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.

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.

 

Creative Weekend

Tags

Bead Table Wednesday, Beads to Blooms, Diane Hawkey, Heather Powers, Loralee Kolton, Miss Fickle Media, Sarah Moran, Yvonne Irvin-Faus, Z-Beads

I did more creating this weekend. Some I’ll show here; others are still in process and/or in preparation for my next resin pour. I’m really loving resin.

First is also an in progress piece. I got this large vintage cuff from Beads to Blooms Destash. The owner also has an etsy store, but I’m always looking for the one off pieces. I used some Vintaj marble patina on the design part. I need to clean it up and relief it back some more. I might also paint some colors on the design and then relief those back. I love the ’70s look it has so far with the size and the bright metal. 

I also made a couple more simple bead-on-chain necklaces. The first uses one of my precious Sarah Moran beads from z-beads. I own exactly one strand of her beads, and this was a little mini-me bead that was included, so I felt ok using it. There is a little ring of tiny green dots, and I used that color chartreuse enamel chain that I got from Yvonne Irvin-Faus for a simple necklace. I love how the pink and blue look with the green. I’m such a fan of unusual color combinations. 

A second simple chain necklace uses a Diane Hawkey word bead. 

It is a somewhat rustic bead, and what could be considered a harsh word, so I liked the idea of putting it on this elegant chain. The textured chain is black without color on the higher parts. That makes the metal sparkle. I finished it with a Miss Fickle Media clasp. I feel like this word is ripe for reclamation. It’s used against women any time someone wants to let us know we aren’t “acceptable” in some way. I sometimes hear women use it to empower themselves, giving themselves permission to be assertive, to have an opinion, to speak up, to not back down. I often say I can be perceived as rude to someone else or I can be rude to myself. I have no desire to be rude to myself. If that makes someone think I am or call me a bitch, I’ll take that as a compliment. So I have this necklace to reclaim that word for myself.

Last, I finally finished something that has been languishing on my bead table since my first resin experiments at the end of last year. I made a wonderful pendant I really loved. However, it was already kind of heavy, and no matter what beads I put with it, it seemed even heavier, both in visual and physical weight. A necklace the fabulous Loralee Kolton showed today on Facebook had a kind of fancy way to knot it on leather cord from a Bead Table Wednesday tutorial by Heather Powers. I realized that would be the perfect way to finish my resin pendant. 

The connection is called the cat’s paw knot, and it’s just a little nicer and fancier than my regular lark’s head knot, so I will be using this again. I really love how this pendant looks on simple leather cord, nothing to distract from the pendant, which has enough going on.

I’ll be showing the other things I was working on in the weeks to come as they are finished. I am happy to be doing more things that are multiple steps. It feels like the next step in creativity to make or alter some of the components I’m using in my jewelry.

 

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

 

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.

Maker Blogs 9.15.18

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Blythe doll clothing, Blythe dolls, Diane Hawkey, Tammy Powley, Tapping Flamingo, Tapping Flamingo Bling, The Crafty Princess Diaries

Welcome to this week’s maker blog post. Let’s get started.

On Tapping Flamingo, Terry talks about her mother’s experience with blood clots and how we have to be proactive with our health when doctors don’t necessarily listen. I’m so glad her mother’s story had a good outcome, thanks to a little daughterly nagging! The autism awareness bracelets that Terry makes can also be for PE/DVT awareness. Check them out in her shop. 

On the Allegory Gallery blog, their second podcast is up! This time, they interview ceramic artist Diane Hawkey. I love Diane’s colorful, whimsical work. Once again, it was fun to hear how an artist got started and how her work evolved. As part of their podcast series, Allegory Gallery features some work by each artist they interview in their shop. 

On The Crafty Princess Diaries, Tammy has been sewing Halloween dresses for Blythe dolls! Halloween is a favorite holiday for many people, including Tammy. It shows in these very cute dresses. I love the one with a candy corn motif. The candy may be too sweet for you, but the dress is just sweet enough! She’s trying to make more in time for Halloween, so keep checking back in her shop.

I’m linking to a slightly older post from Andrew Thornton’s blog. Earlier this summer, he started making these beautiful copper and sterling pendants in a variety of designs. They are all infused with meaning. Andrew talks about how things can have different interpretations, and we shouldn’t let one interpretation hold us back as makers. I would say the same thing is true of art lovers. I have pieces of art that were created with one thought by the artist, but has a different meaning filtered through my own experiences. Both of those things can hold true in the piece. That is the magic of art. 

You can find Andrew’s copper and silver work in the Allegory Gallery shop.

What’s New?

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Diane Hawkey, Earthenwood Studio, Tinkersphere, Tracey Ann Finley Art

I was recently on vacation in New York City to visit my sister and her girlfriend. It’s always fun to go, and I had such a wonderful time. I’ve always loved everywhere my sister has lived in NY, and she’s always had great apartments. But recently she and her girlfriend, Lisa, won the housing lottery and got this fab affordable housing in Manhattan with my favorite view evah! I’m a city girl and could just sit in this living room with all the blinds up day and night. (In fact, I slept in the living room with the blinds up.  That couch folds down into a comfy bed.) 

Lisa is crafty herself and thoughtful as well. She’s often given me ideas for things to use in jewelry making. This visit she presented me with a gift to go to a place called Tinkersphere, complete with handmade card and tag! Look at that sweet little blue eyelet!

So one morning after having a delicious breakfast at The Organic Grill, which thrilled my little vegetarian heart, we ambled over to Tinkersphere in search of jewelry-making supplies and other cool things.

Just as an aside, I love all the wonderful public art available in NY.  We passed this on the way, part of a mural on the side of a building.

One of the fun things I got that I don’t have a picture of is a metal model of a Dalek (from Dr. Who) for my sister and brother-in-law to put together. They have a collection of Daleks, and I was thrilled that this one was new to them. Anywho, on with the rest of the show!

Cute robot necklace! This will probably find itself on a fancier beaded necklace in future. 

I really want to learn to solder, but until I do, I know there are some projects with copper tape that can be made to look soldered without the scary heat factor.

Various useful components.  The perfboard on the left reminded me of this Lori Anderson project. I love the pieces by Curio Jewelry using an assemblage of pieces, and I see this red bit in a piece like that. The last piece is, of course, a charm holder!

These striped blue “beads” come ready to wire wrap as connectors! And I’m so glad Lisa pointed out this magnetic bowl they are in. I am constantly searching for my ends – I don’t know what they are called, but they are metal things you put on the ends of your stringing material when working on a necklace so the beads don’t fall off. Now I can corral them in this magnetic bowl!

This shop was really fun. Thank you, Lisa!

I also wanted to show a few new beads because, well, beads. I love a rabbit motif, and the hare and moon is a favorite of this genre. Here is one from Earthenwood that I got from Allegory Gallery.  That cool background is by my brother-in-law. It’s a card he drew for my birthday. I was going to frame it. I might have to put it in something I can take it out of frequently because it’s a really great photo background!

Here are couple of beads by a favorite artist, Diane Hawkey. This Mad Cat bead reminds me of my Junkyard Dog from Tracey Ann Finley Art.

And last but not least, two “ancient” eye beads by Andrew Thornton. I’m going to admit I already have one or two of these, but when a couple more became available, I had to have them. I love them so much that I want to have some to just keep as beads and that will allow me to use the others in jewelry. I know it’s weird, but I also know some of you reading understand because you have the same weirdness!

Thanks for visiting with me. It’s always fun to talk beads and making.

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Koi Necklace

Tags

Bead and Button Show, Diane Hawkey

I bought a koi pendant by Diane Hawkey at Bead & Button in June. I was sure I would be hoarding the pendant a long time. But I saw this strand of citrine and thought it would be beautiful with the pendant. 

I like how the citrine beads aren’t perfectly clear. They look like maybe they’ve been battered by water sloshing them against rocks over time that also smoothed the shapes. I auditioned a number of things to dangle from the pendant’s three bottom loops. I decided on these pieces of dyed coral.  That is a testament to the idea that everything will eventually come in handy if you are patient. The last time I tried to use these coral beads was for an Art Bead Scene challenge three years ago.

You can’t really see the lovely metallic accents that frame the pedant and dot and wave inside. The coral is also dyed with a subtle gold shine. I really love how those blingy elements look together.

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Bead & Button Fun #2

Tags

Diane Hawkey, Hand of the Hills, Holy & Pure Gemstone, Humblebeads, Joan Miller Porcelain, Patti Cahill

Welcome to part 2 of my Bead & Button show and tell.  I had intended to focus somewhat on gemstone strands, and one of the booths I had seen people post nice stuff from was Holy & Pure Gemstone. But as I’ve noticed at other shows, I find all those strands too overwhelming, especially when I have to calculate the discounted price in my head. But, I did get some wonderful, colorful beaded chain there. 

They had a ton of chain, very good value, priced a marked.  Next year I would spend more time getting chain and maybe try to be patient and get at least one strand of beads.  Knowing what to expect is half the battle.

I love, love, love Joan Miller Porcelain, so I got a couple things from her. 

Joan Miller was sharing a booth with Patti Cahill, and I fell in love with this bead. I believe this is my first Patti Cahill bead, so that’s good I bought something new.  I’ve noticed that I stick to what I already like.  Next year I would like to branch out more.

I am very happy with my Humblebeads purchases. I have wanted the monarch items for a while. I knew I would get some disc beads because they are my favorite. I love the black, blue and white ones. I saw those posted by someone on preview night and set my sights.  I am going to try this project by Heather Powers with the lentil bead.

I did get some metal spacers like I planned from Hand of the Hills. I liked how they displayed their strands. They were on colored velcro strips. Each color of velcro indicated a specific price. I loved just opening the velcro to get the strand, so easy!

Last but not least, I got some Diane Hawkey beads. I am a huge fan. I got some beads and a cabochon (that I’m going to ask my mom to bead around).

And I got some pendants.  I especially love that little bar that says “I exist as I am, that is enough.” 

I would like to go back next year. I feel like I would be able to focus on other things. At shows, I do tend to stick to what I already know and like. I did get a couple new things, and I didn’t get any African strands, which is something I usually focus on. I feel so satisfied with my purchases this year that I think I could branch out a little next year to maybe see who has other things like vintage beads or maybe some fun or fancy clasps or artists who are new to me.  After all, the artists I love now were new to me at one time.

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I’m Going to the Bead & Button Show

Tags

Bead & Button Show, Diane Hawkey

I haven’t gone to the Bead & Button show since 2013. During the intervening years, I have gone to the Madison Art Glass and Bead Show which is smaller but a nice show and right in my own town. I didn’t go this year, so I’m going big and traveling to Milwaukee on Friday to spend a little time (and money!) at Bead & Button.

I hope to be able to meet some of my Facebook bead peeps in person. I’ve read several posts with tips about attending a bead show.  I’ve made and honed my master list of vendors I must visit. I love all beads and materials and get totally sucked in by everything, so I’ve tried to make my list with an eye toward things I will actually use (eventually) and can’t easily order online.  For example, I’ve identified a couple of vendors for gemstones and metal spacers.  Although I can get those things online, I find it difficult to pick them out because no matter how good the description, I often can’t picture size. 

And then there are the art beads. That’s a major part of what I’m in it for. When I went five years ago, I didn’t know all the handmade bead artists were grouped together on one side. I started on the other side, and by the time I got to the art beads, I was running out of money. That should not happen this year. Although I’m not necessarily going there first – because I actually have a pretty good stash of art beads and need the aforementioned gemstones and spacers – I won’t make the mistake of buying things I’m not in love with prior to getting to the art bead row! I have said for a long time if I get to go to Bead & Button again, I would immediately swoop down on Diane Hawkey’s booth. I feel a little less pressure because I got the above fabulous stash of her beads online last year. But they are not always readily available online (except some of her well know beads like word beads and a few others) so I will definitely be stopping there while feeling slightly less desperate!

I have little bottles of water, peanut butter and jelly Larabars (not too crumbly and possible to eat without water if necessary) and a list of other things to take. My sister and brother-in-law are going with me. I don’t think either of them has ever been to a bead show before, so I will be interested to see what they think. I’m excited and hope I find and pick all the right things. Tune back in next week and I’ll do a show and tell. See you then!

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