Bead in the New Year with Allegory Gallery – Week 4 Wrap Up

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, art abandonment, artist trading cards, Bead in the New Year with Allegory Gallery, Crafty Hope, Hope Smitherman, One Piece at a Time, Vintage Bead Vault, Who Knows What

As I typed that title, I realized I don’t have full weeks in my wrap ups necessarily, so there will be five weeks this month. 🙂 On to the Allegory Gallery prompts!

Day 21 – Get together with some friends to create

My mom is my favorite beading buddy. This is at her house last weekend. It’s nice to have someone else’s opinion and exchange materials. She also pushes me to try new things by proposing dates to use patinas or finally try epoxy clay. Thanks, mom!

Day 22 – Construct a non-jewelry piece using beads

Many moons ago, I got a pack of artist trading cards from Andrew Thornton’s destash as a prize. I had never heard of such a thing, but when I read up on them, I thought it was cool. I had done some paper crafts (cards, scrapbooks) back in the day. Fast forward to me enjoying art journaling and other paper arts that Crafty Hope posts about on her blog. Combine those two things with this prompt, and I give you my project using some vintage charms. I look forward to doing more elaborate non-jewelry projects.

Day 23 – Do a random act of (bead) kindness

My intention was to do art abandonment with these earrings. I used to do it more often, but I’ve gotten away from it. Honestly, I don’t get to that many places, and I can’t always find a good place to drop. There was a big snowfall on this day, so I ended up giving the earrings to a co-worker who happened into my office. That was random!

Day 24 – Create a piece using vintage materials 

I enjoyed making this piece quite a bit. I used a vintage brass piece as a starting point. The vintage  glass drop (that has a nice purple cast you can’t totally see) and those perfect wedding cake beads are from the Vintage Bead Vault. I got the vintage purple glass pearls from Who Knows What, a treasure of a shop, and the green glass from One Piece At a Time, also a favorite.

Day 25 – Put together a piece using seed beads

I use seed beads mostly as spacers. I wanted to do something a bit different, but I wasn’t about to do any bead weaving. That requires a whole day set up with moral support. But I had gotten the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Day of the Dead kit. It came with a great sugar skull wooden pendant that had an open weave at the top as well as a tube of really pretty colorful seed beads. I imagined using wire to weave those beads at the top of the pendant. That is one of the things I love about these prompts; it gives some of us to time (or the understanding that we already have the time) to do things we’ve been thinking about. Now if I could only find the strand of beads that came in this kit that I wanted to use for a necklace with this. I’m sure I put them “someplace safe.”

Day 26 – Use a color that you don’t normally use

I don’t think there are a lot of colors I don’t use. I love brights, neutrals, pastels, metallics, etc. The one color I think I use less frequently is blue. But I do have a blue and turquoise box (I separate some beads by color). I looked in there and came up with a design I really like!

I feel like this had the added benefit of helping use those very cute dotty beads I’ve had for years. I tend to shy away from color combinations that are associated with something specific: red, white and blue, green and red, sports team colors, etc. Now to me they just look cute!

I think I’ve been doing Monday through Sunday recaps, but I’m going to post this now and leave the last five days of this challenge for one last recap. Thanks for reading! I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am.

The Beads Speak

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, Diane Hawkey, Lori Anderson, My Elements, Patricia Healey, Yvonne Irvin-Faus

The beads do speak, and not just the beads, but the other components too. The two necklaces I’m featuring in this post had components that whispered the design to me, and they came together in minutes.

First is a necklace featuring a pendant by Yvonne Irvin-Faus. I love her work, and she constantly invents something new. Recently, she had a show with a new line called Toonz that had a distinct graffiti/cartoon style. I really wanted a large black and white donut, and I managed to get it! Yvonne is very generous and sends well-chosen prizes with each order. With this particular order, she sent me a generous length of her Funky Skunky black and white enameled aluminum chain. Perfect! The chain called out to be used with the pendant, and I was game. I only needed one other element for it to feel finished for me. I half-heartedly tried a couple of things, but I knew something would present itself. When I got an order from Lori Anderson’s destash page, she included the perfect thing, a silver (possibly aluminum?) faceted bead.

Each side of the pendant is different.

The second necklace I’m showing today started with a strand of faceted matte quartz rock crystal nuggets. I was putting away the order they came with, and they were so beautiful I just wanted to use them right away. They told me they needed a bold pendant, and I knew that meant one of the Diane Hawkey lentils I hoard. This bird pendant is large and so special I knew it could hold its own with these beautiful, chunky nuggets. I found some frosted glass rounds in a color to complement the pendant and used those as spacers. This is finished with a Patricia Healey pendant.

This pendant is also different on each side. 

These necklaces were so satisfying to make. I will enjoy them.

I Exist As I Am

Tags

Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, Sondra's Estate Beads Destash Depot

I like this quote by Walt Whitman: “I exist as I am, that is enough.” I bought a spoon pendant that it is stamped on in quite a nice font. I also have it on another pendant (and would buy it again!)

I got a strand of hand painted beads from Sondra’s Estate Beads Destash Depot, along with a few larger, more colorful beads that are similar.

I put just one of the larger hand painted beads above the pendant. I added some round venetian beads I got from Andrew Thornton:Project Destash. I added pink seed beads in between to bring in the pink from the bead above the pendant. I used the old box clasp that was the clasp on the necklace of hand painted beads. By the time I was done, I had made the necklace long enough that it didn’t need a clasp, but it was already in my head. I wish I’d saved it for another project but not enough to restring the whole thing!

This is really the kind of necklace I love. I like larger pendants, the quote, old hand painted beads, a little bit of a folk art look. Pretty, comfortable and filled with meaning. I can’t quite explain it, but I think many readers will understand that this necklace reminds me of old quilts.

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Easy and Fun

Tags

Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, Meant to Bead, resin beads, Soft Flex

I was looking at an Andrew Thornton: Project Destash event a little while ago, and a strand of resin tiger heads came up. I jumped at the chance to get it because they were so cute, it was a wonderful price, and I knew both my father and I would enjoy them. I got them and they were even better in person! They are fully figural, with a face on each side, so no matter which way the bead turns, it looks great! 

As I often do, I love the beads just in their strand. So I wanted to make something fairly simple. I thought I’d go on a search through my stash for just a little bead to go in between each head for a bracelet, but I didn’t even need to do that. I had some perfect sized striped seed beads on my table that I had recently used for another project, and I thought they were just the thing.

Just a short time later and ta-da! This bracelet is so cute and just what I wanted. I really like these snap clasps for when I want something that doesn’t take up much space. This is the kind of design that would be good for a stretch bracelet, but those often fit too close for me. A small clasp and Soft Flex is my choice. This is actually a medium size of the snap clasp. They come in a smaller variety.

One of my local bead stores, Meant to Bead, is in the business area where there was a tragic gas leak explosion and is still closed. When they re-open, I plan a shopping trip to support them. I am adding a variety of sizes and finishes of the snap clasps to my list.

This was another fun, easy make that turned out just how I hoped. I’m interested to see what my dad makes with his half of the strand.

Another Patina Day and Mod Podge

Tags

Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, Crafty Hope, Hope Smitherman, Mod Podge, Sondra Jackson, Sondra's Estate Beads Destash Depot, St. Katherine's Supply Co., Vintaj

My mom and I had another patina day! We were very pleased with the results. I also tried an idea I had with Mod Podge and was super pleased that it turned out as well. So, I will just get right into the show and tell. 

I got one of these lily of the valley stampings from Sondra’s Estate Beads Destash Depot. I have gotten a lot of great things from Sondra, so check out her page if you have a minute. Tons of stampings for sure; many of the older really quality, heavy duty kind. Anywho, I forgot to take a picture of mine nekkid, so Sondra let me use hers. I used Vintaj patinas in marble and a mixture of moss and seafoam pearl for the green. I used the Vintaj reliefing block because I always like stampings to look old. 

My mom patina-ed another lily stamping I got from Sondra with the same colors. Here are the original and color versions, with the original once again by Sondra Jackson.

I didn’t go in with a solid plan for this pewter dragon fly focal by Fire Goddess that I got from Andrew Thornton’s destash. I kept changing my mind, but in the end I think it turned out kind of fun. Here are three quick pics: the original pendant, with bronze patina and some reliefing, with white gold, ochre, and carnelian. 

I guess I didn’t get many before pictures. My mom had a silver face pin that she patina-ed with verdigris, ochre and cinnabar mixed with garnet. Here it is in progress and finished. 

My mom also had an old brass vase stamping; here is a picture in progress and finished.

I had these fish I was just going to lightly patina with sea colors, but they were smoother than I first thought. The patina didn’t take well, and I would have had to rough them up. They are way too cute to even consider doing something that could ruin them, so I decided to leave them as is. I just wanted to include them to say that not everything ends up needing patina! These are also from Sondra Jackson.

The last thing I patina-ed is some copper chain. I thought it was a good candidate because it was so heavily textured, and I didn’t really like it that much in its natural state. I have a pendant I want to use it with, and I chose moss patina. Here is a picture of the patina (right) and then after I reliefed it (left).

I cut the chain, so I had some extra bars. I said I was going to throw them away because I can’t keep every little thing – that’s why my studio is the way it is (giant mess). My mom decided to keep them in case I needed them at some later time. Not minute later I broke one of the bars being a little too rough with my reliefing. My mom was able to hand me one of the spare bars (that I had tested the patina on, so it was already done!) and I fixed it. My mom is the smartest!

One last thing I did was Mod Podge some old flowers I have onto a wooden bead. Hope Smitherman’s blog showed a project with washi tape earrings. I think that in combination with another project I saw but really can’t remember made me think about a little table I Mod Podged with tissue paper. It turned out so cute! I figured I could do that on wooden beads. I looked through my paper craft supplies, and I really wanted to use some old flower items a friend had given me. I got the wooden beads from St. Katherine’s Supply Co. 

And here is the finished product in my first ever video on my blog.

Whoo! That was a long post. I hope you enjoyed it! You will be seeing these items turn up in finished jewelry in the future.

 

 

 

 

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New Beads Post and Save the Date(s)

Tags

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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