Bead Style Magazine

Take a look at BeadStyle Magazine Newsletter today:

Yea! They are featuring some beads and pendants I made. Toot, toot goes my horn! Sign in and you can see even more examples. Thank you Ornamentea for facilitating this connection!

Spotted on Beading Daily!

Beading Daily is featuring a free online project from Melanie Brooks Lukacs of Earthenwood Studio. I love the way she has incorporated fibers in with the chain for an old world style that compliments the art bead charms. Check out Pixie Parchment for complete instructions.

Another Art Bead Scene contributor is featured on Beading Daily today, you can read an interview with our own Cindy Gimbrone. The interview also includes a free project incorporating Cindy's spiral beads designed by Sandi Wiseheart.

Beady Back Track - Halstead Bead Business Grant Winner

Belle Brooke Designs has been announced as the winner of the Halstead Bead Business Grant. The photo above shows some examples of this jewelry designer's work.

Now is a great time to start the application process for next year's grant and to help you along Halstead has provided some Hints and Tips. One article that especially caught my attention discusses the importance of understanding your target market and gives some great tips on this subject. In the article three main target groups are indentified, their lifestyles described and a sample marketing plan outlined for each of the groups. This is definitely worth taking a look at in order to help refine your marketing plan. Take a look here.

Fall Tucson Best Bead Show Offering Classes

One of the classes at the Best Bead show: class by Patsy Silva, art beads by Monty Clark and Carol Fonda


Are you ready for a vacation? Are you wondering what you'll do with yourself since Bead & Button is over and Tucson looms far in the future?

Why not make plans to attend the Fall Tucson Gem and Mineral Show? Yes, there is a fall Tucson! It's not as big as the spring show but it still sports a good number of shows.

Not only will you be able to find your favorite gems, minerals and jewelry supplies but Lewis Wilson of the Best Bead Shows puts on a mighty fine show with gobs and gobs of art beads.

What? You don't need to buy any more beads? Then why not take one of the multitude of classes they'll be offering this year. Everything from PMC to wire working to glass fusing to stringing.

90,000 square feet of vendors, glass demos and classes. Sounds like a nice getaway to me!

Lori Greenberg is a glass bead maker who blogs from her studio in Cave Creek, Arizona

Heather Powers in Bead Style!

Stringing an Eclectic Mix

One of our own is featured in the July issue of Bead Style magazine! We all get sooooo excited for each other when this happens. There is nothing like flipping through a beading magazine and getting that great visual surprise of looking down at the page and saying "Hey - there is my friend!" or "Wow - I know that bead maker or that jewelry designer!" I am fairly new to the online and in the magazines bead world, but already I'm beginning to recognize individual styles and get a thrill when I see a name and can put some type of personal attachment to it.

Anyway - on to the subject at hand... Take a look at what Heather has to offer this time!!!

On page 99 Bead Style says it best: "This necklace has it all - an art bead, gemstones, pearls, seed beads, and a mental pendant. It even has a button to play up its handcrafted appeal. The combination of single and double strands highlights the necklace's asymmetry, and colorful drop earrings made an unfussy accompaniment."

If you are running short on time (and who isn't these days) get everything you need to make this great necklace here: HumbleBeads.com.

Or, if you just need the three main beads, click on the picture to see all the great color combinations Heather has to offer:
One of my favorite things about this necklace is the ideas it inspires me to try. Lets imagine substituting with these beads:

Keep the dragon fly and seed beads and ta da! .... you will feel like you are on a short vacation in a field of these!

Can you can imagine a design using these art beads to enter into our Monthly Challenge? Maybe Ms. Dragonfly will be feasting on some sweet nectar of those great flowered beads!

Thanks for looking and keep those Challenge images coming!
- Elaine Ray

Toot Your Own Horn

First off let me say a big Thank You to Virginia Miska for her great post on June 11th announcing both mine and Melanie Brooks Lukacs' contributions to this summer's edition of Stringing Magazine. Needless to say I have been thrilled over and over again as I went through this process of submitting to a magazine. I'll talk you through my steps and try to pass on some self-promotion/marketing tips along the way.

The true beginnings came when I first got to know Heather of Humble Beads and Melanie of Earthenwood Studio through the formation of this blog. I spent a great deal of time pouring over their "press" pages, both with inspiration and jealousy in my eyes, thinking to myself - just how do they do that? Over time I got to know how they do that - lots of organization and hard work. As I have said before - you gotta be out there selling yourself - as beautiful as your work is, it isn't going to sell itself....

Porcelain charms by Earthenwood Studio on page 12

Then earlier this year Cynthia Deis, owner of Ornamentea said to me in passing - "You know the deadline for the summer issue of Stringing is coming up and you should submit something." So I go home, find the contributor guidelines on the web and get to it. Several weeks later I get a letter from the staff at Stringing and Yeah! I'm gonna be in the Summer issue.

Secret detail of Lady of the Sea by Cynthia Deis on page 74 - there are two more stringing holes in the arch!

This was all new to me and the people that I had contact with there were great! They talked me through what I didn't understand and best of all, as seen on the Cascading Tangle, they slightly altered my instructions making them much easier for others to follow.

Cascading Tangle by Elaine Ray on page 22.

3 earrings by Elaine on pages:
35 and 37.

So now the ball is back in my court - it is my job to use this press to my full advantage. I blog about it on

Elaine Ray Rambles About Beads, get someone to blog about it on Art Bead Scene, and see if the people I know that are in the magazine blogged about it then leave a comment. So really what I guess I'm trying to do is find that balance between tooting my own horn so softly that no one hears me and tooting my own horn so loudly that I seem obnoxious and over eager. Any suggestions?

Here are some other people I know of in this magazine - so now I'm just name dropping.....

Jean Yates who is a regular
with entries into our
monthly challenge.






Jennifer Heynen of Jangles, known to us through Beads of Clay.






I'm afraid I may have missed some one so let me know so I can toot their horn!

- Elaine Ray

Bead Scoop: Beads of Clay at the Bead & Button Show

Members of the online group Beads of Clay have teamed up to promote ceramic beads at the upcoming Bead & Button show! Stop by any of the booths listed below and pick up a free treasure map postcard of participating booths. If you are interested in fired clay, this is a great way to see the wonderful variety and artistic vision presented by these bead artists.

June 7th - 10th Bead & Button Show

Midwest Express Center , Milwaukee , WI

Bag Lady Beads...Booth 1238
Clay River Designs...Booth 747

Creative Impressions in Clay...Booth 411

Earthenwood Studio...Booth 1227
Embroidered Soul...Booth 930

Joan Miller Porcelain...Booth 15
Jangles...Booth 1140

Marsha Neal Studio...Booth 249

Slendid Loon Studio...Booth 128

Self Promotion, Artist Profile on Bead Arts blog

OK - now it is time for me to "put my money (in my case, time) where my mouth is." Previously I wrote about self promotion telling all of you to get out there and strut your stuff, speak up - let the world know how wonderful your art is... Stand up, point, reach, instruct and demonstrate. So now I need to follow through and do this myself - so here I stand up and point you in the direction of Cyndi Lavin's blog: Bead Arts where on May 24th, she has posted an Artist Profile about...... me!

As I state in the interview, Cyndi's questions helped me do some brain organizing as I thought through and typed out the answers. As you read my profile - think through the questions as if you were writing your own profile and see if it leads you to new pathways or just even encourages you down your current path.

Once you have done that - bop over and take a look at Cyndi's web site with its opening line:

For outstanding women who don't mind standing out

There you will "feed your visual sensory system" just what it needs.

Thanks again Cyndi for making me look so good!

- Elaine

Announcement: Beading and Traveling

Wish me a bon voyage, I'm off to go on the Bead Cruise!

"Bead Cruise?" you ask. Yes, a bead cruise. I've organized an event filled with classes, workshops, demos and open beading time while we enjoy a 5 day cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya. Beads and a vacation - does life get any better?

While I'm gone, enjoy the Art Bead Scene this coming week. Melanie will be running the show. We'll have big news when I return!

Announcement: Lori Greenberg interview

Art Bead Scene's Lori Greenberg has been selected as the featured artist over at Bead-Arts.com today.

From her Arizona studio, Lori creates exquisite lampwork beads. And from the heat of her torch, luscious colors are shaped into flowing, organic forms.

She fascinates in pushing the boundaries of her glass work and does so with intriquing results, such as when she brings the often overlooked edge to the forefront of her designs.

She is author of the book Hot Off The Press as well as an invaluable tutorial on photographing beads, which we'll feature right here at Art Bead Scene soon.

So head on over to Bead-Arts.com, where Lori shares many aspects of her work in today's interview.