OK, so this project has one heck of a story! I created this and submitted it to Bead & Button in late 2008, and it was published in June 2009. My version is the blue - theirs is the gold and gray on the left.
This was in 2009. If anyone was watching TV much that year, there was a show on called "Project Runway" they may remember seeing! That year, there were 2 designers from Charleston SC and 1 from Savannah GA - but the one who made it the farthest was Gordanna Gelhausen from GOGA Designs in Charleston. She had this great shop on King Street - where I met her, after she saw this bracelet in this issue!
You see, at that point, it was quickly heading into July - and Gordana knew that she had to present a collection at Fashion Week VERY soon. No one else knew - because she was unable to talk about the show or the taping schedule. On TV, we saw everyone at this point - but in show taping schedule, they were down to only 7 of them, and they all had to present at Fashion Week because no one knew who would be eliminated coming up.
Gordana saw my bracelet and thought, Wonderful, it will go with my dresses! Then she read through the pattern, & got discouraged because she knew she couldn't bead them herself in time AND make dresses too. Then she got excited when she saw I was from Bluffton, only 2 hours away!! When I got the phonecall from her, I thought someone was messing with me at first, lol!
After our initial meeting at her shop, Gordana sent me some of her hand-dyed organza samples and I got to work. Gordana needed yellow, blue, green, pink, grey and white to present a spring collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. We determined that I would make her 5, but that I really wanted to keep my blue one because it was special to me, so she sort-of “rented” it, lol!. I removed the clasp on the blue version and replaced with with a smaler one to better fit a tiny model’s wrist! And then I beaded like a crazy woman for about 6 weeks to complete the other 5 bracelets. They came out stunningly - and Gordana not only used them in NY at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, but also in LA for Fashion Week, and for the folks she dressed for the Emmy’s Red Carpet that year! Once those events were finished, the "blue bracelet that could" came home. I put it’s original clasp on it, and went right back to wearing again! :)
Cool, tho, right?!? I think that may be the widest exposure my work has gotten, aside from publication itself! And it was a lot of fun working with a clothing designer. I’d love to do it again - collaboration is just so great! :D Gordana moved out west after Project Runway, so I havent’s seen her since, but I have seen her Instagram and her dresses STILL kill, just beautiful stuff! :)