Sue Beads

August just flew by, didn't it?  In addition to moving my daughter into a new apartment for college and painting it and generally trying to make it not a slum anymore lol, I took an intensive class at the Glass Center with JC Herrell, took a trip to Scotland with my family, moved Jason's kids into their dorms at IUP and had a Facebook trunk show on Glass Melters Open Market!   AND it's time for the August Component of the Month with Diana Ptaszynski.  As usual, I didn't take a photo of the component when I got it, but it was this awesome stoneware coin pendant.  My idea didn't some to fruition (I think I say that a lot); I was going to use one of the bails pictured below, that I found at  Lima Beads.  While they are lovely, the color just didn't go with the focal or my idea.  Fast forward panic - what to do?  I really hate gluing bails on pieces of art, but decided in this case if I wanted to get anything done, I would need to go with ...

It's time again for the Art Jewelry Elements monthly challenge, and this month, Jenny Davies-Reazor provided us with the component!  She made these amazing escutcheon molded polymer clay pendants, with a word saved inside with resin!  She made this one especially for me, as I am having a few health issues of late.  I always forget to take a photo before I start working on the piece! Mine was in colors of olive green, verdigris and blue.  I love it!  As I didn't have any beads in my stash to really match well with the pendant, I had to go to Michael's to find something.  I found these blue/green glass rounds and they really went so well there was no way I couldn't purchase them!  Then I looked down and saw the buddha head beads!  I knew I had to have that as well!   I used a turquoise teardrop from my stash as well as titanium hematite beads I picked up at Bead Fest and had the bottom done!  I've also been dabbling in...

I promised I would post when my green indonesian beads came; here is the finished necklace using Melissa Meman's gorgeous copper component!  Thanks for stopping back to see it!

See my blog post over at Art Jewelry Elements for the inspiration behind this necklace today!

Today is the day for the Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month Reveal!  This month, the lovely and talented Melissa Meman provided us with amazing pendants that she made; we had a choice of pendants, AND whether we wanted them with holes punched already or not.  I chose not, because I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do.  This is the pendant I chose.  When I received it, I knew what I wanted to do and punched the holes myself!  I had some discs already made from Bead Fest, and knew I wanted to make the pendant using those.  I also knew I wanted it to be a long necklace that had dangles as well! I used Indonesian glass beads I already had and "titanium hematite" beads I picked up from Bead Fest to make the dangles. As you'll notice, it's not quite finished!  I did not have any olive green Indonesian glass in my stash, so had to order it!  It's on it's way, hopefully soon, so I can finish the necklace. When I do...

Over at Art Jewelry Elements , it's time for the January Component of the Month Reveal. This month, it was Karen Totten's turn -she's the lovely woman behind Starry Road Studio .  She made us pie to use this month!  Actually, they are hollow lentil beads, but they kind of resemble pie!  I chose this olive one with reddish-brown tints.  Very fall-like.  I really like olive green. This wasn't what I was going to make.  In fact I ordered beads, but they did not arrive in time.  So I ran to Michael's at the last minute, something I REALLY hate to do, and purchased these metallic rounds and ceramic discs.  They really go well with the piece Karen made. I used the green metallic rounds because they really matched with my olive pie.  The discs are in shades of butter yellow, brown, and rust red, and really give the whole piece an autumnal feel. I finished the piece off with antiqued copper chain and toggle clasp.  All in all, ev...

I recently did a trade with Lorelei Eurto (click the link to go to her blog!). It was the first trade I ever did - it was fun! I picked out a necklace from her shop, and she had two specific bead sets in mind that she wanted of mine. The first photo is of the necklace I chose from her shop, and the next two photos are the beads that she chose! The neckalce is beautiful and incredibly well-made - I highlly recommend her! You can check her blog today, too, as she has a post about the trade! I'll be exicted to see what she makes from the beads.