Amuse Your Muse with Rebecca of Songbead

 Happy Monday Art Bead Scene-rs! I can't believe this is my first Amuse your Muse post of May.....life got in the way last Monday, and before that we had ABS beginning of the month business....You can see from my Inside the Studio post last Friday just what kind of things have been keeping me busy....

To compensate, I bring you a whole bouquet of handmade flowers. Flowers are some of my very favourite imagery to design with - I have ceramic flowers, glass flowers, fabric flowers, polymer, bronze, pewter, woven.......I know I am far from being alone in loving to work with handmade flower beads within my designs, and I would love to know which handmade flower beads excite you - leave your links in the comments below. We love seeing your handmade beads and discovering your favourite bead artists too! I also have a special announcement to make at the end, so stay tuned...

 Mermaid Glass 

MG has these gorgeous ruffled flower discs available in many beautiful colours - I don't know which ones to choose!

Verada Craft 

I love the bold simplicity of these lampwork rounds. 

Lori Lochner

Stunning spring daisies from Lori - wouldn't these make wonderful earrings?

Ekka Boutique

EB has these very unusual flowers available in a range of colours - all as vibrant and as cheerful as the next. 

The Curious Bead Shop

My sweet wee button clasp, in the form of an art deco-inspired rose! 

Serena Smith Lampwork

These glass flowers are so sweet and very classic; again, I can see these in some beautiful summer earrings!

Sooz Beads 

I just love this bold shade of blue. Very Mediterranean - I can see it looking rather wonderful with white and lemon yellow. Yum!

 Lisa Kan Designs

Lisa Kan has a whole range of stunning blossoms. This sea foam green is my personal fave.

 Mary Harding Jewelry

Co-editor Mary makes the most wonderful botanical pieces. There is always so much detail that goes into each one - I have a precious selection of her work and I don't know how I would ever part with any of them!

Bo Hulley Beads

Bo often uses flowers from her own garden to help form her new designs. This pendant is particularly lovely, straight out of an 'English Country Garden'. 

Humblebeads

Editor-in-chief here at ABS and polymer guru Heather Powers truly is Inspired by Nature (have you checked out her book? If you haven't, you really should!). This hyacinth pendant is magnificent.

More Skye Jewels

Marie has many flower pieces in her lovely shop but this yellow rose pendant leapt out at me crying 'pick me! pick me!'. I just love yellow!

Cynthia Thornton

Cynthia of Green Girl Studios makes the most wonderful cast-metal components. I am always astonished at the level of detail she achieves and have no idea how anyone could be create such detailed carvings on such a minute scale.

Scorched Earth

Petra always has a packed shop, full of inspiring, distinctive ceramic goodies. They always have a rustic, earthy vibe to them, including this beautiful flower. Look at the beautiful colouring! 

Tesori Trovati (our very own Erin, of course)

Erin has a great selection of her made-to-order Simple Truths over in her web shop. These sweet flowers are some of my favourites - so perfect for so many occasions. 

Thea Elements 

Lesley has recently branched out into ceramics alongside her metal clay work, but I still can't get enough of her lovely bronze work! This flower bead cap would make a splendid pendant, don't you think?

Jettabug Jewelry 

Jetta will be a familiar name to Stringing Magazine fans I am sure! Alongside her stunning jewellery, she creates the most beautiful polymer clay components, including this rather wonderful hyacinth pendant. 

Beady Eyed Bunny

Leah of BEB has a magic touch with polymer, as do many of today's featured artists! I adore her birds, wee critters, houses and more....but I think her roses are particularly special. She's out of stock of these at the moment, but if you ask very nicely, she may well make up some just for you. 

And now for the news from me.....you may have read about my beaded beads and my indecision whether to sell or not to sell in my most recent Inside the Studio post...Well, after discussion with some of my lovely and wise friends, I have decided to sell them in a limited edition way. I will have a selection available over at The Curious Bead Shop this Friday. I will have some of the simple one-colour rounds that I shared in my previous post, but also some of these sweet heart, flower and flower garland designs also. Very apt for my May Flowers post I thought! What colours would you like to see? I hope I'll see you on Friday!

And now for the Bead Blogger Links. Have a great week!

Art Bead Scene
Take a peek Inside the Studio with Rebecca of Songbead - and be in with the chance to win some of her hand-woven beaded beads!
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/inside-studio-with-rebecca-of-songbead.html

Resin Crafts
A week of working in molds is summarized in this post featuring the lovely Frida encased in EasyCast.

A Bead A Day
Sometimes you just need a little jewelry pick-me-up to make a work Friday a little more fun. Lisa is sharing her Fun Friday jewelry and would love to hear about yours!

It's party time!
Andrew celebrates the Grand Reopening of Allegory Gallery in their new location! Check out the recap of the event.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! 
Jean reviews a lovely set of paintbrushes by showing what they do! 

Get Your Felt On
Tammy takes a look at a book from Schiffer Publishing that's all about felt and felt making.

Beading Arts
Cyndi has been sharing some of the practice pieces that she made for her new e-book! 

Mixed Media: Adding Layers
Cherie creates a mixed media picture with her favorite colors.

Etsy Picks for May Inspired by the Painting Capriccio Padovano by Bernardo Bellatto

                    
The May Challenge painting for Art Bead Scene, Capriccio Padovano by Bernardo Bellatto, seen above, is inspiring to me for its gorgeous array of golden ambers and lovely blues.  These colors have guided my search for artist beads to help you with your creations for this month ABS Challenge.



I hope these beautiful beads will give you ideas for your creations for this month's Art Bead Scene Challenge.

Inside the Studio with Rebecca of Songbead

Welcome to Inside the Studio!

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.

Congratulations Bead Recipes! You have won a ceramic house button from Tari Sasser of Creative Impressions In Clay. Please send Tari an email with your information.

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These past few weeks have been quite whirlwind for me for one reason or another. It sometimes feels like I begin every blog post I ever write with some kind of opening sentence like that one! Do things, will things ever calm down? I keep waiting....We found out last week that we are definitely going to be moving away from Northern Ireland at the end of July. We always knew that our stay here would only be for a year but it really has flown by and I can't quite believe I'm going to have to pack up and leave my beautiful big studio here! I know that where we go next, rental prices will not be the same and I will not have the same luxury of space. I must try not to mourn it before I have actually gone. Hopefully new and exciting things are in store for us down the road, but I will miss Belfast and NI greatly, it's safe to say. 

What else is new with me? Well, this month I have some of my jewellery in an exhibition at the Scottish Arts Club in Edinburgh, until the 7th June. If you are a local, you can drop in and see my display - the SAC is on Rutland Square and you just ring the doorbell and ask to come in to see the exhibition. There are also some wonderful painting from Rosalind Lawless, and some beautiful mixed-media textile work from SAC member Lorna Noble. Definitely work a viewing if you are in the area. 

Here's a peek at my stand from the preview night on the 14th:

A lot of art beads on display within my work! 

Another thing you will see featured, if you look hard, are something new I have been working on.....

Not strictly art beads, but still handmade, I have returned to my bead-weaving roots, and have started making my own wooden-cored beaded beads. 

There is a pleasing sense that I am coming full circle with my work....I started bead weaving when I was a young teenager; all but abandoning it a few years ago when jewellery design became less of a even a serious hobby, and more of a job. It IS hugely time-consuming, and I can't imagine how anyone can make a living doing it full-time. I also know that my brain is not one of an engineer and I do believe that most of the best bead-weavers out there are able to think structurally in a way that I simply can't. 

However, I have long had the idea that I wanted to be able to make these little beaded beads to include within my work, but never quite cracked it in a way I was happy with until a few weeks ago. I have to say, it has made me incredibly happy to be able to return to a needle and thread, and create items which I can in turn design with. I have a world of colour to work with, and I am excited to experiment with different sizes and even shapes - rondelles, ovals, large rounds....

I have yet to decide whether I will sell these beads as loose beads for others to work with. Whilst I love making them, they are very time consuming, and at the moment I'm enjoying creating them for my own work....we shall see! I would be interested to hear your thoughts. 

In the meantime however, whilst I decide, I am offering some of my beaded beads as this week's prize! I am giving away three beaded beads to the lucky winner, in colour(s) of your choice from my stash. In order to be in with a chance to win, answer this question in the comments below:

What 'old' technique would you like to revisit? Have you returned to an old skill and combined it with new? Or do you see your creative journey as one that presses on, never looking back? 

Please share below! The winner will be announced in next week's Inside the Studio post. 

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer, currently living in Belfast, Northern Ireland. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.

Perfect Pairings :: SJ Designs + Tesori Trovati

 

At the risk of appearing to be completely self-serving, I decided to select the design that Sarajo Wentling made with the Building Blocks beads that I sent her for the May 2014 Simple Truths Sampler Club. I am usually not done that fast with the selection of the month, so it amazes me that she was able to pull this together so quickly upon receiving them. 

 

What I am reading on blogs about this painting is that it is a tough one. No one denies that this painting is certainly beautiful, but the subject matter just doesn't lend itself willingly to a theme. I felt the same way when I set about to make the beads. I was not feeling that inspired by the painting, despite the beauty. It made me rue the fact that I had committed to making something from the ABS painting!

 

But that is okay. 

Because sometimes when you are stuck in a corner, you turn around and see things a whole lot differently.

 

What I am seeing in the great designs in the ABS Flickr pool (and what happened to me) is that our readers are breaking down the painting to the base elements...the colors, the patterns, the shapes. Sarajo isolated the colors in Miss Brandi's palette and selected a simple combination of orphan beads that work well together because they have the same overall size, visual weight and rustic quality of the art beads. 

If you are stuck for that spark to strike with this image, I suggest you try focusing on one aspect... the arches, the tower, the buildings, the blue sky... and build your design from there. 

 

And, I would be lying if I didn't say I was delighted to see how something I made for the month was translated into a design. So thank you, Miss Sarajo, for being my 'something good' today!

Featured Designer :: Sarajo Wentling

 

Featured Bead Artist :: Tesori Trovati

Tutorial Tuesday: Totem Earrings

I found Tari's Inside the Studio post on Friday super inspiring.  She shared her pin board of ceramic totems and that got my brain whirling around totem jewelry which led to these springing to life on my bead table.

Supplies:
4 polymer clay spacers
2 pewter bird beads
2 6mm pyrite beads
2 faceted brass beads
2 15mm brass jump rings
2 brass earwires
2 2" copper headpins
6 11/0 copper seed beads

Directions:
1. On a headpin string one pyrite bead, seed bead, polymer clay bead, seed bead, polymer clay bead, seed bead, bird and faceted bead.  Trim wire and create a simple loop.
2. Open jump ring, string beaded dangle and earwire on, close jump ring.

Resources:
Polymer clay beads: Humblebeads. Birds: Green Girl Studios. Seed beads: Fusion Beads. All other materials: Rings & Things.

Inside the Studio :: Creative Impressions In Clay

Welcome to Inside the Studio!

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.

Congratulations Deb Fortin! You have won a Copper Clay Nature Pendant from Mary Harding. Please send Mary an e-mail with your information.

________________________________________________________________________________

Update 5/11/14

Totem is finished!

 I have an obsession.

It started about a year ago. I can't remember exactly how it started but it did and I love it! I have Pinterest Board filled with examples I have studied, admired and built my own in my head.

What is this obsession you ask? Totems!! They are wonderful!!

They can be as perfect or imperfect, tall or short, random or tell a story. They mean freedom to me. No rules, just make different elements and stack them. No right or wrong, unstack and re-stack till it looks as you feel it should.

It has taken me till this week to actually make one. I don't have a finished product picture but I can show you my elements (bisque fired) and how I think I'm going to stack them.

I'm not sure everything that has been going on in my head that it has taken me so long to do this...studio was such a mess I couldn't get to the table...my main excuse. I was feeling down at the beginning of the week missing my daughter and grandchildren who are in Norway plus too many job rejections. I forced myself to start on a totem. screaming at myself in my head, "do something, you always feel better when you create." The studio clean up started a couple weeks ago.

A bag of clay and Pharrell Williams "Happy" playing loudly, I began.

It was wonderful and freeing! I can't believe I waited this long. I was actually excited about something again.

This one is for my mom for Mothers Day. She collects chickens. Funny thing about moms we accept most things our kids make.

She gets to be the recipient of my first totem.

Clean up in Aisle 9! The first chicken had an explosive personality and couldn't take the heat in the kiln.

 The quickly made replacement chicken. Still needs to be bisque fired.

All of my elements.

My first stacking. After seeing the photo I wanted to change it. 

Ignore the wooden piece. I don't have my center rod yet, so I used a child's stacking toy as the base :)

Second stack. Besides being to be glazed and desperately needing color, I feel like it needs more spacers. I may have to throw in recycled materials.

Update...

Here are some of the elements I underglazed today to give you an idea of the totem with colors.

Update...5/10/14 :: 5pm

All the pieces with underglazes. Now to dip them all in clear glaze and fire them!
Fun, fun, fun!!!

My Question is: 

Is there something you are obsessed with?

Leave your answer to the question in the comments 

and you could win a House Button (may not be same color as shown)
These houses make adorable clasps for bracelets!

Have a great day!!

Feeling Sassy as usual!

Tari Sasser

Creative Impressions In Clay

Glass Bead Extravaganza Review

For the past couple of months I've been busy preparing for the big show. I haven't sold my work at a show for a number of years so dipping my toes back into the water felt like a really big deal. I'm happy to say the show went well and I had fun! The show ... Glass Bead Extravaganza. This is a show organized by my local chapter of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB), The New England Chapter - ISGB. I was surrounded by so many greats in the glass bead world. I won't name names for fear I would leave someone off but suffice it to say I was a wee bit starry eyed.

I must give a huge shout out to the Chapter's leaders and show organizers. These folks worked incredibly hard to bring this show to fruition and deserve a round of applause.

Donna Richey, Chapter President pictured with Lou Crescintini.

Deb Keshishian, Recording Secretary

Susan Sheehan, Treasurer

Doug Wales, Vice President, and Susan Sheehan

My apologies for not photographing Beth Mellor, Secretary of Communications and Debbie Harary, Special Events Coordinator. Beth was outside much of the day (on a cool, rainy New England day) providing visitors with lampworking demonstrations. Other demonstrators included Mike Close and Wes Fleming. Unfortunately (or perhaps I should say fortunately because it was busy) I was unable to leave my table long enough to get outside and see any of the demonstrations.

Here I am, at my table.

My tablemate, Lynn Hahn - Jewels of Earthsea

Lynn and I shared a table. What a wonderful tablemate Lynn was. She saved the day for me. Due to technical difficulties I was unable to access my PayPal account and Lynn happened to have an extra Square card reader with her, which she kindly let me borrow for the day. I don't know what I would've done without her help. Lynn specializes in beautiful, chunky style bracelets. I just loved her kumihimo braided pieces!

My neighbors for the day. With beautiful beads and jewelry for sale.

Sue Underwood and her helper, Andrea of Mystic Moon Beads

Carol Bugarin of Carol Bugarin Glass Art Jewelry

There were so many beautiful beads and jewelry to be oogled over but a couple of pieces really jumped out at me. Let me introduce you to Ann Conlin and her husband, Gary Andriotakis.

I think it's wonderful how Ann and Gary share this beadmaking and jewelry making journey. Ann creates beautiful lampwork beads and Gary creates stunning chain maille jewelry to accentuate Ann's wonderful beads. In the photo above you'll notice Ann is wearing one of Gary's gorgeous creations.

Ann was also offering something I've never seen before. Ann has been decorating glass beads with silver PMC! They were gorgeous! She offered a variety of designs, below is just one example.

Yup! That's silver on glass! Stunning, isn't it? You can head over to Ann's website if you'd like to learn more.

Lori Messenger of DNA Studios and Sylvia de Murias

Sylvia offered unique copper pieces for sale. I had to buy one. They are so cool!

Sylvia offered a variety of designs, it was difficult to decide which one I wanted. I am a heart girl so of course I got this one. These pieces look like ancient artifacts. Some of them have little surprises inside so they jingle when worn. I just love mine.

Sylvia sells her work locally, at The Armory in Somerville, MA or you can contact her via email if you're interested in her work.

There were so many wonderful finds at this show I couldn't possibly share them all. The web has opened up a world of possibilities for both artisans and consumers. It provides us with the opportunity to find material we might otherwise not have access to. However, If you have the chance to visit a local show I hope you do so. As a customer I think there's nothing like touching a handmade item before purchasing it and meeting the maker in person. From an artisans persective I think it's wonderful to meet customers and talk to you face to face. I really get a feel for what customers think about my offerings and what it is you're interested in.

The Bead Extravaganza was a big event for me and I'm happy I had the chance to participate. Thanks for letting me share the day with you.

Ema Kilroy is a lampworker and metalsmith living and working in Central Massachusetts

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