Pinterest Interest and Other Random Stuff

Tags

Antelope Beads, Australian Art Beads, Bead Soup Blog Party, Ceramic Art Bead Market, Heather Powers, Helen Backhouse, Humblebeads, Kim Snider, Lori Anderson, Mandrel Beads, Melissa Gabelle, plastic beads, Staci Louise Smith, The Clay Hen, vintage beads

I get notification from Pinterest when someone repins a pin, and I find it fascinating what people repin.  It’s also fun when the notice is that someone repinned a piece of jewelry I made.  It’s still a thrill for me that someone would like what I made enough to pin it!

My most repinned pin as far as I can tell is this leather bracelet tutorial from Antelope Beads.  As of this writing, 154 repins!

Photo and bracelet from Antelope Beads

Just recently my pin of a gorgeous necklace Staci Louise Smith made for Lori Anderson’s Bead Soup Blog Party in 2011 is on the uptick; suddenly 23 repins. It’s fun to revisit these things each time I get a notification.  Most of my pins have few or no repins, so it’s notable when one gets into the double digits.  My jewelry board only has 303 followers, so those larger numbers are pretty good. The repins come in batches.  Someone repins and then other people see that, etc.

A couple of years ago when Pinterest first started trying to monetize their site, I wrote a post about moving away from it.  I didn’t begrudge them trying to make money, just the way they were doing it.  Because my alternative went kaput, I’ve made my peace with Pinterest.  Although my home page is crowded with sponsored and suggested pins I may not care about, I’m still able to scroll through and find a few things I like from boards I follow, and it’s a good way for me to save my own pins and likes for lots of inspiration and just plain eye candy when I want to enjoy it.

Now on to the Random Stuff.  I haven’t done a new beads post for a while, and I’ve amassed some things I thought I’d show.  Before I start, I want to acknowledge that my pictures are crap. I continue to struggle with photos, mainly (though not totally) due to lack of decent light. I keep working on it.

I’ve become a big fan of Melissa Gabelle of The Clay Hen.  I primarily buy from her on Facebook groups Australian Art Beads and Ceramic Art Bead Market.  But I was writing a post about something I made with her beads when I discovered she also has an etsy shop and couldn’t resist making an order.

I was also pleased to learn that Helen Backhouse recently opened a shop.  I had seen people using her beads left and right, and wondered how to get my hands on some.  Now here they are!  These actually came in pairs, but since I rarely make earrings, I gave one of each to my mom.  We’re both using them as pendants!  I had to show how beautiful they are front and back.

I also recently got a scrumptious order from Humblebeads. Heather Powers constantly comes up with new and beautiful creations.  I love her disc beads. They can add a nice accent to so many styles and designs.

Heather also provided inspiration for using these next beads by Kim Snider of Mandrel Beads. If you like her work, join her Facebook Group where she does trunk shows. You’ll increase your chances of getting some!

I continue to be enthralled with plastic.  Recently the owner of a local bead store that closed down (boo!) a while ago was selling off some leftover stock, and I picked up these (among other things.)

I also got a kumihimo disc because I don’t have enough techniques that I haven’t done anything about. Ha!

Because, as you can probably tell, I am an equal opportunity bead lover, I also recently picked up some vintage necklaces of various materials for a song in a Facebook destash.  These will be great to take apart and repurpose.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this somewhat random post.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

When I Like the Beads Better Than the Jewelry

Tags

Australian Art Beads, Ceramic Art Bead Market, Melissa Gabelle, My Elements, The Clay Hen, Yvonne Irvin-Faus

Does this happen to you? I buy this gorgeous strand of beads, and then I cut it apart and it’s never the same.  I can’t make the parts as beautiful as the whole. So lately I’ve been thinking that maybe sometimes I can design with beads together the way I first saw them but add a little something so I do feel like I’ve designed the piece.  I feel like I’ve managed that with this necklace.

I bought a beautiful grouping of beads from Melissa Gabelle of The Clay Hen.  In addition to her etsy shop in that last link, she also sells on Facebook in Ceramic Art Bead Market and Australian Art Beads.  I loved them so much just how they looked in the picture online, I started thinking about how I could use them that way, but still feel like I’d designed something.  And it came to me – chain!

But not just any old single strand of chain.  I knew I could find colored chain that would go perfectly with Melissa’s beads in Yvonne Irvin-Faus‘ shop My Elements. I love the selection of colored chain in that shop!  Color makes me happy, and I’m so glad I was able to design something fun, yet keep Melissa’s beautiful beads all together just as pretty as they were in the picture when I first saw them.

This is also the first time I’ve used wire guards.  I’ll see how I like them.  I didn’t have the right size crimp covers, so those are still to come.

Do you ever feel like beads look their best on the strand?  If so, how have you dealt with that as a designer?

Australian Art Beads

Tags

Australian Art Beads, Beady Eyes Australia, Ellie Andalis, Leah Kelly, Leah's Creative Glass Designs, Natalie Fletcher-Jones, Peruzi, Terri Kraehe, Terri Kraehe Art Glass Beads

There is a group on Facebook that features auctions by Australian bead artists called, not surprisingly, Australian Art Beads.  There is a wonderful mix of artists using a variety of materials.  I’ve purchased from there a number of times and even won a bead!  I thought I’d show a few to encourage you to go visit.

First up are these lovely clear lampwork beads with gold foil by Leah Kelly.

This is exactly the kind of bead that appeals to me – a mix of elegant and shabby with the bits of luxe gold foil looking like they are old and worn.  I have some ideas in mind for these.

Next up is a bead I won.  Australian Art Beads recently reached (and has now surpassed) 1,000 members.  They had a lot of fabulous giveaways, and I won this gorgeous poppy bead by Terri Kraehe.

I was having trouble capturing the beauty of this bead.  In person it looks like a garden.  There are poppies all around it.

There are artists using many materials on the site – lampwork, ceramic, polymer clay, wire and beaded beads to name just some. I love beaded beads, and eventually want to try at least a rudimentary one myself.  However, in the meantime I can buy fancy ones by Ellie Andalis.  I’m quite taken with her work and have two pair to show.

I first learned about the Australian Art Beads page when Natalie Fletcher-Jones of Peruzi posted a link to one of her lovely creations that was up for auction on a bead group.  I hopped on over, joined and haven’t looked back.

If you haven’t joined yet, I encourage you to do so.  It’s fun even just to look; lots of eye candy!