Beads-n-Blessings

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Our Young Beaders

I wanted to give a shout out to our young beaders in this month's newsletter.  I never realized that there were still young people interested in beading...yet not that many.  I put a post in one the forums I participate in and was saddened to see that only 2 or 3 young people beaded....some just missed it by a couple of years.  Here are a few that chimed in.

Emily Yanchuk

Miss Emily is no stranger to Art with Heart.  She won 3rd Place in the Wearable Piece of our competition.  Here is Emily's story...

My mom was the first beader in my family.  I would line up pieces of jewelry (usually earrings) and then my mom would cut the headpins, make the loops, or whatever other steps went into making jewelry.  I'm an impatient person, so I didn't like to wait for my mom to have free time to make the earrings. So gradually, I learned how to make the loops, crimp the beads, and open jumprings. Soon enough, I was making earrings better than my mom and I had a collection of earrings for my mom and my sister to choose from. One day, my mom was wearing a pair of my earrings over to her hairdresser (who happens to live next door). The hairdresser, Leah, commented that she liked the earrings. My mom mentioned I made them, and Leah told her that I should bring over some jewelry. I went into production mode with my mom and made about 30 pairs of earrings and 20 bracelets. I took them over to Leah's salon. This was around Valentine's Day so we made some stuff with heart beads and charms.

Well, the first week I made about $40, and I kept it over there. I continued to keep a screen full of earrings and a rack of bracelets there until late May. At about that time, I went to a small farmer's market with my mom and sister. I was instantly attracted to the small artisan community that the market had. It had farmers selling meat and produce, but there were also people selling consigned clothes, diapers and birdhouses. I felt like a jewelry stand would fit right in so I applied, got a small stand, and now I am in my third week at the market. I always look forward to sitting at my stand and talking to the friendly customers. So here I am, at thirteen, and I have my own jewelry buisness.  Usually, I don't have an "inspiration" for my jewelry, I just see the beads at a store or online and think "Oh, this would look good as earrings/a necklace/a bracelet." I bring the beads home and use trial and error to find the perfect beads to compliment the focal bead. If all else fails I ask my mom, who can usually find the right combo. I love bright colors and fun designs...I have a couple of pairs of studs that can really catch your attention, they are dyed mother of pearl and never fail to attract compliments. However, I do try to keep a variety of products so no matter what style people have, they can find something they like at my stand. I have vintage-looking cameos and button earrings, classic pearl studs, but also bright flowers, cute charms, and polka dots.

Ashley Bernhardt

Ashley came to us through her Mother, Cheryl, who was also a winner in Art with Heart as first place winner in the Viewer's Choice category...here is Ashley's story.

I will be in eighth grade this September.  I play the French horn in band and love almost all music.  I personally started to bead because my mom was making all these bead projects and I wanted to make my own stuff.  I also make jewelry for my friends' birthdays and Christmas.  I mostly make necklaces and earrings, but I also make bracelets.  What inspires my beadwork is the beads themselves.  I will see them hanging up or in trays in stores and, if I see some beads that I like, I start to come up with a design in my head and look for beads that match. 

Then, since I only do stringing, I lay it out to my design (if it’s in one of the bead stores that have almost all the beads in trays) that’s inside my head and make changes as needed and mentally add seed beads or other things I have at home.  Sadly, most of the time the beads are too expensive and most of my designs are never made and therefore, since I’m not thinking about it, is forgotten by the end of the day.  My mom usually always takes me shopping for beads with her.  I love looking through all the beads and if I find some beads that catch my eye, I can usually come up with a design right away, but sometimes I love the beads so much, I just HAVE  to have them, even without a design in mind.

Art With Heart Cycle 1 Winners are Posted

The long wait is over and the Winners are posted with their inspirations.  This was a tough competition to judge for everyone because the pieces were amazing.  I never knew that everyone had so much talent.  I thank you all for being a part of this journey and hope to see you again in Cycle 2.  All of your work was truly amazing and I am honored to have been in the presence of all of you and your amazing pieces.

Congratulations to Sherri Johnson, our 1st place winner or Wearable Piece Category, Frances Kiperman, our 2nd place winner and Emily Yanchuck our 3rd place winner. 

Congratulations to Dana Hickey, our 1st place winner in the Artistic Piece Category.

Congratulations to Cheryl Bernhardt our Viewer's Choice Winner.

Stop by and see their creations and their inspiration and don't forget to get in on Cycle 2...pre-orders are being taken which will be shipped out June 21, 2010. 

Art With Heart Cycle 2

The long wait is over…colors have been chosen and the beads are in.  The theme for Cycle 2 is Stormy Nights bringing us a combination of smokey greys, black, silver and blue.  If you are new to our blog, Art with Heart is a beading for charity competition where 10% of the proceeds of all kits will go to various charities including the American Heart Association, Make A wish Foundation, National Breast Cancer Foundation, St. Jude Research, the American Diabetes Association and more.  All donations are made in the name of Beads-n-Blessings, our sponsors and all our participants.  With a little help, we can all make a difference. 

Cycle 2 kits will be shipped June 21, 2010 and the competition will end August 2, 2010.  BNB will be taking pre-orders.  For more information about the kit, visit us at http://www.beads-n-blessings.com/art_with_heart_cycle_2.

 MOOD BEADS

I am always in search for new and exciting things and I came across these Chinese lantern type beads at my LBS.  Low and behold, when I touched them they changed colors.  I was so amazed by these cute beads, I bought a handful...pretty pricey little suckers but I had to have them though I have no idea what I will do with them.  Anyway, these beads came with a card which stated that these beads, made by Mirage Beads, were inspired by jewelry of the 1970's.  These beads are polymer clay coated with a thermo-sensitive liquid which allows them to change colors.  Here are some pictures of these awesome beads!

The first picture is the handful of beads that purchased.  Now that I know where to buy them, I won't be going to my lbs.  The second picture is what one of them looked like.  The third as you guessed...it's me add a little body heat...and the fourth is what happened when I removed my fingers.  Isn't that awesome!!!!  If you like these beads as much as I do, here is a link where to buy them - http://www.tikaimports.com/newlayout/mirage-beads.cfm?navitem=3

AND THE WINNER OF BEAD FUN IS....CHERYL RABE

Cheryl Rabe came to us through Art with Heart.  She has been creating jewelry ever since she can remember, initially only for herself, driven by a desire for anything unique and eye-catching.  As a somewhat reserved person, wearing  a bold and unusual piece of jewelry is a way of expressing her fun and creative side. She loves experimenting with new ideas and materials and her early creations included flattened bottle tops and painted cannelloni shells (yes, the pasta variety!).  Her first claim to fame was when a local news presenter bought a pair of her earrings at a market stall and wore them on the evening news!

Learning how to create a beaded bezel has opened a whole new world of endless possibilities and this is definitely her favorite technique at the moment.  She is inspired by the Swarovski crystal designs of Laura McCabe and her amazing ability to blend colors. 

Beading is her meditation and dare she say,  a slight addiction.  She can't go for more than a few days without creating! Her favorite materials, well, she simply can't resist the sparkle of Swarovski crystals and spends hours searching for just the right stone or vintage cabochon that is just begging to be set in a beautiful bezel. Find more her one-of-a kind creations at www.afrikitten.etsy.com.

Cheryl's winning beads that I found just beautiful!!!!

Our Viewer's Choice prize goes to Pam.  I met Pam through the Beading Daily website forum.  She is spunky 56 year old from New Hampshire who went to South Carolina to be with the love of her life Billy whom she met on BD.  She has been beading for 15 years and is self-taught and does quite of bit of silversmithing.  She admits that while she has never taken a beading class, she did take a class in beginners metalwork.  She has also done a bit of lapidary work.  Pam considers herself a pretty good seamstress and began sewing at a very young age.  She loves to knit, grow vegetables and flowers, loves being out in the woods and all the things that grow and live there, she enjoys photography and believe it or not...makes perfumes and aromatherapy...gee, I wonder if one of my so many bottles of perfume have Pam's touch. 

Here is Pam's bead:

Congratulations to both of these lovely ladies.

HAVING FUN WITH LODY

A couple of days ago, I won a fun competition called "Let's Have Some Fun" created by Lody.  The funny thing about this competition was that I joined just to be able to see what all my beading friends looked like.  Everyone already knew what I looked like so I was no surprise to them. 

Here's what inspired Lody.

“I’ve always been like a curious cat…and in all the online groups and forums I’m active in, I’ve always wondered who the face behind the name and/or ID was.  That curiosity led me to opening a thread about real photo avatars which I called Let’s Have Some Fun.  Many Beading Daily members participated and it was a real treat to finally see their faces. From the bottom of my heart, thank you everybody!”

Lody Steward is the designer, stitcher and finisher behind Timber Creek Needleworks and Lody's Creations. Although she was introduced to needlework at an early age, she only had time to really enjoy stitching upon arrival to the US over 5 years ago. Since then, she seldom lets a day pass without a needle between her fingers. What started as a hobby to ease boredom has become a passion. She loves to experiment on various 3D finishings and keeps on developing new techniques for hand-finishing. This has opened the door to the world of design. Within the last two years, her 3D needlework designs have been published on various stitching magazines worldwide, and have won her various “Blue Ribbons” at the State Fair since 2007.

Her passion for beading started in the early 90’s which then progressed from simple “stringing” to “beading on fabric” to “bead weaving”. Her current favorite techniques are bead embroidery (particularly encrusting) and off-loom bead weaving. In 2009, Lody submitted 2 entries to the State’s Fair Jewelry Division for the first time where both of her works won ribbons.  She has been making jewelry as gifts for her in-laws for years, but just recently considered selling them publicly.

Lody has a Bachelors Degree of Science in Civil Engineering from the Technological University of the Philippines in Manila. Prior to her arrival to the US, she worked as an Assistant Manager for an ISO Certified International Construction Firm.

To see more of Lody’s needlework designs visit her at www.lodyscreations.com and read her beadwork musings at www.lodysbeadworks.blogspot.com.

Moira McEvoy is the winner of Beads-n-Blessings first competition which consisted of finding a name for our Beading for Charity contest.  Her motto is Sparkle a little bit evry day!  She is an experienced beader and was last featured in Bead Star Magazine 2009.

Moira thinks of herself as an “up and coming” artist in the jewelry making world. The pieces that have gained the most attention have been pieces made for contests or charity auctions.  Her small store in the Artfire artisan community is attracting a few more visitors every day.

Moira definitely come from an artistic family.  Her mother and sister have always been wonderfully crafty, both with wonderful eyes for color and shape, and both are able to pick up almost any craft supply and make something beautiful with it. Several of her cousins are also talented artists working in several fields such as photography, graphic design, and music. In particular, her cousin Deirdre is a talented photographer who has taught her everything she knows about shooting pictures.  Her late great-uncle Harvey Ball was the artist who originally drew the Smiley Face. Wow...I bet you will feel closer to Moira and her family every time you add that smiley face.

Moira started beading in 2004.  Her sister was getting married and went to a small local bead shop to make the jewelry for herself and her bridal party. She was instantly fascinated with the jewelry she made and for the first time, started to look at the way jewelry was put together.

She started doing very simple stringing and wire-working. Though those techniques are pretty simple, she found the possibilities inherent in them were endless. She loved playing with mixes of colors and started looking all over the place for color palette inspirations.  Moira found those inspirations everywhere …the natural world, the rather green urban cityscape which is her home, even eye shadow trios gave her color inspiration.

Soon she started to play with different materials in her beads. She discovered Dichroic Glass … it’s a somewhat expensive taste, but its unearthly glitter captivates her time and time again, and photographing it presents its own set of challenges.

Moira remembers a time when she was working in customer service … the office was one of those vast gardens of cubicles filled with computers and phones, and as long as the work got done her supervisors didn’t really care what she did with her hands. She started bringing beads to work with her and started working on basic bead weaving designs. At the time, she had 8 hours a day to play with them while she was working.

Later, she got a civil service position with the City’s government, and the possibility of bringing her beading to work with her disappeared.  So, in the interest of actually getting projects finished, she switched back to stringing and wirework and started to learn everything she could.  Moira scoured the internet for free patterns, subscribed to magazines, whatever it took to learn how to recreate the beautiful jewelry designs she saw in stores and on models everywhere. To this day, for every award show or fashion show on television, her eyes are glued to the ears, wrists, and necks of the celebrities and models to give her ideas and inspiration.

Moira likes to make the types of things that real people wear.  Her style ranges from the intricate (see my Tuscan Vineyards necklace) to the clean and simple, such as the Simplify bangle bracelet that placed in Bead Star 2009’s metals category.  She likes to think that no matter how wild or conservative your style is, she can design that perfect bling just for you!

Right alongside her journey towards beading proficiency, she found that she really needed to develop some photography skills as well. As many beaders will tell you, jewelry is one of the hardest things to photograph. Very fortunately, her cousin Deirdre, who is an incredibly talented and endlessly patient photographer, offered advice and instruction and is always ready to step in and shoot for her when she just can’t get a piece right. Her help and encouragement has been the single most valuable tool Moira has in marketing my work.

Due to the dire financial situation sweeping the country, Moira was laid off from her civil service job last spring, and since then she has have devoted her energies to expanding her jewelry  making repertoire, and trying to kick her little online store into high gear.

You can see more of Moira's my work at in our gallery or at www.mysticpesto.artfire.com.

BEAD FUN

Thanking my beading friends for the inspiration and in connection with the Art with Heart competition, please send an email to lgomez@beads-n-blessings.com with a picture of your favorite bead. I will choose my favorite one from the entire selection and the winner will receive a package of a few of my own favorite beads from my stash. A picture will be posted soon on the website. The deadline is April 19, 2010.  Note: the bead must be from your own stash.  Good luck!!!!

BIRTHSTONES AND GEMSTONES

I was reading my gem book today and decided I wanted to write about birthstones...the ever popular modern, traditional, the mystical and the gong way back to the mystical and ayurvedic birthstones.

It is said that birthstones originally became popular during the 15th or 16th century in Poland and that the powers of birthstones were heightened during the month they fell on and so they were worn by everyone each month.

The modern birthstone was officially adopted around 1912 in the United States.  It is the most accepted list of Jewelers of America.

The traditional birthstone which has a second list called the ancient Hebrew birthstone was compiled of birthstones from the different societies sometime around the 15th century. 

The mystical and ayurvedic birthstones have roots that date back over a thousand years.  It is said that the mystical list is compiled of Tibetan origin while the Ayurvedic list was compiled from the Ayurvedic Indian medicine.

The modern and traditional birthstone for the month of April is the Diamond, however, the Hebrew list, it is Sapphire while the mystical is Opal and the Ayurvedic is also Diamond.  Who wouldn't want any of these stones in their collection?

Precious or Semi-Precious

What is the Difference

Ever wonder where they came from and why they are called what they are called.  I have a gem book that I purchased so I could learn about the gemstone but someone posed a question in a forum and wondered what the difference between a precious and semi-precious stone was and how to explain it to their customers among other things.  I explained to her what my gem book said so for all of those who wondered...here is what I told this forum poster.

I have a gem book and my book says that in the today’s modern era the only "precious stones" is the emerald, the ruby (my favorite) diamond and sapphire (my other favorite).  Everything else is semi-precious.  It also states that the use of ”precious and semi-precious" is misleading because it implies that one stone is more valuable than the other which is not always the case.  Semi-precious stones are stones like amethyst, citrine, aquamarine, tourmaline, all topaz’, peridot, all garnets, rainbow moonstone, tanzanite, all the quartz, the onyx, all jasper, obsidian, hematite, all agate, lapis, aragonite, carnelian, dolomite, opal, etc.  The reason these are not considered precious stones are because there is an abundance of them and therefore, are not considered as traditional as diamonds, rubies, emeralds or sapphires.  However, the book does say that if these semi-precious stones were found in certain locations or maybe have some religious significance then it may be on considered precious but since they are not, they are not precious stones. 

A good example for clarity is the amethyst.  Amethyst was once considered a precious stone but because an abundance of it was found somewhere in Brazil and Uruguay it is now considered semi-precious…it can be found just about anywhere you go.  I have included a link below to this great website called Bernadine Fine Art Jewelry.  In it is great information with regard to all the precious and semi-precious stones including where they originated to how long ago it was first found to the different colors.  I hope you enjoy this site and find it informative.

http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/gemstones.htm

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