New Beads Post and Save the Date(s)

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Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, Artists for Animals Auction, Jennifer Heynen, Jennifer Jangles, Madison Cat Project, Sondra's Estate Beads Destash Depot, Staci Louise Smith

I took a fall a few days ago and injured my hand, so I haven’t worked on the projects I had hoped to show. However, I’m glad to say my hand is healing better than I thought!  I don’t like to go too long without posting, so new beads are always a good choice.

First, though, I wanted to let people know that there is another Artists for Animals Auction coming up. I participated with this last October and will be participating again May 14 – 20, 2018. There are two ways you can support the auction: 1) participate as an artist and auction your handmade items; 2) participate as a purchaser and bid on the items that week. Each artist donates proceeds to their charity of choice. I will donate to Madison Cat Project. Check out the auction page for more information. Join to make sure you get updates.

Now, on to the beads! Here are some fabulous gemstones I got from Andrew Thornton’s Destash. 

There are some juicy peridot nuggets, morganite barrels, faceted lapis rondelles and small faceted carnelian. This photo doesn’t show their real beauty (which is true of most of the photos in this post) because I was unwilling to disturb MooKitty in order to get better light.

The cute blue dishes that I am showing the beads in are by Jennifer “Jangles” Heynen. Here are some of the laser cut wood pendants I’ve gotten from Allegory Gallery. 

Next up are some really lovely vintage plastic beads from Allegory Gallery.

I’ve been enjoying shopping some great vintage (and other) items on Sondra Jackson’s page. I’ve gotten some great chain. I love this unusual vintage diamond chain. She has a great variety of cup chain. This one is much more sparkly in person, and there are better photos on her page. 

Some excellent metal beads. I can’t decide if I want to patina these or leave them as is. Maybe some of each.

She has an extensive collection of Czech glass buttons. Of course I chose a cat. 

I also got some destash from Staci Louise Smith. There was one particular old bag of old stuff that is just the kind of thing I go for. I knew there were some real gems in there, but I wasn’t sure exactly what until I got it. Here are two things I especially love from the bag.

There was more, including a large number of white glass pearls in a variety of sizes and some champagne glass pearls. I’ll have fun using all of this.

I look forward to presenting some finished pieces. I have two necklace designs in mind, plus two bracelet projects. Bracelet weather is coming!

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What’s New?

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Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Diane Hawkey, Earthenwood Studio, Tinkersphere, Tracey Ann Finley Art

I was recently on vacation in New York City to visit my sister and her girlfriend. It’s always fun to go, and I had such a wonderful time. I’ve always loved everywhere my sister has lived in NY, and she’s always had great apartments. But recently she and her girlfriend, Lisa, won the housing lottery and got this fab affordable housing in Manhattan with my favorite view evah! I’m a city girl and could just sit in this living room with all the blinds up day and night. (In fact, I slept in the living room with the blinds up.  That couch folds down into a comfy bed.) 

Lisa is crafty herself and thoughtful as well. She’s often given me ideas for things to use in jewelry making. This visit she presented me with a gift to go to a place called Tinkersphere, complete with handmade card and tag! Look at that sweet little blue eyelet!

So one morning after having a delicious breakfast at The Organic Grill, which thrilled my little vegetarian heart, we ambled over to Tinkersphere in search of jewelry-making supplies and other cool things.

Just as an aside, I love all the wonderful public art available in NY.  We passed this on the way, part of a mural on the side of a building.

One of the fun things I got that I don’t have a picture of is a metal model of a Dalek (from Dr. Who) for my sister and brother-in-law to put together. They have a collection of Daleks, and I was thrilled that this one was new to them. Anywho, on with the rest of the show!

Cute robot necklace! This will probably find itself on a fancier beaded necklace in future. 

I really want to learn to solder, but until I do, I know there are some projects with copper tape that can be made to look soldered without the scary heat factor.

Various useful components.  The perfboard on the left reminded me of this Lori Anderson project. I love the pieces by Curio Jewelry using an assemblage of pieces, and I see this red bit in a piece like that. The last piece is, of course, a charm holder!

These striped blue “beads” come ready to wire wrap as connectors! And I’m so glad Lisa pointed out this magnetic bowl they are in. I am constantly searching for my ends – I don’t know what they are called, but they are metal things you put on the ends of your stringing material when working on a necklace so the beads don’t fall off. Now I can corral them in this magnetic bowl!

This shop was really fun. Thank you, Lisa!

I also wanted to show a few new beads because, well, beads. I love a rabbit motif, and the hare and moon is a favorite of this genre. Here is one from Earthenwood that I got from Allegory Gallery.  That cool background is by my brother-in-law. It’s a card he drew for my birthday. I was going to frame it. I might have to put it in something I can take it out of frequently because it’s a really great photo background!

Here are couple of beads by a favorite artist, Diane Hawkey. This Mad Cat bead reminds me of my Junkyard Dog from Tracey Ann Finley Art.

And last but not least, two “ancient” eye beads by Andrew Thornton. I’m going to admit I already have one or two of these, but when a couple more became available, I had to have them. I love them so much that I want to have some to just keep as beads and that will allow me to use the others in jewelry. I know it’s weird, but I also know some of you reading understand because you have the same weirdness!

Thanks for visiting with me. It’s always fun to talk beads and making.

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#Makeover Monday – Gummy Fish

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#makeovermonday, Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, William Jones

In my past, I often had good ideas that I wasn’t able to execute as well as I would have liked.  I didn’t have a lot of design knowledge, but mostly I didn’t know where to get the best beads (or even what they were.) There are pieces from that time that I don’t wear (and didn’t wear much then) but that I didn’t take apart because I really loved the idea of them. One such necklace is the gummy fish necklace. 

That is the necklace there on the right made many, many years ago – like maybe 15 or 20. I have no idea where I got the Czech glass fish; I didn’t even know the term Czech glass at that time. I’m not surprised I bought them; I like beads that look like candy. Also, I can see that I often loved just the strand of beads as it was, as I still do, and tried to change it as little as possible. Back in the day, that usually involved just separating things with seed beads. That can look a little skimpy, as with these larger fish beads. My designs are still often simple, which I like, but they are more balanced and pleasing.

When I got the chance to get these gorgeous vintage Czech glass light blue rondelles from Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery on his destash page, I jumped at it. I just love the shape and, like my previous set of blue rondelles, I loved that it was a long strand. I know I mention Andrew and William and their shop and the destash often, but I’m so thrilled with the variety and quality of beads I can get. When I saw these and thought what to do with them, my gummy fish necklace came to mind. I could finally make it something I would like to wear.  

It’s not really that different. It just has a bit more heft and a quality, finished look. It is true to the original concept – my lovely gummy fish swimming through a bead sea of blue water. I’m so thrilled with the makeover and can’t wait to wear it.

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Foxy

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Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton

I got this gorgeous resin fox pendant by Andrew Thornton from Allegory Gallery. I loved it on sight.

I knew I would use some agate or jasper with it. I ended up using both! I used Botswana agate and red creek jasper with dark red seed beads as spacers. I strung it all on waxed linen.

I love being able to use special pieces of art to make jewelry so I can wear them. It adds a bright spot to every day.

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Blue

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Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton

I’m a pretty equal opportunity bead lover, especially colors. I do really like pretty much all colors. I will say that I think blue is my least favorite color, though. However, sometimes the perfect beads come along and a least favorite shape or color or size doesn’t matter.

Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery has a Facebook destash page where I am able to get some really fabulous beads. Recently he had some vintage Czech glass beads in extra long strands. I’m always thrilled when I can get a really long strand because I love the look of a long necklace made primarily of one fabulous bead. When I saw these beads, they were the perfect shape, size and color – yes, blue! Cobalt blue. I love everything about them. So this is one of the many times when I wanted to keep the original strand of beads mostly as I saw it and fell in love with it.

I strung the beads, that have a wonderful weight, on waxed linen with tiny dark red seed beads in between. These have become some of my favorite spacers. I added a lampwork bead for interest. (I got it in a different destash and don’t know the artist.) I think it kind of looks like an owl!

I really love how this necklace looks with these beautiful, luminous blue beads.

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Bird Queen

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Allegory Gallery, Gaea Handmade, SagaHus Components

I saw this bird queen pendant when Gaea showed a preview of some upcoming listings recently.  I really wanted it and was a little amazed when I got it.  Her pendants (not only the birds) fly right out of her shop or Facebook almost as soon as they are listed! 

Soon after, I was doing a little shopping with Allegory Gallery and saw the perfect periwinkle shade of Czech glass beads to go with it. I found some orange/red Czech glass in my stash along with a few bone colored German glass beads that would look great in the design as well.

I was taking my materials on a visit to my parents, and I had some fabric and wire components from Anna Pierson of SagaHus.  As soon as I showed her my choices, my mom picked these out as perfect, and they are.  She gave me a few antique ivory beads she had lying around and ta-da!

I also used a clasp by Gaea.  I really love how it turned out!

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Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Reveal – Grow

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Allegory Gallery, Allegory Gallery Design Challenges, Andrew Thornton, Candie Cooper, Grow Design Challenge, Mystele Kirkeeng

Today is the reveal for the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge – Grow edition. This kit was inspired by a painting by Mystele Kirkeeng who recently had a show at Allegory Gallery. I love her work; what a wonderful color mix this kit is!  I even remembered to take a kit picture, along with the inspiration.  

Yum, right? The same day I got the kit, I got my first order from Candie Cooper. Some of the things in my order from her were perfect for this challenge. I ordered some felted balls thinking of this necklace that I saw long ago. I stacked a few of the felt balls and combined kit beads with some bright beads from my stash to make this necklace. I used a yellow glass ring to connect the two. 

I love all of these bright colors together. I always like to use some of the fun individual beads from the kit that I find charming.  Near the clasp, I tied a yellow flower and a blue heart. There was also a small striped lampwork ring that I used between the yellow and purple beads near the blue heart.

Then I made another necklace using the beautiful chip beads from the kit.

I really love these chip beads.  I’m not sure what they are – maybe serpentine? – but they have a creaminess to them that is beautiful.  I used waxed linen the same color that came with the kit (I might have cut up the linen that came with the kit trying to string those felt balls several times).  I like the bright pops of color peeking out from the chips.  For the pendant, I used a Venetian bead with colors from the kit. I used its twin in a design for the Evening Serenade challenge.  It goes with everything!  Then I dangled two kit beads and a bead from my stash (I knew that orange bead with stars would come in handy!) in little brass cages from the bottom for a fun look.

Next I decided to use Andrew’s amazing handmade pendant.  Gorgeous, happy, bright flowers.  This is the type of color combination I love.  I used a green bead above it from the kit and then used two long green beads from the kit with a variety of Czech glass from my stash to string a flowy necklace on waxed linen. By the clasp I used two more of the single charming beads from the kit – a yellow moon and a peacock dagger.

There are a ton more beads left from this kit that I didn’t have a chance to use. This was a beautiful kit.  Thanks, William, Andrew and Allegory Gallery!  To see what others made with their kits, visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Facebook page.

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Two More Necklaces

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Allegory Gallery, BlueberriBeads, Creating Unkamen, Gaea, Linda Landig Jewelry, My Elements

Last night I went up to my studio to clean up a little bit.  There is always cleaning to do.  I usually do some cleaning but also end up making as well. Which is still cleaning because I am using materials.  So, here is what I made.

Not long ago I got an adorable cat pendant and a couple of whirligig charms from Linda Landig Jewelry in the completely fabulous mid-century modern color combination of turquoise and orange.  Love!  So I did not want to add much because they are perfect just on their own.  When I have pieces like that with a really bright color, I know what to do. Head straight over to My Elements because it will have exactly what I need in the color I need it to make a piece that will highlight my beads. So one order of orange ball chain, orange jump rings and turquoise O rings later, here is my necklace.

This is one of those what I call “floppy” necklaces. Not a lot of structure, maybe a big jump ring that makes it lay weird when flat.  Hard to get a good picture. And I see one of my cute O rings is askew above.  Here’s another shot.

I fell in love with this cat pendant the second I saw it.  My vision was to put the O rings on the ball chain so there would be a pop of turquoise between each orange round, but I need either slightly bigger O rings or more patience.  Or I could just leave it as it.  It’s pretty darn cute now.

Next I got a lovely bird pendant from BlueberriBeads. I didn’t have anything particular in mind for it, but while I was cleaning up, I was putting away the bird as well as several strands of a favorite yellow plastic beads I get from Allegory Gallery. I really love them and keep buying them even though I haven’t used that many. But I saw the yellow on the bird and thought they’d go nicely together. 

I used other beads on my table to round things out.  One random Czech glass to hold the bird on (it has a large hole).  What I believe to be a Gaea bead above the bird, and then some apatite rondelles as spacers.  

I used a hand forged black iron hook clasp from Creating Unkamen. I have to get more of those. I love them.  Ok, so I didn’t spend as much time cleaning up as I might have, but I look at it as fewer beads to put away (and more fun jewelry to wear)!

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Amethyst and Moonstone

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Allegory Gallery, Classic Elements

Amethyst is so pretty.  I tend to always like a red stone – garnet, ruby – but every time I see the purple of amethyst I remember how much I love it. Especially a rough cut.  So I love this amethyst slice pendant I got from Classic Elements.

Look at all the gorgeous colors in there – purple, white, blue, grey!  I wanted to highlight not only the beautiful purple tips, but the gorgeous druzy-ish white crackle in the middle.  I paired it with some moonstone cubes and semi-rough amethyst nuggets.  As soon as I got the nuggets (from Allegory Gallery‘s recent gemstone haul) I knew they would be great with the pendant. I separated each bead with silver delicas and used a silver snap clasp.  I love this beautiful necklace and will enjoy wearing it often.

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Mixed Materials Love

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Allegory Gallery, Allegory Gallery Design Challenges, Andrew Thornton, Art beads, The Bead Chest, William Jones

I get some of my best beads from artist Andrew Thornton – his destashes, the shop he owns with William Jones, Allegory Gallery, and the kits he puts together for Allegory Gallery Design Challenges.  Recently I got a strand of paper beads as a prize, and I love them.  I had multiple ideas for them right away.  (They have some similar beads in their etsy store right now.)

Andrew made the polymer faux Moroccan amber beads for a challenge kit. I took apart the necklace I originally made that didn’t do them justice, and I’ve been saving them for something special.  I got some cool, chunky wooden chain from a destash that I knew would find just the right project someday.

After auditioning different metal spacers, I decided to use some I just recently got at Bead & Button.  I added in an enamel Berber bicone bead from The Bead Chest and a large swivel clasp.  I really love how it turned out. It’s a fun mix of materials – paper, polymer clay, metal, wood. Some of these materials have been waiting for the perfect project and some new beads came in handy right away.  I’m already picturing what I will wear it with.

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