Bead Soup!

Welcome to the Artisan Clay Blog!  This is the online photo journal of the creative happenings of Kristie Roeder aka Artisan Clay. Thanks for stopping by for Bead Soup Blog Party!  I cannot believe how much this blog hop has grown from the first round that I participated in!

Rock on, Lori with your mad organizational skills! AND your Book!  Whoot!  Go Girl!

My partner for the Bead Soup is Lea Avroch.  She has a very successful etsy shop www.LAJewelryDesigns.etsy.com and websites and her blog is http://www.lajewelrydesign.blogspot.com/ and AND.... Get this.... Her work is on the cover of the current issue of Bead Trends Magazine... Ooooh!  That's so FANCY!  She's so rockstar!  I love it!

Lea sent me a beautiful lampwork glass focal and matching lampwork beads -- That she made---

also copper spacer beads and a copper clasp, and bright pink pearls....

I really love Lea's Beads that she sent me, and what a challenge!  I am not usually a pink kind of girl. I have adopted purple into my life over the past couple of years.... but I let the pink stump me for a while. Also I don't usually use copper findings. I know everybody is doing it, but I tend to be stubborn and if I get the idea that everybody does something, well.... I just don't.... So... I don't have a lot of copper to choose from..  Challenge is the name of the game, and I felt it.  This is good.

I really wanted to make something that I will personally wear.  I am a pretty simple person when it comes to my jewelry.  I like a bold focal and the rest of the piece to make it all function.

I really loved the matching lampwork beads and I tried to work them into the design, but it just didn't work for me so I took them out.  I think I will end up making a pair of earrings with them in the future.

The charm at the bottom is one that I made. Ceramic and purple recycled glass...

So!  Here it is!  My special creation.  A little of this.... A little of that.... and I think I will wear this with a nice tan this summer...

Please stop by as many blogs on the blog hop as you can.... and thank you for stopping by!

I will be giving away a $25 gift certificate for my etsy shop to one lucky commenter. I will give you one week to comment, because I know this is a really big party and really hard find the time to stop by all the blogs.

So--- here goes nothing!  I hope the linky tool does it's thing the same way that the link tool that I usually use does.  It should show up below as the party officially begins after midnight!

Design Team Reveal Blog Hop!

I am very excited to announce the second Artisan Clay Design Team Challenge Blog Hop!

This month I decided to send each member one of the styles that I have made quite frequently this past year. The photo above is what I sent. In making these pieces, it has been all about the color. I have been dying to see them in action.
 Now for the Reveal!

This is the necklace I made for this month's challenge.  I made it for my darling friend Debra's, Aunt Bonnie, who is letting me stay at her house during my trip to Oregon (today)

Bonnie likes blues and greens and I wanted to try to mix the smooth brightly colored glossy glass surface with the Matt wood and stone beads and natural fibers (waxed linen)

It was tricky for me.  I always want to pair the glass pieces in sleek contemporary designs apposed to my stoneware pieces which I use in rougher natural styles.

Here are a few more examples of how I have used this style of bead in the past...

It makes a really fun earring.

The pools of glass fracture light and can sometimes glow.

Clean and fresh

And feminine

So.... many of you know that I have been traveling.  I ended up being quite mixed up in my arrival.  I slept in Gate 78 at San Francisco Airport Wednesday night and arrived in Oregon 12 hours later than expected.  So.... I only just now was able to get this blog post up... A little late....

I am having such a wonderful time!  It turns out that a second friend of mine lives here too!   Our planned camping trip for the weekend is looking like it will be a big party.  I will post photos a little later.  There were actually photos taken of me yesterday that I will make disappear...

We'll talk about that later...

I am thinking of blogging my trip photos as a way of recording them for myself.  I hope you don't get too bored of it.

NOW----

Check out all the goodies that the design team has come up with.

Button Swap Blog Hop!

She's Cute! 
Welcome to the my blog!
 My little starshine fell in love with the Super sparkly button that my partner Shannon For my Sweet Daughter sent me.  She begged me to make a necklace for her with it.....  She's the kind of girl who usually get's what she wants.



And it fits me to!  That's a bonus.

It's very simple-- but for a little girl, I didn't want to go too crazy.  Shannon said that her mother gave her this button and when I mentioned that my daughter was begging for a necklace, she said go for it!

And here is what I did with the other 3 buttons that Shannon sent me.  The ultra thin shell beads and the handmade ceramic dragon fly by beadfreaky on etsy seemed to fit perfectly with a little beady care package that my friend Staci- (Staci Louise Originals) dropped off for me a few months ago.  The style reminds me of Staci too.  Maybe because these are the style of stones that she likes to use in her work.

It just all jumped together in a few minutes.  It makes me feel like walking on the beach in a long cotton hippy skirt, yes it does :-)

I've been inspired to make quite a bit more buttons lately.  Here's all the buttons that I fired this Monday.  I like how they turned out and I will be making more!

Commenting on this blog post will get you a chance to win this lovely green and brown Button!

And there's more! Michelle Mach has a giveaway on her master blog hop blog.  Here's a few of her words on it--
You might also want to tell your readers about the giveaway--if readers comment on any (or all) blogs, they can win a set of buttons. The full rules will be on my blog, but basically, each comment on a different blog gets them one entry. So if they comment on all posts, that would be 25 entries! But if they comment 25 times on Lori's blog, that only counts as one entry! The giveaway is open to everyone.



Today I am actually spending in air travel to visit family for the Easter Holiday, so I will not be able to check out everyone's blogs or announce a winner until next week sometime.... you'll have to check back- I'm not going ot pin it down, since I have so many obligations next week... but be sure I'll announce it and contact the winner shortly.

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1. Cat - Boo Beads



2. Cindy - Sweet Bead Studio



3. Cory - Art with Moxie



4. Cyndi - Beading Arts



5. Dita - Alankarshilpa



6. Donna, Marti, and Michelle - Beads & Books



7. Erin - Treasures Found



8. Hope - Crafty Hope



9. Inca - Zerenity Design



10. Katrine - Army of Sock Monsters



11. Krista - French Elegant Jewelry



12. Kristie - Artisan Clay-- That's me!



13. Linda D. - Lutka and Co.



14. Linda L. - Linda's Bead Blog



15. Lody - Lody's Beadworks



16. Lori - Pretty Things



17. Loretta - Loretta's Boutique



18. Malin - Beading by Malin de Koning



19. Mary - MK's Creative Musings



20. Maryanne - Zingala's Workshop



21. Melinda - Melinda Orr Metal & Clay Jewelry Designs



22. Saskia - Perlendistel



23. Shannon - For My Sweet Daughter



24. Shirley - Beads and Bread



25. Stephanie - Confessions of a Bead Hoader
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Thanks for coming!

Who won?

First of all--- Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

I started off by listing everyone's names on a big piece of paper, dividing up the international entries from the Bead Box entries.  We ended up with 41 comments for the bead box and 3 comments for the grab bag!  That's a lot of entries!

When I won the box, it happened at a time when the good news was plentiful.  I felt the beady world was smiling at me and I was smiling back.  I think that the Bead Box Goddesses sensed that again because my instant reaction to learning the winner was..... "Some girls have all the luck"

The next stop of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads Box is New York State and the home of Lorelei Eurto!  Congratulations Lorelei!   Katie Nelson stocked the box with TONS of Art beads from many different artists prior to my turn with it and now the box is HEAVY with Artisan Clay beads. 

The winner of the Artisan Clay Grab bag is Maria from Edinburgh, UK!

Maria--Please contact me via my http://www.artisanclay.etsy.com/  shop or send me an email thru blogger with your address

 I really enjoyed the freedom I felt by cleaning up and destashing my work area!  I get the feeling that there is still going to be tons of my beads in that box all the way to it's last stop..... which is OK if you like my work.

I feel like I am allowed to fire up some more beads now..... and make some new jewelry with my great new stuff!     I am free!  and inspired!  This is such a great idea!  I am so glad you started this Heather!

So... Thank you for stopping by!  and while I have you here, I'm going to let you know about some fun stuff that I am involved in :-)

We are having a big Open Studio Blog event over at The Beads-of-Clay group this Sunday!

A large group of Ceramic Bead Makers are having special sales and giveaways on their blogs and websites from 2-5pm!

I am not officially on the list since I will not be home on Sunday, BUT I am still going to be posting for the Open Studio and holding the same giveaways.  My winners will be chosen on Monday and my SALE is going on now thru Sunday.  

The destash feeling from the Bead Box is wonderful and I have decided to mark EVERYTHING in my Etsy shop at 40% off their regular prices!  I see some of you noticed the sale prices even before I got a chance to announce it :-)  Thank you!

I will be adding new work to my etsy shop over the weekend at the sale pricing and if all goes well I will be adding some WHOLESALE LOTS and GRAB BAGS as well :-) 

Last but not at all least--- Check out the Best Little Bead Box project and follow along on that bead box's travels before it is finally divided up to benefit Beads-of-Courage....  this week it is headed someplace pretty fancy if you ask me!

OK commercial over..... back to the beads :-)

I've got mail!

I received my package of Humblebeads from Heather Powers last week!

Oh Boy!  I lucked out big time! 

What a gorgeous pile of beads!  I have no idea how to start.  Usually I am a fan of the mental sketchbook....you know look at beads, day dream for a week about possible connection points, pull out all possible findings and whip it together.  I don't think that approach is going to cut it this time.  There are just too many beads and too many possibilities!  I am going to have to actually take out a piece of paper.  GASP!    Ha!  Whenever I grab the sketchbook I am reminded of why I never thought I could get anywhere as an artist when I was a youngster. 

How could a person make art when they can't draw worth a darn?  

A ha! The mental sketchbook was born.  I discovered that my brain makes it's own drawings... and I can follow them just as well as an actual drawing.  Sometimes I feel like an engineer.  I'm always working out a construction project, be it wearable or be it with wood and nails....  Laying on my pillow planning my next big project into the night. ;-)

On second thought, I think I may arrange the beads in different ways and photograph the options and pick out my favorites before I put it together.

What about you?  Do you sketch out your designs?   Do you have a design method???  A plan of action?

PS--I blogged about the bead soup blog party on the beads of clay blog today.  What's in the soup?--http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com/2010/05/whats-in-soup.html