Dawno's Weekly Wanderings Around the Beadosphere

Summer isn't far off now (officially starts June 21, 2009 at 1:45 A.M. EDT) and that has me thinking of sandals and shorts, beaches and shells, bbq's and picnics. What summery ideas are out there in the Beadosphere this week?

Margot Potter's fun flip-flops project I don't have any rubber flip-flops but it still gave me an idea for sprucing up my plain black Reefs (my pair are the 'black/black' shown at the bottom right of the color choices - so very comfy and 3 summers old and still holding up, worth every penny)

Mad Designs, Marcia deKoster shared some kaleidoscope designs she captured from a sculpture at an outdoors San Diego art installation. What kind of summery beading project ideas could you get from kaleidoscopes? I immediately thought of a filigree assemblage with pearls and chain and glittering faceted beads - look at the diamond shape in the middle of the pictures she features - Swarovski gem, perhaps?.

Lima Beads lets you search through their listings and create a "Fresh Pick" montage. You can put different beads, stones, pearls and findings together and get an immediate look at how the colors and picks look together. Give it a try! (I ended up buying my picks - the feature puts them on one page together so you don't have to hunt them down again). You can also see other picks on the front page or browse pages of picks.

SmuTopia shares a Sailor's Valentine - made from shells

Heather at Art Bead Scene shares a whole assortment of sea-inspired picks

A Bead A Day would love to hear from you if you're familiar with the purple stone she featured last week. It's a great color for a deep hued design inspired by standing under the stars in the middle of a short summer's night - perhaps in the mountains near a clear lake or maybe on the beach of some tropical island?

Krista QQ posted about some bead and jewelry fashion trends on the SWCreations blog

Other blogs of note:

JustATish had an important interview and gave us some insight into how she created a 'tantrum' necklace to help her channel energy into something positive.

Artbeads products for May were sent out for review and although I got mine last week, I was too busy over the weekend to do much with the bead (or talk about it). I'll have a review up tomorrow, though. Meanwhile you can check out what Hammi Jammi Jewelry did with their Venetian glass, or what (and how) Jennifer Perkins did with the Garden Snail stoneware pendant, libeado used Swarovski rivoli's in a lush woven seed bead creation.

Sugee Andersyn published an important warning on her blog about the new Amazon Kindle Blog publishing service. I immediately went and claimed my blog. It was easy to do. Once it's up (48 to 72 hrs) I'll post more about it.

Would you like some back issues of beading magazines, or some how to books? Simply Shiny is de-stashing!

And, lastly, something that has simply nothing to do with jewelry design, beads or trends or summer - typewriter art posted on the Blankney Journal, a blog by Rodney Garlant. I found it via JustATish and became a follower (you should to, it'll bring a daily smile to your face). It's an adorable blog full of trivia and interesting tid-bits. I wish I could leave him a comment to say how much I enjoy his blog!