Artisan Clay Fall Fashion Show Blog Hop

Project Runway has nothing on what you are about to see! A heretofore unmatched collection of designs using Artisan Clay creations!  


In lieu of the regularly scheduled monthly Artisan Clay Design Team Challenge, we are staging an Artisan Clay Fall Fashion Show, in the form of a blog hop, each blog providing its own runway. 

Make sure to visit all the blogs! Because then you can stop back at Artisan Clay Blog and leave a comment (just one please) and let us know what your favorite design or component was. You are then entered for a surprise giveaway~ the talented StaciLouise will be sharing one of her Artisan Clay components with one lucky winner.   Giveaway ends at the end of the day (Friday, October 28th)!  Like always, please make sure you leave an email or you have one linked to your blog to qualify.

Most of all~ have fun hopping!!!!!!


My own part of this show will start out with a new Sand Fibers/Artisan Clay creation.  My neck/shoulder/arm issues are back to where they were this summer and so I haven't been able to create a rope for this, but I think I will try both a simple beaded rope and a fiber one, once I'm able to.

I've had this gorgeous stoneware donut by Kristie in my stash for some time and it called to me when I went looking for inspiration this week.

 It is reversible! And so I created one of my triangle bails and embellished it on both sides. I love the colors, textures, and shapes in this pendant, which I have not named yet.

 And here are most (if not all) of my other collaborations with Kristie, many of which are currently at the Bead & Glass Boutique in Pitman, New Jersey.

Wear the Caribbean

 Some pendants I created for Kristie to use at her bead shows:

 

Christmas Present

Every Sky has a Silver Lining

Hessonite Ice

Bronze Age

 

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

 Lemon and Chocolate Confection

Promises of Spring

Red White and Blue

 

Blue Moon

Harvest Moon

The Citrus Springs

 

Bronze Age Revisted

untitled

Copper Bloom and Leaf

And here are my submissions for the Artisan Clay Design Team Challenges we've had so far:
 

Transitions

Summer Meadow

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

untitled

 

Ridged Transitions

Wow...that was a longer list than I thought it would be. ;)  Please hop on over to the Artisan Clay blog and follow the blog hop links for this Artisan Clay Fall Fashion Show.  (Remember to leave a comment with your favorite component/piece in the show on that blog, not here.)

Happy Friday! Be well and get going!

And the winners are...

We had 48 eligible comments for this latest GiveAway drawing. Thank you!

First, I used FireShot to capture the entire page of comments and numbered them 1-48 using MS Paint. Then I had  my trusty random number generator pick eleven numbers between 1 and 110.  In the order they were picked, I assigned the prizes to the comment number.  In the event that someone left no way for me to contact them (by having the blogger profile be private, for instance) and I did not know them, I went to the next number. In the event that two comments by the same person were picked (as happened several times), I went to the next number for the second (lesser) of the prizes. Is that clear as mud? ;o

Here are the results:

I will notify the winners in person this afternoon. Congratulations.

Be well and get going!

Help me celebrate! And, perhaps, win something!

At the end of August, I had my 3000th sale on Etsy. Wow. This morning, I saw the 3,100th. I think a Sand Fibers GiveAway is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdue.  This time, I have two "grand prizes."  And I will gladly ship these anywhere in the world, so please enter, my international friends!

The first is a custom-made Totally Architecture cuff in the colors of your choice. 

The second grand prize consists of three - because we are celebrating THREE thousand, of course - gorgeous beads by three of my favorite artists:

From MAKUstudio:

From LisaPetersArt:

From ArtisanClay:

I will also have my trusty random number generator draw 10 names for $15 Sand Fibers Gift Certificates (enough for two patterns - the 3 for 2 program will NOT apply here, however).

The winners can use these gift certificates in my Etsy store or to order a custom item. Or, because I will make the gift certificate transferable and without expiration date, you can give the certificate as a gift.

The "Rules"

To enter the drawing for these prizes, you can do one or more of the following. Please note that to take full advantage of these you must leave a separate comment for each.

1. Leave a comment here telling me how you would describe Sand Fibers to someone who hasn't seen my work. (No one said you wouldn't have to work for this! lol)
2. Blog about this give away and leave a comment here with a link to your blog post.
3. Twitter about this give away and leave a comment here letting me know you did. Be sure to reference @SandFibersRedux in your tweet.
4. Link to this post on Facebook  and leave a comment here letting me you know you did.  Be sure to use the @Sand Fibers tag in your post (it will show up on my fan page wall)

Please leave your email or your etsy/ArtFire store name or something in the comment as well so that I have a way of contacting you in case you win.

If you do all four of these things, you will leave four separate comments and have four separate chances to win. You could, of course, choose to just do one of the four, or two, or three...and that's okay as well. Just enter!

Entries/comments must be made by midnight on Monday, October 24. I will use my trusty random number generator to determine the winners on Tuesday and will announce the winner on this blog later that day.

Good luck! Now be well and get going (but only after you leave your comment)!

COLORED Fireline

A few weeks ago, my buddy Jennifer VanBenschoten let the cat out of its proverbial bag in her Beading Daily blog post:  Fireline is available in colors!

No way, right? Way! LOL

Kelley Darcangelo, the owner of Sparkle Spot Bead Shop, has worked with a chemical engineer to add after-market dye to 6# Fireline. For now, she is making 50 yard spools available in grape, hyacinth, chestnut brown, azure blue, teal, cherry blossom, periwinkle, and goldenrod.  I splurged and ordered an 8-pack (saving 10%), but you can order the colors individually...or even get a sampler of all 8 (5 yards of each) for $20. 

Last night I finished the first piece using this new "toy":   a made-to-order New Mexico Skies cuff. 

It's nice, as I knew it would be.  And for those of you who love all the benefits of Fireline but have stayed with other threads because of the color issue, this might well be your perfect solution.  In my case, I bead most of my simple flat peyote pieces using 4# which I buy in huge spools of 1,000 or 1,500 yards. And I've never been uncomfortable with "only" having crystal and smoke available to me.  My piecing thread for quilting was always a neutral grey or taupe.

That said, I will be using my colored Fireline collection for projects like my Blooming Beads

Totally Architecture 

and the new bangles

...all projects in which the thread can take on a more prominent role.

And that's all from Sand Fibers for now.  Be well and get going, my friends!

September Artisan Clay Design Team Challenge - Ridged Transitions

I'm late. I'm late. For a very important date.   Four days late, to be exact.

The reveal for last month's Artisan Design Team Challenge was last Friday.  I began work on my piece in what I was sure was ample time to finish. I wasn't just sure:  I was positive.

Kristie gave us an abundance of gorgeous buttons to choose from this time around, but I was immediately drawn to the larger of the two "ridged" bronze and aqua buttons left of center.  They all were so very tempting, however...and just wait until you see what my team members made with some of them!

I saw this that button and was convinced I had the perfect beads for it. I knew I wanted to revisit the Transitions design I had used for the first team challenge. In case you didn't remember...

This time, however, I was going to let the button dictate a big change:  the new Transitions cuff - like the button - has ridges:

 It is, appropriately therefore, called Ridged Transitions.  It is also constructed in 3-drop peyote to make the embellishing process a little easier (or so I thought) and make it easier to "line up" the ridges in the button with those in the beading..

I made three one inch attempts to start this with blue and bronze beads.  The first blues were too green; the second to bright, and the third came from a different reality (or so it seemed).  They all looked like good matches while still in their containers.  It's a lesson I seem to have to repeat on a regular basis:  beads in tubes/bags/boxes do not necessarily look the same as they will once beaded up. Colors and color relations can change dramatically.

Okay, so I'll go with two tones of bronze: a matte background and metallic bronze for the "ridges."  Oh...but that just didn't have enough life to it. Thank goodness I located some topaz lined aqua beads that REALLY support Kristie's button the way it deserves to be supported.  I am now quite pleased with the results...even if the beading took so much longer than anticipated.

Here are some more views of the cuff:

 

Before you go on with your day, please take a look at what the other members created with their buttons. As always, these artist impress!


Now, be well and get going!