Sundays with Cindy

Hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep this morning. Get the coffee and let's take a peek at what our bead bloggers have been up to....

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy is catching up on her book reviews. Take a look as some of her latest . 

Art Bead Scene
Make a lovely autumn wreath with this Art Bead Scene free project!  

Beading Arts
Cyndi has a SIGNED copy of the wonderful new book "30-Minute Necklaces" to give away!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi makes some Peter Rabbit clay pendants using new rubber stamps. 

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
This week's Mad for Monday is all about the lotus.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Indian Creek Studios has generously donated some rustic ceramic pieces to be featured in this week's Thursday Giveaway! Find out how you can win these beauties!

Studio Saturday with Shannon LeVart

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 Elizabeth!. Congratulations! 

You have won a pair of adorable candy corn earrings from the studio of Tari Sasser. 

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

 

This week we visit the studio of Shannon LeVart at Missficklemedia.com.

Welcome! I was struggling to think of what to write about today as I have been experiencing a bit of a burn out. I think the the burn out is a result of too much assembly line production work and not enough day dreamy designing. I recently finished a very large order that challenged me personally and while I am glad for the experience I gained from this personal challenge, I'm also relieved that it is over.

 

Plus, like a lot of custom requests, it gave me a new product to add to my line of goods; double soldered circles, perfect for framing art beads in! As I contemplate their use, it occurred to  me that they had a duel purpose.

 The first, a left over pair of the prototypes (version 3) became extravagant hoop earrings with Claire Maunsel's Jewels on Wood art beads;

  

 Adding a patina in shades of brown and blue complimented the deep blue in Claire's beads surrounding this pair of hoops. And another prototype (version 5) became the focal point in this violet statement necklace that features Gaea's Swirling Teardrop Pendant in pale peach;

 

How fun is that!?! The same build that gives two completely different looks! After finding these very versatile, and giving myself a good long week off, I have decided to offer them in a rainbow of colors. The first pair, done up in the ever popular Verdigris patina, is going to the winner of next weeks drawing! Yay for winning!!! 

 

 

 In order to have your name entered into the drawing, you must leave a comment answering this question -

What favorite jewelry component do you use, or would like to use, that has more than one use? 

As always, thank you for visiting us here at Art Bead Scene, if it wasn't for you, well, I'd just be talking to myself now, wouldn't I?

Much Love & Respect,

Shannon LeVart

missficklemedia.com

Tree of Life Inspiration

(Left to right:) 1. HigherChakraSupply 2. Humblebeads 3. MamacitaBeadworks 

4. Shaterra  5. Genea

6. MarshaNealStudio 7.Green Girl Studios from BeadLady

8. Erica  9. FlameCrazy

November Monthly Challenge Prizes

This month we have 2 fabulous sponsors for our November Challenge.

Genea Crivello-Knable from Genea Beads is donating the pendant, headpins and beads shown above ($68 value). Genea makes wonderful beads and jewelry components. The bright colors of her lampworked beads are juicy and make you want to touch them.

Visit Genea's blog, Etsy, Twitter, flickr or "like" her on Facebook.

: : :

Heather Powers of Humblebeads is a donating a $50 gift certificate. 

Whether it's the birds, beads, trees, toggles, headpins or many pieces of jewelry,
who doesn't love Heather's ability to create beautiful color combinations and designs.

My favorite have always been the Van Gogh pieces.

Visit Heather on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy, flickr and her blog!

 Submit photos of your wonderful creations using one or more Art Beads.
Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt has many different elements that can be used for inspiration, patterns, repetition, curlycues, symbolism, spot color and gold.
We can't wait to see where your creativity takes you with the art for this months challenge!




Please remember to put NOVABS in the title or tag of your submission(s). 
Provide us with the artist of the Art Beads used and I always love to know all the materials you used.

Challenge of Color Winner

JeannieK is the winner of a $30 Gift Certificate from Humblebeads etsy store.

Thank you for leaving your comments on the Challenge of Color.

Have a colorful day!

November Monthly Challenge

Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze, 1909

Gustav Klimt 1862-1918

About the Art

Klimt's representation of "Tree of Life" is an important symbol in nearly every culture. With its branches reaching into the sky, and roots deep in the earth, it dwells in three worlds- a link between the Heavens, the Earth, and the Underworld, uniting above and below. It is both a feminine symbol, softly bearing sustenance, and a masculine, visibly phallic symbol- forming another union. Looking closely, the swirling, concentric branches draw us deep into the painting, where we see Klimt's multiple, varied symbols therin, including geometric leaves and fruits, as well as flowers on the ground, that appear as eyes peering back at us. Of note is the gorgeous bird in the right center, set apart from all other detail by its darkness. Some say it is an owl, representing wisdom, or, more likely, a raven, representing death. As a print, the work is often split into three images, with the figure on the left titled, "Expectation" and the two on the right, "Fulfillment."

About the Artist

Gustav Klimt was a Viennese painter and the founder of the Vienna Secession, the Austrian Art Nouveau movement. His early work, consisting principally of large murals for theaters, was painted in an unremarkable naturalistic style.

After 1898, Klimt's work moved toward greater innovation and imagination, taking on a more decorative, symbolic aspect. He continued to paint murals, but the harsh public criticism of the three murals Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence led him to concentrate on panel painting. Klimt's best-known works are his later portraits, such as Frau Fritsa Reidler, with their flat, unshadowed surfaces, translucent, mosaic colors and forms, and sinuous, curling background lines and patterns.

Among his most admired works is the series of mosaic murals (1905-1909) in the Palais Stoclet, an opulent private mansion in Brussels designed by the architect Josef Hoffmann, who was also a member of the Vienna Secession movement.

The Prizes:

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

Our sponsors this month are: Genea Beads, and Humblebeads please visit us Thursday 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. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. 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 strung on a chain, by themselves and beads simply wire 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 NOV ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is November 30th. 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.

October Monthly Challenge Winner

Congratulations to Jill Palumbo. Her entry was randomly chosen from this month's qualifying entries.

Jill has won Beads and Pendants from Artisan Clay and a Bronze Clay Pendant from Cindy Gimbrone!

We want to thank our awesome sponsors and all those who played along and entered this month's challenge.

Join us tomorrow for a new challenge!