Opportunities Knocking: Bead & Button Show

"Tell me what company thou keepst, and I'll tell thee what thou art."
- Miguel de CervantesHave you ever walked into a room and just knew with all your heart that you were meant to be there? Like the mother-ship has landed and you have finally found your home? {Bead-er! Phone home!}

That is what it feels like to walk into the expo floor at the Bead & Button show.

I don't know about you, but my family thinks I am just shy of crazy with all this beading and jewelry stuff {my Dad, God love him, always asks how my 'playing with beads' is going}. So it is with great pleasure that I can abandon them...er, I mean, take a vacation and converge on Milwaukee for the first week in June every year. With over 600 classes and at least that many vendors, this has to be like Mecca for people like you and me.

Lucky for me, Milwaukee is only a 3 hour drive away, and my sister has lovely accommodations {read: FREE!} just north of there in a quaint town called Cedarburg. I wish that you all had that sort of proximity because I would invite you all to stay with me {we may have to kick my sister and her family out for the week, or maybe rent her house for a premium, but it would be worth it!}.

I came down late on Tuesday night because I had a class bright and early in Milwaukee that morning. Unfortunately, the traffic made me late {that and I have a sever case of chronic imalwaysatadlatitis}. The class I was taking was with the incredible Sherri Haab. Actually, I took two full day classes with her {and her beautiful daughters!}. More on that another time...

Heather Powers flew in from Texas and we met up at the show. She stays with me and this year we also welcomed her Aunt Rosanne {hi Aunt Rosanne!}. Everyone needs an Aunt like Rosanne {I told her that I wanted to be her honorary niece}. This is the first year that Heather would have a booth at the Expo for Humblebeads. And she was in the Art Bead aisle {which is where I like to spend all my time...and money!}. That is the aisle that the Art Bead Scene mothership is parked on. Sweet!

I had grand intentions of interviewing all of these artists, but I didn't want to take precious time away from their true reason for being there, and had planned to come back on Sunday, when it was sure to be slower. Unfortunately, there was a little snafu with a dead battery and my car being left overnight in downtown Milwaukee. So I missed out on that last day {and never made it back to Green Girl for my fix of their new components...and Andrew ;-( I even came home with money in my pocket!}. But I thought that for those of you who have never been to the Bead & Button, you might like to see what some of the fuss is all about.


I had so many people come up to me on the show floor and give me the 'beader's handshake' {you know when someone is a beader because they will walk right up to you and fondle your necklace or earrings or bracelet and ooh and ahh...before they look you in the eye and say hello!}. So many also stopped me on the floor because they recognized my picture. There were many hugs for new friends and old.
Staying with Heather and Rosanne was a wonderful experience in and of itself {don't even get me started on the Qdoba experience!}. We are dangerous shopping partners, that's for sure! But we also cheered each other on and got to go gaga over each others' purchases each night. That is something my family just wouldn't understand.

So if you ever get the chance to go to the Bead & Button show, or something like it near you, be sure to
...take all the classes you can
...wear your walking shoes
...carry cash
...bring photocopies of your seller's permit for discounts
...drink lots of water {bring a bottle to refill otherwise it is $3.50 each! That is a whole bead somewhere!}
...have a plan of attack...or you will be broke before you get to the second aisle
...and share it with friends!

Enjoy the day!

Erin Prais-Hintz writes about all things that inspire her at Treasures Found::Inspiration is Everywhere . Her jewelry designs are one-of-a-kind made one-at-a-time. She collects quotes and dust and invites you to send her your favorite (quote - not dust!) to enjoytheday@tesoritrovati.com. Check out a gallery of her work at http://www.tesoritrovati.com/ (but don't laugh too hard because she is working on a new website soon!).

Help Beads of Courage

Help Beads of Courage win a $25,000 grant from Pepsi. 

Beads of Courage helps children RECORD, TELL and OWN their stories of courage during treatment for cancer and other serious illness. Through the Program children receive different colored beads each which symbolize their unique and challenging treatment journey. 

Please vote daily, share it on your facebook page, twitter and blog about it.  Let's use our beady powers for good and help this well deserving charity. 

VOTE NOW!

People are free to Lori Greenberg with any questions and email if they’d like a daily reminder to vote (with the link) sent directly to them for the month of July.

They are always looking for donations - here is the information on where to send your beads.  (This is for both art beads and any other type of bead you'd like to donate.)

July Monthly Challenge Prizes

One lucky winner for this months challenge will win prizes worth $50 or more from each of our sponsors.

Creative Impressions In Clay

Tari Sasser of Creative Impressions In Clay is donating a toggle and bead set, made just for this month's challenge. In her normal style, Tari painted the beads and toggle set with brightly colored underglazes.

See more of Tari's beads and buttons on her website. 

Visit her blog, facebook and etsy. 

Lyn Foley

Lyn Foley is donating one lucky winner a $50 dollar gift certificate. You get to choose, beads, earrings or money towards a necklace made of beautiful lampworked beads.
Lyn's "dance with glass" produces phenomenal wearable art.

See more Lyn's beads on her website. 

Catch up on what's going on with Lyn on her blog.

Diva Designs

Lynda Moseley of Diva Designs is donating a set of beautiful polymer clay beads. These beads are created using copper clay that is Lynda's custom, signature blend. It is a deep, rich, antique copper. Every color batch is slightly different, so they are unique to the batch and cannot be duplicated exactly. The glossy finish was achieved through sanding with several grits of wet-dry sandpaper and buffing with a Dremel.

Visit Lynda's blog, and etsy store.  

Get your Art Beads, Art Buttons, Art Charms or Art Pendants out, start creating and enter this months challenge! 

 Submit photos of your wonderful creations using one or more Art Beads.

"Blue Feather" sculpture by Alexander Calder has many different elements that can be used for inspiration, fantastic shapes, bold use of black, bright orange, bright blue, or my favorite-kinetic art.

We can't wait to see where your creativity takes you with the interesting sculpture for this months challenge!

Sunday with Cindy

Happy July Fourth! Enjoy the fireworks and then let's see what's going on in the Bead Blogging world....


About.com Jewelry Making
Fiber is a fantastic medium to add to your jewelry designs. Tammy takes a look at some fiber jewelry books she has reviewed in the past.

Art Bead Scene
Stumped on this month's ABS Challenge? This post just might help you out!

Beading Arts
Do you like beaded beads? Cyndi shares a tubular peyote bead that takes center stage!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi transfers some images to shell in order to make this simple necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
The deconstructed watch makes an encore appearance.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
What's new pussycat? Melanie finds inspiration from more than one source to create a new line of Kittycat pendants

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei teams up with 4 other designers to take part in the first Art Bead Scene Design Team challenge.

Snap Out of It, Jean! There's Beading to be Done!
Jean observes that all art has something in common (pssst! it doesn't all come down to jewelry design, every time!) when she reviews the new digital eMag from Interweave: check it out!

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off her necklace design that won second place in the Metal Clay category of Bead Dreams 2010.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Kate McKinnon generously offers up THREE copies of her new book, "Sculptural Metal Clay Jewelry", in another installment of Andrew's Thursday Giveaway.

Studio Saturday with Lynn Davis

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 Cindy Wimmer! Congratulations!

You have won a set of teal birch disk beads from Heather Powers at Humblebeads!
Please send Heather an email with your address so she can ship this package out to you.

This week I'm showing you some of my cast pewter openwork disks, and how I made them into a pair of dangle earrings with a locking back. I don't like it when my earrings slide around, so I made a hook on the back that catches the earwire, to hold them secure.

I cut six inches of gold-filled wire, to create the earwires, but sterling silver would also work well. I made a large loop on my round nose pliers about 1" from the end of the wire, and put the other end through the hole in the center of the disk. This will work with any bead or component that has a hole in the center - it will even work with buttons.

On the front I made a double-look on my round nose pliers, to tightly secure the disk on the wire.

Take the rest of the length and bend it so it's pointed upward perpendicular to the round loop on the back. Bend over the top about 1" from the double loop, to make the earwire hanger.

In the back, bend a crook in the short length that comes from the first large loop, and use it to create the back locking link for the earwire. Trim the excess wire until it's about 3/4" below the hook, and sand or file it smooth. That's the part that goes through your ear so it shouldn't have any snags on it.

If you have a hammer and bench block or anvil, hammer the wire loop gently to flatten and harden it, to put just the right amount of spring in the loop. You can also hammer the hook part, to give it some firmness and work harden it.

It will hang daintily from your ear, and you'll know it's secure because it is locked in back! This method of making an earring wire will work for small or large beads, in glass or any kind of bead with a center hole in it.

If you'd like to win a pair of disks just like this, to create your own earrings or other jewelry piece, here's the question for this week, comment on this post and you might be the winner.

I'm headed out on vacation soon, and I plan to take some small mobile projects to work on while I'm away. Do you take jewelry projects along when you travel? What kind of things do you find work well when you're traveling, and do you have some hints and tips for traveling with beads? Do you like to include beadwork or jewelry shopping as part of your usual vacation or holiday travel plans?

Share your travel and vacation stories - you might be the winner this week!

July Monthly Challenge

Alexander Calder :: Blue Feather, c. 1948

Sheet metal, wire, and paint

42" x 55" x 18"

Calder Foundation, New York (calder.org)

 About the Artist

"Alexander Calder (1898-1976), whose illustrious career spanned much of the 20th century, is the most acclaimed and influential sculptor of our time. Born in a family of celebrated, though more classically trained artists, Calder utilized his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art. He began by developing a new method of sculpting: by bending and twisting wire, he essentially "drew" three-dimensional figures in space. He is renowned for the invention of the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move and balance in changing harmony. Calder also devoted himself to making outdoor sculpture on a grand scale from bolted sheet steel. Today, these stately titans grace public plazas in cities throughout the world."

About the Sculpture

"The shapes in Blue Feather have been so abstracted that, instead of literally depicting a bird, the piece suggests natural concepts such as floating, soaring wind, wings, feathers, clouds. Blue Feather combines Calder's two most important inventions — the mobile and the stabile. The interconnected lines and positive shapes in the piece interact with the negative spaces around them. The upper portion of the sculpture moves, causing the work to change from minute to minute.
— "Flying Sculptures" Scholastic Art"

The Prizes:

Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on August 1st.

Our sponsors this month are sponsors: Creative Impressions In Clay,
Lyn Foley and Diva Designs please visit us Monday to see the prizes!

Featured Designer of the Week:

From all the entries during the month, an editor is going to pick their favorite design to be featured every Monday here on the ABS. We want to give our participants more time in the spotlight! Our Featured Designer will be this Monday, so get those entries in soon.

How to enter the Monthly Challenge:

1. Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork.

***Beads by themselves and beads simply strung on a chain or cord will not be accepted.***

2. Upload your photo to our flickr group. Detailed instructions can be found here and click here for a tutorial for sending your picture to the group.

Please add the tag or title JULYABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is July 31st. Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn't followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 photos a day.

What is an Art Bead?
An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.

***A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.
Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***

p.s. If you have a blog, post your entry and a link to the ABS challenge to spread the beady goodness. 

Monthly Challenge Winner!

Our winner was randomly picked from all the qualifying entries. Congratulation to Malin de Koning!  If her design looks familiar, it's because she was also one our featured designers in June.  You can see more of Malin's work on flickr or at her blog.
Malin is one lucky beader, she has won $150 worth of beads from our sponsors!

Natural Touch Beads

Gaea

Humblebeads

Thank you to everyone who participated this month.  You can see all the entries here.  Join us tomorrow for a new challenge!