Calaveraz and Cool Jewelry Designer Barbe Saint John

Last fall, I introduced Calaveraz,and
Skele'Bowz an addition to the Heartz n Skullz series.



I love the Skele'Bowz and Calaveraz. Not everyone loves Glam Punk and Punkesque style like I do. BUT I thought if seen in a the right design, my customers would love them like I do. They just needed to see them used in jewelry. Jewelry you could wear all year round and not just during Halloween.

Since they're not your everyday bead, I knew these beads needed a jewelry designer whose work is edgey and eclectic. I love edgey and I knew just the girl for them.

Barbe Saint John.

So, I sent her an email and told her I love her work and thought she was just the gal who could work magic with the Calaveraz. I was thrilled when she said she'd love to!

Barbe finished the pieces and sent me a picture before they arrived. I squealed with delight - literally! The Calaveraz are highlighted so perfectly in her designs, I can't help but gush over them! And the Skele'Bowz just sing!

So today, I unveil the amazing work of Barbe Saint John - a multi-talented, mixed media artist who has created these wonderful works of wearable art using my Calaveraz and Heartz n Skullz beads!


(Above photo courtesy of Barbe Saint John.)

I urge you to go check out Barbe's work. Her rings are Steampunk cool - another edge she interprets in her unique Barbe way! Her blog is full of awesome info! Barbe's Blog

It's a Dark and Stormy Night

This month's Art Bead Scenetheme is a Dark and Stormy Night. Whether you go with a Halloween theme, autumn-inspired or channel your inner goth girl, the theme is open to your interpretation. Pull out your favorite fall art beads and join in this month's challenge! I think the Skele'Bowz are perfect for this challenge.


How to enter the Monthly Challenge:
1. Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme.This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc.The art bead can be created by you or someone else.The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork.

***Beads by themselves and beads simply strung on a chain or cord will not be accepted.***

2. Upload your photo to our flickr group.Detailed instructions can be found here and click here for a tutorial for sending your picture to the group. If you can't upload to Flickr, send your entry and information to Heather.Please add the tag or title OCTABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is October 31th.



Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn't followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 photos a day.

What is an Art Bead?
An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.*** A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.

p.s. If you have a blog, post your entry and a link to the ABS challenge to spread the beady goodness.

Research, Review, Renew

Remember when I said I was working on the Skele'Bowz in Black and wanted flowers for the eyes? After trying millefiore in the eyes...

...EWWWW...those are way too big but they're all I have so I couldn't try smaller ones besides, millefiore is the obvious choice and many others use the millis for eyes. So I wanted to try something different.



Copper sheet! Cool, huh how the copper didn't go completely red like it can and stayed orange and shiney! This was such a happy accident, I was planning on using red glass but anyone who uses Italian glass, it's hard to tell the difference between the orange and red transparents in the rod. So, I was using orange instead of red - but it worked out just perfectly!

So, now I'm reviewing some of my previous beads and I really want to bring back the glass hands.I'd like to do more with them this time around rather than just the open palm. So, I've dived into research on hands, the use of hands, language of hands, gesture, religious representation, etc. I'm researching so I can review what I've done and make the hands anew!

Fashions come and go, some styles are a happy accident like the Skele'Bowz in Black above but others are a result of research, review and renew. Have you created anything recently that was a happy accident or a result of the RRR?

Surprise! New Bead and Winners

Angela wins a the free bead for her suggested name,"Punk'Inz." I'll use her name for the Pumpkin inspired beads.



BUT I'd like to also send a surprise bead to Amanda because I'll be using a slight variation on her name for the Skullz: Skele'Bowz

So, gals, send me you postal address and I'll send out your free beads!

I wanted to do a black skull similar to those I saw for Day of the Dead. Remember yesterday's prototypes? How I mentioned I wanted to place flowers in the eyes? The black skulls cry out for flowers in the eyes. Still working on it. So here is the first generation of black skulls. Skele'Bowz fits both the black and white skulls - Cool!


Stay tuned - I think I've figured out the flowers! YAY!