What's New frome the Art Bead Scene Team

Now we are in the 2nd month of presenting What's New from the Art Bead Scene Team to share with you what we have been up to and what we have been making.  Due to the many commitments of our Team members it is possible that not all of us will have something new to share.  This month we have the work of 3 of us.  I will start today with Anne from Gardanne Beads and her new collection of Silvered Enamels.  These beauties are a mix of fine silver and enamel.

Don't you just love the way the enamels mix with the silver and explode into such wonderful shades of all sorts of color.

From Gardanne Beads  Silvered Enamel collection

For more purchasing options check out Anne's Facebook Group  Gardanne Handcrafted Enamel

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Michelle McCarthy has announced her 2nd Jewelry Designer Challenge with a sea side theme and lovely kit .  There are two color options for the coordinating beads.

                 2nd Jewelry Designer Challenge Kit by Michelle McCarthy  in blue

Another option is the sandy brown kit  in Michelle McCarthy's Jewelry Designer Challenge

You can participate in this event by purchasing a kit in Michelle's Etsy shop. FireFly DesignStudio

and joining her Facebook Group called Firefly Design Studio Designer Challenge

You will find all the information you need there to participate.

Michelle makes 30 kits available for purchase and has only a few kits, it any left.

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I have been working on a free form peyote stitch bracelet lately since I won't be able to get into my ceramic and metal studio for another 2 months due to a broken ankle.

 The ceramic beads are made by me and were fired at the Thousand Islands Art Center Community Raku Day last October.  The blue glaze is one of the many raku glazes that their resident potter, Serena Buchanan, mixes up and provides participants from the community.  It is an exciting and fun event.  I especially like the bumpy blue glaze that is on some of the beads and the sides of the snail focal.

       A work in Progress--Snail shell free form peyote stitch bracelet by Mary Harding.

Well that does it for this month.  Hope to see you in May with more new work from the Art Bead Scene Team. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Mary

We Collaborated on this Month's Challenge

               

                    

Still Life with Pussy Willows by Taisia K. Afonina

Back in February when there were no signs of Pussy Willows coming into bloom, Erin Prais-Hintz, Michelle McCarthy and I (Mary Harding) decided that we would do a collaboration on the April Challenge painting, Still Life with Pussy Willows, as seen above.  We each agreed to make a component based on the theme and palette of the painting and send one to each of us and keep at least one for ourselves.  We would then share what we made with our Art Bead Scene readers on March 22.  What fun!!  Reminds me of the Collaboration Exploration post  Heather, Lorelei and I did back in the day.  You can see that 2007 ArtBeadScene post  HERE .

Today is the reveal of what we made.  I will start with Michelle McCarthy of FireFly Design Studio. Happily Michelle took a picture of what she received in the mail and what she used to  make her pieces with.

As you can see, Erin sent us each one of her Signs of Spring Pendants from her Simple Truths Sample Club.

                             Signs of Spring Pendant by Erin Prais-Hintz of  tesori trovati

 Michelle sent us a set of 10 handmade ceramic beads with a pair of each of  5 colors in the painting.

Handmade ceramic beads by Michelle McCarthy of FireFly Design Studio
I sent each of us a handmade ceramic bracelet bar of Pussy Willows that grow in Northern New York. I made several of these, each in different colors and a slightly varied image, as you will see.

                                Pussy Willow Bracelet bar by MaryHardingJewelry


Now for what  Michelle made:

Michelle used the pearls you saw in the  picture and hand knotted them with the gray waxed linen.  She chose the pearls because of their resemblance to the catkins that develop into what we know as pussy willows.  The necklace has a wonderful open and delicate look that goes so well with Erin's pendant.

Next Michelle used my pussy willow bracelet bar and small bird charm in a lovely Spring design.

                           Spring bracelet by Michelle McCarthy of FireFly Design Studio

For this bracelet, she used large hole pearls which she paired with 10mm ceramic rounds and 4 strands of tiny blue Czech glass beads which she strung on linen.  A ceramic bird which I sent to both Erin and Michelle, hangs off the bracelet and makes the perfect charm, she tells me. I love the combination of the larger elements like the bracelet bar and the pearls with those tiny wonderfully blue seed beads.  Such an inviting and assuring bracelet for this time of year when one day is not at all like the next and snow and warm weather mix together for one last blast or two of winter.

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What Erin Made:

Erin started with the bracelet bar. She says she wanted to frame this pretty piece to give it a more dynamic presentation. She used copper sheet that was shaped and hand-cut, hammered for texture and used Liver of Sulfur to give it an aged patina. Simply tying it all together with dark copper leather cord by knotting large hole pearls and finishing with an antique button make this bracelet easy to pull together in a flash.

Next, Erin used her pendant for a necklace along with the wee ceramic bird. She took a cue from Heather Powers' book Beautiful Elements and made a catkin-inspired bail from copper wire (similar to the Reflecting Motif bracelet link in the book, p. 44). Repeating the large hole pearls, the colors play well with the ceramic bird. As luck would have it, Erin found this swirl rose clasp from fellow editor Rebecca Anderson  of the Curious Bead Shop for a perfect finish.

The matched sets of ceramic beads from Michelle were screaming to be earrings, so Erin whipped up a rainbow for your ears. These beads were perfect for that use! She paired them with Humblebeads disk beads (she has quite the hoard of these little beads and the colors match perfectly!) and each pair goes with the bracelet and necklace for an added bonus.

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What Mary Made:
I used Erin's Signs of Spring pendant in a necklace, too.  I went with the darker colors of Spring, probably because I live in the Northeast.  I love the gold hues in the painting and was able to find a set of golden beads in what Michelle sent and in some seed beads I had.  I used a bib bail that I purchased from Lima Beads to give the Pussy Willows a special setting.  The chain is handmade by me from annealed steel wire.  I love its gray black color that feels like cold cloudy days but has the beauty and warmth of aged pewter.

                                                    handmade steel chain

      Necklace made with tesori trovati Signs of Spring pendant by Mary Harding

My favorite piece that I made for this collaboration is my bracelet wrap.  I never tire of making bracelet wraps and I love to mix lots of textures and colors when I do.  For this one I used a variety of wires and chain.  I was happy to be able to polish up some of the brass with my sanding block and turn it into a golden color.  The steel nest links that I made from Heather Power's new book, Beautiful Elements, gave me some gray and some more shine to add.  Michelle's beautiful ceramic beads brought out the colors in the bracelet bar, as you can see in the picture below.

                      Promise of Spring wrapped bracelet by Mary Harding

I really enjoyed this opportunity to work with Erin and Michelle's beads.  It was really fun and very relaxing to make them a component and then to put them all together into jewelry.  Erin makes a new component each month inspired by the painting and was delighted to share this with her talented colleagues. Michelle tells me she had a fun time making her contributions as well.  I hope we get a chance to do this again sometime in the future.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing what we did and what we made.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
Mary

Easy Heart Charm Bracelet by Michelle McCarthy

Here's a new twist on a bracelet clasp....a heart charm!  I have made this fun and easy waxed linen bracelet with buttons, 12mm round beads and toggles, but never a charm.  I think it's a cute option from the others.  I love the way it dangles down instead of lining up with the gemstone beads.  Here's what you need to make your own version:

You need 30" of 3 ply waxed linen, 8" of 1mm leather, a closed metal ring, gemstone strand and a heart charm.  I handmade my heart charm out of ceramic clay, but choose colors and shapes that you love!

Here's the finished design:

Start your overhand knotting at the closed metal ring by folding the waxed linen in half and pushing the knot tight up to the ring.  You can put both strands through the gemstone bead or 1 strand and leave 1 strand behind the bead.  Make another overhand knot and push it tight up to the bead.  Continue this pattern for 6 1/2" and then attach the charm by making another knot through the wire loop.  I made 4 extra knots before I attached the charm so the charm would not be too tight up against the last gemstone.  Fold the leather piece in half and attach it to the closed metal ring with another overhand knot.  Measure how big you need the leather loop to be so the charm freely can pass through it.  Close the leather loop with another overhand knot.  I used GS Hypo Cement glue to secure the leather knots.

Have fun making a charm clasp bracelet of your own!