Do you want to be in a beading book? Here's your chance. This is a copy of an email that I received from my bead group calling for entries for a new Lark book.

Dear UMBS Member,  Diane Fitzgerald just received this email from Lark Publishing and wanted each one of you to have it, so I am sending it on. Please enter and good luck! Laura

 

 

Dear Diane,

 

I'm pleased to announce a two-month call for entries for a new 500 Series gallery book of handmade contemporary jewelry from Lark Books: Showcase 500 Necklaces. The opportunity closes on August 1, 2012. That is a short window of time, so I ask you please to share the call for entries promptly with your entire jewelry-making community, including peers, associations, schools, students, and all online forums as well as social media like Twitter and Facebook, and to respond to it yourself in a timely way. As always, we hope to receive a wide array of entries from around the world.

 

I'm also pleased to report Lark has converted to using an online entry system; entries are now online only, through a portal provided by Juried Art Services. Here is the link for the informational prospectus and to enter:

 

http://bit.ly/NmsmQm

 

You'll find all the information you need at that link, so please follow the instructions carefully, but here are some key points:

 

We'll accept jewelry in all materials with all techniques and design styles, including both wearable and conceptual but biasing toward the wearable, simply because most readers prefer seeing wearable jewelry in these books.

Jurying will favor more recent work, and so we ask you to submit very recent or current work from no earlier than 2010. The submission limit is two pieces (one photo of each, with an option of one or two alternate or detail photos per piece). 'Necklaces' can include neckpieces, chokers, torques, collars, operas, ropes, chains, bibs, etc. There is no charge for entry for this book; Lark is covering the Juried Art Services cost. We strongly prefer work that has not been previously published in book form.

 

The JAS form will walk you through the process, but a few notes:

1. No need to complete the Artist Statement section.

2. Please read and follow Lark's Digital Image Submission Guidelines.

3. We encourage early entries, especially to avoid having any last-minute difficulties with the new entry process: Complete the process ahead of the deadline so you're assured of having time to resolve any technical issues you might encounter.

 

For questions about registering with Juried Art Services or uploading your material to the site, contact support@jurying.net. For other questions about the book, please direct them to Hannah Doyle at  hannah@larkbooks.com. And please be sure to join Lark Jewelry & Beading on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LarkJewelryBeading for updates and future calls for entries.

 

We invite you to copy the web ad for the book at http://www.larkcrafts.com/submit/calls-for-submissions/ for your own website or blog, or to share it on your Facebook page, linking either to that link or to the JAS page at http://bit.ly/NmsmQm, whichever you prefer.

 

We are very excited about this book, the third jewelry book since the 500 series evolved into 'Showcase 500'. Showcase 500 Rings (http://amzn.to/yEERZm ) just published in May, and Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry (http://amzn.to/z6tZH2) will publish in August. We know Showcase 500 Necklaces will be a book devoted to work of creative excellence and innovation, and we invite and welcome your contribution to the book.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Sincerely,

Ray

 

Join us on Facebook: facebook.com/LarkJewelryBeading Follow us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/larkjewelry

 

Ray Hemachandra

Team Lead and Business Manager

Lark Jewelry & Beading

 

67 Broadway

Asheville, North Carolina 28801

(828) 253-0467 ext. 762

ray@larkbooks.com

http://www.larkcrafts.com/jewelry-beading

A tan leather ladder bracelet is today's jewelry. The tan leather is 1.5mm & it forms the base for the bracelet. The clasp is a vintage mother of pearl one hole button that I strung on the white size 4 silk cord with a  light blue size 8 seed bead in the center. Then I tied the silk to the leather & made an overhand knot in the leather to hold the clasp  in place. The light blue czech glass beads are crosswoven with the silk around the leather. the loop part of the clasp is a pair overhand knot. I glued all the knots for security.  This bracelet is easy, fun, & attractive. It feels good to be making jewelry again. I week is too long to go without beading. LOL!

Hi all. I connected with my Bead Soup Blog Party partner. She is Anitra Gordy of http://leelucreations.blogspot.com . We are on the 3rd reveal day 8/25.  I am looking forward to this challenge gleefully. If you don't know about the BSBP  the amazing  Lori Anderson  (http://www.prettythingsblog.com/) organizes almost 400 of us beaders from all over the world in pairs to exchange beads & make something with the beads that we receive. On the chosen dates we all reveal what we made. It helps us work with things that we might not have chosen & stretches our creativity.
    I haven't blogged in a while but I haven't made any new jewelry to show. I was filling out spread sheets with my jewelry inventory & then I updated some of my props from the show I had last weekend. It feels good to be back at it. I have a bracelet almost done & I'll blog about it tomorrow.

Hi I am showing another bead embroidered necklace & earrings. The cabochon is fossilized coral. I used several colors of seed beads & butterscotch nuggets to surround the cab. The fringe is creamy seed beads, pearly grey size 8's,  dark topaz crystal rondelles , pressed glass leaves. The bail is brick stitched. the center is wood heishi, dark topaz rondelles & gold stardust beads. The necklace is strung with pillow beads that I think are light peach adventurine & tan pearls. The clasp which you can't see in this pic is a simple gold toggle. Hope you like it.

Today I am posting another cha-cha bracelet that I made.I have been making bracelets because that is the one item that I have least of in my inventory & I think that they will sell better than a more expensive necklace. This bracelet is in red, black, & gold.I used crystal bicones, cubes, rounds, stardust beads, pearl drops, ovals, discs, rondelles, seed beads, 1 lampworked bumpy bead, & there is a swarovski red heart in the center. I made dangles of all the beads & attached them with jumprings to the long & short curb chain. Before I started making bracelets on chain I couldn't understand what a chain- sta  was for but after attaching links to the wrong side because the chain was twisted I pulled out my third hand & kept my chain straight. I got some leather lacing in several colors today & I will be using it to make bracelets too.

I made a bracelet this morning using vintage purple pearls that I got from one of my treasure boxes from A Grain of Sand. I made the bracelet to go with the necklace & earrings that I made earlier. It can be worn as a bracelet or a necklace extender making your necklace more versatile. I used the same pearls in all 3 pieces, but I chose to use smaller white faceted rounds for the bracelet to make it more comfortable.

Hello everyone. I am excited to be part of the amazing Lori Anderson's BSBP. I read about it last year on Beading Daily but I didn't have a blog then. I have crafted all my life. I came to love beading through dressing dolls. The pic I am posting is the project that started me on my quest for beads. My husband was a Betty Boop fan & I made this for him. I made a wire armature & wrapped it with tin foil. Then I used a sculpley Fimo blend. She is blowing kiss as only Betty can. I dressed her in removable clothes which is no small feat on a character this small. I routered,  inlaid, & finished the wood base too. In making her costume & accessories I found beads. My husband said my curls just like Betty's were what first attracted him to me. Bead embroidery is my favorite thing to do. I am getting ready for a show next weekend so I have been mostly stringing lately because I think strung pieces sell better. If any of you have suggestions on selling embroidered pieces I would like to hear them. I have made a couple of polymer clay beads but nothing to brag about yet. I like working with gemstones, pearls & glass beads too. I am ready to be challenged.

I am showing a pic of a blue & purple cha-cha bracelet that I made. I started with gold curb chain with long & short links. I made dangles with  pearls, bicone crystals, Czech press glass, stardust beads, metallic ovals& rounds,Disc beads, & seed beads I attached dangles to both long & short links. I like the third hand for working on chain bracelets. I put small pieces of thick paper between the clamps so the chain wouldn't get marked up. I think that the third hand shows the dangles better than when a bracelet is laid flat.

Lorelei Eurto is having a bead giveaway of some of the great beads she got at the B&B show. Check out her blog for a chance to win. here's a link to her blog   http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/  good luck

I haven't made a necklace in a while because I was focused on bracelets. It was fun to made a long 3 strand with links & chain.  I used birdseye rhyolite ovals, bronze colored glass flowers as bead caps, & matte brown AB size 8 seed beads as one set of links. Brass chain separates the links in this strand. The next links in this strand are made of small wood rounds & larger rounds that I think are jasper(they were not marked when I bought them). The next strand is seed beads in shades of brown, bronze, & dark topaz with a few of the small wood beads thrown in for texture. The shortest strand is made of links of 3 matte tigerseye jasper separated by more of the matte brownAB size 8 seed beads. It also has brass chain between links. There are 4 links of the beads that I think are jasper but in a smaller size than the ones in the rhyolite strand. I used a brass hook clasp & bright brass jumprings to close this necklace. I made 2 of the rhyolite links for earrings. Hope you like it.

My third treasure box from A Grain of Sand arrived a couple of days ago. Starting in the upper right of the pic there are white plastic 4 hole links, cowrie shells,& plastic flowers in copper, 2 shades of green & white. Moving down there are 4 gold plated bezels, a long gold accent, grey plastic rounds, clear long twisted bugles (for lack of something better to call them),&  large brass plated corrugated beads  with smaller silver corrugated beads under them. Below the silver corrugated beads is some copper chain, a few short links of small silver chain, smaller gold corrugated rounds. There is a bag of gold kidney earwires, Some interesting looking black wavy coins, & a bullseye bead. Followed by some brass(?) cages that I like. Above the cages there is a dark amber colored pineapple flat back. Moving to the right & above the pineapple is a pair of large hoops with attached crosses  & moving right again there are fancy & plain ovals. Now look left  of the pineapple to see 2 shiny black metallic cabs & several metallic  knot beads. Above the knots are white & then yellow plastic links that look cheap. It's fun to get these treasure boxes. I know that I will use some of the corrugated beads, the chain, the ovals, cages, bezels & probably the black wavy coins.   These boxes are kind of like a personal bead soup. If you follow Lori Anderson's bead soup blog party you know what I'm talking about & if you don't you might want to check it out. Here is a link to her blog   http://www.prettythingsblog.com/p/bead-soup-blog-party.html   

The next bead embroidered necklace & earrings I made for me. The round beads & cab are sleeping beauty turquoise. The strung pearls are White Lotus saltwater pearls & the pearls that surround the cab are seed pearls.  I used 2 silver beads as accents. The dangle at the back started out to be where the silver beads are but when I got done beading it the scale was wrong for the necklace so I used it as a back dangle.  I am very pleased with how my necklace turned out.  I used Jamie Cloud Eakin's book "Beading with Cabochons" to help me design this piece.Her book doesn't just say make it this way it gives you hundreds of possibilities. After making this necklace I bought Jamie's next book "Dimensional Bead Embroidery" & I like it even more than her first book. If you are at all interested in beads embroidery I highly recommend her books. The pic isn't the best but I don't have photoshop installed in my new computer yet & the new computer & camera aren't speaking to each other yet so I used a pic I took quite a while ago.

This necklace & earrings were my first bead embroidered piece & I am very proud of it. I used  adventurine beads & small cabs, white freshwater pearls, & 2  green glass beads at the center. The clasp is a beautiful green button & a loop of seed beads.  It was a gift for a friend.  I ask my friend what she liked & she said paisley.  So this is what I came up with. Bead embroidery is my favorite technique but I think strung pieces sell better.  I can see that I have gotten better at taking pics. LOL

I want to show you the necklace I made for my 40th wedding anniversary. I told my husband that in this day & age 40 years is a significant achievement & I wanted a  piece of jewelry to mark that occasion. The necklace is made of Owyhee blue opals. He suggested opal because that is my birthstone. I went looking online & found these. They are mined in Oregon. The beads are faceted pillow shaped & they have a beautiful sheen.  I used white lotus saltwater pearls too. I am proud when I wear this necklace.  I hope you like it too.

Good Morning. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. I did. I went to the dirt track car races Saturday night. I haven't done that in 20 years. It was fun. Yesterday I cleaned a 2 ton truck that I am putting for sale. That was a big job. This morning I made another macrame bracelet. This time in black & red. It has been fun going back to something from the 70's. I like seeing this come back in style. On Saturday I posted the hairbow I made for Megan. I forgot to say the I have a pic of her on my beading table. Her smile helps me keep a positive attitude. I'm off to bead group tonight. YEAH!

Today's jewelry is for Megan. It's a stretch bracelet & a hair bow. Megan is my nieces daughter. She just turned 1. She is special to me . I am her alternate babysitter. Since my grandson live several states away & I don't get to see them Megan is like a granddaughter to me. She likes green(so does her Mom). I made her a pink bracelet & her Mom a bracelet & earrings for her baby shower. I knew that Mom & baby would being lots of pics so they needed some bling. I found a glass bead with no hole that matched the ribbon for the center of the bow. Because it didn't have a hole I bezeled it with seed beads like I do for cabs. The pearl beads are from her Greatgrandmother's stash. So it should be special to her Mom.  The bow is 8 loops of green grosgrain ribbon. Next I blanket stitched 2 pieces of ribbon together & ran elastic through it. Then I sewed the bow to the band. She is going to look really cute in it. I also strung green beads on stretchy cord for a bracelet.

The wonderful Lori Anderson is having another cup of bead soup project. What a great bead this time. It is by Lea Avroch.  Sure hope I win. You can check it out & register too. Here's a link to Lori's blog  http://www.prettythingsblog.com/