Etsy Shop Update! Swirl pod glass headpins, winged evil eye heart, and oriental poppy mixed-media ring!

Hello friends!

I was excited to get back to some of the ideas I had from the bead soup bead inspirations with today's post. 

Remember these?

 

Here's what I made...

 

Swirl Pods "Sod and Sea"- Ok so I was really thinking about calling them "Grass and Sky, " but whatever. Anyways, they are super chubbly poddy and awesome in lime and aqua on 22 gauge black steel wire :D 

 

Swirl Pods- "Fire" - Yep the stereo typical orange and yellow "fire" colors on 22 gauge black steel wire. Aren't they pretty in the sunshine? :D

 

Swirl Pods "Hypnosis"- ok so these were the hardest to make. Why? Well the white is VERY soft and the cane black and clear are as well. It took me more pods than 5 to get a similar size set ;) 

Now these pods will go swimmingly with this next focal! So I took my "Rainbow Ruffle Ribbon Heart" design and added an evil eye instead of a raked heart on the front.

 

Here are the "Rainbow Ruffle Ribbon Hearts".

 

Then add a black base and get "After Dark Ribbon Hearts".

Then add an eye and you get....."Ruffle Ribbon Eye Hearts"!

 

Ruffle Ribbon Eye Heart "Escape"- I have wanted to make this style heart for a LONG time. I just never got around to it until the other day. I had wanted to do some with more color, but black and white was on my table, so there you have it ;) The center is actually a light transparent gray with a black swirl and the ruffle ribbon wings are black, gray and white ;)

"Sunset Poppy"- Here she is in all her glory! I used this side shot so you can see the band as well as the bloom. It really is one of the most incredible rings I have made! I LOVE it!

So you can see what it looks like worn.... Wow, huh?!

 Well I should be going. I have a few errands to run so off I go!

Have a great weekend and see you soon!

xo Genea

Glass doodles

Hello friends!

Do you doodle? I do. Sometimes on paper. I used to doodle lots in school on the edges of paper as my mind wandered in class. I would doodle on the envelopes of bills while I sat on hold waiting to pay them. 

The other day I "doodled in glass". Yes, you can actually do that. Well... sort of. So what is glass doodling? It's when you just create things. You just sit down and make what comes out. This is kind of hard for a production based person like myself, but very important to the creative process for sure.  Generally one glass doodle will spring board another idea and all the sudden you are frantically trying to create this amazing idea that popped into your head. Sometimes it comes out AMAZING and even better than you envisioned it. Other times its absolute crap. 

Want to see my doodles? Lol, well doesn't that sound like a proposition? LOL... Anyways...

Pretty nutty huh? I had dichroic glass, silver glass, silvered ivory and kryptonite on my bead table.  The sunish looking bead kinda ended up with these funky little tendril looking deals. It was supposed to be more sunrayish, but it sure is pretty. 

The hollow bead actually has a dichroic cylinder that goes through the middle. Isn't it pretty? HA! You can't see it! Bummer! I thought the opaly glass would be a little more translucent than it was. It also has these really cool silver glass dots with clear on them. When you turn the bead you can see these sort of labradorite looking "firey" dots. It's a translucenty shimmery blue.

The last one is one of my OLD bead styles called a "Delicous Pod". I called them that because they were so pretty I wanted to eat them. It's a sort of implosionish bead. You can't really tell from the photo since all of the silver glass and clear are very reflective. The outside dots have that really pretty "fire" in them, but the inside ones went hazy brown and kind of disappeared.

So what did "turn out"?  This baby below!

 

Isn't she AMAZING?! I am totally in LOVE with oriental poppies. This ring was inspired by the poppies I see on my walk to the bus everyday. I just love their little stripey centers, their fuzzies around the stamen and their ruffly petals. Their pods even look really sweet too!

 

I wish I would have taken a picture of their whole yard in bloom! These particular poppies were growing in the gravel in front of their house. 

They have this little stone wall with a white fence on it and have raised garden beds with poppies and all of these other pretty flowers.

I actually ran inside during my session to look up a picture of them to get a better idea in my mind.  Here is the photo I used for the ring above.

 

So this one shows some lighter pink and darker pink around the outside. I kinda used my coraly pink instead. 104 glass doesn't really have a dark pink opaque this color, but it would be amazing(hint hint).

 

Here is the other photo I took with my phone. I ended up using this center with the opaque ring you saw first, but made a new stamen for the transparent one. Now to create another ring!

I hope you enjoyed looking into my brain's scattered mess while designing.

Have a wonderful day!

xo Genea

Etsy Shop UPDATE- soldered charms, BSBP ring, and headpins, blog hopping and knittin'.

Hello friends!

Wow, how is everyone doing on the hop? I am still slowly making my way through the blogs. So far I'm only getting to the blogs of people that have left comments(at my snail pace) so I have not even gotten a chance to visit some of the other artists blogs I like. I figure I will get there eventually! Keep on truckin', right?

Speaking of BSBP, I got my Vortex Pod listed in the shop today and finally stocked some soldered charms. I was looking back only to find out that the last time I listed some was APRIL! Oops, I guess I've been busy! I have lots more started and picked out. 

It's been a busy time. I am still getting back to those designs I wanted to get back to from my soup inspirations. I have also been knitting my calorimetries.  I got on a kick again since mom sent me some yarn :D You know I have made a few and they have all been DIFFERENT! Yikes, I guess I should have that long of breaks inbetween my knitting sessions!

 

If you look closely you will notice I ran out of yarn while binding off. Bummer! I will have to ask mom to grab me some more of this yarn I got from Hobby Lobby since there isn't one anywhere close to here anymore :( 

The fabulous keyhole....

Oh yeah, I have been getting so many compliments on the keyhole I used in my piece that I wanted to share with you where I picked  mine up. I got it at a local Portland, OR shop called 1874 House. They don't have a web page, but they do have a phone number which is (503)  233-1874. They are a shop that carrys parts to repair older homes. They have door knobs, and all kinds of different fixtures. I'm sure that you all should have some sort of local shops that might have some of these things as well :)

Anyways, you were here to see the shop updates, right?

 

"Midnight Jewel Sampler"- Are you sick of this style yet? I'm not quite yet, but I might be done for now. This set was done on black steel wire unlike the ones I generally make on copper. I also added a pod design to this style that was normally paddles and droplets. Yay!

 

"Tribal Fork Mandala"- I just LOVE this intricate black and white design I found! It totally looks like forks to me. See it? lol. Anyways, I love recycling too so this charm was made out of recycled magazine images and fashioned into what you see here :)

 

Here's the back side. 

 

"Water Color Woman"- Don't you LOVE her face? I just think she is so pretty and looks like a water color painting! I was really excited to find her in my stash of older magazine clippings :)

And the back side. Kind of looks like watery smoke. It's nifty anyways ;)

 

Vortex Pod "Reflections"- All I can say is WOW. So this baby is a "mash up" of my "Vortex Flower" beads and my pod pins assembled into a ring. The flower is made out of AMAZING odd lot Bullseye glass in wonderful watery colors.

 

Here is what it looks like on. Oh, don't mind the shadow of my camera in the right corner! lol.

Well I must be going. I have been thinking about my newest calorimetry all morning. I got this fabulous new yarn from red heart that is a wool and acrylic blend called "Abstract". I just LOVE variegated yarn and each row is so exciting as you watch the colors change! So I need to get my scrubby butt in the show so I can knit :D

See you soon!

xo Genea

**EDIT** Here is a photo of that yarn I was talking about above in my finished calorimetry!! :D:D:D

Bead Soup Blog Party- Genea Crivello-Knable and Gail Vanderster-Zwang

Hello friends!

Wow, can you believe it?! It's finally the reveal day!! So I will apologize now if my blog gets lengthy. Please feel free to just skim for the photos ;)

Let's start out with what each of us got in our soup.

 

Gail sent me a fantastic collection of fun Mixed-Media elements from Industrial Chic , some of her GORGEOUS beaded beads, an enameled toggle and flowers, some pressed czech glass rectangles, Swarovski crystals, a super stash of seed beads and raku fired clay beads.

 

Here is the soup I sent to Gail(You can find beads like Gail's by visiting my shop here). I wanted to know a little bit about her so I could pick something that she would like, but would also challenge her. I snooped through her Etsy favs and asked her some questions to get me going. I created this SUPER set based on some of her and my favorites. Her set included: recycled sari silk, my FIRST ever lampwork heart focal headpins, some of my "Desert Serpent" lentils, some raku spacers, an "Ancient Tablet" style focal, a glass toggle and some droplet style headpins using silver leaf.

Did you know they got LOST in the mail?! Yep, for 3 weeks. We were both extremely heart broken. You can't file a claim with the post office until 21 days. So in the mean time Gail purchased some of the components like the ones in her soup, I sent her the second soup below and Lori sent her some goodies so that she could get started on her designs.

Here is the second soup I sent Gail. This one has my FIRST ever "Ancient Tablet" style heart focal! Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! Gail had bought 2 sets of headpins like what was in her soup and the glass toggle. So I thought I would send some different style clasps. I knew Gail liked winged-hearts so I decided to try my hand at some buttons! I couldn't decide on which to send, so I sent both ;) I also sent another set of spacers and the few other extra beads I had left over from the creation of her first soup.

Before we go on, I would just like to let you know that the first soup ARRIVED! It turns out the package never got "scanned in" in Portland and was a phantom package until it hit Kearney, NJ. It sat there for a few days and then was found by her amazing postal woman, Janet, and Janet's supervisor Darrell!! We were both totally STOKED!! So just had to share our loss and triumph of a happy ending!

So while I created Gail's soup I got so many ideas! I just kept creating, and creating, and CREATING. I thought you might like to see the ideas I had along the way...

 

So in honor of the metamorphosis of my designs I posted this super sweet art by M.C. Escher called "Metamorphosis"(He is and was one of my very favorite artists when I was in highschool). I thought this photo was a perfect start to my designs.

 

Well I had an idea for my first bit of Gail's soup, but I needed a pin with some glass on the end. From left to right: a bubble button swirl, a bubble button with a trapped air bubble, a head pin with a bubble button, a headpin with a pod. I did the first two on the end of a mandrel to do a quick experiment and did the last two on wire for my piece. These weren't the colors I used, but I needed to try them out to see if they would work.

 

Those designs spring boarded me to these: a fire pod, and a flame pod. Then while I was showing a friend how I created beads I did this eye bead for a demo. I did the top eyelashes with a thick line and the bottom, I did with a thinner one. I had been trying to work out a design like this for a long time and just tucked the eyedea ;P away in my mind until this moment. 

Some of these ideas I will go back to now that the Bead Soup is completed and I have more time to try some new things out ;)

 

When I was creating some components for Gail's set I started with the far left bead. This was going to be my toggle bar for this toggle.  I then had an idea for another bar(like the one to the left of the ring part of the toggle) where I tweaked the design a little to have pretty bubble buttons on the middle and ends of the bar. HOLY CRAP, are they PRETTY! Not only did I trap an air bubble on the inside(which was one my favorite things I learned when first lampworking), but I also trapped gorgeous rainbows of colors! After creating the toggle bar I thought how cool it would be just as a bead. I decided to call this style "Rainbow Sticks". :D:D:D

 

I ended up making some of my "Desert Serpent" style lentils for Gail's set as well. I took this design a step further and created the "Desert Serpent Jewel" style by adding a bubble button to the middle! So awesome!

 

After making those I thought OMG, those would be sweet on a GLASS HEADPIN! So I made one in a tear drop shape and then one in a paddle style! HOLY FREAKIN' YUM! They are SOOOOO pretty! I then got the idea to make these rainbowy heart headpins! I plan on going back to re-create some of these as well. I just kind of physically glass doodled my ideas to go back to when I had an opportunity. This is kind of like sketching in a sketch book, but with created samples :D

MY DESIGNS FROM GAIL'S SOUP....

So what did I created with Gail's soup? Well this first idea I created the same day! I was really excited :D

 

First I took one of Gail's beautiful beaded beads and did a quick proto-type to see if my idea would work. It did, so I needed to create one of those glass pins I did the experiment for above(the lime green and aqua photo).

 

I call this "Jeweled Wreath". Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! I made a glass bubble button and strung it through Gail's bead and created a band! :D

 

Here is that metamorphosis thing again.... I had a pod pin and decided to put it with one of my "Vortex Flower" beads and make a ring in that same style! Pretty f*ing amazing, huh?! I just love it when my ideas turn into just as amazing designs!! :D

So what else did I make? Well I was pretty stumped for a long while. I wanted to make some glass beads to go with my soup, but nothing worked out. I then decided that maybe this design just didn't need any of my lampwork beads(crazy, I know, but what are you gonna do? ;)

So off to the antique stores and thrift stores to look for some goodies.

 

After combing store after store I returned home with these items: an old dictionary, a keyhole, a key, a printer's key with a "?" on it, and this brass necklace with oval links and tear drop shaped jump rings.

 

So come with me and take a peek through the key hole of my design.....

 

Remember that old dictionary? I took a scrabble tile, distressed it and adorned it with some pages from the dictionary! I was so pleased with how this turned out! I even used this same idea for my roommates birthday present!

 

Here is where my design started....

 

I was really enamored with this little Witch Hazel tin so I chose that for my focal. I really loved the big flower focal, but it just wasn't talking to me so I based my entire design around this sweet little tin!

I decopaged the inside of the tin with the dictionary meaning for "Tincture," I thought it was fitting since that is what you would do with Witch Hazel to create. 

If I would have had some resin, I think this would have been a perfect opportunity to do the same page idea, but fill it with resin. I really like how you could add little treasures to your tin while you wear this piece :D

 

Here is a more close-up shot of the key hold portion of the necklace. I just adore it! It took me awhile to find a keyhole that was small enough to make into jewelry. I really love the ornate design on it as well. See how I used those sweet tear drop shaped jump rings from the necklace to attach them to Gail's beaded beads?! They worked out just perfectly! 

 

Here is a shot of the little wire-wrapped dangles and enamel flower dangles I made. See Mary Harding's flower beads as well? I actually got those from her from my last Bead Soup! I was excited to add her things to this years bead soup as well since she wasn't able to participate. I bet she would be excited ;)

 

Here is a shot of the entire necklace. Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! I am really pleased with the results! It really has such a wonderful vintage look to it. I called it "Discovered Treasures". I wanted the necklace to have the feel of an old inventor/artists discoveries.

 

Here is what it looks like worn. :D

I hope you enjoyed reading about my creative process and designs! Please hop on over to Gail's Blog to see what she did with her soup from me :)

Want to see what everyone else created with their soups? Hop on over to Lori's Blog to get the complete list of participants for the September 2011 Bead Soup Blog Party!

Have fun hoppin'!

xo Genea

Bowls of soup in the shop!

Hello friends!

More soup beads for the shop! I have been busily stocking my shop with similar goodies to Gail's soup. It's just easier to make a huge run of beads in the same style while you are vibing. I always enjoy doing a little raku and ivory binge. I am always pleased with the results and it was nice to be inspired to push the designs when creating her second soup!

Here is a photo of Gail's second soup and the inspiration for my new shop additions.

 

In case you didn't hear, we were lucky to have Gail's first soup show up! We were both so relieved!

 

Ancient Magic "Heart Spear". Taking the "Ancient Tablet" style and creating a heart focal was SO much fun! I really love the way Gail's turned out so I had to make one for the shop :) There are just so many awesome things going on in these style focals I would have to take like a bagillion pictures to capture everything. You will just have to take my word that it's amazing or just see for yourself ;)

 

Love's Flight "Cream" button clasp. Didn't they turn out AWESOME?! I was really pleased with Gail's. I love that little bit of webbing you see on the top right cheek and the bit of silver down by the bottom point of the heart.

 

Love's Flight "Midnight". You know if' it's awesome in ivory, than it must be equally awesome in black!

 

"Midnight Jewels"- glass headpins. Wow! These are so much fun to make and use for jewelry! I created this awesome bracelet and used the very first one I made for the dangle accent! Holy freakin' YUM!

 

"Painted Desert 2"- glass toggle. WOW! Gail's toggle sure was pretty and then the next one I made, and now this one! It's pretty exciting to see what colors you will get when working with Raku. I got some really awesome yellows, greens, browns and deep blues in this toggle set!

IN OTHER NEWS....

Is everyone ready for their bead soup reveal? I know I am!! I can't wait to visit Gail's blog to see what she created! I am also excited to share my creations and design process! My blog it set to post at 12am so if you can't wait you know what time you can expect to see it. Just remember I'm on pacific time so if you are east coast that's 3am for you!

Wow, Friday already huh?! I just dropped my baby girl, Kayla off at the vet this morning for her spay. I was excited to hear that her surgery went well and that I can come pick her up after 3:30pm. I'm so thankful my roomie, Jodi is jetting out of work so take Kayla home. You know you forget about those kinds of things when you have  car all the time ;)  For the most part it isn't so bad. Public transit here totally rocks :D

Well Kayla isn't the only one that won't be having "puppies". I just went to the doctor myself on Wednesday and got an IUC(same thing as an IUD). No kids for the C-K family at the moment. Does this mean we will never have kids? No, not at all. We just wanted to get me off the pill and wait a couple more years before we start out family. Ricky and I are both in the process of building out business' so we want some time to take care of those things first. We are also working on getting in phenomenal shape. We figure if you are in top notch shape before having kids it's best for both mother and child for sure :)

Well I should get going. I need to get my stuff together for our first Orb's lampwork group get together on Sunday! I will be demoing my "Jaw Breaker" bead and showing some jewelry assembly! Our meeting is over at the Aquila Glass school if you are local and want to check things out!

 

I hope everyone is enjoying this cooler fall weather! Have a wonderful weekend!

xo Genea