On the 5th Day of Christmas: Frosted Window Pane Earrings

Supplies:
Small mica tile
2 polymer clay disk beads
2 Swarovski rhinestone 8mm balls
2 brass eyepins
2 brass earwires
4 copper spacers
2 brass 4mm jumprings

Directions:
1. Cut the mica with scissors into 4 small rectangles.  Use a two-hole metal punch to create a hole in each mica rectangle.  Attach two of the pieces together with a small jump ring. (I cut one slightly smaller than the other and cut the top edge at an angle.)

2. On the eyepin string a spacer, disk bead, spacer, rhinestone beads.  Trim wire and form a loop.

3. Attach to jump ring.  Attach earwire.

The secret ingredient in this design are sheets of mica. Mica is a naturally occurring mineral that has been laminated into flexible sheets. The grade of mica used for scrapbooking and crafts is thick enough to use as charms for earrings. Although I wouldn't recommend it for jewelry that would take a lot of stress, like a bracelet. And I would treat any jewelry made with mica with extra care when storing to make sure it doesn't get bent or cracked. It is heat and water resistant. I cut the mica tiles with regular scissors, which gave them a frosted edge look.

Supplies: Rhinestone balls and mica sheets, Ornamentea.  Earwires and eyepins, Bello Modo.  Disk beads, Humblebeads.

On the 4th day of Christmas: Lampwork and Chain Charm bracelet

Materials:
10 inches of Silver tone chain
2 inches of Galvanized steel wire for the clasp
8-10 inches of Galvanized steel wire for the lampwork beads
5 Silver tone jump rings approx. 6-7mm
1 Drilled stone
3 coordinating Lampwork glass beads
1 Decorative metal bead

1. Cut a 10 inch section of cable chain and fold it in half.

2. Using a 2 inch section of steel wire, form a wrapped loop, and attach this loop to the end of the chain section, through one of the links at the halfway point.

3. String 1 metal bead. Form a wrapped loop.

4. Using another 2 inch section of wire, form a wrapped loop and attach it to the previous wrapped loop. String 1 Lampwork bead.

5. Repeat this step 2 more times using the remainder of the lampwork beads.

6. On the opposite end of the chain section, attach a small 4 jumpring extender chain.

7. Using about 2 inches of steel wire, create a swirly hook claspin any shape that you like. I tend to keep my clasps small so that they don't take away from the bracelet, but instead blend in.

8. Attach the clasp to the last wrapped loop on the beaded section.

9. Attach a jump ring to the drilled stone and attach it the loop on the bottom of the steel hook clasp.

Voila!
A quick and easy wire wrapped bracelet for the holidays!

Lampwork glass: Magdalena Ruiz

Steel Wire Chain: AD Adornments

Drilled stone: Stones Studios Too

Created by Lorelei Eurto
http://www.lorelei1141.etsy.com/
http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

On the 3rd Day of Christmas: Golden Bird Ornament

Supplies:
Bird pendant
1 branch disk bead
1 faceted glass 8mm bead
2 brass 4mm jumprings
Brass chain
1 brass eyepin
2 copper spacers
2" brass color 18 gauge wire
2 1/2" of 6mm wire mesh ribbon
3" of 1mm wire mesh ribbon

Directions:
1. Attach the bird pendant to the chain using jumpring.
2. On the eyepin string the spacer, disk, spacer and glass bead.  Trim and create a loop.  Attach the eyepin to the center of the chain.
3. Create a wire hook with the wire.  I used a wooden dowel to create the hook.  Attach to the top of the eyepin.
4. Tie the 6mm wire mesh ribbon through the bottom of the hook.  Pull it apart to create a 'leaf' and twisted the ends to finish off the form.  Tie the other wire mess on and pull it quickly between your fingernails to create a "ribbon curl".

Supplies: You can find the brass items at Ornamentea, wire mesh ribbon at Bello Modo and the disk bead from Humblebeads.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas: Peppermint Earrings

Peppermint Earrings
by Jennifer Heynen

Supplies:

• 2 ceramic peppermint charms
• 2 faceted Czech glass 6mm rounds
• 6 inches of 20 gauge sterling silver wire
• 1 silver ear hooks

Instructions:

1. Begin my making a simple wire loop on one end of the wire. Slide the charm onto the loop before closing it.
2. String the Czech glass bead onto the wire. make another simple wire loop right above that bead.
3. Trim the excess wire.
4. Open the loop on the ear hook and slide onto the small wire loop you just made. Close the loop.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 to make your second earring.

Peppermint Charms at Jangles

Designer of the Week: Inspiration

Each Monday we feature the Designer of the Week. One of our editors pick their favorite from the Monthly Challenge entries.

ABS Editor, Cindy Gimbrone had to be creative this week due to the lack of December entries on Flickr. So, to light the fire of creativity, Cindy chose a selection of art beads and findings to help your jewelrymaking muse!

Heather's Garnet Kiss bead reflects to deep colors of this month's painting:



The deep purple and blues in this Jangles Ceramic Pendant fit the color palette.



There is inspiration to be had in buttons! ABS Editor, Tari Sasser make graphic buttons which are well suited to the graphic nature of Untitled.




Lynn Davis offers a graphic heart in her Etsy shop you might find suits your design.



Cindy Gimbrone develop a color palette from Krasner's painting, Untitled to create her versatile double dips. Double Dips can stand alone or added to other beads:





Is your muse whispering in your ear? It's time to create!

We look forward to seeing your submissions on Flickr!

Sundays with Cindy

Good morning, Beady Readers! Wondering what's going on in the bead and jewelry world? Take a peek at our links and see.....

About.com Jewelrymaking
Give a beaded jewelry gift that gives twice.

Art Bead Scene
Be Inspired! Think about creating jewelry that tells a story.

Barbe Saint John
Artbeads Crystalized Elements!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi is selling jewelery in a show for the first time and is trying not to "jinx" her favorites!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Meet the newest addition to the Through the Looking Glass Nugget Charm Family - Alice Blue!

Jean Campbell
Jean discusses how Steampunk jewelry design fits into a larger "Poetic Couture"

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi is sharing a series of Gift Guides for handmade jewelry lovers!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Taking ya back to the Open House 2008! Now stay tuned for pics for Open House 2009 on Dec. 5!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
The ever breathtaking beadmaker Kim Miles pulls out all the stops for the Holidays and gift giving. But that is not all! If you have the "secret word" on the secret day" every week, you get a fab discount!

Untitled, Mary and Me

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.

Last weeks winner is Greer! Congratulations! You have won one of Heather's Snowflake pendants! Send Heather an email and she will get it right out to you.

Welcome to the Studio of Cindy Gimbrone!

Today, I'm sharing my studio with Lee Krasner's painting, Untitled and Mary Harding.

Each month the Art Bead Scene hosts a monthly challenge for jewelry designers. As one of the sponsors for the December challenge, I thought it would be a nice end to the year if I could collaborate with another sponsor to make a special set of beads inspired by the December Challenge painting by Lee Krasner. In my last Studio Saturday, I talked about the collaboration in the making with Mary Harding.

Interestingly, Mary and I had personal stories to share about the painting and the artist. Mary had lived on Long Island near the Pollack Krasner home while Krasner was still alive. She shares her experience of first seeing the Pollock-Krasner home today on ABS:



"When I first stepped off the train on a warm day in June in East Hampton when I was in my twenties, I was sure I had found the most beautiful place in the world. That was back a bit before East Hampton had become the very, very hot spot that it is today. My first visit and many others always traveled it seemed in Pollack's footsteps because my husband to be had spent summers since childhood in Maidstone Park just a few miles further on from Springs Road where Pollack died and had lived. As a young artist, he had idolized Pollack. I was shown his home, I was treated to the vast expanse of lush marshland and glimpses of bright blue water that surrounded it. I remember the dense scrub oak woods and the feeling of fresh salty air, and a sense of freedom and adventure that such a legacy seemed to imbue to us as young and wanna be artists. It was indeed magnificent scenery and would be inspiration for
sure.

Lee Krasner was hardly spoken of except that she was his widow and still lived in their home. She was to wait quite some time before she received her duly earned recognition."

When considering which paintings to use in the ABS Challenges, I purposefully set about looking for female painters. Often overlooked during their lifetime and well after, there is a rich body of work to choose from.

I love the graphic nature of Krasner's Untitled and I was fortunate enough to actually see it at the Albright Knox in my hometown.



The painting is rather small but is full of texture and life. I wish the ABS readers could have seen it, you wanted to reach out and touch it. You can't see the texture of a painting from a picture of it and it's a shame because texture is what gives the painting vibrancy and life. Untitled has it and I stood in front of it for a long time taking it in.

Mary and I talked about our experience with the artist and worked to capture that in the color palette we chose. In lieu of texture, we chose a vibrant green as an accent to make the rest of colors come alive.




We hope our beads inspire designers to see the passion in often overlooked paintings and make them come alive for you. Our collaboration has been exciting and fruitful. Mary and I will be writing more this coming week on our blogs. But now, for this week's question:

Is there a color, a painting, an artist or artform you think gets overlooked? Leave me a comment and you'll be entered to win one of the "Untitled" flameworked glass art beads I've made for this month's challenge!

I look forward to reading your comments!