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!