Broadening my Blog-Horizons and More Give-aways.

Can we talk this morning? I have my morning coffee sitting on the kitchen table ready to have some friend-talk.

My blog is designed to be about glass and beadmaking. I've broadened a bit to include jewelry making but I've pretty much stayed away from mixing in personal stories. Starting now I'm going to include a little bit more about me along with the glass.

No, it's not going to turn into a confessional type blog. I will give you a little bit more about the artist behind the blog than I did before.

Why you ask? Because most of the blogs I like to read have a bit of the person's life included - like my new friend ceramic jewelry artist Nancy. I like her mix of everything. And the ever wonderful Margot Potter who writes about craft and life and the occasional feminist manifesto (which, of course, is ever empowering!)

I also realized I've been pretty stingy with the giveaways.

I'm gonna give away alot more stuff starting now.

My wedding anniversary is in July so in celebration, I'll be putting together some Beads 2 Go! boxes and posting them on my blog. Beads 2 Go! will include my handmade lampwork beads and other beads from my stash. I'll draw a winner on Saturday and post the winner. You'll need to check Saturday's post to find out if you've won. You'll need to check and send me the email.

Winners send me an email with your postal address and I'll send you the Beads 2 Go!

Easy Peasy.

A caveat - You'll need to check back to see if you've won. Since I won't have an email or postal address until you send it to me, I can't come looking for you. If you win and I don't hear from you within two (2) weeks from the date it is announced, the beads will be put back up for another giveaway.

Remember, if you're the winner on Saturday, just shoot me an email with your postal address and you'll get your free beads!

Thanks and Free Bead Winner

Thanks for the comments this week! I appreciate the time it takes to comment and I appreciate all of them, short and long. Comments are the conversation starter to our always interesting discussion about beads, art, life. Your comments sometimes make me think in a new way or they make me realize I'm not the only one who feels the way I do. Thanks for joining in our conversation and keep talking! :-)

The winner of this week's Surreal Rhythm Blue (shown above) is Lisa! Congratulations, Lisa! Send me your email by clicking on my profile to get my email address.

Thanks again to all who commented! Let's keep talking!

Dada: Anti Art and Anti War

Occasionally, I'll buy a small book on an art movement and carry it around in my purse to read when I have a few spare minutes. Of late, I've been reading about Dada because of the recent trend of mixed media and collage. Dada art looked familiar but I quickly learned although Dada artists used collage, the movement was alot more than collage.

Above is a photo of some of the more well known artists. They look like they're having a good time, huh? Dada was an anti-war movement and arose out of the chaos of World War 1. I've participated in remembering a war that happened when my father was a small child and not understanding the horrors of it. But the Dadaists did and influenced Modern Art along the way.

Collage, Photo-Collage, painting, writing - all were a part of the anti-art of Dada. It was protest art and was designed to look radically different than any of the art that had come before.

Below is a photomontage entitled "Pretty Maiden" by Hannah Hoch. Photomontage, which according to Wikipedia is "the process (and result) of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs."



We're used to seeing this kind of photo montage now but in the early 1900's, no one had ever seen anything like it. It was jarring and went against the expectations for art. It is a protest of the war, of the co-opting of art and all it stood for. Quite a statement at the time. Modern warfare and a senseless war had changed the art world.

I love the look of Dada and respect what it stood for. I created my own protest art with the "Big Mouth" prototype beads below that fit the concept of protest art but the beads I have on the workbench now don't fit the Dada style.



Since it's not Dada, I'm on to explore Surrealism.

Have you created a piece of art in the style of Dada? or another major art movement? Share and you may win free beads!

(Photo Links and Credits: Photo of the artists , Pretty Maiden by Hannah Hoch

Not Enough Hours and Free Bead winners

There aren't going to be enough hours in the day for me to get everything done I want to! So this is a quick fly by post because the kiln is warm and I have to dip some mandrels before I can melt some glass into beads and glass links today.

The winner for Wednesday's eye bead set is Katie! Congratulations, Katie! Send me your snail mail by clicking on my profile to get my email address.

Today, I'll be thinking Miro - but won't tell you why until tomorrow when I finish up Inspiration Week!



Pretty intense look on his face, huh? Looks like he doesn't have enough time in the day either!

(Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

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!

More suggestions, people - Free Bead

Ok, so I go a little crazy when I work out a style of bead - I make them in all sorts of colors. I'm still crazy for the cubic zirconia embedded in the beads - in the middle of the bow.

Victoria offered up an excellent name yesterday: Skull and Crossbows. Which I'd tweek just a bit to fit the series to Skullz and Crossbowz.

I need more suggestions, people!






Ok, maybe I'm sounding a bit school marmish but don't be shy about suggesting a name! Do I need to bribe people? I think yes.

So now I go into shameless plug - imagine the next all capitals word to be glittering, flashing lights

FREE BEAD FREE BEAD FREE BEAD FREE BEAD

Yep that's what I said. Suggest a name, any name for the beads I posted yesterday and today - and the name I choose will win a free skull bead.

You've got until August 18th. Suggest a name for Heartz n Skullz and if I choose your name, you'll win the bead.

I won't be chasing anyone down to give you the bead, though. I'll post the winner's name and you'll have to email me your postal address.

Oh, and I don't care if you don't live in the US, I'll still mail you the bead if you win. FREE.