February Monthly Recap

The poppies in this painting by Edward Detmold are so luxurious, don't you think? The perfect image to celebrate deep and abiding love in February with an eye toward the approaching spring. (It is coming, right?)

We had a lot of marvelous entries this month focusing the deep color, the poppy form and even the moth/butterflies. Let's see what you created...

Just click the picture above to start. Best viewed in full screen mode.

Art Bead Scene - February 2015 by Slidely Slideshow

If that doesn't work, please try this link: http://slide.ly/view/3449165798dd2395e83864ea9921c88e

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February 2015 Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge Recap.

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Inside the Studio with Humblebeads

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

Alice of Alice Dreaming is this week's winner of a surprise bead bundle from Claire Lockwood of Something to do Beads.

Welcome to the Humblebeads Studio...

2015 has been crazy for me, I've been going from deadline to deadline, event to event. In between, I've been in my studio working away on orders and new beads. It's a challenge to find time to develop new ideas and my creative process definitely goes in cycles. 

Sometimes my creativity focuses on revisiting and updating designs that I have loved from the past like these fun poppy pendants. 

Most of these ended up in the gift bags for my 2015 Bead Cruise that just passed. I paired them up with some yummy sari silk ribbons that matched the poppies. Bead Cruise? Oh yes, a week of beads, beaches, friends and fun. I'm working on the details for 2016 right now! 

My next inspirations were from pics I snapped on the islands. Who can pass up the beauty of the tropical flora on an island? 

I will be working these into new beads this week to take to an event next weekend, spreading some color and island inspirations in the snowy tundra!

My favorite part of the cruise - teaching! Nothing makes me happier than inspiring students. I taught my Metal Sketches class and the Hibiscus Pendant, it's always a joy to see students wearing their projects and experimenting with new ideas.

I'll be teaching both these classes in Baltimore next weekend with the Baltimore Bead Society. If you are in the area, I'd love to have you join us. They just have a few spaces left, it's going to be a fun weekend. (Details can be found here.) I will also be presenting on Promoting Your Jewelry Business Online at their monthly meeting on March 10th.

So that's what's going on in my studio, making beads, putting together kits, working on lots of behind the scene's kind of projects.

And now it's time for the question of the week:
What kind of a jewelry class would you take if you could make a wish with a magical beady genie?

Share with me for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from www.humblebeads.com. We'll pick a random winner next Friday from the comments. 

Art Bead Palette :: JoyMunshower

Periwinkle Reticulated Octopus

I've had Joy Munshower's Etsy shop bookmarked for ages, and I had to share at least one of her pieces for the sheer artistry. Isn't that lampwork bead exquisite? The details are just incredible, and when I realize it's glass - I'm blown away, how about you?

These are one of those beads that I'd probably never use, but collect and frame instead. Talk about a little piece of art!

To see more, stop by Joy's shop.

Perfect Pairings :: SJ Designs + Tanya McGuire

 I love the soft simplicity of this design. The way that Miss Sarajo purposely placed the lampwork poppy off-center... the framing effect of the textured brass washer... the playful butterflies dangling down. This one is a real winner!
I also love that Miss Sarajo was extra inspired and shows two other pieces of jewelry perfect for this month's inspiration!

Featured Designer :: SJ Designs

Featured Bead Artist :: Tanya McGuire

P.S. Hurry... the deadline to get your creations into the Pinterest boards for inclusion in the recap post scheduled for Saturday, February 28th is... this TOMORROW! Let's see what you made! ;-)

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Just a friendly reminder... We have a slightly new format for uploading your pictures for consideration for the Perfect Pairings each Wednesday, as well as the Monthly Challenge Recap post. We are now using Pinterest! You can find more details in this post about the exciting new changes, including a board devoted to art beads inspired by the monthly challenge! (Ooh! Look! More pretty beads to lust after!)

Pretty please make sure that you post a link in your Pinterest description so that I have someplace to attribute the picture to! And don't forget to tell us about those art beads!

Deadline to get your pictures posted to the Pinterest boards for the creation of the Monthly Challenge Recap post is Thursday, February 26th!

 

Jewelry Monthly Challenge Entries

Beads Monthly Challenge Entries

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Book Review: Free Form Peyote Stitch Book Roundup

With the publication of Karen Williams' new book Explorations in Free Form Peyote Beading, I am excited to see that freeform peyote stitch is getting on people's radar.  It is wonderful that  more and more folks are taking up beading with seed beads. To me, freeform peyote, is the ultimate fun and the greatest design generator of all the seed beading techniques out there.  So I am very excited about this new volume in  freeform peyote beading because it is going to make this beading format available to many more people.   For years there was a dearth of information on freeform peyote stitch.  I remember back in the late 90's when I was smitten with a freeform peyote stitch necklace I saw in Bead and Button magazine, that I had a hard time finding any information on how to make  one.  Finally I found the self published booklet by Jeannette Cook titled A Sculptural Peyote Projects Primer, and ordered a copy. It had originally been published in 1996 and was later revised in 2001.  It is a wonderful book and taught me all I  needed to know to start making those great cuffs and  necklaces.  But it only had pictures on the front and back covers.

 I still refer to this slim bible on freeform despite its black and white beading path illustrations because I find it to be very simple to understand and those few illustrations very inspiring.

                     Back cover of A Sculptural Peyote Projects Primer by Jeannette Cook

In 2000, Interweave Press published Beading with Peyote Stitch written by Jeannette Cook and Vicki Starr. Although most of this book is about flat, even and odd count, and tubular peyote, and sculptural peyote, there are some sections that cover freeform,  And there are many color illustrations.  This book has been a staple for many years for anyone wanting to learn peyote stitch beading techniques.

After the publication of the Interweave book,  it seemed freeform languished for a number of years until Karen Williams revitalized the scene with her book Freeform Peyote Beading in 2010.  Her 2010 book was full of color photos, beading diagrams and lots of information on design and color.  Karen filled a huge gap in the freeform beading knowledge base with this book

    One of my favorite techniques that I learned from Karen Williams is how to integrate the button and clasp loop into the bracelet as seen in the picture below of one of my bracelets.

And now, we have Karen Williams' newest book, Explorations in Freeform Beading, which continues the adventure and delves even deeper into being creative with freeform peyote stitch.  Not only is this a great resource and inspiration for anyone interested in freeform, it is a testament to the power of self publishing.  Karen set up a Kickstarter campaign to get this book up and running and was very successful at gathering the necessary funds and community support.  And equally important, she had the skills and the stamina to see this project through in the short year that she allowed herself to get it ready.  It is now available on Amazon and in her Etsy shop.  And most recently, she has gotten the ebook version off the ground!
 One of the significant differences between Karen Williams' two books is the inclusion of work by other bead artists in this one.  In fact, she gives in depth coverage to several so that you are learning how different artists create using free form peyote stitch.  Many of the roadblocks that discourage beaders new to peyote stitch are  addressed, especially the "ugly duckling stage" that most projects go through, and how to incorporate large stones, bead over found objects and more.
The other main difference is the attention paid to more advance freeform beading techniques making the book a valuable resource for beaders of all skill levels.
If you have an interest in advancing your freeform skills, or want to begin on a new adventure in freeform this book will teach and inspire you for many years to come. I hope you will check it out at your local bookstore, library, or favorite internet shop.

Amuse the Muse - (He)Art Beads - with Rebecca of Songbead

Heart beads.....it's our last week together. And my cold from last week turned into the 'flu and I'm still feeling fairly under the weather, it'll be another short post. I'm sorry guys! I'll try and be on fighting form for next week when we begin our new theme. 

Here are some heart beads that caught my eye this week:

Hidden Ridge Studio

Pips Jewellery

Swoondimples (seriously, how awesome?!)

Bo Hulley Beads

Pam Springall

And did you see my cute heart earrings I created for this month's challenge?

Songbead

 Check out my full blog post and the 5 (yep, FIVE! ) makes that I whipped up this month. What have you made? There's still time to join in if you get those art beads out today! 

And now for the BeadBlogger Links. Have a great week!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton

Andrew put together a kit inspired by the Color of the Year and Valentine's Day. See what everyone made for the Marsala Valentine Challenge!

I Love Resin

The hearts are full and the resin is flowing. Check out even more projects from artists participating in this collaboration.

Knitting Book Review

Modern Country Knits is full of wearable designs and adorable farm animals.

Wire Wrapping a Heart Pendant  

The resin heart pendant that Eileen made for a collaborative showcase organized by Carmi Cimicata needed a finishing touch. Wire wrapping quickly turned a 1-inch pendant into a 2-inch one!

Beading Arts

When you've got a really special focal bead, you just don't want to overwhelm it with embellishments. Here's Cyndi's solution!

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer; currently living in Edinburgh, capital of her native land. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.

The Art of Bali Beads

Bali Beads

 The Love of Bali Beads

I have always loved Bali Beads. They can be added to so many designs and can be the lead singer or back-up singers. Used singly or en mass they are a wonderful handcrafted silver beads. Make sure when you are buying these beauties that are .925 sterling silver and handmade. 

I photographed some of what I have. My favorites have always been the little flower spacer beads. They not only give you space but texture between more dominant beads.

Bali Spacer Beads

Bali Tube Beads

History

Indonesia learned the metal work crafts from Southern Chinese and Southeast Asian traders during the late Bronze age, several hundred years before the birth of Christ.  These influences have been inferred from archeological digs that have uncovered dongson drums, jewelry, weapons and other artifacts clearly bearing "imported symbols."  Excavations of ancient graves have also turned up artifacts from this period than show remarkable similarities with similar items from modern day China and India.

Over time, the metalworking skills of the Indonesian people grew, no doubt added by continuous contact with outsiders seeking trade in spices and other items.  Gold and silver, which continue to be mined in Indonesia, were in no short supply by the time the Majapahit Empire emerged in Java (1300s) and moved into Bali.  By the time the empire had failed, Bali had become the center of Indonesia's silversmithing and gold work activities. 

One cannot easily discern how past influences have shaped current silver work practices in Bali.  It is important to keep in mind that Bali, far from being an isolated island culture, has had vigorous contact through trade with many cultures over many, many centuries. Indeed, Indonesia as a Dutch colony as of 1602 and controlled much of the nation for 350 years.  As such, European silverwork traditions and standards were no secret to the Indonesians, many of whom no doubt produced for export.

Bali Earwires

The Art of Silversmithing

Bali is a small island located in Indonesia, a nation of islands.  The Balinese people, who are primarily Hindu, have a long and illustrious history.  Arts and crafts are a significant part of their culture, and among their artisans is a community of highly skilled silversmiths.  While silversmithing is practiced all around the island, there is a concentration of silversmiths in and around Celuk, a village in the south central part of the island.

Bali is known throughout the jewelry world for its sterling silver beads and jewelry.  Balinese silver has a unique look to it, distinguished by its use of soldered granulations and twisted wiring.

The Balinese style involves applying little sterling silver dots and wires that have been bent into various forms to a larger base.  The base can be round, oval, square, rectangular, or virtually any other geometric shape.

The silversmith will use a glue from a native berry to attach these granulations and wires to the base. Once he or she (there are many talented female silversmiths in Bali) is satisfied with the layout, every piece is soldered. That's a lot of labor, but this approach leads to a crisp appearance, with much contrast!  

When these components are brought together into a single piece of jewelry, the effect can be stunning! Many Balinese silversmiths make the beads and findings that go into their jewelry, and then assemble the final piece to produce treasures that are truly of their own creation.

The Balinese style is also distinguished by its use of antiquing (induced tarnishing).  Antiquing of the base allows the protruding granulations and wires to stand out.

Silversmithing in Bali, like many of the other arts of the island (wood carving, painting, fabric making, etc.) is a family affair.  Children often apprentice with their parents, passing on skills from generation to generation.

Sadly, the silversmith craft is under attack from outside forces.  Today, it is easy to to find "Bali-style" beads and jewelry made in Indonesia, Turkey and other countries.  These products are essentially copies of Balinese design, and are usually not made up to the same exacting standards of the Balinese people. India, in particular, is producing a lot of imposter Bali silver that is of poor quality.  India's Bali-style silver often makes use of casting, which leads to poorly articulated beads, and is seldom made of sterling silver, although it is usually sold as such.  These low-quality, low-priced cheap imitations have reduced demand for Bali silver, causing hardship for the Balinese people.  If you find Bali silver attractive, buy from a Bali source.  Don't support cultural theft by purchasing imposter jewelry.  Source

Another history article to read.

Bali Headpins

Where to Buy Bali Beads

I have purchased Bali Beads from Zeelver.com in the past. Nice selection and quality.

I researched other places to purchase but have not purchased from them before.

Bali-Beads.com

Bali-Handmade.com

Bali-Bead-Shop.com

BalikuSilverBeads.com

Bali Toggles

US Sources to Buy Bali Beads

Nina Designs

ArtBeads

Complete Beads

Aunties Beads

Here are a couple You Tube Videos I found on Silversmithing Bali Beads...enjoy!

Inside the Studio with Claire Lockwood

Welcome to Inside the Studio!

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

Congratulations to Mokki! 

You have won a pair of Tari's super cute house charms. 

Please send Tari an email with your information.

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Oh boy, have I been busy!  As you may know if you regularly read this blog, I got a kiln fairly recently and have been making ceramic beads.  Prior to that, for a short while, I was getting my stuff fired at a local potter's place.  I'm now falling into a production cycle of firings that results in large batches of beads.  I may be wrong, but as I understand it, many ceramic bead makers use a kiln that is a bit smaller than the one I chose (now christened Bertha).  So, my production cycle involves spending an age making up heaps and heaps of greenware to fill up all that space, ready to be bisque fired.

As you can see, I could actually get much more in here but I can only wait so long! I opted for a larger size because it was not that much more to get a kiln three times the size of the very smallest.  Also, I was bothered that I wouldn't be able to get many beads racks in glaze firings if I went for the small kiln.  But, the drawback is that it takes a long time to get a batch of beads completed. It also means that I end up with a massive mountain of bisque that needs glazing, which can be a bit overwhelming.  All this aside, I'm still loving the whole process. It was very good to get this greenware cooking. Did I whisper, Go, Bertha, Go!, as she whirred into action? I may have... . Then, after four glaze firings - two different stonewares and two different earthenwares - I finally had my batch finished.  And then it was time for the dreaded photographing, editing and listing, which has taken much of this week. I finally got all these new beads into my bead shop last night.  Anyway, time for a photo feast. Like I said, there were rather a lot of them...

Lots of earring beads, including lots of my point pairs...

and a range of polka dot porcelain spears.

I've been experimenting with making breastplate pendant connectors, 

along with lots of other pendants:

And I'm still obsessed with all things seed pod and lily-like:

I have tiger stripe beads in a rainbow of shades, including these:

And plenty of these pennant sets -

I decided to go in for the whole Marsala thing - and bought too many Marsala-y glazes. Some worked better then others....

These roses have been very popular so I made up plenty of sets; here are just a few:

And, of course, there's always a call for birds:

I had lots of fun selecting palettes for these sets:

And here's a last few bits:

These are just a few from that mountain in the kiln, so if you're interested in seeing the others, click here.

But, time for the giveaway. This week I'm giving away a mystery bundle of beads. 

Which means, I haven't quite decided what it is yet but I'll put together a little bag of beady goodness and I'll send it out to the winner.  My question is: what is your favourite art bead medium?  Are you unable to resist lampwork, or are you more of a polymer fan? Are you, like me, in love with all things ceramic, or perhaps you're crazy for enamelled elements?  Mind you, I love all these things - I'll wager most of you do too.  Anyway, comment below with your answer to stand a chance of winning that mystery bundle!

Art Bead Palette :: RedStarArtBeads

Fox | Polar Bear | Hedgehog | Elephant

I came across these rustic animal beads from Red Star Art Beads yesterday and was thoroughly charmed. I love the texture of them, and the muted colors used are calling to me right now. Wouldn't it be a fun surprise to see one of these peeking out of a necklace or bracelet?

For more, be sure to click on over!

Perfect Pairings :: Katherine Thompson

Miss Katherine tells how she hand formed this bloom from copper, the leaves, too. I am smitten with the way she manipulated the metal into something so soft and lyrical. She also shares how she did a little research on the time period that this painting was created, the early 1900s. She intended to capture the soft and feminine look that was popular in the day in her necklace. I say that she succeeded!

 

Featured Designer :: Katherine Thompson

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Just a friendly reminder... We have a slightly new format for uploading your pictures for consideration for the Perfect Pairings each Wednesday, as well as the Monthly Challenge Recap post. We are now using Pinterest! You can find more details in this post about the exciting new changes, including a board devoted to art beads inspired by the monthly challenge! (Ooh! Look! More pretty beads to lust after!)

Pretty please make sure that you post a link in your Pinterest description so that I have someplace to attribute the picture to! And don't forget to tell us about those art beads!

 

Deadline to get your pictures posted to the Pinterest boards for the creation of the Monthly Challenge Recap post is Thursday, February 26th!

 

Jewelry Monthly Challenge Entries

Beads Monthly Challenge Entries

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Wire Birds' Nests with Rebecca of Songbead

Hello Art Bead Sceners! I wanted to repost this sweet tutorial I shared last year as here in the Northern Hemisphere we are approaching Spring. Add a little cute to your designs today! (And....pssst! I'm having FLASH sale in the shop today so you can get 15% off your supplies for this project! Just use coupon code FLORAL15.)

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I wanted to share with you how I make these little birds' nests that are so popular in bead and wire jewellery these days - the ideal compliment to your art beads. This is the way I personally make them; I'm sure there are plenty of other variations too though, so don't be afraid to experiment.

For this nest I've used:

Large Robin's Eggs from The Curious Bead Shop

0.8mm copper wire (approx. 20g)

(If I was working with the smaller Robin's Egg beads (6mm rather than 8mm) I would move down to 0.6mm/22g copper wire - and if you don't want to oxidise your own wire, you can pick some up ready-antiqued and sealed here!)

(I've got more of these lovely speckled rounds in different colours - just search for 'eggs' in my shop and they will appear!)

My plan is to oxidise this once I have a bunch of them made up. 

 1. Cut at least 1.5m (just under 2 yards) of copper wire. Slide on 3 beads about 10cm along and make a ring by pulling the long tail of the wire round the beads. You will need to have the beads a bit spaced out so that they will bend round in a ring.

 2. Wrap the long tail of the wire around the beads a few times. I've done it 5 times here. Then bring the wire over itself to secure the 'nest' you're building. 

 3. You can see more clearly here the path of the wire. 

 4. Repeat this, binding the nest in-between each pair of beads. Then continue to wrap the wire around in a circle, building the nest. I did this a couple of times. (There should still be a longish wire tail, you just can't see it in this pic! You need it for the base in step 6.)

 5. Tuck the short tail into the nest if you haven't already, to keep it neat and tidy. 

 6. Turn your nest over and curl/coil the wire back on itself to make a little base for the nest (so the eggs don't fall out ;-) ). You can wrap the coils into the sides of the nest if needs be. Once you are happy with the look of the nest, tuck the wire tail in. You want to try and bury it in the nest so that you don't end up getting spiked by the wire when you're wearing it!

7. Here you go - a couple of nests, ready for oxidising! 

Here is how to attach a nest into a bracelet ~

 8. Here's my bracelet, laid out and ready for stringing. I don't always do this, but with nests, I do. 

 9. String all the beads before the nest as you usually would, and then slide the bead wire through the base of your nest. This of course depends on how tightly you have wound the wire on the back of the nest. Tight enough to be secure, but loose enough so that the wire can pass relatively easily through. You might need to add a couple of extra spacers on each side, but that's something you can play around with. 

10. And here you go, on my wrist! The nest sits nicely between the other beads and against my wrist, as you can see. 

The finished piece...

Nest Called Home

Art beads from ~

Humblebeads
Eclectic Prairie
Kylie Parry
Leah Curtis
Anne Gardanne

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer; currently living in Edinburgh, capital of her native land. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.