Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads Winners!

Sorry for the wait for those who wanted to know the winner for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads.  I had to work hard this weekend and took a few days of an "internet vacation" so I could catch up. 

This was so much fun.  For those who missed the original post, it's here.

The winner is Mikki!

Mikki will receive her box in just a few days and she has 2 weeks to go through the stash and take what she'd like and replace them with items from her stash.  To keep it interesting, let's have a two week deadline for everyone who participates.  She'll post on her blog when she ready for the beads to travel and I'll post here too. 

All I ask is that each time it passes hands, the winner will email me when the next giveaway starts so I can enjoy the traveling and help promote your giveaway!

Kella is the international winner of a sweet little grab bag from my etsy shop.

Here were some fun comments from the contest that I thought I'd share:

"How about if contributors post pix of the contents when they get it and what they add? It would be very interesting to see how it changes." - Deerwoman

"I'd love to play. Is it possible to share your turn? Because I know my bead society would love to join in but most of them don't blog or have sites." - Mikki

"A friend of mine started something like this a little while ago - on a much smaller scale of course - only $15 worth of beads - and we have 4 beaders who are participate currently. When the pkgs contain beads we originally put into the stash, we take them out and replace them and just keep the traveling bead circle going. :) It's a really fun way to destash/share and receive/discover new goodies!" - Kismet1990

Some questions that I was asked:
How do we know the value to replace the beads?  I only ask that you think generously of the next winner and replace the beads with what you think is a fair trade.

Did I lose my mind giving away this stash?  Honestly these are things I will never use.  They were stuffed in boxes or piled in corners.  I'm not giving up anything precious.  I also happen to be a big believer that only open hands can receive new gifts! (Or beads in this case.)

Can I do this on my blog?  By all means, de-stash and do your own traveling bead box!  I didn't make this up, gardeners trade seeds, readers trade books, there are crafty swaps going on all the time.  Have fun, I'm happy to inspire such beady goodness.

I smell a good theme for a bead party too!  Why not host a bead swap in your home?  Serve something delicious, invite a few beady friends and ask them to bring beads they want to swap.  You may have to set up some kind of rules or it could get ugly! 

Thanks to everyone who played along.  It was a great way to celebrate my clean studio - which is still clean!

Stop back tomorrow for BIG news and lots of new beads!

From Sketch to Design

I thought you might enjoy seeing how my latest creations came into being.

First my inspirations:

Illustrations from my childhood

From artist's like Gyo Fujikawa and Tasha Tudor.

Mary Harding's clasps:

 and Melanie's (Earthenwood Studios) toggle/resin experiments:

So with those inspirations rattling around in my brain and the need to create a line of clasps scratching it's way to the surface I sat down with my sketchbook.

I pulled out the clay, my lino block carving tool and my favorite sculpting tools and made the molds.  It took me a few experiments as I've never made a mold or stamp for the clay.  Fun, but I wasted quite bit of polymer clay and mold making stuff in the process, oh well it's part of the journey.

After I had a few molds that I was happy with I threw them in the oven and waited.  From the molds I pressed my toggles. After those baked; I painted them and did some surface treatments to create a 'watercolor' effect. 

Now in a perfect world at this point I would have whipped out my precious metal clay and created bronze or silver branch toggles.  But being kiln deficient, , that didn't happen.  So after some brain storming I created a 'branch' from copper that is hammered for texture and antiqued.  Here are some of the results:

And a necklace designed with the Spring Willow toggle pendant:

Clasps will arrive attached with a small piece of copper chain that can be removed before adding it to your design:

Visit my Etsy shop to view all the new clasps.

Next up is to try the clasps in different colors for the different seasons.

New Beads

Fantastic!  My favorite movie last year, hands down was Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I loved it so much I ran home and made beads.  They sat unpainted for months.  They have now come to life and made their way into my etsy shop.  I'm kinda smitten.

If you haven't seen it, the movie will be on DVD on the 23rd.  If you need to laugh, it's a good place to start.

Other new beads include disk beads that are in pairs, perfect for earrings, and I have listed some of my mum beads in my etsy shop.  They have been on my website since 2007, but I have quite a stash of them and decided to list them in my etsy shop too.

And check out Lorelei's awesome necklace that is featured in the latest issue of Stringing magazine with one of my long flower beads.  I love Lorelei's designs, her knows how to work an art bead!

Van Gogh's Almond Blossoms

Have you entered the ABS' monthly challenge?  I picked this month's inspiration painting, Van Gogh's Almond Blossoms.  I love the colors and design.  And hey even the texture.  Did you know there is a website where you can view every brushstroke of the painting?  Check it out here and click on the 'show enlargement' link to see the painting up close and personal!

Order something teal from my website or Etsy shop and I'll throw in a free surprise for you!  Ends tonight at midnight.

Midnight Garden

This is a Rings & Things blog partner project.  They sent us a mix of shell pearls and faceted glass in this lux color scheme.*

I mixed them with a set of branch disk beads in purple and midnight blue, a dark blue dogwood bead, a key from Green Girl Studios, a flower button from Mamacita beadworks and a copper leaf from a bead shop in Michigan. I combined the beads with a big chunky silver plated chain and a delicate gunmetal chain to off set the bright silver. 

(*As a blog partner we are sent products to review and give our honest evaluations.)

Dogwood beads: I have four colors in my etsy shop.  I have 2 left in this midnight blue color.  If you'd like one send me a convo on Etsy and I will list it for you. They are $12.00.

So what did I think of the shell pearls?  I actually dig them.  They have the a nice weight to them and I like that they are not perfectly smooth.  Give me a little organic any day!  You can read more about shell pearls here.

More dogwood beads! These are designs from some of my customers:

Gunilla Back from Finland designed this amazing necklace with two dogwoods, a Mary Harding pendant and leaves from Diane Hawkey.  I love it!

Beverly Herman taught this dragonfly necklace on the Bead Cruise this year.  She has the kits and patterns for sale in her Etsy shop.

And a wonderful earthy design from Lorelei Eurto.