Art Bead Scene Design Team

What is the Design Team Challenge?
We each get beads from one of the ABS Contributors.
June designers were: Moi, Erin Prais-Hintz, Cindy Wimmer, Lori Anderson, and Jennifer Judd
We have two weeks to create a piece of jewelry that use the beads we were sent.
Then we blog about it.
And here, is my post about the June challenge!

We each received beads from the ever popular and talented, Heather Powers of Humblebeads. Always psyched to get Humblebeads in the mail, I was thrilled to see this lovely set of disc beads, and one of Heather’s handmade, painted Willow pendants! I forgot to take a pic of just the beads so here is the one that Cindy Wimmer took.

Playing off the softness of the beads, I used some soft suede lacing that I had gotten from Ornamentea. Creating links with 2 sections of leather, folded the sections and wrapped the center of each section with some brass wire. Working them in asymmetrically, I wire wrapped the Disc Beads, with some pale orange aventurine rounds. At the back of the necklace, I hand knotted more aventurine and some dyed burgundy buri seeds, and used a brass magnetic clasp to finish the piece off.  Instead of trying to figure out what to do with the linen cording tails, I put them to good use, and added a few brass cubes on each one and knotted the ends.  This adds a nice little added fringey element that I love!

 The Willow pendant is wire wrapped and dangling from a large Vintaj Brass jump ring, along with a cool flower connector from Elaine Ray.

 Such a fun challenge, but what I loved most was seeing everyone put their own spin on the beads we were all given. Different designs, all fabulous in their own way! Check out what everyone made here at the Art Bead Scene!

Summer Picks From ArtBeads.com

I was finally able to sit down this past weekend and work on a design that’s been stuck in my head since I picked out these Summer lovelies from Artbeads.com. After our recent landscaping adventures in our side yard, I have definitely been inspired by flowers, and nature- specifically the butterflies that have inhabited my yard the past few days. 

I have always loved the LillyPilly designs line, but the hardest part is picking 1 out of so many favorites! I had picked out this lovely oval shell pendant, with some coordinating Picasso Czech glass rondelles in lavender and teal. I still wanted some shimmer so I then found these really cool Paula Radke dichroic glass rondelles! The pewter Green Girl Studios butterfly came a bit later- but the whole design came together effortlessly.

Dangling the large pendant below the butterfly, I attached it all together with some Vintaj Brass jumprings. The beaded was inspired by a design I had seen from Kelly Angeley in Stringing magazine from months ago. Double strands of beads- seed beads, and faceted glass and stones-  that meet up every few beads with a few rondelles.

The addition of some purple silver lined glass seed beads, and faceted briolettes of Moss Aquamarine, from my own stash- help bring out the colors in the dichroic glass beads.

I used a cool silver leaf toggle, that pulls the whole design together.

Overall, a summery, shimmery design that could be worn with shorts and a tank, or that pretty summer dress you’ve been saving for.

Please note: some of the products mentioned above were promotional gifts from Artbeads.com for review and/or design partnership purposes.

Still not sure…

Still not sure if I’m in love with the new layout, but this is what the studio is looking like today…

A bit messy but no comparison to some studios I’ve seen, wink wink!! 😉

Got the new magnetic boards up, and partly filled with findings. I’m wishing I had a knife magnetic so I could hang the pliers up too. The only problem with these boards is, they attach to the wall at the top of each panel and if the magnets are fairly strong, the bottom pulls out when you are grabbing the containers off of the panel. I’m sure I could rig something up to attach the bottom of the panel more securely to the wall.

This new system is working quite well so far. Beads are color coordinated to make it easier to pull them out, and they are nice and close so I don’t have to get up and bend over tables full of trays! The plug, though, is in my way so the table overlaps the bookshelf which does kind of annoy me.

Well anyway, that’s where we’re at with that.  Joe’s appointment yesterday went fairly well- basically the second opinion ended up being just like the first. Still not sure what Joe is going to end up deciding. Agressive treatment or pain. I’ll keep you informed.

A Day Late

The weekend has wrapped up, and  our visitors are safely back in Connecicut. After the kids major beading extravaganza, they came up with the following designs. I believe Miss Bean created 11 pieces in all, and Max made 6.

We had a blast playing with the kids- there were lots of swimming in the neighbor’s pool, track ball in the front yard, family syle dinners. Saturday night we took the kids to Fun Zone and had a blast on the jungle gym… I kicked Joe’s butt on the racing arcade games, and then Steph and I battled against Joe and Max in Lazer Tag. My first time, and all I can say is,  I am NOT used to running around that much- but it was more fun than I thought it would be and Steph beat us all out with over 2,000 points. I came in second, so I’d say girls beat the boys this round. But I’m sure there will be a rematch in Connecticut next weekend!!

Here is Miss Bean donning her many jewels from the weekend.

Ankle bracelets on each leg, 4 bracelets on each arm, and a lovely necklace. We are visiting a fighter jet in a neighboring town, good times good times. These were taken before the total meltdown, where we had to leave.

I finally got back into the studio last night, and made a few things that I’ll show later on today. I have to go with Joe to a doctor’s appt. concerning his current arthritis issues. A second opinion – to see if Joe should get the extremely aggressive treatment of injections. Wish us luck, he’s not looking forward to it.

Enjoy the weekly links …

A Bead A Day
Let’s have a Tiki party! Lisa found Tiki beads at Big Lots for $1.00 and is looking for ideas!
About.com Jewelry Making
Thinking of selling on-line but worried about the cost? Tammy has discovered three freebie sites for selling your jewelry, crafts, and vintage items.
Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene finds findings worth finding!
Barbe Saint John – New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe has thoughts about creating multiple streams of income as a jewelry artist
Beading Arts
Cyndi has a copy of “Metalworking 101 for Beaders” to give away!
Carmi’s Art/Life World
Carmi’s button maker is the reason for this new vintage image necklace.
Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy rewinds on wire.
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shows her Steampunk Sampler class made of mixed metals, industrial porcelain, and cold connections.
Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei’s studio is in total disarray. Check out some pics and if you have suggestions, she would totally be appreciative!
Snap Out of It, Jean! There’s Beading to be Done!
Jean is delighted to review Totally Twisted by Kerry Bogert! You will LOVE this book which focuses on wire and art beads!
Strands of Beads
Melissa discusses the process of reworking a weak necklace design – the revised version of which now appears on the cover of The Best of Step by Step Beads.
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Always on the hunt for unique components, Andrew spotlights “pinch bail components” from Shoutrinse on Etsy!

Company

My in-laws are visiting for the weekend. So, it’s been busy to say the least- the kids are ALL ABOUT the beading, and have begged me to let them bead since they arrived.

Here they are laying out their designs. Of course, I don’t have any stretchy string so I’ve been stringing their pieces on linen cording which doesn’t work that great with no clasp- but they are quite occupied, either way.
I gave them a bin of lucite to work with. Probably the cheapest beads I could find in the stash- he he he! But Alexandra keeps trying to get into the artbeads in the bead cabinet when I’m not looking! 🙂
Maxwell is very symmetrical in his designs, he’s always been very meticulous with anything he works on. Alex is a bit more like her Aunt Lori. I’ll show you some of their finished designs tomorrow.
This morning I was able to sneak away to put a bracelet together. Forget me not… will be going into the shop momentarily.

EGGS & BIRD WINNER!

A Random winner has been chosen for the Kelleys Beads Lampwork eggs, and Summers Studio Etc. Black bird bead!

Congratulations goes to——————————-> SHARON of HOPELESSLY ADDICTED!
Here’s what Sharon said:

HopelesslyAddicted said…

I’m wracking my brain to come up with something that hasn’t been said, done, tried, re-tried! My current plan is to take the beads out of the tackle boxes (the boxes are stacked in our entertainment center, the highest stack is 5!) and move them into my office, where I will set it up like a bead store. I need to see more things and colors at the same time. The right lighting will be essential. Also a large bulletin board to hang larger strands. Ever notice how you can make 20 items and it doesn’t even make a dent? Beautiful giveaway you have selected.

Send me an email, Sharon- I’ve got your eggs and bird all ready to go fly this coup!

Thank you everyone for participating in this week’s giveaway! I got so many great ideas for my studio re-org project. I am so thankful of all the great tips, and I’ve really enjoyed checking out your studio spaces as well!

I hope I can finally get it rearranged the way I’d like, I’m almost there. I will show after pictures, I promise!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Finally, Stringing!

Yesterday the UPS guy finally dropped off my box of 7 pieces of jewelry that were all featured in the Summer issue of Stringing magazine. I’m even on the cover!!  See??

This is a very good issue if you get a chance to snag a copy- lots of summery inspiration!! Here are some of the projects you can see in this issue…

Tweet Wishes

Rustic Butterflies

Beautiful Mermaid Lariat

Beautiful Basha

If you are not familiar with Barbara “Basha”, and her beautiful Basha beads, just look at these lovelies!! Each one of a kind, “glowing” beads that resembles some beautiful dug up treasure. I don’t have one. YET! One of these babies is on it’s way to me.

It took more than 2 years for Barbara to perfect the ethereal quality, and matte finish- That’s a heck of a long time working on something, anything really. To me, that means they are definitely worth the  price tag!! It took me a while to finally be able to snag one for myself, and trust me, it’s going to be mine. I envision a nice simple necklace on chain, wire wrapping my magenta glowing basha bead, with a nice green girl studio Owl pendant beneath it.  I am really looking forward to having a nice simple everyday necklace.

These beads, are hard to find. Barbara creates the beads and supplies Andrew Thornton with a nice selection for his Big Cartel shop. You can find the  beads in stock, here in the Basha section. Better be quick though, the stock is dwindling quickly!

Studio Re-Org

Your comments on tips and tricks to bead storage has really been helping me, and it’s caused total mayhem in the studio-

see what I mean?

I had this brilliant idea yesterday to steal the book shelf from the office.  Now, you should see the office. what a disaster, books and boxes everywhere. That’s my next project to tackle after this is done.

SO I huffed and puffed and got the bookshelf up into the room, and wanted to try to clear off one of the tables so that I can eliminate it. That’s my plan. So I get the bins of beads onto the shelf and then got distracted.

COLOR.

COORDINATION.

what a pain in the ass, totally tedious, but completely and utterly rewarding when done…. see what I mean?

I know, delicious, right??? It just makes my heart sing. I figured, that if I am going to have bins STACKED, where viewing them isn’t as easy- I might better have them color coordinated so that when I pull out a bin I know I’m pulling out all the red, or all the blue.

Another task is consolidating beads… and getting rid of beads I don’t need. That’s still happening. I have to clean out the bead cabinet to make room- because if you see here, all these are art beads, and need new homes- or at least, I’ll keep the big on out, and house the rest.

It’s nice having these out because I can see them but as you can see, it starts to get really messy and disorganized after a little while. And I can’t tell you how much I hate those little plastic zip loc bags. GOTTA get rid of them all! for GOOD!

Now let’s talk about room set up. Here’s what I know so far. The bookshelf there, with all the beads- that should be in close vacinity to my work space. For easy reaching, grabbing and replacing.  The bead cabinet, needs to also be in close vacinity- if I can figure it out, it would be nice either on the other side of my work table or behind me, somehow.  The large coffin sized window bench, HAS TO GO. it’s too large for this space, but Joe and I cannot lift it so I have to wait for some other dude to come over to help him.

This table has become kind of the shipping area, and metalworking area- holds all my new little tools. Right now, temporarily the bead cabinet is shoved in corner, this will not stay there. Another thing that needs to happen is better, and MORE lighting. This room has no ceiling fixture and limited plugs. Any suggestions on lighting would be soooo appreciated. What do you do to combat this issue??

Mmmm, tools!! Thought I’d throw this pic in for good measure.

Then there’s jewelry storage. My plan is to take that cool door I’ve been using as my photo prop and in my banners, bring it in to this room and prop it up on one of the free walls, and attach hooks to it, so I can hang jewelry there- spreading things out for easier viewing. Right now, all finished jewelry is hanging on that bird rack on top of the bead cabinet and I can’t find ANYTHING!

So. That’s where we’re at, at this point. Stay tuned for the finished pics… I hope to get it done throughout the week. I am going through a small creative slump at the moment and I am hoping that this re-vamp of the studio, and bead organization, will help the slump. What better way to use this time, than to re-organize, re-arrange, and consolidate!!

B&B Loot

I know, I wasn’t even there this year, how the heck did I end up with loot? Well, I have peeps. I have friends. I have personal shoppers that enjoy passing on the B&B looooove. 

First up, Loot from Erin Prais-Hintz- This little surprise package arrived yesterday afternoon- I was blown away at Erin’s generosity in sending some of her goodies to me from her days at Bead and Button-

Lots of cool glass, and some ceramic beauties from Lisa Peters Art- LOOK AT THAT OWL! sweet! And a pretty little vintage button too.

This next loot came from Heather Trudeau of Peacock Fairy- She and I did a bit of a swap for one of Jade’s peacock pendants from the last update, and Heather SPOILED me with these…

…a strand of beautiful and flashy labradorite, a hollow and pewter bead caps from Green Girl Studios, and a few of her Noreena Jasper nuggets…. AND….

…these gems from Green Girl Studios- some of their neweset designs. OMG loooove them all! 

Thank you girls for your kindness- these little packages mean the world to me!!

Come back in a little bit- it’s a 2 post day- pics of my studio re-organization process….