Some of my FUNKIEST most CREATIVE designs yet!

Hello friends!

Ok so after it taking me almost the ENTIRE day to get going, here we are with some late evening listings! I am really proud of the creativity of these designs and hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

 

"Crying Spiral Eye"- This ring was SO much fun to make! The center eye is made from shrink plastic and hand drawn by me. The spiral eye is the same eye I doodle with my signature. I gave it a glass droplet tear to be a "crying eye" which was one of my favorite doodles in highschool.  I just LOVE this design!

 

"Green Peace"- a wonderful way to make your peaceful statement. In gorgeous Bullseye odd lot glass. Violet purple and glittery green! Adjustable for any finger size!

 

"Space Strider"- a wonderful mix of my lampwork beads, and mixed-media materials of: leather, rubber, lucite, enameled chain and fibers! Inspired by the Peter Max image below(one of my favorite artists!).

 

"Setting Sun"- my WING DINGS as wonderful little stitch markers! Super big and bright to be seen among your stitches for knit and crochet!

 

"Green People"- Well it didn't get picked for Lark's 500 ring series book, but it sure is AMAZING! This ring is not only made from recycled paper, but it's "green" theme is even accented with all sorts of wonderful shades of green. What makes it so remarkable? Oh I dunno, the fact that it's REVERSIBLE! The droplet dangle even hangs properly no matter which side you wear! 

 

Both sides worn.

Well since I piddled around all day long I am almost late for my work out with Ricky! So I better get movin'!

Have a super fantastic weekend and thanks for stopping by!!

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

Peace, Tranquility & Harmony on the Waves of the Ocean

Hello friends!

I am excited to be typing up this post. Ever get inspired by something you have made? Did it inspire you to make many pieces? Did you have just the perfect things to match? Well I did on all accounts so I was enamored with the results! These pieces lead us to my next shop update below :)

NEW IN THE SHOP.....

 

"Peace, Tranquility & Harmony"- She is the one that "started it all". I have been saving her for something special and this seemed like the perfect creation for her. I based all of the other bead designs and colors below on her :)

 

I love this quote too. It came from one of my tea labels. I have always loved quotes and words of wisdom. The image and quote just seemed perfect for each other :)

 

"Waves of Wisdom"- I matched every hue I could see in the charm to these glass colors. I was SUPER excited to use some of Creation is Messy's new glass colors: Appletini, Atlantis, and Rainforest :D I just LOVE their opal glass. It's SOOOO pretty!

 

"Waves of Love"- while making the lentils to match I had this fantastic idea to create a heart with twists and ruffly waves. I am so pleased with this design and photo. This really is a PHENOMENAL  bead!

A perfect twist in the center of the back to complete the design while allowing the back to be mostly smooth and comfortable to wear. I rarely put textured design on the backs of my beads for this reason.

 

Wing Dings "Waves"- of course you knew I had to make wing dings too. The really amazing thing about photographing in the sun is that not only does it flatter the glass the best, but these colors are a PITA to photograph indoors. The colors always geek out the camera and come out all wrong. Also you can see how the different styles of beads effect the colors of the glass. Notice that the colors are darker pressed like this than the ones that are encased? Very cool!

 

"Ocean Droplets" glass headpins- DUH, you knew I would make some of these, right?! I mean how can you have all of these pretty matching beads without the matching headpins?! :D

"Ocean Opal"- Mmmm Kryptonite, one of my very FAVORITE CiM colors! I just love this dreamy seafoam opal. It's SOOO pretty! You know what is a design without a few matching spacers too?!

Ok now we are going to do a little exercise. Ok close your eyes, wait, no read this first, then close your eyes ;) Ok so... close your eyes, now envision these beads, now envision a super fantastic mixed-media necklace with all of these parts. Pretty f*ing amazing huh? ;P  That's what I think of when I see all of these parts. I mean they could all work together separately, but they sure are pretty together!

WHAT ELSE IS NEW....

Well here it's been over a month already since Ricky has been in Portland. It has been a "short" time, but it does feel like he has been gone for a long time. 

Weird how that is huh? I have been doing pretty well since he's been gone, but I sure do miss him. I do feel like I have a part of myself missing. It's like losing an appendage. Sure you could live without one arm, but it just doesn't feel quite right, yanno? A little piece of my heart is missing. 

On a similar note I have been "weeding" out here at the house. I have had it on my mind as I have been drifting into sleep. If I didn't already tell you, we are going to "dump" everything except for studio stuff, the computer and of course, the dogs.

Now why would we do that? Well Portland is exactly 1,794 miles away. Here is the map so you can truly appreciate the distance properly ;) HOLY CRAP! Driving time is 1 DAY AND 4 HOURS! So now think about gas prices, and renting a truck. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah... meh. It's crazy expensive. Honestly we have a lot of things we have acquired and nothing that's so important we can't live without it yanno? The purge will be nice for so many reasons. I mean why spend 4k to haul old crap when you could spend 4k on new stuff?! Exactly! 

So weeding, weeding, is what I'm doing. Mom and I are going to have a garage sale and then donate the rest. If you think about it, that means less to pack and that totally makes it easier to clean! 

A LITTLE VACAY....

WHAT?! Seriously, you're moving and going on a vacation?! Well sort of... Ricky's dad is graduating with his masters in Seminary so they are flying us out to Denver, CO for 4 days to celebrate! It's also going to be Ricky's sister, Amie's B-day. So they are flying all of us from Kansas City, to Cincinatti, to Portland to all be together in Denver/Fort Collins to celebrate :) So not only will it be amazing to have the family together, but I will also get to see Ricky in 39 days!!  Not only that, but after seeing each other for that quick vacation just a few more weeks and he will be here with me in KC to move! Woo hoo!

Well I suppose I should be off.... I still have many things to do today including motivating myself to either make beads still or go on a walk even thought it's 48 when yesterday it was 90. Blegch. lol

Have a wonderful week!

Much love,

Genea

Soldered Charm Tutorial GIVE-AWAY!

Hello friends!

Now who doesn't love a give-away?! Ok so with the latest release of my soldered charm tutorial in Glass Pattern's Quarterly I thought it would be fun to give away a copy! GPQ was kind enough to send me 5 issues so I thought I would share the creativity.

 Here is what the magazine and last page of the article look like.

 

Here is the charm I demonstrate how to make.

 

Here was the inspiration for the charm. I used the little cardboard insert that came with my gorgeous new comforter from Target :D 

So what do you have to do to win? Just leave me a comment and tell me why you would like to learn the technique and how you would incorporate it into your design. Please also include your e-mail so that if you win I am able to contact you! 

Please post from now through March 25th for your chance to win!

The winner will be picked by using random.org.

Good luck!

Much love,

Genea

Bead Soup Blog Party jewelry now on Etsy!

Hello friends!

I am excited to announce that all of my gorgeous designs for the bead soup blog party are now available in the shop! I loved all of the pieces I created, but with the overwhelming positive response to my pieces I thought it only fair to offer them up for sale in my shop :)

 

"City of Industry"

 

"Gypsy Forest"

 

"Gold Dust"- the most beloved of all of my designs :D This one was my very favorite too!

  

"Chocolate Blooms" as seen in my soldered charms tutorial in Glass Pattern's Quarterly Spring 2011!

 

Here is the back side of the charm. Stay tuned as I will be doing a give-away for this issue!

Well I hope you are as excited about these designs being offered as I am to offer them! If the lengths aren't quite right on these pieces some may be adjusted larger or smaller. Please e-mail me if you have any questions.

Now that my brain is completely fried I am flying out of here for the weekend. Well, not really flying, but running out of my computer chair to go hang out with mom :)

Have a terrific weekend!

Much love,

Genea

Winter Enchantment- Art Beads blog - Genea Beads

Hello friends!

Well I don't know if you are getting spring where you are, but it sure still feels like winter here in Kansas City, Missouri!

It's been nice that it's been cold since it took me until now to get my Art Beads blog completed. I was swamped with the Bead Soup Party and I am definitely not a "multi-tasker". I always HATE that corporate term. Multi-tasking just means doing a million things at once crappy instead of one thing at a time well done. So now that my soup design was complete it was time to work on my Winter Enchantment blog WELL :D  

Mom ended up coming over to bead with me :) Since she already had her beads picked out for her fringe bracelet it was easier for her to travel here. One never knows what one will need for a mixed-media asymmetrical bracelet, you know!

Here was mom's bead mat with all of her fringe beads layed out. See all of the Genea Beads :)

Here is a pic of mom beading :) I really love beading with my momma. I hope you get to enjoy creating jewelry with someone you love. It is really nice to create with another person!

 Yikes! Is this what your bead table looks like when you are creating? Every time I think of how messy my desk gets when I create, I ALWAYS think of Creation is Messy(they make awesome glass rods). I always think it's just the perfect name because, well creation IS messy!

Here was the first design. I liked it, but the hollow on the right was uncomfortable. It just didn't sit right. I was bummed because I really wanted to use the Hill Tribe silver simple flower bead caps. The caps were actually a bit more rounded, but they stuck out on the sides of my hollow bead. I thought "Hmmm... I wonder if I just put them on my bench block and give them a few taps to make them a little flatter..." Guess what? It worked! See how they fit nice a snug on the bead? Cool little trick you can use if you ever run into that problem. If it's not working out, hit it with a HAMMER! Lol, if only that trick worked for everything :/ Oh well ;)

 

Ah there we go! I took out the hollow bead and stuck in a lovely Hill Tribe lentil that was an orphan in my bead box. Lentils are always such comfortable beads to wear and it fit in just fantastically!  Now for the supplies I ordered. I got: 2mm seamless sterling silver rounds, 2x2 silver crimp tubes,  Hill Tribe silver flower stamped round bead frame, and silver plated round links on round cable chain.

Don't you just LOVE the pieces I got from Art Beads?!  I LOVE the round stamped Hill Tribe bead frame! Of course you knew I would like it because it provides "negative space" which I find terribly visually appealing, oh and it's HILL TRIBE! ;) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the loopy cable chain! When I saw that Art Beads was carrying it I immediately remembered seeing Lorelei use this very same chain in some of her pieces. I remembered loving not only her jewelry, but oh that chain! It really has a wonderful "soft" feel to it. The loops have this amazing movement to them that is just really incredible :)

Do you like what I did with the square bead frame? I wanted to use it in a different way so I used jump rings to hold the sides and strung a headpin through the bead holes to hold the inside lampwork bead and drop a Hill Tribe dangle from the bottom :D I love doing clever unexpected things with jewelry parts ;) 

Oh and here is the back side. The soldered charm I made is of course, two sided.  So something else you definitely can't tell from the picture is that all of teh little round lampwork spacer beads are actually this really dark blue glitter. It appears black, but its a really sweet odd lot glass(figures, right? Me using odd lot glass ;) called Dark Blue Aventurine by Bullseye.

Well I hope you enjoyed my design process and my product review! Why not hop on over to Art Beads and nab up some of these fabulous products?

Much love,

Genea

**Disclaimer I have received these products free of charge by Artbeads.com. I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received.**

BTW February 22nd

Hello friends!

Wow, you all just amaze me with all of the wonderful pictures and posts from today's Bead Table Wednesday!

Here I will show you two photos. I have to be mindful of my posts until I get a Pro account for Flickr.

This is the "clean" part of my table. Left : Atlantis lentil, a ruffle daisy, disc, and wing ding using Atlantis, Possible glass headpin set that needs a few more pins, rekket disc beads like the ones I posted in my necklace on facebook, smurfy wing dings, a "Z" scrabble tile for a project, rubber o's from My Elements.

Right: top corner is enameled off white chain, my soldered charm and some hilltribe lentils(my artbeads.com design in the works), more glass headpins(pastel ones are opal glass), the others are called "moonstone" colors they are somewhat translucent, a few straggler spotty droplet headpins.

Here is a little bit closer photo of the right side of the table. Here you can see the glass headpins a little better.

The little pile of opaly glass headpins are: Messy Kryptonite, Messy Crocus, and Messy Rose Quartz. Directly across from those headpins is a lentil made with NEW Messy Rainforest, Great Bluedini Unique, and silvered ivory.

The transparent ish ones under it are moon stones: Messy Peacock Green, and Messy Halong Bay and then a few spotty droplet headpins. I only got one more set done today, but I will get more in the shop.

Well lots to do!

See you soon.

Much love,

Genea

Genea Beads is in 4 magazines Spring 2011!

Hello friends!

Well I guess it's finally time to make my announcements since the dust has settled on the holiday madness! Genea Beads will be in 4 magazines coming up this spring! To kick things off I believe the spring issue of Bead & Button has hit the shelves for sale! I got an advance copy so I wasn't sure just when the magazine would hit the stands. I have had a few e-mails about the necklace so I figured it must be out! On page 17 you will see my Vortex Flower Garden necklace.

Here is a picture of the cover and of my piece incase you haven't gotten the latest issue ;)

Here is one of the photos I took of the necklace where you can see more inside of the flowers. The bells and glass dangles make the lovliest tinkling sound when you wear them! I will be getting this necklace and matching earrings up in the shop soon, so stay tuned!

The next thing you will see on the shelves is the Spring Stringing issue from Beadwork magazine. I have had the pleasure of working with the lovely and talented, Lorelei Eurto! She submitted some GORGEOUS designs with my work for stringing. Keep an eye out for that! I think the date it will hit stands is February 22nd, but don't quote me on that ;)

I am not sure of the exact dates for the next two magazines, but they will be out around the same time as the others, February or March...

I am SUPER EXITED to have my very FIRST two tutorials come out in print! The first tutorial will be in "The Flow" magazine! I teach how to make my "Jaw Breaker" hollow bead!  

Photo courtesy of Evan Youngblood.

Here is what the bead looks like cool and by itself.

 

Here is a picture of the "Jaw Breakers" set in it's entirety.

If you have been LOVING my new mixed-media pieces, you will LOVE this latest issue of Glass Pattern's Quarterly! My soldered charm tutorial will be in there along with some tips I learned while soldering! Here is the piece that is demonstrated in the magazine.

Photo courtesy of Evan Youngblood, Graphic Designer and Photographer extraordinaire.

So as you can see I have LOTS to do! I will have some more items like in the magazine listed soon, so keep checking back!

Have a wonderful day!

Much love,

Genea

Mixed-Media Jewelry Part 2- The NEW Designs!

Hello friends!

I must be a glutton for punishment! Here I am hours later back at the computer again blogging to you after 3 LONG hours of listing on Etsy. 3 hours, can you believe it?! Wow! Well I am back for a few reasons- 1. I am feeling more human now than I have felt in a few days being sick and all. 2. I am so excited about my new designs I couldn't wait until tomorrow. 3. Since the hubby decided to go to bed early I'm not cutting out on our time together so I don't have to feel bad about sneaking away to my studio to blog :D

Well if you managed to head over to my shop before reading this you may have noticed I got a little WORDY on my descriptions. I felt kinda bad that there was SO much text, but there are SOOOOO many details on these pieces I felt obligated to do my best to describe them in words as well as pictures. So I will be keeping the descriptions a little shorter here to make up for it ;)

NEW IN THE SHOP.....

This new series of jewelry was inspired by my very FAVORITE summer coffee, Gazebo Blend brought to us by Starbucks. I was inspired by a paper card that came with the coffee, I believe last year. I loved the floral designs and color palette so I used that as inspiration for my beads and colore scheme."Gazebo Cafe"- Here it is!! This is my very FIRST mixed-media piece of jewelry and the inspiration for all of the other designs! I used the original paper card to make soldered charms that you see on the left side of the necklace. On the back side of the soldered charm is matching scrapbook paper.

I also recycled scrabble tiles and turned them into soldered charms that spell "Cafe". I had wanted to spell "Coffee", but the design worked much better by using only 4 letter tiles so that I could use more beads on the necklace.

I also made some new glass headpins! You can see them on the right side where "Cafe" is spelled.

As you can see the design is totally asymmetrical and I used the following beading techniques: stringing, wire-wrapping, and knotting. Necklace measures 19 1/2-20"(48.26-50.8 cm)adjustable.Here is a close-up of the "Cafe" tiles.
Close-up of the soldered charms.
Some of the collection all worn together in a set. Isn't it beautiful all together?! The jewelry is very comfortable and has a wonderful weight to it. Not heavy at all for the amount of beads on it! Especially the earrings! :D

"Gazebo Garden"- Upcycled from the original coffee card, I made soldered charms. Accents include my handmade glass drop dotted headpins, knotted colored leather with spacer beads, a strung glass bead design, dangly crystal rings and a coffee cup at the clasp! This is my FAVORITE bracelet out of the series! Bracelet measures 7 1/2"(17.78cm).
Here is the back view of the bracelet.

"C" is for Coffee- What a delicious cup! Fun asymmetrical design is composed of: recycled scrabble tile "C"'s made into soldered charms, an oval glass bead(that looks like a coffee bean), Swarovski crystals, Hilltribe silver stamped spacers, and a leather loop with a spacer swinging inside! These earrings dangle 3"(7.62cm). They are surprisingly light for as many beads as are on them and very comfortable to wear!
"Gazebo Botanical"- A super fun and funky lampwork bead bracelet with botanical designs based on the Gazebo card designs with brown swirls and dots on the back.

Spotty spacers are "floating" beads that slide over tiny faceted seed beads.

On the textured silver chain "floating" Hilltribe spacers create fantastic movement accented by my glass tear drop spotty headpins.

On one side spacers are knotted on colored leather with a dangly crystal ring and on the other a lampwork bead wire-wrapped with crystals brings the design back to the toggle. Bracelet measures 7 1/2"(17.78cm).

Super fun with lots of movement, color and texture!
"Cup of Gazebo" reversible necklace. The original "Gazebo Blend" sticker was recycled and made into this incredible soldered pendant. On one side is a beautiful flower garden scene and on the other is a warm sun against a blue sky the words "Gazebo Blend" are inside the sun.

Dangles cascade from silver chain with: Swarovski crystals, czech glass flowers, and a spotted coffee cup. On the sides sit a brown oval coffee bean bead and a heart stamped charm.

Necklace is strung on an espresso brown adjustable necklace measuring 18-20"(45.72-50.8cm) adjustable.
The back view of above necklace.

"Cup of Gazebo" earrings- 2 sweet little spotty mugs with delicious Gazebo coffee inside. Cascading down the chain are: sparkling Swarovski crystals, Czech glass flowers and a brown oval coffee bead.
"Cup of Joe"- dangle ring features a spotty aqua and coral mug, a dizzy caffeinated silver spiral and a brown coffee bean bead on a size 7 sterling silver dangle ring.
"Dark Roast"- sweet and simple red brown coffee beans dangle from sterling earwires.
"Medium Roast"- light chocolaty brown coffee beans simple dangle from sterling silver ball ear wires.

NEW Lampwork Home decor! I was excited to make these new tiny wall art designs in this fun coffee theme!
"Cafe au Lait"- a little scarlet mug with coral spots and a red brown coffee bean are suspended in a tiny upcycled black frame. Measurements are 4"(10.16cm)tall by 3/4"(7.62cm) wide by 4"(10.16cm)across. Zig-zag metal assembly on back for easy hanging.
"Light and Sweet"- Tiny coral and aqua speckled mug and red brown coffee bead are suspended in a tiny black upcycled frame. Measurements are 4"(10.16cm)tall by 3/4"(7.62cm) wide by 4"(10.16cm)across. Zig-zag metal assembly on back for easy hanging. The name "light and sweet" came from the way my friend Ashley described the coffee she had brought me one day. The terms mean with lots of milk and sugar :)

Well there they all are! Wasn't that EXCITING! I had so much fun working on these new designs! I can't wait to work on some more fun mixed-media pieces!

The artbeads.com fall blog is right around the corner. I have just placed my order for the blog and I can't WAIT to get the new items! I have all kinds of amazing designs bouncing around in my head!

I also found a place to order some super awesome and BRIGHT tiny leather cording like you saw in the designs above. I can't wait to get my hands on that and make some funky new stuff!

Thanks for celebrating with me about my design process and new pieces! I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed creating them!

Much love,

Genea