Art Bead Palette :: RedStarArtBeads

Fox | Polar Bear | Hedgehog | Elephant

I came across these rustic animal beads from Red Star Art Beads yesterday and was thoroughly charmed. I love the texture of them, and the muted colors used are calling to me right now. Wouldn't it be a fun surprise to see one of these peeking out of a necklace or bracelet?

For more, be sure to click on over!

Art Bead Palette :: Margit Boehmer

Artisan Pendant

I came across the work of Margit Boehmer yesterday, and I just had to share it with you.

Everything about her work draws me in. From the geometric shapes and textures, to the unabashed use of bright colors. Margit is a color lover, too (which you know I love), and it shows in pretty much every polymer clay bead she creates. I'm especially a fan of her color combos, which are unusual and captivating.

Here's more:

Flower bead earring elements

Calypso beads

Spindle beads

Aren't they lovely? As always, there's far more than I can show here, so be sure to stop by Margit's Etsy shop.

Art Bead Palette :: APolymerPenchant

Fantasy Flower Pendant - Pink Tones

Fantasy Flower Pendant - Purple Tones

Fantasy Flower Pendant - Red Tones

Fantasy Flower Pendant - Orange Tones

Fantasy Flower Pendant - Yellow Tones

I'm going to blame my current flower fixation on it being springtime. Can you blame me? After the winter we all had (and may still be having, for some), bright colors are the ticket.

Enter these Fantasy Flower beads, from Emma Todd's shop, A Polymer Penchant. Aren't they gorgeous? At first, I thought they were ceramics, but they're made from polymer clay! Beautiful. It's a hard choice, but I think my favorite pendants are the yellow ones, with the orange ones coming a very close second. How about you?

To see more from Emma, be sure to stop by her Etsy shop!

Art Bead Palette :: Sigaliot

This month, with the lack of color in our Monthly Challenge Palette, I felt the need to go in the exact opposite direction and find the brightest, happiest art beads I could. Partly influenced by a recent color theory post that I've got on my blog, and partly because November can start to feel dreary, I started searching and quickly came upon a shop called Sigaliot.

Run by a lovely lady name Sagit, Sigaliot is full of polymer clay beads featuring saturated rainbow colors, stripes, dots, and fun designs. This is just a small sampling, but how can you not smile when you see such happy colors?

My favorite is the last palette with the black and white stripes - what's yours?


Photo sources, from the top:

1. Disco Ball
2. The Blue Lagoon
3. Color Cells
4. Funky Zebra

Art Bead Palette :: Humblebeads

Funny story, one of the first art beads I ever bought, back before I ever knew what an art bead was, was one of Heather Powers' urchin beads. I was fascinated with how she took a humble medium, polymer clay, and turned into art (maybe that's where she came up with the name Humblebeads? I'll have to ask her). The textures and shapes and sheer volume of what she can create amazes me. As does, you guessed it, Heather's color choices.

I'm really taken in with the colors artists choose in their bodies of work, and Heather's color choices are no exception. I think they're fantastic, and would instantly bring a ton of color to a necklace or any jewelry design. Every bead she has in her shop would be an awesome jumping off point, so I picked out a few favorites and whipped up these color palettes.

I know Heather's got a ton of fans out there who love and use her beads, so tell me: what's your favorite Humblebead you've ever bought?

To connect more with Heather, you can visit her website and her blog.

To see more color palettes from me, you can stop by my blog.

Pantone's Color of the Year: Tangerine Tango

Handmade Lampwork Glass Bead... mermaidglass $17.00	ORANGE CRUSH FLOWERS Lampwor... SerenaSmithLam... $12.00	Scarlet Orange Enameled Cone... NadinArtGlass $6.00	Lampwork Focal Bead -Coral D... PowersArtStudi... $25.00
Handmade Round Raku Clay Bal... funkyprettybea... $6.00	Glass lampwork beads Rustic ... radiantmind $4.75	Lampwork glass headpin / Mix... GardanneBeads $10.00	Artisan Handmade Lampwork Gl... squirrelylumpk... $15.00
Yellow Orange Vintage Brass ... missficklemedi... $10.00	Small Pendant Art Nouveau St... maryhardingjew... $10.00	Copper Leaf Pendant humblebeads $14.00	2 Large Rectangle Curved Bea... CapturedMoment... $5.99
On Sale 30% Off Handmade Lam... NomadCraftsEtc $7.00	Big Handmade Brass-Fiber Bea... jimenasjewelry $26.00	Lampwork Carnelian Dragonfly... kerribeads $95.00	Glass lampwork Head Pins Apr... radiantmind $9.25

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Are you ready to dance?  Tangerine Tango is an energetic color that adds a pop to any jewelry design.  Go all out with a sun kissed creation or add in bits of the orange as accents.  Pair tangerine up with teal and grey for the modern palette.  Or go with greens and browns for an earthy creation.  Pick a sherbet colorway and add in yellows, pinks and purples for a combination that is ready for spring.

Pantone's Color of the Year

I'm feeling sunny already!

Free Project - Lily's Midnight Tryst

 

Using this Twilight Lily bead by Heather, you can create a  romantic accessory perfect for an evening out with your partner.  The deep blue colors paired with tiny crystals evokes a midnight tryst under the sparkle of stars and an air heavy with the perfume of lilies.

Tools and Materials

Bead board or Ruler

Scissors

Wire cutter

Chain nose pliers

Round nose pliers

Humblebeads Twilight Lily Bead 

Faceted Black Tourmaline from kandubead.etsy.com

11- 4mm clear crystal bicones

11 - 22 gauge antiqued copper headpins

1 - 5" - 20 gauge antiqued copper headpin 

25" - 22 gauge antiqued copper wire

6 - 8mm Ghost White patina copper beads

6 - 16mm Indigo Hammered Links

1 - 8mm antiqued copper jump ring 

1 - 26mm copper toggle clasp

8 - 4mm antiqued copper jump rings

24" - Dark Blue leather cording from lilysoffering.esty.com

Step 1. Start your design by building from the focal bead up to the pre-determined measurement. The necklace shown measures 19" in length with the focal Twilight bead and faceted Tourmaline adding a 2" center drop. The focal bead needed to be centered at the 9" mark on the bead board with the remaining beads laid out in an estimation of what was needed to fill the determined measurment.

Step 2. Slide the Twilight Lily bead onto the 5" long 20 gauge antiqued copper headpin, form a loop at the top and wrap the extra wire around the top of the bead to close it. The extra long headpin will create a nice messy wrap at the top.  Cut 1 - 5" piece of 22 gauge antiqued copper wire and create a loop on one end with your round nose pliers, approximately 3" into the wire, dependent on the size of faceted tourmaline you are using. Wrap the loop closed, trim away the excess wire and press the cut end into the wire-wrapping. Slide the faceted tourmaline onto the wire and form a second loop under the bead, stopping before you wire-wrap it closed so you can slide the open loop onto the Twilight Lily beads top loop. Close the wire-wrapped loop so the Twilight Lily bead is now suspended from the faceted black tourmaline.

Step 3. Begin creating wire-wrapped connectors with the Ghost White patina beads with 6 - 4" pieces of 22 gauge antiqued copper wire, closing each loop with wire-wrapping and trimming away any excess wire. You should have 6 white beads with 2 loops on each. Open the 8mm antiqued copper jump ring and insert 2 of the wire-wrapped Ghost White patina bead connectors into the jump ring. Close the jump ring onto the top loop of the faceted black tourmaline. 

Step 4. Alternate connecting the Ghost White patina beads with the Indigo links by using smaller jump rings to attach the beads loops to the 16mm links. You should have 4 Indigo links separated by 6 of the  Ghost White beads. Once the necklaces center piece is assembled, you can wire-wrap the clear crystals to the Ghost White bead loops using the 22 gauge antiqued copper headpins. Add 1 crystal to each bottom loop of the Ghost White connector loops. Add 5 crystals to the top loop of the Twilight Lily bead so they are grouped around the messy wire-wrapped bail, in between the faceted black tourmaline and the Twilight Lily bead.  

Step 5. Cut 2 - 12" pieces of 2mm dark blue leather cording. Thread one of the 12" pieces through the last loop of the left side of the Ghost White connector beads. Cut a 3" piece of 22 gauge antiqued copper wire. Place the center of the wire over the doubled leather approximately 1/4 of an inch from the bead connector loop. Twist the wire over the leather cording from the middle of the wire, pulling the wire around to the front and over itself several times to keep the doubled leather together. Press the ends of the 3" piece of wire into the wrap you just created so the wearer does not get scratched from the sharp end of the wire. Gather the 2 pieces of leather together and push them through the end loop of one side of the antiqued copper toggle clasp. Fold both the leather cords over and cut another 3" piece of 22 gauge antiqued copper wire. Bind the folded leather onto itself by wrapping from the center of the wire as you did previously with the lower area of the leather. Tuck the sharp ends under the wrapping and press the wrapping with your chain nose pliers to ensure a tight wrapping. Repeat this step for the right side of the necklace with the second piece of 12" dark blue leather and the opposite side of the copper toggle.

I hope you enjoy creating this ultra romantic necklace as much as did. 

Now. Where is a lily garden? I've got plans.... :)

Much Love & respect,

Shannon LeVart

missficklemedia.com

These Are a Few of My Favorite Beads

No matter if your day is happy or sad, beads will make you smile!  Here are few of my current favorites...

polymer clay cat bead by Tree Wings Studio

boro lampwork beads by Firelily

polymer clay beads by Earth Tones

lampwork beads by Lori Lochner

porcelain owl by Joan Miller

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.    She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.  

Interview with Polymer Clay Artist Barbara Bechtel

Barbara Bechtel was one of the first polymer clay artists I fell in love with on Etsy.  I continue to love and use her beads and she always comes out with new and innovative pieces.  I thought I'd interview her today so you could get to know her, too! 

L:  Barbara, how did you get started? 

B:  I started making beads after becoming disenchanted with the mixed media work I was making. I've always been a tinkerer, a Jane-of-all trades. One day while I was tinkering in my studio, I came upon some polymer clay in my supplies and decided to see what I could make. I was immediately smitten and have been making beads ever since.

L:  What inspires you? 

B:  I am keenly inspired by nature. For many years, my paintings were narrative in nature. I also have a deep interest in history and anthropology. Historical artifacts and relics all influence my work.  I seek to translate these forms into a new and fresh perspective....I also love the marriage of images and words.

L:  What are your favorite colors to work with?

B:   I don't know that I have favorites but I am definitely drawn to blues. Color is such a magnanimous thing, it has the ability to transcend the shape it is confined to.

L:  What is your favorite time of day to work?  What does an average day look like?

B:  I work best in the early morning. My workspace is pretty small, so I usually try to focus all of my efforts on one task that day, whether it is making beads, finishing them or working on finished jewelry. I'm very much a recluse. I don't leave the house that much. I work intuitively, so when I go into my studio, I work on the thing I feel most drawn to that day. 

The afternoon and evening are usually reserved for more tedious tasks...but I find that when I'm doing those tasks, I get the beginning visions for new projects. I spend an inordinate amount of time in deliberation about these ideas, so that when I physically begin them, I only have to work out the physical details.

L:  When did you begin making beads, and did you make jewelry first or beads first?

B:  That's a hard question because I made jewelry first in some basic jewelry classes. I never connected the two until I made those first polymer clay beads. Those first beads smacked of the same work I had done in my jewelry work and so, the two have become linked.

L:  Is there an artist that inspires you? 

B:  I love seeing the working process of artists. What goes on in an artist's mind an life and how that is translated when they begin to work. I recently watched the documentary series, Art City, and that really resonated with me. 


I think a constant for me has been Nina Bagley because I was first drawn to her mixed media work as a mixed media painter myself. Stephanie Lee's work is also very inspiring to me for a similar reason. The work my customers make with my beads always thrills me because they often use the beads in completely different ways than I could ever imagine and that is really inspiring to me as well.

 

L:  Do you have an art background?

B:  I have a BFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I really loved that experience but I don't think it's necessary for everyone. I don't believe that one needs a piece of paper to make things. I think a person makes things because they can't imagine not making them.  If someone wants to make something, they should just do that.

L:  What is your artistic outlook on life?

 B:  I don't know that it is an outlook....but I try to follow my heart. To do the best I can, however I can.

L:  What do you like about your work?

B: I like that my work has remained true...I think it has always been a reflection of myself....a documentary, if you will. I can look back at both the good work and the bad work, and I can see what was going on in my life at the time.

L:  What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given? 

B:  Work hard, stay honest, be critical. Keep your eye on the ball, even when you can't see the ball. Make sure the process of making brings you joy. Never allow negative attitudes to control your own thoughts.

L:  What could you not do without?

B:  The love of my family and friends.

L:  If you weren’t a bead and jewelry artist, what would you be? 

B:  I would still be a maker, of some sort. I love food, so I've always liked the idea of being a chef...and I still love to paint. I would like to someday return to making larger paintings.

L:  What is your dream project?

B:  To build and design my own home and working studio. That would be amazing.

You can visit Barbara at the following sites: 

blog: http://secondsurf.com

jewelry and beads: http://floridity.etsy.com

vintage and paper goods: http://kitofparts.etsy.com

paintings: http://2ndsurf.etsy.com

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.    She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.  

The High Cost of Silver

Today sterling silver is over $30 an ounce.

You can almost hear the tears and gnashing of teeth of jewelry designers everywhere.

If none of this really means anything, if it's the first you've heard of it, allow me to put it into perspective for you. 

These are six beads I bought a week ago, wholesale.  The largest is 20mm tall.

They cost me $27.  Wholesale.

Two years ago, the beads below, also wholesale, cost me $400.  Then, I was shaking my head and half-numb at the cost of $15/ounce.  Now?  They'd cost me double.

Many of my bracelets have four to five silver beads and a large silver toggle in the mix, so doing the math .....yikes.  What are designers who use primarily sterling silver to do?  Customers traditionally don't like change, and switching to plated silver or another metal doesn't always work.

The ten year silver price chart.  

You can keep track of the silver price at www.kitcosilver.com

Why is it so high?

Some say it started when China launched precious metal futures trading in January 2008. Some say it's due to silver riding the coat tails of gold's meteoric rise to over $1000/ounce. And of course historically, precious metals go up when the dollar is down.

So what does this mean for jewelry designers?

It means we're going to have to work even harder to create unique things. Let's take this financial hit on our supplies as an opportunity to push ourselves creatively.  We can continue to use sterling silver, but perhaps less of it.  Instead, we can start looking at beads we may never have considered before.

bracelet with ceramic, wood, and lampwork glass, sterling silver wire and toggle, linked with steel rings

In some of my jewelry, instead of using the four or five silver beads I used to, I choose a pretty toggle, ONE sterling silver bead, and make the rest of the bracelet REALLY count.  The toggle is as important as the beads I choose, and focusing on it as part of the whole, making sure it blends with the entire design, is even more important now.

bracelet made with lampwork glass, ceramic, and one large Thai silver bead

While my customers have been slow to accept copper and brass (which pains me, as there are so. very. many. gorgeous options out there), I've found that by mixing it in slowly with my usual style, it's started to be picked up more often.  If you're meeting resistance to switching metals, adding things in slowly while continuing to use your regular elements (lampwork glass, polymer clay, ceramic) might be a good way to introduce these versatile, beautiful options.

bracelet made with lampwork glass, polymer clay, and copper

Two years ago, I thought, "Surely this can't last!"  And yet here we are.  In 1980, sterling silver rose to an all-time high of $49.45 an ounce.  I certainly hope we're not headed there.  HOWEVER -- I do believe that we as designers are creative enough and resourceful enough to make the most of this.  We can not only educate our buyers as to why certain pieces now cost more, but can attract customers with our new-found creativity born of necessity.  

Bronze Metal Clay pendant, brass chain, and Czech glass

So look at this high rise in sterling silver cost as a challenge to you to work outside your comfort zone.  Look at your beads in an entirely new way.  Discover new metals.  Investigate steel, pewter, and aluminum for a silver color, and view copper and brass with a new eye.  Look at your toggles and clasps not merely as a way to close a piece, but as an integral part of your design.

How have you been dealing with the high rise in the cost of sterling silver?