Famous Jewelry Collections: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 04:28 AM PDT

Many of you may already have come across Mary Lee Hu's amazing wire art jewelry. This renowned and pioneering metalsmith has been making fluid and elegant designs since the 1960's.

Her fascination with metals began early. She already decided to work in that medium when she was just 16. She later obtained both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Fine Arts. Now based in Washington, she has had an amazing career, winning numerous awards and exhibiting her work in many places. She also taught at the University of Washington for 16 years until her retirement in 2006 when she became Professor Emeritus.

Her innovative textile approach to wire design is incredibly captivating. The intricate weaving or twining do make the wire pieces look like fabric. She said, "My twining process is based on my study of a Northwest Coast Native American basket that I bought when traveling here for the first time in 1966, but I was living in Ohio at the time."

Picture Sources
Some of them are showcased in Facere Jewelry Art Gallery which is a selling venue for top designers from the US and abroad. A few are also from a preview earlier this year of a retrospective exhibition of her best work held at the Bellevue Arts Museum, Seattle. Check out her interview for that show as well as additional pictures of her work here.

There is also a beautiful book Knitted, Knotted, Twisted, and Twined: The Jewelry of Mary Lee Hu which celebrates 100 of her designs over the years. There is apparently a section on wire techniques.

Hat tip to Lisa van Herik of Beadifferent for inspiring this post.

Before You Go:

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips

Monday, July 30, 2012

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Little Windows' $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway for Resin Jewelry Supplies

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 04:49 AM PDT

I featured the wonderful resin jewelry video tutorials by Little Windows before. If you're interested in resin jewelry making, they are certainly worth a good look! Now Fran Valera is back with a special $50 gift certificate for one lucky winner!

The online store not only offers custom jewelry but it also caters for those who wish to make their own. So there are kits, resin, molds, doming trays etc to get you started.

The epoxy resin product Fran sells has a number of virtues which she lists here :

• safest epoxy you'll find

• developed for use with photos

• blends easily so no sticky spots

• allows for small batch sizes

• not a toxic product

• no odor

• no respiratory irritation

• very low bubbling

• no solvents

• can put anything into it, even delicate items

• crystal clear, doesn't get yucky yellow

• shelf life is 3 x longer

Gabby Necklace

But what first attracted me to her site was the excellent free tutorials, both video and PDF and lovely inspirations. Her blog is also worth a visit as Fran includes some great customer designs.

Double Donut Spinner Necklace

It's not just about photos either. This lovely bubble necklace inspiration shared on her blog has embedded beads. As Fran pointed out, the clear nature of the design is attractive for all sorts of things - "great for sun catchers, earrings, lampshades, whatever!"

Another simple embedding idea is for steampunk designs.
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One of the most stunning applications using Little Windows' products are the Kaleidoscope pendants created by Jeanie over at Kaleidoscope Collections. Jeanie used her Kaleidoscope software program, the Kaleidoscope Kreator, to convert pictures into complex patterns. These were printed out on special photo paper and then turned into pendants using the casting and doming techniques.

You can also make all kinds of things based on the resin technique. For example, bling for your fridge - otherwise known as fridge magnets! I really liked this travel memento idea from her blog.

Little Windows is also offering a 15% discount on everything any reader of this blog orders. The code to use is TBGJ15.

Giveaway
If you wish to try your luck for a Little Windows $50 gift certificate, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info if you do not have an online shop or blog.

Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank. Please leave an email at the very least so I can contact you easily if you win.

This giveaway is for US and Canadian readers only.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower or also on Facebook Fan page or Twitter . If you also do shout outs about this giveaway on your favorite forum, own blog, Facebook or Twitter even Google+ etc, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, August 6, 2012. I will pick a winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

Before You Go:

______________________________
Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips