Earthy Spring Vibes with Summer Wind Art

Earthy Spring Vibes: 

By Ashley Bonney-Summer Wind

I have been playing around a lot lately with mixing different elements in my jewelry. When I was designing this piece, I wanted to have some fun bright elements, but I also wanted to keep it earthy. I found that adding leather cord to the end and some natural stone beads kept it nice and grounded. 

When I am adding leather cord, I like to take a long piece, fold it in half and then use a crimp end to secure it. I then add a lobster clasp and jump ring for the closure.

I really like using Vintaj Brass Findings because they age really well and are very easy to manipulate. You can see in the picture that I just linked the stone beads using eye pins and jump rings. I'll be sure to post the sizes at the end. 

The wood beads on this necklace were tricky, because one hole was very small and the other was larger. I find that wood beads do best when they are secured with twine or hemp. I have tried using eye pins in the past, but I experienced more movement than I like, so I switched to twine. In this case, because the smaller wood bead's hole was much smaller, I had to actually take the twine apart so I had a nice thin piece. I then just made a loop and the top and knotted between the beads and at the bottom. 

I hope you got a little inspiration from my post, I am always so inspired by all the ladies that post to Art Bead Scene. I have soooo much to learn, as far as techniques go, and I am so glad that we have so many talented artists here. Hope everyone has fun creating! 

Ashley Bonney

Summer Wind Art

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SummerWindArt 

Supplies:

Twine-I used Baker's Twine from Lima Beads

Leather Cording from Micheal's Craft Store

Stone Beads, any earthy color or shape

Wood Beads- Summer Wind Art

Findings:

Vintaj Natural Brass

CE20 - 9mm Crimp End

CL0003 - 12mm Classic Lobster Clasp

JR60 - 15mm Smooth 15ga Jump Ring

JR40 - 7.25mm Smooth 16ga Jump Ring

EP1 - 1in Eye Pin

Making Hand Made Stamps with Michelle McCarthy

I had a great time last week taking a class at the Open Studio in Englewood, Florida.  They have a pottery studio there and offered a class on making handmade stamps.  I have made flat texture plates, and a few press stamps on my own, but I wanted to learn to make rollers and better stamp handles.

Becca Brown was our instructor and she is a master potter full of wonderful tips and techniques. She made a few bases for us that were leather hard.  That takes a few hours so the ceramic clay isn't so wet.  That makes carving much cleaner and easier.  She gave us a clump of clay to work on making our own, and this is what it looked like before the carving (fun) part!

I had some carving tools already, but also got to try a few other ones.  I immediately ordered another carving set when I got home!  There are different shaped wire toppers to push, turn and pull into and through the clay.

Here they are in a rough state.  After they completely dried, I cleaned up all the rough edges and fired them into bisque, which makes them ready to use.

I rolled out a piece of clay into 1/4" thick and had fun sampling out my new designs!

I am really excited to make many more stamps and rollers.  I have been looking at doodle designs on Pinterest and have some ideas that are going to be really fun to try.  If you work in clay, you can also do similar techniques with polymer clay, too!

Amuse the Muse - Tribal-inspired beads - with Rebecca of Songbead

Hello all! It's the start of another week, and even though it's only 4 days since your last Amuse the Muse post, I'm here with another one - lots of delicious art beady eye candy for you today, continuing on with our tribal-inspired theme. Be sure to share your favourite beads and bead artists in the comments below!

Jade Dog Beads

Carolyn's Stamp Store

Graceful Willow Beads

Blue Magpie Designs

Fox Paws

Slate Studios Supply

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

Teal Glass Sculpture
Hide all your vases and ashtrays! Cherie is back to making full size glass sculptures again.

Connie Gee's Designs
Felines rule (don't tell my dog) and Connie has added a new free pattern that involves a cat trio out on the prowl. Added bonus: check out the fur-baby photos.

Art Bead Scene
Check out the colour palette which Tari has pulled from this month's vibrant challenge piece! 

Apple-Stamped Mom Reusable Grocery Shopping Bag
Make this eco-friendly reusable grocery bag for Mother's Day, or Mom's birthday. The project uses inexpensive items, many of which you already have on hand.

Beading Arts
You can make the ever-popular beaded wrap bracelets using ribbons instead of cording...think of the endless color possibilities!

Craft Supply Acquisitions!
Beads, yarn, tools, oh my! Check out the craft supply goodies and projects the Crafty Princess is creating with them. 

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer; currently living in Edinburgh, capital of her native land. 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.

Inside the Studio - Sunday Edition! - with Rebecca of Songbead

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 to Renee M!

You have won a $35 gift certificate to Humblebeads! 

Send Heather an email to claim your gift certificate. 

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2015 has been a bit of a funny year for me so far, as frequent readers may have gathered. There's been a lot going on behind the scenes for me and my family which has made the past 9 months or so quite tricky, with 2015 really throwing a spanner or seven in the already messy works. 

Perhaps needless to say, I haven't been at my most creative. I know that historically, we look at artists as often achieving greatness through tortured emotions, but I don't know about you, but that is *not* me. I am at my most creative when things are good - calm, a feeling of positivity in the air, possibility  around the corner. Sure, then you can plough those more difficult times, but I find myself unable to tap into my creativity so much when things feel unsettled and difficult. 

Happily, it feels like we are turning a corner and (along with the Spring sunshine we've enjoyed recently) this seems to have awakened a little spark of something or other within me. It feels good to be doing a little making again! 

I thought I'd share a little photo rundown of what's been going on with me these past few weeks. Out and about in Edinburgh, birthday celebrations (and shoes, beautifully modelled with pyjama bottoms!), a work trip to Aldeburgh via London, some teeny tiny handwoven beads, handmade jewellery and hanging out with my wee bunny boy. Action packed! And in no particular order...

My 34th birthday!

Birthday shoes...and pyjamas.

Henry Moore sculpture in the grounds of the Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh). 

A new necklace, featuring a unique pendant from Something to do beads.

Dean Village, Edinburgh. A country feel in the middle of a capital city.

 Aldeburgh Beach.

Teeny tiny handwoven beads.

The view from London Bridge - that's Tower Bridge you're looking at!

Amazing landscaped art from Charles Jencks at the Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh). 

Outdoor art from Nathan Coley at the Dean Gallery (Edinburgh). I *love* this, and I'm not quite sure why!

A new bracelet, featuring hand-enemalled flowers from Gardanne Beads and a ceramic round from Kylie Parry. 

A weir along the Water of Leith (Edinburgh). 

St Bernard's Well (Edinburgh). 

A new bracelet featuring a Green Girl Studio flower and bee clasp. 

Me and Rufus! 

I'm hoping that lots of these images and experiences will prove as inspiration for the next few weeks. 

As always, we like to bribe you into commenting by offering up a juicy prize! This week, my prize is a £14 voucher for either of my shops - The Curious Bead Shop or Songbead. 

 My question for you is this - when are you at your most creative? What conditions are optimum for you to be most productive and inspired? Do you have tips or tricks to kickstart your muse? Or do you just sit it out? 

Leave your answer in the comments below to be in with a chance to win!

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer; currently living in Edinburgh, capital of her native land. 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.

Ravens

Over the last few months I have had more and more request for Ravens! So finally here we are! I have created a series of Ephemera pendants for you to use in your jewelry creations that include these fabulous Ravens! These are in an unfinished stage, I have a lot left to do on these to make them listing ready, but this week is magic week! The week where things happen!

I could not resist these awesome images! I worked with Ella of Calico Collage to get this idea together. She makes about 75% of the images I use to create my charms and pendants. These of course I wanted to have in time for Halloween! I will be listing them in the next couple of days.

I want to remind you of all the wonderful ways you can use these. To start, I sell them un-drilled. This allows you to use your creative imagination to it's full potential! Some of you will choose to use them as they are and just add a magnet to the back or even add them to your scrapbooking pages! Very versatile!

My favorite way to use them is with Vintaj filigree! This adds a certain "je ne sais quois" to the pieces of jewelry I create. It gives a touch of romance and mystery! Perfect for these Ravens! The dark laciness of it...I love it! 

I have even seen some of you wrap them in wire! What a creative use of these small pieces! 

At anytime of course you can have them custom drilled at no extra cost to you. There is the simple top drill. Just look at the image to see if that is where you want the hole. You can also top and bottom drill to add dangles! What about each corner for a bracelet maybe? Or a little lower on the sides... I can even do three strand bracelet drill for some of these! 

One of the most used drilling options is the two top corners and bottom center. This makes the piece a focal with the possibility of endless dangles!

So many ways to use these! So look for them in the Skye Jewels Supply shop this week...

Thanks so much for another fun visit!

Marie

**Speaking of Vintaj, October's challenge just happens to be "Radiant Raven" what a coincidence! Maybe some of you will want to use these in your design?** 

Thinking Outside the Box part II

You should remember my last post about Thinking outside the box. If not, you may want to go HERE and read it first, before you start on this one. 
For part 2 I am honoured to share the designs of two wonderful designers. I challenged them to use my components thinking outside the box, look at them in different ways, and see what they could create that is slightly out of the ordinary. 

Here is what they came up with...
Donna Martin Bradley was the first one I asked.  I asked her to use one of my large 1.5 inch round pendants, in a different way.

She turned it into a fantastic large Bracelet focal, instead of using it in a necklace! Fantastic results! With Spring coming soon, it's a great time to start thinking about making your summer jewelry!

The use of woven ribbon inside the chain is always a wonderful extra touch. You can find Donna on Facebook on her STRANDED BEADS page! Her beautiful designs are also available on Etsy! 


Next I asked Diana Ptaszynski. I thought it would be fun if Diana could make some earrings. 


Here is what she came up with...

Great idea to mix and match different charms and make the earring asymmetrical! I love that she incorporated her own handmade sea shell charm and bead links.

These look fun and beachy! You can find Diana on Facebook on her SUBURBAN GIRL STUDIO page! Her Fun original jewelry is available in her Etsy shop.


It was a complete coincidence that both designers used Ocean inspired pieces. I did not pick the components, so it was fun to see that they went so well together!


To get your own fun, quality Ephemera pieces, please visit my More Skye Jewels shop and shop around or feel free to request something special! For more ideas on how to use them you can also visit my Skye Jewels Blog.


Thanks so much for stopping by!


Marie

Pulling Colours

One of the ways I get inspiration for my jewelry, is the focals I use. Just grabbing my favorite focals will sometimes speak to me and bring inspiration as I lay them out. There are hidden colours and undertones that you may not see at first until you see them in a different light or by some accent beads that you have laying around from another project. I have piles of leftover beads everywhere! They do have a purpose however.

 This is the best example I could find of really pulling colours! This Fresco Painting is truly stunning! It has the warm colours like the red of the feathers and the yellow/gold of the fence. It has the cool colours like the blue of the bird's chest and it has the undertones of green and brown that every artist uses. You can see where I pulled the colours and added a mix of shades of each colour, pulling the different tones from the focal. Using a mix of different beads also added texture and interest to the finished necklace.

 This particular piece is more subtle than the last. The pendant has very simple shades of what seems to be grey and brown behind the Eiffel Tower. Certainly you could make a very simple piece using some black chain or some wood beads, but to really make the focal shine, put it in your tray of beads, see what hidden colours pop out at you, perhaps some unexpected combinations will shine! I found that this piece really pulled me toward using Vintaj brass with it's earthy rich brown patinas. You can see that adding the filigree really pulls out the brown in the lower half of the pendant. 

 The Vintage Style key by Tim Holtz was a nice contrast to the deep browns of the filigree and fleur de Lis. It pulls some of the more subtle Grey/browns of the Eiffel tower. The top of the pendant has very cool blues hidden in it's grey sky. I noticed that the crystal in certain positions, mimicked the sky, but when it sparkled, it sent out an array of other beautiful blues, green and teals! So the crystal was added and was the inspiration for the recycled silk sari wraps at the top of the key. The combination makes for a very unique colourful piece that could have turned out very differently depending on the colours you might have seen.

 Last but not least I wanted to show a variation of the second necklace, with completely different colours. You can see that once again the Artbead Focal had an array of beautiful colours.The warmth of the brass was perfect for the warmth of the corals and peaches of the pendant. This piece is warm where the last one was cool. But looking at the colours in your chosen focal will bring to life any piece.

 You might have seen different colours than I did, you might have seen the Gun Metal grey of the Eiffel Tower, or the soft browns at the base of the pendant. Your version of the necklace would have been completely different. Just imagine the possibilities, when you pull colours!!