Amuse your Muse with Rebecca of Songbead - Bead Storage

Hello ABS-ers! I hope you are all having a great June. I'm staring my first craft fair in the face - next weekend in Holmfirth I am one of the exhibitors are The Art Market. It's a truly great show, and - true to form - I am pretty sure I don't currently have enough stock! I foresee a busy few days ahead of me....

This month's theme is bead storage - a topic which seems to have really captured your imagination! It's definitely captured mine, so much so in fact that I treated myself to this book to try and help inspire/organise me....

I haven't had much time to peruse it yet, but I have done a couple of questionnaires at the front of the book and discovered that I am a cross between 'The Idealist' and 'The Adventurer' when it comes to decorating my home, and that I have an 'Earth-Element/Blue' Personality! Whatever that means. I can't really see me suddenly becoming Ms Organised but you've got to start somewhere, haven't you?  As I work pretty much all day every day in my studio (which is currently a big lovely room, and about to change to a much smaller room with our move in 6 weeks), organisation is something that I really need to prioritise. Do you have your own studio? Please add a link in the comments to photos - I would love to see and share here next week!

One very talented artist agreed to share a shot of her studio with us this week - polymer clay artist Pippa Chandler of Pips Jewellery. This is an 'after' shot and Pip says:

"I do wish that I could arrange things so that they were beautiful to look at, like the studios you see sometimes in adverts or on Pintrest. They always look so pretty. 

The trouble is, this is a working studio and so functionality has to come before aesthetics!! At least it is clean now!!"

Personally, I think this studio looks very pretty as well as practical - a lovely place to be and to work. 

Maneki shared SO many wonderful links with us! Here are some of her storage solutions and links to her original blog posts:

Storage solution for beading wire

Seed bead organisation: "Not pretty, but more useful than my earlier system". 

An overview of general bead storage.

And here's a novel idea - repurposing a pet feeder to hold tubes of beads! Bowls can be of great use to keep a desktop tidy when there are things that need to be used frequently throughout the week i.e. need to be kept out. I would love to have a collection of pottery dishes to keep such oft-used items!

Salla has so many seed beads that the pretty glass vials from last week definitely wouldn't work for her! She keeps them in large tubes and has a large fishing tackle box to store them all together. Extremely practical and good for moving around when needed. 

Tinfoil Halo shared some pictures of her bead storage. 

"A couple of years ago I got a few cheapy screw storage bins and some Christmas lights for back lighting."

I flipping well *love* the back-lighting! What a totally brilliant idea! 

And lastly for now, Ann shared something that she would like in her fantasy studio - former-ABS editor Erin Siegel's fantastic pegboard system. 

What a beautiful studio Erin has! The pegboard system is absolutely inspired. It may well be on my fantasy studio wish list now too - thank you for sharing Ann!

What's on your fantasy studio wish list? Do you have any tricks and tips for storing your beads? I would love to see and share here. I'm even considering making this a monthly series - Inside YOUR Studio! - as part of my Amuse the Muse series. I love seeing where people work and getting inspired. It doesn't matter whether it's an outside studio in an artists' co-op or a humble dining room table - it is always wonderful to see where artisans turn art beads and more into jewellery. Would you like to see this series? Share your thoughts and links in the comments below!

And now for the BeadBlogger Links:

Resin Crafts Blog
I am replacing plain IKEA door knobs with something so much better! See how I did this on the blog this week.

Carmi's Art/Life
Your scissors will never look better if you take a few minutes to glam them up with Jewelry Clay.

Too Many Layers Make you Cry over Decoupage Projects 
Like peeling layers from an onion, many layers on decoupage can make you cry. The Artful Craftfer tells you how to keep it simple and tear-free. 

A Bead A Day
Do you go through bead phases? Lisa's sharing her latest one...Beads, charms and pendants with faces.

Dashing the Stashing
Baby afghan projects are one great way to clear out the yarn stash so you can make room for more yarn! 

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
The best reunion jean never attended! And she made the bracelets! See jean's blog for the amazing story of this transforming experience,

Mixed Media Artist
Just for fun, Cyndi painted an old globe...

Beading Arts
Cyndi shares the first part of her new tutorial on working with pleated silk shibori ribbon and using it in your bead embroidery.

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.

Amuse Your Muse - Bead and Studio Storage - with Rebecca of Songbead

Hello June-Bugs! Can you believe we are almost halfway through 2014? I really and truly can't. I have about 7 weeks left until we leave Northern Ireland - I'm trying not to count down the days too much, but live in the moment and enjoy the time we have here - but planning ahead is of course necessary so I can't simply stick my head in the sand, tempting as that is. 

With that in mind, I decided that this was the month to dedicate my weekly post to bead storage. Last week, I spent a small fortune  on some new boxes and containers for my beads - necessary and very functional but not exactly the most aesthetically pleasing solution to my bead storage problems. I thought that with your help, we could collate a mixture of the practical and the beautiful storage solutions here on Art Bead Scene throughout June. I invite you to send pictures of your best - and even your worst! - bead storage. Let's pool our ideas and get inspired. I am sure I am not alone in saying that my design work is greatly driven by the beads themselves, so how I store them has a huge effect on that. I want to see your beads in their homes! 

First up, these cute wee glass vials from In The Clear. I am not sure they would work for your art beads(!), but if you use seed beads, these would be a very lovely - and very visible - way of storing them. They have a real vintage vibe which would go nicely in my fantasy studio - I can see them on a small shelf in rainbow order. Yum!

This very vintage unit from Chicky Doddle is 'designed' for storing washi tape - something many of us have a few spools of. It works perfectly for tape - but could also be used for spills of ribbon or even small spools of beading wire.

I am sure I am not the only one who likes to bead on the go. Whether you are planning to stash a few beads for a forthcoming summer holiday, or whether like me you can barely get on a bus without knowing you have a project with you - you know, 'just in case' - it's worth having a dedicated carrier for them that is beautiful as well as functional. This lovely bag from Gerda Bags is so pretty, it could inspire jewellery designs in itself. 

Lastly for today, something a little more fixed for your studio - a vintage sewing basket/table from Berlin Attic. I have a real thing about these little sewing storage units - I was fascinated by my Mum's as a child, I inherited one from my Grandma and I even picked one up on ebay a couple of years ago. OK, you can't see what's in them - but a couple of these for storing beading essentials  - spools of wire, findings, tools - would look great in my fantasy studio. 

I would love to know what's in your fantasy bead studio! Or even what's in your real bead studio if yours is closer to your own fantasy studio than mine is. Leave links here or email me with photos so that I can share next week. 

And now for the BeadBlogger Links. Have a great week!

Fluttering Monarch Butterfly Flies Out to Meet Card Recipient 
You'll find the directions and downloadable template on The Artful Crafter. Be sure not to miss the video of the butterfly in flight!

A Bead A Day
Sometimes you just gotta resort to smiley faces! Lisa shares how she started off her week with a smiley face bracelet packed with personality!

Free Crochet Class
For beginning crocheters who want to add some texture to their crochet designs, there is a free class available from Craftsy.com. 

Mixing Jewelry and Drawing
Andrew brings together his training as a fine artist and a jewelry-maker to create these fun "drawing brooches".

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews the funloving and chic jewelry design book, STYLISH JEWELRY MADE SIMPLE ! 

Resin Crafts Blog
Did you know you can make a mold in 25 minutes? Really, what are you waiting for?

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.