The Look of Love . Mixed Media Necklace

The team I belong to on etsy, Artisan Beaders Street Team, has started a Valentine's Day themed challenge. This is not a promotional challenge, just an design challenge, hopefully to get us off our butts and create something new!

I thought about the idea and decided to go a little unconventional. I created a mixed media necklace featuring a vintage photo of a married couple from an earlier time. Click on the photo to go to the listing and find out a bit more about the materials and techniques I used to make this one-of-a-kind necklace.

Color :: Value

You may have noticed that link on the right to the Artisan Beaders Blog. My teammates and I maintain that interesting informative blog. I've been organizing and posting many of the "Technique Tuesday" posts over there. This post was originally published there, but I thought my readers here might enjoy it too.


I own several books on color theory, but my favorite by far is Color Works by Deb Menz. It not only covers the basics, but it goes far beyond that. And, it is specifically written for crafters of all sorts including beaders, quilters, knitters, weavers and spinners.

One of the most important things I've learned from this book is the concept of value. Value is a comparison of a color to a gray scale. One of the many fun interactive tools in the book is aimed at helping determine the value of a color by providing a gray scale like this:



Deb Menz suggests squinting a bit when comparing a color to this gray scale because squinting restricts the part of your eye that sees color. Using this scale may take some practice.

Why is it important to understand the value of a color? Because value is the first characteristic of a piece of art that you will notice, especially when viewed from a distance. Think about how certain colors "pop" when used with certain other colors. Look at this elaborate bead embroidered piece by Deb of Rosevine Design:


The first thing that catches the eye is the yellow, which generally has the lowest value of all colors on the color wheel.

The same color "pop" happens with the orange-yellow flowers on the left side of this fused glass night light from Deronda Designs:



The way I use this information in my jewelry and other art works is to first determine what affect I'm trying to achieve. If I want a soft, muted piece, I limit my color choices to a small range of values. When I want to assure that a certain part of a piece gets noticed, I venture into a very different range of value for that part.

Sea of Hope - Artisan Beaders Bracelet Auction!

The Artisan Beaders Street Team I belong to has just begun a new fundraising effort. As a team, we created a sea themed charm bracelet. On our team blog, we are conducting an auction to raise money for an extremely worthy charity: RAINN.


The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network is the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE and the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline at rainn.org, and publicizes the hotline's free, confidential services; educates the public about sexual assault; and leads national efforts to prevent sexual assault, improve services to victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.


Please be sure to visit the team blog and read about our efforts and to make a bid on this awesome and meaningful piece of jewelry.

Rosevine Design - Embellishments toTreasure

Deb, the genius behind Rosevine Design, is another of my teammates on the Artisan Beaders Street Team on etsy. She does amazing things with seed beads. Her attention to detail is unmatched and her sense of style and composition is perfect.

This bracelet is magnificent. It features a huge turquoise cabochon and, dare I say, thousands of glass seed beads, all hand stitched in place. Make a statement by wearing this piece!


This necklace also begins with a large piece of turquoise, but you can see that it is very different indeed. Deb has embellished this necklace with lots and lots of fringe in a creamy color. You can also see the pale coral accents --- what a perfect complement to the turquoise.


Visit Deb's shop on etsy to see all of her gorgeous creations.

The Jewelry Box - Lovely Jewelry by Brenda

Brenda is another of my teammates on the Artisan Beaders Street Team. Her etsy shop is chock full of delightfully romantic and feminine jewelry designs.

This lovely bracelet is joyful and full of different greens ... perfect for spring. The greens include prehnite and peridot and adorable little butterflies ... all in a well balanced design that makes this piece of jewelry so easy to wear.

Brenda also knows how to keep it simple and classic. The earrings below feature luminous tiger eye briolettes and very special brass earwires.


This next pair of earrings epitomizes Brenda's romantic style. I love the way she combined the intricate filigree with delicate beaded drops.Be sure to visit Brenda's etsy shop and don't miss her shop on 1000Markets!

Shiny Adornments - Artisan Handmade Jewelry

Today I'm featuring one of my teammates from the Artisan Beaders Street Team. Kristy of Shiny Adornments is a talented bead and wire working artist who is also quickly becoming an artistic metalsmith.

I admire Kristy's creativity and uniqueness in design, as found in her DNA Double Helix Necklace . Her skill as a wire worker is unmatched.

Kristy also knows how to "keep it simple", as seen in these classic earrings:

In addition to her Etsy shop, Kristy also maintains a shop on Artfire. Stop by both of them to see all she has to offer. Don't miss her hand forged hoops and her lovely hairsticks.

Last, but certainly not least, Kristy's blog is amazing. She keeps it up-to-date with all sorts of useful information for promoting your online business.

Island Girl - Fireball Beads

Isn't this just about the cutest thing you've ever seen? It's a lampworked gumball machine from Island Girl on etsy, one of my teammates on the Artisan Beaders Street Team. Lynne is very talented with the torch and creates all sorts of sculptural and artistic glass beads.




I can envision a whole ensemble of jewelry made from this green set of beads. Check out Lynne's shop to see some more of her florals and her whimsical bird beads.


Lynne is from Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada. She runs a seasonal gallery that features her handmade lovelies.

Broken Teepee Designs - Handcrafted Gemstone Jewelry. Made in Montana

This blog post is all about my friend and extraordinarily talented teammate, Patty of Broken Teepee Designs.

We are both members of the Artisan Beaders Street Team on Etsy. I have come to know Patty and consider her a dear friend. Her jewelry designs are outstanding. She has mastered the use of color by choosing and combining the highest quality gemstones.

One of my favorite pieces of Patty's is her necklace (actually 2 necklaces!) entitled Eastern Spice, seen on the right. The earthy colors Patty selected are both warm and exotic at the same time. Beautiful citrines, green garnets and sapphires are brought together in Patty's talented hands to create the gorgeous focal point of the main necklace.

The second necklace is simpler, but is a perfect complement to the complexity of the one above. This photo shows both pieces and how they nest together to form an elegant and truly special jewelry set. Be sure to visit Patty's Etsy shop to see more of her unique jewelry. Plan on visiting her often, as she updates her shop frequently. You don't want to miss a single pice of Patty's handcrafted gemstone jewelry, made in Montana