Studio Saturday with Erin Prais-Hintz

Welcome to Studio Saturday! 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.

This weeks winner is Erin Strother! Congratulations! You have won a 'Goddess Bless You' button!

Send Tari an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.

This week we visit the studio of Erin Prais-Hintz at Tesori Trovati Jewelry.

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I never met a challenge that I didn't like. I find that I am quite comfortable in my own little rut, that there is little incentive for me to push myself further, but I also know that there is so much more waiting for me and I am the only one that holds me back. So a few years ago I started seeking out challenges.

It started innocently enough. Right here. With the ABS monthly challenges.

At first I just looked and oohed and aahed a lot. I didn't think I could make anything good enough to post. But then there was that time that they did Matisse, and I thought, 'Why not? It is only one harmless little challenge? What could happen?' 

{One of my first ABS submissions inspired by Matisse, March 2009 featuring ceramic discs from Jennifer Heynen of Jangles, still one of my favorite pieces}

 I entered my piece and was delighted that I was chosen as the designer of the week by Miss Jennifer Heynen of Jangles. I will never forget the high that I felt from that moment. I was in awe that people could make jewelry inspired by master works of art. And it was also my first introduction to the world of art beads, mini masterpieces in themselves. Those editors at ABS kept coming up with new inspiration every month, which is like crack for me. I couldn't get enough. And I recall completely looking forward to what the next month might bring. And seeing how I could push my own limits.

{'Grow Tall, Bend Deep & Love Life' for the ABS challenge April 2011 featuring a Green Girl Studios leaf, a ceramic leaf bead from Earthenwood Studios and a tile from Marie at More Skye Jewels}

From that innocent foray into challenges, I started hitting harder competitions: first it was the online retailers and their annual contests for prizes, next it was publications like Bead Trends and Stringing. And finally, I felt the bug to compete in the Bead Star. From there it was only natural to do the Bead Soup. It was a lot of hard work, but I was up to the challenge.

{Winner of 2nd place in the Designs with Heart category of Bead Star 2009 - 'Good Advice' features ceramics by Jennifer Heynen of Jangles}

Then I decided that I just wasn't getting the same sort of buzz from the challenges that I was doing. I wanted more. I had ideas of what I would like to see in a challenge, and so I started offering my own version called 'Inspired by..." each month and a few people played along with me. I was now fully addicted.

Then I decided that I should come up with my own challenge, and in 2010 I started with the first - the Challenge of Color in November 2010. I was able to tease my participants into joining me and getting the same high off their creative juices that I was experiencing. And I have been able to do it again... and again... This November will be the 3rd Annual Challenge of Color and I am already planning what we will do to rev up our color palettes!

{For my Challenge of Literature, inspired by a poem by Cristina Norcross "For Those Who Endure Midwest Winters" I call this 'Winter Into Spring' featuring fold formed and patinated leaves from Mary Jane Dodd, polymer clay egg from Heather Powers and a wee ceramic birdie from LeAnn Weih of Summers Studio}

 This year I decided to bring the crack of a challenge to the masses with a new challenge each quarter. There was the Challenge of Music in February, the Challenge of Literature in May and now, on Monday, July 30th, I will announce the next Challenge of... on my blog. I can't give away all the secrets, but I will give you a taste and tell you that it will take you to places you never thought you would go! (Don't you just want to mainline a bit of that challenge with me? Hmmmm? ;-)

And lately, there have been others coming to me and suggesting different themes or ideas for hops... and I have been gently encouraging them to pursue that on their own, to splinter off and make their own attempt at running a blog hop. To franchise the idea, if you will. After all, there is so much to be gained by being the hostess and there are plenty of great ideas to go around!

{'Inner Joy' created for the 4th Bead Soup Blog Party, September 2011, featuring a gorgeous enameled hummingbird and beautiful lampwork glass beads from Beth & Evie McCord}

I have found that the best challenges don't have to be the largest ones with the most participants or the wackiest theme. The whole point is about creating a community, cultivating an appreciation for our artistic differences and giving ourselves a push outside our comfort zone. That is what we are trying to do here at the Art Bead Scene as well. I hope that is what happens when people come to play with me in my Challenges and what others experience with the myriad of opportunities out there there is a hop for everyone!

And speaking of hops, today is the first of three reveals for the popular Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things. Lori is a whiz at running one of the largest hops around and making everyone feel welcome. My reveal date is today. Come on over to my blog today to read about my new friend Eni Fabian from Austria, who makes amazing seed bead creations, and see what we created with our Bead Soups. And if you are looking for a new challenge, join me on Monday, July 30th for a reveal of the next Challenge of...

Up for grabs this week to one random commenter on this post:

A custom made 'take time' message stick pendant

Question:

Do you like to participate in hops and challenges? Why or why not?

What are some of your favorites?

What is your best idea for a hop or challenge? 
Have you ever considered hosting one of your own?

P.S. Come back here on July 31st for a reveal of the ABS Monthly Blog Tour that I curate as well!

Link Library With Melanie

 I am taking a break from the archive link library this week to tell you about the awesome Bead Soup Blog party that just happened yesterday!  Lori Anderson picked 200 bead artists to swap bead "soup" mixes and make beautiful creations with them, which were all revealed yesterday.  Click here to see the whole list of Bead Soup participants for lots of links to art bead inspiration!  Shown above is my own Bead Soup project, made with beads by myself and Libby Leu.

Here are some other fun things going on in the bead blogosphere this week:

  A Bead A Day
Where does inspiration come from? Join in the conversation over on A Bead A Day!

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy has the perfect jewelry tutorial for you to ready yourself for an up coming St. Patrick's Day celebration.

Art Bead Scene
Check out the February blog hop to see all the beautiful pieces that were inspired by last month's artwork

Beading Arts
Antique keys and lampwork beads are a natural combination...come see how!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi makes a rub-on shine on a bead with resin!

Charlene Sevier Jewelry
Charlene makes beads from simple materials - wire, embroidery floss, and muslin

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie ends February with the last of her icy inspiration with some new crackly window pendants

Jean Campbell
Jean's got a new design in need of a name and your opinion!

Resin Crafts!
Resin Crafts has a cute idea for a St. Patrick's day pendant.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's Beading to be done!
Jean is going to try the Fusion Beads 30 day challenge! Read about it on her blog and see what she has already made for Day One. You might want to try it too!!!  

Melanie Brooks is the ceramic beadmaker behind Earthenwood Studio, who blogs from her Metro Detroit, Michigan home.

Studio Saturday: Book Review - "The Art of Resin Clay" by Sherri Haab

Welcome to Studio Saturday! 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.

Congrats to Alice who is the winner of two Earthenwood pendants. Please email Melanie with your mailing address so she can send your new pendants out to you!


This week we have guest blogger Lori Anderson bringing us a fun book review.

I was thrilled when Potter Craft sent me a copy of Sherri Haab's latest book, "The Art of Resin Clay".  I'd never heard of these techniques before and was immediately intrigued.

This 144 page book contains five chapters:

* Resin Clay Essentials 

* Imitative Techniques, which covers faux scrimshaw, raku, coral, and metallic effects.

* Creating Bezels for rings and pendants

* Mixing Resin Clay with Other Mediums, such as embedding beads, using colored pencils, etc.

*Molding and Sculpting Techinques, such as repairing and redesigning vintage jewelry and creating beads over cores.

All of Sherri's books are eye candy.  If you never make a single project, you'll still get inspired just by flipping through the book.  But you'll want to try these projects out, because she breaks things down in such a way that ANYONE can do it.

Sherri thoroughly covers the basics, so when you start the projects, you'll feel comfortable.  There are tons of step-by-step photos to lead you along, and the contributor gallery shots are amazing, showing you just how far you can take this new medium

And now, I'm giving it to one of you!

So the question this week - what has been your favorite bead book of 2011?  Leave a comment and be sure there's a way to contact you.  

Then visit my blog, Pretty Things, and learn about the upcoming Bead Soup Blog Party!  It's one of the largest bead swap blog hops you'll come across, and wouldn't it be cool to use your new resin clay techniques for the Party?

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Sundays with Cindy- Bead Soup's On!

Happy Sunday, ABS Readers! Along with our regular bead blogger links, I thought I'd serve up a little Bead Soup for y'all! (A shout out to Lori Anderson for taking on the monumental task and being a gracious hostess)  Here's a taste of what my awesome partner, Cat Pruitt of Boo Beads cooked up with the flamework glass and textured metal I sent her.....

From Paris with Love - Cat Pruitt

From Paris with Love - lampwork bead by Cindy Gimbrone

Close up of textured copper & double dip toggle by Cindy Gimbrone 

Red Black and White - Cat Pruitt

Lots of delicious Bead Soup to check out after you see what the bead bloggers have been up to!

A Bead A Day
If you were wondering about the best method for adhering flatback swarovski crystals to a rubbery textured object, Lisa's discovered the answer! Superglue! Check out her newly crystallized slap-watch.

About.com Jewelrymaking
Tammy discusses and provides a tutorial about the dirty side of metal jewelry.

Beading Arts
Cyndi explains how to add a wonderful blue-green patina to copper beads.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles

Resin Crafts
Melanie ponders if her new cat pendant design is seasonally spooky or a year round treat

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
I love B'Sue Boutiques and Brenda Sue is having a blog hop in October! Come read about it!

The Bead Dreamer
Charlene reviews a book that blends beading and jazz - Bead Riffs

Studio Saturday with Creative Impressions In Clay

Welcome to Studio Saturday! 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.

This weeks winner is Bobbi. Congratulations! You have won some Halloween beads from Jennifer Heynen of Jangles. 

Send Jennifer an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.

This week we visit the studio of
 Tari Sasser at Creative Impressions In Clay.





It's the Bead Soup Blog Party!!! Time to hop to all the participants blogs and see what they created.
I wanted to show you what I created.

My Bead Soup Partner is Tania Spivey of Moobie Grace Designs. She makes beautiful Polymer Clay beads. I received 2 plus a clasp with another bead and her wonderful wire work. 

I stressed quite a while over this. Worried if I would make the deadline and not having any ideas that I thought were great. My daughter was in my studio the other day and I started pulling beads and findings out of boxes. Things are sorta still packed up from rearranging my studio. 

I found these beautiful strands of gemstone beads that I had forgotten about. They were brought from Russia and given to me by my son-in-laws mom. Perfect! The colors were absolutely perfect. Kristen (my daughter) started throwing out ideas. She too knew I was stressed and offered help. I've been working on a large wholesale order and started a new job. I have been exhausted. Staying up till 3-4am glazing hasn't helped. I'm doing a show this entire weekend. My plate is overflowing.

Everything fell together after pulling loads of things out and putting them next to each other. Taking away and putting back..you know how the creative process goes. 

I use bright bold colors and Tania uses, as you can see, colors from nature. The Teal and Coral colors really work nicely. This absolutely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I really don't design jewelry of this type. I'm not the dainty flower kind of person. This was quite a challenge for me.

See the rest of the post post on my blog.

My question is:
Would you like to participate in Bead Soup Blog Party?
Did you participate in this years Bead Soup Blog Party or in years past?

Answer one of the questions and leave your comment, you could win a mystery button.
Sorry, I'm in over my head right now but it will be a nice button, I promise.

Feeling Sassy as usual!
Tari Sasser
Creative Impressions In Clay

Sundays with Cindy: What's Cooking in the Bead Soup Kitchen?

Last week, I shared a teaser of the beads I sent to my Bead Soup Partner, Cat. This week, I thought I'd share the ingredients I cooked up in my Bead Soup kitchen....

All good Bead Soups start with your favorites. My favorite color is red so the red glass rods were the first ingredient I chose.  I wanted to cook up high contrast, so my next ingredients were turquoise and ivory. The heart motif on the beads signifies a Bead Soup made from the heart. Finally,  I made a toggle of copper rolled through my new favorite toy...errrr...tool, the rolling mill and paired it with one of my double dips in turquoise and red. Twenty gauge copper wire was added to the mix so Cat could fashion jump rings or links if she wanted. A truly yummy set of Bead Soup ingredients if I do say so myself!

Hope you enjoyed the peek into the Bead Soup kitchen! Now let's take a peek into the Bead Bloggers's busy lives by clicking on their links and see what they've been up to this week!

About.com Jewelrymaking
Set up your jewelry designing by making the perfect jewelry sets.

Art Bead Scene
Try something different with your art beads - ribbon!

Beading Arts
The "Mostly Metal" challenge was a great success, many thnaks to Michelle Mach! Come and see all the fun pieces that were made.

Carmi's Art Life/World
Margot Potter's new book inspired Carmi's new linked necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone Beads
Need some iron in your jewelry diet? Tuesday Tangle has just what you're looking for!

Resin Crafts
Carmi uses a great new mold to make "people" donuts.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
How to win the great giveaway of Maggie Meister's Classical Elagance--an amazing and breathtaking book! See jean's blog!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew introduces the twelve, talented designers that make up the NEW Allegory Gallery Design Team!

Sundays with Cindy is written by Cindy Gimbrone, a lover of beads and all things shiny. See her shiny things collection on her website and maybe she'll let you buy a few. 

Sundays with Cindy - Bead Soup Blog Party Teaser

Good Sunday Morning to you! There's a new Bead Soup Blog Party afoot and this time I've dived into the beady goodness. I mixed up a batch of my own flameworked glass beads - I prefer to call them flameworked than the older term lampwork because it fits the modern torches that are used to craft the glass art beads. Here they are sitting on my kitchen counter yesterday....

...all wrapped up and ready to send! These beady lovelies will just have to wait until my Bead Soup Partner opens them up and reveals them on her blog! Who is my partner? I'll be introducing her on my blog next week just like some of the other Bead Soupers are doing. In the meantime, get a cup of coffee or tea or your morning beverage of choice and check out what the bead bloggers have been up to this week...


A Bead A Day
Artists who create using found objects or materials from nature are awe inspiring! Lisa is showcasing one artist who uses birch bark to create beads!

About.com Jewelrymaking
Get twisting with your beads and learn to make a very cool twisted strand necklace with this bead weaving technique.

Art Bead Scene
Come check out the August challenge!

Beading Arts
Cyndi is celebrating bead embroidery month on Beading Arts! Come find out how you can get started.

Beads and Books
Share the name of your favorite glass beadmaker for a chance to win a copy of the book Creating Glass Beads. 

Carmi's Art Life/World
Carmi is experimenting with Apoxie Sculpt and rubber stamps to make pendants!

Cindy Gimbrone Beads
Cindy's got a new tool on her workbench, a rolling mill. Check out the jewelry pieces that have rolled out onto her bench!

Resin Crafts!
Carmi shows off a sweet resin heart pendant made in a candy mold.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean is getting verrrry excited, anticipating Michelle Mach's Mostly Metal Challenge! Come read about it!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
In an effort to help launch Allegory Gallery, Andrew announces the Allegory Gallery Fundraiser! Make a donation and receive a prize for your support!

Bead Soup Blog Hop

Sign for the next round of Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party.  The deadline is tomorrow!

Over 200 people have already signed up.  Don't miss out on all the fun.  Head on over to Lori's blog for complete details. 

Trends and News

If you are like me, a little peek at Pantone's color report always provides a much needed shot of inspiration.  Above are the colors for Spring 2011 and some of my beads that match.  Have fun finding beads in your stash that match the color report colors and find ways to work them into your jewelry. 

News from the ABS editors:

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for Lori Anderson's next Bead Soup Party. There are already over 180 participants!

On the 15th Cindy Gimbrone is having a clearance bead sale - don't miss it! 

Lorelei Eurto has opened a new shop featuring her handmade tin bead caps, charms and connectors.  Super cute.  Lorelei is also the featured designer in this month's issue of Bead Trends magazine.  Be sure to check it out. 

I'm offering a Bead of the Month Club for 15 lucky customers!

Do you have news to share with us?  I'd love to hear it.

Bead Soup Favorites

I'm so excited to be joining the party this time around! I thought I'd share some of my favorite picks from the Bead Soup Party Flickr Group I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone creates, we have such an awesome community of jewelry designers in the blog-o-sphere.

1. Beads Soup from Julie, 2. Bead Soup Ingredients, 3. BeadSoup2, 4. BSP the lot - no text, 5. Bead Soup Party - from Joanne to Malin, 6. bead soup ingredients from Marianna Boylan

Another Bead Soup Blog Party!

When Art Bead Scene wrote about having a girlfriend's night and bringing beads to swap and having a bead soup swap, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to bring to the internet. What a great way to meet new beaders and exchange beads and ideas!

The blog party is also a great way to discover new blogs, gain new readers and followers, and network. Several party-goers have even been contacted by magazines to be contributors!

The first party was a great success, so I hope you'll join me in the second party. Sign ups end on May 7th and you have until June 19th to create your piece for the blog party.

Click here to join in the fun!