Hurricanes and Focal Beads

Volume 12 Issue 9, September 2015

What's New in September?

Here I sit staring down a hurricane and putting the final touches on the September newsletter. It is my hope that it stays out in the ocean and away from my coast since I sit right on the edge that it is forecasted to skirt by. After 30 years of Florida living, I am fairly used to these kind of things. You stock up and you prepare. Then you wait. Don’t buy too many popsicles lest the freezer go out and do buy lots of bottled water and peanut butter. Check. I am ready.

Speaking of stocking up, my creative sparks have been flying, and there are a lot of beads to stock up on. I have been playing this month, and the results are about 30 new focal beads in a variety of styles and shapes. In addition, I am designing earrings for the celebrities attending the gifting suite by GBK for the Golden Globes. We are presenting earrings as part of The Artisan Group, and I am fiddling with designs. The upside of my playing is that I have a lot of new things that are heading onto the website. Like this new two sided peacock feather focal bead featuring my waterslide decals. Be sure and look for one of our cabochons in the next issue of Stringing magazine.

More Beads: My focus has bee on focal beads this month, so there are a lot of new beads featuring waterslide decals, faux marble and distressed appearances. I carved, inked and painted until my fingers were blue. Literally.

Charm Bracelets: From Christmas to cowboys, I have a couple stackable bracelet sets put together with many more on the idea table.

Art Prints: I am adding prints and other products to the site that feature my art and photography. I am also including a digital art section.

You will find all of my beads, canes and finished jewelry on my website. www.bluemorningexpressions.com

Until next month,

Julie & Blu

Things to Look Forward To:

New Products:

Watches: I am making new rose beads to add to watches, and I am considering creating bead kits with the watches so you can make your own.

Thimbles: I am working on getting some new thimbles created. I only have two left, and I want to add another dozen or so to the website.

Bangle bracelets: It took me a long time, but I finally got the blanks built to finish my smaller bangle bracelets. They are a lot of work to build from scratch and take a considerable amount of time, but they are ready for me to decorate with flowers and such.

I’ve Lost My Marbles

 

Sometimes, I actually get time to play in my little “studio” (that’s just another name for my card table set up with all my polymer tools and art supplies) in order to try out new techniques and have fun. My last experiment was with inks and crackle, which later became my “Yellowstone Series” of beads. These beads can be seen in the latest issue of Ritzy Too ezine and on my website under lentil beads. I had more ideas, but while I was waiting on those beads to cure and dry, I started some other experiments.

I have long been fascinated by the patterns and swirls in a good piece of marble.

Guess what these will be:

 

I know that it is hard to tell from this photo where I am going with these, but after a few hours of really manipulating some polymer mixtures, I managed to smash together some beads and bake them.  Those beads then got a good coating of acrylic before sanding. The sanding was long and tedious, and I managed to wear down a couple of fingernails in the process. However, it was well worth it when I got the finished results. The new focal beads are not uniform, and they may come in twos and threes, but they are not matched. It was too hard to measure and form due to the stiffness of the polymer mixture, but I tried to get close.

Here are some of the results:

If you are a jewelry designer looking for a some unique beads, these may fit the bill. They are all hand-sanded through several grits and polished by hand. You get all of the look of refined and polished marble without the weight of the stones.

I am very happy with the results, but it’s going to be awhile before I make faux marble again, so get them while you can.

Enjoy

Julie and Blu

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The Yellowstone Series and Bracelets

Volume 12 Issue 8, August 2015

What's New in August?

Heading into the hottest part of the year, and all it’s done is rain, rain and more rain. Strangely, all this new rain has revived an exhausted banana pepper plant and encouraged it produce at least one more pepper for me to sprinkle up onto a pizza. I thank it kindly!

I am working on a new list of products that I will spend the rest of the summer creating and designing, so that they will be ready for the early Christmas shopping season. I am exploring new ideas, techniques and designs. I have had time to play in the studio, and I got out paints, inks and all other sorts of gooey, goopy things to stick my hands into. I need to wear my smock for this kind of play. I do like the way things turned out for my experimental round. These beads are part of the new “Yellowstone Series” of beads that mimic the looks, colors, textures and landscapes of those found in Yellowstone National Park. As many of you already know, I am a big an of this amazing playground.

More Beads: In addition to the Yellowstone Series, I am working on more beads with inks and some faux marble.

Charm Bracelets: From Christmas to cowboys, I have a couple stackable bracelet sets put together with many more on the idea table.

Art Prints: I am adding prints and other products to the site that feature my art and photography. I am also including a digital art section.

You will find all of my beads, canes and finished jewelry on my website. www.bluemorningexpressions.com

Until next month,

Julie & Blu

Things to Look Forward To:

New Products:

Watches: I am making new rose beads to add to watches, and I am considering creating bead kits with the watches so you can make your own.

Thimbles: I am working on getting some new thimbles created. I only have two left, and I want to add another dozen or so to the website.

Bangle bracelets: It took me a long time, but I finally got the blanks built to finish my smaller bangle bracelets. They are a lot of work to build from scratch and take a considerable amount of time, but they are ready for me to decorate with flowers and such.