Allegory Gallery – Bead in the New Year 2020 #2

Tags

1928 Jewelry Company, A Tisket A Tasket Design Kit, Allegory Gallery, Allegory Gallery Design Challenges, Allegory Gallery wooden pendant, Andrew Thornton, B'sue Boutiques, Bead in the New Year, Beading from Nature, Crystal McDougald, Julie Schmidt Bowen, Miriam Haskell, Tanya McGuire, vintage glass

I’m having great fun again this year following the daily creative prompts offered by Allegory Gallery for Bead in the New Year. Without further ado, let’s look at the makes for this week. (I forgot to post this last week, but here it is now.)

Day #6 – Fashion a design using all glass

This is almost all glass, would not exist without this challenge, and I’m in love with the fun, colorful appearance. 

This necklace features a large hollow lampwork focal by Tanya McGuire, vintage red glass, lampwork rondelles by Julie Schmidt Bowen, vintage blue dimpled Miriam Haskell glass, and glass beaded chain. I love how I was able to pull all the colors out of Tanya’s bead with all the other glass. The bright colors make me smile.

Day #7 – Utilize your favorite gemstone in a new piece

Rubies are my favorite gemstone. I don’t have a ton of them, but I try to get a few whenever I can. I had two large, rough rubies I got some years ago that have been waiting for me to use them. I wanted them front and center without too much distraction. I considered leather, but I couldn’t find the right design. Then I spied this lightweight (aluminum?) fringy chain I got from B’Sue Boutiques. I added a large spacer from my little Bali silver stash between the two rubies. Both the rubies and the spacer are from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash.

I like how each ruby is a different shade. They have large facets on the sides and are just gorgeous.

Day #8 – Use a stringing material you don’t normally use

I don’t use a lot of ribbon, though I love the look of fibers. Here I’ve used a strand of multicolor ribbon wrapped with metallic thread. When it hangs, you can see the connection point between colors where the ribbon is more rough looking. I really like the funkiness of it. I had been planning to do some rosary style chain with this pendant but hadn’t gotten it done yet. I like that this is something different than what I usually do. Cat pendant is 1928 Jewelry Company from B’Sue Boutiques.

Day #9 – Produce a piece using gemstone chip beads

Here is what I wrote on a post about this necklace:

I chose blue beads to go with this red “Resist” pendant by Andrew Thornton. I usually avoid colors associated with a specific thing (holidays, sports teams, etc.). Red, white and blue are often associated with patriotism in the US. I thought those colors were appropriate for this pendant. Unfortunately, I think many people misinterpret what patriotism is. It’s not a call to isolate ourselves and harm others. It is a call to celebrate and lift up the best of ourselves. Other than indigenous people and people who were forced to come here, the US is made up of people who came here from somewhere else for a better life. THAT’S what the US is about. Supporting, celebrating and building on that is patriotic. Learning from the bad things our country has done and not repeating or continuing them is patriotism.

Day #10 – Challenge yourself by using sari silk ribbon

Another chance to use ribbon! I used this vintage component with champagne colored ribbon. I was going to make it more structured, but I decided I got more the shabby chic look I was going for if I left the ribbon loose and tied the bracelet on. It fits great and the tails from the tied area look very boho.

Day #11 – Create a piece using one of our Luxury Bead Blends

I was looking through my Allegory Gallery Luxury Bead Blends, including those from kits. Ninety-five percent of this necklace is from the A Tisket, A Tasket kit, including many beads from the Luxury Bead Blend. I have happy associations with pastels, spring and bunnies, so I really enjoyed using these beads.

Day #12 – Make a project from a craft book

I had many candidates for this prompt already. Then a few days ago, I got my end of year book sale mystery box from Allegory Gallery. Oh. My. Goodness. I got so many wonderful books! I am now absolutely buzzing with inspiration from craft books. When I saw this project below, it really caught my eye. Not only is it a great bracelet, but I happened to have those very statement links! For all I know they were available everywhere at one time, but I bought them more than 15 years ago in what was primarily a garden shop, so I was really surprised to see them in this book. When I looked for them, I could only find four; maybe that’s all I bought.

Crystal McDougald project from Beading by Nature – this piece inspired my project!

To replace the fifth connector, I added a tin connector I made. I tried a few different things for the dangles and decided on these vintage set glass charms. I chose “joy” as my word of intention for 2020, so I added that charm by the clasp. So fun to finally use these. This book is full of great projects.

I haven’t been doing the prompts daily (or in order) this week, but I will catch up this weekend. Look for another post with more work from these prompts. It’s so much fun! To see what others are making, check out the Allegory Gallery Design Challenges page.

Allegory Gallery – Bead in the New Year 2020 #1

Tags

#beadinthenewyear, Allegory Gallery, Allegory Gallery Design Challenges, Andrew Thornton, Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, c-koop beads, Inviciti, Joan Miller Porcelain, Never Winter Designs, Nibbler Kits, Sondra's Estate Beads Destash Depot

Last January, Allegory Gallery shared a full month of design prompts. I followed along day by day, and it was one of the most satisfyingly creative months I’ve ever experienced. They continued to share creative prompts throughout the year – weekly prompts, nibbler kits, and more. I am happy to say they have issued a month of daily prompts again this year! Here we go with my makes for the first few prompts.

Day #1 – Make a pair of earrings

I have been lucky enough to get some fabulous Swarovski crystals in the past year or so. I envisioned some of these dripping down together in a longer earring than I usually make. I’ve been experimenting working with sterling wire to make findings, so I decided to wrap these in sterling. The 20 gauge size I have was a bit difficult. I think 22 might be better. I ended up not making my own ear wires because I was afraid they’d add too much length. 

Each crystal has an amazing color and flash difficult to fully capture in a photo.

Day #2 – Create a new bracelet

I’ve become a chain enthusiast and have gotten some really wonderful chain. I am particularly intrigued by chunky chain. I got some vintage metalized plastic chain that really reminds me of Chanel. I had been looking at it thinking it would make a fantastic bracelet, so I cut some and looked at my clasps. I had so many that would work well! In the end, I chose a lovely elephant that seemed well suited for this fun bracelet. 

Day #3 – Put together a necklace

I am trying to be more intentional in my jewelry making. I often don’t lay things out; I just put them together from a design in my head, so I just gloss over things that don’t work since I don’t like to re-do things. That can mean I’m not always totally satisfied with a piece. This necklace is the second try at using some petrified walrus ivory in a week’s time. I also restrung the focal area multiple times until it was very pleasing. Then, I left it for several hours. That is especially unusual, but I know it made a better necklace. Giving it a rest allowed me to stop focusing on the finish line and take time to make multiple tweaks that improved it. I love the final design. 

I got almost all of the components for this necklace from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash. The focal includes petrified walrus ivory (legal because the fact that it is petrified means it pre-dates 1972, when buying and selling it became illegal), and Bali silver beads and spacers from a small stash I got from Andrew that I am still giddy about. I swear this strand of seeds, nuts or whatever they are came from the destash, but I didn’t label them, and I couldn’t find them in my files. I put a large silver seed bead between each one to introduce more silver into the necklace. Those are from Sondra’s Estate Beads Destash Depot. This lovely textured fine pewter leaf clasp by Fire Goddess is one of a few by that maker I got from the destash, and I can’t find that they are still selling, so I feel lucky to have these. This necklace was inspired by one Andrew Thornton made with some of the ivory he kept. Read his blog post about it and see a picture of his beautiful necklace. It is so fun to have some history about components in my designs.

Day #4 – Make a matching set of jewelry

I’m not much for matching sets in the traditional sense, so I thought about what else this could mean. I am intrigued by the idea of a line of jewelry. How would I make a cohesive line if I were to be that sort of designer? For day two, I made a bracelet from chunky chain. I made a second one of these that would be appropriate if I were making a full line of chunky, Chanel-inspired bracelets. I believe this chain is metalized plastic like the first one, and this time I chose a faux pearl box clasp. 

I love having a couple of really chunky bracelets that are lightweight. Sometimes I dream up fashion scenarios for my jewelry. This makes me think of someone who found a great vintage Chanel bracelet in a junk shop as a fun surprise, and now wears it everyday with their jeans.

Day #5 – Use at least three artist made materials

This is a fun design I’ve had in mind since I’ve collected the pieces because, coffee! The electroformed coffee beans are by Never Winter Designs. The three cups are by, from left, Inviciti (pewter), Joan Miller Porcelain and c-koop (enamel). The c-koop cup, which reminds me of a camp mug, is the first one I got just because it was so cute.

If you’d like to join in (for one project or a month’s worth) or see what others are making, visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenges Facebook page or look for that hastag or #beadinthenewyear on your favorite social media site.

Happy 2020!

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Miss Fickle Media, Sundance Catalog

I’ve been off work using some holiday and vacation time. It’s always wonderful to be able to spend time with family, relax, and rejuvenate. I haven’t gone on a making spree during this time, but I have made a few things and also spent some time organizing in the studio. There is still more to go, but at least it’s a start. I did make one necklace last week and one last night that I will show.

I’ve been wanting to work more leather into my jewelry. My mother influenced that when she took an interest in leather and wanted to make wrap bracelets. (I wrote about my attempts in my previous post.) I have also been looking quite a bit at the Sundance Catalog and really like their jewelry, so that is an influence too. The necklace I am going to show, though, is nothing like anything in Sundance. Theirs are very much leather mixed with gemstones and precious metals. Here, I’ve mixed mine with vintage plastic chain, African glass and berber amber. My sister’s girlfriend told me once that it is interesting for people to see the initial sketch for a piece. This one is very true to the sketch.

I got this section of plastic chain in a mixed vintage box. I just love little bits like this and being able to work them into a jewelry piece. The links are black except one tortoise link. I like how the color of the beads on each side pops.

Probably a couple of years ago, I bought some fossilized walrus ivory from Andrew Thornton. I love a necklace he made with some, and got mine out thinking I could pair it with some blue kyanite needles I have. The ones I found weren’t as bright blue as I remembered, and they mostly were center drilled. I couldn’t make a pleasing design, so I was putting them back in my blue gemstones drawer. Lo and behold, I found some other kyanite beads. I think I was conflating the two sets in my head. Well, these were not suited for the original necklace, but I also had some large link silver chain out. I’ve been enthralled with this chain since I got it. It is rhodium plated with large oval links that are more pointy on the end. It really echoes the shape of the kyanite beads. Here is a close up of the beads, front and back. 

They are lovely in person – smooth, translucent and full of color. I wanted this piece to be really clean and elegant. Quite a bit of wire showed between the beads when I strung them, so I added tiny silver seed beads with larger ones just on the end to make the crimping easier. I added a sterling clasp by Miss Fickle Media. 

There’s often questionable light here, so you’ll have to trust me on how pretty it looks. I like that this is something a bit different than what I often make. I’m interested in branching out more this year.

I hope your 2020 is wonderful.

Quick and Easy – Holiday Edition

Tags

A Grain of Sand, Andrew Thornton, Cathy Collison, Diane Hawkey, Famous Vintage Bead Hoard Liquidation Destash, Gina Chalfant, Kelly Luttrell, Mary Redman, My Elements, Soul Relica, Suzanne Branca, Wendy Wallin Malinow, Yvonne Irvin-Faus

Nothing that I will show in this post took much effort on my part, but it doesn’t mean I’m not pleased with it or that I don’t love it. I do like some things that take more effort so that I can express my creativity, but some easy things are fun. And when I am using really beautiful materials, sometimes it doesn’t take much else.

First, I’ve been having so much fun going through some mixed boxes of vintage things I’ve gotten from Suzanne Branca of A Grain of Sand. As she sells off her vintage stock, she has included some monthly subscription boxes she had back in the day. It is so wonderful to go through them and see all the treasures. She is posting things on her Famous Vintage Bead Hoard Liquidation Destash page as she finds them, and I’m hoping that she will come up with a few more boxes since they have been such fun. One of the things I’ve gotten is color-coated metal (aluminum?) corrugated beads. They are so cheerful. 

These don’t have to be holiday depending on how one uses them, but they certainly read that way to me this month. I was in the studio cleaning and organizing, and I decided to go ahead and just quick make a necklace and an ornament. 

I have an ornament tree in my studio all year long to display lovely things that make me smile. You can see the simple red ornament I made with one of the beads between a Diane Hawkey creature and a Wendy Wallin Malinow sundae deer. You can also see a couple of ornaments by Andrew Thornton, Mary Redman, Gina Chalfant, and part of one by Cathy Collison.

Then I made a very simple necklace. I wanted just one of the big beads hanging from chain to wear around when I am feeling festive. I had the perfect chain, available from Yvonne Irvin-Faus‘ shop My Elements. 

Fun, right? Then as I was unpacking more of the vintage Suzanne Branca goodies, I came upon some beautiful chain. I have recently bought a couple of gorgeous pendants by Kelly Luttrell of Soul Relica. Here is one.

I decided they do not need anything except a way to hang around my neck. I was planning to go through my chain stash when this chain presented itself to me, so I cut it to size and slid one of the pendants on it. 

It’s really beautiful chain, so perfect for this piece. I’m thrilled to have found it.

With not much work on my part, I was able to feel creative and have two new necklaces and an ornament! It was part of a really good day.

 

Artists for Animals Auction Starts Monday!

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Artists for Animals Auction, Green Girl Studios, Inviciti, Madison Cat Project, Yvonne Irvin-Faus

I’m excited! Michelle Ann McCarthy and Joan Miller have made it so easy to raise money for my favorite animal charity, Madison Cat Project. The next Artists for Animals Auction starts on Monday, November 11, 2019 and runs through Sunday, November 17, 2019. A variety of artists and types of art will be for sale to benefit different animal charities. It’s a wonderful thing!

Madison Cat Project is an adoption guarantee organization that finds a home for every cat that comes to them (including cats who prefer to live as barn cats and still have food and shelter), runs a spay/neuter clinic, and has an extensive network of fosters to rehabilitate and care for hard to place cats in order to get them ready for their forever homes.

I’m going to show a few of the things I’ve made for the auction. I hope you will join us next week to take a look.

Here is a sweet kitty necklace with all sorts of lovely Czech glass.

I am in love with this next necklace called Favorite Things.

Beads, cats, coffee and color! It features two vintage moonglow lucite charms, a kitty pedant by Green Girl Studios (that says “kitty comfort” on the back) and a patterned coffee cup by Inviciti. I used silver chain in the front and sections of a variety of colored chain in the back for a surprise pop of color. If you read this blog, you know how I love chain sections. I hope someone else loves this necklace as much as I do! (The kitty charm is pewter; the slight greenish cast on it is a reflection from the moonglow charm!)

Although I usually make necklaces for myself, I think earrings are easier for people to buy, so I make more of those for the auction. Here are four pair.

Going clockwise from top left: German glass and vintage brass, African glass and donuts by Yvonne Irvin-Faus, anodized aluminum and skulls by Andrew Thornton, vintage glass and hollow metal drops.

I have lots more, and there are many other artists participating too. I am off to finish up my descriptions and make sure I have all the pictures I need. Hope to see you at the auction!

SJ Designs Honey Do Challenge – October 2019

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Eric Wentling, Honey Do List Challenge, I, Sarajo Wentling, SJ Designs Jewelry

Sarajo Wentling does a monthly challenge on her SJ Designs Jewelry blog; the Honey Do List. Her husband Eric, an excellent photographer, chooses one of his photos and challenges us to make something inspired by it. This month, the inspiration is a bit wicked and dark, suitable for October and Halloween.

This is Eric’s photo of a raven from the Tower of London.

Photo by Eric Wentling

It’s so cool and full of inspiration. I had a lot of ideas, and I knew there were at least a couple of ravens in my stash, so I decided to put my focus there and let a raven guide me. I had a gorgeous resin raven pendant by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery.

The background of the pendant has the beautiful iridescent colors that can be found in a raven’s feathers. I wanted to play that up somewhat. There is a lot of color in the photo, but it still looks rough and somewhat dark. I decided to use rough black tourmaline beads, and play up the colors with some matte purple metallic spacers. I used copper findings and a few copper colored beveled beads to bring a little sparkle.

In the end, I don’t find my raven all that creepy. It reminds me of those memes that show a cute little bat saying, “I am the darkness.” But inspiration leads where it leads, and I like my beautiful raven necklace all the same. Thanks, Sarajo and Eric! Visit Sarajo’s blog to see what others have made.

Art Journey #5 – Joseph Cornell

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Art Bead Scene, Art Journey #5, Helen Chalmers, Joseph Cornell, Miss Fickle Media, Nikki Thornburg

I am very excited by the art inspiration for Art Journey #5 with Art Bead Scene and artist Joseph Cornell. Cornell was an assemblage artist, and the works are so intriguing. There is so much interest in each piece, but they don’t seem busy. Some could even be described as spare, though they are absolutely overflowing with inspiration.

When I saw Hotel de la Duchesse-Anne, the canceled stamps in the corner made me think of an assemblage pendant I have by Andrew Thornton that has a canceled stamp in the center.

I was looking for something in my Miss Fickle Media stash when I came across a vintage seed bead and tiny seed pearl strand she made with her handmade brass clasp. I loved the idea of it with the pendant. I wanted more heft, so I made a similar 30″ seed bead strand with a couple of larger vintage lucite beads in the same army green as in the pendant. Further up the strand, I put some large seed beads to draw the eye up. I wanted the strands to hang together, so I used two large hole lampwork beads to string them through above the pendant, the bottom by Nikki Thornburg and the top by Helen Chalmers. That bead has red in it, a nod to the bright spheres in two of the inspiration pieces.

I added a third, shorter strand of pearls. In the inspiration piece Untitled (Medici Princess), the princess is wearing a longer necklace with a medallion pendant with a picture of her father and a shorter strand of pearls. I wanted to get that multi-necklace look in my single piece.

When I was taking pictures, I realized I wouldn’t be able to show the dual necklace look because the part with the pendant is 30″ and the pearls are about 18″, but I hope this photo gives you a sense of it. I added a little keyhole charm from Vintaj that looks like an old found object to add to the assemblage feel.

Welcome to My Studio

Tags

3crows, Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Cynthia Thornton, Diane Hawkey, Erin Prais-Hintz, Gaea, Gina Chalfant, Heather Powers, Holly Strope, Jules Sontag, Mary Harding, Peter Max, Sara Pulver, Signe Baumane, Staci Louise Originals, Stephanie Schroeder, The Polymer Arts Blog, The Polymer Studio, Wendy Wallin Malinow, White Swan Studio

I’ve been wanting to do a studio tour and finally have. I love studio tours and getting ideas from other artists. I mention this blog post from The Polymer Arts Blog (which I call The Polymer Studio because that’s the name of their magazine I get.) It talks about studios in a really helpful way and links to some fun studio tours.

I tried to do a nice intro, but then I couldn’t figure out how to turn the camera around. It did give me a funny post for Facebook!

I am by no means a videographer or a smooth talker, um, but here is a link to the tour. I can’t figure out how to embed it, even though I’ve done it once before. I hope you find it interesting and maybe get an idea for your own space!

Here are links to the artists that I mention in the video.

Cat lady picture is by Sara Pulver of 3crows

Holly Strope

Erin Prais-Hintz

Gaea

Peter Max

Signe Baumane

Heather Powers

Cynthia Thornton

Also find Cynthia here at Green Girl Studios

Find Andrew Thornton’s work (and other fabulous things) at Allegory Gallery 

Find Gina Chalfant (I’m sorry I pronounced her last name wrong!) at White Swan Studio

I should have re-listened to the Allegory Gallery podcast with Gina to get that name correct. But this gives me the chance to tell you that Allegory Gallery has a podcast featuring interesting interviews with artists. Check them out here.

Wendy Wallin Malinow

Diane Hawkey

I’ll give you a tip. Diane doesn’t post a lot on her site, but you can find some things in shops, at shows or sometimes when she does trunk shows on Facebook. I know as of this writing, Allegory Gallery has a really nice selection of her beads and pendants.

Jules Sontag

Staci Louise Smith

Stephanie Schroeder

Mary Harding

 

Artists for Animals Auction 2019 – #2

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Heather Powers, Madison Cat Project, Miss Fickle Media, Patty Way, Sondra's Estate Beads Destash Depot, Supply Your Soul, Vintaj

I haven’t been feeling as inspired as usual lately, so I was a little worried I wouldn’t have much for the Artists for Animals Auction. But this weekend I have been feeling really inspired and have made quite a number of things. I feel good about what I have now, and I think I will have a few more! Here are more things I made since my last post (yesterday!)

Fun, arty earrings with “shards” by Patty Way. (I can’t find a link for a shop or site for her. If you have one, let me know.)

Elegant bugs! Cute beetle charms from Miss Fickle Media with gold dagger dangles from Sondra’s Estate Beads Destash Depot. 

I love whimsical, so I couldn’t pass up these metalized plastic pineapple charms. So cute! I paired them with some polymer beads Andrew Thornton made in a class Heather Powers taught about her technique. 

These might be my favorite. Textured boho Vintaj rounds that started out bright silver. I used two colors of Vintaj patina and their reliefing block to get this weathered look and paired them with metal beads with ancient relic patina from Supply Your Soul.

Please visit the Artists for Animals page to bid starting April 29th. There will be many artists with a variety of items participating. Each artist supports their chosen charity. My proceeds will be donated to Madison Cat Project.

2019 Art Journey One with Art Bead Scene

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Art Bead Scene, Art Journey One, Heather Powers, Miss Fickle Media

Art Bead Scene has a new format. They offer multiple inspiration pieces on a theme (topic, artist, etc.) and provide artists more time to create a piece using an art bead. They are calling these art journeys, and there will be nine per year. The first uses inspiration by Heather Powers. There are two drawings that are so fabulous. When I saw the first one, I thought “what wonderful inspiration!”

Then a second inspiration piece was added, and I liked it even more! (You can buy Heather’s art prints, including these two in her shop.) 

I really love both of the inspiration pieces and the colors, but I admit I struggled with this challenge. I have plenty of things in my stash that would work, but I’ve found that nature based inspiration is not easy for me. That is something I can work on.

I feel like Heather’s drawings show natural elements as jewels, so I wanted to make something sort of “fancy.” I ended up choosing this polymer and resin butterfly focal by Andrew Thornton. 

I remember Andrew saying it was a faux version of a technique, but I can’t remember the name. He made it for a magazine. You can see how the design in the wings is translucent. It was already assembled with the dangles (I love how the balled headpins make the pearls look like little legs.) I added some small gemstones to the center holes for additional color.

I wanted to bring in a metallic to highlight the edging around the wing designs. I’ve had these fancy Czech glass ice pearls in gold and cranberry waiting for the right project. I also used vintage metal spacers. To bring in a lighter color, I used irregular stone beads because they reference the color of the center moth in the first picture. I finished off the back with hessonite garnets and a clasp by Miss Fickle Media.

Have you joined the Art Bead Scene’s new Art Journey yet? The deadline for this first one is February 9th. To see what others have made, visit the blog.