You Won't Want to Miss These Links

Beadweaving will always be my first love, but in the past year I've had fun branching out into other mediums, from wire to metal to resin. The more techniques, the more creative possibilities, right? When I learned this week that Cindy Wimmer has written a book on wire links, I couldn't wait for the print version and clicked over to Interweave to download the eBook.

Everything about this book is gorgeous! The first section features 15 links, all fun and fresh components I can't wait to include in my designs. The photography is breathtaking. Great step-by-step photos that had this novice wireworker turning out links in no time. They're followed by a section of inspiration from your favorite designers, using one or more links in their designs.

The wire links are listed by degree of difficulty, so I started with my favorite in the Easy category, the Engagement Ring link. The Projects section includes a bracelet of these links by Lori Anderson that I loved and wanted to try. I worked up a set of 8 in copper wire before allowing myself to cut the first length of sterling silver. I also stirred up my first batch of liver of sulfur - lots of firsts in this project!

Lori's bracelet was exquisite in her signature pinks and purples. I chose one of my favorite combinations from
Pantone's Fall Color report - Mykonos Blue and Linden Green. The dangles include kyanite, vintage glass,
Swarovski pearls and lampwork beads by Atlanta artist Kimberly Branch.

And those practice links in copper? I connected them up, added a focal clasp and a couple of charms. I love them just as they are!

You can pre-order Cindy's book from her website, or if you're as impatient as I was, you can download the eBook direct from Interweave. You're going to want this book in your library!

Fun with Ice Resin

My sister, Janet, sister-in-law, Kathy, and I met up in Augusta to enjoy some creative play time this week with an Ice Resin class at YaYa Beads. Great fun!

Kathy was a natural and created some really fun compositions. We all agreed her lovely dimensional pendant (top) took the Fabulous Award for the day. (Wish I'd snapped more photos of her work!) Janet's pieces (center panel) reflect her love of music and her gift of encouragement. I just love the flecks of torn ribbon in her second piece.

Now that I have my first pours (bottom panel) under my belt, I'm ready to dive into Deryn Mentock's Bezel Bootcamp, an e-course in bezel making, soft soldering and resin. If you're looking for a great way to broaden your jewelry making skills, registration is still open!

Bead Hoarders Blog Hop

We in the beading community are all hoarders to some extent. Our relationship with our treasures of glass, metal, pearls and gems is (on most days) magical, and we want more of that magic!

Lori Anderson of Pretty Things conjured up a fun way to lighten our secret (and not-so-secret) stashes in the form of today's Bead Hoarders Blog Hop. Simply take hold of some of those pretties we've been saving for a special occasion and design away.

I've been holding on to this gorgeous butterfly wing, bezeled in silver, for a couple of years. Originally purchased to create a necklace as a birthday gift for my oldest daughter, I simply couldn't come up with anything that worked. Believe me. I've woven several neckstraps, long and short, simple and over-the-top, but nothing appealed. Flipping through my copy of Jewelry Designs from Nature by Heather Powers proved to be the inspiration I needed.

Besides the focal, this necklace uses some absolute favorites from my stash: Saki silver hammered link, a hand-cast, braided brass bead, and two shades of beautiful apatite - roundels in pale green and rounds in dark blue-green. And the design is reversible!

My daughter's birthday is several months away, but I'm sending this off to her now. She recently left her career as a Special Ed teacher to start her own cottage school, opening next month. The butterfly is the perfect symbol of change and hope … and enjoying the beauty of the journey.

Thanks to Lori for inspiring me to finally give wing to this focal. I'm currently visiting my youngest daughter in Pittsburgh, and will have to wait until I get back to hop around to all the participants' blogs. But you'll want to click this link right now and get started!

A Challenge in Black and White

When Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime announced her Black and White Challenge, I jumped at the opportunity to step away from color, usually my primary design consideration, and focus simply on form and texture.

I splurged on a black dress for a recent trip to New England. This black dress:

I wore it to a dinner, a corporate affair, at a winery, on a cool Connecticut June evening, where a ruffle-edged white jacket, my favorite Laura Gibson dangles and statement bracelet were the only accessories needed. I'm now back home in Georgia. Gone are the ocean breezes, the cool morning mists. Gone, also, is the need for that elegant jacket. Sally's challenge was to design a piece of jewelry that uses only black and white. The challenge I gave myself was to design a necklace that would take my new black dress from Summer Staple to Something Spectacular.

I knew I wanted this project to be component based, so I began with some beaded beads.

Barrel Beads and an Octahedral Cluster from tutorials by beAd Infinitum, Discos from a tutorial by Sharri Moroshok of The Beaded Bead, and Ringlets, found in Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence.

With their large holes and elegant texture, Gwen Fisher and Florence Turnour's Barrel Beads were the perfect choice to anchor the longest strand. I combined them with a collection of glass rings by Heather Trimlett that I've been saving for a special project. Completing this strand are embellished Ringlets and large Disco beads from Sharri Moroshok's easily adapted pattern. The Octahedral Cluster serves as the focal of the shorter strand, accented by Disco beads, short barrels, and perfectly named Black Tie Affair lampwork beads by April Larson of Bo's Beads.

The velvet ribbon is left long for times when I want to wear this strand long and casual with black linen and a tee.

The more-traditional short strand is 16 ½-18 inches and lays just above the neckline of my black dress. I think it would be divine on its own with a collared shirt.

Much thanks to Sally Russick for challenging us with this iconic duo. You'll want to check out all the black-and-white inspiration from today's participants.

Sally Russick Monique Urquhart Patti Vanderbloemen Veralynne Malone Duane Clark D Lynne Bowland Michelle Buettner Pam Sears Therese Frank Dawn Doucette Nicole Rennell Cynthia Machata Alice Peterson Carolyn Lawson Evelyn Shelby Ailsa Cordner Michelle Escano Mischelle Fanucchi Jess Green Adrienne Berry Lynsey Brooks Kashmira Patel Ann Schroeder Marlene Cupo Susan F. Susan Kennedy Kathy Lindemer Paula Kramer Lisa Johnson Sandi Volpe Donna Bradley Karin Slaton   Jasvanti Patel Stefanie Teufel Liz Engriser Christine Altmiller

Seasons Challenge

Today is the reveal for the Season Blog Hop, hosted by Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures. Each participant was sent a selection of beads, which we could combine with beads and findings from our own stash, to create a piece of jewelry reflecting either a season of the year, or a season in our lives.

Here are the beads I received from Lisa:

When I tipped them out into a dish, the beads initially said "Fall" to me, but their colors also reminded me of the cockle shells my sister and I loved to collect during summer vacations at the beach.

I combined Lisa's fun shapes with a few playful shapes from my own stash, and in no time, the mix was singing Summer.

Freeform spiral stitch is becoming one of my beading staples and its lush texture was perfect for this project. I noticed how the rich, warm browns in Lisa's soup brought out the striking details in the dark blue spikes, so I mixed in a strand of 3mm lapis that matched the tones in the spikes, then tossed in some additional wood beads and abalone discs to keep the necklace looking organic -- and feeling as light as, well, a walk on the beach!

Much thanks to Lisa for inspiring us with this challenge. You'll want to follow the links below to Lisa's and all the Season participants' blogs!

                    Your Hostess: Lisa Lodge, Grateful Artist

                    Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

                    Cassi Paslick, Beads: Rolling Downhill

                    Stephanie Sanner Haussler, PixyBug Designs

                    Leah Mifflin Tees, My Beady Little Eyes

                    Karin Slaton, BackStory Beads

                    Audrey Belanger, Dreams of an Absolution

                    Lori Jean Poppe, Lorillijean Creative Corner

                    Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

                    Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

                    Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

                    Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things

                    Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

                    Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

                    Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

                    Toltec Jewels, Toltec Jewels for Jewel School Friends

                    Lennis Carrier, Windbent

                    Erin Kenny, Beadifultherapy

                    Tanya Goodwin, A Work in Progress

                    Cilla Watkins, Tell Your Girlfriends

                    Renetha Williams Stanziano, Lamplight Crafts

                    Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

                    Sierra Barrett, Giraffe Can Has

                    Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

                    Shirley Jones Moore, Beads and Bread

                    Dawn Horner, Northern Adornments

                    Charlene Bausinger Jacka, Clay Space

                    Tara Plote, The Newbie Beader's Blog

                    Candida Elkins Castleberry, Spun Sugar Beadworks

                    Miranda Ackerley, Daze and Days

 

Home Again

June has been a month of constant travel, with not a moment to spare for my bead table. I was about to say that I haven't touched a bead in the past 30 days, but that would not be entirely correct. One of my trips took me through Nashville, where I spent a fun hour browsing the shelves of Be Dazzled Beads. I packed my Pantone Fall Color samples for the occasion, and stocked up on some of my favorite hues!

Clockwise from top left: Emerald, Samba, Turbulence and Mykonos Blue

Don't you love the raku focal that combines the cool elegance of Emerald and the rich spiciness of Samba? But fall colors will have to wait a bit longer. I have three (3!) challenge pieces to create for July, all celebrating the current season, beginning with this selection of beads from Lisa of Pine Ridge Treasures.

Be sure to come back on July 6th for the reveal of the Seasons blog hop!

Celebrating!

Yesterday, my husband and I spent the afternoon strolling the Artists Market at the Decatur Arts Festival, and met Dan’s friend, Jessica, and her husband, John, at an outdoor café overlooking the festival for lunch. Perched atop high stools, we had a front row view of the festival goers and the artisan works on display. As we were getting to know each other over pulled-pork sandwiches and bottles of ale, Jessica asked me how I got started in beading. I recalled a trip to the beach nearly four years ago with several of my sisters-in-law. Each night, Dan’s sister, Kathy, spread her bead stash across the condo’s dining table and everyone dug in to create colorful masterpieces in glass and stone. Jewelry was not something I gave much thought to, and although I did manage to string a simple bracelet, I spent most of those hours organizing Kathy’s stash by size and color. There was something about the feel of those beads in my hands!

Once home, I ventured into a local bead store to find a clasp and some crimps for my beach creation, and as I approached the cash register, I noticed a magazine cover and realized you could SEW with beads, too! I left with my first tube of seed beads and a package of needles. That magazine was Bead and Button, so you can imagine how excited I was when I learned last night that my necklace created for this year’s Bead Soup Blog Party was chosen by Kalmbach Publishing as a winner in the Best Use of Seed Beads category!

  

I am so honored that my necklace received the same award from Beaducation. As I’ve branched out from beadwork into wire the last few months, I discovered the work of Lisa Niven Kelly, who is such an inspiring wire artist. The online classes at Beaducation are the first place I turn to master a technique and explore the possibilities of metalworking.

And, of course, showers of thanks go to the extraordinary Lori Anderson, for her tireless work in bringing all this about, and a huge personal thank you from me for being my Bead Soup blog partner this year. Lori gifted me with the sensational Thai silver elephant pendant and I had the fun of dreaming up a design worthy of it!  

Who knows, maybe next Memorial Day week-end I’ll be experiencing the Decatur Arts Festival from inside one of those artisan booths. It's fun to dream!

You can see all 46 Bead Soup Blog Party winning designs by clicking here.