Bails and Beads

                                                      Handmade bail by Mary Harding

It was one of those "happy accidents" that lead to the making of this bail a few months ago.  I  had apparently made a toggle bar that was way too long and had for fun wrapped some copper wire around it and then left it to one side of my soldering station.  Weeks later I came upon it and thought it could be salvaged if I added two more loops --one on each side and completed the wire wrapping along the entire piece.  It took one of my talented customers buying it to clue me in that it could be a viable and desirable jewelry component.

Today  I am sharing several of these bails that I have made since. I have just added a few of all of them  to my Etsy shop, as well.

                                     Handmade jewelry stringing bails by MaryHarding

And now for a look at how some art beads will look on the bail:  I will begin with a Diane Hawkey pendant which I recently purchased from the Ceramic Art Bead Market on Facebook.  This is the first bead by Diane that I have ever owned and I am so taken with it.  I have admired her work for years and am so pleased to have one carefully packaged up in my bead stash.

                                            Ceramic art bead by Diane Hawkey

Next I tried out a bird bead by Gaea  also from my personal collection

                                                       Handmade art bead by  Gaea


I tried out a long bead from Something to Do Beads and it looks great in this rustic setting

                                    Handmade art bead from Something to Do Beads

And finally one of Claire Maunsell's pod beads

                             Handmade art bead by Claire Maunsell

I hope you enjoyed seeing how a handmade bail can be versatile enough to be used with a variety of art beads.
 Thanks so for stopping by today!!  See you again next month.
 Mary
www.maryhardingjewelry.etsy.com
www.facebook.com/MaryHardingJewelry

July Monthly Challenge Sponsors + Prizes

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

Gaea Handmade

Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade makes fabulous beads, pendants, jewelry components and Jewelry. She uses different clay bodies that makes glazes look different on each clay. All items are made by hand which makes each unique!

Gaea is donating a $50 in beads.

Visit Gaea at her Indiemade Shop, Website, Blog, and Facebook.

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Diane Hawkey

Diane Hawkey creates wonderful beads, pendants and components. She also makes larger sculptures and art. Her work has been described as both mysterious and whimsical. She draws her inspiration from dreams and nature and ordinary life.
Go check out Diane's wonderful art!

Diane is donating the Bead Assortment shown above worth over $50.

Visit Diane on Facebook, Blog, Etsy and Website.

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

The Little Mermaid by Edmund Dulac has with many different elements that can be used for inspiration: Mermaids, fish, water, treasure, seaweed, shells, sea creatures and beautiful shades of blue.

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

Please remember to put JUL 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.***

Art Bead Color Palette :: Gaea Ceramic Beads

I'm drawn to mediums that I can't really do. Like last month's art bead color palettes, with metal patinas from Miss Ficklemedia, this month, Gaea's ceramic beads caught my eye.

I tried ceramics for several years with little success, so I'm always amazed with the work ceramic artists do. From the creating to the shaping, sanding, firing, glazing, refiring - work from artists like Gaea are truly labors of love!

And aren't they gorgeous? Gaea's already put together little color stories, so creating color palettes was so easy this month. With spring coming to the northern hemisphere, I'm loving the bright colors of Gaea's beads the best.

What about you? Have you worked with ceramics before? What colors are you loving right now?

Want to connect with Gaea? You can visit her blog, her Etsy shop, and her website.

Holiday Inspired Jewelry - Gaea and Vintaj

Ceramic beadmaker Gaea has partnered with Vintaj this month for a beautiful holiday inspired collaboration.  

This one is titled Victorian Christmas.  I love the mix of brass with arte metal component.  You can find a step by step tutorial on the Vintaj blog.

Frosted Filigree

Christmas Flowers

I'd also like to take a moment and officially welcome Gaea to the Art Bead Scene along with Brandi Hussey, Rebecca Anderson and Erin Siegel!  

But we'll do a more formal introduction next week with this new talented group of bloggers and designers.