August Headpin Challenge Round-Up

The August headpin challenge was so much fun with a wide range of styles, materials, and skills on display. Several participants did more than one challenge piece. Below you will find one example from each designer. If you click on the name located in the caption below each photo, it will take you directly to their blog post which, in many cases, leads to more headpin eye candy. 

Alison Herrington

Karin Grosset Grange

Gloria Allen

Renetha Stanziano

Deb Fortin

Cate van Alphen

Mona Arnott

Shai Williams

Sarajo Wentling

Kathy Lindemer

Solange Collin

Brooke Bock

Melissa Meman

Patricia Handschuh

Tammy Adams

Melissa Trudinger

Caroline Dewison

Lesley Watt

Cathy Mendola

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Susan Kennedy

Laney Mead

Diana Ptaszynski

Lindsay Starr

Niky Sayers

Giveaway Winners - September Theme Challenge

Thank you to everyone who entered to win one of my Tree Beads.  The winners are...

Cindy Martin Shaw

and

Merja Sudström

Congratulations! I will message you shortly and have your prizes on their way. Looking forward to seeing your creations on the 29th September!

If you'd like to join us for the challenge, message me on Facebook, or send me an email (caroline @ blueberribeads. co. uk - remove the spaces) with your blog address and I'll add you to the reveal list for the end of the month. For a recap of everything, you can see the original post here.

Thanks again... see you next week with some more inspiration!

Art Headpins Challenge Inspiration...Are You Up For It?

In case you missed it or it's slipped your mind our design challenge for this month is all about Art Headpins and we'd love you to join in. You can find full details here but all you need to do is design something using art headpins (or make the headpins themselves) and be able to join in out blog hop on August 30th.

Art headpins have been around for a good while now but they seem to be gaining in popularity which is not really surprising considering their versatility and the wide variety of mediums they are now made in. I started working on my challenge pieces this week but before I did I decided to do a little review of some of my past pieces to see if they provided inspiration.

For me earrings are usually the first things that come to mind, partly because they're often sold in pairs but I also think ear (or eye) level can be the best place to show off these pretty pieces.

The design can be very simple but still very striking like this pair which matches head pins by Suebeads with beaded beads by Kristen Stevens.

With this pair the headpins are by Humblebeads with beaded beads by Suebeads and here I use the wire of the headpins to create loops and then passed them back down through the bead and formed little tendrils as an added embellishment. If the wire of your pins is particularly long its worth considering working them into your design.

Here I used headpins by Jen Cameron purely as embellishment, wrapping them around a copper hoop and adding my own ceramic drops to finish the look.

But Art Headpins are not just for earrings and I've used them in a number of necklace designs. Here I've used one of my own fine silver headpins to create a pin bail for a gorgeous lampwork tube bead by Magdalena Ruiz...

And again, this time with one of my bronze clay headpins.

Another design with a bronze headpin using one of Caroline's cute little bird beads sitting on a lovely Mookite bead...again, simple but effective.

  

This last necklace was made for a design challenge several years ago and was probably the first time I'd worked with Art Headpins (unfortunately I can't remember who made these). I called this necklace Shiraz and the idea was to give the impression of vineyards with the deep purples, buds and curling tendrils of the headpins. A tiny bronze headpin also features in the capped bead dangle.

Looking back over these pieces had the desired effect and I've already managed to make a few pieces for the challenge...very organised for me I can tell you! I hope you're feeling inspired too but just in case you still need an extra nudge then how about doing a little window or hard cash shopping..? There is an abundance of headpins out there in all sorts of materials just waiting for someone to show them some love and here are just a few of my favourites...

Glass by Thornburg Bead Studio

Ceramic from Latirus

Mixed media from Pip n Molly  

Glass by Anneli Beads

Ceramic by Marsha Neal Studio (available at Bead Fest Philadelphia this week).

Glass by Beads of Passion

Polymer clay by Studio St James

Glass by Beadfairy

Silver by Atlantis Glass and Bead

Glass by Sabrina Koebel

If you would like to be included in the challenge please refer to the original post which you can find via the link at the top of this page and then e mail Jennifer Stout Cameron.

Be creative and enjoy yourselves!

Headpin Tutorial Round-Up

As part of our August art headpin design challenge (click the link for more details), I thought it might help to do a round-up of some of the tutorials we have written over the years here at AJE that utilize art headpins. Any of these tutorials can be altered into something different...the earring tutorial doesn't have to be earrings. It could be a pendant. I know when I make headpins, I try to make the wire pretty long so the designer has more options.

Just a couple weeks ago Sue shared this earring tutorial using her cute flower headpins:

Last month Sue shared her flower disc bead earring tutorial which includes an option for using art headpins:

In this 2-for-1 things to do with headpins tutorial, Caroline shows how she made a ring and a link with a headpin.

In her tutorial Simple Headpin on Headpin Earrings, Niky shares an elegant way to use art headpins:

Sue shares tips on mixing and matching headpins with beads to make earring stacks.

Caroline shares a tutorial on how to use headpins to make some funky leather bangles.

I share a basic funky wire wrapping technique for headpins that takes longer to describe than to actually complete. I've used this technique for earrings and pendants and it always looks great.

Hopefully something here sparks your imagination! Have fun creating with headpins and don't forget to join in the challenge for the month of August.