Art Bead Scene Challenge - Rolling 'Round

I met at least one deadline this month...the August Art Bead Scene challenge!  

I've been shopping with Heather at HMB Studios forever, it seems, and I'm never disappointed by her beads.  My favorite are the "chunky" disk designs that she comes up with...the color combinations just sing!  When I studied the artwork inspiration provided by the ABS editors, I loved on the fall colors of rust and yellow and dark green.  When looking around my table for good art beads to feature, the HMB disks were there and considering the "cycle" inspiration the round shapes were perfect!

I found a thin copper bangle bracelet amidst my supplies--it came from a clearance Chico's purchase a while back--that makes for a perfect frame to create my little bead and wire sculpt.  Plus, there was a mixed metal feel to the inspiration with the bicycle so I felt comfortable using silvery steel along with the copper to create an arrangement of the disks that make their color and shape stand out.

I'm still not back in Hampton, yet, so I don't know how my neighborhood fared in Irene, but we're going to drive back tonight.  Work is a "go" tomorrow, so I'm guessing there'll be some cleaning up around the building.  In the meantime, I'm going to spend some time checking out the rest of the ABS challenge entries for this month.

Of Muffins & Earrings

Humblebead-y Heather threw out a challenge this week on the Art Bead Scene that required planning, creativity, and a muffin tin.  I decided to go with my mini-muffin pan because I always have it on my bead table to collect good bead combos.  When I start working on something I like to see if beads fit together or coordinate and sometimes there are happy accidents that I don't want to focus on right that moment but eventually want to purse--I put a couple of those beads into one of the muffin cups for inspiration later.  I actually had some earring pairs started in this pan so I filled out the rest of the cups with little earring "recipes."  I decided to start with artisan beads for each of them and round them out with pieces and parts from my stash--nothing new allowed!  I rocked this challenge, if I do say so myself...I have 12 lovely pairs of earrings that are little works of art plus a couple of extra pairs that feature wood and stones that were leftover from a few of the cups.

Here's the layout of my muffin tin results!  I numbered them so I could highlight the artists behind the handmade beads in each pair.

1.  Gardanne - enameled oval beads in a yummy purple along with some bubbly findings by Ezel that I picked up back in April at Bead Fest Wire in Philly

2.  Suebeads - long enameled beads in a pretty turquoise-ish green finish and a couple of vintage silver circles that I'm "upcycling" from an old necklace.

3.  Cherie Ranfranz - purple & yellow etched lampwork glass combined with some vintage lucite flowers and copper

4.  Julsbeads - lampworked glass with awesome raku & texture combined with a big copper ring

5.  Donna Millard - clear blue lampworked disks and vintage tin bead caps are the highlight

6.  Julsbeads - more yummy lampwork from Juls in a rich chartreuse surrounded by a bit of copper

7.  Suebeads - loooovely rounds in blues with a slight green and black accent that I paired with some "Roman" glass, lava rock and vintage Czech glass.

8.  Brendan Blake - lampwork glass in a bubbling boro finish featured in a long dangling arrangement with a silver oval and a chunk of pyrite

9. HMB Studios - lampwork glass "wacky chunky" disks combined with some bright blue pearls I picked up in Hawaii and some clear resin dangling loops

10.  Brendan Blake - a green tone of lampwork glass with brown lava rock rounds and a sweet bit of silk sari ribbon that I just got from Darn Good Yarn.

11.  JEN JUDD! - I dyed these wooden rings myself with a mix of turquoise and blue Indian ink.

12.  Barbara Lewis - pretty blue enameled flowers along with vintage copper floral pieces and a pretty copper spikey dangle


My muffin tin is empty so I guess I should go start over!  This time I'm going to take a little more than a week.  :)

I've Been Seen at Art Bead Scene

Many thanks to Lori, my Pretty Things friend and a contributor at the Art Bead Scene! 

 She picked my design from this month's ABS challenge, Ophelia, to feature this week!

I have to share the love on this because it's all about the Art Beads!!

- My friend, Sandra, bought the set last week from my Etsy shop!

- Juls' ribbed turquoise glass rounds are amazing

- I just bought a couple more sets of disks kinda like 

that yellow one from HMB Studios.

- I'm going to another Barbara Lewis class in July to learn how to 

make more beads like that blue enameled one in the middle.

- The blue and green disks came from Donna Millard with some amazing little vintage

metal bead caps and now I want to try to make some myself.  I only

cut myself once on the first try.

I need to try to sell some more stuff so I can justify the $ I spent on more artisan goodness this week.  I'll share some bead porn later this week after all the fun little yellow envelopes make it to my little mailbox.

Art Bead Scene Challenge for June

My offering for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge is this set--a necklace, bracelet and earrings--that features some lampwork bead goodness.  I used leather, brass, copper, and chain as my "neutrals" to highlight the vibrant colors of these artisan's beads.  

This whole set is listed in my Etsy shop for sale.  :)

About the beads:

~The Tribal Turquoise set of ribbed rounds came from Juls Cannon at Julsbeads.

~The big disks in blue and green are from a set that Donna Millard created and which I coveted for a while before finally deciding to go for ownership.  The set came with a bunch of her hand-cut tin bead caps which I'm saving for later.

~The little yellow highlight disk is from HMB Studios.  It's not a wacky chunky piece--those are my favorites by Heather--but I tend to have a lot of her disks around because they're just so yummy.  (I just clicked over to her shop to check my links and there are some awesome wacky chunkies that I now want but I'm still in the midst of my two week off-the-craft-supply challenge!  Dang!!)

~The big enamel blue bead is one that I made during a Painting with Fire workshop with Barbara Lewis.

On the challenge inspiration:

Ophelia by Odilon Redon
c. 1900-05; Pastel on paper mounted on board, 19 7/8 x 26 1/2 in; The Woodner Collection
"The depiction of Ophelia seems not at all tragic, but rather an idyllic scene of a naked bather in a limpid pool of flowers. The design and colour scheme is masterly and original, being merely suggestive of the tragedy of death after rejection and madness." - Tony Thomas

There are lots of other challenge pieces out in this Flickr group.  :)

Art Bead Scene: Beads 2011 Giveaway

I have to post about this giveaway because I want another chance to win it, but I don't necessarily want anyone else to join it because I am seriously coveting the big prize and don't want to decrease my chances...what a dilemma!  haaaaaaaaaaa  


The Art Bead Scene editor, Ms. Erin Prais-Hintz, has gathered bits and baubles from tons of artists and businesses featured in the recently released Beads 2011 and is having a huge giveaway!

I have a copy of this issue sitting right here in my living room and the corners are dog-eared because I spent a lot of time looking for my friends and favorite artists who I've met through blogging in there.  Luckily I found a ton of them who I already buy from on a regular basis....
- Suebeads is Sue Kennedy from Pittsburgh.  Since she's a fellow Pennsylvania girl, we've gotten to know each other with lots of bead sharing and tips, ideas, and inspiration.
- Shaterra Clay Studio has some luscious pieces and she actually just put a bunch of new goodies in her Etsy shop.  (I have to make a little note here because I just almost cramped up laughing...I put "shaterra.blogspot.com" into my navigating line and when the results came up the post at the top said, "I'm looking for cartoon characters having sex." Apparently this wasn't Sharleen's blog! haaaaaaaaaaaa)
- Summers Studio ceramics are always lovely...and really show off her style.
- Heather from Humblebeads showed off her latest components...she's been adding new things to her polymer clay line like crazy!
- Elaine Ray beads are a fave of mine...I tend to hoard them, though, rather than use them.


I know this isn't a complete list, but I have to go to work eventually.  I was there until almost midnight trying to analyze data and figure out how the Air Force's civilian hiring controls are going to affect all of our units.  With about 10K positions out there and just about as many civilians filling them, it was a bit of a challenge.  Gotta get back to it!

Art Bead Scene Challenge - Some Tahiti for Your Wrist

I made some time this month to focus on a project for the Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge.  The inspiration piece is this painting called Nave Nave Moe (Sacred Spring, Sweet Dreams) by Paul Gauguin, 1894.  According to the ABS's notes, Gauguin moved to Tahiti in the late 1800's looking for inspiration from the local culture.  This painting is an example of his work from that period.

The ABS editors pulled a palette out of the lusciously vibrant yet at the same time soft colors.  To get my own inspiration, I took a few minutes and just focused on the painting and tried to capture how it made me feel and what drew my attention the most.  I was really drawn to the red.  The spirited brightness is where I'm drawn to first, but then I noticed that I was really drawn to the red and pink together. The pink is smooth and soothing and just earthy-pretty.  The internal question for me at this point was, "uh, what about the whole cool beautiful blue and green of the fields?"  I'm realizing that since I haven't been beading all that much lately, I'm not really focusing on a favorite color or palette...think orange...but am open to different hues and combinations.  It's a little color breakthrough!  haaaaaaaaaaaa  


On that note, I went for the vibrancy of the pink and brought in the green--it's just a great complementary combination.  

As for my art beads...there are lots combined in here for a little mini wrist-gallery:


- The lampworked glass bicone focal of the group is by Catherine Steele at Art With Heart.  I found these during my Bead Soup shopping spree and I looooove them.  These are the kind of hoard-worthy beads that you put under your pillow and keep forever.
- The enameled greeny round is by Barbara Lewis of Painting With Fire.  In just two weeks I get to meet Barbara and take her enameling class up at Bead Fest Wire in Philly.  I've always been a fan of her work and got super-lucky a few months ago when I won a giveaway at Love My Art Jewelry and got the whole batch of beads that were featured on the cover of Handcrafted Jewelry in the fall.
- The enameled speckled oval is by Anne Lichtenstein of Gardanne Beads.  They're so springy!
- The lampworked glass disks are by Heather Boardman from HMB Studios.  I have tons of these in tons of colors.  They're so pretty in little piles that I like having lots of them in my stash.

All of these little works of art are combined on memory wire with rubber tubing...apparently my new favorite design...for this bangle.  There are a few Swarvoski crystals, some pink dyed wood, and some greenish seedbeads and random stones to finish balancing the color.

I've gotten lots of questions about where I get the rubber tubing.  I get it at my local bead shop, Bead Haven.  It's Beadsmith Rubber Tubing--I'm going to tell Joanne to put some out on the Bead Haven shopping site.

The rest of the monthly challenge entries are out in the ABS Flickr Group.  It's always cool to see how different people take the inspiration and run with it!  

Art Bead Scene: Copper River

The Art Bead Scene challenge for this month was focused on a painting that has amazing texture, flowing movement, and wonderful color.  I decided to pick up on those themes and feature this lampwork focal from Lisa New that has texture, movement and lines all in one piece.  Playing around with some copper and coiling and squiggling gave me the idea to create a unique bail shape and make this one special bead into a pendant. 

I have a problem with overdoing a design sometimes.  I keep putting more and more into it and then the focus of the piece isn't on what's most special about it.  In this case I think I did right by the Lisa bead with a complementary bit of wire and then some simpler bits of ribbon, leather, and chain.  I didn't make the scroll chain (even though some commenters asked if I did.)  It came from Kansas City while I was visiting my in-laws.  I found a link for some, though, here.

Because I was loving on the ribbon and wire, I continued on and made up a pretty matching bangle on a brass base.

Lisa's having a sale in her Etsy shop until the end of January, just in case you're interested.  :)

Perfectly Macrolicious Sunday

It was just about a perfect day.
I got to talk to Curtis.
I took a great nap.
I had leftovers from a yummy dinner I cooked last night.
I got a pretty pink pedicure
I saw and purchased a new jacket at Chico's at a major discount.
I caught up with my friend, Alicia.
I got six loads of laundry done.
The only bad part is that I had to drink three-day old coffee (that's the max I go in old coffee, I swear) this morning.

It's my turn to meet my end of the challenge I have with Copper Diem Amy, so here are my picture experiments while trying to take macro shots.  They're all out in my Flickr stream.  Since the inspiration is the ABS Challenge painting, I decided to go dig for some beads that could turn into something good.  Lo' and behold, I have the PERFECT Lisa New lampwork focal.  I'm so excited!  Anyway, here are my shots...



These are my favorite out of about 20 shots.  Normally I'd have to take a lot more, but in the process of manipulating the camera and little tripod around, I was starting to get pissed because I dropped the camera on the floor twice.  Nothing broken or damaged, but I had to take a break and then the sun went down and my light source went out. 




I can't wait to put this whole bit together. I was reading the latest Belle Armoire Jewelry and have lots of idea.

ABS Challenge - Persia in September

The work of art that the Art Bead Scene folks picked out this month for inspiration in their challenge is a work called "Persia" by George Barbier.  I focused on the orange of the lovely robe for my art beads this month and came up with this set...

There are a few different artists represented in these pieces:

A set of Brendan Blake lampwork beads called "Orange Violet Pebbles,"

some lampwork discs from HMB Studios, and

enameled beads and bead caps from SueBeads.

For some reason, I just can't get enough of this antiqued brass looking metal.  So, I splurged on some Vintaj leafy branches to round out this look--love them on the earrings.  Plus, I'm not a big user of beadcaps, but I love the effect of these little brass floral ends.

I used spiny oyster, vintage brass, and random orange stone rondelles and rounds to finish the long necklace.  Then more of the same on memory wire (my personal addiction), with some tourmaline nuggets--it took a while to separate out the purples from the rest, but it was worth it.

Feel free to shop...this one just got listed in my Etsy:  jenjuddrocks

Sharing a Treasury: Dreaming of Persia

It's the beginning of September, so time for a new Art Bead Scene Challenge.  I haven't been working on entries the last few months with the job taking up so much time, but I'm really excited about this inspiration piece...it's gorgeous!

Persia by George Barbier

Before I sit down to actually work on my own project, I got my Etsy on and came up with this Treasury to share:

Dreaming of Persia Treasury

Time for digging in my own bead stash!!!  Whooo hoooo!!!

Art Bead Scene Blog: Design Team Challenge - June

One of my favorite blogs, the Art Bead Scene, recently got a new look and added some new features.  I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the very first ABS Design Team Challenge.  Editor Heather Powers sent a selection of her handmade Humblebeds to a few of us out here in jewelry-making blog land:  Cindy Wimmer, Erin Prais-Hintz, Lori Anderson, and Lorelei Eurto.  It is very cool to see how each of us took the core pieces and went our own directions.  All of them are so pretty and unique!

I started out with this Humblebead in hand...

..and thought I'd go with some resin-filled bezels.  In my first post about the challenge you can see the mess on my dining room table.  I changed course and found my way to the Red Creek jasper that I picked up at Beadfest in Philly.  From there this set emerged...

In addition to the jasper, I added red-orange leather, copper, and a pretty little Artisan Clay pendant from Kristie Roeder. 

The set's available on Etsy.

Thanks, ABS!!!

ABS Carnival Bloggers: Making a Statement!

I thought a lot about what statement this piece makes...

my mind just settles on this one with a big loud laugh and a smile: 

 "The B*tch Has Beads!" 

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I used every kind of glass bead I had in my inventory from handmade lampwork art beads to recycled glass to Czech glass to furnace glass to peacock glass to vintage Japanese glass...you name it and it's probably in here.

On that note, in honor of the Bead and Button show going on this month, our illustrious leader, Cindy, challenged the Carnival crowd to try something different.  The lampwork beads are from Lisa New, HMB Studios, & Linden Avenue Designs, that I know of...there are some other "mystery" beads on there that I bought a long, long time ago and I don't remember the artists since back then I didn't pay enough attention. 

So, there are some other folks out there with big statements to make, so please go check out their pieces, too!

~ Cindy Dolezal (who's my bead soup partner AND she's having a giveaway this week!)

~ Cindy Gimbrone, the Lampwork Diva and our ABS Carnival guide

~ Christine Hansen's Intuitive Sparks light up the glass bead making world.

~ Island Girl's Insights are shown in her glass works.

~ Janel Dudley - She's a Fire Diva who rocked her orphans!

~ Jeannie has a couple of pieces in the latest Bead Trends magazine.

~ Sharon Palac at her Jewelry Garden - She's been doing a lot of cool metal work lately!

~ Kate Clawson at Organic Odysseys shares pretty, pretty goodies.

~ Marcie Abney at La Bella Joya - She makes my fave beaded beads.

~ Mary Harding's statement is all about Beads of Clay in a BIG way!

~ Nicki from Nicki's Reef over in Germany!

Enjoy!

Art Bead Scene Challenge for April - Klee

The ABS Challenge for this month is based on Klee's Insula Dulcamara

Insula Dulcamara by Paul Klee, 1938

31 1/2 x 69 in

Oil on newsprint, mounted on burlap

Klee Foundation, Bern, Switzerland

 

So, as an inspiration, we've got...

Exotic associations

Sweet & Bitter...Bittersweet

Calypso

Scarlet fruits & brown leaves

Serpents

Dynamic versus Static

Line and Color

 

Here's the result:

We've got a plethora of art beads in this sweet little bangle bracelet.  There are some rondelles from Humblebeads that add a really organic feeling when combined with some wooden bicones.  Then, there are some lampwork rounds but I honestly don't know where they came from other than Ebay two years ago.  :)  But, there's even more lampwork with disks from HMB Studios and Linden Avenue Designs.  It's finished out with Greek ceramic disks (also from Linden Avenue) and some "totally twisted" pieces in gunmetal grey.

You can see the other entries for the challenge at the Flickr group here.  There are some gorgeous, unique pieces created from this single inspiration painting.

Turquoise Challenge

How hard can it be to mix turquoise, violet and some shades of yellow? 

That was the challenge that the Art Bead Scene, in coordination with Margie Deeb, threw out in February.  Well, the deadline of April 1st is fast approaching, so it's time to share my end result...

The art bead I used is an enameled cone by Barbara Lewis.  Then, in the coiling spirit I've been in, I used gunmetal grey colored copper wire to create the links and the bunch of stone dangles in the focal.  The stones are turquoise nuggets, iolite faceted nuggets, and lemon quartz faceted rounds.  One of my fave parts of this necklace is the clasp...it's the first toggle that I actually made all by myself because I couldn't buy one that matched just right.

Now that I loaded this bit in my Etsy shop, I have to go snuggle with my one-eyed cat for a bit before heading off to work. :)

Anticipation - Focus on the Positive

The way I see it, when you're waiting for something, in anticipation, you're in one of two mindsets...
 ...you're excited because something positive or good or fun or wonderful is most likely to happen
or
 ...you're worried or afraid that something bad or negative or scary or yucky will probably happen.


For the April Art Bead Scene Carnival post, it's my task to write on "anticipation."  Well, I want to delve into how important it is to look forward to something...and creating something for yourself to look forward to in a positive and exciting way, in particular.   I think we all tend towards viewing life in one way or the other...an intrinsic or extrinsic motivation.  What the h*ll am I talking about?  Well, I think you can either feel like you have some control over your own destiny, and see things as positive opportunities; or you can attribute things that happen to you to someone else--"they" or "them"--and see the negative consequences.  What I'm trying to say is that you can create opportunities for yourself to look forward to--that pleasurable feeling of anticipation--in small and big ways through art and creating and even growing a business.  (I'd say that family and career and relationship are all in here, too, but I've got to have some focus, right?  haaaaaaaaaa)


Now, I am not Miss Positive Energy all the time, believe me.  But, when it comes to my craftiness, that's where I really like to focus on the positive...here are few examples...


First, trying new things.  I wanted to try making glass beads.  What's the worst that could happen?  I could burn Juli's workshop down?  haaaaaaaa  A week or so ago, I shared a post about meeting Julianna Cannon and getting my first try at the torch.  I was sooo freaking excited to try it that I really didn't even think about the whole "what if I can't do this?" or "what if I hurt myself?" because even if I can't do it the first time, I know I can try again and even if I hurt myself it will be a funny story!  Not only did I have the anticipation and excitement about working with fire, but then, once I was done, I had to wait to see how my beads came out!  Juli annealed them and cleaned them for me, I had no idea how any of my random color efforts would come out.  Well, TA DA!!  They are some jacked up wonky beads but I love them!!!!!

Second, ordering new things.  Another one of the best parts about creating is buying tools, supplies, or other people's art on-line!  If you haven't experienced the sweet anticipation of packages on the way from your fave Etsy shops or on-line bead suppliers or tool shops, then you don't know what you're missing!  You can wear pajamas, drink coffee, talk to the cats and have snacks all at the same time (if you're a weird cat person who likes to wear pajamas a lot like me).  So, in the spirit of giving yourself something to look forward to, I picked a couple of Etsy shops out of my list of favorites to share...

Purple Tie-Dye Polymer Beads by ArtyBecca

Art Museum Letters for Mixed Media Applications from KathyOrf

Blood Orange Ceramic Beads from MAKU Studio

Third, meeting new people.  I enjoy being a part of this blogging community and getting to know the work of so many wonderful folks.  Looking at the latest posts, seeing the latest magazine issues, and sharing in the experiences of so many people who have the same passion that I have is something I look forward every day!  That's the definition of anticipation right there!  And, even more exciting to me is April's BeadFest Wire in Philly.  I get to meet other creative people and vendors from all over the place--some of you are going to be there, right?  One of the things I'm most looking forward to is taking a class from Kerry Bogert in person!  Her latest book has really lit a fire on my coiling so I can't wait!  Here's a peek at some of the "Totally Twisted" inspiration that has me going lately...

These are my version of bangles with TONS of great glass artbeads...SueBeads, HMB Studios, Lisa New, and even some by Kerry!

So, I hope that was enough positive energy sharing so you can go anticipate something great for yourself.  I actually get to go think about my car being in the shop with some sort of crack in the engine (I don't think that's good); on of my kitty boys, Brando, who had to stay overnight at the vet because he got a cut in his eye and they have to take it out tomorrow (yes, the whole eyeball); and the ever-inspiring physical fitness test that I have to take in the morning.  Awesome...I think I'll go make something!  haaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

Adventures in Polymer

Check these out!

Of course there's a story behind these pretties (which are in my Etsy shop if you feel like you have to own them! haaaaaa)

I attempted again, recently, to teach a class.  I'm now officially one of the "visiting instructors" at our new local JoAnn's fabrics.  I'm not a huge fan of the actual specified projects (even though I probably shouldn't say that, they're not very pretty) so I haven't been trying hard enough to market them...I know, my bad.  So, last Sunday, even though I didn't have anyone signed up for the class, I took all my goods into the store's classroom and hung out and played.  The classroom is near the checkout line, so all the folks going through line could see what I was doing...I figure the more curiosity, the better, right?  I ended up with a young lady, Rebecca, and her mother helping me with inspiration.  They stayed and played for nearly an hour and a half!  We had such a great time!  She's a budding fashion designer, so she ended up with quite a few new accessories ready for her mom to bake up when they got home.  And I ended up with some kickass beads.  I have to give two shouts out to my polymer teachers:  Susan Gantz, back in Virginia, and Andrea Beeler, local here in Montgomery.  Susan helped me see all the potential in a little squeezy extruder and Andrea showed me how to shape beads.  I'm not perfect at any of these things, but I still love these results!

Plus, there's a reason I was using these particular colors...the ABS Turquoise Challenge.  This post came out weeks ago and since then I've had lots of ideas bouncing around in my head about how to use these colors.  I obviously have problems because I'm still in the yellows too much...gotta think more orange-y.  I still have plenty of clay and a whole week off of school for spring break next week, so I'm ready!