Swaps and Exchanges

I (Michelle from Firefly Design Studio) have been participating in bead and jewelry swaps and exchanges for many year now.  Sometimes you are paired up with one partner, and other times you send in a certain amount of items and get a random selection in return.  No matter the details, it is lots of fun and a great way to get your creations in the hands of art bead loving friends!

Sunday was the reveal for the "Swap and Hop" hostessed by Linda Anderson.  She has the big job of pairing up partners and keeping all the behind the scene action flowing.  Pretty much the only requirements are you have a blog and love handmade jewelry!  I was partnered up with Jenny Kyrlach from Cincinnati, Ohio.  She is a paper bead artist and made me at least 100 of them in white, black, red, blue and brown shades.  I wanted her beads to be the star of my designs.  These are the 2 necklaces I made and I also used the pendants, clasps and spacer beads she included.  I added the waxed linen and chain from my own stash.

Brown necklace:

Red, White and Black Necklace:

And this is what Jenny made with my ceramic beads I sent her:

And Jenny's version of the Red, White and Black Necklace:

We hopped around to all the participant's blogs, made comments and admired the many varieties of beads and jewelry that was sent and created.  I usually find out about swaps on Facebook through the many bead groups I belong to.  So I encourage you to participate in the future if you come across an opportunity.  Really the best thing is now I have a great new beading friend, Jenny!

Art Bead Swap at Bead Fest Summer

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to return to the Bead Fest Summer show in Philadelphia, PA. It's a great bead show and one of the best in the country. My friend, Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio held her annual Art Bead Swap event at the show. A group of us jewelry designers and bead artists got together Saturday afternoon to exchange packages. Before the swap, Diana paired us up. Here I am with my swap partner, Linda Hanes of Crafty Gal Designs:

 Linda gathered together a nice collection of treasures for me. I was pretty thrilled because many of these artists were new to me, along with a few old favorites as well! Linda dabbles in mixed media jewelry, so she even created a collage tile pendant necklace for me. It's so sweet! Here's my stash from Linda:

Cream-colored lampwork rondelles from Susan Sheehan, small brown lampwork rondelles from HMB Studios, glass work pendant from Tari Zarka of Aspiring Artists of the Earth, ceramic washer beads from Elaine Ray, handmade mixed-media pendant necklace by Linda Hanes and a ceramic rose pendant from our host, Diana of Suburban Girl Studio.

And speaking of our fearless leader, here she is! After we swapped, we threw our names in a bag and Diana drew them for some door prizes. Well...actually, my mother-in-law, Nancy Siegel drew the names, but Diana looked cute holding the bag! :)

I won this gorgeous copper clay, paisley-patterned pendant from Kristi Bowman. I was super excited to win one of her pieces! I'm a huge fan of Kristi's work. Copper is one of my favorite metals and I love the shape and pattern of this pendant as well. Staci Louise Smith was present for the swap. It was nice to see her again. She gifted all the swap participants with one of her polymer clay pendants. I picked out this one. I adore the colors in it!

I have to thank Diana for putting together yet another event for us. She does a great job organizing this art bead swap each year. The best part about going to the show is getting together with beady friends and meeting even more beady friends! I met quite a few gals from the beading community that I've only been able to keep in touch with online. It's such a wonderful opportunity to get a chance to meet them all in person. Here's the gang that attended the swap this time around:

Photo credit: Amy Freeland

From left to right: Marsha Neal, Barbara Bechtel, Me, Kristen Stevens, Karen Totten, Melinda Orr, Vanessa Gilkes, Amy Freeland, Diana Ptaszynski, Lorelei Eurto, Linda Hanes, Sue Kennedy, Kathleen Klik, Staci Smith, and Sandi Volpe.

I'm looking forward to our next get together, Girls! If you'd like to join us or if you are interested in more information, contact Diana. See you next year!

Erin Siegel is a jewelry designer, beading instructor and co-author of the jewelry book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbon and Cords. To find out more, visit her blog: Erin Siegel Jewelry.