Devine Designs Jewelry

On Saturday, I went to a great lecture class at the Florida Craftsmen . The speaker was Wendy Rosen of the Art Business Institute . I would highly reccomend any workshop that is offered at the ABI . Author and jewelry designer, Sharilyn Miller has another great workshop to offer. "Little metal books" . You can create hand cut copper books to use as a diary or an artist's journal. They're really cool! And I have my next art show to get ready for on January 19 | 10am-6pm and January 20 | 11am-5pm; the 8th Annual Suncoast Arts Fest in Wesley Chapel, Florida. More to follow.......

How did I ever live without a cordless, hand powered bead reamer? For the longest time I used an old standard, screw in the pin and crank your hand around and press and turn until I had blisters and sometimes no results with a bead! I'm stubborn that way; until recently I finally broken down, and decided to spend the money and get a battery operated one. WOW! What a difference! Now I can enlarge a bead opening in seconds flat, with no pain! I gone one like this, which cost about $22.00. Many sellers on Etsy do sell them. Or if you want to get an electric one, they cost around $42.00. I've seen those on Etsy also, or you can get them at Rio Grande . You can actually see a demo of bead reaming by one of my favorite teachers and designers, Sharilyn Miller , by clicking here .

Today I thought I would share with you some interesting web sites out there that I've discovered while reading other's blogs. The first being "The Bead Museum", located in Glendale Arizona, which showcases beads from around the world, the history of beads, their various cultural representations, and more. If you like history, and value art work, you must check out this museum. Here's their web address: http://www.beadmuseumaz.org/exhibitionspermanent.htm I found this information on the "Art Bead Scene Blog", another good read! The next few good sites I found while browsing through a wonderful metal smith's blog: http://doxallodesigns.blogspot.com/2009/05/favorites-friday-ff.html where she sights one of her favorite places for gem resources (and great customer service) http://www.gemresources.com/ Wow! Great prices right now on gemstones! Raw and cut stones plus lots of information. And if you go to their "shop talk" page: http://www.gemreso...

Ah, my latest and (in my opinion) my greatest project to date. Let me first begin by giving credit where credit is due. These gorgeous lampwork beads were created by Moon Stumpp, you can find her work on Etsy at Mixed Media Jewelry, or see my sidebar for her blog and in the "websites I like for lampwork" section. Most of all the techniques used to create this piece were taught by Sharilyn Miller, who can also be found in my sidebars. Great news too! She has just started another blog of wire jewelry tutorials: http://wirejewelrylessons.blogspot.com/ Stop by and check it out! The beautiful spiral disc is wrapped and has added spirals in copper. I made the twisted wire jump rings as I've made before, and the copper tube beads were fun to make! Such a great appearance they have and statement they can make especially for this type of necklace design. Rather old, warrior, ethnic looking artifacts if you will. Lots of texture have been applied; deep oxidation for that "reli...