The holidays come on way too fast!

I finally getting around to posting one of the "before" pictures of my studio. This is currently my lampwork setup. Our goal is to use the downtime over the holidays to get my studio organized and set up...all fresh and new... It will so so exciting to be able to work down there again.

As you can see below, it's pretty much got to the stage that it's just way too messy to be remotely safe to work in. The rest of my studio (beading, metal clay, silversmithing) is far worse and completely unusable.

Good thing I can at least work at beadFX!

beadFX - Crimp forming plier

One more video. The following two videos were shot a few months ago with a borrowed camera that my old boss loaned out to me. My editing skills are somewhat lacking, and we of course had no experience actually shooting footage. On that note, please excuse the quality, or lack thereof. However, we had a huge amount of fun that day! We're planning on shooting more video in the coming months. Let us know what you'd like to see. Do you want techniques? Or, do you want to see the creative process? Or, maybe a combo of both.

beadFX - Cubic Bling Bling Bracelet

In this video we have Dwyn demonstrating the design process of her Cubic Bling Bling bracelet.

beadFX - Our Beads

Our first photo montage. Check this out on Youtube. We've got some photos of some of our inspiration ideas, as well as some of our beads. Look for more instructional videos coming soon!

Studio again

Still plugging away at getting my studio set up. Hopefully, we'll make a bit of progress on it this weekend. Most likely I won't be able to really spend much time down there until the Christmas break.

All of the new shelving has been purchased. We ran into a bit of a snag, as our drill wouldn't drill through concrete. I did find a hammer drill at Home Depot tonight for $79. With luck, the new drill work!

My new studio will eventually have 64 feet of shelving! Whohoo. All of that crap that i've been tripping on the last year will finally be up off the floor.

Home Studio

Where on earth has the month gone? Well, I did have great intentions. :-)

Part of the reason for my lack of updates, has been my frustration level with my home studio. Rather than being an artistic oasis where I can feel creative and relaxed, it's a warzone of boxes, unorganized supplies, and the floor is like a minefield. I can't actually "get" to my studio without tripping on "stuff".

I was recently reading a new book I got on collage jewelry by Sally Jean Alexander. In her book, Pretty Little Things, she has photos of her gorgeous studio. I would absolutely love to have a studio like that.

This is going to be my next project. I'm going to blog the transformation of my dingy, unfinished basement studio, into a lovely place that I can hang out at night after the munchkins go to bed.
While actually "finishing' the basement is out of the question at the moment, I think there are plenty of things I could do on a budget. I'll take some pics tonight of the current disaster zone so that you can see for yourself.

Kate Moss - Fashion Rocks

Check this out! Kate's 20's style flapper dress, dripping in 60000 Swarovski Crystal beads is up for auction. It took over 200 hours to hand embroider.

Huge Sale - Starts midnight tonight!

We are about to start our Pre-Holiday blowout event! - Starting tonight at midnight, save 20% off almost everything at beadFX - See the website tonight at midnight for more details. Our sale runs until Sunday 28th at midnight.

Vintage Flowers

My newest inspiration is up on the beadfx site this morning. It still needs to be edited a bit, as I completely forgot which chain I used. :-)
I've been extremely sore this week from the garden project over the weekend, which is why I've been quiet on the blog. Once I can sit comfortably, I'll be blogging more often!

We've also got a big sale coming up next week, starting Sunday/Monday Midnight. Stay tuned for more details!

Beginners Luck

I love these stories. Check out this article from The Province (canada.com). It's really inspiring to read these stories of up and coming jewellery designers. Especially when it involves a Canadian.

Beginner's luck works for McClintock
Jewelry: One of the country's hottest designers stumbles on her talent and runs with it

Since most of us need a little more than just luck, our own Catherine Winter (Sailorgirl) who runs a highly sucessful jewellery business here in Toronto ,(sells retail and wholesale in the summer, and sails the carribean all winter) has written a fabulous book to give you a head start on what to do (and what not to do) to succeed in this overwhelmingly competitive field. Click picture for purchase information.

Final Garden pics

The last of the garden pics, and then we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming. We did *almost* finish the walkway. We still need to wet down all of the sand, and then put in pea gravel. I even have enough flagstone left to start the back patio.....next year :-) I'm so incredibly sore, I really don't even want to think about moving another stone for a long time to come.






The last of the garden pics, and then we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming. We did *almost* finish the walkway. We still need to wet down all of the sand, and then put in pea gravel. I even have enough flagstone left to start the back patio.....next year :-) I'm so incredibly sore, I really don't even want to think about moving another stone for a long time to come.

More unfinished flagstone pics

2 yards of sand and almost 6000 lbs of flagstone being dropped off in my driveway. 2 full skids were unloaded with a crane. We had a group of young boys hanging back a bit watching the crane.

Yeeesh, what were we thinking? A massive amount of work awaits. :-) The pictures below show where the new flagstone will go.

Flagstone

Nothing even remotely beady today. My husband and I are laying down a flagstone path from the front garden to the backyard. With luck we actually get to finish tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to seeing the completion of this project. Two years in the works, we just never got around to it. A friend had popped by earlier this week, and wondered if we were "ever" going to finish. He offered his help for the weekend. ... so here we are.

If anyone is evenly remotely interested, I'll post pics tomorrow of the finished walk. The flagstone above is similar to what we're using. I didn't get a chance to take pictures, so I grabbed one off a catalogue somewhere. We have almost 6000 lbs of flagstone to move into place tomorrow!

Exquisite Beads at Beadfuddled.com

Kelly Russell creates incredibly detailed antique looking beads, and pendants out of metal clay. They appear to have been just unearthed on a archaeological dig. Kelly's craftsmanship is impecable, and I particularly love her use of patinas. My personal favourites from the buy it now section are "greenman" and "Devilish" - Dan, if you're reading this - think xmas present ;-) Looking at her work always inspires me to break open a pack of Art Clay Silver.

For those of you who are wondering what metal clay is. It's pure silver, or gold in clay form. Yes! Teeny tiny metal particles are suspended in a binder. You can shape it, carve it, texture it...Just like ceramic clays. Once your piece is dry, it's fired in a kiln up to 1600F. The binder burns away, and you are left with a pure fine silver piece.

Born Under A Bead Sign

Formerly known as littletinybeads. Linda's work has always been a huge inspiration for myself and some others at the shop. We first discovered her blog a few years ago - hope I can continue blogging that long :-) Inspiring, inspired, and such a fabulous use of colour. - check it out for yourself!

Magical Realm

I really love the traslucency of the new Creation is Messy glass. This one is made from a combination of cirrus, and handblown shards of Halong Bay, along with another colour or two that I can't remember. This particular bead is one that I made at the beadFX lampwork trunk show. I was demonstrating how to blow shards. The ability to create your own is far better than purchasing the premade ones. You can get completely custom colour variations, and they only take a few minutes. If you can make a hollow bead, these are a piece of cake. You just need some glass, and a blow tube. - Just remember, little puffs of air. You're not blowing up a balloon.

A Chocolate A’Fair

It looks almost good enough to eat. From the Neosho daily news - Rhonda Schmidt spent three days creating this chocolate themed necklace will be auctioned off for the YMCA.

Found on Etsy

Some of you may know that I have a serious Etsy addiction. This Christmas everyone is either receiving something handmade by me, or by one of the extremely talented artists on Etsy. I discovered this seller (Catrocks) today. Very cool handwired beads and gemstones. Big, bold, and very funky. I'm tempted....

Army Jewellery

A friend just sent me this link to a local Toronto Goldsmith, Kathryn Dieroff - She has this really unique army collection - Aussi above. See her links for Sniper, deadman, and others. Not quite sure what to think about it yet. Definitely intriguing! Less thought provoking, but very pretty are her Jasmine rings below:

Work With Lark - Making Metal Clay Beads

Lark Books seeks images to feature in the gallery of an upcoming publication, Making Metal Clay Beads by Barbara Becker Simon. Scheduled for release in Spring 2009, this book will feature metal clay bead projects, as well as a gallery of inspirational images by a variety of artists. Diverse styles, materials, and techniques - including etching, enameling, mixed media, and stone setting - are desired. Beads may be in any shape and created from any type of metal clay. No entry fee is required. To submit images of your work for consideration, please click on the link below for details and entry forms.

Making Metal Clay Beads

Yummy Donuts @ beadFX

Our newest InspirationFX has just been posted to the beadFX website. Ever wondered just what to do with those Unicorne boro lampwork beads? These samples may get your creative juices flowing.

Lampwork Bead Displays

A few of us at beadFX love these for displaying our lampwork beads. We use them in our store, and almost all of our studio lampworkers have purchased these to use at shows. Personally, I think I want another one to display my collection of beads from other lampworkers as well. They come in a few different configurations. Single, double, or triple as shown above. You can get yours at http://www.lampworkbeaddisplays.com/index.html

Welcome!

I'm taking the plunge finally. My own blog.
I've been making jewellery for as long as I can remember, and lately my creativity seems to be soaring. My youngest child is now 2, and I have more time and energy for making beads and jewellery. I'll be posting information about upcoming classes in my store, new jewellery designs, and just plain cool stuff related to beads and jewellery.

My good friend Dwyn (who is also the webmaster of beadFX) has created a fabulous blog testing all sorts of new glass and tools related to lampworking. You can check out her blog here: http://dragonjools.blogspot.com/

These past few days, I've been quite prolific at the torch. I'm still sorting out what beads should go where. I sell my beads in my bead store, on Etsy, and on my personal website

My favourite bead out of this batch is made with copper leaf and enamels. These are so much fun to make, and you never quite know what will come out of the kiln. I love those kinds of beads. There is nothing more exciting than jumping out of bed in the morning to see what treasures are waiting for you in the kiln!