Bead & Button Fun #1

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Bead & Button Show, Dakota Stones, MAKU Studio, Trinket Foundry, Vintaj, William Jones

I went to the Bead & Button Show on Friday for the first time in five years. I had such a good time!  I got to meet some online friends, which was very fun.  I bought lots of great stuff.  I’m already scheming my plots and plans for next year, but I know that is folly because I had a big plan for buying this year, and I didn’t really follow it.  But I’m super happy with everything I bought (and I only forgot to get one thing I meant to get!) and I did realize something that affected my shopping.

I generally cannot deal with a ton of strands. I can buy from a booth with lots of strands, like Dakota Stones. But a ton of strands all laid out on top of one another just makes it impossible for me to focus. Throw in a big 75% off sign that will force me to calculate a price in my head, and it turns a good deal into a deal breaker. So my plan to focus on gemstone strands crashed and burned. Speaking of Dakota stones, they had a new cut, called star cut, that I really liked. I thought about getting a few strands of this cut in some favorite stones. But then I saw a collar strand of rough cut labradorite beads. I’ve admired strands like this over the years in the Dakota Stones booth at various shows. I decided to treat myself to one great strand! It’s so beautiful.I also got a strand of pyrite nuggets. I always love these.

I got some fabulous new things from a couple of favorite shops.  First, Allegory Gallery. I got to meet proprietors Andrew Thornton and William Jones in person! That was so nice after participating in their design challenges, reading club and destashes over the years.  They are just as nice in person as they are online!  I picked up some lovelies from the shop.

They had these great fiber cards each with four different kinds of fiber.  I love them!  I really wanted them all, but this is the one I picked.  I can’t wait to incorporate these fibers into my designs.  I’m hoping these fiber cards mights show up in the etsy shop. I also got multiple strands of these beautiful soft yellow vintage plastic beads.  I have a couple, and they are a favorite. I’d like to make a whole necklace featuring these. I love yellow. 

I also got a couple of Andrew’s pendants. I love the meaningful sayings he has been putting on pendants lately. Also, I never met an Andrew Thornton bronze pendant I didn’t love.  In addition, Andrew and William gifted me with this charming podling ornament. 

This magical creature was handmade by Andrew. It’s full of good vibes it will be spreading while hanging in my studio.

Andrew and William shared a booth with their family who own Green Girl Studios. I was hoping to be able to get a couple of their new designs, and I did.

The hands and house are new. Some of the new Green Girl beads are available in Allegory Gallery’s esty shop. If I could still wear earrings, I would totally make the hands into earrings. Even though I won’t use them that way, I bought two so I could have my bead and use it too.  I also bought this gorgeous bangle.  In fact, I was on a bit of a bangle binge.  Here is the stack that ended up on my wrist on the ride home.  LOVE!

In addition to the Green Girl bracelet, there are three glass bangles made from wine bottles from Trinket Foundry and a hand patinaed cuff from Vintaj. I had seen the Vintaj cuffs on their Facebook page just before the show and had fallen in love.

For a while I have wanted a bird from MAKU Studio.  I thought I would check out her supply at the show, and if one seemed right I would get it. This one spoke to me right away. And this little heart wanted to come home with me too.

I got some more things, but I will save those for another post.  I hope you enjoyed this show and tell.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Double Happiness Giveaway

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Artybecca, Daisy Chain Extra, Gaea, Joanne Tinley, Kim Snider, Mandrel Beads

When I was thinking about the name for this blog post, I thought of “double happiness” which I’ve seen on Chinese food menus. I don’t even know what food that refers to.  As a vegetarian, I always get mixed Chinese greens or mixed vegetables, but the name stuck with me. I’ve been a bit down lately, and what better way to cheer me up than a giveaway?  That’s where the double happiness comes in.  The giveaway makes me happy and makes the winner happy! Apparently double happiness is a Chinese calligraphy symbol meaning joy and is especially popular for weddings.

Anyway, let’s get on to the goods!  I just kind of randomly picked boxes out of my stash and went through them and thought, “Oh, people would like this!” and added it to the group.  First up, a lovely lampwork butterfly wing by Kim Snider.

Kim’s wares are super popular.  I have gotten all of mine on her Mandrel Beads Facebook page sales. There is hot competition, and the wings (in pairs or sets) can go pretty high.  However, Kim is very generous and during each show offers not only giveaways but BIN rounds where she offers some wings for a set price. Everyone who comments BIN (buy it now) is entered into a drawing to buy the wings for that set price.  That is how I have gotten some wings, and I’m really grateful to her for that opportunity.  So now here is your opportunity to get a wing as well.  Here is a necklace I made with one of her wings.

Next up is a beautiful starfish pendant by Andrew Thornton for those of us dreaming of summer!

I’m not going to lie; I have quite a collection of Andrew’s art.  I just love it!  If you don’t know him, Andrew is one of the owners of Allegory Gallery as well as an artist in multiple media and just a really good guy.  I’m going to come clean that I’m not good at telling materials apart (or knowing kinds of beads).  I just know what I like.  So I’m not sure if this is polymer clay or porcelain – even after touching it to try to determine.  Andrew works in both, but whatever, it’s beautiful!

Next up is a Gaea bundle.  That tube bead makes my heart go pitter-pat!

Gaea also sells on Facebook.  I tend to like buying that way for some reason.  In addition to loving her beads, I love her original paintings that she has started to sell (I have one!).  She has also started to incorporate her prints into jewelry components by offering copper and art resin pendants and beads.  These gorgeous works of art are popular!

Next up is a polymer bead by Artybecca.  I just love everything she makes. She’s always trying something new.  Here are two sides of this bead so you can see all the colors. It feels just as smooth and silky as it looks.

Next we have a clasp from Daisy Chain Extra, which is no longer in business. Joanne Tinley stopped selling components but still makes jewelry and teaches. I found her not long before she stopped selling components, so I only have a few of her things.  Here is your chance to own this super cute little flower clasp.

My poor little dry hands.  I’m not going to pretend I will take better care of them.  I hate the way lotion feels, so I use lotion and then end up washing it off! But I wanted you to be able to see how cute and functional this is.

Now on to some non-art beads. These came out of my metallic box.  We have black squares with a gold AB coating on one side and some tiny flat square spacers.  

Next is a strand of white agate beads. There was a time when I didn’t like white beads, but now I really love them. I love pops of color and high contrast, and white can really pop in a design!

Last but not least I’ve included some Czech glass.  I must have hit some function on my phone’s camera because this is all vignette-y, but it still shows this lovely selection of English cut Czech beads.  I like the pretty chunkiness of this shape, and you get these three beautiful colors because they happened to be in a bag together in my Czech glass box.

This is kind of a long post, but since part of the point was to cheer me up that’s ok.  I love to talk about beads and post on my blog, so writing this post was excellent for both of these things.

How do you enter to win?  Easy!  Just tell/show me something good.  It can be something good that has happened in your life recently, something good someone else told you, a good tip about how to organize your work space, your favorite bead shop or artist, a good recipe, a cute picture of your sweet pet…you get the idea.  Leave your comment by Friday, 3/17/17 (St. Patrick’s Day!) at 6:00 PM Central Time.  If you are in the US, don’t forget that tomorrow (Sunday 3/12/17) is the day most of us set our clocks forward one hour.

I will announce the winner on this blog later on that Friday or on Saturday morning.  Please include a way to get in contact with you to make my life easy. Thank you and good luck!

Vintage Plastic

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Allegory Gallery Design Challenges, Andrew Thornton, Anna Pierson, Saga Hus, SagaHus Components, vintage plastic beads

I have really gotten interested in vintage plastic beads lately.  I blame Andrew Thornton and Allegory Gallery – in a good way!  Andrew often includes plastic beads in his kits for the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge (super fun and inspiring challenges, by the way) and their etsy shop.

Recently, Anna Pierson of Saga Hus was having a component sale and destash on her SagaHus Components Facebook Page. I love her wire and fiber (and sometimes beaded) components, and I also got some great vintage plastic beads!  I could not resist the fabulous egg shape and swirly pumpkin texture. Reading that description, maybe I was hungry!  It worked out, though, because soon after I got them, I made a delicious necklace!

I strung them all together on waxed linen with yellow seed beads as spacers.  I added a pair of glass beads that seemed to fit in for added interest at the front and a few trixies for fun at the back. It’s long enough to slip over my head. I really like vintage plastic beads and the fun, lightweight looks I’ve been able to get with them.

Allegory Gallery White As Snow Challenge Reveal

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, White As Snow Challenge

Today is the reveal for the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge – White as Snow edition!

Here is a picture of the kit:

Here are pictures of the Mystery Components handmade by Andrew.  Delicious, yes?

In the past, I have seen and admired jewelry made with pet tags.  In fact, I had made a necklace a while ago with a cat tag my sister gave me.  Any of you who follow me on  Facebook or Instagram know that cat now lives with me, and I recently acquired my first rabies tag in the shape of a red heart!  It was too perfect not to use for this challenge.  From the kit I used the rondelle Mystery Components, some of the white beads and some of the red white heart beads. From my stash I added some maroon beads (actually from a previous challenge kit!), waxed linen, gold spacers and some black and red fired polished beads. I really love how those echoed the swirly look of the Mystery Component beads.  I am very happy with the sort of dark and mysterious look I got with this piece. It kept the heart from looking too sappy, but I still get to be all sentimental and wear a reminder of MooKitty close to my heart.  🙂

I had sketched several pieces that used the strand of howlite chip, but in the end my “use whatever is on the bead table” aesthetic came into play.  I had this strand of simple cut jasper (or maybe agate or something – I never know) that made me think of the woods aspect of the Snow White story.  I think this necklace looks like a snow-dusted wood at the beginning of winter.  It’s more earthy than things I usually make which tend to be more colorful.  It’s nice to add something a bit different to my collection.

I also made a pair of earrings with a couple of the big “jewel” beads.  So fun!

I also made a tassel with the seed beads (and a little bumpy bead on top!) but it didn’t quite turn out.  The strands are uneven and the gold accent beads I added that were all supposed to line up didn’t.  So I did not finish a piece with it.  I’ll remake it and use it later.  It has potential!

This was a great kit, and I had more ideas than time!  Thank you Andrew, William and Allegory Gallery.  Please the Facebook page to see other people’s creations!

New(ish) Beads Parade

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Beady Girl Beads, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Jennifer Tough, Joan Miller Porcelain, Project: Next Step

I haven’t had a new beads post recently, so I thought I’d show some new and newish beads.  I just went to take pictures, and anything that hadn’t been put away yet was fair game.  My studio is a mess again.  It’s going to get some attention during my upcoming time off.  So, here we go.

These gorgeous beads from Andrew Thornton actually are pretty new.  He saw some ancient beads he liked and decided to make some similar.  He is such an amazing artist. His beads are even better than the original. I am in love with them!

You can see more of Andrew’s work (as well as that of other artists) at Allegory Gallery and their etsy store. Andrew and his partner William are having a fundraiser for a special project for the gallery with some really fun rewards still available until December 15th.  Check that out here: Project: Next Step.

Next up are these from Beady Girl Beads.  I love the bright style, and fell for this matte heart.  The other beads were a gift – nice!

I’m a complete Joan Miller junkie. I could not resist this cat pendant from Joan Miller Porcelain. I also got these great floral bead caps, and this bicone bead. The bicone is truly one of the most beautiful beads I’ve ever seen.  This picture doesn’t really capture the metallic glowy goodness of it.

Here is a bonbon bead and leafy pendant by Heather Powers of Humblebeads. She has so many gorgeous things. I recently saw some blue toned bonbons on her Facebook page. Swoon! Her husband also makes some beautiful things like these connectors. 

Last but not least is this crackle heart by Jennifer Tough. I really like her work, and I had made a necklace with another of her hearts that turned out so great I wanted more!

Thanks for visiting.  Come again!

Monochromatic in Color

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Bead & Button, Diane Hawkey, Gaea

Diane Hawkey is one of my favorite artists.  One of the things she makes is beads.  Other than her famous word beads, it’s not easy to get her things outside of bead shows. I got a little stash at the 2013  Bead & Button, and a few things various other places.  But recently, she had a show on a Facebook page. I had my finger poised to pounce, and I was amazed at how many things I was able to get.  Amazed and thrilled.

So, I’ve used my first bead from this group, the neighborhood pendant in the upper left corner.  I bought a variety of Czech glass rondelles from William and Andrew of Allegory Gallery and thought right away that they’d go well with the neighborhood. I often have quick thoughts like that – these beads would go well with this. But I know it is partly inspiration from things floating in my brain.  I think this necklace was inspired in part by this necklace I made with melon beads and a Gaea pendant and this necklace by Andrew Thornton.

I call this monochromatic in color because although this necklace isn’t just different shades of the same hue, the colors of the Czech glass echo the colors in the pendant, so it is kind of blendy that way. I love high contrast and pops of color, but I find this look very comforting and happy. I finished it up with a beautiful copper clasp by Gaea.

Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Reveal: Autumn Fire

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Art Bead Scene, Artisan Clay, Autumn Fire Design Challenge, Erin Siegel, Lorelei Eurto, My Elements, Passion for Paper Beads, Yvonne Irvin-Faus

Today is the reveal for the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge – Autumn Fire edition. Challenge kits are put together by artist Andrew Thornton and consist of a variety of fun beads along with one or more Mystery Components hand made by Andrew.  Here is a picture of the kit.

Look at it!  Such delicious colors, a double strand of chip beads in case I decide to make something long and luxurious, browns, umbers, oranges, yellows!  I love it. And then there is the Mystery Component.

I’ve managed to capture a little bit of the sparkly vibrance of these blowing leaves. It really represents my favorite kind of autumn day.

First up, I made a necklace with some of the strand of chip beads and some of the tubes from the kit. This reveal, I thought I’d try showing one of my sketches with the piece it became.

I didn’t know where to find (or maybe I don’t even have) the multicolor fall toned spacers I was thinking of, but I had these apple green seed beads on my table, so I used those. The seed beads that came with the kit were slightly bigger, plus, I’ll be honest, I love the color, so I’m sort of hoarding them.

I added some great paper beads I got from Passion for Paper Beads on etsy a couple years ago. I like that beads wait around until they find a project that is right for them. Then I added three cool beads from the kit at the back of the necklace just for fun. I’m very pleased with this.

Then I made a couple pairs of earrings.  First with these tabs I loved from the kit and immediately decided to make into earrings. The shape reminds me of Elaine Ray’s beads for some reason.  (She’s retired from bead making now.)

Then I decided to make some earrings with more of the chips and two of the faceted yellow beads which I love! When I was sketching, I had noted wanting to use some pop, like sparkle or color, between the chips. So I used some of the sequins from the kit!

I really think these turned out pretty and fun. I moved on to another necklace. I was inspired by this fiber necklace on Pinterest.  I had a variety of ideas, but decided to use the Mystery Component with a variety of beads from the kit and three vintage plastic discs, a bi-colored old wooden round and a textured yellow ceramic bead by Kristie of Artisan Clay.

Next I decided to make a bracelet with some of the chunky plastic beads.  I am very inspired by Lorelei Eurto’s jewelry, and I was looking at this bracelet in particular. If you visit the blog post it is from, you can see she used a premium mix from Allegory Gallery, similar to the Luxury Blends that are included in challenge kits!

I used three of the juicy orange marbled plastic beads from the kit along with an orange, turquoise and olive bead by Yvonne Irvin-Faus of My Elements on one side.  On the other side, I used beads from the kit, my stash and more goodies from the My Elements shop.

Then I wanted to make something completely different – a bookmark!  I’ve wanted to make one since I saw them on Erin Siegel’s blog. She did a tutorial of the bookmark using art beads on Art Bead Scene.  This was a really fun one.

This was a very, very fun kit and challenge! Thank you William, Andrew and Allegory Gallery! If you’d like to see more creations from this kit, please visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Facebook page to see what other participants made.

Art Bead Scene – November 2016

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Art Bead Scene, Claire Maunsell, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Lee Oscar Lawrie, Miss Fickle Media

The Art Bead Scene blog offers a great monthly challenge.  The editors share a piece of art for inspiration, and participants make something based on it using at least one art bead. The inspiration this month is a metalwork owl above the door to a room at the Library of Congress.  The artist is Lee Oscar Lawrie.

I really enjoy participating in the Art Bead Scene challenges, but I haven’t done so lately.  I’m not sure I would have this time.  Sometimes I’m overwhelmed with ideas and find it difficult to focus, but lucky for me I had help this month in the form of Heather Powers’ Bead Table Wednesday video this week in her Humblebeads VIP Party Facebook page.  It was a great post that talked about a few things including the ABS challenge and the uplifting power of art. I came away inspired as I did from last week’s video. Heather is the creator of Art Bead Scene as well as the artist behind Humblebeads.

I thought, yeah, I have some owls in my stash.  I started one necklace, but I wasn’t feeling it, so I decided to look for some other owl pendants in my stash by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery and Claire Maunsell of StillPointWorks. I came across this wonderful bronze owl coin pendant by Andrew and knew I’d found my art bead for this challenge. Metal and majestic, like the inspiration.

I wanted to add something right above the pendant. After searching around my stash, I decided on this little mood bead. It changes colors, and I like that aspect of it. The necklace will look slightly different at different times.  While I was designing, the bead was mostly green.  Whenever I touched it, blue was the hue.  For some reason when I took the picture, it took on a golden tone like the yellow quartz.  I like that the bronze and the quartz have a bit of a monochromatic look like the inspiration piece.

I love the simple cut, and especially when the stones are drilled so that some are side to side and some are top to bottom.  I think that adds a nice design element.  I was originally going to use one of the marquis cut Montana agate beads above the pendant, but I couldn’t get both strands of the (1-ply!) linen to go through.  However, because I needed a little more length, I got to use two of the beads in the back.  I finished it off with chestnut opal patina hook clasp from Miss Fickle Media.

Please visit the Art Bead Scene Pinterest page to see more creations from the challenge inspiration.

Humblebeads Stacked Fall Necklace

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Gaea, Heather Powers, Helen Backhouse, Helen's Bat Cave, Humblebeads, Karen Totten, Majoyoal, Mari Carmen Rodriguez Martinez, Starry Road Studio, Supply Your Soul, Vintaj

Heather Powers of Humblebeads makes great polymer clay beads. She also makes beautiful jewelry, and recently shared some tips and design ideas on a Work Table Wednesday video on her Humblebeads VIP Party Facebook page. She has made a colorful innovation to her classic bird beads.  In the video, she shows that she has also used the technique to make owls and offers some cute ideas to use each in pretty necklaces. I was inspired to use the bird I have.

I had so many ideas; this shows just a few of the beads I considered using. Heather showed a variety of leaves and birds together.  I thought about using this beautiful black round by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio because I love the black with the grey bird.  But I couldn’t resist using a leaf. I don’t actually have a lot of leaves in my stash, but this one by Helen Backhouse of Helen’s Bat Cave went so well with the gold in the bird.  I loved the idea of using a Vintaj acorn bead cap. I also loved this mottled brown ceramic bead by Mari Carmen Rodriguez Martinez of Majoyoal. But I decided I wanted a pop of the pink/purple in the bird.  Some choices included dark and light purple ceramic beads by Gaea and a plastic bead. In the end, I used a polymer clay nugget by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery. I used some beautiful patina ball chain in the Steampunk color from Supply Your Soul.

I couldn’t resist also using Heather’s idea to put a flower bead in a bead cap to make a little “crown” on top of the bird. This project was a lot of fun. It’s simple and easily customized to the beads you have available.

Allegory Gallery Magic Potion Special Challenge Reveal

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Magic Potion Special Challenge reavel

Today is the reveal for Allegory Gallery’s Magic Potion Special Challenge reveal. I love everything about this kit, even the picture above.  Artist Andrew Thornton puts together these kits for the challenges, and I actually remembered to take a picture of the kit this time.

I also managed to get a picture of the Mystery Components.  Andrew always includes at least one hand made Mystery Component in the kits.  This time there were multiple.

These colors are just glorious, and I was very inspired, as I always am with Allegory Gallery challenge kits.  However, I didn’t get much made due to various things going on.

However, this just means that I have a fabulous ton of beads left to make wonderful things in the future!  I really like this tassel look, although originally I planned to use some of the pretty crystals in the kit at the ends of the chain, so I might still do that.  We’ll see.  The picture makes it look gold, but the dangle chain is silver.

Please visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Facebook page to see what other people have made with their kits!  Thanks, as always, to William and Andrew of Allegory Gallery for hosting these wonderful challenges.