Using Up the Stash #3

In another Michael's close-out last year or so, I saw several Blue Moon lampwork bead sets and thought they were adorable, so I grabbed them. I think the smaller matte, facet patterned glass beads were in them too, but I really can't recall. I used the greener ones in yesterday's necklace and the bluer ones in this, along with blue opal CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements bicones, sterling bead caps and sterling beads.

This piece makes me think of a lagoon by a tropical island for some reason. Not that I've ever been...maybe some day! Meanwhile I can wear this and dream of palm trees and white sand beaches. If you click the picture you can view it in more detail.

More UUtS stuff to come - so please visit again!

Mid-Week Mutterings - Peach Moonstone Necklace Lanyard

Here's another "Baroness" necklace lanyard - because I don't have the clasps on yet, I'm showing just the front. I used peach moonstone rounds, pale mauve Swarovski pearls, small disk shaped shells that vary from light peach to ivory to pale mauve shades and 4mm CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements bicones in a pale pink with tiny gold plated TierraCast™ petaled beadcaps. Those beadcaps are a real workhorse in my jewelry designs - I try to keep a couple hundred in the stash at all times.

I've done a lot of pieces that explore various design types, but this romantic, old-fashioned look is always my favorite and I keep going back to it.

My company has started an internal classifieds on our company intranet and I'm thinking about putting up an ad about my jewelry lanyards. It's free, so that's a huge plus! I'm pretty much decided to do it, just really thinking about how I want to word my ad. They allow pictures, too.

Hope all is well, wherever you are. See you tomorrow!

Monday Miscellany - Lots of Black & Gray Lanyards

People at work who are interested in my lanyards seem to be drawn to the black or dark gray ones. I ran out of those, so I spent my beading time this weekend making lanyards with jet black Czech glass, hematite, and hematite colored Czech glass. At the end of Sunday evening I'd finished 9 and was almost done with a tenth.

I've managed to get three of these listed on Art Fire for now, too. I'm going to try to get all of them, and a few others up there this week. I am also going to try and finish my Halloween necklace before our office Halloween pot-luck this Wednesday...wish me luck!

Hope you have a great week - see you tomorrow!




PS - here's the three listings I mentioned, in case you'd like to see closeups

Dawno

Sell Handmade

Mid-Week Mutterings - Another, "I Need Something to Wear for Work" at the Last Minute Post

Monday the weather got cold enough to get out a sweater. I wore a white cotton cable knit over a gray polo and topped that off with a gray and white tweed blazer. I decided to wear my Toolbox Treasures pendant with it.

The remaining question was what other accessories to use. I have to wear a badge for work and, of course, I try to always wear one of my own creations as the lanyard for it. I wasn't crazy about how any of the ones I'd already made went with the necklace. So, with about 30 minutes left before I had to get out the door, I opened up my gunmetal chain box and stared at the choices for a minute.

Decided on the chain I wanted to use, which I bought at Michael's ages ago - from the Lost and Found (Blue Moon) collection. To make the lanyard, first I put a gunmetal jump ring and lobster claw to each end of the chain - I don't remember for certain where I got these, but they are both available at Rings & Things and I think these were from there, too. Then I put a gunmetal split ring on an extra large gunmetal lobster claw, (both definitely purchased from Rings & Things - I kept the labels), to hold the badge loop. By hooking both of the small lobster claw finished ends through the split-ring, I now have a badge lanyard necklace that took probably 10 - 15 minutes at most to make:

For earrings, I just took two small sections of the leftover lanyard chain and hooked them to ear wires. This took about 5 minutes, at most.

All I needed now was a bracelet. This time I used the same chain (more Lost and Found by Blue Moon, purchased at Michael's) that I'd hung the Toolbox Treasure pendant on, added the jump rings and lobster claw clasp. To finish it, I put two Tim Holtz Sprockets, picked up on a whim at Michael's the other day, on a large oval light gunmetal (looks more like pewter, actually) jump ring and strung the two chains through the jump ring. Ten minutes? Maybe a tad more if you count hunting out all the right parts from the boxes I store them in.

I made it out of the house in time, by the way.

The whole set:

I'm probably going to re-work the earrings and the bracelet - thinking of maybe adding some small clockwork/gear bits on the earrings, and something colorful to the bracelet. If I can remember to get to a hardware store for nuts and bolts and washers, those will be incorporated. Haven't decided on whether I want to change the lanyard, though. I kind of like it as it is. I'll post pics of any re-work when it happens.

See you tomorrow!

Monday Miscellany - Another Design from the Rings & Things July Goodies

Back in July I received a goodie pack from Rings & Things and I almost immediately got inspired by the four loop round connector and made a necklace with it right away. However, I stalled out with the other connectors, trying this thing and that. I am very close to having designs figured out for them and copper gluable bail, so I'll be posting about them this week.

This weekend, though, I finished a piece using the Lime CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements 8mm faceted cube crystal, 0.8-1.2mm hole. #5601 and Montana/Aurora Borealis CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements 8mm faceted cube crystal, 0.8-1.2mm hole. #5601. I strung the cubes together with some antique gold colored spacer beads, put french wire around the ends that I crimped to the larger rings and used jump ring connections to complete one half of the chain. Then I used a sheer ribbon for the other half, crimping the end and attaching to a lobster claw to hook through a final jump ring that's under one of the bows to the left, below.

I think this would look great with a little black dress for going out, but I can also see it dressing up a black tee-shirt under a jacket to wear with black jeans to the office come fall.

I'm still dying to find an online supplier for the Beadalon square knot connectors - if you know of one, please comment!

New Pieces to Share, but My Friday Pick is Postponed

I may be able to finish a Friday Pick selection later today, but wasn't able to last night. But I do have some pictures I can share of two finished pieces.

On Wednesday I mentioned my package from Artbeads, through their Blogging for Beads program, had come in and that the beads I received were of CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements. Among the selections I made were Crystal Volcano 6mm bicones and a Crystal Volcano teardrop pendant. Here's a piece I just finished using those and Beadalon 49 strand, .030 inch silver plated stringing wire, #4 silver plated Beadalon crimp tubes, fine sliver closed hammered rings from Prolifique on Etsy, and sterling silver beads.

The Beadalon wire I used is so lovely, I was looking forward to using it exposed and am very happy with how this design with it turned out. My inspiration for this design came somewhat from the Woven Rings design (p 126) Katie Hacker showed in the book Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed, that I reviewed last week.

The clasp is a Sterling Bubble 3-strand toggle, also from Artbeads. I have two more of these and plan to use at least one as a focal in an upcoming necklace since it's way too pretty to hide behind the neck all the time.

Also finished the giveaway bracelet in the blue and gray rain colors that Spamwarrior requested in her winning comment. Hope she likes the bracelet - it's on its way.

Tuesday Tidbits - Colorworks Contest in Step by Step Beads Magazine

I got this in the mail yesterday - talk about stunned!

Congratulations!

Your work was chosen by Margie Deeb as one of the top ten finalists in our first Colorworks contest! Though you did not win first place, your piece will be showcased in a special Colorworks gallery in the November/December 09 issue of Step by Step Beads. Thank you for submitting such outstanding work!

Best regards,
Editor in chief,
Step by Step Beads

the rules were:

Enter the first Colorworks Challenge!

Tertiary Colors

The orange-purple-green tertiary triad presents a challenge of bold and striking contrasts. Create a piece of bead jewelry (or a bead in any medium: polymer, beads, glass, etc.) using the triad from the color wheel. Black, white, or clear are welcome, but the predominant colors must be the orange-purple-green triad (any shades of those colors).

And I'd started playing with using pale orange faceted coral beads, a purple firepolished bead, some green cathedral cut beads and copper, which met the color criteria, so I worked on several versions of it (consisting of adding new strands) until I came up with the design I submitted. I wrote to the publication to see if I could post a picture, I haven't heard yet so I'm going to wait a little longer on the picture, but I couldn't wait to share the news!

Materials used: copper stamped links and copper chain from Accessories Susan, copper bead caps, clasp and spacers from Artbeads, copper wire guardians, crimp covers and Scrimps from Rings & Things, green cathedral cut Czech glass beads from the local Global Beads store, faceted coral beads from JJBead in Huntington Beach, and Satin Copper Beadalon stringing wire.
Dimensions: the collar is from 1.5 inches to 3.5 inches in width and 16" in length.

Dawno's Weekly Wanderings Around the Beadosphere

Last Sunday my wanderings didn't get posted because of the holiday, but this week there were some great posts around the beadosphere and I'm glad I got a chance to check them out - hope you will too!

Lisa at A Bead A Day featured one of her Rings & Things July goodies - the star connector - and made a two strand stretchy bracelet with new jade stones and light citron bicones. Lovely!

Tish from Just A Tish shows off the beautiful necklace she designed around the Artbead's painted onyx pendant stone of Matisse's Blue Nude. The stones she used - oh my! Lapis, white jade, blackstone - gorgeous complements to the focal piece. Earlier in the week she shared some other lovely new pieces, so if you don't have her blog bookmarked, you should so you won't miss out.

All week at Willow Walker Designs she's been sharing how she organizes her tools and supplies - some really great ideas there. My workroom is a real disaster zone right now and it's starting to seriously impede my productivity and inspiration. Well past time to do a major clean up and I really appreciate any ideas, like the ones Willow Walker shared, that will help me work smarter.

Sara at Soft Flex Girl shares how she glamorized her evening bag with a cool beaded strap. Think of all the different ways you can take a simple smaller bag and make it uniquely yours by adding beads, chain, ribbon, etc., to it - inspirational! Don't miss her three lovely bracelet designs using Soft Flex Trios, either.

Want an insider peek at setting up a display for a crafts show? Jessica at SmuTopia! has a lot of great pictures of hers to share.

Karolyn of The Bead Blog is a very talented artist - she makes the most stunning glass beads. I love these Terra mini-bicones - wouldn't they be great with so many different metals and stones? You can see more of her work at BeadAbundant.com.

Cindy Gimbrone talks about working with Bronze Metal Clay - there are a number of posts about her efforts, Wednesday through Friday of last week, so I recommend reading all of them.

Art Bead Scene has a new Monthly Challenge - the Lascaux Cave Paintings. The prizes are great, too. If you love working in earthy tones or doing pieces inspired by nature, this challenge might be right up your alley.

Did you know that Beadalon has a blog? Great source for beading tips and event news.

Margot Potter talks about customer service and how it applies to the crafting/jewelry making biz.

On the Rings & Things blog last week they shared a great video on "metal stitching" - something new to me! Check out the info on August's birthstone: peridot and using brass bezel cups for making resin charms. Don't forget to enter their "review a product" drawing - ends July 31st!

Artbeads Swarovski sale (15% off) ends Tuesday the 14th

Lima Beads has a $500 shopping spree contest going on thru August.

Contest Winner and Finished Rings & Things Circle Connector Necklace

Using a highly sophisticated randomizing process - writing all commenter's names on paper, cutting them into separate strips, folding and putting them in a paper bag which I shook several times and then reached into to pick the winner's name - I'm pleased to announce that Spamwarrior who writes the "How to be a Perfect Lady" blog is the winner of a customized bracelet with "blue/gray...rain colors"! If you'll send me a shipping address, I'll get to work on the bracelet and send it to you once it's done. Congratulations!

I finished the necklace that I posted about this morning. It's pretty much as sketched, except that I decided to add some detail to the place where the pendant would hang by adding a couple round pearls (they might be glass, I got them in an assortment and am not sure) with gold filled beads and roundels.

(click to enlarge for detail)

I used a circular toggle clasp with pearls snug up against wire guards to finish it off.

I'm going to have to order some gold filled wire and re-do the pearl embellishments on the connector, the gold wire I used is too reddish and doesn't quite match, but it was all I had handy in the right gauge (I think it's 26, maybe 24 gauge).

Thursday Feature: Reviews & Interviews - Lisa from A Bead A Day

One of my favorite blogs in the Beadosphere is A Bead A Day. It's a daily dose of cheer, with shiny beads tossed in! Lisa, the author of the blog, has also been a steadfast commenter here, bringing her enthusiasm and support to my blog and efforts to become better at my craft. I am so grateful for that and her generous feature of my work not that long ago on A Bead A Day.

On February 5, 2008 Lisa said in her first post "This is a new site geared toward all beaders who appreciate the individual beauty of beads and the unique works of art they are used to create." And indeed, each day since she's done just that.

You can also follow Lisa on Twitter. Now, let's hear what Lisa has to say!

Dawno: How did you get started blogging about a bead a day on A Bead A Day? It's a great idea!

Lisa: Thank you! I am working on a jewelry book that is being published by North Light Books at the end of the year. Prior to the Acquisitions Editor presenting my proposal, she suggested that I begin a website or blog. I wanted to get something up and running that day and the first thought I had was to talk about beads since they make me so happy. I didn't realize then how much joy this blog would provide and how many friends I would make in the process. It has been a wonderful experience!

Dawno: Did you have any goals or hopes for your blog when you started? Has that changed? How?

Lisa: I wanted to maintain consistency and produce something the publishing company would think was appropriate. I never dreamed I would get to know so many talented and wonderfully encouraging and kind beaders and crafters! I also had no idea of my potential for rambling on about beads!! : )

Dawno: Have you always been interested in beading and are there other crafts you like to do?

Lisa: I've always loved crafts, but until I started to bead, I had no idea of the wide variety of crafts and products available. I started to bead in 1990 after a vacation to San Francisco where I purchased my first piece of beaded jewelry from a street vendor. It was a strung bracelet using all the same hematite beads. It dawned on me when we got home that I could probably do something like that and I started buying beads at Joann Fabrics and Hancock Fabrics. I didn't have any awareness of swarovski and glass designers, etc. until much later. Several years later I got hooked on memory wire. In the last 8 or 9 years, I have taken classes and started reading every book and magazine I could find about beading techniques.

I also enjoy decopauge and anything having to do with hot melt glue and glitter!

Dawno: What has been your most challenging project?

Lisa: Good question! Sometimes I find projects challenging that do not even appear to be challenging. That's when I know I need to step back and realize this is supposed to be fun! That usually happens when I know I am making something for a specific person or purpose. Otherwise, since I'm not doing craft shows right now, most of my beading is for fun or gift giving.

Several years ago I made a woven bracelet using hemp cord and wooden beads that required every bead to be reamed in order to get 2 strands through each bead. That was definitely a tad challenging, but it wasn't until a couple of craft night friends admired it and I decided to teach them how to make it that the challenge began! I then had to ream beads and prepare kits for 5 other people. That was a bit of a challenge and my fingers were pretty sore afterwards. The reward was that they all turned out great and everyone was happy!

Dawno: What kind of beading do you like best?

Lisa: I have a love for memory wire. It is easy to use and has so many possibilities. You can make formal or informal pieces with it and technically just need one pair of pliers to turn the ends as long as you have a heavy duty pair of scissors to cut the wire. If you plan to use a lot of it, definitely invest in a memory wire cutter! It's a wonderful medium to teach because it is not intimidating to most people. It is usually adding a clasp and crimping that many people are concerned about learning. With memory wire, you can focus more on your design.

Dawno: You have a great eye for colors - any idea how that developed or if there was an early influence?

Lisa: That is very nice of you to say, thank you! I haven't thought of myself in that way, I just sort of go with things.

Dawno: If I were just starting to think about getting into making my own crafty jewelry, but was on a hugely limited budget, what "must have's" would you suggest starting with?

Lisa: Memory wire!! As I mentioned above, especially if funds are limited, you can get away with using a $2.00 pair of pliers and some kind of cutting tool you might have around the house, if you begin by using memory wire. Once you buy a package of memory wire, all you need are beads! As many or as few as you like. There are just a few limitations regarding beads. If they are too long or too fragile, they might not produce the results you are looking for on memory wire. However, most beads work great and if you are looking for immediate gratification, most projects are quick and easy!

Dawno: Sort of a "desert island" kind of question - you're going away somewhere and you can't buy any supplies while you're gone. You can only take a small tote full of stuff to work with to keep you sane, but you can also use anything you might find in your hotel, as well as your tote stuff to craft with. I'll be kind and let you come back to the world in one week :-) What is in your tote?

Lisa: Lots and lots of crystals!! They don't take up much space, but they provide lots of sparkly happiness wherever they go. You don't even have to make anything with them really, just LOOK AT THEM! I promise your mood will improve!

What do you think you could find to use? Gosh, I'm stumped! All I can think of is taking the laundry bags to put more stuff in! : )

Dawno: You can buy $500 worth of only one type of stone or bead to use in your jewelry - what would you pick and why?

Lisa: How funny, as I just mentioned above, I would buy crystals and for the simplest reason of all, the happiness factor. I don't know how you could look at even $10 worth of them and not become happier. Looking at $500 worth of all shapes, sizes and colors would be heavenly!

Dawno: As a beader/crafter, why is blogging and/or social networking important?

Lisa: Up until a year ago, my world was so much more limited. Once I began blogging I was able to better communicate my thoughts and feelings associated with beading/crafting. I have learned about many more techniques and products available. I have had the privilege to "meet" some of the brightest, and most popular, jewelry designers who are all so encouraging and willing to share what they have learned.

Once you begin meeting others on blogs or through facebook and twitter, you just can't go back! It restores your faith in humanity because everyone who is out there doing self promotion is also willing to take a minute to help you do the same. I would definitely encourage individuals hoping to promote either their craft, their art of themselves in general, to get on twitter and facebook and begin building relationships.

Thank you so much, Lisa, for letting us get to know you better. I hope everyone will bookmark or subscribe to ABeadADay and enjoy her fun and fascinating posts every day!

PS: There are no pictures of Lisa on her blog, so I thought I'd share pictures of her adorable pups, who you can also read about in: "The Magical Doggie Bead"

Monday Miscellany - Re-work Finished, Maybe...

If you read my Saturday post, you might remember I mentioned I was going to do some re-work on this necklace:

Before

Unlike the gunmetal and garnet, I didn't take intermediate pictures, although now I wish I had. The design went through several trial and error phases before I settled on something. Here's what it looks like now.

After

I took over half of the lilac cathedral beads off of the necklace, replaced them with round faceted Czech glass beads, added extra vermeil spacers and glass roundell spacers between them to go around the side and back of the neck. Then I positioned and re-positioned those lilac cathedral beads into various configurations using gold filled eye-pin links and a few clear glass beaded links as well.

This was very tedious work, but I think worth the effort. I've put it out of sight for now and will give it a fresh eye in a day or two before I declare it 'done'. Now I have to go de-list from Artfire since the original no longer exists!

Speaking of ArtFire - I posted on Saturday that I'd listed my lava stone and red ceramic necklace and put the word out on Twitter as well. Then I got busy doing stuff (mostly the necklace above) and didn't visit Twitter or check my email for several hours. I took a peek at Twitter and saw that PandorasBones had left me a tweet saying she'd bought the necklace and forgot to ask for the extender chain option. Call me gobsmacked! I'd never sold something so quickly and that I could attribute directly to mentioning a post on Twitter about! Needless to say, I'm pretty glad I use Twitter.

Dawno's Weekly Wanderings Around the Beadosphere

I'll start off with some of my favorite bead/jewelry/crafts blog posts of the week and wrap up with other sites of interest (I hope!) for you to visit and hope you'll consider adding to your RSS readers or bookmarks.

• JustATish had been rather busy, so her blog was quiet for a while, but she's come blazin' back this week - Father's Day ideas, Rings & Things challenge catch-up - silverplated serpentine chain, gold plated serpentine chain, Russ Troll (that guy gets around!) and this month's challenge where we each get to pick our own assortment to review (haven't even started looking yet, gotta get to it!)
• Lisa at A Bead A Day shared a lovely green stone she identified as Russian Jade, a "harmonious diversity" of glass hearts, some blue beads she's taking out of older pieces and re-purposing, a bead that looks just like her darling pooches, and you won't believe this gorgeous bracelet was made in 3 minutes! (the story behind it is a blast to read).
• Margot Potter shared her "Blogging for Artbeads" featured product Chagall Pendant and the design she created for it. She chose one of the Russian painted onyx pendant focals, like I did, but the necklace she designed - wow! I'll be making my final design for the focal I got one of these days, and I must say Margot's idea has given me some inspiration.
• I couldn't help but salivate over Humblebead's Bead & Button Show booty
• WillowWalker's experimentation with gold decals that she fuses into her glass pendants looks like a success to me! (I'm glad she's blogging again too - was quiet for a month!)
  
• Check out the colors in this Nikon Sniper picture! If I'm ever at a loss for ideas, his blog always has a lot of inspiration.
• Shoozles makes a really good point. Let her know you appreciate it, if you do.
• Melanie at Earthenwood Studios is going copper crazy with her Rings & Things challenge (and that Russ Troll is right in the middle of it - hope he avoids getting dapped!)
• More photographic inspiration (from England) on NiftyKnits - and earlier in the week she featured some beautiful work from a couple of very talented designers, too.
  

There is one other post from last week at A Bead A Day that I didn't mention above - it's her Friday Featured Designer post. The designer, Molly, has a lovely banner and does a great job with her Etsy store and photographs of her lovely vintage button (and other media) creations.

Then I visited Whimsy House's blog. I wish three things:

1. she'd post more - I like her friendly 'voice' and she's got a fascinating niche
   
2. she'd change from white text on black background, which is very hard to read, at least for me
   
3. she'd not center all her text which is also difficult to read.

Maybe nobody has mentioned it to her so she didn't know? How often do we visit blogs that might have promise but not go back and establish a rapport for any of the above reasons or others? I'm guilty as charged, but working on it.

That brings me to wish #4 but it's for myself - I wish that if you ever have constructive criticism to give me, that you will. I want my blog to be a place you'll keep visiting. If I'm doing something that might prevent that, let me know!

Apparently there's quite an overlap in the tech world and the crafts world - I guess I knew that some techie folk liked papercrafts (my husband helped me realize how many techies are into Origami), and I knew there were a number into Steampunk, but I really didn't know the extent of it.

Take Maker Faire, for example. Since it was the weekend right after Bay Con, I didn't go, but you can see from the Maker links at the 2009 website, where the two interests intersect.

Speaking of Makers at this year's faire, one of the crafters linked above (link: "two") was Absolutely Small who is a new friend of mine on Twitter. Get over to her site and get in the know about Chickenpants!

Another intersection of tech and geek and craft (and so much more) is BoingBoing, where many arts and handcrafts are often featured, like the Trekkie Meerkats or Steampunk jewelry.

Also, this week Wired magazine featured an article about Geek Art: Needlework Brings Together Programmers, Crafters and shows some beautiful embroidery and quilting with a techie slant.

Via a tweet from Dave (@Rings_Things), I wandered over to Flapper Girl, where she showcases this wonderful Vintage 50s Bead Kit.

Artbeads "Tweet your Prize" Twitter promotion is going strong - there's a new contest through Tuesday synched up with their Express Yourself sale.

The Beadin' Path has finally opened for business in their new space - here are a couple "work in progress" pictures Heather posted - from the floor and the next day - wow, the colors! I wish it were possible for me to visit in person (and probably break the bank on vintage beads).

SoftFlexGirl Sara posted about Beading Wire Diameters - extremely helpful! Thanks, Sara!

I got a Lima Beads newsletter the other day informing me of the creation of a new community section: The Garden

This week, we launched an exciting section on our web site. It's called The Garden, and it's a community section dedicated to meeting new beaders, sharing ideas, asking questions, and more.
...

Get started by seeing who's online, creating a profile for yourself, checking out groups to join, or browsing the beader directory.

Ok, I think that's plenty to keep busy with for today - see you tomorrow, I hope - I'll be showing a re-make I've been working on this weekend, if you visit.

Tuesday Tidbits - Mixing Czech Glass and Semi-precious Stone

Ever wish you had the kind of financing that let you buy the highest quality semi-precious or precious stones in any quantity? Me, too. And unless I win a really big lotto jackpot, I don't think it's going to ever be a reality. But, I do think that sometimes a judicious mix of stones plus matching Czech glass beads works very well. You can have a lush look at a fraction of the price.

Here's a piece I started on what seems like ages ago, when I bought a spool of beautiful gunmetal chain from Rings & Things (scroll down to read about the garnet piece, it's in the second half of the post). I'd started out working on making components with garnet on black SoftFlex, crimping and adding them to the chain.

When I finished fiddling around with the garnet pieces, I decided to make it a 3-strand necklace but didn't have enough variety of actual garnet. So I got out the garnet-colored Czech faceted glass beads and went to town. All the smooth, round beads are garnets, the faceted ones are Czech glass. Here's what I thought was the finished piece:

But something bothered me about the composition. I decided to fiddle with it this weekend. Shorten here, move there - I think it's starting to look better...

...but still not happy. The garnets at the top of the outer chain - they've gotta go. I have a number of online friends and acquaintances who are writers and they all say of first drafts "sometimes you have to kill your darlings" - meaning that during editing, things will get cut out of the final draft. This apparently is true of making jewelry. I fiddled quite a bit on those garnet bits, but they aren't going to work out. Must be strong and say "bye-bye".

Where is my chain? Dug around in the still not completely unpacked BayCon bin and found it. Have hooked the tail end to the jumpring, the rest is still on the spool until I get the spacing right - links are not open on this chain, measure twice, cut once. And, to let you know that all of this is not without it's little foibles, one of the two jump rings, used to attach the 3 strands to the back piece of the necklace, went "sproing" and has completely disappeared *and* I can't find anymore just like it. Took one I was using for the clasp to replace. Will have to re-work clasp now.

Hooking on a link made from garnet glass bead and two TierraCast bead caps that match the one in the pendant. That part I'm connecting the bead to is the only part of the original third chain that will be re-used.

Link on left is in, positioned where I want, excess chain clipped off. Now for the other side.

Ok, done. Well, except for the clasp. I have to do that part, but I won't bore you with the details. New "final" piece. Will sleep on it, stare at it again later. Decide if it's really done. Who knows, could be a version 4 coming up...

Monday Miscellany - The Day Job, New Necklace

Today through Wednesday I'll be attending a conference in San Francisco, related to the day job, so I won't have much time to make anything or share much here. Since it's relatively close to home, I won't be staying at the conference hotel and that means getting up early each morning to get ready and drive up to the city. Because I'm not a morning person, it'll be a challenge. I'll still try to get something posted, but apologies in advance if it's not up to my usual output.

I've been working for a few days on a triple strand necklace with rhodonite beads and pendant. I had to re-work it several times (thank goodness for Scrimps!) but I'm pretty happy with the final piece.

(click to enlarge for detail)

At first I didn't have the spacer bars in it, but I didn't like the way the lower strand hung with the heavy pendant so I dug out the 3-hole spacer bars and re-strung the whole thing. Then I had to play around with the lengths of each segment to get the right curve in it.

The thing about this work that is quite different (for me) is that it's almost entirely rhodonite stone - no silver spacers or beads which I would normally add. I just wanted the colors, textures and shapes of the stones to be the focus.

Here's the clasp - I've had this for quite some time waiting on just the right piece for it.

Hope you took some time to read the Sunday Wanderings post - don't miss them every week, add yourself to the followers list or subscribe via RSS.

Dawno's Weekly Wanderings Around the Beadosphere

Thank you to NiftyKnits for giving me such a lovely feature post on her blog! And, putting me in an Etsy Treasury, too! In this post she also talks about how we became acquainted.

As always, it's been a week of great beads at A Bead A Day, be sure to scroll down and read the whole week's worth!

Tish told us on Monday that Corporate was in town and she's been quiet since. Hope she gets back to her usual chatty self next week!

Jessica at SmuTopia "spaced out" on Friday. Ok, not really, but she did share some great space/sci fi themed finds on Friday - including the NiftyKnits Trekkie meerkats mentioned above!

Blanche at the Sha-sha Handcrafted Jewelry Blog shows the Canvas On Wood Pendant she chose from Artbeads to review and the lovely necklace she created for it.

The other day I was looking around for Twitter-themed graphics and happened upon the lovely blog of Amanda Davies, "articulations". She has created the most adorable birds she calls "Tweets" which are available in her Etsy store.

I recently bought some lovely vintage buttons from The Beadin' Path to add to a stash I'd started collecting and this post from Design*Sponge about making your own 9-hole buttons is great synchronicity!

Speaking of The Beadin' Path: do I ever love this Betty Paige Necklace (when I was young I thought Paige would be a cool first name. Guess I was reading a lot of 50's books as a kid in the 60's).

How do you get from 'dapping blocks' and Russ Troll beads to 60's era anti-war songs? Follow me, @Rings_Things and @wendytgibson on Twitter! Also, Rings & Things has a new contest for June, write a product review, get entered for a drawing for a $50 gift certificate!

Tammy Powley at The Crafty Princess Diaries talks about Project Ties that Bind, which asks bloggers to spread the word about their raffle "with 100% of the proceeds going towards the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund." I hope you'll help spread the word, too.

Margot Potter's ReclaimU Radio interview was great. Valuable insights, interesting life story, well worth the time.

Dee at Watch Me Create blogs about the inspiration for, and shows the steps used to create, her beautiful African Sunset piece.

Lots of folks last week were getting ready for, going to, and arriving at the Bead & Button show. Wish I could be there, too! Here are some links I rounded up:

• Earthenwood Studios
• Andrew Thornton
• SoftFlex Girl
• Sun Daisy Gems
• Here's What I Think
• For the Love of Beads
• Cristina Leonard Metal Designs
• Right Turn ArtWerks

Well, that's enough of a round up for today. Please remember that I archive these at Dawno's Beadosphere and would love to have you bookmark or follow there. Also, that blog has a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Which means you are welcome to copy and use those posts, or pieces of them, at your blog non-commercially (and other stuff you can read about if you click the link) if you'd like to spread these links around, I wouldn't mind one bit. It would be especially nice if you'd add a kind word about my blog, too.

"Follow Fridays" for Bloggers

Fridays on Twitter have become a day to share lists of people you follow with others, called "FollowFriday". On Twitter you can use a # sign before a word (this is called a hash tag) or phrase to make it a indexed term where all other posts with that tag can be searched as a group and read.

Thus, every post on Twitter (called a Tweet) that has #FollowFriday is conglomerated into a massive Twitter stream. You could just go and start following everyone who comes up on that search, which I don't recommend, or you could start following just new people who people you follow recommend. Or you could just sit back and enjoy the show...I do a little of both and I recommend many of my followers on Follow Friday. I'm going to try to be more descriptive of why folks should follow to add some signal to all the noise.

In blogging, our "hash tag" is our blogroll, I guess, but that's such a static and often forgotten thing. I think it would be wonderful to share on a more frequent basis the blogs we wish more people would read. If you read The Art Bead Scene or Margot Potter or The Crafty Princess blogs, you'll see that every week they do a link round up of each other and a handful of other blogs. While that's great for them as a group, what I'm thinking of is much more expansive - sharing different blogs, could just be one or two, each week.

So my idea is to request that you please leave suggestions for me of new, and maybe you think, little noticed blogs, in the comments. Consider doing a post like this on Fridays or whatever day you'd like. What are the blogs you'd like other people to be reading because they're important reads for you? I'll visit those blogs and add them to my Wanderings post on Sunday, and follow them in my blogger list. This is just one more way to build community and 'pay it forward'.

Edited to add: Look what I just found: a cute Twitter bird pendant at Etsy!

Please don't forget, on Sunday I post a weekly Wandering Around the Beadosphere to share blogs I found interesting, inspiring, or amusing. I also archive it and my Thursday review/interview posts on a separate blog called Dawno's Beadosphere so you can easily scroll through and find past links more easily (it's also got a search tool). I'd love for you to 'follow' that blog using the widget on it or add it to your RSS feed.

You are also welcome to cut and paste my "wanderings" on your blog (it'd be nice to get a mention, too!) and add some of your own.

hey! I found this Twitter Tutorial [ Twitorial? :-) ]

Midweek Mutterings - Challenges and Contests!

New monthly challenge is up at Art Bead Scene - Farbstudie Quadrate (Color Study of Squares) by Wassily Kandinsky. This is an abstract work, with so many colors to work from, it should be a fun challenge. I hope you'll participate. (UPDATE: here are the prizes)

The May Rings & Things raffle was won by commenters joia & Beadsophy. There will be a June contest announced today (they say it will be "a very exciting contest").

Speaking of contests, I got an email from Artbeads today about the Use the Muse II beading design contest which they asked me to share it with you, as they are sponsoring it.

I wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know that Artbeads is sponsoring the Use the Muse II beading design contest. We think this is a fabulously fun competition that you and your blog readers would enjoy.

What makes this so much fun is that every entrant receives the same assortment of components including beads, crystals, pearls, silk and seed beads plus a mystery muse component that they must keep secret until the “BIG REVEAL.” At that time, everyone gets to see what the muse is and photos of what the entrants designed with it.

The contest was created by Scarlett Lanson who has a regular column in Beadwork magazine and has won some prestigious contests herself. She placed first in the 2009 KGI Wordwide Design Contest and fourth place in the 2007 Swarovski “Create Your Style” competition. Scarlett’s goal was to create a competition for all types of beaders; stringers, bead weavers, and embroiderers, that had a shortened timeline and a big payoff. There are some very nice prizes including prizes for first through third place and ten category prizes. The cost for the entry kit is a very reasonable $30 plus $5 for shipping in the US and $10 for international entrants.

Scarlett is also holding a weekly giveaway just for bloggers who help promote the contest. To learn more and find out what the prize is for this week visit:
www.thebeadersmuse.com/blogger-rewards/

One important thing to note is that there are a limited number of kits available and they will likely be gone before the order deadline of June 27. So, if this sounds like something you would like to do or blog about please keep this in mind. Plus, the sooner you sign up, the more time you will have to work on your design before the July 18th entry deadline.

To learn more and check out what happened in the first Use the Muse II contest, visit Scarlett’s blog here:www.thebeadersmuse.com/use-the-muse-contest2.

UPDATE: just received this additional info from Artbeads - you can be entered to win a special prize if you blog about the contest:

I am excited to see the Use the Muse II contest kick off and am looking forward to seeing the new designs from all the entrants. Please be aware if you are entering the Blogger Rewards contest on the Use the Muse site you would need to have your blog posted no later than Friday June 5th to be eligible for this weeks prize, you will also need to contact Scarlett by email to inform her that you want her to track your traffic from your blog post. For info on the Blogger Rewards contest please follow the below link:

http://www.thebeadersmuse.com/blogger-rewards/

Good luck to the entrants!

Tomorrow is my Thursday Feature: Reviews and Interviews - please come back!

Tuesday Tidbits

The USPS delivered some great stuff today!

Dawno's First Pick (Lima Beads Fresh Pick)

I've got some other charoite (lower right hand corner above) and am looking forward to using the different pieces in something, the ones from Lima Beads are really lovely - haven't quite decided the design. I'm crazy about the faceted citrine ovals (upper left corner) and 'mango dancing drops' freshwater pearls (second from left bottom). The fun thing about Lima Beads Fresh Picks is how other folk can leave comments and you can post a picture of your finished design right on the same page. As I mentioned, I'm thinking about a 'tropical sunset' multi-strand necklace with many of the beads in that pick.

Along with a few lovelies from Artbeads - Swarovski Aquamarine checkerboard & twist and Red Magma twist sew-ons. These I'm thinking about in a chain necklace interspersing the Swarovski's between the links. Not the two colors together, mind you, one necklace in Aquamarine with silver and one pairing the other Red Magma beads I have with the new twists and gunmetal chain.

Then from Auntie's Beads, who were giving a Twitterific deal (and as a Beader's Advantage member I automatically get 10% off, too), I grabbed some Mocca Swarovski briolettes, copper beadcaps and wired rings.

Finally, from The Beadin' Path I nabbed some vintage Swarovski "sunshine" in light topaz and Indian sapphire, plus vintage copper coated steel twisted curb chain and copper neckwires.

I talked about all of these stores and more on Saturday, too. If you missed it, I hope you'll go back and check it out.

Progress on tiding up the workroom - slow. Still can't sit in my chair or use the table, but I'm starting to find the floor again...

Monday Miscellany - Some New Photos for Art Fire Store

Before I get into the Miscellany, Blanche from Sha-sha Handcrafted Jewelry got the "One Lovely Blog" award and passed it along to 10 other crafty bloggers, and one of them was me! You should click over to her blog and visit all her nominees, too!

The rules are:

• Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
• Pass the award to 10 or more other blogs that you love. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

My nominees (and you don't have to accept, just know that I think you've got lovely blogs!) are :

ABeadADay
Baubles and Babbles
Bead Origami
ErtheFae
JustATish
Kell's Creations
NiftyKnits
SmuTopia
WillowWalker
WireMySoul

I worked on photography Sunday and re-listed one piece and put up one new listing. While I have a number of new pictures ready to go, I'm going to space out my listings to try and get some front page views.

Anyway, here's the old vs. new main view pictures of one of my pieces:

old

new (and you can see the rest of the "poses" by clicking the link)

(click to enlarge any picture)

And here's the new listing

I'm not sure if I'll add the props to this necklace's listing - it's a very busy necklace as it is, but I kind of like the idea of the jewelry posed as if on one's dressing table just before getting gussied up for the evening, which is why I thought I'd try those props.

This one will probably go up today:

I didn't get around to cleaning up and re-organizing the workroom. Ended up working right at my computer desk with one of my shoebox lid DIY lap beading trays. I showed off one of those pieces late on Saturday, but I'm so fond of it, I'm going to share it again.

(click to enlarge)

It deserves a great name, too, but I can't seem to come up with one. What would you call it? I'm very doubtful that I will ever try to sell this, I just like it too much to give it up!

Also am working on another piece with Lucite floral bits from The Beadin' Path, a light pink rose (like this one but not such a bright pink) and two large leaves (like these but in a light olive) - I thought I was finished, then got a wild hair and tried something different, it's not working out exactly as I want, so I'll be playing with it more.

I've added a little slideshow to the very bottom of the blog (you'll have to scroll all the way down to the footer) where I've put pictures of myself through various ages and stages in my life that I've stored in Photobucket for one reason or another. If you want to know a bit more about Dawno, please take a peek.

Hope you come back tomorrow for Tuesday Tidbits. Also, want an easy way to read my past Sunday Wanderings or Thursday Interview and Review features? Here's the link!