Saturday 23 May 2015

Week # 20 of the #2015PCChallenge

When I signed up for Katie Oskin's challenge I had no idea it would be so much fun. Over the last 20 weeks I have tried many new techniques and my skill has really improved in my work with polymer clay. Thank you, Katie.
I'm going to skip the commentary and just add pictures of my additions to the challenge for the last 6 weeks.
Ikat cane


Hieroglyphic Beads


Texture sheet impressions and pan pastels



Textures and Gilders Paste


Jelly Roll cane


First Sutton Slice


Sutton Slice Jewelry sets.


See what I mean........so much fun!
Have a great weekend.


Saturday 2 May 2015

It's time.....

.......for the long awaited and much anticipated Bead Peeps Swap 'n Hop!! Linda Anderson and her helpers have organized this hop as the first big party hosted by the Facebook group Bead Peeps. It involves swapping art beads  and other components with another jewelry maker and then each participant makes new pieces of jewelry using the goodies sent by her partner.  It is  a lot of fun and usually quite a challenge since we all have such different tastes and design styles! Our partners were chosen for us from a pool of about 200 volunteers who wanted to join in. Quite an undertaking but Linda and her team did a fantastic job and everybody was paired up very quickly after the deadline. The party part happens on May 2nd, reveal day. Every participant writes a post on their own blog describing their journey from receiving the beads until they have finished creating one or more pieces of jewelry using the art beads they were sent. So tune in and enjoy the eye candy. #BeadPeepSwap

My partner is Johana Nunez from Puerto Rico. I forgot to say that this is an international group with artisans from ALL OVER! It's such a neat way to get to know artists with similar passion for jewelry making. Johana sent me a lovely collection of her own enameled beads and components that I showed here. This is a quick picture of my gift.
And here is what I made from the beautiful goodies.



Copper bracelet with the large enameled bead from Johana as the focal and 4 beautiful matching lampwork beads from Rosemary of Rosemary's Glass Art. The clasp is one that I made.



"Sort of " asymmetrical earrings with Johana's enameled beads paired with 2 orphan beads from Petra of Scorched Earth on Etsy. Because these beads weren't the same colour I had decided to use them in a pair of asymmetrical earrings and while digging through my Scorched Earth collection  ( LOL, everybody has one, don't they?) I found these perfectly matching ceramic drops in the exact same colours!! How weird is that?  So they are asymmetrical because they are different colours but otherwise they are the same. I know what I'll call them. 
"The Same , but Different Earrings"
  

Johana included the sweet little Czech glass beads in a soft , pale pink which is a colour and style that I rarely use but I was determined to use them, especially those little pink flowers. Again it was time to dig through my hoarded beads. this time I found these gorgeous  pink mix lampwork beads that I scored in the Advent sale from Maryse at GlassBeadArt.


 My only concern about these didn't show up until I photographed and it's too late to change it now ( it's almost midnight!). The pink waxed linen thread must have picked up some errant remains of liver of sulphur from my hands and the thread looks "grubby " in the pictures . Honestly, I did wash my hands! Luckily I have enough linen thread to replace it. I think I might  have to wear gloves to work with it next time.A valuable lesson.

Next I made another bracelet to feature the wonderful handmade clasp made by Johana. It is in etched copper with a beautiful enameled flower on it. Sorry it's so difficult to see in this picture but it has the leaf veins delicately etched on it and the word "love" etched along one side ( the bottom of the leaf in this picture) .
I love it and since copper is my first love it was a no brainer. Also I'm really liking that gorgeous yellowish-green colour this year. I had this polymer clay Trilobite focal from Staci Louise Smith in my stash and some green lampwork glass beads made by Michaela Pabeschitz,  who was my partner for last year's Bead Soup Blog Party. I made the copper celtic knots and antiqued them in LOS.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I've made for this challenge . There were 2 other pieces that I wanted to use but I had a couple of accidents which made that impossible.


This sweet handmade birdie "flew" out of my hands and broke his tail off. I tried to fix him but didn't trust him to survive being part of jewelry. He'll just stay as my mascot in my studio. 

Remember these wonderful copper headpins with the enameled flowers on the ends. I wanted to use them as the top part of earrings with other beads hanging from them but I bent the copper too enthusiastically and destroyed them! I was devastated because I love these. Another lesson learned!
I hope you enjoyed my post and will hop over to  my partner's blog to see what she made with what I sent her. I can't wait to see what Johana comes up with. The picture below shows you what I sent to her.

After you've checked out the Puerto Rican and Canadian artistry I hope you will hop over to the other blogs to see what my jewelry buddies have made for the party. Enjoy! 
Here's the list of partners:

Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2015 
Partner List  

 Our Hostess: Linda Anderson from http//:fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com

LindaAndersonhttp://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
MaricaZammithttp://www.beadlovelies.com
LindaAndersonhttp://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
JessicaHocutthttps://faithfamilyandadventure.wordpress.com
KristinaHahn Eleniakhttp://www.peacockandlime.wordpress.com
DebbieJeffrieshttp://wordpress/debrasdivinedesigns/blog.com
RosantiaPetkovahttp://bairozan.blogspot.com/
ShaliniAustinhttp://jewellerybyshalini.co.uk/my-blog/
CatherineLa Vitehttp://drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com
AnnicaLarssonhttp://zestyfrog.wordpress.com/
LoriSchneiderhttp://beadaddicted.blogspot.com/
DivyaNhttp://www.jewelsofsayuri.com
MowseDoylehttp://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com
FayWolfendenhttp://torchfairy.blogspot.com
KathyLindemerhttp://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/
ClaireFabianhttp://saraccino.blogspot.de/
JaniceWarden Bergeronhttp://thejewelryroom.blogspot.ca
NatalieDavidsonhttp://www.northshoredays.com
DebFortinhttp://www.studiok24.blogspot.ca
Ingevon Rooshttp://ingetraud.wordpress.com
KarenMitchellhttp://overthemoon-design.com
RobinReedhttp://willowdragon.blogspot.com
MarieCoverthttp://thistledown-and-swaddlings.blogspot.com/
AliciaMarinachehttp://www.allprettythings.ca
NanSmithhttp://www.wirednan.blogspot.ca
JohanaNunezhttp://artincendi.com
KellyHosford Pattersonhttp://travelingsideshow.blogspot.com/
LoriBlanchardhttp://alainnjewelry.WordPress.com
Sue Kennedyhttp://suebeads.blogspot.com
ShaiWilliamshttp://shaihasramblings.com
NikySayershttp://silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk
MelissaTrudingerhttp://beadrecipes.wordpress.com
CandidaCastleberryhttp://www.spunsugarbeadworks.blogspot.com
ErinGuesthttp://www.renlish.com
NicoleRennellhttp://nicolerennell.com/blog
IenTemaluruhttp://ienmaginationsjewelry.wordpress.com
RobinShowstackhttp://heartsdesiresjewelryforyou.blogspot.com/
SamWaghornhttp://palemooncreation.blogspot.co.uk
MarianneBaxterhttp://www.simplyseablimejewelry.blogspot.com
ElsieDeliz-Fonsecahttp://ladelizchica.blogspot.com
ShaiWilliamshttp://shaihasramblings.com
LeeKoopmanhttp://stregajewellry.wordpress.com
JayneCappshttp://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com
MartiConradhttp://marticsclay.blogspot.com
TinaBoshhttp://bookbug-somanybookssolittletime.blogspot.com/
EleanorThomashttp://woolywireetc.blogspot.com
JeanneSteckhttp://www.gemsbyjeannemarie.blogspot.com
GloriaAllenhttp://www.wingsandbeads.blogspot.com
RachelMallishttp://www.mintmonarch.com/#!blog/c1jlz
AndreaGlickhttp://zenithjade.blogspot.com/
StephanieStamperhttp://skwds.blogspot.com
ChrisHausslerhttp://pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com
BetonyMaidenhttp://www.beadwenches.blogspot.com/
KariAsburyhttp://hippiechickjewelrydesign.com/blog/
JennyKyrlachhttp://anafiassa.blogspot.com/
ColleenFoleyhttp://colleenfoleycreations.blogspot.com
MarybethRichhttp://forestofjewels.blogspot.com/
MarcyLambersonhttp://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com
DyanneEverett-Cantrellhttp://www.deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com
GinnyLoneshttp://www.Skippingintotheunknown.blogspot.com
Maria RosaSharrowhttp://willowstreetshops.blogspot.com
LorettaCarstensenhttp://designsbyloretta.blogspot.com
DoloresRamlhttp://craftydscreations.wordpress.com
MichelleMcCarthyhttp://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com
LouiseMcCormick-Glazierhttp://jewelrytreasuresbylouise.blogspot.com/
HeatherRichterhttp://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
TammyAdamshttp://www.paisleylizard.com/blog/
ShirleyMoorehttp://beadsandbread.blogspot.com
Seed Beaders
SusanneStelljeshttp://pearlify.blogspot.de
SheilaProstermanhttp://catswithbeads.blogspot.com
PallaviAsherhttp://kalaabhushan.blogspot.in/
JamiShipphttp://celebratinglifewithdamamashipp.blogspot.com
PeggyKosierhttp://www.kosydesigns.blogspot.ca/
AndraWeberhttp://andrasjoyfuljourney.blogspot.com
CatherineKinghttp://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
KraftyMaxhttp://kraftymax.com
SierraBarretthttp://giraffecanhas.wordpress.com
LoisSherwoodhttp://thiznthat5454blog.wordpress.com
KatyHeiderhttp://onthepondcreations.blogspot.com
RebeccaRobertson   (White)http://morganafeycreations.121hub.com/
HeatherRichterhttp://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
BrandyCollierhttp://bhjewelry.wordpress.com
StephanieHausslerhttp://www.pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com
LoriBlanchardhttp://alainnjewelry.WordPress.com
KathleenBreedinghttp://99bobotw.blogspot.com
BeckyPancakehttp://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com
RenethaStanzianohttp://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/
TamiNorrishttps://jewelrybytami.wordpress.com/
GingerBishophttp://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com/
PeggyJohnsonhttp://charmbarn.blogspot.com