Celebrating Summer

                                           First Day of Summer Sunrise   4:45 AM

First Day of Summer Beads

First Day of Summer Tumbling

Summer is my favorite season. I was up early to welcome it to the North Country. I feel blessed to have had such a beautiful day and the time to do some of my favorite activities. 

Right Angle Weave Bracelet

I have been making a lot of bracelets and necklaces lately for a shop in the Adirondacks called Red Truck Pottery in Chestertown, New York. The owner, Bill Knoble, has moved to this area lately since he married one of my good friends.  Bill makes incredible ceramic dinner ware and fires it in a giant wood fueled kiln.  His glazes are to die for.  As you can imagine, I am pleased to be asked to have my jewelry in his shop.

 The photos above are one of the bracelets I have been making.  I used turquoise rounds,  tiny mookite disks and one of my toggle clasps with those great leaf toggle bars from Bello Modo.  The bead work is made with number 6  seed beads and is the right angle weave stitch.

Peyote Plain

A new peyote stitch bracelet without any surface decoration.  The button is in the back and it is overlapped onto the bracelet so that there is no skin showing when I wear it.

More tumbled, stained stoneware beads.  I now have a new barrel--clear plastic--for my tumbler.  I had a rubber one and it would get the black sludggies every so often.  Now I can watch my beads tumble and pull them when the color is just right.  I can't wait to try it.

When I was working with these wonderful multicolored seed beads (bracelet above), I noticed how well they go with the teal ceramic beads.  So now I have a partly finished bracelet with the two together.  Just waiting until I get the right button to close it with--and to finish the edges.

Donation Bracelet

Tuscan Sun Bracelet

Made with my handmade Tuscan red ceramic beads, deep red sea glass beads from The Beadin'Path, small mookite disc beads and Sun Toggle Clasp from Lima Beads. 

Bracelet is constructed with right angle weave.

I am donating this bracelet to a silent auction to raise money for GardenShare.  Their mission is " to build a North Country where all of us have enough to eat and enough to share—where our food choices are healthy for us, for our communities, and for the environment. "

Art Bead Scene Carnival Bloggers Statement Necklace

Statement Necklace Honoring Ceramic Beads of Clay Artists 

I made this necklace from ceramic beads and pendants that I have collected over the years as part of the Yahoo Beads-of-Clay group

handmade ceramic beads, buttons or pendants from the the following artists  are included in this statement necklace

Captain's Clay

Tyler Hennigan

Joan Tucker

Marti Conrad

Natalie Gillihan

Annie O'Fallon

Virginia Miska

Shattera Clay

Jessica Sharrah

Melanie Brooks

Lisa Peters

Christine Smith

Vanessa Gilkes

Vicka

Gaea

Lisa Shifflett

Kristie Roeder

Marla James

Tracy Isley

Creative Impressions in Clay

Yolanda's Clay

Jangles

Mary Harding

Marsha Neal

Gail Splaver

Golem Studio

Barb Tilley

Natalie Pappas

Marsha Hedrick

Joan Miller

Cindy Dolezal

Annie Dilker

Evelyn Peckham Arvey

Mossy Hill Studio

Elaine Ray

Andi Fasimpaur

SummersStudio

Maku Studio

Lisa Stevens

Visit the other ArtBeadScene Statement Necklaces

http://www.cindydolezaldesigns.blogspot.com/

http://lampworkdiva.blogspot.com/

http://islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.com/

http://janeldudleybeads.blogspot.com/

http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

http://www.jenjuddrocks.com/

            http://sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com/

                                                           http://organicodysseys.blogspot.com/
                                                               http://labellajoya.blogspot.com/
                                                                http://nickisreef.blogspot.com/

New Toggle Bars

Heather Powers of HumbleBeads put me on to these cool toggle bars  by Patera carried by Bello Modo. 

They come in a variety of finishes-- copper, silver, gold...

And I have been experimenting with making some of my own  toggle bars out of thick wire.

I would love to hear which ones you like.

And the Winner is...

STEUFEL is the winner of my Clover Pendant and beads.  Yeah!!  Thank you one and all for the lovely supportive comments.  Please send me your email address and they will be on their way to you.

Industrial Chic Susan Lenart Kazmer

I've long been a fan of Susan Lenart Kazmer and am excited that her wonderful components are now available, yes, at Michael's.  I found these and some others last week a few days after they arrived in the store.  These are all made in China but are surprisingly well made.  Susan is given credit for each and every piece.  They even have a small project booklet which she has written with about 15 completed necklaces/bracelets to make.

Now the challenge will be for me to find a way to use them.  I can admit to just keeping beads and never using them.  But I do have some vague ideas for these.  I think they will go well with some of my rustic fused glass pieces and perhaps those unglazed stoneware beads.  At least I am going to give it a try.

We are having full summer weather here.  I am loving it.  I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday too.

My BeadStar Entry got in

I am excited to tell that my BeadStar entry got into the hearts category.  I made all of these little hearts out of ceramic clay and the big one too.   Such fun.  I see many other wonderful designs from my friends in all of the categories including Hearts.  I have been through and voted.  I hope you will vote too. You can vote here. Follow your heart in your choices since there are so many wonderful ones.  Without knowing who made what, I see now that I voted for many of my friends.  Their work is just so good, I didn't need to know that they made it.  They just stood out from the crowd.

Giveaway 100th Blog Follower Celebration

I am having a giveaway to celebrate my 100th blog follower.  I thank one and all for following my blog and giving me such wonderful support and feedback.  All you need to do to participate in this giveaway is leave a comment on my blog. The winner of the giveaway will win this Clover Pendant and 6 of my new stoneware dug up from the earth look beads.  The winner will be announced on  the morning of Thursday, May 28. I look forward to hearing from you.

Another Color Inspiration

I found this color combo by chance.  Since I am not exactly Type A, I have a lot on my bead table at once.  Luckily I found these lying near each other.   I think they look great together.   They may soon be hanging around my neck .  Have a great Day.  Look for my 100th Follower Giveaway coming on Wednesday.

Yes I finally made it to 100 Followers!!!! Thank you one and all.

Stoneware experiments

I have been experimenting with a new clay for me.  Stoneware.  I usually use earthenware which is a low fire clay.  This stoneware has been fired to Cone 5.  I stained it with a teal color stain and fired it.  No glaze.  Then I thumbled the beads and the pendant for about 2 hours.  I put a little beeswax on the tree part of the pendant.  Hard for me to give up that shiny glaze LOL.

These beads have also been fired to Cone5 but have not yet been tumbled.  I tumble them so that there is no chance that the stain will rub off on clothing.  Unlike earthenware, most of the stain has been fired into the clay and does not come off .

I like the old archeological look to these beads.  I will keep experimenting with stains and see what else I can come up with.

I'd love to hear what you think.

 

WATCH FOR MY 100TH FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY EARLY NEXT WEEK.

Cool Triangle Treasury

                           

Check out this cool Treasury

It includes my Wild Leaf Pendant in the picture above.

Have a Great Day.

Spring Color Inspiration

Isn't this color combination stunning.  Pink, green, brown.  These are grape vine leaves beginning to open.

Happy Mother's Day

More Adornment for my Bead Work

Small naked raku fired buttons for clasps on necklaces.

Colorful and black raku fired beads for highlights.

Ceramic Bead caps for extra emphasis or to be used alone for attaching a cluster of fringe

Colorful buttons linked together for an unusual bridge  (linking idea compliments of Lorelei)

And a butterfly connector.  I have more of these in the making.  Some I may put a hole just in the middle so I can sew them on with a seed bead.

Bead Flowers

I have been making some ceramic components for my peyote stitch and other off  loom beaded jewlery.  These are some ceramic flower beads I have been making.  I am also making some ceramic bead caps which I will post about later.

This is a pair of bead flowers that I might use on the surface of a peyote stitch necklace I am making.  It was started during the ArtBeadScene challenge to make a piece inspired by VanGogh's Almond Blossoms painting.  Although I didn't finish in time for the challenge, I am pleased it got me started on this necklace. 

I used a Kemper flower cutter and let the push piece mark the hole.  I will string a turquoise seed bead over the hole which will give the flower some more color.  I wanted to use just this teal color since if goes well with the color scheme of the necklace which is blues and greens and of course a bit of almond white.

Here is a photo of me trying on some beaded flowers on the necklace.  They are not sewn on yet.  I like to try things out and take a pic and then if I knock them off or try something else I can always go back to the pic to reconstruct what I liked.  I learned this tip some time ago from Beads-of-Clay member  Elaine Ray and have found it to be very helpful.
It was one of my New Year's resolutions to make some beads for my own work this year.  So here I am trying them out.

Spring Color Inspiration

This is a photo of a new raspberry shoot emerging a few weeks ago.  I love this combination of dark greens and reddish brown.  Certainly a color scheme that will work its way into a beaded bracelet or strung necklace.  This is my first time growing raspberries and I was totally blown away when I saw these new shoots.

Beads-of-Clay Pendant Swap Necklace--Revised

Not too long ago I posted a few pictures of my necklace for the Beads-of-Clay pendant swap.  There is nothing like seeing a photo of one's jewelry on a computer screen.  The more I looked at it the more I felt that the orange beaded tube just looked out of place or not really a part of the necklace.  Today, I tried adding a Vintaj chain to the necklace and I think I like it much better this way.  I certainly think it sets of Lisa Boucher's pendant even better than before.  What do you think?

Check Out My Newsletter

I have my newsletter scheduled to publish this afternoon.  If you are not already getting a copy you can sign
up for one right here on my blog.  I have sections in the newsletter called Exciting News which is usually some self promotion, I have a Beady News section where I talk about bead events and other bead artists and jewelry designers, a Book review section,  New Work section with lots of pics, a Classes section and the Specials section.  This month I will be talking about the Beads-of-Clay blog, 2 wonderful instructional jewelry making tutorials and Lisa Boucher.  Hope you will take a look.