November Monthly Challenge Recap

An impressive carved relief sculpture by Lee Lawrie is our inspiration for the month of November. Owls are portents of wisdom and vision. A fitting image to keep watch over the reading room at the Library of Congress, don't you think?


Now it is your turn. Share your blog posts about the challenge here:

Perfect Pairings :: Sarah Raines + Humblebeads + Gardanne Beads

Owls can be quite stately and somber, or whimsical and festive, like this one here. I love the addition of the forest dangles and the charming expression on the face of this owl. The colors are mellow and warm and would be perfect to adorn any sweater in your closet. This would be my go-to necklace for everyday! 

Featured Designer :: Sarah Raines

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Featured Bead Artists :: Humblebeads + Gardanne Beads

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! 

And don't forget to tell us about those art beads - providing links to bead makers is appreciated!

Deadline November 28th to get your pictures posted to the Pinterest boards for the creation of the Monthly Challenge Recap post for November 30th.

TIP: If you upload your photo rather than pin it from your blog or shop, edit the pin (the little pencil button) and add your link as the source. Save your edits. This will allow us to click directly on your photo and go to your blog or shop to read more about your entry. If you don't, I might not be able to access the photo to share it.

Jewelry Monthly Challenge Entries

Beads Monthly Challenge Entries

6th Annual Ornament Blog Hop

 

Jingle, jingle, merry and bright! Join in the 6th Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop. We have had such a great time with our past events, I can't wait to see what you come up with this year.

How to play along:

1. Sign up to let me know you are planning to participate.

Click here to sign up! 

2. Create an ornament using handmade components or art beads.

3. December 11th post your ornament on your blog.

4. On December 12th you'll link your blog post here between 12am - 12pm EST with the InLinkz linking tool and join me for a Holiday blog party with a few giveaways and free tutorial!

This is an inclusive creative challenge - we'd love to see Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice themed decorations along with traditional Christmas ornaments. Have fun!

Perfect Pairings :: Anne Schroeder + Andrew Thornton

I think what grabbed me first with this necklace was the bright mango-yellow color of the stones. Yellow is such a hard color for me when designing that I admire it all the more when I see a dynamic yellow design. Turns out this is the perfect color of November. Then I got sucked in by the irregular shape. I love me some chunky faceted beads! They have the shape of the suns rays that radiate from the relief that is our inspiration. But that bronze coin by Andrew Thornton really steals the show. It has such great detail and conveys not just wisdom but also an uplifting sensation of flight paired with the comfort of being wrapped up in love in those feathery wings. It is a delightful choice for this month's challenge.

Featured Designer :: Ann Schroeder

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Featured Bead Artists :: Andrew Thornton

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! 

And don't forget to tell us about those art beads - providing links to bead makers is appreciated!

Deadline November 28th to get your pictures posted to the Pinterest boards for the creation of the Monthly Challenge Recap post for November 30th.

TIP: If you upload your photo rather than pin it from your blog or shop, edit the pin (the little pencil button) and add your link as the source. Save your edits. This will allow us to click directly on your photo and go to your blog or shop to read more about your entry. If you don't, I might not be able to access the photo to share it.

Jewelry Monthly Challenge Entries

Beads Monthly Challenge Entries

November Monthly Challenge Sponsors + Prizes

Our Wonderful sponsors for the November Challenge.
We will have 2 Lucky Winners this Month!

Firefly Design Studio

Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Designs makes ceramic pendants, buttons and jewelry components. Wonderful designs and great gifts for the jewelry maker on your list!
Firefly Design Studio is located in Port Charlotte, Florida.

Michelle is donating everything pictured above valued over $50.

Visit Michelle at her blog, Etsy Shop, Website, and Facebook.

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Beady Eyed Bunny

Leah Curtis of Beady Eyed Bunny creates polymer clay beads and jewelry components. Leah also makes wonderful jewelry that incorporates a variety of materials, from Czech glass and artist made beads, to semi-precious gemstones,vintage beads and metals. 

Beady Eyed Bunny is located in Mill Valley, California.

Leah is donating $50 in products shown above: a selection of polymer clay Rustic Roses, a copper clay charm with a Cubic Zirconia, polymer sand dollar charms, and a mix of enamel glass headpins.

Visit Leah on Facebook, Blog, and Etsy.

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Submit photos of your wonderful Jewelry creations using one or more Art Beads here.

Submit photos of your wonderful Bead creations here.

Owl above door to center reading room on fifth floor of the 

Library of Congress’s John Adams Building, Washington, D.C. by By Lee Lawrie. 

This Month's art has many different elements that can be used for inspiration:  Owls, birds, sun, art deco style, Leaves, silver, pewter, brass and metallic colors.

We can't wait to see where your creativity takes you with the art for this month's challenge! 

**IMPORTANT** Please remember to put NOV ABS in the title or tag of your submission(s).  Pinterest doesn't keep Pins in the order they are posted.

Provide us with the artist of the Art Beads used and we always love to know all the materials you used. 

***Art Beads MUST be used in your entry.***

November Monthly Challenge

Owl above door to center reading room on fifth floor of the 

Library of Congress’s John Adams Building, Washington, D.C., 1930's

by Lee Lawrie

About the Art

One of the most beautiful is the metalwork owl in the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. which adorns the door to the fifth floor’s center reading room. Called “the owl of wisdom,” it is a prime example of the 1930s Art Deco style. In addition, a sculpted stone owl of Lawrie’s is also inside the building.  The John Adams Building is renowned for its exquisite doors, which are another artwork of this famed sculptor.

About the Artist

Lee Oscar Lawrie was born in Rixdorf, Germany, and came to the United States in 1882 as a young child, settling in Chicago. It was there, at the age of 14, that he began working for the sculptor Richard Henry Park.

In 1892 he assisted many of the sculptors in Chicago, constructing the "White City" for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Following the completion of the work at the Exposition, Lawrie returned East and became an assistant to William Ordway Partridge. The next decade found him working with other established sculptors: Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Philip Martiny, Alexander Phimister Proctor, John William Kitson and others. His work at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis, 1904, under Karl Bitter, the foremost architectural sculptor of the time, allowed Lawrie to further develop both his skills and his reputation as an architectural sculptor.

Lawrie received a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Yale University in 1910. He was an instructor in Yale's School of Fine Arts from 1908 to 1919 and taught in the architecture program at Harvard University from 1910 to 1912.

Lawrie's collaborations with Ralph Adams Cram and Bertram Goodhue brought him to the forefront of architectural sculptors in America. After the breakup of the Cram, Goodhue firm in 1914, Lawrie continued to work with Goodhue until Goodhue's premature death in 1924, then with his successors.

The Nebraska State Capitol and the Los Angeles Public Library both feature extensive sculptural programs integrated with the surface, massing, spatial grammar, and social function of the building. Lawrie's collaborations with Goodhue are arguably the most highly developed example of architectural sculpture in American architectural history.

Lawrie served as a consultant to the 1932 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. He was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, and the Architectural League of New York. Among his many awards was the AIA Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1921 and 1927, a medal of honor from the Architectural League of New York in 1931, and an honorary degree from Yale University. He served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1933 to 1937 and again from 1945 to 1950.

Lawrie died in 1963, one of America's most important architectural sculptors.

Our Sponsors

Our Sponsors this month are Firefly Design Studio and Beady Eyed Bunny.

Please visit us tomorrow to see the prizes!

How to Enter the Monthly Challenge:

1. You need to have a Pinterest account. Go get one ASAP if you don't have one already. It's easy, fun and inspiring.

2. Email us at absmonthlychallenge@gmail.com to get added to the monthly challenge board.

Subject: Monthly Challenge Board Request

You will be emailed an invite to the board within 48 hours. Accept the invite and you are ready to pin your entries.

3. Two ways to pin your entry to the board.

Pin your photo from the internet (on your blog, Etsy shop, etc.)

Add your photo directly from your computer

Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. 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.

An Art Bead must be used in your piece to qualify for the monthly challenge.

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

Please add the tag or title OCT ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is November 30th

You may upload 2 entries per month.

ENTRIES for ART BEAD ARTISTS!!

• Beads Makers Pinterest Board-Art beads must be created by you and fit the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge theme. They can be made for the challenge or ones you have made before. 2 entries per month are allowed. 

One entry will be picked by the editors each month for a free month of advertising on the Art Bead Scene. Bead entries have to be pinned by the 30th of the month.

Beads only - do not post jewelry on this board. If a post doesn't fit the challenge it will be deleted.

Monthly Challenge Recap

• Please post at least one single shot of your creation on the Pinterest Board. This will be used to make a collage for the Monthly Challenge Gallery. Every creation will be added to the collage, regardless of a blog post. So everyone gets included!

Your entry must be on Pinterest 2 days BEFORE the recap to be included.

• Be sure to share with us the name of the art bead artist in the description of your photo so that if you are selected for the weekly Perfect Pairings on Wednesdays, both you as the designer and the art bead artist can get the credit you both deserve!

• An InLinkz button will be added to the bottom of the Monthly Challenge Recap post. Here you will be able to link up your blog post if you have one. It is no longer necessary to add your blog post URL to the description unless you want to. Be sure to hop around and see all the great inspiration and leave some comment love!

• The Monthly Challenge Recap with Blog Tour will be posted on November 30th.

Monthly Challenge Winners

• One prize winner will be selected at random from all pictures posted on the Pinterest board.

• One prize winner will be selected at random from all blog posts added to the hop for the Monthly Challenge Recap post. So if you want to be in the pool for the second prize, be sure to use the InLinkz code at the bottom of the post to share your process and inspirations!

• Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on December 1st.

Perfect Pairings :: Designer + Art Bead Artist

• Formerly the Featured Designer of the Week, our new Perfect Pairings will focus on both the jewelry designer and the art bead artist. 

• Be sure to point out all the art bead artists in your work in the description of the photo on the Pinterest Board. Links to their website or shop are appreciated. That way we can all find new art beads to love!

• From all the entries during the month, an editor will pick their favorite design to be featured every Wednesday here on ABS, so get those entries in soon.

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.

Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***

October Monthly Challenge Winners

Congratulations to the September Monthly Challenge winners! 

1 winner was chosen randomly from all the challenge entrants.
1 winner was chosen randomly from the InLinkz blog entries.
Winner of a month of advertising on ABS from the Monthly Challenge Bead category.

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Our First lucky winner is Liz Stefano/Lizardlooks
She has won over $50 in Products from Areto.

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Our Second lucky winner is Ana Cravidao/AC Beads Jewelry.

She has won a $50 Gift Certificate from Laura Souder studio.

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Our Winner from the Bead Entries of the Monthly Challenge is NadiaTerra. 

She has won a Month of Advertising here on Art Bead Scene. 

Please e-mail an image and link for your ad.

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Areto and Laura Sauder Studio our October Monthly Challenge sponsors!

Winners, please E-Mail Tari, tari@claybuttons.com or claybuttons@gmail.com 

(claybuttons.com email address is acting wonky) with your information (Name and address) so your prizes may be sent to you.

A Big THANK YOU to everyone who entered this month! We were so fortunate to have so many beautiful entries and experience such creativity from our wonderful readers.

Visit us tomorrow to see what November's challenge brings.