Stringing Magazine - Shameless Self-Promotion

I have a new necklace project in the Fall 2009 issue of Stringing Magazine, using my Autumn Tree Pendant. It's available on newsstands October 6th.

On other fronts, while the Short One was at pre-school, I spent some time cleaning out my workspace in the garage (I have annexed about 60% of H's bench space over the past couple years - I am aiming for 80%, but don't tell him that), for the first time in about a year. Definitely painful. However, I can now see the (fireproof) surface of the counter. Hip-hip-hooray, as the SO would say.

Okay, I started writing this post around 3pm and it is now 8pm - and I've written maybe half a sentence in the past 2 hours. I think it's time to surrender. I have new work, a goodie bag from Rings & Things and Friendly Plastic in cool colors (there's a great design challenge going on for that material) in my pile of interesting stuff, but right now I think I have to obey the laws of physics and be hauled off by the little hand that's been tugging at my sleeve for the past ten minutes. Good night all. Thanks for visiting.

Bead & Jewelry Linky Love

Hi, there. I hope everyone had a great weekend. We had an action-packed two days in our neck of the woods, visiting the Kohl's Children's Museum (our favorite children's museum out of all of the ones we frequent - the exhibits are great and they have plenty of staff on hand to ensure the exhibits are all tidy and in working order for the kids). The Short One ended up getting drenched in the water room by an older boy who created a huge wave in the sailboat pool, which was a little demoralizing for him, but it wasn't anything a grilled cheese sandwich, pickle and cookie couldn't fix afterward.

The Short One's grandmother, who is visiting, offered to babysit Saturday night, so H. and I ended up getting tickets to the Lifeline Theater's production of "Treasure Island". For the record, we love Lifeline productions.

A friend introduced us to the company back in the late 90's when they were doing the Lord of the Rings trilogy (before the movies came out) - we saw productions of "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" there. The adaptations were completely brilliant, making creative use of marionettes and miniatures (for the big battle scenes). The best part was probably the Matrix-esque fight sequences that used cast members in black costumes as sort of springboards off of which the actual members involved in the fight performed their acrobatics (it's difficult to describe - sort of like Japanese puppet theater, where the puppet masters perform in full sight of the audience but wearing black clothes to become "invisible").

Anyway, "Treasure Island" was entertaining, although bloodier and more amoral than I was expecting (I don't recall every reading the story as a child). (One scene where the doctor "bleeds" a patient made H. mutter about modern medical practices.) It did make me want to sing sea shanties and growl "arrr, ye swab" all evening.

We finished up the weekend with a trip to the Botanic Garden (why do I always forget to take my camera when we go there?). The roses were still in bloom in the rose garden and, even though I thought it would be too late in the year, we saw the most spectacular lotus blossoms in the reflecting pools.

On the bead front, I have a load of silver ready for the kiln and will actually have a few new items to show for it this week. After that, I'm down to my last 10g of metal clay, though, until the new shipment arrives.

Here are your bead and jewelry links for the week:

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
The pace is picking up for Andrew and his BIG SALE. Check out where he'll be next and celebrate his birthday with a special 15% off promotional code!

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy is already thinking about and making Halloween jewelry so she can wear it next month. What about you?

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
29 Days of Giving starts with a Japanese book giveaway.

Art Bead Scene
Keep misplacing your ruler? Get one for free!

A Bead A Day
If you are "mousing" all day and still want to wear a bracelet, memory wire rubber tubing is a simple and comfortable option.

Beading Arts
So, what to do with all those left over seed beads...?

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Check out the beads and goodies Lorelei bought on her recent trip to London, England

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi discovers Free Trade Kazuri beads from Kenya.

Cindy Gimbrone
Cindy imagines a movie and writes a script.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done.
Jean reviews Big and Bold, a really pretty book of jewelry designs culled from BeadStyle Magazine

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie congratulates Jean Cambell and shares the beautiful piece she made for Beadwork Magazine using an Earthenwood face stone

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done.
Jean reviews Big and Bold, a really pretty book of jewelry designs culled from BeadStyle Magazine

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off her new "Twilight" choker made with Swarovski crystal from Artbeads.com

Thanks for visiting!

News to Smile About

(Okay, okay - I realize the title of this post is not grammatically correct - but I couldn't figure out a better way to put it. Now on to the good stuff:)

Anyone who has read this blog for any appreciable amount of time (whatever that is) will know that I am a big fan of Sarah Moran's work. I love substantial beads, bold colors and cool, geometric designs - and her work has all of that and more. Her Smooch! bead has always been a favorite of mine. One of the first necklaces I ever made, "Charmed Kiss", incorporated a Smooch! into the focal:




(You can tell this is an older piece due to the terrible, lo-res photo - one of these days I will re-photograph this piece...) Did I mention that her vibrant colors just knock me out?



(Note the super-cute fish-tail toggle in this gorgeous pile.) What you may not know is that Sarah has been writing interesting, amusing and sometimes entertainingly acerbic updates through her website for several years. Due to what may laughingly be called the march of progress (also sometimes known as technology run amok - I can hear S. snorting while she reads this), Sarah has decided to abandon this format and start a blog. How fabulous. How wonderful. (How completely unexpected!)

It's brand new, but I already know that it will be something to watch (and read). I highly recommend that you pay a visit by going here. What are you waiting for? Go! Go now!

Twilight

Finally, new work! A while ago, I was invited by the good folks at Artbeads.com to sample some of their extensive collection of Swarovski crystal beads. While I was highly tempted to try one of the gorgeous Swarovski crystal pendants (I am a big fan of the coral-shaped pendants), I decided it was time to dust off an idea I had jotted down in my book a couple years ago - a necklace made from the vibrant colors of a sunset.

Artbeads.com has such a beautiful assortment of colors to choose from - it made putting this part of the design together quite easy. For this choker, I used Hyacinth, Light Siam, Siam, Cobalt Blue, Dark Sapphire, Dark Indigo and Purple Velvet 4mm bicones.

I originally envisioned a simple double-stranded necklace of graduated sunset colored crystal combined with simple onyx beads - no swag, no ornamentation, just very, very plain. However, once I finished wire-wrapping these beads and put them together with the onyx, the whole effect was just too dark. I tried garnet next, but the dark red shade of my beads didn't make the crystal pop very effectively. I was a little surprised to discover that these copper rose potato pearls worked quite well (in my opinion, at least) with the range of orange, red, blue and purple crystal beads. I created a simple swag out of my crystal chain, added two mocca round Swarovski crystals to "cap" the pearls, and then I did finish my choker with faceted onyx and one of Robert Jennick's simple sterling clasps.


It's certainly satisfying to get an idea that has been languishing in my notebook into the real world. I think this color combination is very versatile and could make, for example, beautiful waterfall-style earrings or a very pretty cocktail ring. I am extremely happy with the way this necklace turned out and highly recommend checking out Artbeads.com selection of Swarovski crystal.

Thanks for visiting!

Inspiration Everywhere

Over this past weekend, I found both design inspiration and practical instruction in an unexpected place. This happy circumstance was all due to the fact that we were low on rice, sesame oil and a few other essentials (in this household, at least) and ended up visiting Mitsuwa Marketplace. If you are fortunate enough to live near a Mitsuwa (I believe there are four in the U.S. - two in California, one in New Jersey and one in Illinois) but have never visited it, I highly recommend a trip. It's sort of a mini-mall - a really nice Japanese grocery with bakery, a food court serving various types of Japanese food (ours used to also offer Korean but now offers Chinese instead) and various small businesses - ours currently has a Japanese ceramics shop, a sweets shop, a travel agency specializing in Asia, a video store (which ditto) and a bookstore.

Despite my inability to read Japanese (I can pick out a short word here and there but that's about it), the lure of books is always irresistible to me. While the Short One was distracted by a cone of soft serve green tea ice cream, I ended up sneaking around the corner after lunch to Books Sanseido. I decided to check out the craft section of the store in a fit of optimism. Because I am not a beadweaver, I wasn't actually expecting to find much that I could use, but surprise, surprise - I ended up walking out with the above purchases. The larger booklet is pretty self-explanatory - it's a nice little exposition on ring-making with PMC3 with very clear photographs.

The smaller book is the one I find terribly interesting. It's part of a "Traditional Japanese Patterns" series. There were four volumes available in the store, all filled with renderings of some of the gorgeous embroidered designs found in Japanese textiles. These are truly lovely books. I looked through all four and ended up purchasing volume 2. Here are a couple examples of patterns in the one I brought home:



Beautiful, no?

In addition to the Japanese text in the book, there is an introduction to the book written in English placed at what would be the beginning of a Western book (and the end of a Japanese book) which is quite handy and suggests, of course, that the book was published in part for Western consumption. However, I seriously doubt you would be able to find these volumes on the shelf of an American bookstore.

So our little shopping trip this weekend was a reminder to me - and a suggestion to you - that investigating places such as foreign language bookstores can yield unexpected benefits. I am not well-educated in such traditional Japanese designs, but I have always loved the ones I have encountered from time to time. I am extremely happy to be able to add this collection of motifs to my small - but growing - design library.

Oh, and, by the way, if you are interested in this particular series of books, the collection was created by the textile company Kurenai-kai and published by Seigensha Art Publishing, Inc.

Thanks for visiting.

Robin Hood Hat, anyone?

It's getting to be that time of year again... Of the many projects I pushed aside last week that I urgently have to get back to, designing my son's Halloween costume is near the top of the list. I've vowed to continue knitting his costumes until he finds homemade costumes embarrassing (I'm sure that day will come - I'm just not sure when). I try to make them as functional as possible, so he can wear them after the event. Here's the one of a certain favorite monster I made two years ago that was quite successful. After Halloween, he was able to wear the hat all winter, and I simply changed out the cookie buttons on the sweater to nice leather ones, and that lasted all winter, too.

This year, he's announced that he wants to be Robin Hood. This will entail an (easy and) nice green vest and, if I have time, a quiver of arrows with a little satchel for gold coins, but I'm tearing my hair out trying to design a nice hat for the costume. Anyone know of any knitting patterns for Robin Hood hats? If not, I guess I'll have no choice but to (grumble, grumble) get out the graph paper... I was so hoping he'd want to be a Viking this year (I want to knit horns! I want to knit horns!), but I don't think he quite yet grasps what a Viking is...

For once, I'm timely on my beady links. Enjoy, everyone:

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew announces his BIG SALE! Check out all the goodies!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe goes crazy over Mixed Metals book

Jewelry & Beading
Why wouldn't we talk about fashion on a jewelry and beadwork blog?

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmis creates a necklace using canvas and leather.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene shows off her top art bead picks for this month's Kandinsky Challenge.

A Bead A Day
Bead-wiring vs. bead-weaving...which do you prefer?

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shares her uncertainty about a new dragonfly pendant design.

About.com Jewelry Making
Loving some filigree, check out these new filigree jewelry projects.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy makes more Through the Looking Glass Nuggets Charms that match perfectly with Frost Links.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Bead cones can be used in more way than one and Lorelei shows an example!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stone and Shore

I guess when you get right down to it, although I feel that my style has evolved over the past couple years working with metal clay, I just fundamentally like the idea of small boxes filled with bits of...stuff.  As everyone in my family will tell you, I am a collector by nature, so perhaps the boxes are just an expression of this aspect of my personality.   

Anyway, here's another iteration of a treasure box pendant.  This one is pretty simple - I turned one of my Sea Change pendants into a small box - here's the reverse side of the above photo:

Actually, I am completely out of epoxy right now - and the place I usually buy it from is closed for Rosh Hashanah - so I haven't set the tiny pebbles in the top photo.  (It's just as well - I think I'm going to remove the bit of sea glass - the color just seems a little too jarring next to all of those nice earthy tones.)  They are part of the mass of stones that the Short One and I happily collected on the shores of Lake Michigan this summer.  The pendant is reasonably small (for me, at least) at approximately 1.25" x 1.5", including bail.  I think it will make a nice reversible piece once it's finished.  I suspect the stones will look good strung with either wooden or coconut shell beads (or both).

Thanks for visiting!

Falling Off the Face of the Earth

Hello, there. How have you been? When we arrived back home from our Labor Day weekend vacation, it became very clear to me that I would not be able to finish a project I've been working on for the past several months by my deadline if I didn't drop everything else I had on my plate immediately. Which I did. And, operating as I do firmly under Murphy's Law, I still just barely finished. If it hadn't been for my mother, who came back with us and helped me take care of the Short One, I never would have made it. One of these days I will transform into an organized person who can plan ahead effectively, but it's uphill going, working against the tendency toward entropy that I have perfected over the past four decades.

While I work through my hugey backpile of stuff (it's amazing how much accumulates if you look the other way for a few days, eh?), I have two things to share today. First, here's a drop-dead gorgeous strand of rough-cut rose quartz and smoky quartz wheels I picked up at the Intergem show in Chicago last month. Not only was the strand a nice find, the couple who sold it to me, TJ and Gloria, were lovely people - which is always a plus, in my books. Does anyone else attend Intergem (in one or another of its iterations throughout the country)? I don't attend every show (I believe it visits Chicago about five times a year), but I try to go at least twice a year.

Second, in case you have not already heard, Andrew Thornton is holding a Big Sale with tons of treasure to be added over the next couple weeks, including this beautiful bauble constructed from PMC and fine silver wire, with a classic inside-out boro dot bead by artist Shannon Hill:




Go here to join the hunt.

Childhood

We spent an extended Labor Day weekend at my folks' house. It was the first time we'd visited in a couple years, so to it was basically a brand-new experience for the Short One. I'm happy to report that the SO quite satisfactorily ran his grandparents into a state of complete exhaustion while I got in some quality nap-time (unfortunately, like an idiot, I failed to bring enough head pins with me to complete my project and was unable to obtain more while there).

For myself, there are a few objects from my youth that my parents are still hanging onto for me, including the above. As a child, I was never a girly-girl, but I did love unicorns and had quite a collection of them. My Dad found this one at a gallery on Bourbon Street in New Orleans back in the 1970s and brought it home for me. It's made of some kind of very light wood. I don't dare have it in my house now, as I think it would be broken into tiny pieces by the little tornado that lives here, but it was nice seeing it. I've been vaguely thinking that I should find a gryffon or lion or something to keep it company.

I hope everyone else had a good weekend. Here are my ever-late links for the week:

Jean Campbell
Jean's got a cool job--check out what she's been working on!

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi shares another CopprClay project, which includes making your own mold!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
While in Philadelphia for Bead Fest, Lorelei met up with Andrew Thornton and he gave her some presents!

A Bead A Day
Do you have some favorite beads that bring you joy? Lisa is using "inspirational sliders" to make gifts for friends and would love to hear about your joyful beads!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy brings some color to her new bronze floral medallions.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Tool talk-this time its hole punching pliers & wire cutters

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi shows off her unexpected bead finds from a store in Little Portugal.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew and Diana Ptaszynski of Vintage Blue Studio have a throw down! See how Andrew uses Heather Powers of Humble Beads' Polymer Bird-Head Pendant!

Art Bead Scene
Wondering how big 20mm really is? Here's a handy size chart to keep by your computer. It'll help you out!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews Contemporary Copper Jewelry by the wonderful Sharilyn Miller

About.com Jewelry Making
What's in a name, the name of your jewelry pieces that is? Here are a few tips to consider when naming jewelry you sell through the web.

Cheers.

Progress (And Lack Thereof)

I had so hoped to finish this piece before Labor Day weekend, and it's so very clear to me now that it's just not going to get done. Argh. Artbeads.com has such a beautiful selection of colors in Swarovski crystal. I thought I'd at least show off what I acquired and what I'm working on before I head off for my holiday. The piece WILL be finished next week. I intend to let the Short One run his grandparents ragged while I sit in the corner and bead. It's my proposed strategy at least.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

ADDENDUM: I just found out that Artbeads.com is offering a 20% off coupon valid over Labor Day Weekend. There are requirements: a $60.00 minimum purchase and you have to sign up for their newsletter. However, the coupon code is good for anything in the store. Like their beautiful hand-painted Russian pendants, for example (drool, drool). Go here if you are interested in signing up for the newsletter.

Bead & Jewelry Linky Love

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get anything done these days. Well, except paint and make cupcakes out of Play Doh (I make very attractive Play Doh cupcakes, if I say so myself). The Short One starts pre-school in two weeks. He'll only be attending a few days a week part-time, but I'm already wondering what I'm going to do with all of that free time.

Anyway, here are your super-late links for the week:

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi uses shrink plastic to make a neat little bracelet.

About.com Jewelry Making
Do you use blogging to promote your jewelry business? Tammy has some thoughts for you on this.

A Bead A Day
Have you ever used sterling silver curly-Q tubes in your jewelry designs?? Lisa is searching for cool ideas for these adorable tubes.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene expands the editorial staff and welcomes Lorelei Eurto!

Earthenwood Studio Chronices
Melanie shows off some fun experiments that she has seen coming out of her studio, mixing copper and pewter

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva
Cindy unveils a new series of Art Nouveau inspired beads. In French it's known as "Stile Floreal" and in English it's the "Floral Style."

Jewelry & Beading
Looking ahead to the fall, Cyndi shows how to make a new necklace called "Autumn Arbor".

Katie's Beading Blog
Katie's mixing metals and a fun peyote bail with a giant crystal disk.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei is hosting a Necklace Round Robin, but you have to leave a comment to be entered to win a spot!

The writing and art of Andrew Thornton.
Beadfest Philadelphia was packed with talented artisans and bead-makers. See what Andrew picked out!

A suprising (but happy) finish - EPatternsCentral

The UPS guy just delivered a box from the publisher with one of my necklace projects in it. This isn't completely unusual, given what I do with my spare time these days, but the contents today were a complete surprise. I thought it contained two pieces I have slated for an upcoming book, but in fact when I opened the box I discovered this necklace.

This piece, with the completely beautiful ceramic horse focal by Virginia Miska (which, incidentally, I won as part of my monthly challenge prize package back in 2007, through Art Bead Scene), was originally slated for the April 2009 edition of Simply Beads magazine. Alas, that worthy publication's last issue was February 2009. I subsequently completely lost track of this piece (I am embarrassed to say that I didn't even realize it was still at the publisher's office - note to self to get a little more organized about my projects...).

I received the happy news today that the project has been published on ePatternsCentral. If you are not already familiar with this service, ePatternsCentral is an electronic warehouse, of sorts, of downloadable crafting patterns. Looking for unusual, attractive beading, sewing, knitting, crocheting or quilting (among other mediums) patterns? Why not try ePatternsCentral?

"Horsefeathers" (which, with apologies to Virginia, is the title of this necklace) is now available for download here.

Thanks for visiting!

Bead & Jewelry Linky Love

The Short One actually has a school supply list this year. I made the mistake of taking the SO with me went I went shopping for paint - with the result that I ended up having to buy two sets of watercolors, so he could have one to use at home, too. Which he has been, very diligently, so I can't really complain. Above is one of his masterpieces.

I'm late with links again this week. I was feeling so wiped out last night that I passed out shortly after putting the SO to bed. Whenever I need a big block of time to make silver components, I really find that I have to do it at night during the weekend. I was up until 4am Saturday night putting together a large focal. I guess it must be age, but I just can't spring back from a late night and spend the next day chasing after the SO - even after arranging for H. to run after him for a couple hours in the morning so I could sleep in. Oh, well. There are certainly worse problems to have.

Anyway, the links!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Take a peek into Lorelei's studio and see some cool bead storage solutions!

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene gets green findings at the local re-use store.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi has a short demo on how she came up with a contest entry.

A Bead A Day
Creating a "tiara" for your wrist is easy using Jill MacKay beading components and bicone crystals.

Katie's Beading Blog
Katie's project is a free, featured download on Beading Daily. Yay!

About.com Jewelry Making
Check out my beautifully organized list of mixed-media book reviews and find the perfect book to help you mix up your jewelry making.

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi wants to know, what's the best thing you've made so far this summer?

Jean Campbell
Jean's whipped up a free vintage button brooch project for you to try.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Come join the fun in Philadelphia this weekend at Beadfest! Stop by the Green Girl Studios booth to say hello to Andrew and check out all the great new things available!!!

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva
What do bronze and rawhide have in common? Cindy explains how she uses both in her studio.

Earthenwood Studio Chronices
Melanie contemplates taking risks, making changes, and creative experimentation to prevent art burnout

Strands of Beads
Melissa reveals her Use the Muse II Entry, "Briar Rose."

Use the Muse II - The Big Reveal

Use the Muse II has officially ended, so I can now show you my entry, entitled "Briar Rose". The Muse this time was an ornate donut shell pendant from Lillypilly, courtesy of Artbeads.com. This was a beautiful, beautiful piece for inspiration, I must say. The winding, vine-like design and the color reminded me of a romantic fairy tale, particularly Sleeping Beauty - whose name, of course, was Briar Rose.

As you can see, I ended up making not so much a fine silver box as a sandwich for the Muse. You can't see the back of the pendant in these photos (and unfortunately the lamp for my light box has a burnt-out bulb, so I can't photograph it tonight), but it's actually one of my unicorne pendants. The front is cut out like one of the compass rose designs I've been working on this summer. I just happened to have a tiny carved coral rose in my stash, which fit nicely in the center of the donut. I ended up using the crystal and pearls from the kit to "encrust" the piece with "jewels":


I used a pale rose flatback crystal to both (practically speaking) cover the hole in the pendant and reinforce the idea of a compass rose - the crystal stands for North, of course, where the heart lies. Also, it's a little difficult to see through the wire-wrapping, but the stringing holes in the pendant are actually cut out heart shapes.

So there you have it - my interpretation of the Muse. For photos of all of the entries, including the fabulous winners (and they are fabulous - once again, the range of entries was both fascinating and stunning), please visit Scarlett Lanson's website.

Thanks for visiting!

Mixing

We're baking today! I wish you could smell the scent of banana bread that's filling our house right now.

In Progress

Here's a shot of a few items, fresh from my kiln. The treasure box is double-sided - my sea change pendant is on the reverse side. I know what it will contain (after, you know, burnishing, patinating, etc.), but I haven't gone to pick the contents yet. Hopefully, by this weekend, I can finish it.

The chain gave me trouble for several weeks. No matter how much I sketched, my drafts just didn't look right. I decided to risk the clay and just sat down to work it out on the table over the weekend. This method makes me nervous, since mistakes can be so expensive when working with fine silver. In the end, though, designing this way helped me work through my block. I wanted chain that looked distinctive but wouldn't overwhelm the large focal I'm hoping to suspend from it. I think this will fit the bill. So I'm now, um, six inches closer to finishing my next big project.

Please everybody visit Kate McKinnon's sale pages and buy the goodies there, if only to save me from myself. I have bought way too much treasure there. It is ongoing (she has been listing new items throughout the day for the past couple days) and can be found here and here.

Thanks for visiting.

Bead & Jewelry Linky Love

Yesterday, to keep the Short One occupied while I wrote a short email, I asked him to trace his hand on pieces of construction paper. After I finished my note, I cut out the hand prints for him. It took me a moment to realize that - One of These Things is Not Like the Others. It's definitely a sign of his artistic talent. Definitely.

Anyway, I goofed, and forgot to post these last night. Here are your intriguing links for the week:

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shares her new Shino glaze tests, and ponders about new work.

A Bead A Day
A Crystallized "Square Ring"! If you have never seen a "square ring", stop by A Bead A Day to see how it has been incorporated into a bracelet.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi explains how she made her glue gun leather brooch.

About.com Jewelry Making
Too Much Jewelry Business Success? Is it really possible? And if so, what do you do about it?

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva
Looking to create a pendant from one of her antique button treasures, Cindy tries her hand at mold making.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene announces the August monthly challenge theme - a beautiful woodcut print.

Beading Arts
The simple spiral square stitch can add pizazz to your projects. Learn this easy stitch with an easy-to-follow tutorial!

Jean Campbell
Jean helped deliver two babies this week: a new nephew and a new bracelet design

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
There are a couple of new bead and blog books on the shelves at Barnes & Noble! Lorelei's got the scoop!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
The BIG REVEAL is here! Check out Andrew's submission to the Use the Muse II contest!

Thanks for visiting!

Resistance is Futile

So, yeah, I did a little shopping this past week. Kate McKinnon is currently having a "Soul Clearing Sale". She is listing not only a truly marvelous selection of her metal clay works of art but also some truly beautiful lampworked beads from her personal collection that she has decided to release to the world. This amazing yin/yang bead is by Sage, and it's now mine. I just can't get over the level of beautiful and precise detail in this focal. This will be the first of Sage's work in my little collection of beads, and I'm quite happy to have it.

I also just bought this fabulous ring by Kate herself:


Amazing, no? (Not only did this piece blow me away when I first saw it, it's also just the right size for the middle finger of my right hand. I have somewhat skinny wrists and fingers, so I figure the fact that this will fit me must mean something.)

I love this sale, not only as a client, but also because the variety of work - both her own and those of other artists that have been in her private collection - provides an interesting glimpse into Kate's life as an artist and teacher.

Kate is adding new listings to her sale shops daily and will continue to do so until August 20th. I encourage you to take a look, as it's well worth it. She has two shops set up - one for components and one for finished objects.

What are you waiting for? Go! Go now!

Be Sure to Flex Your Creativity

Here's another piece I designed using Soft Flex's super-cool "Renewal" Trios wire and beads by Sarah Moran. (To see my original "Spotlight On" article for which I created this necklace, please go here.)

This is just a quick reminder that there's still time to enter Soft Flex Company's Flex Your Creativity Beading Contest - but hurry! The deadline is September 1st.

Bead & Jewelry Linky Love

After months of successfully ignoring my little Etsy store, I finally gave in and added a couple pieces. I have one more to finish up and list - then I expect the rest of the month will be spent on another big concept piece. I've been thinking a lot about...chain recently (and the Aretha song "Chain of Fools").

Here are you bead & jewelry links for the week:

A Bead A Day
Do you use buttons in your jewelry designs? Stop by A Bead A Day to share your experiences and ideas.

About.com Jewelry Making
Is the under 20 crowd crafting more or less these days? Take the quick poll & see the results of what other crafters are thinking about this issue.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew reveals ten new jewelry designs.

Barbe Saint John - New Treasures from Forgotten Artifacts
Join in the fun of the Objects & Elements Reader Challenge!

Beading Arts
Beautiful Swarovski components from ArtBeads.com inspired Cyndi...right over the moon!

Art Bead Scene
Looking for some new earring ideas? The Art Bead Scene reviews 101 Wire Earrings.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei shares some links to another really cool blog beading challenge.

Carmi's Art/Life World
A little Friendly Plastic, a charm and resin makes for an amazing pendant.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Summer heat getting to you? Cindy has a wrist full of Frost Links in Pear to keep her cool.

Jean Campbell
Jean whips up a pair of funky Steampunky earrings; you can make them, too!

Katie's Beading Blog
Check out Katie's upcoming workshops!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie happens upon a new line of supplies that blend perfectly with her steampunk designs as well as her new resin collage pendants.

Strands of Beads
Melissa creates a simple but stunning necklace with goodies from Rings & Things

Beachcombing and taiko drums

We finally had a seasonably warm weekend where we live - probably the first one all summer. It was sweltering, so naturally we ran around and complained about the heat.

I found out by chance that the Midwest Buddhist Temple downton was holding a Ginza Festival, so we dragged the Short One with us to attend for a bit on Saturday. The classical dancing was a bit too slow and girly for the SO (although he coveted and eventually came home with a painted fan), but the taiko drums actually held his interest for a good five minutes, which isn't bad for him. I hadn't seen a live taiko performance in many years (and I'm not sure if H. has ever seen one), so it was quite fun. The group that performed, Kogen Taiko, has video clips on its website here, if you are interested.

Today we took the SO to the beach to collect a few rocks and dig in the sand (see blurry pic, above - the best I could do before the SO woke from his nap). I must say, I was impressed by how many nice, smooth, flat stones were on the beach. I'm thinking of collecting a few myself and trying to drill them for jewelry. Anyone have any experience with this? At this point, I have this vague understanding that the stones should be drilled in water, but that's about it (I know - scary, right?). Any advice would be appreciated.

For my part, a little beachcombing yielded a few miniscule pieces of sea (lake?) glass:


Cute, eh? I've put them aside for a future bezel.

Okay, I am being hauled away to play. I will be back later with this week's bead and jewelry links.

Thanks for visiting.

Shameless Self-Promotion: Bead Dreams

The Bead Dreams publication, displaying the winners and finalists of the 2009 competition, is now available. For the first time this year (I believe) it is only available on-line through the Bead & Button website, here. Needless to say, I already have my copy, and it is completely beautiful (not that I'm impartial, of course). Also, if you click on the link above, you will see a preview video, which has, as it's screencap:



(this is not the actual video, it's just a JPEG of the screenshot) ta-da! - my "Natural History" belt buckle. Needless to say, I'm pleased as punch.

Seriously, though, the photography for the e-booklet is quite stunning. As I mentioned before, apart from metal clay, my favorite category this year was beaded objects (I particularly liked the sense of humor in many of these pieces) - but all of the works are really quite inspiring to view.

As always, thanks for visiting.

The Tides

I picked up a strand of mosaic turquoise over Mother's Day weekend this year. The colors and pattern reminded me very strongly of the way sunlight filters through water, so I decided to combine the stones with some small drilled pieces of shell and finished the piece with one of my sea pendants and a rough cut ceramic bead by Diane Hawkey.

Can you believe it's already August? And we've only had a handful of days where I live that were really hot enough to spend at the pool.

Thanks for visiting.

Bead & Jewelry Linky Love

This is our first year planting corn, so we weren't sure what to expect - especially since we didn't attempt to hand-pollinate the stalks when the tassels opened. However, I went out the garden this evening to take a peek and counted at least eight small ears growing in our garden. Woo-hoo! Here's the clearest shot I was able to take of one of the bigger ones. Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it?

Here are your intriguing bead and jewelry links for the weekend. Have a good one!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei is helping to promote Cynthia Thornton's new book release by offering the 1st of 8 giveaways!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
With Swarovski crystals from Artbeads.com, Andrew creates a wire-wrapped dangle bracelet inspired by a fuzzy caterpillar.

Art Bead Scene
Learn how to make your own bezel with Art Bead Scene!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi places some vintage lace/tatting between glass for this lovely pendant idea.

Beading Arts
Fishing is a fun summertime activity, but even more fun when it results in something to wear!

A Bead A Day
Swarovski Crystal Volcano! Are you ready to see sparks of red, yellow and orange?

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy's going bananas over bamboo beads!

Jean Campbell
Jean gives the inside scoop on Rachel Nelson-Smith's upcoming book, Seed Bead Fusion.

Cindy Gimbrone
Want to add charm to your jewelry? Cindy Gimbrone shows you how to make glass nugget charms.

Strands of Beads
Melissa discusses her experiences with metal clay safety issues

Good Things in Small Packages

I love receiving packages in the mail and this month was no exception - check out the contents of the goody bag I recently received from the good folks at Rings & Things. It's filled with a variety of treasures, such as the cool, metal links in unusual shapes, a sweet and simple copper bail, a bag of blue designer mix beads and some cool Swarovski Crystalized Elements crystal cubes.

I was particularly interested in the cubes, as the colors just happened to complement a boro lampworked bead I recently acquired from Sarah Moran. The bead had been lying around for inspiration to strike, and the goodies from Rings & Things turned out to be the perfect catalyst.

I took one black diamond crystal cube and one topaz/aurora borealis crystal cube, two small fine silver rings I made myself and wire-wrapped them together. I then added two pieces of crimson silk ribbon to create this simple tie-back necklace:


Here's another shot of the necklace:



This simple design works for me. The beautiful crystal cubes set off the focal boro bead perfectly - the colors complement the glass nicely and the clean, geometric cube shape contrasts beautifully with the round focal. It is comfortable and easy to wear for the summer (and if you read my previous post, you know I'm now a big fan of tie-back closures).

Thank you, Rings & Things - I couldn't ask for a better Muse!