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.

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.

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!

Dawno's Weekly Wanderings Around the Beadosphere

I'm at BayCon this weekend, but I prepared this in advance so you wouldn't miss this weekly feature. I may pop in a post later on about the con, so check back!

This week is all about inspiration:

• This Artist's Journey - always inspirational writes about what has inspired her this week and asks "What Has Inspired You This Week? And maybe another question would be: What are you going to do with that inspiration?"
• Margot Potter - inspired me with a design idea when I saw this post
• Inspired to elegance? Read this interview by Guy Kawasaki of Matthew May, author of In Pursuit of Elegance. Guy blogs at How to Change the World
• Waiting for inspiration - Bead Origami found these at the Rings & Things tour - she's not sure what she's going to make with each strand, but did this lovely beaded bead with the amethyst. She's also a finalist in the seed bead category for the Bead Star 2009 contest - if you haven't voted yet, you only have 'til the end of the month.
• Bev's Jewelry - I just read about her Lexie's bracelet inspiration and notice the blog has been "dark" for some time. Hope she's considering posting again, her comments here have been lovely.
• Tish is also a finalist at Bead Star - here's her inspirational piece.
• I could just post a link for every day of A Bead A Day - but I'll link to the home page and trust that you'll scroll down to every post!
• I saw these in Earthenwood Studio's blog - I'm inspired to buy some as soon as they're listed! What wonderful designs and colors!
• Kelley of Kellscreations posted some fantastic polymer clay focals she was inspired to work on by the Beading Daily polymer clay contest (entries must be in by June 5th!) - I got some Fimo on sale at Michael's and I'm inspired to start playing with it soon, but probably won't try anything until next weekend and certainly am not ready for a contest, but maybe someday!
• What creation might this Nikon Sniper photo inspire?
• The ocean's bounty inspired SmuTopia to break out the glue.
• One last link - not really inspirational, but about an inspired idea - we all, from time to time, have to hammer a nail into something. Kevin Kelly at Cool Tools reviews this nifty gizmo "Nail Driving Utensil" and a couple days ago he reviewed Tear Mender - if you have to assemble things from cloth, or have something that needs patching, this sounds like a good product. Click on his "crafts" tag to find yourself checking out all sorts of neat gizmos!
  

Reuse That Altoid (or other) Tin

Since I've already posted about the stuff I've been working on lately and I'm not ready to post anything new because I've been focusing today on my design for the Step by Step Beads Colorworks Challenge. It's almost done, but I don't want to share a picture of it until after I've heard back whether it made the cut or not. So, instead of something I've made, I thought I'd share about something I read the other day.

I have Design*Sponge on my Google Reader for general inspiration, and this little DIY project with Altoid tins was very thought provoking. I used to collect hard candy tins from gift baskets (there were always very pretty ones from England or Scottland, occasionally other countries in them), and not for any particular use, I just saved them because I'm a little bit pack-rat and a little bit magpie, I think.

I believe I have a box somewhere in the garage with quite a stash of them. I bet if I did some Googling, I'd find a couple million ideas already out there, but I'm going to go ahead and re-invent the wheel anyway.

Wouldn't small tin lids (decorated on the inside or outside) be great for all kinds of collages using the inside for tiny shadow boxes, or outside of the tin covered in fabric or paper appliques, mosaics from died eggshell chips on the top with a glaze sealant over it (now that the Easter Eggs all need to be eaten - save those shells!), glue some favorite orphan beads around the edge, add some kind of a bail to it and voilà! a pendant...do you smell smoke? I think it's my brain overloading.?

Or cover a tin with polyclay (ok, I gave in and Googled and thought that how to was really excellent - lots of pictures and clear step by step directions as well as materials list).

Maybe put a pretty fabric, knitted, crocheted, embroidered, or felt pincushion on the top and then put things like extra safety pins or hooks and eyes or tiny snaps and give to your favorite quilter or sewer. Sounds like great idea for eye pins, head pins or other small findings, too. What do you think the best way to secure the pincushion would be -if glue, what type? I can see a round tin like this one being perfect:

How about a box of little page-marking clips (here are some fancy "page points" for reference or some Cheeky Flat Clips I found at Michael's) for the avid reader in your life? You can get those in stationery stores, too, or make your own versions. I'd collage that box - maybe use bits of paperback book covers or pages in different typefaces...what else would look good on a book-clip box lid collage? I think this sliding mint tin box I got on a trip to Vegas a couple years ago, would be great for that.

Or a tin to hold post-it index tabs (which I use a lot of and constantly misplace) or those "sign here" ones - sounds like a thoughtful gift to any one who works with contracts (realtors, notaries, lots of admins, etc.), or to hold stamps (if you use snail mail, be sure to buy a bunch of "forever" stamps real soon, the price is going up again on May 11th to 44 cents).

Ok, 'nuff said - but if you've done this or have a favorite instruction post to link, please share!