I am featured on Art Bead Scene Blog: June Monthly Challenge Blog Tour

I can not enough underscore the importance of Art Bead Scene for my creative journey in jewelry making. So when I am featured on their blog I am always exceptionally proud and happy. And now it has happened again! Yihaaaaaa!

Go and check Erin's post and wrap up list that will take you on a very inspiring blog tour indeed, with a good bunch of participants for the challenge for June. I am honored to be one of them.

Here's the link to the blog tour post on Art Bead Scene.

Here's the link to my own post for my contribution.

All my best!

Expedition Mattssons Band

Crazy Andrew's Crazy GiveAway

Hey! You do like beads, don't you!?! You like art beads extra much? Well, what are you waiting for? Andrew (who obviously has gone just a little bit crazy this time) is having a give-away at his blog. I've already done what is asked for. I do hope I will win. I would be crazy happy.

The goodie bag includes items from: Green Girl Studios, Diane Hawkey, Pam Wynn and Heather Wynn-Millican, Susan Lenart Kazmer, Raven's Journey, Lisa Peters Art, HumbleBeads, Earthenwood Studio, Amazing Porcelain

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Two summery bracelets

Summer has arrived with unusually warm temperatures here in Sweden. It's lovely, and all I wanna wear is clothes that keep me cool. Like white cotton or linen clothes. Long skirts and loose sitting tops. Sandals on my feet and a sunhat on my head. So I think some casual macrame bracelets to go with that outfit are needed. I've made two over the last couple of days. I love the casual feel of this style of jewelry.

No 1.

Thin thin nylon cord in a light kaki color.

Brown/goldy sidedrilled cylindrical bead in polymer clay by myself.

Ceramic beads by Elaine Ray. One fern colored and one light blue.

Czech glass beads in various colors and shapes.

Brass beads.

Howlite flat egg shaped bead.

Bone round bead.

No.2

Light grey waxed cotton string.

A green ceramic rose and a tan round bead by Gaea.

Yellow lampwork spacer bead by Genea. I loooove the color on that one.

Tan macaroni bead by Elaine Ray.

Czech glass.

Brassy round beads with an eye/leaf pattern.

Check out this great tutorial from Ornamentea on a really clever and easy way to do macrame. I would like to call it 'free-hand macramé'. No board is needed, no clips, no pins, no extra things apart from the string and the beads. You can sit anywhere doing this.

Lana is hosting a huge Give-Away

Lana is hosting a huge give-away with lots of awesome things. Head over to her blog to find out more.

Feeling All Radiant And Wishful On A Sunday

1. Clear Czech glass buttons, antique vintage, 18mm - Oridotan

2. Vintage plastic buttons - Oridotan

3. Handbuilt Porcelain Bead Set - PorcelainJazz

4. Gears Connector donated by Joan Miller Porcelain - BeadsOfClay

5. Extra Large antique red kimono silk focal - Moogin

6. Glass Hoop Focal Bead - BlueKarmaBeads

1. Large Bronze Starburst Focal, Connector or Clasp - DreamSome

2. Silver Flat Oval Bead Hill Tribe Silver, Large 39mm X 20mm - PottyMouthGems

3. Tiny Heart Charms, Karen Silver, 4 Pieces - RainbowBeads

4. Copper Natures Swirl Pendant or Charm (Sea Shell Imprint) - KDemARTe

1-4. All pictures are of Raku Fired Jewelry Components - Kristie Roeder of ArtisanClay

1. Mid Century Copper Enamel Charger by Annemarie Davidson - MascaraJones

2. Pinwheel Bowl - Catherine Reece

3. Porcelain Dish - SeaUrchin (C-Urchin)

ABS June Challenge Necklace - Somewhere Down The Crazy River

My contribution for the June Challenge at Art Bead Scene became a necklace. It has undergone a few transformations on it's journey to the final piece. Started off as a bracelet with Gaea's green button as the clasp and center piece. 7 strands of waxed linen cord strung with Delica beads size 11/0. But I couldn't make the clasp solution look good. Gave up after trying about 10 different ways. Moody about it of course. I really like all those strands.
One of the first things I picked out from my stash when starting on the challenge piece was the multi-holed pendant from RoundRabbit. Hey, look at that. I can combine them! I like!!!!

Also tried quite a few different solutions for the chain/ribbon part. Ended up simplifying it more and more. Now it's only a chain and a leather ribbon. And I kept shortening it too. I generally don't make necklaces as short as this one. But with a pendant like this you want it to sit higher. And you want the fringy bit to hang by the clevage.
Here's another pathetic try by me to take a photograph with myself as the model. This was the least bad one anyway. I might have a new solution to this "show the piece on" problem. Will see tomorrow how it works. Now I must add a note to this paragraph. I just realized this particular photo wasn't taken by myself at all. My 7 year old daughter took it for me. I guess she didn't keep her hand all that steady either ... Sorry for being unclear.

Below is the art piece by Odilon Redon we are supposed to be inspired by. It's a lovely lovely painting/pastel. And it was very easy to be inspired by it. I do have some more things simmering on my bead table for more contributions. We'll see if I finish any more of them off.Here on flickr you can see some more contributions from other jewelry artists. More will be added through until the end of the month. So keep coming back if you are the curious kind.

All my best!

Malin

Song of Today

Welcome to a session of goose pimples!

(Sorry I miss-spelled before, so it became another word. I've meant PIMPLES all along, nothing else!)

Shall we compare them? The goose pimples I mean!

I've moved all my previous "Song of Today" to a separate page, which you will find the link to in the new tab bar just below the header of the blog. Every time I add a new song I will do it as a post. Then I will also add it on that page.

Inspired by ABS June Challenge - outside competition

A beautiful painting/pastel by Odilon Redon is this month's inspiration art piece on ArtBeadScene. It creates a huge lust to create jewelry in me. Yellow-yellow-yellow. And some gray and white and black and sharp blue, and ....

I also drifted away in my thoughts about this artist. I had never seen this piece before. When I think of him I think mainly of mystical (obscure) surrealistic (before the real Surrealists entered the scene) drawings/prints in black and white. I went on a hunt on the internet and gathered a few of the things I am referring to.

I just happen to have quite a few beads and stuff in my stash that would go perfectly with the style of the pieces in the collage I put together. Just look at these buttons, which I purchased about 6 months ago, with, among other things, earrings in mind. At last I got a reason to actually put them together. Thanks ArtBeadScene! Due to them not containing any Art beads as such I can't put them in the competion. But who cares.

Of course they are called Odilon. Dangles nicely. I'll wear them tomorrow when we are going to the technical museum here in Stockholm. Meeting up with my mum and brother there.

BTW - Bead Table Wednesday - Some new things - 110601

A necklace in development.

Will hopefully match:

Earrings - You Are The Sunshine Of My Life. Fantastic glass lampwork discs by GardanneBeads. Their hue and color shiftings are very difficult to capture in a photograph. They are golden, honey, lime, amber, and hints of other colors too. I suspect some kind of partial AB also, but only very subtle. Wrapped with oxidized copper wire and combined with ripe fruit colored czech glass rondelles. Ear hooks in oxidized copper by ... sorry, I can't remember right now, but they are hand-made.

Rockin's - earrings. Rock shaped glass beads wire wrapped with heavily oxidized copper wire and hung from ear hooks by E2SSupplies. The black and the crystal strangely creates a very summery feel.

I will list both the earrings in my Etsy shop later today or tomorrow.