Inside The Studio with Heather of Swoondimples

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 prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. Here are the results from last week!

This week's winner is Gloria Allen. 

Congratulations Gloria! You have won a goody bag from the Curious Bead shop! 

Please contact Rebecca to claim your fab prize!

This week is my turn in the studio & I am stoked about it! I have been having a HOOT creating little wee polymer clay owls. A BIG thanks to Rebecca & Heather for encouraging everyone to create with the Pantone colors of the year, Serenity and Rose Quartz. Granted, I was a little disenchanted at first because these hues remind me of nursery decor and candy coated almonds. I do not like candy coated almonds, which speaks volumes because I will eat pretty much anything. I love food, especially sweets. However, once I read the reasoning behind why these colors were chosen, my heart was swayed. I can totally embrace Serenity & Rose Quartz. 

Plus, the colors remind me of the most brilliant bed linens my parents had when I was little. In the late 60's, cheerful florals were a huge trend and hues of Rose Quartz and Serenity blue were abundant! 

style sixties

Now that I was in a nostaligic mindset, I began to reminisce of all the things I loved about growing up in the 70's. Pyrex dishes, macrame plant holders, and owl everything! I am pretty certain that my affinity for owls & birds is imprinted in my DNA via my mom. 

My inspiration for creating with the new Pantone colors was settled and I started experimenting with forming owl beads and pendants. My first batch was strictly Rose Quartz & Serenity and I was surprised at how complimentary the colors were together. They each exude unique & plumpy little personalities.

By the second batch, I was using an array of colors, combining minty hues with earth tones. (Funny, how truly naked they look before the patina transforms them)

Step 1 | Create & bake a large family of owls

Step 2 | Slather each owl with patina

I love this step as they remind me of petrified wood and I adore the deep earthy tones

Step 3 | Give owls a nice warm bath and gently exfoliate them

(It's spa day)

Step 4 | Massage each owl with shoe polish

Step 5 | Coffee time & glue Bails inside owls that will be used as pendants

Final Step | Tada! Give each little plump cutie a name

There you have it. Inside my studio this week - where owl production is in full effect! 

Hip Hip HooHoo Ray! Please swing by my shop and meet the whole family.

This week, I'm offering a $25 gift certificate to a lucky winner. 

Simply answer my question and comment below in order to be eligible to win.

"If you chose the Pantone color of the year, what would you choose and why?"

Good luck!

Heather Millican - Heather is an artist who strives to offer hope to those who may need encouragement. She is a lover of words and has a grand heart for the ones who feel too deeply, the brave, and those that find beauty in the mundane. Heather is a Savannah College of Art graduate and currently lives in Florida with her husband, 4 young boys, and boston terrier, Ollie.

Inside the Studio with Rebecca of Songbead

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 prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries.

Congratulations to Carolyn on winning a $15 voucher from Claire! 

Contact her to claim your prize! 

*********

Hello all! It's my turn at Inside the Studio once again - I have had to search back to see what I posted about last time, and even though it was a mere 2 months back, SO much has happened since then for me! I've had a jam-packed summer. Having said that, I kind of told you all about that in my last post - in a 'what's coming up for me next' kind of way. 3 weeks of contemporary opera down in England - check. 3 week craft fair back home in Edinburgh - check. Making lots of jewellery and not getting enough sleep - check! 

And since finishing, I've actually been very organised for me - new load of czech glass beads arrived, photographed and loaded into The Curious Bead Shop:

I'm ready for Autumn colours if not Autumnal weather - can you tell?!

I also managed to photograph and upload almost all of the jewellery I had left over from the fair. Seriously, I don't think I've *ever* managed to achieve this before about mid-November before. Go me! Check out these lovelies, almost all listed in the shop now (if you're after earrings, it's the place to go!):

But rather than rehash all of the past few months, I thought I'd, again, give you a sort of preview of what's coming up for me. I thought I'd share with you some of the rather delicious art beads which I've treated myself to over the past month or so. I always do slightly indulge during the fair - it's the time of year when I sell the most jewellery and so it feels sort of justified. Right? (Right?!) It was also a pretty tough 7 week schedule for me and so I figured I deserved a treat or seven...And really, who doesn't like a bead eye candy post? 

Swoondimples 

Natalia Korolyuk

Happy Fish Things

Uglibeads

Outwest 

Something to do beads

Elukka 

Yep, I kind of went to town, didn't I?! Let's just hope I can turn it into jewellery! It's nice to have a good old splurge once in a while. 

Tell me, who's your favourite art bead artist to splurge on when you get the chance? Leave your answer in the comments below to win a £10 (just over $15) voucher for either Songbead or The Curious Bead Shop! Tune in next Friday to see who the lucky winner is. 

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer; currently living in the capital city of Edinburgh. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.

Art of Awareness Blog Hop - with Rebecca of Songbead

Hello all! It's my turn here at Art Bead Scene today, and I wanted to share a blog hop that I'm taking part in today - and I'd guess a few of you may well be also! I'm posting this over at my own blog too but wanted to share this hop here today with you guys also. If you want to read a more personal side of this hop from me, check out my post here. And if you are taking part also, then I am really looking forward to seeing what you've created! 

Today is a special day - it's the Art of Awareness blog hop, organised by Lori Anderson and Heather Millican. I expect most of you are familiar with both of these wonderful ladies - Lori of the infamous Bead Soup Blog Parties and Heather is the bead artist behind Swoondimples, some of my absolute favourite art beads to work with. More importantly, they are two of the sweetest people that I have the good fortune to know, and I'm so glad that the art bead world has allowed me to get to know both of them and call them my friends! 

This hop was definitely a blog hop with a twist. Everyone who signed up got to choose and purchase a very special bean bead from Heather, in the colour and with wording of their choice. Because this is the Art of Awareness blog hop though, each colour had certain significance, and would have a special ribbon stamp on the back. 

I've never made any awareness jewellery before - I don't think it's quite such a trend over here in the UK, in fact the only awareness colour I knew off the top of my head was pink for breast cancer awareness. But what some of you may not know is that my wife has MS, having being diagnosed back in 2010. She's very well with it the majority of the time, and although she has certain ongoing symptoms from previous attacks, for the most part she's - we've - been very fortunate. Other than the old having MS in the first place. That's still quite a bummer, it must be said! 

The MS awareness colour is orange, and as you can see...

....orange is what I went for!

I've spoken more about MS and living with it in our lives, and why I chose the words I did over on my own blog, but I thought here that I'd talk more about actually designing the piece - something I found surprisingly hard!

I first of all got it into my head that I wanted to make a bracelet with my bean bead. And I tried and tried and tried.....but she just *did*not* want to become a bracelet. She dug her heels in good and proper!

I also found the orange quite a tricky colour to work with. Frequent visitors here and/or to my own blog will no doubt be puzzled by that, as orange is a colour I work with often - I love it, and the effect it has on other colours especially. But this orange was just slightly different to those with which I usually work - slightly softer, just the tiniest hint of peach to it, perhaps more of a tint (a colour mixed with white) than a fully saturated hue - the type of orange I would usually reach for. 

I also put extra pressure on myself for wanting to create something specifically for Helen herself. She is pretty fussy when it comes to jewellery, and I am still (after almost 9 years!) often surprised by the pieces of mine which she wants to wear, as opposed to just appreciate as a finished piece of jewellery.  And I wanted to tell the story of the words - the story behind the words - with my piece. No small order then!

Finally, yesterday afternoon I decided to have a hunt through a box of ceramic beads and see if I could find something to pair it with. And as sometimes happens (very happily, with a looming deadline!), my finished piece fell together. 

A simple combination of Kylie Parry ceramic bird and feather, Irish waxed linen cord and some new super-cute puffed daisies which arrived with me last week. The bird and the feather representing that strange juxtaposition of freedom and sense of home that seem to constantly pull against one another, and yet are both so important to both myself and Helen. And quite a different colour palette to that with which I would usually work - softer, more muted tones. Gentler, somehow. Accepting. Welcoming. (Plus, Helen wore it last night - win all round!)

Thanks Lori and Heather for organising this great event. Quite a personal one for me! Now take a minute if you can to check out what some of the others created:

Lori Heather	Anderson Millican	www.PrettyThingsBlog.com (hostess) www.facebook.com/swoondimples (bead artist)
Candida	Castleberry	www.spunsugarbeadworks.blogspot.com
mischelle	andrade	https://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
Paige	Maxim	http://delightfullittlegems.blogspot.com/
Laurie	Vyselaar	www.lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com
Marybeth	Rich	http://forestofjewels.blogspot.com/
Alice	Peterson	www.alice-dreaming.blogspot.com
Kim	Dworak	http://www.cianciblue.blogspot.com/
Audrey	Bélanger	http://esperianterra.blogspot.ca/
Karen	mitchell	www.overthemoon-design.com
Joan	Williams	www.lilrubyjewelry.com
Jean	Wells	jeanawells.blogspot.com
Ann	Schroeder	www.beadlove.wordpress.com
Gail	Accinelli	facebook.com/oregonmadejewelry
Tania	Spivey	www.moobiegracedesigns.blogspot.com
Mallory	Hoffman	http://rosebud101-fortheloveofbeads.blogspot.com/
Mary K	McGraw	mkaymac.blogspot.com
Shai	Williams	www.shaihasramblings.com/
Beth	Emery	storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com
Catie	Doman	http://drcatie.blogspot.com
Lorelei	Eurto	Http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com
Lee	Koopman	www.stregajewellry.wordpress.com
Tammy	Adams	www.paisleylizard.com/blog/
Katie	Nelson	https://www.facebook.com/katiebead
Patty	Miller	http://pattymillerbeads.blogspot.com
Chris	Eisenberg	www.wanderware.blogspot.com
Cassi	Paslick	http://badatbeingmom.blogspot.com/
Charlee	Griffith	https://www.facebook.com/charlee.griffith
Kelli	Nelson	www.afamilyaffarekelli.blogspot.com
Catherine	King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
Melissa	Trudinger	beadrecipes.wordpress.com
Susan	Bowie	https://susanbowie.wordpress.com
Jennifer	Justman	www.soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/
Cassi	Paslick	http://badatbeingmom.blogspot.com/
K	Hutchinson	http://jumbledhutch.wordpress.com
Veralynne	Malone	www.veradesigns.blogspot.com
Evie and Beth	McCord	http://ebbeadandmetalworks.blogspot.com/
Mihaela	Georgescu	http://michellemaya2005.wordpress.com
Rebecca	Anderson	Www.songbeads.blogspot.com
Charlene	Jacka	www.clay-space.com
Kim	Stevens	www.pickingpoppies.blogspot.com
Susan	McClelland	Mistheword12.wordpress.com
Gina	Hockett	www.freestyleelements.blogspot.com
Mona	Arnott	bijouxgemsjoy.blogspot.ca
Sandi	Volpe	www.sandivolpe.com
Andrea	Glick	http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/
Janine	Lucas	http://www.esfera.me/travel/blog/travel-stories
Lori	Bowring Michaud	www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com
Christie	Murrow	Www.charisdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com
B.R.	Kuhlman	www.mixedmayhemstudios.com
Lupe	Meter	www.gesmpccorner.blogspot.com
Lucy	Bejarano	www.lucybejaranojewelry.blogspot.com/
Stephanie	Perry	www.mustardbeadbystephanieperry.blogspot.com
Elisabeth	Auld	www.beadsforbusygals.com
Carolyn	Lawson	www.carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com
Heather	Powers	www.humblebeads.blogspot.com
Katie	Hacker	www.katiehacker.blogspot.com
Kepi	Rasmussen	www.kepirasmussen.blogspot.ca
Gail	Vanderster-Zwang	www.angelmoose.blogspot.com
Elizabeth	Hodges	http://thewhisperingseas.blogspot.com/

May Monthly Challenge Prize

We're happy to announce our wonderful sponsors for our May Monthly Challenge!

We will have two lucky winners this month.

Mary Harding Jewelry

First up we have two amazing pendants from the talented ceramic artist, Mary Harding.  Our first winner will receive a Birch Leaves and Wild Harvest Pendant (a $58 value).

"Mary's recent work involves gathering the timeless and enduring plants of the pastures of Northern New York and channeling these plants to create ceramic pendants, marks a fresh and imaginatively interpreted fusion of styles and material embodied in her colorful renderings of these resilient beauties.

Each pendant marks its own creative journey as each work is individually hand painted by the artist, fired, inspected, and then creatively finished to bring out the fusion of contemporary and folk art drawn from the qualities of the clay, the form of the pressed plant, and the artistically applied glaze that brings the impression to life and sets its spirit free."

See more of Mary's work on her website, Etsy shop, and blog.

Heather Wynn

Heather's poetic polymer clay pendants offers light-hearted quotes and pogniant messages for your jewelry designs.  Her work varies from bright and playful colors to rustic earthtones.

"Each pendant is created with polymer clay, handstamped, laden with texture and patina, and then sanded and buffed."

Heather has donated four pendants, shown above valuing over $70.

Visit Heather's Etsy shop, blog and Facebook page.

To enter to win create a piece of jewelry inspired by our Monthly Challenge Inspiration that incorporates art beads.

When looking Utrillo's Italian's House at Monmarte I'm drawn to beads in house shapes, leaves and tree motifs.  Pull out your wood beads, earthy ceramics, fibers in yellows, greens and creams. Leafy green stones, Czech glass leaves or go for geometric shapes in squares or rectangles.

We can't wait to see what you create this month!