Art Elements Theme of the Month April 2020: Bees

When I first saw that the April Theme of the Month from the Art Elements blog was bees, I was equal parts excited and nervous.  I actually had a moment where I was worried that I wouldn't have much to choose from in my stash since I made a whole bunch of bee jewelry last year for a different challenge.  It was clearly a needless concern... (and full disclosure, I found a few more things after I took this picture!)

The first thing I whipped up for this month's challenge was a cute little pair of earrings with beehive charms from Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio.  Since yellow isn't always the best seller for me (sad face) I decided to pair the ceramics with some lightweight polymer clay discs with honey yellow, bronze, and turquoise from Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I topped things off with an extra pop of blue from a little Czech glass bead.

Next, I decided to put together a little bracelet rich in art beady goodness.  I took a set of coin beads from Humblebeads and just added a few extra beads to the mix.  As much as I love the colors and textures in this set, I've been at a loss as how to best use them.  I ended up getting inspired by an old bracelet design that Heather shared ages ago... it was the perfect way to get these cuties out of my stash and into the world!

I knew that I wanted to make at least one buzzy bee necklace.  The obvious place to start was with one of the lovely hand painted wood pendants from Summer Wind Art.  I had picked out some Czech glass flower beads to go with one of them a while back, but hadn't circled back to the design until now.  Since I'm kind of guilty of going monochromatic sometimes, I really wanted to push beyond the blues for this one.  I chose some lovely faceted citrine rondelles to break things up and echo the golden yellow from the bee's body and the center of the flower.

Since I had my box of yellow beads out already for the citrines in the last design, it only made sense to whip up one more necklace that used mostly beads from that same box!  (I'm not the only one who logics my creative flow this way, am I??)  Anyway, I wanted to give the the cute little bee and honeycomb pendant from Humblebeads a little more physical and visual heft and a little Yellow Jade nugget was just the thing!  I made bead links with Czech glass in both an ivory Mercury glass finish and yellow/amber, faceted golden blood quartz, and some fun copper hexagons from Allegory Gallery.

Here's a closer look at the front and the back of the pendant.  It would be just as pretty worn backwards!

This is a blog hop.  Please check out what the other participants were inspired to make!

AE team:

Niky

Sue

Jenny

Jen

Cathy

Marsha

Guests:

Tammy

Cat

Alysen

Kathy

Sarajo (you are here)

Kelly

Evie and Beth

Hope

Inspired by Reading: The Bees

This month's book club selection for the Inspired by Reading Book Club was The Bees by Laline Paull.  I really tried to get into this one... I gave it way more pages than I normally would before giving up... but after 170 pages I finally had to let it go.  For whatever reasons, the story of the lowly sanitation worker bee, Flora 717, just didn't do much for me.  To me it seemed like strange circumstances just buffeted Flora from one job to another in the hive... jobs that she should never have held.  Since I didn't read any farther, I don't know for sure, but it felt formulaic like she was just going to keep getting new part time positions all the way up the chain of command.  I also had a hard time with the mixing of what felt like authentic bee behavior with the anthropomorphisms the author gave the bees.  

Not liking (or finishing!) a book didn't stop me from playing along!  Just don't be looking for deep symbolism here!  Anyway, I have a bunch of bee themed beads in my hoard so it was a challenge to decide what to play with first... especially knowing I might not finish more than one design at this late date.  In the end, I chose to start by playing around with a little design set that I bought from Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio at Bead & Button this year.  There was actually a third piece to the set, a matching round bead, that I ended up not using in this necklace but I'm sure I'll eventually find the perfect use for it!

I had some copper wire that I had darkened with liver of sulphur a while back (memo to self... I need to patina another batch soon) that I used to make my wire wrapped links.  My design started with the ceramic donut from Michelle's design kit.  I knew I wanted to use it as a wire wrapped link so I dug around and found some yellow Mookaite coins to balance out that side of the necklace.  for the other side I did a mix of Mookaite faceted rondelles and smooth yellow agate rounds in a honey yellow.  I had a vision for the back part of the necklace to be strung with a mix of Czech glass and seed beads so I wanted something a little different for the clasp.  I decided to dust off my wire working skills and try my hand at a copper hook clasp.  I used raw copper and then antiqued it with liver of sulphur.  It's not perfect, but pretty good for a first try!

Next up: a necklace featuring a pendant by our very own Andrew Thornton he made for Allegory Gallery's Sweet Honey Challenge.  I love the way he created the effect of honeycomb dripping with honey in this polymer and resin focal.  I added a little raw brass bee that I "antiqued" with some black paint.  (I actually started out with a different, darker brass bee from Vintaj, but it didn't pop like this one does.)  As I was pulling beads together I thought that this would be a good time to use some little hexagonal hematite beads as well as some honey colored Vintage German glass.  I strung those with some seed beads and tiny Czech glass rondelles for one side and went with beaded links for the other. using Czech glass flowers and rounds.  I guess I was just keeping up the asymmetrical theme!  I love how this one turned out and I don't think I can bear to part with it!

I also whipped up a little seed bead and jump ring bracelet in colors that made me think of honey and a button that TierraCast calls "Flower of Life" but I think looks like honeycomb... especially in this gold plated version.  This one was made with some lovely metallic leather from Tracee Dock's shop Classic Elements.  These seed beads have the loveliest glow that I'm afraid my picture doesn't capture.

Thanks for stopping by to check our my latest book club creations!

Buzzing with Happy Bee Jewelry News

This summer when I was selling my jewelry at the Waconia Farmers Market I had the pleasure of meeting Kelley Flanders as he was selling honey next to me.  In chatting with him I learned that he and his wife Debbie were opening a shop in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis and that they might be interested in selling some of my bee and honeycomb themed jewelry when they opened.

Things got a little crazy for me (that seems to be a theme in my life lately!) and I was delayed in getting things made for them, but now that fall has set in I've finally been able to follow through and get some new bee jewelry made and take it to the shop.

Look at all that honey!  And that's just one part of the store.

Here are a few of the exclusive designs from me that you will be able to find over at Minnesota Honey Company:

Twin Cities peeps should definitely take some time to buzz on over and check out their fun little shop!  I was just there today and there is a TON of stuff that would make great gifts this holiday season.

Minnesota Honey Company
4956 Xerxes Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55410
612-920-3510

Buzzin' Around

I'm sure that you can all imagine that I have been buzzin' around trying to get ready for the Artsy Market (and I have!), but that's not what this post is about, not really.

In one of my first orders of Vintaj supplies I picked up a pack of Queen Bee Connectors and some Busy Bee Charms.  I'm not sure why I bought them, just because I thought they were cute I guess, and they've been sitting in my stash for a while.  Now they languish no more!

Also in my stash was a ceramic bee pendant from Kylie Parry.  In the process of making a necklace with that piece (and getting a little "stuck" on that one) I ended up making this super cute set of Honey Bee Earrings.  I love the way these yellow beads that I picked up on a whim look a little like honey comb and a little bit like bee hives!

Next came the matching Honey Bee Necklace.  I added some fun new clear yellow teardrop shaped beads above the bee connectors so that I could do just one strand of chain around the back of the necklace.  In a pleasant surprise, these links look like pollen that these busy bees have collected!

After these two projects were done, I finally went back to the necklace that I had originally meant to make with renewed inspiration.  It's funny how "productive procrastination" often works out for me.  So here is my last bee piece...for now anyway!