An Interview with Artist, Raida Disbrow from Havana Beads by Michelle McCarthy

I am lucky to have met Raida Disbrow from Havana Beads, at the Intergalactic Bead Shows Pompano Beach show, quite a few years ago.  I fell in love with her lamp work headpins for earrings, but really....I love everything she creates!  Raida is triple talented...lamp work, ceramic and jewelry designer.  I enjoyed interviewing her and this is what I found out.

How long have you been an artist? And how did you get started?


I’ve been on a creative path my entire life. In 2002 I started to make jewelry at a local bead store. There I discovered lamp work beads and knew I had to make them and incorporate them in my jewelry designs. By 2005 I was making lots of lamp work beads and making jewelry I sold at local art shows. In 2007 I opened Havana Beads on Etsy and the rest is history.



What are your favorite mediums?


My first love is lamp working. I love to work with wire and metals and also love to come up with unusual ceramic pieces and enameling.

What would you consider your designer style?


I consider my style “Earthy”.

Do you prefer making beads or designing jewelry?


I couldn’t possibly pick one or the other. Both are so important to my style.

Do you have a signature bead?


I think if you ask my customers they would probably say crusty beads and headpins. I love to make beads that are earthy in nature. My studio is located on the Manatee Pocket in Port Salerno, FL so I get a lot of inspiration from nature.

What is your favorite color combination?


Anything earthy! I love blues, browns, turquoise, greens, etc.

Where can we find your work?


You can find my work at havanabeads.etsy.com. I also have some jewelry listed at gentlewinddesigns.etsy.com. Most of my jewelry and beads can be found at my studio, which is open to the public, in Port Salerno, Florida. The address there is: 4745 Desoto Avenue, Port Salerno, FL 34997.


Thank you, Raida, for your wonderful beads and jewelry!  I am looking forward to seeing you in Pompano Beach again next month!

Hello Art Bead Scene!

Hello Art Bead Scene!  My name is Michelle McCarthy and I am one of the newest contributors.  I have been playing with ceramic clay for 10 years now. I started out with hand building and wheel lessons at my local art center in Englewood, Florida.  I had a wonderful instructor who encouraged

and supported my growth in making functional and decorative pottery.   

I started selling my pottery at out door tent shows through out Florida.  Well, wind can be brutal and a few shows I had more pottery break than I sold.  Not fun.  But....I soon discovered beads and jewelry design and said, "Hey...I should make beads!"  So now I make beads 90% of the time and sneak in a bowl, plate or decorative piece 10% of the time.

Here is the start to the ceramic pieces I made for a fun ruffled heart bracelet.

This is white earthenware clay that I rolled out to 1/4" thick.  I smoothed the pattern out that the slab roller cloth leaves behind and used the cookie cutter to get my shape. I then make the hole vertically through the heart with this skewer.

This picture shows the various stages of the heart and round beads.  The green ware heart at the top is still wet.  After it dries, I clean any rough edges and put it in the kiln for the first firing, which turns it into bisque.  The white round bead is in the bisque stage.  It is now ready to be glazed.  The cone or temperature for this clay is 04 for bisque and 06 for glaze firing, which is just under 2000 degrees. This teal and copper glaze is one of my favorites.  It has glass crystals in it that burst from the heat of the kiln.

I am going to make a fun bracelet with the ceramic beads I just created, along with some waxed linen, 1mm leather, aventurine gem stone beads, 2 antique copper spacer beads and a closed antique copper ring.

Waxed linen is my favorite stringing material....it is so easy to use.  

Thank you for reading about my ceramic bead making process and following along with a finished bracelet design using my beads.  If you'd like to learn more about me and my beads, please visit my website at www.potterybeads.com 

Book Review: The Beader's Guide to Jewelry Design by Margie Deeb

 The Fundamentals of Jewelry Design for Bead Artists by Margie Deeb

Whether you are a seasoned bead designer, just beginning, or somewhere in the middle, I think you will find lots to love in Margie Deeb's newest book, The Fundamentals of Jewelry Design for Bead Artists.  Beautifully illustrated, full of explicit examples and dynamite practical information, this book seems to cover it all.
Let's start with the structure which follows the process of jewelry design itself.  Her chapters go as follows:

Unity

Focal Points & Emphasis

Balance

Movement

Shape

Color

Jewelry and the Body

The Creative Journey

Within each chapter there are at least 12 subheadings ( with the exception of Color, Deeb's known specialty, and that one has 24)  that break down the subject into its important components with specific examples and opportunities for the reader to get involved in design decisions. And even better, each section ends with Challenge Yourself exercises that give you several ways of exploring each design concept further in your own work. Margie gives us specific "assignments" that will sharpen our skills in each learning area.  You are free to work your way through the book or pick out areas that you feel would be most helpful to you.

In addition to the challenges, there are many graphics through out the book that she gives us permission to copy, enlarge etc. for personal use.  For example, in the chapter Shape, she has drawings that we can practice seeing how a design would look by drawing it right on the human form.  In the chapter, Jewelry and the Body she includes 17 pages of images, drawings and charts of how jewelry and body shape interact .  These are an invaluable resource.

One of my favorite chapters is The Creative Journey.  Here Deeb addresses that universal "elephant in the room" fear and doubt, with specific, constructive suggestions.  She deepens the discussion with ideas for nurturing and encouraging our creativity by showing us how to structure  our creative process through her own examples and those she has gleaned from 8 other jewelry designers, many of whom you will know.

I hope I have given you enough information to see that The Beader's Guide to Jewelry Design can have an important place in your personal library.  You can purchase it directly from the publisher,  Lark Books, or online at  Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

Thank you  for stopping by.
Mary

Color Study

Do you have a color wheel in your bead kit?  If not, pick one up the next time you are at the craft store and give it a whirl for a world of inspiration.  Here is a simple color study with my Poppy Pendant and a few accents.  Three simple color combinations inspired by the color wheel include:

Monochromatic - Colors of the same hue in varying values (light and dark).
Complimentary - Colors across each other on the color wheel.
Analogous - Colors next to each other on the color wheel.

So let's start with monochromatic color schemes, like the one shown above.  While it may seem like a no-brainer to use the same colors in a necklace, keep in mind that a successful monochromatic design needs contrast.  The contrast can be in the light and darkness of the colors used, but also the textures, size and shape of the beads will help offer visual interest. 

In the sample above I've paired up my Poppy with lampwork glass beads from Lori Bergmann, matte recycled glass beads from Yuki Designs and cord from Edwards Jewelry Supply Shop. 

Complimentary color schemes pop with vitality and punch.  Complimentary colors can offer a playful solution to your design challenge.  You can play around with the spectrum a little and don't have to follow the color wheel exactly.  A navy blue would pair up with a burnt sienna color, pumpkin orange or more of a yellow-ish orange.  Each color would offer a different feel paired up with the focal bead.  If you want to tone done the combination a little, add in a neutral color like a steel gray or warm wood brown. 

The complimentary set matches up lampwork beads from Lutrick, glass beads from Yuki Designs and cord from WISH Supplies.

Analgous colors are another fun combo, these are the colors next to each other on the color wheel.  For this set I went with blue, green and yellow.  But you could also go teal, blue, purple.  Or blue, purple, magenta.    These combinations can offer subtle and harmonious color schemes.

For this set I paired up the French cord from Fini Ribbon with lampwork beads from Serena Smith's Lampwork and yellow glass beads from Yuki Designs.

So which color combination grabs you?  Have you pulled out a color wheel lately?  Give it a whirl - it could be your wheel of fortune for hot designs that fly off your table at shows this summer!

Fit to Print Review: Asymmetry Made Easy

Need a little creative inspiration or help in stepping into the great wide world of asymmetrical jewelry?  Designer Lorelei Eurto has a fun ebook out that will be just the cure for your jewelry doldrums.  Lorelei shakes things up by going over her formula for successful asymmetrical design along with covering the basic elements of design she uses when she's working her bead mojo. 

In a conversational style Lorelei walks you through her design principles with lots of juicy photos bursting with color and art beady goodness.  Packed full of good tips, I recommend downloading a copy and pulling out your beads to play along this weekend.  If you've tried your hand at asymmetrical jewelry and weren't thrilled with the results, Lorelei points out some really good issues that can make or break a design. 

Purchase Now!

Asymmetry Made Easy eBook

Perfect Pairings

Heather asked me to put together a few simple posts about my favourite things. I have been pondering what to write for a couple weeks as I was getting ready for my trip to Disneyland with my family!  Here is my first inspirational post...

When you are looking to create a piece of “Art Jewelry” nothing fits better than matching up your favourite art beads. Most of my pieces will always have at least one art bead, but the ones I love the most will have more than one from different artists put together in a pleasing and inspiring manner. For example here are some lampwork glass beads by Susan Kennedy of Sue Beads. She was the very first art bead artist I ever bought from! Mix these beads with some of Heather Powers of Humblebeads fantastic polymer clay head pins and you can create these.

Really, the sky is the limit when choosing your pairings. Don’t stop yourself from putting what you may think is an odd combination together, playing is the best part of this!

Try something like this funky and very awesome polymer clay house shaped pendant with an image of a vintage hot air balloon by Menagerie Studio and mix it with some Raku lampwork glass beads from Skye Jewels. You could make a chunky styled necklace by adding some fun wood beads to that pairing!

How about this eclectic and maybe unexpected mix of a delicate Porcelain pendant by Round Rabbit Extras  and these large filigree enamelled beads by Barbara Lewis of Painting with Fire! What a fabulous bracelet that would make! I am even seeing a large Green Girl Studios pewter clasp added to that...

How about pairing two art mediums by 4 different artists? It can be done without looking awkward! These are a mix of small ceramic beads and button clasp by MaryAnn Carroll of Macarroll beads, a green book bead by Jubilee, an adorable acorn charm  from LeAnn Weih of SummersStudio and some awesome “Camo” lampwork glass beads from Lisa Anderson of ArtbyLisi.  I can see these wire wrapped into a casual but earthy bracelet with some Vintaj brass wire. Maybe add a little chain in there for extra interest!

No matter what your perfect pairing is, remember your art beads and how special they make each, individual piece of your Art Jewelry!

 

Polymer flower beads by TooAquarius and a charm focal by Skye Jewels

 

Multi artisan lampwork, patina ring from MissFickleMedia, ceramic bead and wood Focal by Skye Jewels

Guest blogger: Marie Cramp of More Skye Jewels.  

Visit her blog and Etsy shop to see more of Marie's beautiful work.

My Bookshelf - Metal & Wire Book Reviews

Here are three book reviews using metal to create jewelry.  While they are in serious need of some art beads sprinkled in the pages - they do offer great techniques and are all worth a look if you haven't picked them up already. 

Metal Style: 20 Jewelry Designs with Cold Join Techniques - I think I would get this book for the cover project alone.  What I love about the project is after looking over the directions I realized - hey I could actually make this.  I know how to do each of these techniques!  And what is covered in the book?  20 awesome cold connection projects (meaning no flames or soldering) from some of today's top metal and wire instructors.  The project range from organic and earthy to modern to completely whimsical with found objects.  If you haven't jumped into metal work this book covers lot of the basics with great photos and a thorough technique section.

Steel Wire Jewelry by Brenda Schweder - This books offers modern designs using this inexpensive hardware wire.  The designs look like they belong in a high end gallery, yet the author provides techniques that a beginner can grapple. The book starts out with a handy guide to using steel wire and great step-by-step directions and photos showing the basic building blocks used throughout the book.

My favorite projects are the chains, I would throw in some art beads in the mix for some artsy inspired pieces.  I picked up a few spools of steel wire this summer after reading the book and have enjoyed adding the blackened silver wire work to my designs.  Visit Brenda's Etsy shop for wire and tools.

Chains Chains Chains by Jaonna Gollbery and Nathalie Mornu - This a fun and inspiring book covering 25 chains from various artists with designs ranging from wire work to metalsmithing.  Some of the projects require a soldering set up, but there are enough designs in here featuring wire work and cold connection projects that I think someone who plays with mostly beads would find this a nice addition to their jewelry bookshelf.  The projects themselves are all metal, but it is easy to imagine a glass or clay bead as the focal for many of the chains used in the book and what a great way to showcase some of your favorite beads.  What I love about this book is the way it breaks down the designs and really expands how I think about jewelry construction.  Even complex looking projects are made accessible. 


But if you can only get one metalworking book, my all time favorite is Metalworking 101 for Beaders by Candie Cooper. She mixes in beads with basic metal techniques in creative designs.  If it's not already on you bookshelf - I suggest getting this one first!

Disclosure: the books were provided by the publishers for review.  Affiliate links to the books are provided.

Copper Jewelry Components

If you've purchased silver lately, I know there was some wincing on your part at that the price.  With silver prices staying at over $30 per troy ounce, copper is looking pretty attractive as an alternative metal for jewelry designers. 

Here are a few artisan made pendants using copper.  A pendant using recycled copper by KDemARTe.  A copper metal clay pendant from Andrew Thornton.  And two etched metal pendants, the flight-inspired piece by Higher Chakra and an etched flower by FlapYourWing.

Along with using copper pendants from artists, you can alter commercial copper findings by texturing them with hammers, texturing plates or etching them yourself.  With some wire and practice you can make your own clasps, jump rings and earwires.  The copper wire sold at hardware stores is the same copper wire used for jewelry, you can pick up a spool for a few dollars.  You can find sheets of copper at Hobby Lobby in varying thickness for different projects.  You want raw copper wire, beware of copper colored wire sold at craft stores, it has a coating that prevents you from using patinas or a torch with them.

You can also easily antique copper with a beautiful dark finish using liver of sulphur or try your hand at the color patina techniques written about by our own Shannon LeVart in her ebook Color Drenched Metal.

"From Mark Nelson of Rio Grande: Patinas in general can be very sensitive and delicate. Sealing them with a lacquer such as Finish Seal lacquer #335-123 or a wax such as Renaissance wax can help prolong the life of the color and help keep the copper from turning your skin green. Applying a sealer however can alter the color of the patina (usually making it darker)."

Great Links to Check Out:

Make your own spiral wire clasp by Cindy Wimmer

Copper etching with chemicals

Copper etching chemical free

Make your own earwires by Deryn Mentock

How to patina with liver of sulphur

How to patina with Cool Tools patina gel, part 1 & 2

(Copper wire photo altered from: Wormwould via Flickr's creative commons.)

Jumping Out of Your Comfort Zone -- Take a Class!

Last year, I decided to reduce my craft show circuit from about 20 shows and knock it down to only five.  I wrote a separate blog about it, figuring it would keep me accountable.  The idea was to take a bunch of classes, try a lot of new techniques, and hopefully expand upon my current style, or maybe even develop a new one.

My usual style, with beads by Jane Perala

What I ended up finding out was classes scare me.  

Now, I looooove a trip to Barnes and Noble.  LOVE to peruse Amazon.com.  I have a ton of beading magazines and a healthy bookshelf FULL of how-to books -- everything from metalsmithing to micro-macrame.

one of my many, many bookshelves

However, the vast majority of those magazines and books go unread.  

I always have an excuse, which usually has something to do with not enough hours in the day.  There's always a deadline.  Or a school function.  Or the weather is too nice to stay indoors.  Or or ... and or.

So the only way I can really ever learn anything is to sign up for a class.

Attending class is a very humbling experience for me.  First comes knowing what to wear.  I know everyone will be wearing something SMASHING they made themselves -- probably from a two-week art retreat in the Italian Alps, which may or may not involve wrapping wire for three days straight on a hair-thin mandrel or encasing the fur of a unicorn in resin.  I'm totally joking around, but you get the level of my anxiety, I'm sure!

Unicorn shoe by Bete Noire Forge

Needless to say, I've been making jewelry around eight years now but I am THE newbie in the class.  Not just a newbie, but a rank beginner -- the person who cuts things wonky  (accidentally), pounds her thumb with a hammer (repeatedly), and sets things on fire (allegedly).

the inauspicious beginnings of ... something... at my class with Stephanie Lee

I'm the one who sits with shoulders hunched, looking with wild eyes at my neighbors confidently tackle their projects, armed with the perfect tools, the perfect packets of ephemera, the perfect ideas running through their heads.  I glance at the teacher, and all the teachers I've met -- they know That Look.   

And they stop and help.

Not only do they stop and help, but they encourage me to continue to ask for help -- not to the point of nuisance, but just often enough for a few seconds-worth of "is this right?".  And then I move on.

Sometimes it works out OK in the end, and all it takes is one class.

pendant I made during a class with Tracy Stanley

Sometimes it takes a couple of classes before I get things down.  For instance, the first time I took Barbara Lewis' enameling class, I burned things up.  Blechy beads.  Nothing salvageable.  So when she showed up in my neck of the woods nine months later, I took a refresher course, and it finally just... clicked.  I got comfortable.  I relaxed.

my second set of beads from Barbara Lewis' class

I still worry every time I take a class that I have a neon sign over my head that blinks "Caution!  Does Not Know Anything!" and "Doesn't Have a Clue!" over my head.  I am still awed when I walk into the class and see the amazing art around the students' necks.  And I still often wonder what was possessing me when I signed up for the class in the first place, because I feel I don't belong there.

Which, of course, is the entire point.  Why would you take a class if you DID belong there?  It's all about learning something new, isn't it?

necklace I made in Stephanie Sersich's class

Jumping out of my comfort zone means I REALLY take a cliff dive into an entirely new realm of jewelry design.  All of the classes I take are so far removed from what I normally do they require a different zip code.  However, after taking the class, I'm never sorry I took it.  I always learn something, even if I (allegedly) caught the piece on fire once or twice.

My challenge to you -- jump out of your comfort zone this year by taking a class in something that is totally unlike your norm.  Be it jewelry or cooking, sign up, take a deep breath, and jump.

I promise someone will catch you.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site lorianderson.net.  She writes the blog Pretty Things .  She lives in Maryland.