The Beginning and the End

Tags

Keith O'Connor, Malin de Koning, Nancy Adams, Round Rabbit

Sometimes when I want to make something, I just scroll through my Pinterest boards and see if something inspires me.  Tonight it was this pin.  I thought of some beads I have that wouldn’t have really looked anything like the inspiration, but that the inspiration made me think about.

I thought the flowery bead had more color in it and would have green, so the carved bead would work with it.  After I decided they didn’t work together, I thought about these white beads I saw when looking for the green beads.  What happened is what often happens – in looking for beads based on some inspiration, I find something else and put that together.  So inspiration that just gets me looking through my beads is usually enough to help me make a piece when I don’t have a specific idea in mind.

I was thinking about different pendants, and then I saw the beaded bead sitting on my work table.  I thought that would be a good accent.  I also had an idea to use a blue and white clasp and thought of a Round Rabbit piece that is blue and white.  The whites didn’t quite go, but I found this green pendant and thought back to the beaded bead.  There are a million ideas and combinations!

In the end, I used the white beads, a Keith O’Connor tab, a beaded bead by Malin de Koning and a pendant by Nancy Adams.  She has stopped making beads, but makes a lot of other cool stuff, so check out her shop, Round Rabbit.

 

Waxed Linen Jewelry Blog Hop Reveal

Tags

Bead & Button, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry, Diane Hawkey, Diane Ptaszynski, Erin Seigel, Irish waxed linen, Kandu Beads, Keith O'Connor, Lorelei Eurto

Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio recently got started on a waxed linen kick.  Who can blame her?  Waxed linen is great! Diana decided to have a waxed linen jewelry blog hop.  What a fun idea, and today is the reveal!

I love waxed linen and have been practicing in the last year to get better using it in my jewelry designs.  I had several ideas for this blog hop, but in the end I went with a necklace design using these gloriously grungy connectors by Diane Hawkey.  I got them last year at Bead & Button.

I like that though sometimes beads turn around while you are wearing a necklace, in this case it won’t matter because both sides of each bead are great! I was originally going to hang some beads from the bottom hole of the dangling connector, but I kind of forgot about it as I went along.  I might add something later, but I have a bad habit of complicating jewelry, so maybe I’ll just leave it. I like it as is.

I knotted the three connectors together on brown waxed linen, added two round beads in the same color family and then added sections of rough little ceramic beads from Kandu Beads.  The clasp consists of a linen loop and an orange raku bead by Keith O’Connor.  There is a little bit of the same color orange in one of the connectors.  I love that!

 

I knotted between sections of the tiny beads to give the necklace more structure and a little more heft.  What I like about waxed linen is that it’s flexible and comes in so many sizes and colors.  You can choose a color that blends in like I did or use the linen as a pop of color.  Things made with linen drape so nicely. It’s also easier to save materials if a design doesn’t work out.  I’ve been able to take apart entire necklaces because the wax makes the linen easier to unknot.

I had a lot of fun with this challenge and look forward to more designs using waxed linen.  If you are looking for inspiration, check out Erin Siegel’s Pinterest page.  Erin is the one who inspired Diana’s waxed linen adventures, and Lorelei Eurto and Erin co-authored the wonderful Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry with lots of great projects using fibers, including waxed linen.

Thanks so much Diana for this fun blog hop, and thank YOU for visiting!  Now please go check out the beauties all the other participants made on the blogs below:

Diana Ptaszynski – Our Host!

Kelsy Vincent

Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

Kashmira Patel

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Vanessa Gilkes

Sandy Huntress

Kay Thomerson

Sarajo Wentling

Kari Asbury

Rebecca Anderson

Melissa Trudinger

Ann Schroeder – You are HERE!

Shai Williams

Blanca Medina

Cheryl Brown

Johana Nunez Rivera

Lori Bowring Michaud

Kelly Morgan

Barbara Bechtel

Kristen Stevens

Heather Boardman

Janet Bocciardi

Kathy Lindemer

Lesley Watt

Susan Kolovson

Jayne Capps

Michelle McCarthy

Cynthia Deis

Karla Morgan

Erin Siegel

Becky Pancake

Kelly Hosford Patterson

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson

Inge von Roos

Carolyn Lawson

Linda Younkman

Sandi Volpe

Toltec Jewels

Michelle Mach

Jen Cameron

Dorothy Winchell

Darlene Mansue

Thicker Waxed Linen

Tags

Irish waxed linen, Jewelry Accord, Keith O'Connor, Swoondimples

I love using Irish waxed linen in my projects, but sometimes the standard 4-ply is just a little too thin.  I’ve used 2-ply in some projects that needed something smaller, but I had never tried some of the heartier sizes.  When I made a recent leather and ribbon order from Jewelry Accord I noticed there was some 6-ply waxed linen.  I bought some because I knew there were larger sizes, but I had never tried them.  I often like to use chunkier beads but prefer the more pliable waxed linen to thicker fibers like hemp.

In addition to the sand colored 6-ply waxed linen, I used some green and orange raku beads by Keith O’Connor and a Lucky button by Swoondimples as the clasp.  I enjoyed trying a different ply of waxed linen and will definitely be buying more of the larger sizes in the future.

AJE December Component of the Month Reveal

Tags

Art Jewelry Elements, Gaea, Keith O'Connor, Miss Fickle Media, Rebekah Payne, Second Surf, Staci Smith, Sweet Olive Supplies, Tree Wrings Studio, Yuki Designs

If you have never visited the Art Jewelry Elements blog, you should do so immediately (but come back here after!)  There are multiple contributors writing “for jewelry designers using handmade and high quality components in their art jewelry” to quote from the blog.

Each month one of the contributors makes a component that is sent to the AJE team as well as several lucky winners chosen at random.  For December, Rebekah Payne of Tree Wings Studio was offering one of her speckle beads to each participant.  I was thrilled when my name was picked!  We were given a color choice, and I chose a lovely brown with white and orange dots.  Of course I got it and started trying designs right away and did not get a good picture of it alone, but here is a close up of it in action.

The original design I had in mind did not work out. But no worries because when you have a beautiful bead, you can use it so many ways.  I sketched a necklace and a bracelet and thought I would probably make the necklace. However, when I got to the beading table, as often happens, all that went out the window.  I still believe each sketch would have resulted in a nice piece of jewelry, but I was inspired by this ribbon.

The ribbon was tied on a package of beads I got from Staci Smith.  I get a thrill any time I can incorporate pieces of ribbon, extra beads or charms used in the packaging of something I have purchased.  The ribbon color was so perfect for Rebekah’s bead and the more bohemian feeling I am working towards in my jewelry making.  I spent a little time deciding which other beads I wanted to use with it and their exact placement.  I’m very happy with how the necklace came out.

Thank you so much to Art Jewelry Elements and Rebekah Payne for letting me join in the fun this month!  I always appreciate it when people list their art bead and other sources.  It has allowed me to find many wonderful artists and shops.  Here are the artists/sources for the other materials I used in addition to the speckle bead:

red aventurine nuggets: Sweet Olive Supplies
off white faceted ceramic bead: Gaea
orange raku bead: Keith O’Connor
faceted glass bead: Miss Fickle Media
copper clasp: Second Surf

Make sure to visit the other people who have done something wonderful with their speckle bead at the blogs below:

Guest Designers:

Stephanie – Confessions of a Bead Hoarder

Ann – Bead Love – You are here!

Karin – Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Melissa – Bead Recipes

AJE Team:

Karen – Starry Road Studio

Diana – Suburban Girl Studio

Kristen – My Bead Journey

Lesley – The Gossiping Goddess

Jenny – Jenny Davies-Reazor

Linda – Linda’s Bead Blog & Meanderings

Melissa – Melissa Meman… Art, Life, Love

Susan – Sue Beads

Rebekah – Tree Wings Studio

Caroline – BlueberriBeads

Talons and Snakeskin

Tags

Keith O'Connor, Sweet Olive Supplies, talon beads

I made a necklace today that is not my usual style.  I was buying some gemstones from Sweet Olive Supplies and a group of large agate talon shaped beads caught my eye.  I knew they weren’t the sort of thing I would usually go for (at least not a group of them).  Also, I prefer faceted beads, and these are smooth as silk.  But as I shopped, I just couldn’t get them out of my mind. They weren’t expensive, so I added them to my order.  

Agate talon beads, snakeskin textured spacers and Keith O’Connor raku swirl beads.

After the beads arrived, I knew I had made the right decision.  They just spoke to me.  I remembered that long ago I had fallen in love with some snakeskin looking little beads.  I have them in three sizes!  I thought they would be perfect to go between the talons.  This necklace, like most things I make, might change.  I like the green leather, but I might change it to a thicker flat brown metallic leather.  I also could not find my copper crimp covers, so I’ll add those for a more finished look.  Maybe that’s a good thing if I’ll be restringing.  I’ve saved myself a couple of crimp covers!  Here is a picture that I think shows the variations in the some of the agate a little better.

I’m really pleased with how this necklace looks, and it feels great on.  The agate beads are heavy in a pleasant way.  It was fun making this necklace.  

Flood the Streets With Art!

Tags

anti-consumerism, art, Flood the Streets with Art, Free Art Friday, Freecycle, handmade, Keith O'Connor, random acts of kindness, Scott Wong, The Story of Stuff Project

I have written several times about Free Art Friday.  I have a lot of fun creating jewelry to drop in the community and leave for someone to find and keep.  Well, now here is an even cooler idea – Free Art Friday with another dimension.  Scott Wong, the artist behind Free Art Friday – Wisconsin, has created the event FLOOD the Streets with ART!  The idea is an expansion on Free Art Friday – do a random act of kindness by dropping a free piece of art somewhere in public on November 29, 2013.  Art is defined as anything at all you create; don’t get hung up on whether or not you call yourself an artist.

Earrings I will drop for a member of the public to find on November 29th.  Swirl beads by Keith O’Connor.

I don’t know if this is true in other countries, but in the United States, there is a very overt kind of commercial consumerism that asserts itself on November 29th each year called Black Friday.  Stores open at all hours, interrupting and shortening the family time of their workers, in order to entice consumers into the stores for “deals”.  There are increasing stories each year of fights and people getting crushed in a stampede of greedy shoppers.  I’m not saying everyone is like this.  I know some people enjoy going shopping together at this time, but in general this whole Black Friday thing leaves me cold.  I’m not a huge shopper to begin with (beads aside) and after Thanksgiving I try not to go into stores altogether.  It’s too frightening.

So I love the idea of people all over the world taking whatever they create and sharing it on what here has become the biggest shopping day of the year. To me it speaks of things I care about like art, handmade, local, acts of kindness and thinking in different ways to make the world a better place. Kindness makes the world a better place.  Creativity makes the world a better place.  Not a cheap flat screen TV.  Recently, I became aware of The Story of Stuff Project.  The ideas in their video, including that of sharing stuff – a la Freecycle – is great.

I’m in no way perfect in the pursuit of less consumerism and less commercialism.  But if there are ways I can work toward that, then I want to explore them.  I believe a wonderful way is to spread the word about FLOOD the Streets with ART!  If you create something and are so inclined, please join us on November 29th wherever you are.