Etsy BeadWeavers January/February Challenge - Tropical Holiday

The entries for the challenge are in and yet again, they are simply beautiful, creative and amazing! Imagine that all of these entrants took the time and talent to create these inspiring challenge pieces!

You can click on the item in the text list below the mosaic which links to the Etsy Shop listing of each entrant where you will see more detail of each piece! Be sure to come back on the 9th when the poll will be available for you to cast your vote, February 9th thru the 15th!

1. Caribbean Surf Collar by: nemeton


2. Scorpion Fish by: njema


3. Dreaming of Hawaii by: randomcreative


4. A Walk on the Beach by: beadsandblooms


5. Peace on the beach by: PFordCustomJewelry


6. Orchid Beauty by: ArtfulAr


7. Rainforest Necklace by: charmingthings


8. Blue lagoon necklace N961 by: FleurDeIrk


9. Paradise by: beadsforever


10.Pink Flamingo Fantasy Necklace by: gypsyeyesjewelry


11. Sultry Salty Sand and Surf by: janetkemp88


12. hawaii '09 necklace by: thebeadedlily

13. Tropical Sunset Garden Necklace (1384) by: clairecreations


14. The Lively Sea by: farfrumplainjane


15. Tropical Holiday bracelet by: 6Carmen6


16. Beachcombing the Sea of Cortez - A Tropical Holiday by: dreambeadweaver


17. What if I'm a Mermaid by: ThesePreciousThings


18. Tropical Breezes by: RegalBeads


19. Tropical Chic - Choker by: Triz


20. Spinny Girl on the Beach by: BeadArtbyShari


21. Tropical Garden by: SpringColors


22. Tropical Paradise Necklace by: CieloDesign


23. Coral Reef Cuff Bracelet by: FrancescasFancy


24. TORTUGA by: caraway


25. CRYSTAL LEI by: fashionsfrome


26. Tropical Nights by: SmadarsTreasure


27. Tropical Flower Brooch by: enchantedbeads


28. Tropical Dream Cuff by: arosebyname


29. Calypso Necklace by: DeepSeaBeads


30. Tropical Whale Tails Bracelet by: SalamanderHouse


31. Tropical Holiday by: veroque


32. Caribbean Sunset by: totallytwisted


33. Bougainvillea Bouquet by: KerrieSlade


34. Tropical greenwood by: beadshead


35. Beachcomber by: vanishingpearl


36. Island Treasure Chest by: BeadazzledofOregon


37. Mayan Sun by: ThreeFatesDesign


38. Girlie Drinks and Sunsets by: HannahRachel


39. MAUI WEDDING by: Chrisbeads


40. Strelitzia by: MadeByOlga


41. ti leaf and orchid lei by: beadwoman3


42. Sunset in the Islands by: 1965angelika


43. Tropical Treasures by: BeadCatcher


44. On The Beach by: SilverDragon


45. Loopy Lei Necklace by: beadworkbyamanda


46. Tropical Rainforest Getaway by: Bead4you


47. Sea and Sand Necklace by: Beadmatrix


Voting begins on Monday, February 9th and ends midnight February 15th. The best way to show your appreciation for the efforts of these amazing artists is by taking on the difficult task of voting for your favorite. This month there are so many exquisite entries it will be even more difficult to choose just one! (The ballot will appear on the side bar at right on February 9th.) Again, the individual pieces are listed below the mosaic where you can visit each entry for more information by following the link. Thank you, enjoy and be sure to come back to vote between February 9th and 15th!

Many thanks to Ann of Francesca's Fancy for compiling the information and creating the Mosaic.

Etsy Beadweavers' December Challenge - Snow Queen

The entries for the challenge are in and yet again, they are simply beautiful, creative and amazing! Imagine that all of these entrants took the time and talent to create these inspiring challenge pieces!

You can click on the item in the text list below the mosaic which links to the Etsy Shop listing of each entrant where you will see more detail of each piece! Be sure to come back on the 9th when the poll will be available for you to cast your vote, December 9th thru the 15th!

1. mirka collar - thebeadedlily

2. Snow Queen Musical Box - enchanted beads

3. winter's court necklace - AmethystRavenstar

4. A Royal Affair - beadsforever

5. Snow Blind - artzilla

6. Ice Crystals Holiday Bracelet - arosebyname

7. Snow Queen necklace - CieloDesign

8. Jadis , Beadwoven Cuff - RegalBeads

9. The Snow Queen's Dandelion - divina

10. Snow Queen Choker - njema

11. Frozen Waters - Cuff - triz

12. Queen of Ice and Snow Necklace - HannahRachel

13. Snowdrop - ErtheFae

14. Ice Dream - nemeton

15. Queen of the Frozen Tundra - gypsyeyesjewelry

16. Snow Queen Beaded Cuff - celestialfoundations

17. Snowflake - ArtfulAr

18. Yuki Onna - Japanese Snow Woman - SmadarsTreasure

19. Anastasia choker - MCDdesigns

20. For the White Witch of Narnia - ThesePreciousThings

21. Snowflake Fairy - BeadazzledofOregon

22. Snow Queen - cigarboxbeads

23. Snow princess necklace - FleurDeIrk

24. Snow Queen Collar - LiciaBeads

25. Royal Crystal Necklace - SpringColors

26. Snowfall - beadsandblooms

27. Queen of the Snow - savoystudio

28. Snow Queen amulet bag - PFordCustomJewelry

29. Snow Queen Paisley Bracelet - myfairladyvt4

30. Victorian Icicles Necklace - FrancescasFancy

31. Snow Queen Icicle Cascade Necklace - Emarah

Voting begins on Tuesday, December 9th and ends midnight December 15th. The best way to show your appreciation for the efforts of these amazing artists is by taking on the difficult task of voting for your favorite. (The ballot will appear on the side bar at right on December 9th.) Again, the individual pieces are listed below the mosaic where you can visit each entry for more information by following the link. Thank you, enjoy and be sure to come back to vote between December 9th and 15th!

And The October Challenge Winner Is....

There were 440 (up from last month!) votes this month and making a choice was sure difficult, resulting in a First Place tie between 1. Black Panther Necklace - triz and 17. Gotcha - Beadwoven Cat and Mouse Bracelet - SmadarsTreasure.





Second: 6. Animal passion necklace - FleurDeIrk

Third: 10. Turtle Talisman - ErtheFae

Fourth - another tie: 2. Flight of the Great Blue Heron - beaddiddy and 13. Petroglyph Cuff - HighDesertBeadscapes

Fifth: 3. barbary coast cuff - thebeadedlily

Sixth: 16. Where's The Orca Necklace - wMarlaine

Seventh: 11. The Mane Event Necklace - njema

Eighth: 5. A Feathered Affair - beadsandblooms

Ninth: 14. Safari Ric Rac Freeform Herringbone Bracelet - myfairladyvt4

Tenth: 15. Kiss of the Spider Woman Necklace - SpringColors

Be sure to start watching for the entries for the November challenge. Many of our beadweavers have been working on their entries for 'Ancestral Impressions'. As you know, our winner's prize is the opportunity to choose the theme for the next challenge. So watch for the announcement of the December Challenge theme at the end of October.

Many thanks to everyone who entered the October Challenge. And many thanks as well to everyone who took the time to vote! We appreciate your participation!

Ars longa, vita brevis

I sold an astonishing 29 pieces at a show last weekend (in spite of the scary thunderstorm that ended the second day of the show an hour early), and with another show this weekend, I decided I'd take today off from my real job and produce.

I beaded my butt off. (Sigh. Don't you wish you could really do that?) I started before 8 a.m. and just quit about half an hour ago, 7:15-ish. I stopped for lunch and dinner and ran a couple of errands. I'll subtract an hour and half for all that, and that still was nearly 10 hours of beading. And in that time I produced exactly two pairs of earrings, a bracelet and a pendant. (Wow! Just another 25 pieces to go between now and Friday! And tomorrow is Thursday.)



I suspect many beaders are like I am when it comes to pricing work -- clueless. Back when I was a freelance writer, I once asked a fellow freelancer how much to charge for, say, writing a press release. The answer was, "As much as you can ask while still keeping a straight face. And if they accept your price without a quibble, you didn't ask enough." Of course, writing is not beading (thank goodness -- I don't want anyone coming back to me with requests for revisions on my earrings!), and I don't think any of us want to have our customers haggle over prices. Nonetheless, when something doesn't sell, I always wonder if I've priced it too high.

So how does one decide how much to charge? I've read in various places that one should charge 2.5 times the cost of materials. That might work for silversmiths or furniture makers, but I think beadweavers are more like painters, in that regard. Does a painter weigh each dab of pigment he or she puts on the palette? My seed beads are like that. Even if I had the discipline to track the price of every tube of beads and record how many of each bead I use in a piece, I'd spend more time counting than creating. And if I had the mindset for that, I'd be an accountant, not an artist. (Before all the accountants rush to hit the "comment" link, let me add that I'm sure there are many artists who are accountants and vise versa. But I'm not that talented!)

Another pricing philosophy is that one should price pieces according to an hourly rate. This is a bit problematic for me, too. Since I have a day job, I rarely complete a piece in one sitting. And if I kept a record of how many minutes I spend on a piece, we're back to the "counting, not creating" problem. Today, however, turned out to be a good benchmark, since I was specifically focused on beading. Ten hours, four pieces. I didn't track how much time I spent on each piece, but if I assigned four hours each to the bracelet and pendant, and an hour to each pair of earrings, the prices I charge for these pieces are very close to the hourly rate I've set for myself.

Is my hourly rate too low? Probably -- but that's a whole 'nother issue. What is our time worth?

Article by Frances of bebop beads.

Etsy BeadWeavers July Challenge

The entries are in and once again, they are simply stunning!

Voting begins on Wednesday, July 9th and ends midnight July 15th. Please show your appreciation for the efforts of these amazing artists by taking on the difficult task of voting for your favorite. (The ballot will be on the side bar at right.) The individual pieces are featured below the mosaic, and you can visit each entry for more information by following the link. Thank you!

1. An Evenings Dream Necklace by WickedOakDesigns.

2. Come Play in the Moonlight by beadsandblooms.

3. Necklace-Moonbeams by artzilla.

4. Titania's Moonlight Cuff by Bruizerbeans.

5. Midsummer Nights Dream - OOAK by triz.

6. Midsummer Night's Dream Cellini Spiral Bracelet by myfairladyvt4.

7. all moonlight and dewdrops choker by thebeadedlily.

8. A Midsummer Night's Dream by RegalBeads.

9. Puck Peeking Thru The Vines by cigarboxbeads.

10. A Midsummer Night's Dream Necklace by njema.

11. A Midsummer Nights Dream Necklace by CieloDesign.

12. A Midsummer Night Dream by Fivefootfury13.

13. Worlds Collide Necklace by ThePreciousBeads.

14. Love-in-Idleness by beaddiddy.

15. Peaseblossom's Floral Fantasy - Beadwoven Floral Headband by SalamanderHouse.

16. Moonlight and Shadows Necklace by arosebyname.

17. Moonlight on the water by Chrisbeads.

18. Butterfly Landings by vanishingpearl.

19. Titania's Bower by farfrumplainjane.

20. Blue Midnight Dream.. by lolos.

21. Dreamy Summer Night by adinahalperndesigns.

22. Titania's Jewels by Emarah.

23. Midsummer Night's Dream by noeasybeads.

24. Midnight in Summer - Abalone Paula shell - Funky blended blues by beaderjojo.

25. sky blue lake with beautiul waterflowes and green plants around by beadshead.

26. FAIRIES FLIGHT ON A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT beadwoven necklace by caraway.

27. A Midsummer Night's Dream - Love Elixir Necklace by enchantedbeads.

28. Roses in the Night Sky Cuff Bracelet by SmadarsTreasure.

29. Titiana Speaks to Bottom - Vintage Brass Pendant on Spiral Rope Necklace by time2cre8.

30. A Fairy Crown for Queen Titania by PFordCustomJewelry.

31. A FreeForm Dream Peyote Cuff by SandFibers.

Meet EBW Member Lynn AKA nemeton.etsy.com

In February 2008 Lynn was featured in an interview in Beadworkers Guild Journal. Lynn has been a member of the Beadworkers Guild in the UK for several years now and was delighted to be featured in a double-page interview in their journal. The article covers her beading ‘career’ from her early start in seed beading at the age of ten, to her discovery of the worldwide beadweaving community a few years ago, and how her first magazine project (also in the Journal) led eventually to her becoming a regular contributor to various beading magazines. The following image of ‘Chocolate Safari’ collar was featured in the article.



Lynn's Island Sunset Earrings were featured in Step by Step Beads, January 2008. The earrings use circular brickstitch with drop edging and fringe. Though they were originally rejected by the Beadwork editorial team, they very kindly passed them on to the Step by Step offices who decided to publish them. Lynn has hopes that the matching peyote collar and cuff may one day appear in print there too! The whole set is shown in this photo.



This piece, Rose Garden Collar was published in Bead (UK), February 2008. The result of one of Lynn’s ‘what-if’ experiments: what if I take a peyote strip and see just how much embellishment and fringing I can hang on it? Like most of her pieces, it’s in random colours, and the basis is very simple stitches, just lots and lots of them. The project was one of the most popular the magazine has ever run – they printed an entire gallery page of garden collars in the next issue – and the original set was sold in Lynn’s Etsy shop recently.



The Rose Garden Cuff was published in Bead (UK), April 2008. This is a simple peyote cuff in random colours with a leafy edging and a scaled-down version of the embellishments on the Rose Garden collar.



Lynn's Daisy Dreams Cuff was published in Beadwork (US), February 2008. It's another ‘what-if’ that was invented for an online challenge on one of the many forums Lynn inhabits. The theme was ‘wrapping paper’ and Lynn was very struck by the lilac, orange and green colour scheme in a piece of giftwrap she’d used for her niece’s birthday present. The stitch is a cross between daisy chain and right angle weave and has a lovely slinky drape; the Beadwork editors loved the project but chose a more muted and formal version for publication which you see here. You can see the original challenge version here and the pink summer version in her Etsy shop.



The Netted Game Board was published in Bead and Button (US) online, May 2008. A very, very long time ago Lynn learned an intriguing version of netting stitch from a beading book. It has an ingenious turn at one end that allows the netting to be symmetrical (the equivalent of odd-count peyote). She used it to make an entire chessboard (and says never again!) and then adapted it to make these fun little squares for playing tic-tac-toe (AKA noughts and crosses). They make great gifts and the best part is choosing glass nuggets, beads, or buttons to use as the playing pieces!



Lynn's Going Bananas Necklace was featured in Beadwork (US), June 2008. One of Lynn’s favourite beadmakers, Emma Ralph, once made a set of beads that were wild and wacky and just so, well, YELLOW that they frightened everybody away – until one brave beader decided that she just couldn’t resist the banana challenge! Lynn likes beads with personality, but this lot had so many ideas of their own that it took a very long time to settle them into a happy arrangement. However, with the aid of some beaded beads and a lot of re-engineering, they combined into a piece that is now one of Lynn’s firm favourites, and much to her surprise the Beadwork editors liked it too. And here is the image to prove that the glass colour really IS banana yellow!



And finally, Lynn's Rose Garden Earrings were published in Bead (UK), June 2008.These fringed circular brickstitch earrings are versions of one of the flowers from the Rose Garden collar. Lynn loves making these flowers, although she finds it hard to stick to matching pairs!



You can visit Lynn's Etsy Shop here.

And The Winner is...Sweet Freedom

There were 707 votes this month and sweetfreedom's Do You Raku received the the most votes.



This lovely pendant, has a woven spiral rope with peacock freshwater pearls and several colors and sizes of glass seed beads, including slate blue, seafoam green, fuschia, and bronze. The matching peyote bail is embellished with seafoam green freshwater pearls with fringe dangles adorning the bail.

Runners up this month are:

#10 - Casablanca Photo Ribbon Bracelet by PinkPoochDesigns

#7 - Sea Treasure Brooch by enchantedbeads

#12 - AMBER BEAR Bead Embroidered Cuff Bracelet OOAK by caraway

#24 - Turquoise Garden by nemeton

#33 - On The Meadows Necklace by CieloDesign

#3 - Green, Purple and Pearl Necklace by triz

#30 - Art Nouveau Riche - Bead Embroidered Necklace by Blossom Beads

#15 - Warm colours cuff bracelet by beadshead

#1 - Necklace - Corona by LiciaBeads

Keep your eyes peeled for the entries for the July challenge. Lots of our beadweavers are already at work on their entries for 'A Midsummer's Night Dream'.

Etsy BeadWeavers Members in Step-by-Step Beads

When you see the newest version (May/June 2008) of Step-by-Step Beads on your newsstand, grab a copy!

You won't want to miss the pattern for this beautiful cuff, created by our own Carol Dean Sharpe (SandFibers) in both single peyote and in three-drop peyote.


Gracing the cover of the magazine is a colorful chain bracelet filled with wire-wrapped dangles, created by another member of our team, Leslie Rogalski (leslie19083). It's not beadwoven, but it's fun!

Etsy BeadWeavers in Step-by-Step Beads!

Have you stopped by your local newsstand, bookstore, or craft store to pick up the latest issue (March/April 2008) of Step-by-Step Beads?

You're going to want to make sure to grab a copy so you can check out all the new projects that are showcased in the publication. Of the 16 projects in this issue, three of them are by members of the Etsy BeadWeavers Street Team!

On page 12 you'll find instructions for the O-riginal O-ring, a circular brick stitch pendant created by Leslie Rogalski. Beautifully bold and modern, and a little bit industrial, these pendants are so much fun you'll want one to wear with every outfit. Leslie has these pendants in her Etsy shop, too, in case you want a Leslie original!

Turn to page 15 and you'll find instructions for a Fold-over Triangle brick-stitch pendant designed by Claire Groff. Claire's pendant design is very versatile. It can be made in different sizes, and by varying the bead colors and adding different charms or dangles you can have a whole wardrobe filled with these beauties! Just look how pretty this pendant looks when paired with a Kumihomo braid:

Carol Dean Sharpe's Southwestern Cuff peyote pattern can be found on page 39 of the magazine. Carol Dean takes her inspiration from a variety of sources to create patterns for an endless procession of beautiful bracelets and cuffs. Her Southwestern Cuff is obviously influenced by the colors and the landscape in gorgeous southern New Mexico.

Congratulations and kudos to these three talented members of the Etsy BeadWeavers team!

Etsy BeadWeavers in Step by Step Beads!

We love it when our members' creations are published, and if you peruse the pages of the January/February 2008 issue of Step by Step Beads you're sure to recognize Carol Dean Sharpe's signature cuff. Turn just a few more pages, and you'll find Leslie Rogalski's Comet Anemone bracelet!

Carol Dean Sharpe, whose Etsy shop is called SandFibers, creates cuffs in just about every color and pattern imaginable; and the patterns are, in most cases, her own designs. Within her shop you'll find everything from randomly-assembled blends of bead colors to stripes, braids, triangles, her signature spirals, and even a houndstooth pattern! Browse her shop some more, and you'll find rings, pendants, necklaces, amulet pouches, and other beautiful beadwoven masterpieces.


Leslie Rogalski, whose Etsy shop is called Leslie19083, is the editor in chief of Step by Step Beads, as well as a contributing editor to two other publications. To me that sounds like a full-time job, but Leslie also manages to create original, unusual, and finely crafted bead jewelry! Her shop contains just a few of these goodies, but it's obvious from just viewing those few pieces that you're seeing the work of a talented bead artist.

Kudos to both Carol Dean and to Leslie! It's wonderful to see beadweaving presented as the artform we all know it to be.