Autumn Flowers Inspiration

The Art Bead Scene's challenge this month is a silk screen print by Marguerite Zorach.  With a background in printmaking this piece really called to me as labor of love from the artist. With the muted colors and modern design elements I knew right away that I would want to make beads inspired by the art. I printed this out and went to the studio to dig in and see what I could create. 

I pulled out some bead molds that reminded me the leaves, flowers and ferns in the painting and created them in autumn hues.

I mixed up some colors in polymer that matched the color palette I created for the ABS. (It will be on the blog tomorrow.) And pulled out some canes that fit the leafy theme for a very limited edition of these Autumn Floral disk beads. Love these! May have to keep a set for myself.

 Feathers in the navy blue and jade pulled from the print.

And I love the ferns stuck in the floral arrangement so I wanted to pull out these fern charms in the navy and copper hues.

I had this mold in the beadmaking stash from something I made years ago that never fit what I wanted for the project at the time. But when I was digging in those molds this week I instantly saw it updated in the new colors and knew it would be perfect. These are my favorite from this week's beadmaking adventures.  I love how they feel like a mid-century pattern. I'd love a skirt or scarf made with this design.

And looking at the inspiration print I couldn't help but think of my Bonbon beads. So I mixed up my favorite colors from the print and got to work on a new batch. Perfectly autumn, don't you think?

So that's what I created for this month's ABS challenge. I'm also a sponsor for this month's round and have donated a $50 Humblebeads.com gift certificate. I hope you'll play along this month!

New beads can be found in my Etsy shop.

The Editors Take the Art Bead Scene Challenge

This amazing painting was painted by Dutch Renaissance painter Balthasar van der Ast in the 1600's! You can read all about our monthly challenge here. When I saw this painting I fell in love with that collection of shells. Shells were considered exotic to the growing upper class during the Renaissance, collected from tropical locations from merchants traveling the globe. The Dutch would paint still lives with flowers, insects and other mementos that would not only show off their wealth but had a deeper meaning that all the things of this world are temporary and transient. 

I decided this month to create beads for the challenge. One thing I loved about the painting was the play of pattern, color and shapes from one shell to the next and created small collections of headpins inspired by the shells and berries in the painting. 

These are one-of-a-kind sets and can be found on my website, here. 

Stop by the Art Bead Scene today to see what our other editors were inspired to create! 

June Art Bead Scene Challenge

Feuilles by Seraphine Louis, 1928

This is the inspiration painting for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge. When I was looking for art for this year's challenge, I was wondering looking for women artist's to feature - we need all the credit we can get, right? I had seen Seraphine's work before but this piece just stopped me in my tracks. The colors are so vibrant and alive. I could make beads and jewelry for a month inspired by this painting and never run out of ideas. I love the abundance and overzealous feeling of the work, who isn't a little overtaken by the beauty of nature! 

Let's see what I came up with this month.

First up, I broke into my Bead & Button stash and pulled out some Diane Hawkey beads. Why don't I ever buy enough of her pieces, I always use them up to quick. I'm particularly in love with her branches, should have grabbed all her had. I paired them up with my leaves and birds. A little Czech glass and copper branches finish the design.

The same design with a slight twist, mixing in a few different pendants - the ceramic leaf from Lisa Peters, lampwork from Sea of Glass and enamel leaf from Gardanne Beads. I kept these simple with a bronze colored leather.

I made this piece for myself. That amazing electroplated leaf is something I picked up from an artist at a local show last summer. I can't find her card - why, Heather, why! I hope she returns this year. If I could take a class or teach myself a new skill it would be how to electroplate things from nature. Yummy!!!!

I also used the inspiration painting to put together a few kits that I'm offering in my Etsy shop.

So that's my ABS challenge pieces, are you working on one or have you finished a design? There is still plenty of time to enter. Stop by the Art Bead Scene to see what Mary Harding created for this month's challenge too.

The ABS Editors Take the Challenge

Today a few of us from the Art Bead Scene blog are sharing how the monthly challenge painting by Frida Kahlo has inspired us this month. You can read all the challenge details here.

The story and symbolism behind this painting is so sad, it reflected the pain and heartbreak of losing the two great loves of her life.

For my beads that I created I focused on the foliage behind the artist, taking visual clue from the leaf and sky. Even the butterflies in her hair found their way into the beads. I also did a design inspired by the thorns.

I took the disk beads and created two bracelets with ceramic cuffs from Suzie Q Beads.

For this design I used a series of jump rings to create the chain. 

The next bracelet I took a few cues from the painting but went into a more playful direction than the serious subject matter of the painting. 

For this bracelet I added in a tropical Bonbon bead. I definitely stepped away from the inspiration and went in a brighter and cheerier design.

And isn't that the best thing about the monthly challenge? It's a spring board that takes artists from all the world on creative explorations as they take a painting and transform the colors, designs and subject into jewelry.

Have you created something for this month's challenge? You still have a few days, so join us!

Featured Beads: Bonbon Beads and Wild Growth Disk Beads.

Art Bead Scene Challenge Inspiration

Hello beady friends! I wanted to share this month's Art Bead Scene challenge. I've been intrigued by Emily Carr's paintings for years. They capture a spiritual exuberance found in the wildness in Western Canada. They are lonely, yet some how capture a hidden throbbing that you feel in a forest. That connection of being one with everything around you on those quite walks in the woods is shared in her lively brushstrokes. They sway with the music that comes from the wind blowing through the tree branches, the grasses playing in the sun, her paintings capture the living earth.

"Look at the earth crowded with growth, new and old bursting from their strong roots hidden in the silent, live ground, each seed according to its own kind... each one knowing what to do, each one demanding its own rights on the earth... So, artist, you too from the deeps of your soul... let your roots creep forth, gaining strength." - Emily Carr

Carr was a strong and unique character in her time, a pioneer in living a feminist existence without the restraints of family or domestic life that was expected when she was a young woman. She traveled and studied painting in America, England and France. She struggled for many years and even stopped painting for 15 years during the middle of her life but even during that time she turned to crafts to keep her creativity alive. In her later life she achieved success as a renowned artist and today is a beloved cultural figure for Canada and a role model for women in the arts worldwide.

“Be careful that you do not write or paint anything that is not your own, that you don't know in your own soul.” - Emily Carr

The painting above is Haida Totems from the BC archives in Canada. Visit the Emily Carr website to see more paintings and to read about the life of this extraordinary woman.

Visit the Art Bead Scene to read about the challenge and gather your beads to play along.

Art Bead Scene's October Challenge

Today the editors of the Art Bead Scene have risen to the monthly challenge over on our blog. This month I picked this colorful and playful painting by Milton Avery. I have to say it's the color that grabbed me when I first saw this painting. It captures a surreal palette that definitely excludes the excitement of the season. 

To play along I made beads inspired by the painting. I created this necklace with my bead, a leaf headpin from Thornburg Studios, enamel accents from Gardanne and a ceramic bead from White Clover Kiln. 

Here are the rest of the beads I created for the challenge. These are a very limited edition. Once they are gone, that's it! I will have them in my Etsy shop in just a bit.

This month the Art Bead Scene has mixed things up a bit with our challenge. We are now using Pinterest as the place to show off your entries. And there is a bead category for beadmakers to enter. So jump on over to the Art Bead Scene to check out the challenge and see what everyone else made this week! And then pull out those beads and play along.

Art Bead Scene October Challenge
Art Bead Scene Editor Blog Hop

Art Bead Scene Editors Blog Hop

So the creative team behind the Art Bead Scene decided to challenge ourselves to participate in July's Monthly Challenge and host a little hop to reveal our results.

The inspiration painting is Edmund Dulac's Little Mermaid illustration from 1911. You can read all about the challenge and play along this month too, click here for details.

I seem to have an abundance of art beads with a sea-inspired theme so this challenge first started with a treasure hunt through my bead boxes to find the perfect beads. For this necklace I grabbed a beautiful Lisa Peters Art ceramic pendant that I picked up a few years ago at Bead & Button.  I think it perfectly captures the feeling of seaweed floating in the current. I layered a Girl Girl Studio shibuichi mermaid pendant right on top of the ceramic one - yep you can do that! I paired them up with a disk bead that I created. Although it's a Van Gogh Almond Blossom bead, I thought it worked with the theme and the colors. The lovely lampworkbead is from by friend Anne of Gardanne Beads. 

My next creation is one I will wear all summer long. This bracelet started with one of my urchin beads that have a beautiful patina. On bronze leather I knotted dyed wooden beads along with more of those Van Gogh Almond disk beads and a ceramic bead from Gaea Beads. 

The clasp is a spectacular shibuichi piece from Green Girl Studios. And a little enameled flower bead cap from Gardanne Beads to add just a little touch of color.

My final piece for the challenge is a sweet pair of earrings using the tiniest little urchins I've ever seen.  They are actually bead caps, but I think they make lovely charms too.  The urchins are from Green Girl Studios and I paired them up with summery peach Wobbles with golden speckles and a tiny faceted brass beads. 

Visit the participating Art Bead Scene editor's blogs to check out how they channeled their inner mermaid this week!

Mary Harding
Rebecca Anderson
Ema Kilroy
Claire Lockwood
Humblebeads - you are here!

Resources: Humblebeads. Green Girl Studios. Gardanne Beads. Gaea Beads. Lisa Peters Art.

Art Bead Scene's May Challenge

This an Italian Renaissance painting by Bernardo Bellatto and Brandi Hussey's color palette for this Month's Art Bead Scene challenge.

I love using Brandi's color palettes for inspiration and in fact mixing colors is one of my favorite parts about beadmaking.

Here are the beads I made using the color palette. I kept them simple with stripe and leaf canes to tie into my upcoming workshop. You can find these in my Etsy shop.

I whipped up a set of these beads into a fun bracelet yesterday with a ceramic sea urchin from Blueberri Beads, a lampwork spacers from Genea, starfish clasp from Green Girl Studio and wood beads from Rings & Things.

This bracelet is a serious multi-tasker, not only does it tie into the Art Bead Scene's May Challenge, it also happens to be my Jewelry Making Mojo piece, which is all about creating jewelry from a color palette this week!

I cover the stripe and leaf canes in our first week of the Art of Color Polymer Clay Bootcamp. I'm going to show you how using a simple cane can open up a world of possibilities. So yes, you could learn to make beads like these and so much more during my four week class. 

I really wanted to create an online experience that goes beyond watching a video or downloading a PDF. A few points I'd like to share about the workshop:

• It's a self-paced course, your assignments arrive every Monday but you can work on them at your own pace.  
• On Thursday nights I will host an optional weekly chat in our private Facebook group to help you with any questions or troubleshooting from that week's assignments. 
• Interacting in a classroom, seeing what others create, talking to the instructor - all of intangibles that make taking a class so invaluable are what I'd like to create for you in this weekly format. 

If you've always wanted to learn how to make beads, crack the code to using color confidently or pick up some of my baking tricks to achieve that earthy, organic feel - this class is for you!

Early bird registration ends May 15th. Read all the details here.