork that
shows up on some of the individual designs.

There are two colorways, MOD and NOUVEAU. This is a MOD colorway Bead:

MOD COLORWAY

Mod is all about bright contrasts, purples, apple green, red, lilac. It's on the louder side. Bright, flashy, cheery.


This is a NOUVEAU colorway bead:

NOUVEAU COLORWAY

As you can see, these colors a little softer--teal, turquoise, browns, and tangerine. Elegant, refined. To see more of each colorway, check out the past two blog postings, go to the website or the product page and you will find many variations on the theme! It really is just two colorways, it's just different combinations!

Here you will see the eight bead patterns you are going to make. The picture shows some of both colorway, but there are eight distinctly different patterns:

The Eight Bead Designs for DOLCI: The Cyberclass

Now, onto the anything that contains "metal" in the title! In each Metal Kit you will receive professional jewelry tools such as round nosed wire wrapping pliers, flat nosed pliers and wire cutters. You will receive headpins, beads, jump rings and other jewelry findings which will be utilized in the finishing of the beads. This kit also comes with the seed beads that are used as accents on many of the individual designs.

Now Options:  To figure out which option is best for you, go to the cyberworkshop page. This page will give you detailed descriptions of each option. If an option lists "Threads" in the title, it includes all the threads for one colorway- Mod or Nouveau. If it lists "Metal" in the title, it includes all the things listed in the metal kit. If the title has Metal and Thread in the title, it includes a "Metal" kit, and a "Thread" kit in whatever colorway you choose!

Every option includes the Class Pass, which gets you into class! Each lesson will be posted in an easy to download, printable PDF for all students, no matter which option you choose.

*** We have also just added a Fifth option as requested by one lovely customer--just in case there wasn't enough to choose from! Option 5 is the Metal Kit and Both Colorway Kits--Mod AND Nouveau! So get all your supplies and roll around in all that silk, if you wish--you can make every bead you see, from beginning to end with this kit!


Ok---AND NOW A WINNER!!


Congrats to Geeky Heather, who has won the latest "My Family" free giveaway kit! Please email us with your snail mail address and we will send you a wonderful array of threads to go with the latest free design.

Please feel free to post any and all questions you have about this class---we will answer any and all questions, and maybe your comment will help others out!

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Modeling Jewels

Over the holidays, this past week, Shiri agreed to do some modeling for my Dolci bead jewelry.  Looking at her, so poised and beautiful, watching as she mothers Nomi with such love and gentleness, hearing her chat with Reid about legal "stuff" with the eloquence of a seasoned, sharp attorney,  I just about burst with pride!!

We also took a photo of a bunch of Dolci beads in Shiri's hands so that you can get a good idea of their size.  I think they are so beautiful bundled up in her hands, Yummy!

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A New Design, A Fresh Approach and A Class you will love!

For months now, I have been hinting at a new Cyberclass.  And here it is -- at long last --  Dolci...

Nouveau Colorway--The Sunburst Bead

Dolci ( pronounced "dole-chaye") means "sweets" in Italian. And it fits these new bead designs perfectly: bite-sized, delicate, and oh so sweet! I am incredibly excited to introduce this class... I feel that this is a new way of doing things, a new way of working with canvas and thread.  It's about details, and it's about presentation--two things I love.

Nouveau Colorway --- The Checkerboard Bead

What sets these beads apart from other jewelry components I have created in the past, is that they are true beads. They are rounded and double sided. They have a 3-dimensionality that has not been done until now.  In the Cyberclass, you will be working with the first 8 designs of a whole new line of  Dolci Bead designs from Adorn. You will learn all of the new techniques needed to create these tiny gems. And they really are tiny--the smallest is as small as a dime!

Nouveau Colorway -- 4 Crescent Bead

It was a long process getting these designs exactly right. We were looking for fiber beads that could be elegant, wearable and sophisticated. A grown up version of fiber jewelry. We wanted there to be a metal element, to give them the ability to hold their own in a finished jewelry piece. We wanted versatility, and above all, an easy way for students to create them.
 

Mod Colorway -- The Stop Sign Bead

And we did it! We got all of that into this class. And we are really proud of it! In addition to that, I put together four registration options, five kit options, and two colorway options! Whew! And you all thought I was kicking back in Israel all summer....

So, go to the website and get more details about Dolci. Read all your options, and see which one suits you best! Registration ends November 15th, 2011, and class begins February 1st, 2012.

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New Free Design - My Family Series

Before I get on with the next installment of the My Family series, I wanted to let you know that I am putting this chapter on my blog with a bit of trepidation.  It might not seem possible, being that I have a blog and that I've been writing about my life, but you must believe me when I tell you that I am a very private person.  This blog has been and still is an exercise for me in opening up, not being afraid to share.  This installment, more than others, is very personal but I feel you can't know anything about my life without knowing about Shiri.  This was originally written 11 years ago, (before Nina came into our lives).  Shiri was a college student then. Now she is a mother, a wife, a lawyer, a beautiful human being and a loving, caring, delightful daughter.  I am leaving this installment exactly as it was in the magazine 11 years ago...

Shiri, Orin and Nomi

My Daughter Shiri

By the time this issue comes to your homes it will be March.  Twenty-one years ago, on the 25th of March, my daughter Shiri was born.  She is my only child.  When Shiri was a few months old, her father and I separated.  I raised her on my own for the next twelve years. 

I came into parenting at the age of 23.  I remember well looking down into my baby’s eyes as she was put on my stomach for the first time.  Her blue round eyes were huge and they gazed up at me with intensity.

Shiri and I spent the next twelve years as a solid unit, she and I facing the world together.  In the first year of her life I was facing a divorce which rocked my world and terrified me.  I had to make immediate changes in my career, becoming the sole provider for our family unit.  I was faced with financial devastation and began a struggle that would last for years.  Planning for my future was a luxury I did not allow myself.   It was Shiri’s future that I would think about at night.  How would I make it all possible for her?

She was an easy baby, very inquisitive, happy and funny.  We spent many hours together, the two of us, and I remember talking to her constantly. From early on Shiri invited me to be a part of her inner most emotional life and she made her way into mine.  Our bond has always been like a metal chain linking the two of us from within.

When she was twelve years old I met Reid and we were married a year later.  Our family unit expanded and Shiri had to make way for a new member.  Just as she did not have any say in her being raised by a single mother, she was now faced with such a big change and she must have been terrified.  The first year of our new life was rocky, but soon Shiri and Reid began establishing a wonderful relationship that has grown into a beautiful combination of love and respect.

I could go on and on about my Shiri.  She is the pride of my life. . . *

*  As I mentioned, this installment came before Nina

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Drum Roll Please.....

When I first started up my website in 1998, I had a lot of people ask me simply: "Why?" Websites and emails were still untested, untrusted waters, but I thought that it would be a great way to reach out to other fiber lovers across the country and across the world.  Well, as it turns out, it was a great move, and I am really proud of what we have achieved over the years through our website, blog and cyberclasses!

SO it is with great excitement that we unveil the new www.ornadesign.com!

Beyond the fabulous new look -- we also put our heads together and looked for ways to meet the needs of the great people that have been our customers over the years. We came up with a new "Notions" section full of the little odds and ends that make life easier.  We will be adding more new items in the next few weeks.  Our Needlepoint Design section has great new pictures and better information. Cyberclasses and Thread Gatherings have been given room to breathe in their own easy to navigate sections.  In fact, keep an eye out for our first Cyberclass announcement for the 2011-2012 season, due out October 1st! Students of this class will get access to our new, simplified, beautified forum board.

And best of all--we decided to do away with shipping charges---Forever!  That's Free Shipping on all of your ADORN orders. Forever. 

*  *  *  *  *        

                  

As part of our new website launch, you will also find the beautiful design Squaredance available for sale. This checkerboard design combines 45 bite-sized squares and a world of stitches and color combination to create a dazzling eclectic spin on a traditional sampler. Utilizing laid stitches, woven stitches, satin stitches and knots, each square combines multiple layered techniques to create tiny vignettes of color and texture. A kit full of silks, metallics, overdyes, filament and Ultrasuede gives you an amazing palette of materials to play with!

  

So, there are a bunch of new good things for you---go check out the new site with all it's bells, whistles and beauty!

And thanks for being a part of everything we do!

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Finally I can show you!!

ANG Seminar of 2012 will be in Philadelphia!  Yea!!  To top it off, ANG will be celebrating a 40 year anniversary.  I was so very excited when I found this out and immediately sat down to design a piece to be taught at Seminar.  It's called "My City, My Skyline".  Now, can I be honest?  I LOVE this piece.  It's very different, it's a combination of all sorts of materials, it's three- dimensional and it includes finishing done by the stitcher.  When it's done it is ready to hang. 

This photo shows all the fiber colors.  What a rainbow, eh? At the bottom of the photo you see the acrylic blocks especially designed and sized for the piece. They are used to bring dimension to each segment of the city. 

 

 
The entire composition is placed on 3/4" artist board, ready for hanging.  Also students will receive a sepia colored photograph of the Philadelphia skyline to place on the artist board and under the stitched pieces.  Check out the buildings in the sepia photo and their stitched interpretation. 

Hang the completed piece on your wall, give it the right lighting, and the city will come to life!

I'd love to see you in this class. 

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Back home.

Even if you didn't know the date, ( AHHHHHH, it's September 1st!!), looking around the city, one could tell instantly what time of year it is. School buses are making their way through the streets, the "water ice" shops are announcing their September close dates, (water ice is a very strange Philly phenomenon), and evenings are beginning to have a breeze and even a little chill. Fresh from our trip back to Israel, we have walked straight into fall, a big change to be sure!

Nina is heading back to school next week, although "back" isn't quite right-- she is starting 5th grade at a new school that's music focused. I am so excited to see what she finds at this new school! I may have Mozart living with me. Or maybe Sid Vicious~ who knows what she will come up with?!? 

As for the studio-- I am getting back in the swing of things. It seems like I was gone for 6 months--it doesn't seem possible it was just shy of a one month. The trip was wonderful.  I saw my family, my friends, and studied metal-smithing with a most extraordinary teacher.  Her name is Uranit and you can see her work here.  She taught me methodically, with an emphasis on preciseness,  quality work, meticulous execution.  I feel I learned so much.  We talked about setting up a work station here at my home so that I could work, practice, design and create metal jewelry.  But I'm afraid of myself.  I enjoy it so much, what if I get caught up in it and ignore my needlework?  What if I am swept away by the magical process of turning a flat piece of metal into a three dimensional object of beauty? Can I really trust myself to take that journey without cheating on my first love, needlepoint? What's a girl to do?

 

I found inspiration back home.  The colors, sounds, smells always perk up my creativity.  I spent lots of time at museums on this trip and that too is a great source of inspiration.  You'll see... 

 

We have all sorts of things coming up this month, we should be announcing an amazing new cyber workshop at the end of the month, (if we can stick to our schedule...)! This one has truly been a labor of love, and if I dare say so, the project looks like no other I have seen! So we are getting back down to work, and watching for fall leaves.

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