Cindy Wimmer

Recently hosted by Lori Anderson, the Bead Soup Party involved 84 amazing jewelry artists! While I am sorry to have missed out (bad cold coupled with big store changes and I *gasp* neglected my blog reading for awhile. Let that be a lesson to me!), it was such a fantastic trip through the blogosphere reading about and admiring all of the gorgeous designs. It has taken me days to get through them all and I am thrilled to have so many new blogs to read!

Inspiration lurked on every new tab and, while most of the designs were beautiful, some were absolutely amazing! So many, in fact, that I could not possible overview them all here – I highly recommend you hop on over to Lori’s blog post here where she lists the participants and take the tour for yourself. Make sure you get a big mug of coffee and clear your schedule for the day before you get started!

Whitney Lassini

While I love the unique creations in this post, it is not so much about the jewelry itself but rather the way their creators have chosen to photograph them to capture the personality of each piece. Backgrounds and layout can make all the difference in the world in creating a stunning image that captures the eye and imagination.

This first one; designed by Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio, really makes the orange in these focals pop by using a book with detailing that matches the darker shades of blue. The wirework in this piece is stunning; organic and somehow nautical, at least to me, and I love how she used the two empty ovals to tie the front and back together.

Nancy E. Schindler

The second piece, designed by Whitney Lassini, is a gorgeous piece in its own right but her use of this smooth, warm colored wood adds a vibrancy and a coziness to the photograph; it reminds me of brightly colored thick wool sweaters and sitting by the fire with a cup of cocoa!

This next piece, by Nancy of The Rabbit Muse, features a stunning focal made with lampwork beads by one of my favorite artists, Sue of Sue Beads. I love the way Nancy has photographed it on an angle, emphasizing its 3 dimensionality and size. What a bold and beautiful statement piece!

Lisa of Lucid Moon Studios

Finally, this gorgeous heart necklace by Lisa of Lucid Moon Studios, really captured my eye. I love the softness of the candy colors combined with the crafty feel of the pendant and this photograph really emphasizes these aspects. I also really like the way she has used clay and resin for this heart – very sweet.

As I said, this is just a sampling of the amazing and inspiring pieces created for this Bead Soup and I do hope you will check out the rest of them. Clicking on each image here will bring you to that artist’s Bead Soup Post and clicking on the links in the text will bring you to their blog homepage. I hope you enjoy looking around as much as I did!

Thanks to all the lovely crafters who participated – it was wonderful to see how you each challenged each other to move a bit outside of your normal jewelry styles and I can’t wait for the next Bead Soup Party!

Heather Cote of Azure Island Design

Cindy Gimbrone of Lampwork Diva

Lorelei of Inside the Studio

After writing our photography series, I decided it would be fun to pick out some of my favorite jewelry photographs from the various blogs that I read regularly and thoroughly enjoy.  So, I did!

It wasn’t easy narrowing it down to just  these four but I didn’t want to have too many pictures all at once. There will certainly be a part 2. In fact, I might even make this into a bit of a series if I have the time and remember.

To take a look at any of these fine blogs, simply click on the picture – you’re sure to find

hours of entertainment, helpful jewelry tips and tutorials as well as lots more pretty pictures!

I love the use of beautiful props, interesting backgrounds, lighting, and focus demonstrated in these photos. They each demonstrate the ability of good photography to really make a beautiful pieces shine.

Heather’s starfish and column not only add some detail to the background, but they are also distinctive enough that, looking at her photos, one instantly recognizes the artist and thinks of the name of her blog!

The rich color of the background in Kelley’s picture really sets of the stunning combination of black and white, something which the dramatic shadow also helps to enhance.

Cindy’s use of the light slanting across these gorgeous orange beads is just beautiful! By placing the translucent beads in the suuny part, she really made them sparkle, while the rich color of the opaque beads is enhanced by the slight shade.

Lorelei’s distinctive style really shows in this lovely closeup of a

bee button.  Her use of apeture makes clear the focus of the photo without detracting from the overall beauty of the piece.

Thanks go to these lovely ladies for allowing me to include these images here as well as for their creativity which is an inspiration to those of us aspiring to perfect our photography style!

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at awesome photography, if there is a photo you think deserves to be in the next post, let me know by email or in the comments and I will be sure to include it!

Emi Originals Featuring Sue Beads:
Wire Earrings
Cord & Key Necklace
Coiled wire pendant

Blog Buddies Creations:
TotusMel’s Tatted Masks
Rebeca Mojico’s Micromail – “Poseidon’s Embrace”

Other Cool Finds:
Eninja’s  Leather Jewelry
Madunde’s Steampunk Computer
Michael’s Chainmail Critters

This coiled wire pendant is the last of my pieces featuring Sue Beads (at least until I buy some more!). This one was a lot of fun to work on and incorporates silver wire, beautiful dark blue lampwork beads, and AB crystal Swarovski components.  Someday I will decide just how to string this pendant without detracting from its free form, shiny goodness.

As you can see, my wirework has come a long way. In fact, the final post in my beginner’s wirework experiments is coming up soon!

‘Til then, happy crafting!

She has done a great job with her key beads particularly and I really wanted to make something fun and comfortable and somewhat casual that would capture the impression I got from looking at it. I like what I’ve come up with but found a unique challenge in trying to making the double-stranded side hang properly.

This necklace is made with gray cotton cord from our shop; well, now it is. I had originally made it with black cord but found that I didn’t like the lack of contrast between the color of the key and the color of the cord so I redid it in gray and it looks a lot better.   I still keep thinking it needs a little extra something but I am also stubbornly pleased with it as it is. What do you think?

Want to make your own super comfortable key necklace? Wander on over to Sue Beads or her shop on etsy and get started shopping but don’t forget to pick up some soft cotton cord before you go!

(For anyone who is curious, the book in the background is The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay, one of my favorite books when I was in high school, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Arthurian fantasy.)

We’ll start with my favorite!

These earrings are made with silver 22 gauge wire and feature gorgeous frosty mint green angled lampwork beads.

I love asymetrical jewelry but, for whatever strange reason, don’t usually make my pieces asymetrical. This was a nice departure from that and really felt like something that expressed my style while I was making them. Wire has quickly become one of my favorite media (its versatility is wonderful!).

Want your own gorgeous frosty lampwork beads for winter? Head on over to Sue Beads on etsy and get started shopping!

Halloween is on the horizon and parties are being planned all around me; in fact I have already been invited to 3 different ones and am having a hard time choosing! Naturally its time to start getting a costume put together but the question on everyone’s mind is: “what can I wear so there won’t be five other people that look just like me?”

My solution? A gorgeous handmade mask guaranteed to turn any costume into a winner!

No matter what you dress up as, here is the perfect final touch:

Isn’t that the most gorgeous mask you’ve ever seen? Personally I would wear one of these beauties at every opportunity if I didn’t have the unfortunate curse of glasses.  Not just for Halloween, this is an accessory you will certainly treasure and look for reasons to wear! Both masks are made by TotusMel, one of my favorite bloggers, along with a host of other pieces including necklaces, ankle corsets, and many more masks! Take a look at her etsy shop and order your costume contest winning mask soon to make sure you get it before the big day!

Happy haunting!

When I first saw this piece, I was sure it was silver; the leather has such a great shimmer it mimics the look of metal incredibly. Part of Eninja’s stunning leather collection on etsy, this piece is elegant and chic as well as comfortable and light. Doesn’t it looks just like those paper snowflakes almost everybody cut out as a kid?  Way more sophisticated tho.

I always love to see crafter’s thinking outside the box and this leather necklace is truly creative and inspiring.

Until next time, happy crafting!

Now this fantastic find is a little out of the realm of jewelry-making but its so creative and interesting, I thought it deserved sharing anyway.  I found this little gem (ok, not so little, quite large actually) while reading the Wunderkammer blog and took a closer look at the etsy store linked.  Maduncle certainly has some cool contraptions!

Too bad I don’t live in Australia; I could use a new computer!

The prizes are awesome and the more entries, the more of the prizes get unlocked and she has really saved the best for last! Not that the other prizes aren’t great, but who DOESN’T want this fantastic bustle skirt by Crescentwench?

It only requires about 30 more entries (last I heard) to unlock this beauty so tell your friends and get on over there to peruse the neat stuff she posts and enter this contest. I’m sure she’d appreciate a few tweets too if you have the time as she’s moving soon and super busy.

In other news, I broke my bent nose pliers working with some big honking rings and now I cannot get anything done until I get around to ordering new ones… maybe I should learn a new craft in the meantime – any suggestions?  I mostly finished what I was working on – pics to come most likely – so it’s not too big of a deal, they were not the best quality anyway and I had been delaying replacing them. I guess they made that decision for me! But its too hot to stare at the computer anymore, I am going to go relax in the slight breeze on the balcony that my kitties seem to be so enjoying.

Happy crafting!