Showing posts with label earrings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earrings. Show all posts

Friday, August 15, 2008

And The August Challenge Winner Is....

There were 502 votes this month and 26. Search Light Art Deco Bracelet - GemsbyJules received the most votes.

The cuff bracelet is done in peyote stitch and contains over 2000 size 11 Delica seed beads in a sea foam green, salmon pink, black and silver. Inspiration for the design came from posters with a "search light" look to them.



Runners up this month are:

14. Lost Treasures - Art Deco- beadwoven set - BeadCatcher

11. Art Deco Collar - HighDesertBeadscapes

19. Latte at Hotel Mercedes - Hand Beaded Cuff - ThreeFatesDesign

2. Purple Graces - triz

17. A Salute To Art Deco - wMarlaine

1. Moss Agate Going Green Doily Bracelet - myfairladyvt4

10. Deco Lotus pin or pendant - beadmummy

24. Art Deco Cuff - Savoy Studio

16. A Trip to The Nile - Collar EBWC - SmadarsTreasure


Keep your eyes peeled for the entries for the September challenge. Lots of our beadweavers are already at work on their entries for 'Complementary Contradictions'. 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 October Challenge theme at the end of August.

Many thanks to everyone who entered the August Challenge. And many thanks as well to everyone who voted!

Monday, July 28, 2008

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.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

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!


July 08 Challenge




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.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

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.

Monday, June 16, 2008

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'.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

BeadWeaver in Bead Trends Magazine!!

We love it when our members are featured in publications! Bead Trends magazine features the hottest trends in beads and hand-crafted jewelry, and the pages are filled with instructions for earrings, bracelets, and necklaces in a variety of styles and techniques. If you've never seen this magazine, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the format and content, as it contains almost no advertising whatsoever!

The January/February 2008 issue of the magazine features four designs by our own Sooz Acuna! Sooz' Etsy shop, Sooz Originals, features variations on some of the designs.

First are Sooz' Rocket Fish Earrings. These aren't beadwoven, but they're certainly cute.


Sooz also has instructions in the magazine for a necklace made with interlocking chains and for a bracelet that features one of her own polymer clay focal beads.

What fun!

Monday, November 26, 2007

November Challenge - Caught in a Net - Time to Vote!

The Challenge entries are in, and we have more than ever before! There are 31 entries by 22 of our members. You can see them all in the mosaic, but you'll want to click the individual links to check out these gorgeous pieces. And don't forget to vote for your favorite!

1. Royal Copper Lace, by arosebyname

2. Netted Fringe Explosion Choker, by cigarboxbeads

3. Beaded Netting Necklace, My Blue Lagoon, by nardiesarttowear

4. Capturing The Stone, by noeasybeads

5. Moss Agate, Green Netting Necklace, by LauriDesigns

6. Lacy Netted Collar, by clairecreations

7. Sweet Dreams, by totallytwisted

8. Caught in a Bronze Net Beadwoven Bracelet, by SandFibers

9. First Frost, Netted and Coral Fringed Necklace, by cigarboxbeads

10. Caught in a Net Captured by Pearls Bracelet, by noeasybeads

11. Mist on the Lake, by thebeadedlily

12. Beaded Holiday Evening Bag, by Forbesfarm

13. Champagne Bubbles Freeform Netting Bracelet, by myfairladyvt4

14. Beautiful Blues Netted Bracelet, by SandFibers

15. Arizona Copper Necklace, by KathysKraftyKreation

16. Caught in a Net, by bylynette

17. Winter Ice Bracelet, by LauriDesigns

18. Copper Bangle Watch, by LauriDesigns

19. Caught in a Net, Necklace, by LauriDesigns

20. Bead Woven Netted Gold Flower Bracelet, by MistyRidgeBeads

21. A Gift from Neptune, by Tresijas

22. Snow Garden Waltz, by DantesSpirit

23. Netted Pearl Cuff, by maneklady

24. Turquoise and Teal Freeform Netting Bracelet, by myfairladyvt4

25. Netted Christmas Ornament, by clairecreations

26. Beadwoven Matt Golden Large Christmas Ornament with Pearls, by beadbug

27. Princess Anastasia, by RegalBeads

28. Flowers in the Net, by Beadaholics

29. A Twist of Lime - Ruffly Beadwoven Necklace, by time2cre8

30. Russian Royalty, by RegalBeads

31. Aurora Borealis Netted Panel, by SalamanderHouse

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Etsy Front Page Appearances!

Our members certainly create beautiful beadweaving, and every once in awhile one of our pieces is chosen for an Etsy Treasury that winds up on the front page. That's grounds for celebration!

Susan (aka ClinkscalesArts) made an appearance with her crocheted earrings. While these aren't beadweaving, they're still beautiful and noteworthy! Those are hers in the third row, third column.

The next appearance was by Swanee (aka MistyRidgeBeads), whose beadwoven bracelet joined this extremely colorful collection. Like Susan, Swanee's bracelet was in the third row and third column. This Treasury was truly eye-popping!