Gossiping Goddess Free Bead Challenge

One of the best things about becoming a part of  the on line art bead scene is the generosity and kindness of my fellow jewellery and bead makers. I'm always delighted and amazed at how willing everyone is to share their design ideas, post free tutorials and generally give advice and tips. One such star is Lesley Watt, customer, on line buddy and now real life friend (we spent a lovely afternoon together recently where Lesley kindly shared some precious metal clay knowledge with me). Lucky Lesley was given a fantastic stash of lamp work beads by a friend Kaz Baildon recently and rather than hoard the lot she decided to share the love and give away some of the little beauties to, well to basically anyone who asked by leaving her a comment. Well I was one of the lucky commenter's and for my very small trouble of penning a few lines and the real hardship of pledging to make something with it when it arrived, I received this stunner of a bead.....

I have to say I'd fallen in love with this bead when I saw it on Lesley's blog post and had my fingers well and truly crossed that I would be the luck recipient..... well you know what they say... be careful what you wish for! I have admit to shear avarice with no thought for what I might do with this lovely treasure once I had it. I did however have one determined thought I wanted follow through the cherry tree theme into the necklace with some 3mm garnet coloured glass rounds but that was it.....And so the hunt began for the perfect beads to compliment my little cherry tree. I started of with these.....

 

It's a little difficult to tell but the fire polished beads were actually the perfect colour match for the green of the tree and the pinky base colour but every which way I tried them the completely overpowered the focal. So these were ditched and the the hunt began again, I eventually decided on these.....

As well as representing the cherries I also wanted to pop some blossom in there somewhere but just an impression rather than using flower beads. This is how I began....

 

....and this is how I finished.

Thank you Lesley, I hope you like what I've done with your lovely gift.

Here's the link to Lesley's original post - Free Beads Anyone

If you would like to see what everyone else has made then here's the hop.....

Lesley Watt - www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com
Cory Tompkins - http://tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Rebecca Anderson - http://songbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Marie Cramp -  http://skyejewels.blogspot.co.uk/
Claire Braunbarth - http://smittenbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Heidi Post - http://expostfactojewelry.blogspot.co.uk/
Tiffany Smith - http://southerngalsdesign.blogspot.co.uk/
Sharyl Macmillan-Nelson - http://sharylsjewelry.blogspot.co.uk/
Ailsa Cordner - http://www.bramalfiebeadsetc.co.uk/
Linda Landig -  http://lindalandig.wordpress.com/
Caroline Dewison - http://blueberribeads.co.uk/
Renetha - http://www.lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com
Kari Asbury - http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.co.uk/
Niky Sayers - http://silverniknats.blogspot.com
Purple Cobwebs - http://www.purplecobwebs.blogspot.co.uk/
Cilla Watkins - http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/

Therese Frank - www.theresestreasures59.blogspot.com

Claire Ennis - http://clairescrystalclassics.blogspot.co.uk/
Emma - http://apolymerpenchant.blogspot.co.uk/
Kathy Lindemer - http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.co.uk/
Alicia - http://www.allprettythings.ca/
Sandy Huntress - http://keepsakecrafts.net/blog/
Lori Bowring Michaud - http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.co.uk/
Amy - http://copperdiem.blogspot.co.uk/
Katherine Gale - http://terrabeadworks.blogspot.co.uk/

2nd Challenge reveal

Our second  challenge inspired  by The Red Rose & the White Rose by Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh was set by Rebecca Anderson, a bit of genius jewellery designer IMHO and boy did she pick a fantastic but seriously difficult image. I've hummed and hawed and changed my mind over and over, tweaked and rejigged until I lost the will to bead! Much as I love being a part of the fab five I do feel the pressure to come up with something a little bit clever each time and as any of you jewellery makers know, creativity can rarely be forced but can sometimes be coaxed! In both challenges I've tried my darndest to use as many of the components as possible and not to bring in too many extra bits however this time I did sneak in the infamous rustic pearls, a bit of a hit this year with the (Facebook group) 'Bead Smitten'. I also like to make something for each challenge, I'm the only one of the group who no longer makes either components or jewellery as my primary beading income but I do like to try and fit in, so this time the chiffon roses are my contribution. There were a couple of firsts for me in this project - waxed linen cord, part of Lesley's stringing lot and what a fantastic medium it is to use... I can't believe I haven't used it before but I will definitely be giving it another go soon. My second first is yet to come - I plan to use some liver of sulphur gel on the silver beaded necklace to tie in the wire with Jo's lovely components.... as per usual I didn't quite get the time to finish so I'll let you know how it goes, My Mum has earmarked this piece for her Christmas present so fingers crossed I will get around to it.

A reminder of the stunning painting - image courtesy of - The Hunterian, University of Glasgow 2012

A quick reminder of the components from - Lesley, Rebecca, Me, Jo & Bo!

I'm sure I'm not supposed to say this but we are revealing rather later than planned this time. It's that time of year for most of us, busy designing, making and running back and forth to the post office in preparation for the festive season, I'm sure it really does get earlier every year! Our apologies to the thousands... okay hundreds... oh alright tens of you who have been waiting for us to reveal. I hope it was worth the wait. xx


Necklace no. 1
I wanted to create something delicate for my main design, pulling inspiration from the subtleties and fine detail in the painting. I've used Jo's silver components and most of the accent beads along with the silk chiffon which I fashioned into a hopefully suitable MacIntosh style rose. It's quite a simple idea but rather time consuming to make as I decided to use silver wire and wire wrap each bead rather then string them all together.

Necklace no. 2
This was the piece that took most of the hum-ing and ha-ing - should it be a bracelet or a necklace and which of Bo's ceramic pieces to use and then dilemma of dilemmas where exactly to put Rebecca's clasp for best effect. After about 30 different layouts all photographed and compared this was the best combination... I hope :0)

A lot of argh's, grrrr's, oh's a fair few hurumph's went into this, with finally a hurrah and a phew! I hope I have done the beautiful components justice, thank you BPB yet again for the beautiful contributions and inspiration. I can't wait to see what beauties lay in wait on your blogs....

If you would like to how the other BPB's have used the components and interpreted the challenge pop over to their blogs (& Bo's facebook page).... please follow the links below.

Lesley Watt  The Gossiping Goddess blog

Rebecca Anderson  Songbeads blog
Claire Braunbarth (me) Smitten Beads blog

Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs blog

Teresa (Bo) Hulley Bo Hulley Beads facebook page

Thanks for stopping by.
Claire xx

Brit Pack Beaders - Challenge Two

So here we are again.....the inspiration & component reveal of the second Brit Pack Beaders blog hop challenge. The inspiration is a fantastic image chosen by Rebecca Anderson, The Red Rose and the White Rose by Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh.

I only came across this beautiful gesso a few months ago during a very cultural weekend (rather unlike me) where I watched 3 BBC 2 documentaries one of which just happened to be about Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh and the Glasgow Four. I have always quite liked the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh but I have never really felt the love! However when I first saw Margaret's work I felt as though a missing piece had been found to the style and instantly became a fan, The Red rose and the White Rose a gesso, painted and set with glass beads and shell on hessian was my missing link- Beads and fabric what more can I say! Rebecca's emailed her choice a few weeks ago and on receipt I think I gave a little squeal and a round of applause! So without further ado here it is.

(c) The Hunterian, University of Glasgow 2012.

...and here are the beautiful focals, beads, stringing materials components and clasp sent by the other BPB's

....and here in case you didn't know are the BPB's (the participants) and where to find them...

Lesley Watt  The Gossiping Goddess blog

Rebecca Anderson  Songbeads blog
Claire Braunbarth (me) Smitten Beads blog

Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs blog

Teresa (Bo) Hulley Bo Hulley Beads facebook page

The design reveal date is now set for October 31st so hope to see you then!

Brit pack Beaders 1st challenge... the designs

My apologies, I am officially tardy! This week has been non stop and there still is no stop! Friday is my Smitten Beads Open House, I'm in a complete muddle and only have 2 days to go so wish me luck! As a result I am late posting, late finishing & have no words prepared! So, I will be adding all the nitty gritty of the design process next week. But here without further ramble are my 2 finished pieces and 2 more works in progress. I hope you like. I'm now off for a quick peak at my fellow Brit pack beaders designs. Then back to tidying, pricing and generally running around like a headless chicken until I drop!

I will just quickly add a big thank you to Lesley for the idea and the other BPB for such a great challenge I can't remember the last time I enjoyed doing something quite so much!

Lesley Watt  The Gossiping Goddess blog

Teresa (Bo) Hulley Bo Hulley Beads facebook page

Rebecca Anderson  Songbeads blog

Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs blog

Claire Braunbarth (me) Smitten Beads blog

Blog Hop reveal

Sorry everyone we've had to jiggle the date of the Brit Pack Beaders Blog Hop reveal -We will now be posting all our designs on........

2 pieces already made and I'm working on the last today whilst watching more GB medals being won. Today is a good day!!!

The beads!

The bloomin beautiful Brit Pack Beaders challenge beads..

A little late in the day to post I know, but I always like to make an entrance! I received my first parcel about 2 weeks ago, however when we were figuring out the rules for the challenge, it was suggested that we put the parcels to one side and then open when we last one had arrived (which was mine, again making a late delivery) Can you possibly imagine having 4 little parcels containing who knows what beady delight sitting under your nose and having to resist tearing open the jiffy..... it was not easy but I did it.... right up until the point when I read an email from Lesley who had already opened hers. The laptop was dropped and the packages opened before I had even finished reading the email! So without further ado here are the beads I will be working with.
Da da........

I can't quite believe how well they work with each other and can't wait to get started. I was up rather early a few days ago drawing out a design, I had my eureka moment at 6.30am so had to get up and put pen to paper (5 minutes later I was prone again) I will tidy up the sketch and post my idea in a few days. I'm now off to see what delights my fellow BPB's have received. Thank you Lesley, Jo, Rebecca & Bo (Teresa) for your beautifully chosen beads.
 

Lesley Watt  The Gossiping Goddess blog

Teresa (Bo) Hulley Bo Hulley Beads facebook page

Rebecca Anderson  Songbeads blog

Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs blog

Claire Braunbarth (me) Smitten Beads blog

If none of this makes sense to you then have a look at the Brit Pack Beaders Blog Hop post introducing the challenge and all will hopefully become clear.

Cx

Blog Hop Challenge

A really wonderful thing happened to me recently; I received an invitation to a blog hop challenge! The invitation came from a very talented jewellery designer & pmc artist I muchly admire and so of course I said yes, automatically, no question, without a second thought......how lovely, me, part of a blog hop, how exciting, how!...... and then along came my second thought..... What on earth is a blog hop challenge?! 

Being such a novice blogger it took me little while and a little bit of research but eventually I figured out that I hadn’t agreed to don my dancing shoes and jive the night away til my last rival drops. No, luckily it was something far less frantic and a little more up my alley. For those of you as new to the world of blogging as I am then let me explain how it works... the idea is that a group of individuals join forces by linking their blogs to tell a story, in simple terms the reader (that’s you) can start on any of the participating blogs and jump (hop) from one to the next by clicking on the links. In our case we are the Brit Pack Beaders and our story is our challenge! A challenge fuelled by a passion for beading and design and a need to push our creative boundaries. Each of us will tell you the story in our own way bringing a different perspective to a chosen theme. 

How it works –

Every other month one of the BPB’s will take it in turns to set a beading challenge, the chosen Bead Master will pick an inspirational theme, this can be in anything from a painting or sculpture to a play or even a song. Each of the five members will be responsible for providing one of the following  – Focal bead, accent beads, clasp, charms & embellishments or lastly chain or a stringing material, the ingredient needed to create a piece of jewellery. It sounds simple! But now we get to the really tricky bit, every member must receive a different set of ingredients so that no two recipes are the same. (Have I lost you?) In my next blog post I will be posting pictures of the ingredients I have received as will the other BPB’s, you will be able to hop over to the other blogs to see the components we each have to work with and hopefully all will become clear.

Our Challenge leader and her chosen theme –

The very talented Lesley Watts is the trendsetter for the first challenge. (She also happens to be the mastermind behind the Brit Pack Beaders). When Lesley is not trying to co-ordinate challenges for 4 unruly beaders she spends her time creating beautiful pmc components and stunningly elegant jewellery. I’m a huge fan of her work and have just purchased some oh so lovely bronze hearts and shells from her Etsy shop. Lesley has chosen a rather stunning photograph as her inspiration for this challenge and by kind permission of the artist here it is.... Tangled by Carolyn Saxby

 

And here we are...The Brit Pack Beaders – 

I’m very proud to have been invited into such a distinguished group of Beady artists each incredibly talented and all unique! If you would like to have a wee look at their challenge posts and their work here are the links to their blogs and the Bo Hulley Facebook page, we have still to persuade Bo that she has time to blog!

Lesley Watt  The Gossiping Goddess blog

Teresa (Bo) Hulley Bo Hulley Beads facebook page

Rebecca Anderson  Songbeads blog

Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs blog

Claire Braunbarth (me) Smitten Beads blog

So! If you understood any or all of that and you are intrigued enough to come back, the next post with my mix of components will be in a week followed by the big reveal of our creations 2 weeks later.

I hope you will come back as I think this could be the beginnings of a very beautiful (blog hopping challenge of a) relationship!

Thank you 

Claire

My other secret obsession

About 2 years ago I was looking for some fabric for a reason that now escapes me when I ventured into my local quilting shop and then and there my fat quarter addiction began. I was brought up surrounded by fabrics as my Mum had her own soft furnishing and upholstery business and I inherited her love of fabric. Being a magnet for anything in miniature I was instantly drawn to all the gorgeous little prints, so many lovely & delicate designs I came away with rather a large bag of little fabric squares. I'm not sure I knew what I was going to use them for at the time but I did know it was unlikely to be quilting!

And so to the task in hand, time to share another of my latest experiments made with one of our soon to be added products - GLOSSY ACCENTS, A non toxic water based glaze originally created for scrapbooking and suggested by one of my reps as a possible alternative to resin for filling bezels. I thought I would give it a go and this is my first attempt. I wanted to see if I could use some of my gorgeous quilting fabric in a bezel and happily it worked perfectly, sadly however I have had several failures since Through trial and error I discovered that the type of fabric is key to the success, a looser weave linen print is the answer. In all honesty if you are not obsessed with fabric then use a pretty paper print as this works beautifully. All in all I'm really pleased with the results which is why I've decided to add it to our range.

 
I've used brass findings, chain, beads & connectors along with some of my favourite 4mm round crystals in moon stone. 

Above 2 pieces next on the list to be made up into something wearable and below some of my most recent additions to my fabric mountain!

I should say that the Glossy accents' about as illusive as those devilish Polaris beads I've been waiting for for months. However I have been promised that my order was processed last Friday, so my fingers are very tightly crossed that we will have both beads and glaze in the next week or so!

Claire x

Mustard & teal bracelet

I thought it was about time I posted one of my favourite bracelets. It took a long time to design and get the combination of beads just right, the lovely hand dyed silk chiffon ribbon was the inspiration for piece and everything else evolved around the little tassles I made.

Here is the list of the ingredients from Smitten:
1 Elasticated bracelet - Black plate
27 Bead headpin 2 - black plate
9 Eyepins - Black plate
90cm Chiffon ribbon - coming soon (fingers crossed)
3 Rose cameo small - coming soon
3 Small pebbles - dark lemon
3 Pinched ovals - Silver black
3 Small frosted roses - Olive
3 Puff heart - lemon
6 10mm crystal round - vitrial light

Sorry these few are from my own stash:
9 8mm Iris - Fire polishes beads
9 6x4mm donuts -black/cream

Just a few pointers if you would like to have a go.....
The elasticated bracelets comes with jump rings every 10mm for you to add the drops. All the beads have been added to the jump rings sometimes with 2 or 3 per ring. The cameos have been drilled to give a hole for the jump ring but you could alternatively glue them onto a bail or blank base. The eyepins have been used to make the little tassles (which I have nicknamed 'fairy skirts') and for the lucite roses. I've used the Ball headpins as the pin is quite soft and easy to make wrapped loops with. If you want to find any of the ingredients on the website I have used the exact name used in the listing eg. puff heart - so just pop it into the search and away you go.

I am working 2 new colour combinations for this design, one with copper and the other using our stunning champagne finish.

xx

Okay here we go.......

I thought I would use my first post to show you the bracelet I made recently for a magazine challenge. I was lucky enough to have a head start on the other designers as I provided the beads! However I did put the collection of beads together before I started designing. I will save the other pieces I made for another day, although you can see the earrings if you pop across to our Facebook page.

Welcome

Hello & welcome to the SmittenBeads blog, thanks for stopping by. 
Over the next few weeks I will be adding new posts as often as possible, hopefully it will be worth the wait!

Back soon
Claire