Bead Studio Inspirations

I have such an under decorated studio, it's down-right embarrassing and rather uninspiring.  Like seriously, my beautiful seagrass paper-covered inspiration board has one picture on it.  And anyone else sick of having their beads stuffed in plastic containers? Out of sight - out of mind! Or how about jewelry and displays that are neatly packed away for the next show - efficient but a few on display could spark some new ideas.

I'm on a mission to create this space into something that would leap off the pages of Where Women Create, keeps me organized and helps me work more efficiently.  That really sounds like a job for a professional but unless a Home Crasher find me the aisles of a home improvement store, it's a job that I will need to tackle!

First up - my poor walls - bare and forlorn.  They need some art work and photos stat.  I am going to start with this Shine On You Crazy Diamond print from Vol25.  Love, love, love it!

Next up, my jewelry from my book is on display on a green pegboard.  Uh, no - bad Heather.  It really needs a more artistic display.  I'm digging this reclaimed wood one from Yesterday Reclaimed.

Art beads tucked in boxes, hidden away?  That's a shame.  They need to be in a few special little bowls.  I would gather up birds, eggs and nest beads to put them into this cutie from Karen Norton.

Wouldn't this be a fun way to display inspiration photos or earrings on cards.  This vintage find is from In With the Old.

Ah the printer's tray.  I don't think I'll ever be lucky enough to snag a whole cabinet, but a tray or two would look awesome on my bead table. I always feel a little green with envy when I see them in other bead studio photos. You can find this one from Aurora Mills.

I have a collection of trays that I use when I design jewelry. I'll gather materials into the tray and see what happens!  And it makes a quick clean up at the end of the day, just stack your trays until you are ready to work again. This weathered one is from On Winston Lane.

You know those beads you absolutely love?  Yeah, those ones.  They need their own bowl.  This precious ceramic one is from Lauren Sumner Pottery.

A little utilitarian, I actually have a few of these card files in my studio and store my clay in them. I like their vintage feel and they hide away quite a bit!  These are from River Jim. 

A sweet display for some of your handcrafted treasures - don't hide them in a box, hang them in your studio. You can find these at Selina Beads n Bits. 

This vintage owl from Long Lost Love can be used to display earrings, but I think he'd made a good studio mascot.  You know, to remind you of just how smart and clever you are!   

I will wait to see what kind of treasures I can find at the next antique market at the end of the month.  Until then I will be purging.  I have beads I will never use.  You know, they kind you saw at a show and price was just too good to pass up but that was 5 years ago. Yeah, that kind of bead stash needs to find a new home. This is my mantra for my studio redo:

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Morris

Designer of the Week :: Klassy Joolz + Mandrel 2 & Elizabeth Creations

I was immediately drawn to the lovely art nouveau silver pendant in this necklace right away that recalls the lounging lovely in the painting. And then the mossy greens and rich russet colors of the glass had me wanting more! This necklace from Pam at KlassyJoolz is a wonderful interpretation of the Mucha inspiration for September and makes me want to reach out and touch it!

Featured Designer :: Klassy Joolz

Featured Art Beads :: Mandrel 2 and Elizabeth Creations
 

Join me here on Monday, September 30th for the monthly blog tour.

Note: Please remember to share with us the name of the artist (and links if you have them!) for the art beads that you use in your piece! Since art beads are why we are here, we want to give a shout out to the talented folks that provide us with the inspiration for our pieces. Tell us about them! And also give us the exact URL of your blog post in your description of the picture on Flickr if you want to be included in the monthly blog tour. Thank you!

Studio Saturday: Humblebeads

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 Carol D.. Congratulations! You have won a pair of earrings from Rebecca Anderson of Songbead. Send Rebecca a message with your address and she will get them right out to you.

Welcome to the Humblebeads Studio today!

I have been busy designing and debuting a new collection of autumn inspired jewelry.  I work in series with pieces that can mix and match together.  This line of jewelry is one that I created to wholesale so they are pieces that can be created over and over again.  

Some designers do like the process of production work, I don't mind it.  It's much easier to design once and recreate the same pieces over and over again.  I like to do a mix of both one-of-a-kind pieces with the production work.  Mainly because I have an awesome stash of art beads that can only be one-of-a-kind designs. 

I have been taking a class with the Flourish & Thrive Academy on Ramping up Your Holiday Sales.  This is pushing me to reach out of my comfort zone and stretch myself to be completely prepared for the holiday season.  (Stop giggling at me, I'm almost there!)

Ideally I should have had the fall pieces ready to go by the beginning of August but working that far ahead is something I'm learning to do, it doesn't come naturally to me!  I love creating designs inspired by the current season, but as a professional designer that doesn't work.  Unless one day I'm so far ahead of the game that I'm working a year head.  

Ha, that will NEVER happen!

The Flourish & Thrive Academy have two free resources I would like to recommend to you.  The first I have shared here before - but it's worth sharing again.

151 Ways to Boost Your Holiday Sales - Just the like title says, this list is jam packed with great ideas to get a jump on your holiday sales.  Use the list to make and work a plan for your best sales season yet!

20 Sales in 20 Days Challenge  - Totally free, no strings attached 20 days of challenges to help you sell your jewelry! The challenge starts at the end of the month, but I would sign up today so you don't forget!

So now the fun part - FREE BEADS!!!  One lucky winner will be chosen by random to receive a set of my Bittersweet Disk Beads - one of my favorites for fall!

My question for your this week - Are you selling your jewelry this holiday season?  

If yes, do you do craft shows, trunk shows, home shows or sell to stores? Do you have an usual event or place you sell your jewelry?  Share your story this week!

Etsy Finds • September Monthly Challenge Art

'Art Bead Scene - September Monthly Challenge Art' by gaea

Alphonse Mucha is one of my favorite artist! His whimsical and fluid designs are calming and mysterious. These design elements marry well with this months challenge art, Autumn, from Muchas "The Seasons (series)".

Handcrafted Large Copper Cuf... BohemianBeads $55	Boleslawiec Polish pottery b... WarsawAccent $13	Gorgeous gold metallic finis... Glassmania $28	Intricate Geometric Art Bead... selenaannewell... $4
Orange and Yellow Enameled L... BeadSwedeSuppl... $8.5	Bird Link / Handmade Ceramic... gaea $12.5	Silk Bracelets, Silk Ribbons... RibbonsAndSilk $15	Two Art Nouveau Brass Flower... PatinaQueen $2.5
Glass Pods Headpins Lampwork... NadinArtGlass $12	beaded crochet trim, handmad... PashaBodrum $18	Chestnut Brown Brass Oval Ch... missficklemedi... $7	Art nouveau Mucha lady brass... WarsawAccent $5
Artisan Copper Precious Meta... dreamgirlbeads $24	Pastel Peach and Green Petal... BohemianBeads $55	Silver Vintage Mucha Maiden ... ChasingTheSpar... $3.29	AZ Lampwork Handmade Forged ... AzLampworkBead... $17

Sponsored by send bulk email from excel.

September Monthly Challenge Color Palette

This month's painting, The Autumn by Alphonse Mucha, is a perfect palette as we slide out of summer and right into fall. Don't you think?

Unlike past challenge palettes, which usually featured a bunch of different colors, this month's challenge painting has colors in a fairly narrow range, focusing mostly on shades of orange and yellow. The browns and tans you see all come from those two colors, so these would be a great base for your own color schemes. Stay on the medium to light side for these to better match the source painting.

To keep things interesting, there are touches of red and green in The Autumn, too. Out of all the swatches I pulled, the red is the darkest shade, so use that as a guide for your own work and go with darker reds. If you're following the distribution of color in the painting, use that darker red only sparingly.

As for the greens, there are a few different shades - the two I picked were my favorites. Behind the oranges and yellows, green would be used the third-most, and range from very light sage greens to a darker forest green. But like red, there are touches of green everywhere, but they are just touches, so use them purposefully.

I hope this helps you create your challenge pieces this month!

September Monthly Challenge Prizes + Sponsors

Our Wonderful sponsors for the September Challenge.
We will have 2 Lucky Winners this Month!

Songbead

Rebecca Anderson of Songbead makes wonderful jewelry from beads, notions and other curiosities.  Rebecca offers Czech glass beads, handmade findings and waxed linen cord at The Curious Bead Shop on Etsy, perfect to compliment your art beads. Pop on over there to see all the fun stuff she has to offer!

Rebecca is donating a $50 goodie bag from The Curious Bead Shop.

 Visit Rebecca at her Songbead, The Curious Bead Shop and Facebook.

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Mary Harding Jewelry

Mary Harding of Mary Harding Jewelry creates wonderful ceramic beads, buttons, charms, pendants and jewelry components, using nature as her inspiration. Mary uses different clay bodies and glazes to bring you her impressions from nature. Great additions to your jewelry creations!

Mary is donating a $50 gift certificate in her website.

Visit Mary on her website, Blog and Facebook.

: : :

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

Autumn (Seasons Series) by Alphonse Mucha has with many different elements that can be used for inspiration: figures, yellow, orange, red, nature, fruit/harvest and toanl values of colors.

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

Please remember to put SEP ABS in the title or tag of your submission(s).  

Provide us with the artist of the Art Beads used and we always love to know all the materials you used. 
***Art Beads MUST be used in your entry.***

September Monthly Challenge

Autumn from  "The Seasons (series)", 1896

Alphonse Mucha 

Oil on Panel

About the Art

This was Mucha’s first set of decorative panels and it became one of his most popular series. It was so popular that Mucha was asked by Champenois to produce at least two more sets based on the same theme in 1897 and 1900. Designs for a further two sets also exist.

The idea of personifying the seasons was nothing new – examples could be found in the works of the Old Masters’ as well as in Champenois’s other publications. However, Mucha’s nymph-like women set against the seasonal views of the countryside breathed new life into the classic theme. In the four panels shown here, Mucha captures the moods of the seasons – innocent Spring, sultry Summer, fruitful Autumn and frosty Winter, and together they represent the harmonious cycle of Nature. (Mucha Foundation: “The Seasons (series)”)

Mucha used lithography as the printing technique for his posters. The posters are usually signed in the block. Some of his posters were produced as sets like The Four Seasons. Complete sets count among the most searched for of his works.

About the Artist

Alfons Maria Mucha was born in Ivancice, a small provincial town in the Czech Republic. He started his artistic in stage decorations and decorative paintings. He studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts from 1885 until 1887.After Munich, Mucha moved to the "mecca" of arts, Paris. Here he studied with different teachers and worked on small commissions for book and newspaper illustrations.

In December 1894 Mucha became famous with a commission for a poster for the actress Sarah Bernard. Sarah Bernard was a celebrity of her time. He received an exclusive six year contract by the actress not only designing all her posters, but her theater decorations and costumes as well. From now on the artist was swamped with commissions for all kind of commercial print advertising.

During the course of the next 10 years, Mucha became one of the most popular and successful of Parisian artists. Commissions flooded in - for theatre posters, advertising posters, decorative panels, magazine covers, menus, postcards, calendars. Mucha's designs for jewellery, cutlery, tableware, fabrics etc were in so much demand that he conceived the idea of creating a 'handbook for craftsmen', which would offer all the necessary patterns for creating an Art Nouveau lifestyle.

Between 1904 and 1921 Mucha traveled frequently to the United States, during this time he married and had a daughter. Mucha returned to Bohemia in 1910.  He spent a large part of the remainder of his life creating the 20 paintings which make up the Slav Epic. These monumental paintings, some of which measure as much as 6 by 8 metres, celebrate more than a thousand years of Slav history, divided between specifically Czech themes and those of other Slav peoples. The canvases were completed between 1912 and 1926 and in 1928 Mucha and Charles Crane officially presented the Slav Epic as a gift to the City of Prague.

In 1939 the German Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia. The popularity of the artist made him a number one target for the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police. He was arrested, interrogated and realeased. Shortly afterwards, Alphonse Maria Mucha died on July 14, 1939 in Prague. His Slav Epic paintings were hidden away at the beginning of the war and lost to the art world until 1968 when they were placed on permanent exhibition in the castle of Moravsky Krumlo.

(Resources: Artelino and the Mucha Foundation.)

Blog Tour

The Blog Tour deadline is September 27th.

Links must be added to the Art Bead Scene flickr page where you upload your entry. 

The Blog Tour will be on September 30th.

Monthly Challenge Winners

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

Our Sponsors

Our Sponsors this month are Songbead and Mary Harding Jewelry.

Please visit us tomorrow 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 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. 

An Art Bead must be used in your piece to qualify for the monthly challenge.

***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 SEP 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 September 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.