When I'm out doing a show, oftentimes, customers pick up one of my art beads and says,
"This is pretty, what do you do with it?"
So I've taken that as a challenge to items to my website that will complement my handmade beads. Here are the new items I've added recently to help customers figure out what to do with the beads.
When you're designing with a natural feeling pendant like the Lotus Pod,
It's the weekly round up of links! I always read each link and thought I'd highlight one of them this week. Check out this lovely stamped wood creation from Lisa at A Bead A Day....
A Bead A Day
Lisa continues to hammer happy thoughts into wood jewelry pieces over at A Bead A Day Blog!
Check out the other beadbloggers for the week....
About.com Jewelry Making
Sign up for this fun e-course themed around "love." Perfect for the up-coming Valentine's Day holiday.
Art Bead Scene
Believe it or not, sometimes an Art Bead Scene editor just can't come up with the right words.
Beading Arts
Cyndi put the finishing touches on her beaded postcards!
Beading & Books
Michelle reviews a "top 20" list of craft tools from Martha Stewart and compares it to what's in her own studio.
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Bang, bang, bang! Melanie makes another Response Saturday post featuring the loud sound of texturing hammers on metal.
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews Tammy Powley's amazing new book, The Complete Guide to Jewelry Making--what a thorough and terrific teaching guide and inspirational powerhouse for designers!
Wednesdays are overbooked lately. I can't resist Heather's new Bead Table Wednesday so where is that leaving my weekly Wire Jewelry post, the Wednesday Wire? It's such a catchy name, how can I give it up? Well, I'm not, it's going to become the Tuesday Tangle.
Get it? As in tangled wire?
I've even made a little logo for it so you can remember to come back on Tuesdays.
So, for this week's Tuesday Tangle, I'm showing off some retro style wire earrings.
These are made with homemade fused transparent glass nuggets and non-tarnish silver wire. I wrapped the wire around the groove I made in them and then twisted the wire at the top. I love this silver wire, it has the look and feel of sterling. The earrings have a nice swing to them, very groovy, baby.
A Bead A Day
Lisa's experimenting with alphabet stamps in wood. Please stop by to share your experiences with metal, wood or polymer clay stamping.
About.com Jewelry Making
What do you get when you combine yarn, crystals, and metal? A very cool double strand bracelet!
Beading Arts
Beaded objects don't always have to be wearable. How about some beaded postcards?
Beading & Books
If you make a mistake with a piece of jewelry, do you throw it out, start over, or try to fix it? Michelle shares a mistake she made trying to create a pendant using copper, ink, and a gloss sealant.
Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi creates a special set of felted brooches for a Canadian company.
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
This week one lucky winner will take home a beaded brooch by Cenya AND score some Soft Flex flexible beading wire!
It's funny when you have a small child, everyday feels like a month or a year. You're so focused on the day to day caretaking, the days feel long and exhausting. You love it but some days you wonder if it will always be like this. Then one day, it's over. You stop to think, what happened? Yesterday, you were six! Wait, I'm not ready! And all of a sudden, the house seems quiet, empty even. But it's exciting and thrilling for them and you are excited and thrilled for them. Yet you're standing at the door wondering what you're going to do when you go back into the house.
It's like the day you brought them home from the hospital all over again. You don't know exactly how you're going to do this but you love them and you'll find your way.
Made from an old leather postcard (I didn't even know they made leather postcards!) it's tiny. Just perfect to wear around my neck and show the world just what kind of person I am.
Many of my fellow artists have picked a word or a phrase to inspire them or to focus on for the coming year. I've been introspective lately too thinking about where and what I really want to do. There are alot of changes going on in my house and it's time to re-think.
I need to keep things simple. So in the spirit of KISS, I have chosen one single word 2011. One I will bring myself back to when I start to get sidetracked.
Do.
Don't surf the web looking for inspiration (or a use it as a way to avoid actually doing something).
Do.
Make something.
Keep forging ahead in your new designs.
Make it rather than think it.
Do.
An outgrowth of the red lotus pods, I made this heart with the same set of wormhole like texture and shabby chic look. I embedded Vintaj colored 20 gauge wire for the loop. I love hearts and have collected them on and off for years. I have to say I'm at a loss though with what to title it. Any ideas?
I'm going to slash prices on the clearance items that are left in the store sometime after 2pm EST today. I don't want any of the clearance items hanging around. So make sure you take a look, there will be some great deals!
I'll be adding beads all weekend so check back to see what I've added.
Sale opens at 1pm EST today (Saturday) and closes at tomorrow (Sunday) at 6pm EST. So if you see something you like, best to grab it while you can. I take any leftover clearance beads off the site after the sale.
I'm cleaning out my stash along with my handmade beads. I'm really trying to hoard less and use more. So, if I haven't used the beads I bought within a year, it's time to let them go to a good home and that would be you!
If you have any questions about the sale, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you.
If you are charged sales tax and have already been approved tax exempt, please leave your tax exempt number in the comments section and I'll refund the sales tax to you.
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Old keys, resin, and cold connection techniques combine to create Melanie's unique new pendants.
Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei tries her hand at an online class to make a Wire framed Bead- a meager attempt but fun at any rate!
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean has reviewed a fascinating, beautiful book, 500 Enameled Objects. If you are curious about this form of beautiful jewelry and object crafting, check out her review!
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Want to win a FREE class from Beaducation? Check out this week's installment of Thursday Giveaway for your chance to win!
I'm a tactile kinesthetic learner, a doer. I work with my hands everyday either in sign language interpreting or in art. I experiment with different media to find the right one to express the concept I have in mind. Glass beadmaking is done by hand but you don't actually touch the media (hot glass) when you're sculpting it. Sometimes, I just want to get my hands on the media and lately, it's been polymer clay.
Christmas morning, I was surprised by a creative burst that felt new but was really an evolution. I started this polymer journey with the faux carved wood hearts.
I kept along that path exploring the texture, poking dots into the clay to make it look like aged wood. Where would it go next? I was following the texture and then I made this...
...a folk style bird. I made several of the birds and really liked how together with the hearts, it was a logical series.
Then, on Christmas morning, it evolved yet again and in an unexpected direction. I got up and knew I had to make lotus pods...
...why lotus pods? I'm not sure. I love the lotus as a symbol and incorporate it into my personal jewelry. According to the website, Exotic India Art, the red lotus signifies:
...the original nature and purity of the heart (hrdya). It is the lotus of love, compassion, passion and all other qualities of the heart. It is the flower of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.
I made the red lotus pods with a passion that morning, furiously handcrafting a dozen before anyone else woke up. A special gift that's particularly appropriate to today's auspicious date of 1/11/11!
..."oh please don't look at me in this ugly hat!!"
Obviously, fashion comes and goes and some should just go. It makes for a good laugh looking back on them and saying what were they thinking?
If you want to know what the beadbloggers are thinking this week, check out their links....
A Bead A Day
Do you ever use Swarovski Prisms in your jewelry pieces? Stop by A Bead A Day to share your experiences!
About.com Jewelry Making
Get all your jewelry supplies and other crafting goodies organized with these great tips.
Art Bead Scene
The Art Bead Scene reviews the monthly challenge winners for 2010.
Beading Arts
Here's an idea for bead embroidery that bead weavers will absolutely love!
Beading & Books
Would you like to attract more readers for your blog or more customers for your online shop? Michelle shares 5 tips for getting started with SEO, search engine optimization.
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
The start of the new year is also the beginning of a new series of blog posts about experimenting with materials for Melanie with her new series: Response Saturdays.
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
This week's installment of Thursday Giveaway includes some luscious, turquoise-colored stone beads from Auntie's Beads! Find out how you can win them!
Congratulations on becoming the 13th Sister, Paige! Many thanks to all of you for commenting and blogging about the Sisters Giveaway. The Sisterhood will be on her way to Maine so I better bundle her up for the trip!
Earlier in the week, I said I'd host my annual studio sale this Saturday. Since I am fighting the neverending battle of too many beads, I need extra time to photograph all of them. So, the Annual Studio Sale will be Saturday, January 15th from 1pm-4pm Eastern Standard Time.
I hosted a Studio Sale last year and this year's sale will be even bigger. I'll be selling off stash beads too. So this will be a good time to catch great deals not only on my handmade glass beads but also on Czech pressed glass, pearls, seed beads, etc.
If you visited last year, you know I was online the whole time answering questions. I'll be giving away free beads hourly here on the blog. I've also got some other giveaways planned so stay tuned as I'll be letting you in on the surprise next week before the sale.
Here's another necklace I've made from the Sisterhood. It's made from a Jangles pendant, my double dips, a pink lampwork bead that I made and Vintaj brass. I'm calling this one, "Travels."
If you haven't entered to win the Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads, take a look at yesterday's post and enter to win!
I'm lucky number 12 to receive the Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads. She arrived on Christmas eve and is a large priorty mail box, doubled in size from her original weight. I've tried to help her slim down but even with the Little Sister giveaway, she's still wearing her same size box.
Here are the details....
The giveaway: The entire box of goodies, NOW WELL over $400 worth of beads.
The stipulations: Must have an online forum to host the next giveaway. Must be living within the United States to enter and be willing to pay for shipping: $15.00 for flat rate priority mail billed via Paypal.
The rules: You’ll take what you want from the box, add in items of equal value from your own bead stash to replace the items you took and then do the same giveaway on your blog. We’ll keep the beads traveling for as long as we can.
To enter: Leave a comment below, be sure to include your email. Those who entered for the Little Sister Grab Bag Giveaway are already entered.
Bonus Entry: If you want to up your chances, Blog,it to enter more than once. Leave another comment letting me know how you helped spread the word.
Deadline To Enter: Comments will be accepted until Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 6pm (eastern time).
Winner will be announced after 6pm on Thursday, January 6th, 2011
....first up will be a January Clearance sale this coming Saturday, January 8th online. I did this last year and cleaned out alot of my stash then. I need to do it again.
Destashing implies - do not add to your current stash! Taking that to heart I decided to make jewelry from the Sisterhood rather than just take a few things out to add to my stash.
When I went through the box, I fell in love with a very large (2 and 1/4 inches in diameter) an etched donut. I love the feminine curly cues running across the highly finished and lightweight donut. I pulled it out immediately knowing that I don't normally wear such a large piece. I put it back several times but it kept calling out to me.
The Sisterhood is about sharing and contributing so I thought I'd share how I made today's necklace. I'm calling this necklace, The Sisterhood to remind me of the traveling box of beady goodness and all the sisters who have contributed and created with it.
This is an easy stringing project using basic wire wrap skills and stringing.
Tools:
Flush cutters
Chainnose pliers (2)
Stepped roundnose pliers (for making consistently sized loops)
Supplies:
56mm (approximately 2 and 1/4 inches) etched patterned donut from the Sisterhood stash
Filigree Leaf: Attach 4.5 jump ring to filigree leaf. Attach 4.5 jump ring to 10mm jump ring.
Etched Donut Focal: Cut 6 inches (150mm) of Vintaj colored 20 gauge coated wire with your flush cutters. Make a loop using the stepped pliers, wrap twice around the large etched donut focal and finish by wrapping twice around the top of the donut.
Now you're ready to put your necklace components together.
2. Using chainnose pliers open the 15mm jump ring and string on the etched donut focal, filigree leaf and two of the 14mm deep teal glass pearl wire wrapped components, making sure the pearl components are on the "outside." You want to be sure the etched donut focal will be at the center of the necklace. Close the 15mm jump ring.
3. On one side, using the chainnose pliers, open a 10mm jump ring and attach it to one of the pearl components. String the jump ring and pearl component onto one of the pearl components attached to the 15mm jump ring. Close the 10mm jump ring.
4. Repeat the above until you have 3 teal pearls strung on both sides.
5. Instead of measuring the length of 6.5 by 9mm etched chain, I prefer to count the number of links. I think it's more accurate. Count out 28 links on the chain and open the 28th link using the chainnose pliers. You'll have 27 links (7 and 1/4 inches) for each side of the necklace.
6. Using the chainnose pliers, open the last link on one end. Attach to the last pearl. Do the same for the other side.
7. Attach the 12mm lobster clasp to the 4.5mm jump ring and attach it to the last link on one of the necklace.
I encourage you to make your own sisterhood piece of jewelry to celebrate the joy of beading with friends. While you're beading, I'm sharing a song from the movie, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants to get your creative juices flowing!
