Bead Table Wednesday: Fairy House

I don't know what possessed me last week, but a fairy house sprung up under one of my red lotus pods on  my beadmaking table. 

Studio Saturday and Sensational Links!

I'm over at Studio Saturday this week with my new Word Beads series. I start the series out with one word very near and dear to my heart, ally. I'll be blogging an earring tutorial using the word beads next week, so make sure you stop back!

Here are my favorite bead blogging pals up to their usual goodness this week!

A Bead A Day
Do you ever miss a piece of jewelry you made as a gift? Lisa is contemplating creating a copy of the bracelet she made for her Mom for Mother's Day!

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy is having fun with filigree and brass charms, which includes a new bracelet tutorial.

Art Bead Scene
Want to personalize your jewelry designs? Here are some suggestions from the Art Bead Scene.

Barbe Saint John
Barbe talks about Lark Books latest Call for Entries

Beading Arts
Cyndi shares her method of making a charm necklace from a vintage button!

Beads & Books
Michelle shares the pearl and crystal necklace she made for the Artbeads.com challenge.

Carmi's Art Life/World
Carmi has a new pendant to work with to create the copper rose necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's come up with a primary color variation on the double dip ring.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
The Earthenwood Design Team has been hatching up some beautiful jewelry designs using Melanie's ceramic egg charms and pendants!

Resin Crafts!
To launch a week of pouring resin into bezels Carmi showcases two different floral techniques.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean discusses the giveaways--Go for it!!!-- and the call for Entries from Lark Publishing Company

The Bead Dreamer
It's not always easy to get the length of a bracelet correct - especially if large beads are involved. Charlene shares a tool that can help.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew debuts several new items in his Shop, including these NEW skeleton keys!

Bead Table Wednesday: New Drops

I went out and played around on the torch last week and on a whim created these glass drops and matching double dips out of a yummy pink glass. The drops are a shade darker because there's more glass and so the color is more concentrated. The drops are cool in the silvered ivory!

Then I worked them into a sweet necklace and earrings set that I showed yesterday on the Tuesday Tangle. Love the pink!

What's on your bead table?

My Word for the Year....

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?

Have you chosen a word for the year?

New Work: A Surprise on Christmas Morning...

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!

The key to my designs.....

I promised yesterday I would follow up the State of My Studio post with the inspiration for the new faux wood painted hearts. Really, it was Andrew Thornton on his Thursday giveaway post that got me thinking when he characterized my work this way:

What I love about Cindy's underlining design principle is that she's not afraid to explore new materials and is constantly investigating new ways of doing things.

Andrew's gone to the core of how I approach beadmaking. I'm always working on a new media, a new technique to expand my ability to express a design. Different media lends itself to different techniques and I'm on a constant quest to expand my abilities in all media.

That quest usually finds me buying books. Today, I'm going to share which books have taken up residence on my workbench and are serving as the inspiration for the new faux wood carved painted hearts.

First up is Christi Friesen and her latest book,  Steampunkery.

I'm really taken with idea of hearts, hinges and bezels. It was her steampunk inspired hearts that was exciting to me and I just had to learn how to make them! I bought the book because of the hinged heart on the front. I didn't realize she had a Steampunk Heart free download on her website or a youtube video on how to make a heart.



But you shouldn't get the impression that I'm sorry I bought the book. The book is a jewel of humor and technique - right up my ally. I get to laugh while I'm learning a new media. Steampunkery is full of useful information for the less experienced (like me) and beautiful to look at with a story woven through it.

Christi's design aesthetic is distinctive and quite different from my own. So after playing with a few of the heart projects in the book, I wanted to go off in another direction with the hearts.

The other book occupying my workbench has been there awhile. Back in January, I reviewed Cynthia Thornton's book, Enchanted Adornments for Art Bead Scene. It's been on my workbench ever since.

Wanting to create a heart in a style of my own, Enchanted Adornments was the go to book. I've said how Cynthia's book is full of tips and techniques unique to her style and aesthetic. I love her style but again, it's very different from my own.  It's how she creates that style I'm interested in learning.

Pages 38-39 lie open on my workbench, the section is entitled, "Texturing Clay."  A quote kept going   over and over in my mind:

 "Unique textures will keep your work exciting and completely your own."

 

Spurred on to make a heart that is completely my own, I made some texture tools.  But sometimes the simplest can be just what you're looking for.

This one looks like an large old nut or seed found in the woods with small natural holes that has been carved into a heart. The texture makes me want to reach out and touch it. As it sits on my workbench, I can't resist picking it up and turning it over in my hands.

Each path to a new bead series is a passage to learning new techniques and exploring another media. It's the key to my designs.

A Childhood Memory....

I grew up on a farm and every summer morning I would wake to the song of birds sitting in the trees outside my open window. There were all kinds of birds and one I saw frequently was a black bird. Here's my interpretation of a childhood memory...

Do you have a memory you try to re-create in your crafting?

Something New....

...whimsical glass bird houses! I wanted to keep these fairly small for charm/small pendants so they're 24mm-39mm (that's 1 inch - 1.5 inches). A 12 mm jump ring will fit into the open roof area so you can add it to a necklace or bracelet or whatever you'd like.

What do you think, dear readers?

Thankz and Heartz N Skullz

Thank you to all my wonderful readers who left me well wishes on my blog yesterday. I really appreciate the good thoughts. I've started the vitamin regimen and with each capsule, I say, "Cheers, here to fewer migraines!" So this morning, you can lift your vitamin capsules and make a toast with me - here's to better health for us all! (Hmmmm that's slightly reminiscent of Tiny Tim's,"God bless us, everyone!" - but if the shoe fits....;-)

I had several hours to myself yesterday so you know where I went - into the glass studio to melt some glass!

If you had a chance to visit me over on last week's ABS Studio Saturday, I'm working on refining my artistic "voice." I asked the ABS readers to weigh in on where they thought I should go next with my beads. Overwhelmingly, comments told me to do what I love.

Yesterday, after having seen Alice in Wonderland, the Tim Burton Exhibit and buying a new Land's End t-shirt for the gym, I had stripes swirling around in my head. They made their way onto yesterday's beads - here's a quick snap of them.....

Mixed media influences come into play as I wanted them to look worn, so I've added a black patina to them which I'll cure today.

Do you like the stripes?

The Victorian Garden Bee Skep Focal Bead

February is when the seed catalogs arrive to remind me spring is not far away. Always a welcome site in my mailbox, I look forward to seeing warm sun and rich red tomatoes even if it's only in a picture from one of my favorite catalogs, Cook's Garden...



I'm reminded of gardens planted in the Victorian Style and brought back to life by expert gardeners. One of my favorites is the Pilgrim's Rest, an award winner at the Chelsea Garden Show last year.

In Colonial and Victorian times, keeping and encouraging bees in your garden for pollination was common and a bee skep like this one from Bee Craft



It's this tradition and a wishing for spring to arrive that inspired by latest polymer clay bead creation, The Victorian Garden Bee Skep.



Even if spring isn't here, I can create beads that remind me that eventually, spring will arrive.

Grunge Beads- Faux Bois in Color or Noir

Thank you for all the lovely compliments on the grunge beads! I've decided to dedicate a page to them on my website so check them out. I put up the Faux Bois pendants first, one in black and white (noir) and the other in color.





Which one do you like best?

Flying Ace

Last week, the studio was at 8 degrees - needless to say, I wasn't able to get in there and melt any glass. Yes, the hot kiln helps to warm the studio but once the outdoor temperature goes down to 35 degrees, nothing will heat it. So, in my never ending quest to keep fingernails instead of biting them down to the nubs because I can't melt glass, I'm happily kneading and rolling polymer clay.




I'm calling this one, Flying Ace. I love the little propeller and wings. I've thought for a long time that my gear beads needed a bead-pal to go with it and Flying Ace is just the bead to do it! Hey, if you're name has Ace in it, you know it's gonna be good!

Grunge Beads

Last week, looking for beads to make rather than biting my fingernails down to the nub, I took out my stash of polymer clay. I worked up a batch of faux ivory with my hands mostly because I couldn't find my pasta machine (TBC keeps trying to organize me, problem is, I never know where he puts things!) I intended to work on some prototypes based on drawings I'd made for pmc. I made some prototypes but then started making other kinds - just to experiment.



I kept thinking about the "inchies" I bought. They are a "grunge style" Alice in Wonderland set. I printed them, grunged up the back with alcohol inks and stamps, added a layer of Diamond Glaze and pounded eyelets into them. I like the slightly dirty/dark look and who cares how much ink I got on my hands?




Somewhere in the back of my mind was the grungle style. I wanted a lots of color but not bright color. I wanted the worn but not antique look - more akin to the Chinese ink and wash painting with a dark, deeply colored worn look seen below.


(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

So I went to the local art supplies store and bought some India Ink. Rubbed it on to the beads and rubbed off the excess. I wet sanded with fine grit sand paper to give the worn appearance. Like your favorite t-shirt or jeans that you really should throw out but they're so comfortable, you just can't!




Grunge beads! What do you think?

Alice Blue!

I can't get enough of the Through the Looking Glass Charms. Introducing "Alice Blue" wrapped in oxydized silver colored wire! The oxydized silver wire lends a Victorian feel to the glass nugget yet it's grey color is neutral and can combine with a variety of metals in your jewelry.

Expanding the Bead Family: Skully Bowz

I'm adding to the Heartz n Skullz series with Skully Bowz. Skully Bowz are like the Skele'Bowz but are made a bit differently - so a slightly different name. Instead of a black eye, I've highlighted the sculptural quality of the Skully with brown. She wears a sweet deep red bow.






Do you like the new addition to the Heartz n Skullz family? Do you create series within your work?

New Work: Fine Silver Clay

Bronze clay has encouraged me to try fine silver clay (pmc) again. I tried it awhile ago but as I've mentioned, I always felt Cindy + clay = lousy beads. My foray a couple of years ago into pmc was proof to me.

Yet, I've seen several pieces I'd like to duplicate and put into jewelry but the shrinkage with bronze metal clay is around 30%. That means, if I have a small piece I'd like to duplicate, it's going to shrink 30% making it difficult to finish.

Silver clay (pmc 3) shrinks much less, something like 10%. So I can duplicate smallish (1/2 inch or 12mm) and be able to finish it. Here's my latest piece:



On a photography note, see how much different it looks here on the roses and black background? I like how it looks here but the top one gives a truer picture of what the piece looks like. The one below, I think, sells the piece.



Right now, I'm not selling the Victorian Belt Buckle as a component so no link to my site today. I've created it specifically for jewelry. In my next post, I'll show you the finished piece.

So, tell me, readers, which picture do you like best and why?

Talk Back to Readers, Art Nouveau and Art Moderne

So I'm going to do a little "talk back" to my readers this morning instead of going into the comments and responding there. I've got my cup of coffee and I feel like we're around the kitchen table having a chat!

Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday. Good luck with the first day of school, Erin! That's a crazy day! This year, the first day of school will be bittersweet for me, The Teen is a senior and it will be my last "first day." I'll have to take alot of pictures!

Thanks to Sharon and Lorelei for liking the Through the Looking Glass Nuggets so well they ordered some! I'm always thrilled when someone likes my work and buys it. It's greatly appreciated!

Tish and Katie - it's that time of year when you feel like you've got to re-organize or do something! Sometimes it's because of the day job and sometimes it just because things have just gotten out of hand! A schedule is very helpful and makes us feel like we're in control (even though we may not be! LOL!)

Thanks for the well wishes, Emanda and Summerstudio! :-) I hate the migraines, they're so incapacitating. I'm convinced half the time it's something worse (knock on wood) but it's all that female thing or as The Teen calls it "Puberty 2.0." LOL!

Arlene - thanks for the comment about the long necklaces. If you figure it out, let me know! :-)

Since posting will be every other day, I'll communicate on the off times through my newsletter. Please sign up for my newsletter if you haven't done so already. I'll be putting up more beads on the website too. Speaking of the website, I've put up a new piece this morning.

The style is more Art Deco than Art Nouveau but I loved the look of the single flower spilling over the edges of the medallion. I tried to identify the flower but it's stylized so I've entitled it, "Art Moderne."



The Art Moderne Flower is made of bronze metal clay (because I'm now addicted to it). You can see just the slightest rainbow patina in the center that was made when I fired it in the kiln. I like the look of it - it looks like a stylized poinsettia to me - just the piece to work into a gift for the holidays.

Which flower do you think the Art Moderne Flower looks like?

Art Nouveau: Stile Floreal Sunflower

I so love the Art Nouveau style and have wanted to create beads and pendants in the style - I just haven't quite found the right note until now. Bronze metal clay has been the right medium for this particular song. I've shown you the process of working with bronze metal clay and then the mold making This is the lovely culmination of all of that - new bronze pendants and connectors.



The period between the late 1800's and World War I was a time full of "new art" (Art Nouveau). Characteristic of the style is undulating lines and forms, each named after the objects which inspired them. Here, the organic form which inspired this pendant is an antique French button in the "Stile Floreal" (floral style) of a sunflower. The curves are known as "the whiplash" which describes the sharp turns in the lines.



I'm much more organized with this new series than before because I have them up on my website already! YAY for organization!! Usually, I blog about them and then put them up but I've made up my mind that from now on, every new bead and pendant will be up on my website by the time I blog about them.

New Bead Series: Surreal Rhythm

After accompanying me on the "Bead in Search of an Art Movement" journey, you'll be the first to see my new bead series which I've entitled "Surreal Rhythm." These beads have the flavor of surrealism in their rhythmic pattern. I chose a limited color palette for the first bead because I was developing the pattern and technique.



I really liked the pattern on this, preferring to melt in the dots rather than leave them raised. I didn't want added texture to the bead. I like the two colors but decided to see if I could add more color without losing the pattern.




The high contrast of yellow and blue in "Flame" is visually exciting. So I wanted to take this another step further and try another high contrast color combination.




The blue and orange-coral are cooler and more calming than the yellow and blue yet the rhymthm of the pattern keep things exciting. I'm going to experiment with more colors to see how many I can add and keep the pattern.

And I haven't forgotten about the free bead for comments! I'll be posting a winner for the very first Surreal Rhythm bead above tomorrow. I'll take all commentors from this week and pull a name out of a hat!


Have you enjoyed this week's journey? Do you have suggestions for additional color combinations? Tell me what you think!

Miro: Sign-like Forms and an Overall Rhythm

Working at the torch on a technique, I find variations in the inspiration source. It can be a slight variation or it feels completely different than the inspiration. The beads I'm holding in my hand are completely different from what I intended but I liked the variation and went with it. They had a particular feel to them and I've spent this week taking you on my trip to discover to which art movement they belong. I've landed on surrealism.

Surrealism always felt strange rather than metaphorical. And I thought of Dali not someone like Miro. But Miro's style is what I'm reminded of when I look at the new beads. Nancy Doyle describes Miro's painting style: "In 1923, there was a big change in Miro's art, moving toward more sign-like forms (i.e., like hieroglyphs), geometric shapes and an overall rhythm".

The Carnival of Harlequin which is hanging at my local Albright Knox Art Museum, is a good example of the metaphorical use of shapes and rhythm.



That describes what I see exactly in my beads - sign like forms, geometric shapes and an overall rhythm.

Tomorrow we'll end our journey with the debut of the new bead series.