I have some pendants that look like cave paintings that I just love. They are by Jana Bližňáková of Happy Fish Things. They were sitting out near some chunky multi color tourmaline beads from Allegory Gallery. I thought they would look great together. They were sitting there for a while, and today was the day I decided to make the necklace.
Actually, last night I was super tired and couldn’t stay awake, so I was getting ready for bed at 7:30 PM. I wandered into my studio for a few minutes and thought I’d see if I could figure out what to put with the tourmaline. I decided on some rough black tourmaline chunks I got from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash many moons ago. I used some metal pewties, also from Allegory Gallery, for spacers. I tried a couple of different things as dangles from that third hole, but I didn’t really like any of them, so I decided just to leave it alone. I really like it the way it is.
I haven’t felt especially creative in a while, though I’ve done some things. Today I felt like coming up to my studio. I didn’t make the things I initially had in mind, but I am back to my old way of having materials I see inspire the pieces I make.
First, I was getting out some seed beads for a necklace I will still make in the future, and I saw a textured bronze frame pendant from Saki Silver. I thought of a couple different beads that would go well with the frame. I have another one, so maybe I will make one of the other ideas eventually. This time I decided to go with larimar, star cut amazonite and labradorite.
Then I started to put away some beads that have been sitting out for quite a while – cherry red vintage lucite rounds. I love read beads, and I have been thinking lately that I need to use some of the art beads I’ve been hoarding. I knew if I looked through my Diane Hawkey stash, I would find a nice pendant with a red accent, and I did! (If you are looking for Diane Hawkey beads, she sells on the Ceramic Art Bead Market.) I used a Gaea off white bead above it, some large red/metallic seed beads, and gold colored pewties from Allegory Gallery. I hung some sparkly pyrite from the bottom of the pendant.
It felt good to be creative today. I feel like making another necklace too, but I think I really need to clean up my space a little bit. But first, lunch!
It has been a little while since I’ve done an Allegory Gallery Design Challenge reveal. But I was extremely inspired by the Dark Rainbow kit. Once I got it, I started to work with it right away. My favorite things were the matte beads, and I designed and laid out a necklace using those first. Then before I finished it (I had to work on sizing it a bit) I made two other necklaces, finished the first one and then made even more.
The first necklace is a mash up of the Dark Rainbow kit and a Vintaj inspiration kit. This Vintaj star and blue bead were on my table. I had been trying some beads from my stash in the Vintaj design, and they weren’t working. It occurred to me that the blue bead looked like it belonged with the Dark Rainbow kit, so I chose some beads from the design kit and they were perfect! I wanted some great chain to finish it off, but didn’t find just the right thing on my chain wall. (I have SO much chain; I’m always surprised when I don’t think I have the right thing.) But then I had an aha moment. In a great mixed box of supplies I got from Lennis Carrier, there was a necklace to repurpose.
Each section had two types of chain. I chose the one with interlocking ovals, and I think that looks perfect in my mash up necklace!
Next I used the Mystery Component. That is the only thing you didn’t see if you clicked on the link to the photos of the kit. It is a surprise until you get your kit or it is publicly revealed. It is handmade by Andrew Thornton. It is perfect for the kit’s theme and also has a 70s vibe. If you know me, you know I love a 70s vibe!
With it, I used one of the organic grey/rainbow beads and the lentil drops from the kit along with some metallic rondelles and spacers and grey vintage glass from my stash.
Then I finished the first thing I designed. I used many of the matte beads (so gorgeous!) with a dichroic glass connector I have had for 20 years or more. I also had little rounds that looked very similar to the connector, so I added some of those in and jet rondelles to bring out the black frame in the connector.
I was thinking of how the multicolor metallic coating of the kit beads reminded me of AB crystals. I thought of a black circle studded with AB rhinestones I had. I thought the crystal would work well with the kit, and the circle would give something it hang the other large grey organic bead from. I love those! I also used some other beads from the kit and had a nice black chain that reminded me of the material of the circle.
From the time I saw the kit, I loved the multicolor chain that was included and knew I’d use it for something. It is a fine chain, so it lent itself to a delicate necklace. I was putting away some more destash treasures and really wanted to use some beautiful purple pearls. I didn’t have an idea, except the purple was perfect with the kit! So I used a swirly blue rondelle from the kit, a rhinestone spacer that was on my table for a pair of earrings I was making and one of the pearls. Pretty pendant on the chain! This picture doesn’t show the lovely colors of the chain that well, but it’s really gorgeous.
The idea of this last necklace I’m going to show came to me as I was falling asleep. It helps me fall asleep to design jewelry in my head. For some reason, I thought of a pair of earrings I’ve had for over 30 years. I bought them at a thrift shop when I lived in Chicago and wore them with a white shirt with big orange polka dots, which I also got at a thrift store. It was the ’80s; this was a happening, funky ensemble.
Isn’t the prism perfect for the Dark Rainbow kit? So I employed one for a pendant.
I used a gold bead that was sitting on my table, the grey triangle from the kit. I used more of the purple pearls I used in the necklace above, some of the coin beads and small matte spacers from the kit. I liked the idea of the bigger beveled rounds from the kit because the gold tones in those played nicely off the pendant, but i felt like the size overwhelmed the pendant a little, so I went quieter. I added Czech glass beaded chain made of black cathedral beads with a bronze accent to keep up the sparkle in the necklace. This piece has happy memories of the past.
I did made one more piece: earrings! I don’t make a lot of earrings because I find my wire work lacking, but the only way to get better is practice! So I started these and had one on my table. I finally decided to finish a second one.
From the kit, I used two paddle beads and rainbow rounds and added a couple of AB crystals from my stash. I do love the AB crystals with the rainbowy beads from the kit.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing what I made with my kit. If you’d like to see what others have made, visit Allegory Gallery Design Challenges to see all the beauty and creativity!
I haven’t spent enough creative time, and I’ve missed blogging too. They go hand in hand as I like to document the things I’ve made. To ease back into it, I made a couple of kit projects. I don’t do a ton of kit projects. I do like kits, but more generally design kits such as the ones Allegory Gallery offers, where you take the materials and do what you will. But sometimes an actual project kit strikes me. And I find I’m really liking Candie Cooper‘s kits. So first, one of Candie‘s.
I bought this in December and just didn’t get around to using it until now.
I thought it was cute and fun, and I think she was having a sale after Christmas. I’d been eyeing it, so I bought it. In her project video, Candie mostly talked about it as a package topper or possibly an ornament. At first I wasn’t going to put patina paint on it, but why not? The thing I love about Vintaj patina paints is that they dry so fast. Otherwise I wouldn’t want to use them as often. I’m less patient with stuff that has to be done in steps with waiting time in between. I used the verdigis and made it look a little older and well-loved. I always think that gives things personality and a story.
Here are two photos of the finished product: one in the light box and one hanging in my studio. I didn’t end up using the larger pink pom-pom. Candie called the pom-poms in the kit Hill Tribe. They are super high quality and soft. I don’t use pom-poms often, but honestly I’m ruined for other pom-poms now. I’m going to keep it up year-round as just a fun embellishment.
Next up, I got a memory wire bracelet kit with some braided leather and TierraCast findings and some Dakota Stone beads when Goody Beads and Dakota Stones were doing a live during the recent The Great Bead Extravaganza – Tucson Experience. I don’t make a lot of memory wire bracelets, partly because I don’t have the strength to properly bend the ends, so mine are always janky. There is a special tool for it that could help, but I do not need another tool that I won’t use often. The kit came with heavy duty memory wire, TierraCast findings (curved tubes, spacers, end caps and a charm) and braided leather. The samples were made with the addition of a combination of size 6 and size 8 round gemstones. The kits and a variety of bead strands were being sold. I chose a kit with some brown leather and silver findings. I bought 8mm mookaite and 6 mm crazy lace agate. I thought those stones looked great together and also with the brown leather. Very boho. I added an enameled peace sign charm, and a couple of jump rings and headpins for my dangles.
I really like how it turned out despite my bad loops. One tool I did invest in is a leather cutter. Tory from Goody Beads said it is important to get a nice clean cut on the leather so it doesn’t ever fray. Wow! I love the cutter. It sliced the leather like butter. I can definitely use this going forward.
There were a number of leftover materials, so I made a fun second single wrap bracelet. I used some of the memory wire and one of the curved silver tubes. I added a coiled piece of the new multi-color Artistic Wire in the silver/gold/black colorway. I spied some wooden beads laying on my table so added those, as I do. Then I got out more wooden beads, a glass hoop (the yellow between the two wooden rounds on the silver tube) some multi color O ring metallic spacers and a little wooden animal.
I got the wooden animal and the patterned wooden beads from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash. Also, Andrew Thornton recently did a video tutorial showing a coiled wire project. Then, he used coiling (with one of the multi color wires!) in a Beadalon Designer Challenge to make a really cool necklace. (You can still vote through February 19, 2021 by clicking on the link and liking the picture.) When Andrew showed his coiling technique, I remembered that long ago my dad gave me an Artistic Wire Coiling Gizmo. I fished it out of a drawer and used it to make my coil. It was fun! I will use it again.
The two bracelets stack well together. It’s difficult to stack them flat for a picture, but I’ve been wearing them, and they look and feel great on.
I had a lot of fun with my creative pursuits today. I also started a project for a design kit. I had several other things I wanted to work on, but those have to wait. Maybe I will get to them tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
I’ve been quieter on the blog lately because I’ve been super busy. I really missed having enough creative time, so I made sure to get in the studio today when I had the chance. Last night I took an online class with Erin Prais-Hintz about using Apoxie Sculpt. I loved it! There are a lot of projects using that in my future. This morning I made three projects that are currently curing. I hope to have three successes to show in another blog post. Erin has another class coming up on December 11th.
Then, I opened an order from Jeni Houser Alasad I got last week and finally had a chance to check out. I had purchased a beautiful hollow polymer clay pod she topped with a vintage metal kuchi tassel top. This is the kind of thing I love. I’ve become a huge fan of Jeni’s work, which she calls “rustic, organic, homely, and heartfelt.” Great description; I might add quirky! When I saw it, I wanted it immediately because I knew I had the perfect beads to go with it!
The texture and color she added to the pod very much reminded me of this collection of rustic clay beads I have. I got the majority of these from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash. (You can find Andrew these days doing live tutorials on the Allegory Gallery Facebook page most Tuesdays). The littler round carved clay beads I got at Michael’s. I wanted a smaller spacer bead, and found a bag of mixed brown and green wooden beads – the green is the same as the green on the pod. I love my stash!
I often like to add a little pop to necklaces – a contrast of color, shape, etc. Here I’ve added a little animal bead above the pod. (I believe I got that from Andrew’s destash too.) The one larger red bead with the rustic heart is a special bead that has been in my stash before it was even much of a stash. It was fun to use that.
I have been very unproductive lately. Last week I didn’t even post! I rarely skip a week. I didn’t want to skip another week, but I’m so tired this weekend, I didn’t get anything made. I can tell I won’t before the day is done. I can only deal with getting ready for the work week. But I can show beads.
These are metal earring forms I got from a Lori Anderson’s destash. I’m pretty excited about them. They are really cool. The white ones have a loop at the top and bottom (behind the design) to hang additional beads. They will be fun to make earrings for the Artists for Animals Auction coming up November 2 – 8.
The title of the post is a bit misleading. These aren’t all beads and components I’ve just gotten. But they are all things I don’t think I’ve shown before.
These are lampwork glass beads by Sarah Moran of Z-Beads that I also got in a (later) Lori Anderson destash. I was super excited about that. I only have one other set of Sarah’s beads. They are usually sold in sets and are somewhat expensive (and totally worth it). These were affordable as a partial set. That is one of the things I love about destash.
This is a pendant by Jeni Houser Alasad of Auntie Moons. The brass is vintage from a post office. The disco ball has shimmer in it that isn’t visible in the picture.
These are vintage porcelain flowers. I have no idea what I will do with them, but they are so gorgeous I had to buy them. They are from Suzanne Branca’s Famous Vintage Bead Liquidation Destash. She has the best stuff. I know it will be perfect in some future project.
These are amazing! I ordered various strands from Andrew Thornton’s destash. Some of these are modern, some vintage. I am IN LOVE with vintage glass, and I just got another batch from a recent destash. I don’t even have it yet. These are from a while ago. I just haven’t put them away yet.
I hope you have enjoyed the variety here. I have been cleaning my studio, and it’s so much nicer in there. I still have more to do, but I have a clean surface for my art journaling class that starts next week. I have also registered for an Apoxie Sculpt class with Erin Prais-Hintz, one of my favorite artists. She is offering three classes online through the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.
I hope you are well and staying creative in some way.
I love Fanciful Devices. Let me just start by saying that. I love artist Marina Rios‘ creations, her tutorials, her love of the weird and crusty. Too fangirl? I don’t care. Simply seeing her creations is a treat, and I own some components. I have at least one of her other tutorials, but I’d actually have to try something new to use it, so that’s for later. But I have several days off, and I wanted to have some fun. She happened to post a fabulous, gorgeous stack of her bangles on her Intagram, and she has a tutorial for the bangle stacks, so I bought it.
Doesn’t the above look like I had fun? I would like to emphasize that the tutorial is all I had to buy. I did not have to buy any special materials to make what I will show here. Now that may not be the case for everyone, but I like that the tutorial says beginner and it is truly for a beginner, but can be for anyone of any skill level if you want to have fun and end up with a great stack of bracelets. I will show each one I made individually just to point out some of the fun features.
I made this one first, I intended it to have a more monochromatic look. I know I will be making many more bracelets; I didn’t even use half of the techniques in the tutorial (and I had all the materials for those as well). But I did my usual didn’t-even-get-out-of-my-seat style of design. All the beads I used were within reach on my table or in containers on or near my table. I have had the little silver stamped dagger drops for a long time. I just have a few left. I think one is perfect here.
Highlights here include a random seed, a few christmas beads (they make everything better) and a large hole vintage plastic ring that slides over some other beads.
Next I set out to use some color. I especially love the larger beads with their juicy reds, yellows and oranges. Those colors always make me happy. But then as balance (although I paid no attention to balance) there is a faience blue bird on the other side I got from either Allegory Gallery or Andrew Thornton: Project Destash. I love that addition. It’s fun to have a few little things that particularly stick out (literally and/or figuratively).
I only intended to make three, but I was having so much fun. Also, I had spied a piece of Wooly Wire on my table and meant to use it on the previous bracelet but had forgotten. That also gave me a chance to use some largish shell heishi and a sort of carved/patterned barrel. Who knows why all of this was even out! But it certainly worked out for me. I do want to say that while these bracelets aren’t about uniformity, the tutorial does address making things look right. Any wonkiness is my own impatience. I will read the tutorial more fully in future, but today I just wanted to GO.
I will definitely be having fun with this tutorial again and again. It will be fun to try some of the other techniques, make themed stacks, etc. What a fun and fast way to relax and use up some of my beads!
I’m on vacation, so I went up to my studio just to see what happened. Maybe I would clean, maybe I’d work on a project for an upcoming challenge, maybe…. And then I saw a red glass heart bead I’d gotten a while ago from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash.
I had wire wrapped it with a tiny turquoise Czech glass bead. I can’t even remember the project, but I didn’t end up making it. But I loved how the dark red looked with the turquoise color, so that sent me down a path. I didn’t have a headpin of the right type, so I used wire. Since that gave me the option for an eye pin, I decided to add a small tassel with some chain in the dark red that was on my table.
I played around with that a bit and was using a turquoise bead that had been part of packaging with a necklace I bought from Luciana Lavin. Check out her work. It’s gorgeous! She had also included a tiny little seed beaded tag perfect to use at the bottom of my tassel!
The metal rectangle is a vintage piece I got from Famous Vintage Bead Hoard Liquidation Destash. I got a bag of them. I’m not sure what they are. They are curved and have two spiky bits on each side that I cut off and then flattened the piece. It doesn’t look perfectly smooth on one side, but it has been filed to smoothness. I would not have bought such a thing because I wouldn’t have known what to do with it except that I saw something similar in this Heather Powers video. When the pandemic began, Vintaj gave away kits called Rise and Design. There was a piece included that Heather cut, flattened and used to beautiful effect in a bracelet. I have that kit and planned to make a similar bracelet (still might) but the best type of tutorial not only shows you how to do something, but also inspires you to take the technique and make it your own.
I considered a variety of turquoise colored beads for the strand. These won because I wanted to cover the crimps where it connects with the metal piece with a large hole bead. I used seed beads that matched the metal piece as spacers. I think it turned out very well and was a fun piece to work on.
I wrote in a previous post about trying to come up with delicate necklaces that layer well. I probably could have found things that worked among the many, many necklaces I already have. However, why do that when I could make more? So I came up with a set I really love.
I might make the necklace with the pendant slightly longer so the colored beads show more under the shorter necklace. I’ll see, but I love how they look together.
I got the tiny quartz rock crystal teardrops from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash and the cacoxenite from Dakota Stones. (Their website is wholesale only, but you can get their wares retail at their Facebook live sales and from Goody Beads, among other places.)
I wanted an extender at the back of the crystal quartz necklace, and chose the same beaded chain that I used at the front of the pendant necklace. Those beads are similar to the darkest of the cacoxenite.
The lampwork pendant is special to me. When I was young, I longed for the beautiful things I saw in magazines (like the jewelry I now make!) But I lived in an area where there was mostly mundane mass produced items, at least as far as I knew or had access. My older sister had moved to Philadelphia, and I went to visit her. Oh, what an adventure! I loved her neighborhood, her apartment, the radio station she listened to (the first time I heard Trip Shakespeare and probably any indie station). It was the first time I had (or heard of) a quesadilla. Anyway, I digress. We went to a little boutique, and I bought two pair of wonderful earrings, the kind I had always dreamed of. Wearing them made me feel like the fancy and fabulous person I knew I was! This drop was on one of them, and I’ve saved it for something special.
This set is perfect for some of the lower necklines of the dog days of summer. If you are in a region with hot weather, stay cool and, everywhere, stay safe.
If you read this blog, you know I have added many treasures to my stash from Andrew Thornton’s destash. Some of my favorite beads, as well as some of my favorite things in general, are from the destash. I love one-of-a-kind things that maybe were an experiment, for a class, or for a project that didn’t come to fruition. One example of this is a polymer clay dish I got by Andrew Thornton. I can’t find my notes on this, but I believe this was the result of Andrew playing around (!).
dish by Andrew Thornton
This dragon dish is one of my prized possessions. It is so gorgeous; it is in my living room so I can see it all the time.
Since I knew what treasures could come out of a studio destash, I was thrilled when, during one visit to his sister Cynthia Thornton, Andrew helped her do a destash from her studio. I got some very fine items, including a pendant featuring an original sketch by Cynthia on a shrink plastic.
Pendant by Cynthia Thornton
It is small, so I wanted just the right beads to complement it but not overwhelm it. I auditioned a variety of beads, but finally found just the right thing. I got some vintage turquoise nuggets that I absolutely love from Allegory Gallery. I feel that there is something very 1970s about this turquoise. There are so many design and style elements I love from the ’70s. Of course there are things I don’t like, but I don’t think a whole decade of style should get a bad rap because of a few missteps, like leisure suits! Every decade has those things.
I added a few Indonesian manik-manik glass beads and knotted the whole works on linen. When I was knotting on the clasp, the strand of linen broke. That sort of thing usually spells the end of a project because I hate a re-do. However, I love this design so much, I re-knotted it the same day and finished the clasp the next morning. It didn’t hurt that it’s not a long necklace, but I really do love it.
Bead Love 