Mid-Week Mutterings - Bead Trends April 2010 Call & Stringing Magazine Winter Challenge

I got news over the weekend that one of my designs had been selected for the March 2010 edition of Bead Trends. It's not the first submission I've made there, nor elsewhere, but it's the first acceptance. To say that I'm excited is just a bit of an understatement. With that positive reinforcement under my belt now, I'm thinking about entering other challenges and making more submissions. For example there's:

Bead Trends April 2010 call
If you would like to submit your work to this publication, please e-mail a photograph, the name or title of your piece, and contact information to: beadsubmit@beadtrendsmag.com.

If submitting multiple pieces, please send a separate e-mail and photograph for each design.

Deadline for the April 2010 issue is 11:59 p.m. MDT, October 26th, 2009. All ideas should be your original work and not previously published.

We will review all submissions, and if selected, we will contact you by November 2nd with additional information. All pieces will need to be shipped to us directly for photography and arrive in our office by November 12th. Your creation will be returned to you insured, after the issue has been printed.

And also:

Winter Challenge Title: "Inspired by Art"
Deadline: November 6, 2009
Voting starts: November 18, 2009
Voting ends: December 18, 2009

To enter, please send a clear, high-resolution TIF (better) or JPEG (good) photo of your stringing and/or simple wireworking project that is 300 dpi at 3" x 5" to stringing@interweave.com.

An e-mail will be sent within two weeks after the close of voting for each challenge. Please do not contact us asking for news of the winners before then. Thanks

Challenge Rules: One entry per person, please (so send us your best work!). Submissions must be of the type you would see in Stringing magazine—in other words, projects created using simple stringing, crimping, wireworking (simple loops, wrapped loops, jump rings), and simple knotting techniques. If in doubt, see Stringing 101 (it's in every issue of Stringing) for a list of acceptable techniques. Projects created using beadweaving or other non-stringing techniques (such as netting; peyote, brick, right-angle weave, and square stitches; bead embroidery; chain mail; and macramé) will not be considered for winners.

General Rules: At least one winner will be chosen on the basis of votes for each entry as received at stringingmagazine.com during the voting period. Interweave Press cannot control, and disclaims any responsibility or liability, for online voting and is responsible only for using its best efforts to collect and count the votes actually received. Editors' choice winner(s) will be chosen by the editors of Stringing; all decisions of the editors shall be made in their sole and absolute discretion and will be final.

If an entry is selected as a winner by the voting conducted at the Stringing website, but the entry does not conform to the contest rules, then the entrant and the entry will be disqualified and the next-ranked entrant will be selected.

By entering, entrant is assuring Interweave Press that entrant possesses the right to submit all entry materials for use by Interweave Press as described in these contest rules without the consent or approval of any third party, and Interweave Press is entitled on rely on entrant's right to do so.

By entering the Stringing Challenge, each entrant is granting to Interweave Press the perpetual, exclusive, and royalty-free right to (a) use the photographs and other entry materials submitted by the entrant without photo credit(s) for the photographer(s) who took the photographs, (b) photograph and reproduce the entry in the various print and electronic publications of Interweave Press and the advertising, publicity, promotional and marketing materials of Interweave Press in any and all media, and (c) use the name, image, likeness, and biographical data of the finalists and winners in connection with all of the foregoing uses.

The contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law.

Where are you submitting your designs?



PS - Mid-Week Mutterings picture credit: Portrait of an elderly lady with her daughter by Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818). This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

Tuesday Tidbits - The Last Trios Design, at the Last Minute, Too.

All vintage images on this page are courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

I sent off 5 submissions to the Soft Flex Company's Flex Your Creativity contest (today is the "submissions must be received by" date!) on Sunday. I had four completed and photographed by then, but I'd planned on doing a couple more over the weekend to use each of the Trios I had from the Rings & Things blog partner package back in June. Unfortunately Saturday was so hot I didn't do much of anything but sweat and drink copious amounts of ice water.

So Sunday rolls around and it's cooler and I feel inspired. So I go grab my Harmony Trio and start thinking about what I want to do. I'm not sure what sent me towards the impressionistic butterfly thing I ended up with, but that's what happened after my original "how about making a Harmony petaled daisy?" idea bombed.

This design uses the Bone, Lemon Quartz and Copper colors of the Harmony Trio with beads from two different mixed contemporary glass color mixes, orange and yellow, from The Beadin' Path.

In this design I wanted to create something sculptural, like I did with the Renewal Trio necklace I recently re-worked. I started with an idea for creating a butterfly design (well, started after I couldn't make a decent daisy, so it morphed) as the focal piece and went from there, including a smaller butterfly on the body of the necklace as well. I used a lot of crimp tubes and crimp covers to help stabilize the designs. It might be a bit challenging to see the Bone colored Soft Flex parts in the small picture, so just click it for a larger image.

Oh, and here's the early version that I felt was too plain and not quite the right balance.

Did you enter? Have you entered any other contests or submitted to a magazine call lately? It stresses me out. I don't know how often I can do it, but I do know it's worth the effort - after all, I'll be seeing my design for the Colorworks contest published in Step by Step Beads in just a couple months and I was so hesitant to enter that one.

Until tomorrow!

Supplier Sales Saturday

Photo by One Homo Sapiens, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

Power was out here on Friday from 3 to 6pm, temps were brutal outside and without our fans running inside, not much cooler. Didn't get much beading done until very late, nor take any photos. I am working on some 'sea glass' ideas, but not ready to share yet. However, there are some great sales going on, so I'll share the info with you so you don't miss 'em (and I have something worthwhile to post about!):

Image released by owner to public domain

Artbeads:

With summer coming to an end, we are offering clearance discounts on more than 600 summer-themed items along with the existing clearance products. There is no better time to stock up on your favorite beads and jewelry components! This sale ends at 9am (PDT) on Thursday, September 3, 2009. When it ends, the summer-themed products will be removed from the clearance section and go back to their original prices, so shop now!

D&I Beads "Create Your Own Sale"

Rings & Things 5-day Sale - ends tomorrow!!

Wednesday, August 26, through Sunday, August 30, 2009: Create your own beads and pendants without the difficulties of traditional metalsmithing! Art Clay™ Silver and Gold – plus metal-clay tools, books and more – are on sale now for this limited time. Free projects feature some of the sale items.

The Beadin Path

Back to School Supplies Sale! We all need Supplies. And while some of us are shopping for markers, crayons & erasers, other might need clasps, headpins & centerpiece beads. To make that shopping trip even easier, we’re throwing a 10% off coupon at you. Shop away. Get what you need and boom – use coupon code SCLSUPPLY for 10% off your order at checkout.

And we're down to the wire to get our SoftFlex Trios designs photographed and entered - deadline is Sept 1!!

Don't forget to put on your virtual hiking boots tomorrow and go Wandering Around the Beadosphere with me! Post goes up at 6 am Pacific!

Hardly Looks Like the Same Necklace Now

Vintage images courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Ah, Saturday. Sleeping in. Lazing around. Well, at least sleeping in. I have so much stuff to do this weekend and next weekend my daughter is visiting again, so I'll not be getting much done then. I have a special order necklace to make, pieces to finish, and so many ideas to try. But, you're probably here to see what I've got to show for myself for today...

On Wednesday I showed a work in progress using Romance Trios from Soft Flex. This is what it looked like then:

I've been fiddling...here's what it looks like now (click picture for closer look):

It hangs a bit longer than shown - the bust is a bit short so I had to pull the chain down in the back. I like this much better! There are still some finishing details I need to do - a crimp cover here and there - but this is pretty much it.

I think you can see where I snipped the wires and crimped them to create the wisps? vines? that were once part of what Tish called the bow tie, then I made a loop at either end of the beading and fastened two twisted wire rings through them to connect it to an antiqued silver chain (from Accessories Susan). The clasp is made from a twisted wire oval I bent into a hook.

I think I may have 3 or maybe 4 entries to send in to the Flex Your Creativity contest - if you're thinking of entering (and I hope you are!) don't forget that you only have until Sept. 1st.

As I didn't get anything listed on Art Fire, per goal, neither Thursday nor Friday. I'm going to have to do three today to catch up. Fortunately, it's Saturday and I have 1) sunlight for photography and 2) all day to do it!

Here are the eight new ones I've listed so far - I'd be very interested in your candid comments about them - photography, setting, price - whatever:

Dawno

Buy Handmade

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Wandering Around the Beadosphere!

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.

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!