Bead in the New Year with Allegory Gallery – Week 2 Wrap Up

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#beadinthenewyear, Allegory Gallery, Allegory Gallery Design Challenges, Andrew Thornton, Artisticaos, Cynthia Thornton, Enchanted Adornments, Erin Prais-Hintz, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Miss Fickle Media, Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits, Sasha Crow, Staci Louise Smith, Terri DelSignore, William Jones

I am having so much fun and just bursting with creativity thanks to Bead in the New Year with Allegory Gallery. There are also some positive unintended consequences. I’m getting more things done. I tend to be tired and unmotivated after work. I often come home and plop on the couch not doing anything particularly productive. With #beadinthenewyear, I have projects to work on! I bead while watching TV, I bead while FaceTiming with my sister. I carry the necklaces all around my shadowy house looking for some light to take a decent picture, and since I’m up, I do the dishes in the sink. I feel so productive!

Day 7 – Use your favorite gemstone in a new piece

When it comes to gemstones, I get the most swoony over ruby nuggets. I had a few left over from a strand that I’ve slowly been using in special pieces. When I saw this prompt, I planned to use them together at the front of a simple necklace – sort of like the raw diamonds in the Carrie Bradshaw character’s necklace in the last episode of the Sex and the City TV series. But as I designed, it got even better. I used a large tin capped pearl headpin by Sasha Crow that I’ve been hoarding. (Points to me for being brave.) I also love (as you know if you read this blog) chain by Miss Fickle Media, and I combined severas short sections for this necklace. Putting together a number of very special elements doesn’t always guarantee a special piece of jewelry but for me, in this case, it did. I love this. It would not exist if not for Allegory Gallery‘s challenge.

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

I use a variety of stringing materials, but nothing more often than waxed linen. So I decided that anything I use other than that counts. I think my second most used material is Soft Flex beading wire. I thought about looking at some different cording I have, but before that happened, I had a design with leather pretty much done with this gorgeous pendant and bead set by Terri DelSignore of Artisticaos. I often find that leather doesn’t lay like I want, the knots make beads lay weird, I don’t have the right size closure, etc. But this just seemed to come together. Maybe I start out prejudiced and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. I used 1.5 mm leather with horn tubes and small wood spacers. I used knotting and more spacers to make an adjustable closure. It all lays well and doesn’t seem skimpy like leather sometimes can to me. I’m very pleased.

Day 9 – Produce a piece using gemstone chips

Some people don’t like to work with chip beads, but they can look incredibly rich for a small price since most of us can’t always buy strands of large, fancier cut gemstone beads. I don’t know what type of stone this is, but I really love how it looks with these three beautiful glass beads by Andrew Thornton. (Another thing I’ve been using judiciously; I still have some left!) I finished it with large link copper chain I had in just the right length and a copper clasp by Miss Fickle Media. I love the rustic look of this piece, like a treasure from an archeological dig.

Day 10 – Challenge yourself by using sari silk ribbon

When I got this faux tin mitten charm from Heather Powers of Humblebeads, she included matching sari silk. I had already been trying to figure a way to use them together when this prompt came up. I don’t like the way sari silk feels on the back of my neck, but when I try to use it in the front, it sometimes feels too light and floppy. I settled on a cute little bit tied on the top of this pendant made with the mitten and a clear bead that reminds me of ice and gives the necklace some weight. The strand is made of peanut beads and lovely manik manik glass in the perfect color.

Day 11 – Share the work of a jewelry artist you admire

There are many, many jewelry artists I admire. But I followed the prompt and chose one for this purpose: Erin Prais-Hintz. I encourage you to look around her blog. Here are links to a few favorites:

Lies They Told Me

The Challenge of Travel: Nepal

Challenge of Music

Day 12 – Make a project from a craft book. 

I made a project inspired by Cynthia Thornton‘s book Enchanted Adornments. I had a heart pendant with a similar look to the one in the project (mine by Andrew Thornton) and i used it along with a variety of chain and beads to make a pretty necklace. I’m happy; it came out more similar to the project n the book than I thought it would!

Day 13 – Get inspired by music! Make a piece based off a song.

I wanted a song that had some visuals for me, so I was kind of listening through my iTunes list and came upon Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits. It’s about a broken-hearted guy healing from a relationship. I used a repaired heart pendant (in the kintsugi style) by Staci Louise Smith. There is a line in the song “you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold” so I decided to use mixed metal chain. There is also a line, “You said ‘I love you like the stars above'”, and I used chain at the front with stardust beads, as well as a star charm near the clasp. This turned out so pretty! Another necklace that wouldn’t have come together like this without the prompt.

If you would like to see what others are making, you can visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenges page.

 

Bead in the New Year with Allegory Gallery – Week 1 Wrap Up

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#beadinthenewyear, Allegory Gallery, Allegory Gallery Design Challenges, Andrew Thornton, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Maire Dodd, Miss Fickle Media, SJ Designs Jewelry, William Jones

As I said in my last post, Allegory Gallery has put together a calendar of prompts for each day in January to help people be more creative and take time for themselves, something they saw many people post about as goals in 2019. I’m going to try to do a weekly recap of what I’m making. I don’t know that I’ll get much else made this month (although I do have the start of idea for the SJ Designs Jewelry Honey Do List challenge for this month.)

Day 1 – Make a pair of earrings

I am having a really fun time participating in the challenges. It’s eye-opening and inspiring. I’ve found that I actually do have more time to bead than I’ve been taking. I like to bead first thing in the morning, so I save it for weekends. But I’ve now make some really great things on workdays. I think I’m more relaxed doing more beading.

Day 2 – Create a new bracelet

I’m also realizing that when I have a simple idea, I should just go ahead and do it! I’ve had the idea to use this beautiful chain and clasp as a bracelet since I got it from Miss Fickle Media. I finally did it. Charm is by Maire Dodd.

Day 3 – Put together a necklace

I’m using the prompts to also finish projects that have been floating around in my head for a while. This is a more recent one, but I hadn’t done it yet. Mary Redman and Walter Gross gifted me with some beads, and these large speckled vintage plastic beads really struck me as wonderful. I had an idea right away. The prompt gave me the push to put it together.

Day 4 – Make a matching jewelry set

Think outside the box and be ok with good enough. I initially thought of a jewelry set as necklace, earrings and bracelet. I don’t do that, so I thought maybe I’d skip this day. Then I realized a set could mean something else. I hadn’t worked ahead so besides having little time after work, I also had no light for the picture. I went simple with my stretch stacking bracelets and took the best picture I could. Done is done, and I’ve got some cute, casual bracelets.

Day 5 – Use an art bead

I rarely start making without an idea. For this, I just sort of looked at art beads in easy reach to see if an idea came to me. When I saw this faux tin focal from Humblebeads, I got out my turquoise colored beads and these chrysocholla looked perfect. I kept trying to design something, and it just looked flat. I worked at it, adding and taking away, and finally came up with something that I think really works. I think sometimes I give up too soon or hang onto a design idea too long. The timeline of the challenge forced me to move along.

Day 6 – Fashion a design using Czech glass

I had been meaning to make this project, one of Heather Powers’ Bead Table Wednesday tutorials, since I got the faux tin toggle from her. I saw the toggle when I picked out the focal from the last project, and knew this project called for Czech glass. I’m so glad I got this done and am thrilled with how it turned out! I love the colors.

Andrew Thornton has addressed some people’s concerns about staying on track or being “behind”. He reminded us it’s supposed to be fun above all, you can participate as much or little as you like and post any project on any day. However, it you want to challenge yourself to finish all prompts, figure out some time management strategies. I am working ahead, but I’m pretty slow and can only finish one or two projects on my best day. But that’s ok. I’m having a lot of fun, and that’s the point!

Thanks to Andrew and William Jones of Allegory Gallery for this wonderful idea. If you would like to check out what folks are making based on these prompts, visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenges Facebook page. Scroll through the feed or visit the album to see them all!

Simple and Cool

Tags

Anne Potter, Bead Table Wednesday, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Jewelry Stringing Magazine, Swoondimples, Travelogue Magazine

The hot temperatures in my area, my own aesthetic and the inspiration of a new (to me) jewelry magazine has resulted in today’s necklace. Right now it is 91 and only getting hotter. I am lucky to be able to be inside with air conditioning, but I like having jewelry that I could wear outside even in the heat and still stay cool.

In addition, I’ve recently learned about an electronic jewelry magazine by Anne Potter called Travelogue. She was a frequent contributor to the late, lamented Jewelry Stringing magazine. Travelogue offers great photos of travel-related inspiration and then projects based on that inspiration. The projects are very doable but can be customized to your own skill level. Not based on any specific piece but just the feeling of simplicity, I took some beads I really liked and made this effortless piece.

The owl focal is by swoondimples. His name is Stewart. I got it in 2016 when the Pantone color of the year was a duo – rose quartz and serenity blue. The pink Czech glass I got in a destash. I just really like pink. It was my favorite color as a little girl, and although sometimes I like to think that has changed, it really hasn’t. I believe that is why I was more intrigued with the Pantone color that year than some other people. I had something else in mind for those little pink beads, but this project asserted itself. I was actually going to use some other spacers in the front for an accent, including some more rustic metal to give the piece a little bit of a harder look. But I decided on these simple eye beads I’ve had since the beginning of my beading days. Since I’ve kept them this long, they deserved to be used.

This sweety tweety little necklace will be fun to wear with my sundresses this summer.

One other thing about this post: the picture. It’s very sunny here, and usually I would have to wait until dusk or perhaps early tomorrow morning to get a picture. This picture was made possible in real time right after I made this necklace by Heather Powers of Humblebeads. I love her beads and other artwork as well as the free projects she shares on her Bead Table Wednesday videos. A couple of weeks ago, she made one about taking better photos with your cell phone. Oh my goodness, she gave a few easy tips that really helped my photo game. It was fun to put them into action after watching the video this morning. Thanks, Heather!

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Vintage

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Heather Powers, Humblebeads

I’ve been really enjoying vintage beads lately.  Also, I’m starting to be able to get back into making jewelry! So for this post, both of those things have come together in a necklace made of vintage and vintage style components. If you don’t know, I got a tendonitis in my thumb and wasn’t able to make jewelry for a couple of months. I am doing much better now, and started a necklace last weekend that I finished this weekend. I’m trying hard not to over-do it. 

The focal is a faux tin piece by Heather Powers of Humblebeads. She has a technique where she puts an image on steel and it doesn’t scratch or come off. The pieces have such a nice feel and really look like vintage tin.

In the actual vintage category, my mother had given me this vintage glass bead necklace. The worn patina of color with the white bead showing underneath is so lovely. I probably would have re-strung that necklace and worn as is with no additions, but it was too short for me. I think the beads work well with this piece, and I paired them with some vintage Preciosa rose shaped beads. My idea was to hang little beads from chain at the bottom. Once I decided on fringe chain, though, more beads seemed like too much. I didn’t want it to get too busy around the pretty focal. 

I’m really pleased with how it turned out. (Do I end every post that way?) Here’s a shot of MooKitty helping me with the photos for this post. Thanks for visiting, and you can look forward to more finished jewelry in my posts again.

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The Never-Ending Search for Storage

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Bead Table Wednesday, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Nile Corp.

Recently I watched a video tour of Heather Powers’ studio where she creates her fabulous Humblebeads and shares wonderful free projects on her Bead Table Wednesday videos. I love seeing inside people’s studios. If you do too, watch the video.  Anyway, she was casually showing her enviable trove of art beads in these great sectioned wooden trays she had stacked on her table. I thought she had found a slew of them in an old farmhouse barn at an estate auction or something, when she said they were from Nile Corp! Oh. My. Goodness.

I immediately went and ordered a bunch. They are on sale and some sizes/colors are out of stock. I hope that doesn’t mean they are discontinuing them! But at least I got eight. I originally intended them for beads, but an ongoing storage need I have is also for jewelry.

I originally started out with this old wooden rake for some jewelry storage in my studio. Once it became full (it’s only not totally full now because when I wear a necklace, it gets put away elsewhere.) 

Then I ordered some super strong magnets and repurposed this calendar system for jewelry storage. Then I ordered more magnets and employed the side of my filing cabinet.

And more magnets that moved some of my jewelry into other parts of the house.

But I still have a mess on just about every surface, and a lot of it is jewelry.

This poor little cabinet always looks like this except for a day or two after I clean it. Mostly jewelry and jewelry-related items. Some random mail I’m pretending I’ll attend to “soon” and that blue thing a duster fits on that shows I at least intended to dust at one point. The wooden box with the building has jewelry in it, but it’s always covered with other jewelry, so I never wear whatever is in it. (It was covered with jewelry right before this picture, but I cleaned off the jewelry to try the experiment you will see in the next photo.

Here is one of the Nile Corp. trays with jewelry in it! If I put jewelry that fits fully into the cubbies in these, I can stack about three on each side of that little cabinet and keep it much cleaner.  

Chunkier jewelry can still hang. I’ll try this and see if it helps me keep a tidier area and a better way to find the items I’m looking for.

Whenever I do a storage post, I like to ask – what are your storage solutions? Share in the comments.  Pictures welcome!

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Tile Trials

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Andrew Thornton, Artybecca, Cynthia Thornton, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Joan Miller, Staci Louise Originals, Staci Smith, Trinket Foundry

I scored a variety of beautiful tile left over from remodeling jobs (not mine, alas) and was excited to try them as photo backgrounds.  Here’s how it went.

Here are two pieces on a whole sheet of small, square tile. I wasn’t sure if I’d like this because of the spaces. But looking at it, I think it could work sometimes.  I can’t seem to get a nice picture of this particular necklace. I also tried on another day on other backgrounds. The tin bead (with the horrible glare on it!) is from Trinket Foundry.

Here is the same tile closer with a beautiful necklace by Andrew Thornton and Cynthia Thornton. I think the background colors are perfect for this piece, and I love the texture of the tile in this close up, but I’m not wild about how the webbing shows. Also, I know I’d get all perfectionist on whether the lines look straight.

Here are some photos on decorative bathroom tiles.  I actually have three designs, but I’ve only used two here.  i was in a hurry because the light was fading. The lampwork bead below is also from Trinket Foundry.

I think the bracelet below looks better on the patterned tile than the necklace above.  The design shows through the glass pendant on the necklace too much. There are so many variables in a picture that affect the outcome, but I can see that these tiles will be good for many things.  (They look fab in the bathroom too!)

I really like how this elephant by Staci Smith looks on the patterned tile too. I think small, bold pieces might fare best on the patterned tile.

Here is a necklace with a bird by Heather Powers of Humblebeads on three different smaller tiles put together. I actually really like this picture which surprises me. I would have thought the transitions between each piece of tile would be off-putting. I don’t find that. I like that there is a dark, medium and light, and I could position my piece to take advantage of that.  It’s often a problem to have a dark pendant and light beads because one inevitably suffers in a solid background photo.

Here are two pieces on a small square of kitchen counter.  It’s so much prettier in the kitchen, but I think both pieces look relatively nice, although again the bold elephant pendant does better than the necklace. The problem with this pieces is that, unlike the other pieces, it is shiny. That will cause glare, as you can see in the picture with the necklace.

The banana pendant is by Artybecca. The banana dangles are by Joan Miller. The Zola Elements chain is from Lima Beads. The clasp is Nunn Design.

The tile I think fared the worst in photos was this plain white/grey. It’s kind of flat and dark, and again when I need it bigger and put multiple pieces together, I won’t like the line.

I’m not sure this tile is great with these two pieces, but I do believe it will be great with many, many things.  It is gorgeous stone tile, and I have one very big piece that will be good for larger/longer jewelry when the colors are right.  I also have another partial piece with different colors/textures.

I’m very happy to have all these tiles, and will enjoy trying them in the future to have more options for jewelry photos.  MooKitty is also very excited about all the packaging I carried the tile home in.

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Inspired by Reading Book Club: Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

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Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Idea-Ology, Speidel, Tim Holtz

The idea behind Allegory Gallery‘s Inspired by Reading Book Club is to read that month’s book and make something inspired by it.  This month, the book is Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. I read this series years ago in college; it was fun to revisit it.  I liked it the second time around too.  The characters are real and generally sympathetic.  This book is told from the perspectives of various characters; my piece is based on the character Mary Ann Singleton. She’s a young woman from Ohio who goes to San Francisco on vacation and decides to stay.  She is looking for something else in life than the traditional path she was destined for in Cleveland.

I thought about the type of jewelry that was popular in the late 1970s when this book took place. There was a lot of minimalist gold and silver.  I remember the big names in stores I went to being Napier, Monet, and Trifari.  I remember wanting a Speidel ID bracelet with the passion of a 12 year old.  So those were the things rolling around in my head when I made this bracelet inspired by those things but made for today.

I used a Tim Holtz Idea-Ology word band as a bracelet bar.  The quote, “live the life you’ve imagined” is what Mary Ann was trying to do, as well as advice Mrs. Madrigal, landlady and sort of den mother to her tenants, might have imparted. I made the band part of the bracelet from gorgeous wobble beads by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I included two charms.  The heart is a nod to the Speidel ID bracelet of my youth that this was inspired by, and the vintage mouse charm is a reference to Mary Ann’s friend (and fellow tenant) Michael “Mouse” Tolliver.

Thanks to William and Andrew of Allegory Gallery for these great book club challenges!  This was a really fun challenge that took me back to the jewelry of my childhood. Have a look at what other participants were inspired to make on the Inspired by Reading Book Club Facebook page.

No Procrastination Necklace Remake

Tags

Earth & Stars by Joshua V. Davis, fromNothing, Heather Powers, Humblebeads

I do not like remaking things.  If I make something and end up not liking it, the poor piece will languish perhaps forever.  Certainly for months or even years. So yesterday I made a necklace.  I liked parts of it – the pendant, the color combination.  But I did not like the overall effect.  Somehow the round put me off in the middle with the chips.  It seemed like an unbalanced texture or perhaps size mismatch.  Here that is.

I really love this bird by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  She calls it Mod Geo in Terra Cotta. (Not a good picture, but I’m taking it apart anyway.)  I love turquoise with it which might not be a natural color choice.  But the composition of this necklace is just off.  I slept on it overnight, and I’m still not satisfied.  I decided to change it up right away because I don’t want it to languish.  Finished, it will be a great necklace for spring and summer.

I had a bag of mixed beads sitting on my bead table.  I had made a necklace I really liked with them that I gave away.  Here was my chance to have another version of that necklace. That necklace had been heavy on pink, so most of the pink beads were gone.  I added white, turquoise and some handmade natural clay beads from the shop fromNothing Earth & Stars Joshua V. Davis.

This design still didn’t quite satisfy me, although I liked it. Perhaps if I had made it longer, I would have left it. But the white chips were still nagging at me. I had really liked them with the bird. I went to redesign it again. I thought about discarding the turquoise colored dangle which would open up more design possibilities, but I really loved that pop of color.  I decided to use just the mother of pearl chip knotted on turquoise blue waxed linen to tie in that color. Of course I didn’t cut the linen long enough (will I never learn?!) so I added some chain at the back.  Now I have choice of lengths.

None of these pictures is great, but I have no patience to wait for better light. Makeover mission accomplished in less than 24 hours.  That’s the way to do it!

 

New(ish) Beads Parade

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Beady Girl Beads, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Jennifer Tough, Joan Miller Porcelain, Project: Next Step

I haven’t had a new beads post recently, so I thought I’d show some new and newish beads.  I just went to take pictures, and anything that hadn’t been put away yet was fair game.  My studio is a mess again.  It’s going to get some attention during my upcoming time off.  So, here we go.

These gorgeous beads from Andrew Thornton actually are pretty new.  He saw some ancient beads he liked and decided to make some similar.  He is such an amazing artist. His beads are even better than the original. I am in love with them!

You can see more of Andrew’s work (as well as that of other artists) at Allegory Gallery and their etsy store. Andrew and his partner William are having a fundraiser for a special project for the gallery with some really fun rewards still available until December 15th.  Check that out here: Project: Next Step.

Next up are these from Beady Girl Beads.  I love the bright style, and fell for this matte heart.  The other beads were a gift – nice!

I’m a complete Joan Miller junkie. I could not resist this cat pendant from Joan Miller Porcelain. I also got these great floral bead caps, and this bicone bead. The bicone is truly one of the most beautiful beads I’ve ever seen.  This picture doesn’t really capture the metallic glowy goodness of it.

Here is a bonbon bead and leafy pendant by Heather Powers of Humblebeads. She has so many gorgeous things. I recently saw some blue toned bonbons on her Facebook page. Swoon! Her husband also makes some beautiful things like these connectors. 

Last but not least is this crackle heart by Jennifer Tough. I really like her work, and I had made a necklace with another of her hearts that turned out so great I wanted more!

Thanks for visiting.  Come again!

Art Bead Scene – November 2016

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Art Bead Scene, Claire Maunsell, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Lee Oscar Lawrie, Miss Fickle Media

The Art Bead Scene blog offers a great monthly challenge.  The editors share a piece of art for inspiration, and participants make something based on it using at least one art bead. The inspiration this month is a metalwork owl above the door to a room at the Library of Congress.  The artist is Lee Oscar Lawrie.

I really enjoy participating in the Art Bead Scene challenges, but I haven’t done so lately.  I’m not sure I would have this time.  Sometimes I’m overwhelmed with ideas and find it difficult to focus, but lucky for me I had help this month in the form of Heather Powers’ Bead Table Wednesday video this week in her Humblebeads VIP Party Facebook page.  It was a great post that talked about a few things including the ABS challenge and the uplifting power of art. I came away inspired as I did from last week’s video. Heather is the creator of Art Bead Scene as well as the artist behind Humblebeads.

I thought, yeah, I have some owls in my stash.  I started one necklace, but I wasn’t feeling it, so I decided to look for some other owl pendants in my stash by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery and Claire Maunsell of StillPointWorks. I came across this wonderful bronze owl coin pendant by Andrew and knew I’d found my art bead for this challenge. Metal and majestic, like the inspiration.

I wanted to add something right above the pendant. After searching around my stash, I decided on this little mood bead. It changes colors, and I like that aspect of it. The necklace will look slightly different at different times.  While I was designing, the bead was mostly green.  Whenever I touched it, blue was the hue.  For some reason when I took the picture, it took on a golden tone like the yellow quartz.  I like that the bronze and the quartz have a bit of a monochromatic look like the inspiration piece.

I love the simple cut, and especially when the stones are drilled so that some are side to side and some are top to bottom.  I think that adds a nice design element.  I was originally going to use one of the marquis cut Montana agate beads above the pendant, but I couldn’t get both strands of the (1-ply!) linen to go through.  However, because I needed a little more length, I got to use two of the beads in the back.  I finished it off with chestnut opal patina hook clasp from Miss Fickle Media.

Please visit the Art Bead Scene Pinterest page to see more creations from the challenge inspiration.