Allegory Gallery Design Challenge – Midsummer Edition

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Allegory Gallery Design Challenge, Andrew Thornton, Gaea Handmade, Green Girl Studios, Midsummer Mystery Challenge, Trinket Foundry, William Jones

Today is the reveal for the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge – Midsummer edition.I love even the picture above of the kit. Such beautiful colors! The theme is lovely – Summer Solstice and Faerie folklore.  Also, just from my own midwestern perspective, midsummer is a time when we can count on it being consistently warm and there is still time before the snow flies. OF COURSE, I forgot to take a picture of the kit, but I will point out what I used, so you can get an idea.

First I used a strand of rock crystal quartz beads, purple seed beads, purple waxed linen, pink and purple crystals and a lucite flower from the kit.  I added a copper and resin art pendant and copper clasp from Gaea Handmade. I hope you agree I’ve achieved the funky and romantic look I was going for.

Next I made a bracelet. I was looking for something else and found this little length of plastic chain. I thought it would be great with some of the larger plastic beads from the kit.  I threw in a tin bead from Trinket Foundry and made dangles with kit beads. Cute and chunky.

I had another design in mind for the necklace with Andrew’s handmade component – multi-strand with smaller beads and some fiber. I was going to put one larger amethyst above the pendant. When I got out this strand of matte amethyst slabs, it was clear they were the necklace. I used a pretty Green Girl Studios clasp.

I branched out a little more than usual, pulling in more things from my stash. I had a great time! Please visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Facebook page to see what others have made.  Thanks to Andrew and William for another beautiful kit and fun challenge!

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Bead & Button Fun #1

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Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Bead & Button Show, Dakota Stones, MAKU Studio, Trinket Foundry, Vintaj, William Jones

I went to the Bead & Button Show on Friday for the first time in five years. I had such a good time!  I got to meet some online friends, which was very fun.  I bought lots of great stuff.  I’m already scheming my plots and plans for next year, but I know that is folly because I had a big plan for buying this year, and I didn’t really follow it.  But I’m super happy with everything I bought (and I only forgot to get one thing I meant to get!) and I did realize something that affected my shopping.

I generally cannot deal with a ton of strands. I can buy from a booth with lots of strands, like Dakota Stones. But a ton of strands all laid out on top of one another just makes it impossible for me to focus. Throw in a big 75% off sign that will force me to calculate a price in my head, and it turns a good deal into a deal breaker. So my plan to focus on gemstone strands crashed and burned. Speaking of Dakota stones, they had a new cut, called star cut, that I really liked. I thought about getting a few strands of this cut in some favorite stones. But then I saw a collar strand of rough cut labradorite beads. I’ve admired strands like this over the years in the Dakota Stones booth at various shows. I decided to treat myself to one great strand! It’s so beautiful.I also got a strand of pyrite nuggets. I always love these.

I got some fabulous new things from a couple of favorite shops.  First, Allegory Gallery. I got to meet proprietors Andrew Thornton and William Jones in person! That was so nice after participating in their design challenges, reading club and destashes over the years.  They are just as nice in person as they are online!  I picked up some lovelies from the shop.

They had these great fiber cards each with four different kinds of fiber.  I love them!  I really wanted them all, but this is the one I picked.  I can’t wait to incorporate these fibers into my designs.  I’m hoping these fiber cards mights show up in the etsy shop. I also got multiple strands of these beautiful soft yellow vintage plastic beads.  I have a couple, and they are a favorite. I’d like to make a whole necklace featuring these. I love yellow. 

I also got a couple of Andrew’s pendants. I love the meaningful sayings he has been putting on pendants lately. Also, I never met an Andrew Thornton bronze pendant I didn’t love.  In addition, Andrew and William gifted me with this charming podling ornament. 

This magical creature was handmade by Andrew. It’s full of good vibes it will be spreading while hanging in my studio.

Andrew and William shared a booth with their family who own Green Girl Studios. I was hoping to be able to get a couple of their new designs, and I did.

The hands and house are new. Some of the new Green Girl beads are available in Allegory Gallery’s esty shop. If I could still wear earrings, I would totally make the hands into earrings. Even though I won’t use them that way, I bought two so I could have my bead and use it too.  I also bought this gorgeous bangle.  In fact, I was on a bit of a bangle binge.  Here is the stack that ended up on my wrist on the ride home.  LOVE!

In addition to the Green Girl bracelet, there are three glass bangles made from wine bottles from Trinket Foundry and a hand patinaed cuff from Vintaj. I had seen the Vintaj cuffs on their Facebook page just before the show and had fallen in love.

For a while I have wanted a bird from MAKU Studio.  I thought I would check out her supply at the show, and if one seemed right I would get it. This one spoke to me right away. And this little heart wanted to come home with me too.

I got some more things, but I will save those for another post.  I hope you enjoyed this show and tell.

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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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Family Jewels

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Quintess, Trinket Foundry, Zola Elements

At a bead show last year, my sister’s girlfriend bought me a beautiful stamped glass pendant.  I made it into a necklace a few weeks ago, but I was waiting to “finish” it because I wanted the orange and yellow ends of the ribbon to show. I finally decided trying to do that was too fussy and to just leave it the way it is. Depending on how I want it to hang, tying the ends could allow a bit of those colors to show.

The lampwork bead above the pendant is from Trinket Foundry.  I have a tiny stash of those in different colors from one of their one-off projects. So special. I’ve used two and must hoard the rest for a while longer. The silk ribbon is hand painted from Quintess. Doesn’t this just make you believe spring is coming, whatever the weather does?

And a long, long time ago I got this lampwork cow bead for my sister from a now closed bead store in town. I made her a bracelet with it, but it was really too big/heavy for a bracelet, so I told her I’d make her a necklace.

When I gave it to her yesterday, she didn’t even remember the bead because I’d kept it captive so long. Maybe it took me this long because I finally found the perfect thing to make it into a necklace – Zola Elements chain. My sister had liked it when I showed it to her, so when the cow surfaced, I thought they were perfect together!

It’s nice and long, the way she likes.  I see the horns make it look more like a steer, but whatever.  This is jewelry making, not animal husbandry!

One more family related part of this post is the photo background for the cow necklace. My parents are having some work done at their house, and my dad dug this broken piece of tile out of the garbage because he knew it would be good for my jewelry photos.  What a great guy!  It really works; thanks, dad!

 

No Such Thing As Perfection

Tags

Gaea, Trinket Foundry

As often as not, I make something and then decide it’s not quite right.  Sometimes I just lay it aside, and it languishes.  Or I re-make it, and I’m still not satisfied.  I know perfection doesn’t exist, and I’d like to break this pattern.  An example is a necklace I made yesterday.  My first try was unsatisfactory, so I took it apart and put it back together.  Here it is with three of the main things I would still change about it.  But do they really need changing?

I actually think it looks like a cute necklace.  I wonder if I’d like it if someone else had made it?  I’m not sure.  Here are three things I might change:

Silver wire – I didn’t have a small enough gauge of brass wire for the pearls, so I used a matte silver color.  Would brass really make much of a difference?  I don’t have a problem with mixed metals when other people use them.  I also generally like things that are higher contrast, and brass would blend in more.

Wing Ding – Love the little green wing ding bead by Genea.  However, I wonder if I should have put it down further on the strand.  I think I’d like how it would fit better.  I’m not sure this placement shows it off to its best advantage.

Knot – I am happy that I used ribbon.  I try to use ribbon and am never happy with it.  I’m happy with this except for the knot.  I wonder if it’s too bulky.  Maybe I should have tied the pendant on with a little piece of the waxed linen that I used for other connections.

I’m surprised by the things that don’t bother me.  The messy wrap I tried on the pendant didn’t turn out like I wanted, and the wire wrapping on the ribbon ends isn’t that great.  It’s not even!  That doesn’t seem to bother me.  I know I’m often an “in the box” thinker; perhaps I’m stifling my own creativity.  I know I particularly love rough looking beads, messy wire wraps and that sort of thing when other people make them.

On a totally happy note, here are some lovelies I got in the mail today from Trinket Foundry.

My mother and I are going to each make a bracelet (see the design on Trinket Foundry’s Facebook page from June 4^th).  The staff was wonderful in making sure I got what we needed for our beading weekend over July 4^th.  I bought extra materials because they are so cute.  Those little glass circles will make great connectors for something!

Bead & Button Show 2013

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Bead & Button Show, Diane Hawkey, JoAnne Zekowski, Lisa Peters Art, Metal Me This, Trinket Foundry

This past Friday I went to the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee.   I haven’t been for several years, and my companions and I agreed that this year was more fun than we’ve ever had before.  We plan to go again next year.  Now, on to some of the great things I brought home!  I hope you enjoy looking. 

Above are beauties from Diane Hawkey.  I was familiar with her very colorful work, particularly her houses, but I was thrilled to find the more rustic pieces as well.  The long red, grey and brown bead is one of my favorite purchases from the show. 

Next are some lovelies from JoAnne Zekowski.  She made the stoney-looking (that’s a technical term) round beads around the outside of the picture.  Gorgeous.  The spacers are old beads she was selling at her booth.  I just had to have them.  She doesn’t currently have an online presence, but said she will soon have an etsy site.  I’ll update you on this blog when she does.

The beads above are from Lisa Peters Art.  I had seen pictures of a couple of these before the show, and they absolutely made me swoon.  I just love looking at them. Her esty shop is empty while she is at the show, but she assured me it will fill up after the show.  She is also always happy to be contacted if you’ve seen something you want that is not in her shop.  I know I’ll be stopping in because I wanted more but her booth was one of the last ones I got to, and my bead budget was running out!

These wonderful findings are from Metal Me This.  The shop owner sells lovely etched metal components (or sheets if you make your own) and her own line of patinas called Color Me This. 

I just had to show one last thing before I finished.  Tin beads from Trinket Foundry.  I love tin, recycled stuff, and bright colors.  These are a bead trifecta!

I hope you enjoyed this mini-tour of the Bead & Button Show.  Do you have a favorite bead, jewelry or handmade craft show that you attend?