Jewelry Photos- Fun with FALL Props

by Genea C-K

Hello friends!

Yeah, it's late. It's a Sunday night, strange time to post a blog except I just had a TON of fun with this new program Pic Monkey. It's fall, my FAVORITE time of year! Yesterday I got to enjoy creating inside while a thunderstorm rumbled on through out the day. It was WONDERFUL! 

Here is the view from my studio window. When I lampwork this is what I get to enjoy seeing :D

Here is the view out of my other window that was taken today when it was sunny. The weather was a windy 68 and sunny. Perfect for taking some photos.

Here is one of the photos that really made me swoon.

These earrings are by Pink Poppy Studio. Aren't they absolutely GORGEOUS? The beads are so beautiful, but you add a gorgeous fall colored leaf and the piece just comes ALIVE!

So I went out in the sun today to photograph some beads and jewelry for my shop updates this week. It was  very windy and leaves were blowing all over. As I snapped a few pics I reached over and picked up a beautifully colored red leaf.

WOW! You see how this is working? You take  some gorgeous jewelry, add a nice prop and VOILA! You have just created an environment for your piece! I must say I was a little unsure about starting to use some props. I had had a mentor help me with my Etsy shop and she just stressed having plain photos of JUST your work. I knew how much I loved seeing these type of photos and decided to jump in! Clay dings and spacers by Karen Totten. Enameled hoops and lampwork beads by me.

Mmmm gorgeous, huh?! Clay by Marsha Neal Studio, patinated hoops by Karen Totten, weeny dings by me,  Rubber o's by My ELEMENTS,.

Isn't this amazing?! Clay beads by Marsha Neal Studio, Rubber o's by My ELEMENTS, Weeny dings and enameled hoops by me.

All beads by me.

Isn't this photo so beautiful with this red leaf?! I love it! Heart by Staci, clasp, connector and rings by Karen Totten, recycled glass spiral bead and wing dings by me.

Want to know how to really make your photos look pretty?

Hop on over to Pic Monkey(it's free!) upload your photos and create one of these collages!  Hooray for jewelry and fall!

Enjoy!

xo Genea

Inspiration into design- The "Sea Horse" hearts.

blog by Genea C-K

Hello friends!

I am SOOOO excited about my new series of beads inspired by the lovely and talented, Marianne Kasparian of MAKU Stuido, and our very own, Staci Smith of S L Artisan Accents.

From left to right: MAKU heart, Staci's Heart, my heart. The thing about being inspired is to take an idea and make it your own in your medium. It was a total feat in glass to pull of this similar style with my spin. My hands were sweaty and my heart raced! The birth of the "Sea Horse" heart was born!

Here is a photo showing the sizes of some of the hearts. I tried them in a few different sizes, but really loved making them BIG. These are some of my LARGEST beads to date. When you get to making beads this large they get heavy and it's lots of glass to keep warm as you design.

Here is a close-up of one of my favorites. I just LOVE the stripey rainbow snake cane and the gorgeous twisted spiral sparkling pool :D

Love the back side too( he he). The whole " I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave." So many wonderful design elements to look at!

But... success usually comes with failure. When making these HUGE hearts I focused most of my heating efforts on the fin and the little antenae while flashing the rest of the bead to keep it warm. The thing I failed to do was keep the bottom part of the cone warm. OOPS! Duh, right?! This is the thinnest area of glass besides the fin. I was literally "heart broken" about this particular heart.

This one too :( Oh sad. The good thing about failure is that is presents us with an opportunity for a new success. So how does that work? Well upon sharing my sadness with Staci she had some ideas to repair the heart and enhance the design. Her idea is add some precious metal clay to the hearts and "restore" them! I am SOOOO excited to see what she comes up with!

I hope this will inspire you do push the limits of your medium and to take all of your failures and turn them into a new success.

Have a wonderful day!

xo Genea

Inspiration, Unexpected Collaboration! Eleanore Thomas of Spin Culture

blog by Genea C-K

Are you ever inspired? Are you ever inspired by someone elses work? Does that inspiration turn into an unexpected collaboration?! Well that is what happened with Eleanore(Nellie) and us! You might have been introduced to Nellie through her mom's(Karen Totten) post on AJE called Fiber Wire and a Fiber Wire Studio Tour. Nellie is the owner of Spin Culture. She creates hand dyed fibers with which she creates bats to be spun into incredible yarn! 

I have had the extreme pleasure of getting to know Nellie pretty well from our late night chats on facebook :) During some of our chats and through the release of our limited edition collaboration , Nellie was very inspired by our color palettes! She jumped right in and created these wonderful bats from which fiber wire would be created! 

Here is the set that Nellie used for her color inspiration.

Here is an image of the fibers she chose to match on the drum carder.

Here is the finished bat.

and HERE is the INCREDIBLE "Autumn Harvest" fiber wire! 

Here are some of the limited edition collaboration sets that are still AVAILABLE!

"Autumn Heart 1"

"Autumn Heart 2"

"Harvest Heart 2"

Remember, once these sets are gone, they are GONE, so hop on over and grab one before you miss out! ;)

Here are some beautiful designs other artists have been creating with their fiber wire to give you some inspiration!

Necklace by Lorelei Eurto.

Earrings by Staci.

Necklace by Lesley Watt.

Thanks for stopping by!

xo Genea

Sets are finally available!!!!

You can find our limited edition collaborative sets in both of our shops!  So please make sure to browse them all before making up your mind.

Artisan Accents by Staci Louise

Genea Beads

Artisan Accents by Staci Louise

Genea Beads

 

PRE-SALE LIMITED EDITION COLLAB SETS- ON CBC(Creative Bead Chat)!

blog by Genea C-K

Hello friends!

Are you excitedly awaiting the release of our limited edition collab sets? Are you a member of Creative Bead Chat? Well guess what?! For the next 48 hours we will be offering up 5 of our sets there for PRE-SALE before their full debut on Etsy!

Here are the AMAZING sets we have up for pre-sale! Follow this link to the gallery on Creative Bead Chat to find out how to snag your set! Click on the image of the set you like for instructions on how to make your claim :)

We hope you nab one you like! 

See you soon!

xo Genea

And the Winner is......................................

 #44 Kristen!!!!!!!

 

You have won our first limited edition collab set!  We can't wait to see what you do with it!

 

Congratulations.

 

(Please email me at staci.louise@hotmail.com)

 

Thanks to all who entered and shared!  We hope you guys will continue to follow and hang out, and check out the other sets as they are listed!  Your encouragement and excitement about the sets and this blog is rocking!!!!!!  So a real big, heart felt, thank you to all of you!

 

 

xoxo

 

Staci and Genea

Giveaway Time!!!!!

Finally, it's here!  Beginning today, you have one week to try to win this limited edition, collaborative bead set by Genea Beads and (me) Staci Louise of Artisan Accents.

 

Every set is completely one of a kind.  Today, you are entering to win this one............................

 

 

This set is a $60 value

These sets are not being offered to the public yet.  So perhaps you can be the very first one to own one! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

OK, now for the rules.  We really need you to help spread the word about our collaborative sets, so please share this post to be entered.

 

You may share on facebook, twitter and your blog.  For each way you share, you get another entry.

 

YOU MUST LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH WAY YOU SHARE. We count each comment as one entry.  So don't leave one comment saying you shared 3 ways, it only will count once.

 

You get another entry for following our blog.  Again, please leave a separate comment.  If you already follow that counts, leave a comment as well.

 

Giveaway winner will be announced on Monday September 17th. 

 

The rest of the sets will be available for sale in both Genea Beads and Artisan Accents on Friday, September 21st.