Bead Fest: A Feast For The Eyes

Bead Fest was held over the weekend.  It's one of the highlights of my year and I've been attending since 2004.  I've even been a vendor at it 3 times (and might again in the future).  This year I went for fun; to see friends and do some (lots) of shopping.

Welcome to Bead Fest

You need to be careful at Bead Fest.  It's easy to go waaaaaaaaaay over budget in a short period of time (ask me how I know).  I told myself to lay off so many art beads this year...hahahahahahahaha!  Ok, yeah that didn't happen.

Gardanne Enamel Components

Explain to me how I'm supposed to do that with such fabulousness like Gardanne Beads enameled pieces?

Thornburg Bead Studio

Nikki/Thornburg Bead Studio brought some of her gorgeous lampwork urchins with her.  I ended up buying a bunch of lampwork headpins from her though to assist me with our AJE headpin challenge.

Penn Avenue Pottery

Tracey/Penn Avenue Pottery had oodles of fun ceramic beads to choose from.  I found myself trapped (totally against my will) at her booth for awhile, with my hands stuck (yes, I couldn't pull them out) in those trays.

Staci Louise Originals 

After my escape from Tracey's booth, I ended up at Staci's booth (that's a lie, I'd been there probably 500 times already by Saturday morning...my apologizes to Staci).  Her booth looked like a magic unicorn had visited with all the beautiful rainbow colors.  I added more beads to my gigantic Staci-collection.

Staci's bags

In addition to her beads, Staci also brought some of her hand-dyed and stamped bags with her.  I own a luna moth bag and it was perfect for shopping the show.

In fact, several bead-makers brought other art with them in addition to their beads...

Diane Hawkey

Diane Hawkey had some of her whimsical pot head planters and house sculptures for sale in her booth.

Beaded Chic Fused Glass

Donna/Beaded Chic has been playing with fused glass lately and brought some new pieces along with her table full of lampwork!

Marsha Neal

Marsha Neal had beads, tiny pottery and her needle-felted creations at her booth.  

Jenny Davies-Reazor

AJE's own Jenny Davies-Reazor had some of her gorgeous tiles and needle-felted/bead-embroidery pieces for sale at her table.

Firefly Design Studio

Michelle/Firefly Design Studio had her beach-inspired dishes with her!

And of course there was gorgeous jewelry at the show...

Marcia Balonis and Pam Garbig

Marcia Balonis and Pam Garbig had a table full of beautiful samples and kits for sale.  I brought home one kit and will be writing about it on here in the near future. 

There were also great tools for sale!

Lucet

New AJE member, Cooky Schock had a booth and I came home with a lucet and some cord from her. You might recall the recent blog post that Cooky wrote for us about the lucet.  This great little tool helped make my 5+ hour car ride home go much quicker!

Xuron

Treated myself to a new Xuron plier.  Soooooo comfortable!

Funky Chain, ParaWire, Gemstones

This was just the tip of the iceberg of what was available at Bead Fest!  You're probably wondering what I brought home with me, right?  Let's take a peek...

Pottery Purchases

A bunny pot head planter from Diane Hawkey, a ring holder from Marsha Neal and a dish from Michelle/Firefly Design.

Tools and Kits

The lucet, cord for the lucet, some dyed Stiff Stuff (Bead My Love), spiffy new XBow Series Xuron pliers and a fab kit from Marcia Balonis.

Art Bead Haul

And this is the art bead haul.  So many beads, pendants, headpins and cabochons!  

Bead Fest 2016 was fabulous as always and while I hate to see it end, my wallet requires a year to recover.  See you in 2017, Bead Fest!

Happy Beading!

Book Review - Polymer Journeys

Polymer Journeys is the brainchild of Sage Bray, Editor of The Polymer Arts magazine which the book was conceived alongside over a five year period. For three of those five years a board of curators: Anke Humpert, Cara Jane Hayman, Christi Freisen, Debbie Crothers and Iris Mishly; polymer artists renowned within the polymer clay community have worked with Sage to research and communicate with other artists and to evaluate and advise on the artwork that features in the book.

Like The Polymer Clay Arts magazine the book is not pitched at those looking for tutorials or techniques but rather aims to show what can be achieved by those who really hone their skills and innovate to give polymer clay it's place as a serious art form. 

"Our primary goal was to stick with artists whose work has some focus on innovations or who are doing things that cannot be done with any other medium. We also wanted to show how polymer is being used by artists to express themselves". Sage Bray

The book showcases work from many artists and covers a broad and varied spectrum of technique and design aesthetic. 

Deborah Banyas & T.P. Speer United States

The 'Journey' theme (explained fully in the editors introduction) creates a number of threads within the book beginning with the Foreword by Cynthia Tinnapple who details the development of polymer clay art to the current day and questions the possibilities for the future.

This book is also much more than just a gallery of beautiful work because each submission includes the artists own description of their background and inspiration, sometimes with sketches and studio shots that allow us an insight into their own creative journeys. For me, getting to see something of the background and working process of an artist makes the interaction much more rewarding. I also know that some of the the most popular posts with AJE readers are those where we as authors open up and share with them so I'm particularly pleased to see it here too.

The way the book is laid out takes the reader on a journey moving from a section on globally recognised artists, to those who have given back to the community and then on to a geographical tour of current artists with sublime talents and it flows very well.

I'm doing this review from a digital copy of the book so I can't comment on the physical feel but I can say it is loaded with stunning illustrations of work which, for someone like me who is new to the medium and uses it fairly simplistically in my mixed media work is almost beyond comprehension. Organic, architectural, urban, mixed media or pure polymer clay - it's all here in forms that I would have never envisaged possible with this medium.

I could go on a lot longer about this book but since its enjoyment is largely from a visual perspective I don't know that I would add much more of value. I think think the book has an obvious appeal to anyone currently working in polymer clay and/or mixed media but more than that, it will appeal hugely to anyone with an interest in texture, colour and form and in pushing the boundaries of their own work, whatever the medium. I certainly found it very inspirational and see it becoming one of those books that will get pulled from my bookcase time after time when my own creative muse needs waking up or I just need to look at something lovely...my hard copy is on order.

"I send out this book, my own attempt to have an impact on the lives of others through a concept that I hope will be a vehicle for a wider and deeper appreciation of this young medium and the artists that bravely test its limits and their own". Sage Bray

Polymer Journey's is available to purchase here.

Eva Thissen Germany

Joseph Barbaccia United States

Falling Waters Retreat with Heather Powers at Allegory Gallery!

A couple of weekends ago, I traveled (the 1 hour!) to Ligonier PA to take a class with Heather Powers.  Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery sponsored her workshop entitled Falling Waters Retreat at the Main Event Gallery in Ligonier.  It was a beautiful weekend to be in beautiful Ligonier and to take a fun workshop with a lot of fun people!

The retreat was for 2 days, the first day was making polymer clay canes and beads, and the second day was making jewelry inspired by Falling Water, a Frank Lloyd Wright house near Ligonier.  It was also inspired by Ohiopyle, which is a white water rapids area with water falls as well. 

The first day, we spend conditioning clay and making canes and beads.  The following photos will give you an idea of what we did!

We made three different types of canes, and with those canes, we made some of Heather's better-known beads, like the disc beads you see above.  The next day, we made jewelry with what we created!

We started by making the copper oak leaf you see that was used as a clasp for a necklace.  We made Falling Waters earrings and a necklace using Swelligent metal patina and we made an awesome long necklace with the long tube bead we created.  I'm really please with how the tube bead turned out - however, when I made the hole through the bead, I kind of mangled the inside! But I like it on the outside!

The Gallery was a nice place, with some interesting sculpture on the outside.  There were many more, but here's a few examples.

Heather has a new book coming out in December, you can already pre-order it on Amazon.  A lot of what we did in this retreat was taken from inspiration from her book!  Kind of a sneak peek!

And Andrew always has some great classes going on at Allegory Gallery - if you are in the area, you should definitely go, but even if you aren't, you should check them out!  There may be some classes that you just HAVE to take! 

Susan Kennedy

Making Wild Horse Beads: The "Hole" Story

This weekend I had a mess of various polymer colors scattered over my worktable (in addition to some leftover leather scraps from another project)—I've been working on a few new color schemes for my Flying Arrow Horses.

These little horses are currently my most favorite bead to make. Okay, yeah I have to admit that my favorite bead to make changes quite a lot… but there's really nothing wrong with that—I love making what I love making most and enjoy going with that flow.

For all my Wild Horse beads the most tricky part of their making is piercing the hole, or at least it was and for the longest time I put off making them because I didn't like doing the holes. If you've ever tried to pierce a nice, long straight hole through a long, thin piece of squishy polymer and actually get it to end up where you want it at the other side, and without damaging the detail you have so carefully created, you know what I mean! It wasn't until one of my lovely customers asked me about making horses that I started to consider it more seriously and finally I made my first batch of Wild Horses and in the process figured out how to make piercing easier and nearly fool proof. I highly doubt if I'm the first one to do holes this way, but whatever… I just love that it works for me!

So today… you have my Wild Horse "Hole" Story…

They all start out in a mold that I made from my original sculpture. Yes, I use molds for many of my beads—they make it SO much easier to make dozens of the same shape without the annoyance and extra time of trying to match them up. I only cast for the most simple details, and then add the rest by hand. Right before I remove the horse from the mold, I use a large needle to create the hole channel—the key to my easy hole!

I do all the detailing with the little horse resting on the needle, this fills in the hole and keeps it from collapsing while I work.

Once the details are all applied and I'm happy with them, I test each horse to ensure they can stand. I love that these beads would also be perfectly happy living in a shadow box!

They then must pass inspection from my sweet little cat Grapenut, aka Mr Fluffy. He often sits in my lap while I work, chin resting on my table, watching the beads take shape. He takes is job very seriously and was bugged by the fact that I wanted to take his photo!

After a short trip to the oven for the first curing, I fill in the hole channels with raw polymer.

I add a thick layer of polymer to the back, trim…  

… and finally pierce! The piercing runs smoothly through the raw polymer filled channel giving you a nice clean and straight hole!

And lastly, I carefully trim away the back to give it a more finished carved texture. 

One horse completed and ready for final curing… time for another cup of coffee and more horse making!

And here's the finished result… after a few washes of paint and polishing…

These are my russet brown horses… the palomino horses that I was working on in this post weren't quite ready for a photo shoot, but will be following after into my shop in the next few days!

The End.

Rebekah Payne

Tree Wings Stuido

Shop: treewingsstudio.etsy.com

Blog: treewingsstudio.com