NEW PRODUCT! Swarovski Charms!

Perfect for dressing up your stamped pendants!  Nothin' like a splash of color to snazz up your designs. These silver plated Swarovski Charms also come in all the birthstone colors (Topaz coming soon).

Shop Swarovski Charms now >>

Bead Dream, Bead&Button and Beaducation, Part 3

Last week we met Vanessa and Omniobadiah, the first and second place winners in the 2011 Bead Dreams Competition. Today, in our final Bead Dreams winners post, we hear from third place winner, Stephanie Eddy. Stephanie has been a jewelry designer for 40-plus years. She's involved in all aspects of bead and jewelry design, from teaching at trade shows, bead stores and bead societies across the U.S., to creating designer quality jewelry kits and tools. Stephanie was one of the first bead artists to incorporate and advocate "component design" as a teaching method. In 2009 she branched out into wire work design following the creation of her patented Lazee Daizee Viking Knit all-in-one tool.

Here is what Stephanie had to say about her 3rd place piece. “Omnificent Exotica is my no holds barred study and exploration into the Viking Knit weave. It is a very versatile weaving technique that adapts and compliments other techniques quite well. It started with an experiment to see if I could work with and blend multiples wires to achieve a blended, variegated effect . From there it expanded into freeform technique that was adapted into an exotic floral theme."

Omnificent Exotica by Stephanie Eddy

Here is a design process tip from Stephanie. "Always question your methods and technique. Just because 'It’s always been done this way' doesn’t mean that’s the limit. Never limit yourself and seek to experiment and explore what is common."

Goddess of the Forest by Stephanie Eddy

Stephanie continues, "I entered the Bead Dreams competition because I find that sometimes I need the challenge and deadline scenario to make myself focus on a single fulfilling project. It forces me to push the envelope from experimentation to realization."

Stephanie, we absolutley love what you have created. Your exploration of Viking Knit is nothing shy of brilliant. To learn more about Stephanie's design, classes, kits and Lazee Daizee tool visit her site.

Bead Dreams, Bead&Button and Beaducation, Part 2

Last time on the blog you met the second place winner from the 2011 Bead&Button Bead Dreams competition. Today we would like to introduce you to the first prize winner, Vanessa Wailiko.

Vanessa is an international award-winning jewelry and fashion designer in Chicago, IL.  Her pieces have been featured in national exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  More of her work can be seen on her website.

Take it away Vanessa and tell us all about your piece. (It is SOOO cool!)

Red Lizard Vest

"My “Red Lizard Vest” is my second clothing piece with scale maille.  The pattern is similar to European 4-in-1 if you look underneath, with scales substituting for some rings.  I love the reptilian look of scale maille.  My inspiration behind just about all of my designs, is the desire to create a fashionable, wearable piece of art from unlikely materials."

Firebird Scale Maille Cuff

Vanessa continues, “I make aluminum chainmail jewelry as my full-time job and have done so for just over a year.  Since I always need something to do with my hands and I love variety, I also sew clothes and little plush dolls. I started out as a beader, so I also make beaded jewelry, sculptures, and occasionally an epic piece of bead embroidery. I also make attempts at writing fiction, but I keep all that pretty secret."

Phoenix Reborn

"I decided to enter the Bead Dreams contest as part of my ongoing desire to challenge myself and take risks. Jewelry-making is the only thing I care to do right now, and I knew that even being chosen as a finalist was a good way of letting the world know that I was serious about being a designer. What I love about the Bead Dreams competition is that the quality of other entries fuels me to do bigger and better work to enter the next year."

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Vanessa! You are super-talented and we just love your work. Vanessa will be joining the Bead&Button 2012 show as a first-time faculty member. You can read all about her classes on the Bead&Button website.

Now we want to encourage you, (yes, YOU) to jump over to the Bead&Button Bead Dreams website and think about entering one of your pieces. Who knows? You might win a Beaducation gift certificate and we'll get to interview YOU next year!

Bead Dreams, Bead&Button and Beaducation, Part 1

Each year, Bead&Button magazine sponsors Bead Dreams, a competition of exceptional bead artistry in a variety of categories with entries from around the world. The pieces are showcased at the Bead&Button Show in Milwaukee, WI in June.

Beaducation.com is proud to sponsor the prizes in the wirework category. The deadline to apply is coming up soon on March 6, 2012 and we thought we would share some inspiration and encouragement with a winner from last year's competition.

In this post we introduce the second place winner Omniobadiah Mee. His piece was titled "Bronze and Blue". We just loved it and couldn't wait to hear more about it.

Bronze & Blue

Omniobadiah had this to say about his piece and his process.

 

"It is a bronze chainmaile shawl with blue gold stone, sodalite, dumortierite and blue labradorite beads. The weaves used were a graduated Vipera Berus, and Byzantine Web. 

I decided to use bronze because I like how it patinas.  I had started with the collar part and did not like how it looked as a necklace. I had thought it looked liked a part of a embellished rhinestone sweater collar, and thought it needed to go bigger and longer and came up with a shawl idea."

Bronze & Blue from the back.

He continues, "In 2010 I went to the Bead&Button Show, to help a friend work a both.  While there I saw the entries for the Bead Dreams wirework category, I thought some of the entries were very impressive, and it inspired me to see if I could do better.  It was then I started thinking about what to make for 2011 Bead Dreams competition."

Well, we are so glad you entered, because that is a beautiful piece!

Coming up you'll hear from the first prize winner Vanessea Waliko. But first thanks so much Omniobadiah for sharing. That is some serious chainmail!

Winged Pendant Materials Bundle Giveaway...WINNER!

Who will it be? Who will it be? Spin the big wheel (ok, hit the button on the random number generator)......

It's Mimi G!!!

Mimi's blog comment was:
"Thanks for such a fun giveaway, I would love to try engraving! I would engrave a design in the heart around the year 2012, and put my niece's name on one wing and her hubby to be's on the other. I'd put it on her shower gift as a "tag", and she could wear it as a necklace after opening the present."

Well Mimi, your niece is gonna be PSYCHED when she gets this necklace, what a great idea! Let's get this bundle in the mail to you so you can get to work! I just tossed you an email, please respond with your mailing address.  Congrats! 


Thanks to everyone for playin' along.  We have lots of plans for fun giveaways in 2012 so stay tuned :)

NEW FREE Class and a Product Bundle Giveaway!

**Contest closed.  Winner chosen here.**

Click here for full class details!

Let your designs take flight with this FREE class. Instructor Aisha Formanski combines our popular wing blanks with stamping, engraving and riveting resulting in a stylish pendant. But that’s not all. Students will be delighted with Aisha’s own tips and tricks to make the process even easier. Learn to cut consistent rivets, make perfect holes in metal and use the engraving tool to create textured surfaces on metal.

What do you think?  Wanna make one?  How about we help you out?  We have a fabulous giveaway with all the materials you need to make this pendant AND an economy Engraving Tool.

This bundle will include;

• Micro Engraver
• Aluminum Round Head 1/16" Rivets
• Copper Large Puffy Heart, 24 gauge
• 2 Silver Filled Wings, 24g
• Tiny Star Design Stamp, 1/16"

You are gonna need a few tools of your own to complete this project.  Click here to go to the class details page for the full scoop.

Let's keep it simple....to enter to win this giveaway, leave a comment here letting us know what you would stamp in that heart.  A letter? A word? A collage? More engraving? What would it be?  One entry per person. We will pick a winner on Monday, January 16th at 10:00am PST.

Good Luck :)

What Were the Beaducators Wearing Today?

We have some mighty creative and talented folks in this office.  Every person here makes jewelry, well, except Paul but technically he doesn't work IN the office :). You should see all the super cool treasures that are worn here each day...actually, today you CAN see them!  I just went around and stole jewelry off a bunch of fingers, necks and ears (I'm keeping a few of these!!!).

Here's what the Beaducators were wearing today!