The Studio of Cindy Gimbrone: Friends and Allies

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.

The winner this week is Cynthia - Congratulations, you have won one of Lynn's lovely flower baskets. Email Lynn with your address, and she will send those out to you.

Welcome to the studio of Cindy Gimbrone!

If you read Studio Saturday regularly, you'll remember I had a big home office/jewelry studio clean out a month or so ago that got my creative wheels turning. I work in a couple of different mediums creating beads because each medium allows me to do something different.

One of the things I wanted to do but couldn't achieve very well in glass is using printed words.  I love the idea of walking around with jewelry that shows the world what you think and who you are in printed words. There are lots of talented bead/jewelry artists out there putting words on pendants and beads. But since we're all individuals, I didn't see any of the words or phrases that expressed how I felt. So that sent me to the bead table to create beads with my own phrases.

One word resonating with me lately is, ally. By impressing parts of the definition of ally, I hit at the heart of the meaning for me....

...an ally supports and loves you. An ally is a friend, a partner, a spouse, a family member, those who love and support you. Unconditionally. We all need someone like that in our lives, don't we?

I kept humming this classic song from the Beatles, "A Little Help from My Friends"  when I was making this new series of Word Beads...

Who is your friend and ally? Share with me and you'll be entered to win one of my new Ally Beads!

Easy Summer Link Pendants

I'm so smitten with this pendant by Kylie Parry.  I've seen numerous variations of pendants using a link as a frame for your beads, but this one is perfect.  So art bead delicious!  I love the play of the ring as the blue sky as the frame for her tiny cloud charm.  She kept it simple with just a touch of color and a delicate 18" chain.

And this design is from Balanced and features a Kylie Parry house pendant, a lampwork glass bead and a hand-stamped tag.  I love the idea of layering the beads as sort of a little story.  These are all attached to a brass ring and chain.

One of my own designs using a Vintaj 15mm jump ring and a collection of glass & resin beads to create a garden for this little fox to frolic in.  The pendant dangles from a lightweight gunmetal chain.

I love the simplicity of Shannon LeVart's design featuring one of her hammered rings and a fine silver charm that she created.  Easy going and so summery!  She used a fun ball chain to complete the design.

(These 4 examples are shown for inspiration only, please respect the designers' copyrights.)

So there you have it, 4 ways with the same basic formula: Link + Art Bead + Chain = the perfect summer necklace! Each of the designers used chain that measured from 16-19 1/2 inches, a great length to show off your framed art. See how creative you can get with these basic elements and what you have in your stash! 

Or if you need a little retail therapy - above are a few of my favorite links from different artisans. The first two are from NeSHEnJewelry, they remind me of tree bark.  The white washed and colorful patina links are from MissFickleMedia.  Those organic silver links are from OakhillSilverSupply.  And finally, the rich dark silver links are from AtlantisGlassandBeads.

Copper Jewelry Components

If you've purchased silver lately, I know there was some wincing on your part at that the price.  With silver prices staying at over $30 per troy ounce, copper is looking pretty attractive as an alternative metal for jewelry designers. 

Here are a few artisan made pendants using copper.  A pendant using recycled copper by KDemARTe.  A copper metal clay pendant from Andrew Thornton.  And two etched metal pendants, the flight-inspired piece by Higher Chakra and an etched flower by FlapYourWing.

Along with using copper pendants from artists, you can alter commercial copper findings by texturing them with hammers, texturing plates or etching them yourself.  With some wire and practice you can make your own clasps, jump rings and earwires.  The copper wire sold at hardware stores is the same copper wire used for jewelry, you can pick up a spool for a few dollars.  You can find sheets of copper at Hobby Lobby in varying thickness for different projects.  You want raw copper wire, beware of copper colored wire sold at craft stores, it has a coating that prevents you from using patinas or a torch with them.

You can also easily antique copper with a beautiful dark finish using liver of sulphur or try your hand at the color patina techniques written about by our own Shannon LeVart in her ebook Color Drenched Metal.

"From Mark Nelson of Rio Grande: Patinas in general can be very sensitive and delicate. Sealing them with a lacquer such as Finish Seal lacquer #335-123 or a wax such as Renaissance wax can help prolong the life of the color and help keep the copper from turning your skin green. Applying a sealer however can alter the color of the patina (usually making it darker)."

Great Links to Check Out:

Make your own spiral wire clasp by Cindy Wimmer

Copper etching with chemicals

Copper etching chemical free

Make your own earwires by Deryn Mentock

How to patina with liver of sulphur

How to patina with Cool Tools patina gel, part 1 & 2

(Copper wire photo altered from: Wormwould via Flickr's creative commons.)

Design Lessons from a Tuna

A tuna?  Heather have you lost your mind? (Photo credit: Kretyen)

No! Not the fish - although I'm sure there are some lessons there too, but today let's consider the cactus tuna.  Tuna is the name of the fruit of cactus, shown in the photo above.    It's also known as a prickly pear.  So the other day I came across a few inspiring photos of tuna and started thinking about how they relate to jewelry making.  Well, really if you look at anything in nature and study it carefully you'll find inspiration for your creative work.

Ceramic beads from NPKbeads, polymer clay pendant from Humblebeads.

Lampwork beads from RadiantMind and patina hammered bars from MissFickleMedia.

(Photo credit: Pizzodisevo)

Polymer clay headpins from Humblebeads, lampwork glass beads from DonnaMillard.

Czech glass beads and Vintaj bead cap from DreamGirlBeads.

Now that we've got the eye candy out of the way, here are some lessons from the tuna:

Be resourceful!  Who looked at those things and decided, umm tasty?  But not only do folks cut the fruit and eat it plain, it's made into candy, jelly, drinks and a whole lot more.  The green part of the cactus is cut up and cooked into dishes.  Both are sold at my local grocer.  So look around your studio and get creative with what you already have on hand!

That leads me to the next lesson - take chances!  The plant screams out danger, but someone took the risk to see if it was edible and they made quite a discovery.  Try something new and a little scary in your studio this week.

Nature is the best color instructor - I mean just look at those two palettes.  You could spend your whole life studying nature and color and you'd still have things to learn.

Texture makes life interesting!  Look at those textures - smooth, spiky, velvety soft - mix it up in your jewelry to add life to your work.  Think smooth stones next to warm wood, slick glass next to rough raku ceramic.  Have fun mixing art beads from different mediums with accent beads in dynamic textures.

Explore variations of a theme.  Nature didn't stop at just one type of cactus.  Oh no look at how many there are!  Look how different just the two of these plants are and they are the same type.  Basically don't stop at the first design solution - you'll often find working a design 2 or 3 times in different variations will produce even more creative and successful results.  Revisit older designs and try them in a different color combination or with a new focal bead.

And speaking of lessons from nature - I'm so inspired by nature when it comes to jewelry that I wrote a book about it! 

It will be out in September and can be pre-ordered now:

Jewelry Designs from Nature: Woodlands, Gardens, Sea: Art Bead Jewelry Designs Inspired by Nature

Playing Hide & Seek: May Challenge Inspiration

When the new ABS Monthly challenge rolls around, I always head out for a little retail therapy to jump start my brain. This month's painting is filled with a sweet pastoral setting of a mother and daughter enjoying each others' company. The colors are verdant and cool with a touch of stark black and white. So many options!

 Let's start out with some beads to go with our May monthly challenge, shall we?



These lampwork boro beads from Firelily have the perfect shade of grassy meadow, don't you think?

And speaking of meadow...how about this awesome Meadow Mix of faceted glass from BeadsandBotanicals on Etsy.

The little pops of red on the hide-and-seek tree could be these sweet hand dyed lucite flower beads from Petalbeads on Etsy.

One of my favorite stones is the shimmery goldstone, and green goldstone is one of the hardest colors to find, but is a perfect match for that tree. Scoop up different sizes and shapes of faceted green goldstone from Fire Mountain Gems.

These leafy little caps from the new Arte Metal line through Vintaj I found at Fusionbeads.

For the green grasses waving, these silk strand bundles, in expertly coordinated colors by MarshaNealStudios, are soft and pretty.

Black and cream striped ribbon from Caramelos on Etsy.

The dresses on this mother and daughter make me want to break out the lace! How about this trim from GriffithsGarden that looks substantial enough to hold it all together.

A simply charming polymer clay umbrella from JessContreras of on Etsy. (And yes, I think your lovely wife is rubbing off on you! In a very good way! ;-)

And just look at these wee raw brass umbrella charms that I found from one of my favorites: MKBeads. Squee! I think that you could patina these...what do you think?

I have a few coveted glass beads from extraordinary artist Kerri Fuhr of Kerribeads on Etsy. If you have one you know what I am talking about. This bird looks like it swooped right out of this painting and into my heart.

I have long been a fan of Elukka from Sweden and her little houses and charming pastoral scenes. These little houses look just like the structures in the painting.

I stumbled on the original watercolor paintings set under resin by artist Sarah Lambert-Cook of TuckooandMooCow and I am smitten I tell you! Is this the house in the background of the painting? I swear it must be! This Irish Country Cottage is so awesome! I know it comes on a chain, but I can see this as the start of something grand!

What are you waiting for? Go out there and get inspired. And don't forget to enter your blog post of your challenge piece on this post here by May 29th. I will host the blog hop on May 30th!

Happy shopping!

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.

Featured Designer of the Week: Bee Tree By M.E.

Each Monday the Art Bead Scene features the Designer of the Week. One of our editors picks her favorite from the Monthly Challenge entries. This week's featured designer is Bee Tree By M.E.!

Here is what ABS editor, Lynn Davis, had to say about this design:

"If you've looked over the details of the Berthe Morisot impressionist painting titled "Cache-cache" (Hide-and-Seek) that is the Artbeadscene inspiration for the month of May, it's easy to see how this colorful and imaginative necklace was inspired by the images from the painting. The white findings by Shannon Levart and the sweet, wire-wrapped pearls in the center of the green floral design give it that quaint, shabby chic look that's so wearable for springtime, and the dark scarflette tendrils echo the hatbands on the lovely subject in the painting. Wouldn't this be pretty to wear with a spaghetti strap white lace summer dress? Congratulations, M.E., for your unique design inspiration."

View more of her work here at her blog and at her Flickr site. 

Want to see your work here next week? Enter our monthly challenge for a chance to be featured! Be sure to add ABS May as a tag to your photo and make sure you allow us to download your photo so we can prepare our posts that feature you.

Sundays with Cindy

Happy Mother's Day! Let's see what the bead bloggers have been up to this week....

A Bead A Day
If you are interested in polymer clay techniques, Cindy Lietz, the Polymer Clay Tutor, is offering a free tutorial on color blending!

About.com Jewelry Making
Even if May 5th passed by you unnoticed, that doesn't mean you can't find an excuse to celebrate.

Art Bead Scene
Looking for a challenge? Art Bead Scene has two design contests for you!

Beading Arts
Don't miss our next giveaway package from the fabulous Cherry Tree Beads!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
How 'bout a mini-dip to go with your double dip?

Resin Crafts!
Resin Crafts has a great idea for using leftover resin.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews the stunning book, Vintage Jewelry Design. It's one hundred years of must-see beauty!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Celebrate Spring and the return of the weekly Thursday Giveaways with an assortment of components from Beadaholique!