Studio Saturday with Earthenwood Studio

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 Regina! Congratulations! You have won a Take Time message stick pendant.

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

This week we visit the studio of Melanie Brooks at Earthenwood Studio.

 

 I have had some changes at Earthenwood Studio in the past year.  This is not surprising, as a small business owner, especially one in the arts, has to constantly change and evolve.  This year has brought a change of sales venue for me, one that has changed to include new types of buyers.  I started selling most weekends at a very cool, artsy type of market called Rust Belt Market in the fashionable Metro Detroit city of Ferndale.  I found my work to be a good fit, but I also found myself adapting to the more urban and youthful customers who come to my booth to create their own jewelry.

 Jewelry and pendants with words on them have always been very popular for me.  I wanted to create a new line of jewelry with words that my new customers would like.  I became inspired by the urban landscape around me, particularly the textures and colors and style of graffiti on brick walls.  I thought this would be the perfect inspiration for my new word pendants.  I sell them at the Rust Belt and I also just started a new Etsy shop called Earthen Alternative to showcase them.

 Some words speak to us and affirm our beliefs and remind us of the things we treasure. I designed some pendants as amulets to remind us of some of those things.  Words like Peace, Home, Love, and Change.

 I have also been inspired by words that are sometimes used as insults or are derogatory, but which people are working to reclaim, to give them new meaning (or to take away their negative power by owning them). This has been the main focus of this line of pendants so far. I have chosen to work with some words that have more or an edge to them, words that can shock or unnerve or make you think.  I am not including any of "those" words here in today's post, to keep Art Bead Scene family friendly, but if you are curious you can click on over to my new shop to see them.

 This week, I have one Graffiti Tag pendant to give away. Leave a comment on this post and next week one random person will be chosen to win. The winner will be able to choose one pendant from the items available in the shop!

To enter to win, tell me about a piece of jewelry that you have or would like that features a favorite word.

Studio Saturday with Melanie Brooks

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 week's winner is Cynthia aka Cynth's Blog
Congratulations! You have won a Tales They Tell pendant from Erin Prais-Hintz.
 Send Erin an e-mail with your address and she will get it out to you as soon as possible!

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This week we visit the studio of

Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio

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I recently received a lovely package of goodies from the folks at Nina Designs as part of their blog partnership program. I got a goodie bag with all of the items above included:  a bunch of beautiful shiny charms, pendants, and findings from their Bronze Collection, a lovely bright turquoise silk ribbon, and a bundle of soft and supple deer hide leather. What a generous and gorgeous selection of things to play with!

I loved the lotus pendant and it was very fortunate that I had just finished up some pendants with a water and lotus pond theme!  So I was eager to use those things together!  The cut-out design of the lotus pendant, like many of the other bronze pendants in the collection, makes it really versatile with all the areas to bead onto.  I used the lotus as a triple connector, hanging my pendant from the bottom and attaching a loop to each of the two top petals.  The ribbon color wasn't so matchy-matchy with the pendant, so I took a few little strands of it and tied them to the bottom leaves of the lotus to tie the color in near the pendant.  I also used two of the swirly bronze charms and some strawberry quartz to make some interesting dangles further up the necklace, to tie the pink color in.  I like the cool simplicity of this necklace, interesting, but not too overly complicated.

I also made a pair of coordinating earrings with a pair of my ceramic links! The bronze is very shiny, almost gold in color, and I didn't have any gold jump rings or other findings, so I used gunmetal black.  I really like the contrast of the two shiny metals and how it brings a little bit of extra interest to the design.

All of these pieces and colors remind me of cool waters like the kinds I get to see on vacation at the beach or visiting beautiful parks.  Or maybe that's just my pre-Bead & Button preparation crazed head dreaming of summer vacation after the show.  It's almost June... are you dreaming about summer vacation yet?

When you take a vacation or trip, do you do anything beady?  Do you visit local bead stores in the area that you are staying, or do you work on fun projects?  Leave a comment on this post and tell us about it!  Next Saturday, one random commenter will be chosen to win the Nina bronze charm and pair of Earthenwood ceramic links above!

*The materials above were provided as part of the Nina Designs blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.

Studio Saturday with Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio

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 week's winner is Amy Nicole
Congratulations! You have won a Simple Truths ring from Erin at Tesori Trovati Jewelry!  Send Erin an e-mail with your address and she will get your prize out to you very soon!

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This week we visit the studio of

Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio.

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I have been working on some new designs lately that are based on hardware, things like locks and keys. I seem to balance my designs between images that are organic and images that have a harder edge to them. I have been enjoying designs that are somewhat more masculine and industrial lately.  My technique is to do a drawing (or in this case, a computer designed image) and have a rubber stamp made from my design.  This technique works really well with my ceramic clay slab roller and porcelain clay, because I can stamp many pieces at once and get a nice, clean image that was easy to create!

 

Here are some of the finished pieces.  I created a padlock and a keyhole design to make pendants and links that work well together.  This is one of the first images I have created entirely online, without physically drawing, and I am pleased with the crispness of the lines and the bold image.  I use my computer a lot in my design process, but this is the first time I have designed something entirely in Photoshop to be made into a stamp. I look forward to making more in this series!

I was so excited to get these four hole keyhole links out of the kiln, I immediately whipped up this necklace with gunmetal, Tierracast pewter, and glass pearls.  The gunmetal finishes and the dark metallic pewter glaze really compliment each other well, I think!

I will soon have some of these new pendants in my Etsy shop.

You can win two of the first ones out of the kiln!  Leave a comment here on this post telling me some of the things you use your computer for in your art-making process.  One random winner will be chosen to win the pair of pendant and link shown above.  Good luck!

Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. 

Studio Saturday with Melanie Brooks

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 EmandaJ who is the winner of last week's Simple Truths Ornament made by Erin Prais-Hintz!  Please email Erin at enjoytheday@tesoritrovati.com with your mailing address so she can get your holiday goodie out to you!


I have been getting ready for the holidays lately, helping to make lots of holiday presents for my customers on the weekends at Rust Belt Market. While I don't have a lot of holiday specific designs, I did make one design that reminds me of Christmas.. this Candy Swirl pendant.  These pendants start out as black and white drawings that I scan and Photoshop to make a very graphic jpeg file. After getting the file done, I upload it to RubberStamps.net, who then sends me a rubber stamp that I can use on my porcelain clay!  I love this process, because I can draw up anything I can imagine and have it easily transformed into a clay pendant, and it is quick and easy to build up a big library of designs.

Here is an example of the sort of Story Necklace that we make at the Rust Belt.  It's a mixed media collage of metal keys, charms, and gears with recycled sari silk ribbon.  Holiday inspired, but also recycled and a little industrial...festive and funky but not too sweet.

This week, you can win this pair of Earthenwood Studio ceramic pendants: one Candy Swirl and one Holiday Peace pendant.

To enter to win, comment here on this post and tell me about your favorite holiday sweets! 

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

Link Library with Melanie

 

  Welcome to another Link Library post!  In May of 2007, I reviewed some new silver charms that I found at my local bead show.  They are the creations of Hip Chick Beads, and you can read my Findings Worth Finding review here.  Since that time, I have seen the fine works of Hip Chicks popping up all over the place... in magazines, shows, and online.  They are still going strong and adding new designs, and I still love them!


That was this week's blast from the past... here is what's new in the bead world:

A Bead A Day
Need to stop buying and start making? Lisa is having the same problem, BUT check out these sparkly connectors she found.

About.com Jewelry Making
You will fall in love with this new necklace tutorial, or at the very least follow your heart.  

Art Bead Scene
Jennifer shares a free tutorial on making adorable bead zipper pulls, perfect to spruce up a fall jacket! 

Beading Arts
Cyndi explains how to turn a cabochon into a simple bead embroidered pendant!  

Beads & Books
See the fun earrings Michelle made with sari ribbon and get inspired to work with this popular material. 

Cindy Gimbrone Beads
Cindy's back from her class with Hadar Jacobson. Take a look at the mokume gane pieces she made from metal clay.  

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shows off her holiday packaging and questions photography in another Etsy Boot Camp post 

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews the beautiful new book by Heather Powers, Jewelry Designs from Nature  

The Bead Dreamer
Charlene reviews the book Color, Texture and Casting for Jewelers

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

Link Library with Melanie

Back in May of 2007, I wrote a post for Art Bead Scene that was inspired by a funny little article from the Onion about how everyone and their mother is making and selling jewelry nowadays.  The article was in jest, but my post had some good pointers about how to stand out with so many jewelry makers, and it still rings true today


That was then, this is now... here are some brand new links from some of our beady friends: 

A Bead A Day
Have you ever made jewelry in the morning before work? Lisa's looking for your early morning 5 minute projects.

About.com Jewelry Making
October's jewelry designer interview includes some interesting ideas from Lorelei Eurto. 

Art Bead Scene
Heather shares a free project that tells a little story of her recent move back to Michigan 

Beading Arts
A bit of silver leaf, a bit of acrylic paint, and some polymer clay...beautiful results! 

Carmi's Art/Life World
A little Apoxie Clay goes a long way when you have time to play in the studio. 

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shares another week of Etsy Boot Camp goals 

Resin Crafts!
This week Carmi demos several layers of resin in a small tin. 

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reminisces about the lovely book which she and Melanie of Earthenwood were in. She used Melanie's knockout components and they look just as fab today as they did then!  

The Bead Dreamer
Charlene shares how life seems to be crowding out jewelry making! Sometimes that's just how it is...  
 

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

Link Library with Melanie

 Way back in April of 2007, Tari Sasser shared with us one of her favorite vendors that supplies her with colorful cord, findings, and beads like the ones shown above, which are a perfect fit for her colorful handcrafted ceramic beads.  Check out her Findings Worth Finding post about SatinCord.com and check out the site to see what they have new since that post! And now, some brand spanking new links from some of our beady friends:   A Bead A Day
Day of the dead celebratory beads! Do you find these cute scary, scary cute or just plain cute?    Art Bead Scene
Erin at Art Bead Scene has compiled a gorgeous set of woodland themed Etsy treasuries to celebrate this month's art challenge   Beading Arts
Cyndi really enjoyed making her challenge piece for Michelle Mach's "Very Vintage Challenge"!   Beads & Books
Come see 30+ amazing fall-inspired designs made with the same kit materials!    Cindy Gimbrone Beads
Running a small business can sometimes be about the smallest words.    Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie offers a new bunny pendant for sale with proceeds going to help Nancy Schindler from Round Rabit, who lost her studio in a flood in September   Resin Crafts!
Carmi creates miniature water pitchers with new molds!   Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean makes some adorable pendant and earring sets with the help of her friend Rose and help from Artbeads.com as well! 
The Bead Dreamer
Want to make seed bead jewelry but don't know where to start. Charlene reviews a book on bead embroidery that may help. Easy to learn techniques, minimal tools, fabulous results. 

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

Link Library with Melanie

 I mentioned last Sunday that I wanted to bring some new content to Art Bead Scene on Sundays for my weekly posts.  One of the things that I thought would be fun is to poke around back in the Art Bead Scene archives.  I was here at the beginning, and I have kept up with the blog since the first post, but I thought that some of you may be newer, and might not remember some of the great posts that were written on this blog over the years.  I am going to call the Sunday posts "Link Library" and it will be a blend of old and new links for you to peruse!
Today's link from the past is one of my first posts here.  I started to develop an alter-ego named Ms. Bead It All and set out to answer technical beady questions, ala Miss Manners style.  It was fun and I didn't do nearly enough of them.  Maybe I will revisit that, too! 
The post asked the question:
Dear Ms. Bead-It-All,

Help! I have fallen in love with some beautiful art beads, but the hole is going the wrong way! The beads have cute little faces, but the holes go up and down...it's all wrong! How can I string them on a necklace so they are in the center and facing upright?
 Click here to go back in the Library to read more from this fun link from the past! And now, click on these links to read about some current events in our bead friends' blogs:  A Bead A Day
Lisa's got a quick tip for bead lovers! If a fabulous wholesale bead show comes to your city, don't miss it!    About.com Jewelry Making
My, oh my, what is your favorite type of mother-of-pearl, natural, colored, bleached, all of the above?   Art Bead Scene
We are all ready for Fall at Art Bead Scene! Check out the bounty of Autumn beady goodies we found from art bead makers on Etsy.   Beading Arts
Cyndi has a really fun giveaway book with great projects for fall weekends!   Cindy Gimbrone Beads
Cindy shares what she made with Cat's lovely etched copper heart.   Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie starts Etsy Holiday Boot Camp with some goals and promises   Resin Crafts!
Carmi has a blog post featuring a resin disaster.   Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean goes back through the mists of time and fondly recalls a favorite bracelet she made using components from two favorite websites!  

  The Bead Dreamer
Handcrafted jewelry and autumn looks for 2011 are just perfect together. Charlene shows how.

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

Sundays with Cindy, now with Melanie

 Hi there!  If you are a long time reader of the Art Bead Scene, you might remember me: Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio.  I helped start the blog way back in the first posts and wrote here for quite some time.  My business and life took off in various directions, so I had to take a break for a while, but I am back now to present you with the Sunday posts!  Editor Cindy Gimbrone has decided to hand over the Sundays with Cindy posts over to me.  I would like to thank her for posting such great links for us every weekend and I hope I will be able to a good job filling her beady shoes!

Next week I will start posting with a new title and I hope to bring some additional fun content to your Sunday posts.  I am looking forward to being a part of the Art Bead Scene team again!  And now here are this week's beady links: A Bead A Day
Have you ever made a zipper pull to match a pair of earrings? Check out this first attempt!   About.com Jewelry Making
Jazz up your eyes with this beaded eye glass chain tutorial.   Art Bead Scene
Shannon shares some tricks of the trade regarding jewelry metal punches.   Beading Arts
What do you do with copper tube beads? Make a fabulous necklace, of course!   Cindy Gimbrone Beads
This week's Tuesday Tangle is about experimentation and trying new designs.   Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie gets ready to join up in the Etsy Boot Camp and is looking for more recruits!   Resin Crafts!
Resin crafts has a few tips about resin and polymer clay.   Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews (and holds a giveaway!) of Jamie Cloud Eakin's fabulous new bead embroidery technique book, coming out in early October! And posts a Blythe doll photo, of course. 

The Bead Dreamer
Love miniatures? Charlene takes miniature book components, paper, ribbon and a few beads and makes a mini book necklace. You can too!

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