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.

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 Monthly Challenge

So this week for the Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge I asked participants to pick a challenge or contest to play along with and create a piece of jewelry.  I'm right in the trenches with you and the challenge that I picked was to create something for the Art Bead Scene's February Blog Hop. If you are are new the Art Bead Scene, we challenge readers to create a piece of jewelry each month inspired by a work of art.  This month it's Paul Klee's The Rose Garden - shown below.

 

In the painting I love the layered look of the buildings with the tiny windows and that was what I wanted to capture in my set here. I cut out the pieces from copper and textured them with an awesome texturing hammer - so much fun! I should have cut out house shapes - of course, I just now thought of that.  (I'm also really good at coming up with witty come backs - hours laters.) 

I paired the copper with some of my disk beads in the color palette of the painting.  

This is Paul Klee's The Rose Garden.

There is still time to play along with the Art Bead Scene's challenge - you have until the 28th.  And if you use Humblebeads in your creation - enter here for a chance to win a $50 Humblebeads gift certificate.

In case you wondering what all this Mojo talk is about - read more here and the first challenge here.

Challenges, Trends and Inspirations

Hello 2014! I'm starting the new year out by running full steam ahead.  I always have so many planned projects that never see the light of day.  That's over, time to create with wild abanonded. This is going to be the year I step it up.  Last year I coasted between crisises and had my creative super powers sapped by some pretty awful things that happened in my life.  Hopefully this year will be filled with energizing and exciting events, because that's what I'm planning!

One of my goals for 2014 is too rock the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenges with new beads each month.  I jumped right on it this week and created these amazing caladium pendants. This month's challenge is a luscious textile design from Louis Mailou Jones, you can read all about the challenge here.  You must enter this month - how could you not be inspired by the color palette!

As you can see, I certainly have been!  I created a few heart designs showing my love for nature.  I think you need to see more of that butterfly...

Orchid Butterfly Heart Pendant

My second inspiration is Pantone's Color of the Year - Radiant Orchid.  I just jumped right in with creating pendants based on orchid sketches.  Orchid Pendant.

And I created a second pendant with a stem of orchids.  I kept the backgrounds fresh and clean with a white-wash finish - it just said spring to me with hints of dark brown for depth in the color.  And yes, I am counting down the days until Bead Cruise 2014, a week in the tropics can not get here fast enough!

Tomorrow I'll share my second round of bead inspirations for the start of the new year.

Spring Inspiration

Every month on the Art Bead Scene I pick an inspiring work of art for the monthly challenge.  This month I was choose John Waterhouse's painting called Boreas.  I was drawn to the landscape that looks like my own Michigan fields dotted with daffodils and gusts of wind that bring a reminder that spring is a slow and steady visitor. 

Daffodils are on my mind this month and on my bead table - I'll have pics. soon.  So until then I matched up a few other items from my shop that compliment the painting.  I'm especially looking forward to seeing how the flowing element of the painting will be incorporated into everyone's entries this month - I'm drawn to the dark gray silk ribbon in my stash.