January Component of the Month - from the vaults? Use your stash!

Do you ever sit in your bead room and look over the treasure, hoard, art beads you have collected? Do you love them, fondle them, call them Precious? Gorgeous miniature works of art that you needed to have, even though you weren't sure how you were going to use them in a finished piece...

Then this is the COM challenge for you! 

Harry, Ron, Hermione in Bellatrix's vault at Gringott's 

Does your studio, bead room, dining room table, work space look like Bellatrix LeStrange's vault? Piled high with treasure, and avalanche if you touch the wrong stack? 

This past August, after Beadfest, Jennifer and Lesley were at my house and we were trading a few last beads before they had to leave.  The idea was tossed out that we do a one-of-a-kind Component of the Month challenge where we USE OUR STASH! Pull out a piece we had been holding on to, a treasure created by one of our AJE team mates... and put it to creative use. Brilliant!

So for January we are challenging each other in a new way: AJE members will use an art bead/component in a finished piece; an art bead/component created by any one of their team mates. This diverse array of work will be blogged on the reveal date of January 31st, 2015.

And for you? Our loyal readers have more chances to win! There are 8 members, each contributing pieces/prizes. How to win? Leave a comment ( and email) below,. you know the drill!  And we encourage our fellow bead hoarders, collectors, art bead aficionados to create along with us. Even if you don't win one of these featured pieces - raid your stash! Delve into your treasure and create using an art bead by any AJE member.

You could win one of these: 

Top: Sue Kennedy, Lindsay Starr, Jen Cameron. Center: Caroline Dewison.
Bottom: Lesley Watt, Melissa Meman, Kristen Stevens. 

Winter snowflake: Linda Landig

Bonus: because I couldn't decide between these two wintery options. 

If you would like to play, here are the rules…

• The AJE team will give away the components pictured above to 9 winners; selected randomly from those who leave comments below this post. Your comment must include your EMAIL address so we can contact you should you win.
• Which piece are you winning from the picture above? Let us surprise you! 
• Please — only leave a comment if you can commit to creating a finished piece and blogging about it on the reveal date.
• The names of the 9 winners will be announced on December 17, 2014.
• This giveaway is open to US and international countries, but please be aware that international addresses will have longer postage times… sometimes up to 3 weeks.
• The blog reveal will take place on January 31, 2015.

Steampunk + Art Beads = Fun!

This weekend I will be attending The Steampunk World's Fair in Piscataway, NJ.  I went last year for the first time and had a blast.  One of the ways I met more people was by hosting a trinket swap.  Since everyone seemed to enjoy it, I am hosting it again this year.  Participants create wearable, steampunk-themed trinkets that we then swap with each other (full details are here).  It was a fun way to encourage people to get crafty, make new friends AND introduce people to art beads.

Last year I created porcelain gears that had clasps attached to them.  For this years swap, I went with stoneware keyhole charms.  They are in the greenware stage in the photo above.  Once they dried, I sponged them and bisque-fired them.

After the bisque firing, I stained each with an oxide and loaded them in to the kiln.  You can see them in the photo on the left at the bottom of the kiln.

And here they are after the firing!

To fulfill my swap requirement of them being wearable, I hung each from some ball chain necklaces that I purchased through MyElements.  Since ball chain can be easily cut with a pair of scissors, participants can decide how they would like to wear them (necklaces, keychains, etc...)

Of course, I had to go a step further and make cute packaging for each trinket.  I punched a hole in my Moo cards and slid them on to the chain.  Then I stamped mustaches on the envelopes and sealed each with washi tape.  I was having so much fun with my mustache stamps that I went ahead and stamped the bag I'll be carrying them in.  

I'm looking forward to Saturday and I can't wait to see what the other trinket swappers have created!

Happy Beading!

Diana P.

Suburban Girl Studio LLC