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.  :)

BTW - Working with Art Beads

It's Bead Table Wednesday, so time to share what I have out on my bead table this week.  Since my AF job has become nearly overwhelming I've had scarce time to actually sit and create so this photo is from a few nights ago...the table hasn't changed, though, since then.


First off, a little play with Artisan Clay pendants for this month's design team.  They're lovely rich green and turquoise so I've been having fun matching things with them.  Kristie wrote a post about them this week on her blog.  I'm mixing them with some lampworked glass from Genea...those little striped sprees and some striped glass headpins.  She's getting ready to move her whole household so decided to have a little sale this week in her Etsy shop...if you're not a "bead" person and you're in the mood for jewelry, some of her original designs are on sale, too.

Here's another view of the table...more art beads in the line up.  There are some Barbara Lewis enameled  beads over there on the right piled up with some of Juls' lampworked glass.  I think it's funny how the orange bead selection all got moved to the back of the table.  I was working on a piece inspired by Marcie's Margie & Me inspiration for the month but got frustrated with the simple stringing design I was trying.  So, moved it all over and got into the green!

And the next color in line is blue to match up with some more Artisan Clay charms.  I pulled out lampworked hollow glass beads from Kay Bolden.  She's a local artist from Poquoson so I get my beads from my local bead shop but she has an Etsy shop, too.  The little turquoise & raku bits are from Maryse Thillens of GlassBeadArt.  There is a little set of lampworked rounds in there from SueBeads, too!  I recently reported to my husband that I've slimmed down my bead purchases...I realize this doesn't look like it, but there are all beads that I've gotten over months and months...nothing from May!  haaaaaaaaaa

The rest of my beady friends have laid bare their own bead tables for this regular Wednesday update and you can see them in the BTW flickr group!

I Got Lost on Boll Weevil Circle

There were lots of potential titles for this post:
- "I 'heart' Julianna Cannon"
- "Glass Really Does Melt In Your Hands"
- "It's Some Sort of Molecular Thing"
But, Boll Weevil Circle captures the spirit of my latest adventure...

On Friday, I was truly blessed to meet Julianna Cannon from Julsbeads fame down in her stomping grounds of southern Alabama.  :)  I drool over lampworked glass like there's no tomorrow.  So,when I noticed during the Bead Soup Party back in January that Juli was at "Location: Alabama" I figured I might as well invite myself over to her "shiny shack out back" and see her goods and meet her craziness in person!

I mean seriously...look at these...aren't they yummy?  Even a non-bead-pscyho person can appreciate them!  haaaaaaaaaa  If you feel like getting some for yourself, she's stocking up her etsy shop.

Well, as you might have guessed, or seen in Juli's post, we hit it off.  A little shared enthusiasm goes a long way in turning a beautiful sunny day into an even more beautiful adventure!  I know the value of shop time, so I'm still so amazed at how generous she was.  :)

So, let me get to the good stuff...I demanded, right away, to be taken to the shack and taught something!  haaaaaaaaa  Look at this?  She cleaned it up so this gorgeous rack of colorful, amazing glass was just waiting for us!  And, of course, she got her teachering skills on by explaining about all the different types and their melting points and such.  It's a molecular thing, you know.  haaaaaaaaa  As the good student that I am, I just nodded, didn't take any notes, and made her rush to get the fire on!  haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  I wanted some action!! 

Juli worked through the basics for me and then she let me sit down in front of the torch.  Uh, how awesome is that!!!  I used a hot-ass fire to melt these luscious raw materials into a mess!  haaaaaaaaaaa  Actually, they weren't too bad of a mess.  Besides, when you're learning something new you're supposed to make a mess, right, so you can learn how to work the materials and fix mistakes.  That's what I told myself, anyway...haaaaaaaaa  She was lovingly patient, but then we were both starving.  Off for a lunch break.

After lunch it was my turn for teachy-teach.  Juli's a seed bead master...for instance, when I showed up she was wearing this gorgeous piece:

So in her mind, I actually had something to teach her--how intimidating!  I was wearing one of my new art bead bangles because I thought it would be a perfect way to showcase her glass, too!  She agreed and a bit of tutoring ensued.  If any of you have ever crafted with me, in any medium, you know I have a little trouble being patient and letting other people do the work.  Luckily, Juli picked up on that right away while she was working on coiling and sent me back out to the shack.  I got to do fire and glass for hours!  Playing with colors...trying to make dots that didn't string all over the place...all while hoping I didn't burn down the place.  When she finally came out to get me I was totally in the groove.  And exhausted!  It was soooo fun and I was concentrating so hard!! 

That takes us to the end of the day...you may be asking, "Where are those wonky beads you made?"  Well, they have to get annealed in the kiln so they don't breaky-break so Juli's firing them up for me and I'll have them to show off next week.  And, believe me, even if they're ugly messes, they're going into a piece of jewelry for me!!  haaaaaaaa

As for Boll Weevil Circle...I had a 90 or so mile drive home after this day of creating and joy and friendship.  With all that excitement and new ideas racing around in my head, I was ready for a good hour and half drivve home.  But, I was singing loudly and ignoring the directions to get home while enjoying my Route 44 Diet Cherry Limeade from Sonic.  :)  I didn't seem to be getting any farther away from Enterprise, Alabama (think Army Aviation if you're wondering about the scene down there) as I passed the same buildings over again.  Ahhhhh, It's Boll Weevil CIRCLE.  That means you have to turn off of it to actually go somewhere else!  With that mystery solved, I trolleyed north and made it home to my sweet boy kitties who smelled dog and excitement on me and then just begged for treats!  So, it was a day of treats for all of us!!!  Whoo hooooo!