Are you up for a Challenge?

I want to spread the word about a fun Contest that Kelly over at Silver Parrot is currently hosting.

The challenge is all about color. Particularly colors found in insects. Cool Huh? Kelly Has challenged us to create bracelets in the color schemes found in some really interesting bugs.

Kelly describes it much better so go on over and check it out! It should be a cool way to add some interest to your week's jewelry routine! Here is a link to the blog post describing the challenge -- http://silverparrotdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/11/are-you-up-for-challenge.html

I hope you all are having a great week! I am off to unload the bisque kiln, and then I hope to sit down and get some new donuts made... wish me luck! -kristie

Bead Swap at the Beads-0f-Clay Yahoo Group

Marla James, one of the administrators of the Beads-of-Clay Yahoo Group , is organizing a Bead Swap. Just in case you haven't heard. I am planning to participate and have in a number of them over the years. I notice that many others are planning to as well. They are lots of fun. And now that we have so many interested, the swap is divided up into groups of 20 so that no one feels overwhelmed.

Here are the rules for this swap:

These are Marla's words:

"Marti Conrad is the person that will handle the actual swap goodies!I will get her address to all the participants once we have a list.

And as for the rules this time.After we have a final count of participants, I will tell you how many beads to send. I will close the list at 20 people. So you will send no more than 19 total. Please don't sign up for this unless you are sure that you can participate!You will be given an address to send your beads to.(Marti's)Please package each bead/pendant in a seperate baggie with your info/business card inside. THis makes repacking SO much easier!You will send $6.00 with your beads/pendants to cover return Priority shipping and a very small handling fee to pay for tape and labels. :-)Then sit back and wait for your goodies to arrive!The deadline to join is Saturday the 14th of November.The deadline to ship your beads/pendant is January 15th. Your goodies will be sent back to you by January 31st. If you have questions, please post them here. Marti and I will be happy to answer them for you!"

To participate in this swap contact Marla or Marti at the Beads-of-Clay Yahoo Group

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone is going to make.

Lemon and Chocolate Confection By Sandfibers

Look at this Beautiful use of a Cabochon by the Talented Carol Dean SharpeThe Necklace is Called

Lemon and Chocolate Confection and this is how Carol Describes it in her Sandfibers Etsy Shop

Dessert for your neck! This is a serious piece of jewelry with a serious amount of fun, ready to take you from your work day to that special dinner party.

I created this piece by taking a beautiful wheel-thrown, glass-fused clay medallion created by Etsy's own Kristie Roeder of http://artisanclay.etsy.com/ . I wove a white, yellow, and brown, leather backed-bezel for it using peyote stitch. The pendant (including bail) is 2" wide and 2.5" long. The beadweaving gives the pendant both clean, crisp lines and sections of ruffles with great textures...much like an elaborately iced cake.

The peyote "sling" that I wove for the bail will accommodate several types of ropes or chains or cords, including the beautiful, slightly twisted, ndebele (herringbone)rope I created for it. The rope is 17" long when closed and has a simple beadwoven loop and toggle closure.

I used size 11 Japanese delicas and seed beads as well as tiny Japanese rocailles for the pendant. The beadwoven rope was created using the yellow delicas and bronze/brown seed beads.

As always let me know of any Beads-of-Clay news or great projects through my etsy shop- http://www.artisanclay.etsy.com/-Kristie-

Chinook, MaireDodd Benefit Auction!

Melissa at Chinook Jewelry and Mary Jane of http://www.mairedodd.blogspot.com/ are Holding an Auction to raise money for the Komen Race for the Cure to support breast cancer research!
Check out the lovelies up for grabs!

For more information and to bid on these pieces head on over to the Chinook Jewelry Blog--
http://www.chinookdesigns.blogspot.com/

Getting Ready

Can you feel the energy being expended as many ceramic bead and button artists prepare for the Beads of Clay Open Studio Blog Event on Sunday October 25, 2009 at 1:00PM EST. I hope you will join us as we open up our studios and blog with you about our work. We will also be having giveaways and special sale prices for the day.
Beads of Clay artists will be blogging with you live through the comments section on our blogs. You can be eligible for any of the participating artists' giveaways by commenting on their blogs during the time frame in the schedule below and your name will be thrown into the hat for the two drawings that will take place. Also you will be able to purchase work by the artists at special sales prices during the event and until Midnight on Oct. 25.

And what could be better, you will get a look into the studios of all of these artists.
A list of all participants follows and will be up on this Blog on the day of the event to make it easy for you to travel to all of the sites.

Hope to see you and read your comments. I have included a schedule of how the event will go and a list of all the participants.


BOC October 25, 2009 Open Studio Fall Theme Schedule of events:

1pm: Individual Artists welcome people to their blog by introducing themselves and announcing any special discount prices in their Etsy store or website.
1:45: Picture posting of 1st giveaway to commenter on your blog post.
2pm: Commenter winner giveaway announced
2:15: Opening up your studio space: Share pictures of your studio
3pm: Picture posting of 2nd giveaway to commenter on your blog post.
3:15pm: Commenter winner giveaway announced
3:30pm: Here are some "Fall" info that we would like to share
4:00 End of event but shoppers can continue with your "sale" prices until Midnight
HERE IS THE UPDATED LIST OF PARTICIPANTS IN THIS EVENT.

MarshaNealStudio http://www.marshanealstudio.blogspot.com/
MaryHardingJewlery http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/
Chinook Jewelry http://chinookdesigns.blogspot.com/
Diane Hawkey http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com/
Marsha Hedrick http://porcelainart.blogspot.com/
Joan Tucker http://offcenterproductions.blogspot.com/
Indian Creek Studios http://pampots.blogspot.com/
Lisa Peters http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/
Kristie Roeder http://artisanclay.blogspot.com/
Tracy Isley http://tracyisley.blogspot.com/
Melanie Earthenwood Studio http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com/
Winchell Clay Works http://www.winchell-clayworks.com/
Summers Studio http://summersstudio.blogspot.com/
Jessica Sharrah http://jessicasharrah.blogspot.com/
Creative Impressions in Clay http://www.claybuttons.blogspot.com/
EveryHeartCrafts http://everyheartcrafts.blogspot.com/
Donna Kornegay http://blingbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/

Sharleen Newland http:// http://www.shaterraclaystudio.blogspot.com/.

Beads-of-Clay Open Studio Blog Event

We are now in the countdown week before this great blog event. I am including a schedule of how the day will go and an updated list of all of the participants with their blog links. If you are a participating artist and want additional info on how to set up your day visit MarshaNealStudio blog for some additional tips and ideas.

BOC October 25, 2009 Open Studio Fall Theme Schedule of events:

1pm: Individual Artists welcome people to their blog by introducing themselves and announcing any special discount prices in their Etsy store or website.

1:45: Picture posting of 1st giveaway to commenter on your blog post.

2pm: Commenter winner giveaway announced

2:15: Opening up your studio space: Share pictures of your studio

3pm: Picture posting of 2nd giveaway to commenter on your blog post.

3:15pm: Commenter winner giveaway announced

3:30pm: Here are some "Fall" info that we would like to share

4:00 End of event but shoppers can continue with your "sale" prices until Midnight

HERE IS THE UPDATED LIST OF PARTICIPANTS IN THIS EVENT.
MarshaNealStudio http://www.marshanealstudioblog.blogspot.com/

MaryHardingJewlery http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/

Chinook Jewelry http://chinookdesigns.blogspot.com/

Diane Hawkey http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com/

Marsha Hedrick http://porcelainart.blogspot.com/

Joan Tucker http://offcenterproductions.blogspot.com/

Indian Creek Studios http://pampots.blogspot.com/

Lisa Peters http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/

Kristie Roeder http://artisanclay.blogspot.com/
Tracy Isley http://tracyisley.blogspot.com/

Melanie Earthenwood Studio http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com/

Winchell Clay Works http://www.winchell-clayworks.com/

Summers Studio http://summersstudio.blogspot.com/

Jessica Sharrah http://jessicasharrah.blogspot.com/

Creative Impressions in Clay http://www.claybuttons.blogspot.com/

EveryHeartCrafts http://everyheartcrafts.blogspot.com/

Donna Kornegay http://blingbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/

New Bracelet sets

Finally got to do some beading yesterday. Here are a couple of pics of the new bracelet sets I finished.