Short North Holiday Hop!

I am happy to say that Marianne Lannan, owner of The Lamp Shade, has invited me back to be her featured artist for the Short North's Holiday Hop on Saturday, December 5.  The Short North Gallery Hop is celebrating 25 years this year and I know a lot of shops will be having special events during the month of December.

I stopped in to set up my display on the day after Thanksgiving and it will be up for a week or two after the Hop on December 5.

I'd love to see you if you plan to attend the Holiday Hop, stop in at The Lamp Shade during your stroll along High Street to say 'hi'!

Button Fan Update

I am so excited!

I received an email late last week from Bead & Button telling me that my Button Fan bracelet project, published in the August Bead & Button magazine, has been selected to be part of Bead & Button's Annual "Creative Beading", Volume 5, to be published next summer!!!

My bracelet (center detail shown left) was included to illustrate a color option in the article and the bracelet made by the B&B Editor for the step-by-step illustrations featured a very striking gold-green colored Czech button.

Convergence Exhibit at Bead & Button

For those of you unable to attend the Convergence Exhibit at the Ohio Glass Museum or the recent Bead & Button show, Sara Hardin has made a video showing all of the pieces that are part of the traveling exhibit. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing via Youtube!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGdGHgqHq4


The exhibit is now on it's way to Florida where it will be a feature exhibit at the Windisch-Hunt Fine Arts Gallery in Coconut Grove, Florida from June 20 until the ISGB Gathering ends on July 24, 2009.

Art Bead Scene Blog: Monthly Challenge - Monet's Water Lilies

Do you love using photo inspired challenges in order to get the creative juices flowing? If the answer is yes, then Art Bead Scene's May challenge is for you. The inspiration photograph is Monet's Water Lilies. Criteria includes that an art bead be used in your piece. Click on the link below to see other requirements and the deadline. Good luck!

Art Bead Scene Blog: Monthly Challenge - Monet's Water Lilies

I love photo inspired challeges. I participated in a photo inspired jewelry challenge last year while on an online beader's group and loved it ... I ended up selecting three photographs and making three pieces of jewelry! I definitely took the challenge part to heart, because I selected photographs and color palette outside of what I typically use in my jewerly. I've included photographs from two of the pieces submitted during that challenge. My 'Orange Bird Wing' pendant (shown left) ended up placing second from a very worthy group of entries.

The focal for this piece was a calcite flat bead drilled for stringing ... but you know me, I made it into a cabochon! I had purchased some vintage blue and orange flower beads several years ago and knew they would be the ideal transition accents for this pendant. Blue is not a color that I typically use in my jewelry (I'm more of a green type of gal), but I love the way this turned out. Detail of the pendant is shown on right.

For some reason the photograph of the white bird with the colorfull bill really intrigued me (pictured left). I had purchased a white stone cabochon a while back and even though I usually like 'colors' in my stones, I liked the unusual markings and shape of the cabochon. When the photographs were posted for the challenge, I remembered the striations of solid banding on the stone and pulled it to compare to the photograph. The stone markings reminded me of bird feathers and I immediately knew it would be the perfect start for my white bird photograph inspiration piece.

Because I have a reaction to plated metal, I really like using glass beads as closures instead of metal toggles or clasps. And, the additional benefit is that the clasp will blend in (if you choose) or serve as the special finishing touch to your piece.