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Tag Archives: Malin de Koning

Happy Bracelet: A Glimpse Into My Design Mind (and Giveaway Winner)

07 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by beadlove in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Earrings Everyday, Malin de Koning, Trinket Foundary

I made a new bracelet, and I thought I would talk a little about how my pieces come about. I had drawn a design for a bracelet inspired by a random bracelet on Pinterest, where I had also seen some of my Malin de Koning pins. I love the way she puts things together. It’s like every bead she uses is elevated by every other bead she uses with it.

I was in my studio looking for beads I had in mind for the design I had drawn. Instead, I came upon some beautiful vintage glass “lemon” beads. I thought they’d be good in a bracelet, so I switched off the one I had drawn, and had Malin in the back of my mind. In the same box as the lemons were taupe German glass beads, which caught my eye because I have more German glass in that color, but it is in my Czech glass box (? I know) and I thought I should unite them. But as long as I had them out, I thought how well they went with the lemons. Then I started considering focals, even though I only went upstairs for a minute to put something in the studio and then get ready for bed. So I got out some lampwork and spotted a baggie of the most fabulous glass beads from Trinket Foundry. They were smaller than I’d been thinking for a focal….

At this point, the cat wandered into the studio where she is no longer allowed after ingesting a non-food item. I had left the door open slightly since I was only going to be in there “for a second”.  I decided to go to bed as long as I had to get up to shoo the cat out, so of course I went downstairs and hopped on the computer to get sucked into Pinterest looking at turquoise, yellow and taupe color combinations based on the beads on my table.

beadlove-lemons-bracelet-2

The next morning I saw Malin’s latest post on Earrings Everyday.  Yep, her stuff is still great.  Later, I went upstairs to take a shower and thought I’d quick look at those beads I’d gotten out.  I realized they were really just perfect together and, even though I wasn’t wearing my glasses since I’d just gone up for a shower, I’d quick make the bracelet. I found a stray piece of beading wire on my bead table, and some nearby seed beads in a an approximate color from the focal and a couple of larger seed beads (that had spilled on my table) for the larger lampwork holes. When I picked the clasp, I had to resize my original design. I removed a German glass bead and substituted a square Swarovski crystal sitting on my bead table.  Because I was making this quickly and without my glasses, I left a little too much slack in the wire when crimping, so I covered up that “happy accident” (Bob Ross) with some gold jump rings in a nod to the gold stripes in the lemon beads. Ta-da!

I really love the bracelet. I have come to embrace my casual design style. I think it even works in my favor because if I didn’t get distracted from my original idea, I wouldn’t have this bracelet! The lampwork bead is so happy, as are the lemons. I love German glass, but I normally wouldn’t have put taupe with yellow, thinking it is not colorful enough. But with Malin in the back of my mind, I decided to just use things I really love, and it worked for me.

Ok, now on to the winner of my Bits and Bobs giveaway: Ann Morgan

Congrats!  Please contact me with your mailing address.

The Beginning and the End

04 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by beadlove in Uncategorized

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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.

BeadLove - inspiration beads

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.

BeadLove - green and white necklace

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.

 

Earring Pairs Giveaway

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by beadlove in Uncategorized

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

bead giveaway, Gillian McMurray, Kylie Parry, Malin de Koning, Scorched Earth on Etsy, Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, Vintaj

I have stopped wearing earrings because of sensitive ears, and I want to start cleaning out my jewelry stash because, well, space.  And messiness.  So I’ve decided to have a giveaway.  Rather than give away the earrings, many of which are old and not styles I would make any more, I’ve decided to give away the bead pairs for your use!  That has the added benefit of leaving me with lots of earwires so I can make earrings when I decide to do art abandonment.

Here is the group:

earring pair giveawayThere are many nice things here including some paper beads by Gillian McMurray, some vintage crystals and glass (which I was too lazy to totally take apart) beaded beads by Malin de Koning, colorful mosaics by Scorched Earth on Etsy, ceramic leaf rounds by Kylie Parry, lovely metal rectangles by Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, flower chandelier drops from Vintaj and some nice non-art beads.  Some of these others could be art beads, but I got them long ago and can’t remember or didn’t even know what art beads were.

Looking through my earring collection, I found some beads that I could envision repurposing in other designs.  But these beads just seem so wonderful for earrings that I thought they should go to someone who might use them for that! Although that’s not a requirement.

This giveaway is open internationally.  You can get two entries:

  1. Leave a comment on this post telling me something about you as a beader – favorite bead artist or shop, favorite item to make, style, inspiration, etc.
  2. Share this on social media (Facebook, Google +, Instagram, Twitter, whatever you use).  Remember to come back and make a second comment that you’ve shared.

I will choose a random winner from all qualifying entries that have been left by Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 12:00 Noon CDT.  Please have a way for me to contact you (either in your comment(s) or linked to your name) and I will also announce the winner on my blog.

Good luck, and thank you for participating to help find my earring pairs a good home!

Dwindling New Beads Post

02 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by beadlove in Uncategorized

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Tags

Erin Prais-Hintz, Kylie Parry, Lisa Peters Art, Malin de Koning, Marla James, Marlas Mud, Nature Scavenger, Something To Do Beads, Tesori Trovati

I call this the dwindling new beads post because I have done quite a few of these and want to focus more on making things, practicing techniques and more than just buying beads.  I have certainly proven I can do that!  Also, I need to cut down.  Not just say I’m going to cut down.

So let’s get on with the show!

MarlaJamesI saw these beautiful earrings by Malin de Koning and I fell in love with the polymer drops by Marla James.  So I had to get some of my own.  And while I was there…well, you know how it is.

somethingtodobeads2

I saw the autumnal bead sets with pods by Something To Do Beads in a blog post on Art Bead Scene and had to go get one because I knew they would fly out of the shop.  I was right; there were only two left when I got there.  I just love pod-type things.

LisaPetersArtbuttons

You might notice that my downfall in bead buying is seeing the gorgeous creations on the internet.  (Note to self: stop spending so much time on the internet.)  Often I’ll see some beads in a blog post, on Facebook or just decide to go visit the shop of one of my favorite artists.  Once I see a creation that I know is one of a kind, it can be hard to resist. That’s what happened with these shank buttons by Lisa Peters Art.  The strawberry is so charming, and the circles are just amazing.  I love circles, whether in the form of polka dots, this bull’s eye effect, spirals, etc.

LisaPetersArtblueleaf

This blue leaf by Lisa Peters Art is so beautiful.  I feel like my purchase of it was a little different, even though I bought it at the same time as the buttons.  I fell in love with this style of leaf at Lisa’s booth at Bead & Button 2013.  I didn’t get one there because I had other things I wanted from her booth, which was one of the last I came to and my bead money was dwindling.  But I knew someday I would have one.  When I saw it, I knew this blue leaf was the one for me.

KylieParrykeyhole

When Kylie Parry announced an update that included this keyhole pendant, I knew I wanted this and a raven pendant that was a new style for her.   I was online at the exact moment the update went live.  Well, maybe a few minutes before – refresh, refresh – and you don’t see a raven because I still didn’t get one!  But I’m so happy I got this lovely pendant because I do have an idea for it.

TesoriTrovatisari

Now here is a real coup.  Sometimes in reading blogs I see beads that are just no longer available.  I was reading a blog post by Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  She used one of her sari snapshot pendants, and I was blown away.  I really love her creations and hope one day to join her Simple Truths Sampler Club.  But as I read this post and saw the sari snapshot pendant in 2014, it was from 2012 and there was no way I was going to get one.  Guess again!  I got this lovely version from a destash.  I LOVE destash.  Please offer treasures you aren’t going to use to the rest of us.  We’ll give them a great home.

agatepink

I also got these agate beads in a destash.  Another great thing about destash is being able to get smaller quantities of beads.  I’m guessing these were sold in a larger strand, but these few were very affordable for me and the perfect amount for my use.

NatureScavengerbark

I have ordered from Nature Scavenger before – beautiful painted driftwood beads.  When I saw these natural wood beads with bark still on, I knew I wanted them.  They are lovely nuggets in person.

I’m not saying you will never see a “new beads” post from me again.  I don’t have that much willpower!  Plus, there are some beads I’ve never shown (as well as a few more on the way as I type.) But I’m going to strive to be a more active maker rather than just a buyer.  Here’s looking forward to new adventures!

 

Memory Wire

02 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by beadlove in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Art Bead Scene, Free Art Friday, Malin de Koning, memory wire, studioRenee

I’ve seen some really cute memory wire bracelets.  I love these with peanut beads from the Art Bead Scene Blog and this one by Malin de Koning.  I also really like this one by studioRenee using copper spacers.

So with all of these in mind, I set to work with some peanut beads I had purchased for another project.  I did not come up with the finished product that I wanted, but I learned a lot.

Image1)  I need to figure out how to space my colors better so several rows of the same color don’t end up right next to each other.  I thought I was doing that, but it turns out that I wasn’t doing it well enough.

2)  I loved the metal spacers studioRenee used with the beads.  I didn’t have any, so I used some Beadalon tubing.  I think that worked out well as an alternative.

3)  Memory wire is really difficult to bend.  I don’t like how my ends turned out.  My intention was to put charms and wire wrapped beads on the ends, but I did not want to call more attention to them.  When I’ve had more practice, I will do that or perhaps use other methods as described in this video such as memory wire end caps.

4)  Memory wire might not be for me.  It’s very, very round.  My wrist is more rondelle shaped, so such a round bracelet feels a bit tight.  I like my bracelets to be a little loose, or I feel like they are choking me.  Because the wire has such a good memory, I don’t think it will be possible to bend it a little to a more comfortable shape.  I’ve seen tips that you can stretch it a small amount, but that can leave it looking, well, stretched out.

I am glad I tried it.  I have more wire and the memory wire cutters, so I will try it again.  Even if I decide the bracelets are not for me, when I improve my ends, I think they would be a fun Free Art Friday creation since there are so many cute ways to make them.

Beaded Beads

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by beadlove in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Art beads, beaded beads, Malin de Koning, WoolyWire

Although I love all beads, I have always given short shrift to seed beads because I can’t do any weaving techniques.  I am in awe of people who can take something as arguably prosaic as a seed bead and make something more with them.  When I was in college I had some old necklaces that used a flat weave technique that I wore all the time.  I wish I still had them!  I am particularly in love with beaded beads.

There are so many bead artists I want to purchase from, and I have been hankering after some beaded beads (this link is to a tutorial) by Malin de Koning since the first time I saw them.  I finally got some just recently.  She makes gorgeous jewelry as well, so check out her blog and her store.

Malin had made a pair of earrings I really loved with her beaded beads, and so I used those as a bit of inspiration for my own pair.

earringsmalin

I used the last vestiges of the my first batch of WoolyWire and some small polka dot beads.  I love how they feel on.  Very swingy.

malinplus

Perhaps one day I might be brave or patient enough to try making a beaded bead!

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