Creativity Returned

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton: Project Destash, Ceramic Art Bead Market, Diane Hawkey, Famous Vintage Bead Hoard Liquidation Destash, Gaea, Saki Silver

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.

I alternated the larimar and amazonite with tiny labradorite chips in between. I hung a labradorite coin in the middle of the frame. I got a deal on the larimar from Famous Vintage Bead Hoard Liquidation Destash. I got the amazonite and labradorite from Allegory Gallery and/or Andrew Thornton: Project Destash.

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!

Stay safe and creative.

Satin Shards

Tags

Art Elements, Ceramic Art Bead Market, Karen Totten, Starry Road Studio, Tracey Seder Donoughe

The Ceramic Art Bead Market has great artists selling on their page. I bought some fabulous beads by Tracey Seder Donoughe and she had a very generous giveaway that I won! Here is my haul.

The two strands at the bottom are ceramic and have been tumbled in a rock tumbler. They are smooth as satin (hence the title).

Yep, I used the brown shard shaped beads on the left. To tell the story of the design, I invite you back in time with me to 2013 and the January Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month. I loved the pie beads by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio that were the component that month. I eventually got one, and it’s been sitting in my stash for a few years.

I used the strand of Tracey’s shard beads, disc spacers also by Karen Totten and Czech glass.

A little chain at the back to make it adjustable, and I have a necklace I absolutely love. It’s so fun both when beads I just got or beads I’ve had for a while find their project.

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?

Splendid Procession Challenge Reveal

Tags

Allegory Gallery Challenges, Andrew Thorton, Ceramic Art Bead Market, Eden Art Glas, faerie jewelry, Splendid Procession Reveal

Today is the reveal for the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge – Splendid Procession edition!  These challenges are hosted by artist Andrew Thornton who hand selects the materials for the always beautiful kits. I remembered to take a picture of my kit this time, but I did not check the pictures before I started working.  They were terrible.  So here I present Andrew’s picture of the kit:

In addition, Andrew always includes a Mystery Component that he makes himself.

Pendant and photo by Andrew Thornton

Andrew’s inspiration for this kit started with a strand of watermelon tourmaline. I love those colors!  He let that and other tourmaline colors lead his mind to faerie processions in art, and here we are at the Splendid Procession reveal.

The first thing I thought when I saw the kit (online, before I saw the Mystery Component) was that I wanted to make a bracelet with the lucite flower.  I originally thought I would put it on leather, but I also kept thinking about a bracelet Andrew made for the Spring Awakening challenge.  I still had those green Czech glass coins from the Spring Awakening kit, and combined those with pink coins from this kit and amber coins from the Amethyst Aether kit.  I added some large vintage Czech glass crystals in rose, dark green and clear from my stash and wrapped it all onto a copper bracelet.

I love how this turned out.  It feels substantial and makes a joyful noise when I wear it.  Thanks to Andrew not only for the inspiration of the kit but of his own bracelet as well!

When I got the kit and saw the Mystery Component, I fell in love.  It is so striking and has the perfect vibe for this theme.  I really love chunky, bold beads, but it can be difficult to find a pendant that can hold its own with that look.  No problem here!  I decided to use some red dyed jade faceted nuggets I had just recently added to my stash.  In addition I used some Czech glass, green seed beads from the kit and a few electroplated hematite rounds.  I added a rough black tourmaline nugget to the pendant to make it stand out even more.

I sometimes hesitate to spend money on handmade clasps just because they are often going to end up hidden at the back of the necklace.  But I have to admit that I feel more satisfied when I use them; my pieces feel more complete.  Here I’ve used a beautiful bronze clasp by Eden Art Glass. I’m extremely pleased with this piece too.

Of course I had to make a necklace with a tassel.  I can’t stop loving this trend. I used  the waxed linen and green seed beads from the kit to make the tassel. With a few bead caps from my stash and a large faceted bead from the kit, I made it into a pendant.  Adding some rose crystals I’ve had for a long time to other beads from the kit, I knotted the strand and added a flower clasp.

I really loved this kit.  Thanks, as always, to Andrew for a wonderful challenge. Please visit click on the links below to see what other participants made with their kits.  It’s always fun!

Alison Herrington http://alisonadorns.blogspot.com/

Michelle McCarthy www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com

Tammy Bowman http://innermusejewelry.blogspot.com/

Marybeth Rich http://forestofjewels.blogspot.com/

Shaiha http://www.shaihasramblings.com/

Ann Schroeder http://www.beadlove.wordpress.com – You are here.

Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, Nancy Noyes-Ward, Kathleen Enniss-Reid, Lisa Mendum, and Debbie Rogers http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/