2020 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop REVEAL!

 

Welcome to our annual Bead Peeps Swap N Hop Reveal!  This is the 6th year that we've joined this creative project; it's an event where beaders and jewelry designers partner up, swap beads, create and then showcase their creations in blog and social media hops.  Take a look below at the swap we sent and the swap we received!


Our partner this year was Rozantia Petkova from Bulgaria!  She is a regular jeweler blogger known for her accomplished wire work designs, especially creations with beautiful sea glass.  We were so excited to have her as our partner this year, her passion for her craft really shines through in her wonderful creations. ♥

We sent Rozantia a curated collection of beads that focused on gorgeous lampwork beads and a lampwork pendant made by the Dry Gulch gals.  We also sent glass, crystal and stones plus Shibuichi findings.  We can't wait to see what Rozantia creates with her Swap N Hop mix!


  

The beautiful components Rozantia sent us include amazing creations from Bulgaria!  This whimsical collection features pretty lampwork Angel Cat and Hamsa Hand beads from Petrovna Lampwork in Bulgaria, a cute hand painted pebble by Bulgarian artist Niuffa, a flower ceramic component from an artist in Kentucky, USA and finally a BEAUTIFUL hand wrapped sea glass pendant from Rozantia along with her own decoupaged washi tape wood beads.

Each of us tackled a specific item in this collection - the wide range of artisan pieces really made us think out of the box!

Also, we had a twist in the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop this year!  Participants had to add something colored in the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year to our projects.  The color is Classic Blue, so we sent metallic blue crystal beads for Rozantia's project, and she sent us a handmade washi tape bead in Classic Blue for our project.






 


Our first creation came from Gianna, our resident seed beader!  She used Rozantia's washi tape beads as beautiful accents for her design.  She was inspired by the Asian style the washi beads exhibited, so she hand forged an oriental inspired pendant out of iron wire and dangled a gorgeous mother of pearl "gong" pendant from it.  The beautiful Classic Blue bead in the pendant (as well as several beads in the chain) is Rozantia's washi tape creation.  Gianna also wired together two matching linked chain necklaces with vintage glass, freshwater pearls and blue Chalcedony stones.  To really bring a taste of the Orient to this design, she also incorporated several colors and shapes of lovely cloisonne beads!

 

Next, Deborah tackled the brightly colored Hamsa Hand lampwork bead.  She hand knotted coordinating colors of beads using nylon cord and made a fun orange tassel for the pendant.  This bright and summery necklace features vintage Czech glass beads, blue Jade stones and a hand stamped "Good Vibes" brass charm from Catherine.  This necklace is actually a Mala, which is a design made with exactly 108 beads and used by ancient monks and modern yogis alike.  Fun fact, the warm pine wood beads in this Mala have been scented with delicious cedar.

The other artisan piece was a fabulous black Angel Cat bead made by the same Bulgarian artists that created the Hamsa Hand focal.  Catherine loves to wear bracelets and earrings, so she incorporated the Angel Cat into a multi-strand boho leather bracelet.  We've actually featured this Gypsy Spirit bracelet design in several classes for our bead shows, but Catherine used copper glass rings and Czech wampum tubes to "weave" the leather cording in her Angel Cat bracelet.  The clasp features a gorgeous red and gold Czech glass button too.

Finally, Rozantia's beautiful wire wrapped sea glass focal didn't need much to create a gorgeous necklace!  In this collaboration, Deborah hand knotted olivine sea glass beads and sparkling crystals on nylon cord.  Catherine then forged the "bail" connector and the clasp from brass and copper wire to finish off the hand knotted necklace.  This necklace absolutely glows and we love the nature-like colors. ♥

Thank you all for viewing our 2020 Swap N Hop creations!  We want to send Linda Anderson of Bead Peeps a big thank you for hosting the 6th Annual Swap N Hop.  Don't forget to hop to all the links below to see what the other Swap participants created!

2020 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop Partners! 

NON Seed Beaders 

Linda Anderson (Hostess) http://www.instagram.com/cherryontopdesign

Nadine Edris http://www.facebook.com/MoondanceJewelryMaine

Rozantia Petkova https://bairozan.blogspot.com/

Catherine La Vite https://drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE!

Kari Asbury https://www.facebook.com/kariasburyjewelry/

Divya N https://www.jewelsofsayuri.com

Joanne Bell https://www.facebook.com/twinkiedinkyshop/

Sarah Reid http://www.instagram.com/sarahreiddesigns

Gloria Allen https://www.facebook.com/GloriaAllenDesigns/

Jenny Kroeger http://www.facebook.com/reliccharm

Michelle Marson https://www.instagram.com/ellecountry/

Inge von Roos https://ingetraud.wordpress.com/

Colleen Foley https://www.facebook.com/colleenfoleycreations/

Marde Lowe http://fancimardesigns.blogspot.com

TerryJeanette Carter http://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com

Beccy Peterson https://www.facebook.com/Beccyp58/

Jackie Marchant http://www.instagram.com/jackiemariemarchant

Kathy Lindemer https://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/

 Seed Beaders 

Dora Oresic https://www.facebook.com/nakitich/

Palak Udeshi https://www.facebook.com/udeshipalak/

Christina Hickman https://www.instagram.com/laughingsalmon/

Allison Rochelle http://www.instagram.com/akwindsong

Tina Hemr http://instagram.com/mariecaroldesigns

Naomi Knafla https://www.instagram.com/naomiknafla/?hl=en

Renetha Stanziano https://www.instagram.com/rrstanzi/?hl=en

Heather Canepa http://www.instagram.com/canepaheather

Dry Gulch Weekly Pick ~ Amazonite Stones

Welcome to the Dry Gulch Weekly Pick!  Each week, the gals at Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry feature a bead or component or color of the week, and this time we're showcasing the very beautiful stone Amazonite.  We'd love to see what YOU have created with Amazonite, let us know in the comments!

Amazonite is a gorgeous and classic stone that has been used in jewelry since ancient times.  A form of feldspar (a common mineral within the Earth's crust), Amazonite is a brilliant blue-green opaque stone that is also relatively soft, which makes it perfect for beadwork and carvings.  In the country of Jordan, archeologists discovered over 2,000 pieces of Amazonite jewelry dating from ancient times!


The word Amazonite is actually relatively knew, a mineralogist in the 1840s renamed the stone from its original title Microline.  It is believed he derived the name from the beautiful colors of the Amazon River and jungles in South America, however, there are no known mines of the stone in the Amazon.  Today, Amazonite is mostly found in Russia, Myanmar, India, Brazil and the USA.

    

There are several varieties of Amazonite, including Russian Amazonite which features a deeper green color with zebra-like white striping, and Flower Amazonite, which features earthy colors like black, rust and cream mixed with the blue-green colors.  Flower Amazonite is a variety of Amazonite mixed with minerals like black Tourmaline, white Albite, metallic Pyrite (rarely!) and other minerals.  It is technically considered a lower grade of traditional Amazonite, but the range of earthy colors paired with the lovely sky blues really make this variety a true show-stopper.  Other trade names for this stone are Rainbow Amazonite, Black Cloudy Amazonite and Black Gold Amazonite; it is usually mined in Africa.

    

Click our banner below to shop these gorgeous stones on our website!

Shabby Chic Necklaces from Dry Gulch

Happy New Year from Dry Gulch!  It's been a while since we've blogged, but we've been hard at work behind the scenes creating and making for a big and fabulous 2020!  We joined the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop again this year, which is a blog/social media hop event where we partner up with other beaders around the world to swap beads and then post the creations we make with them.  Be sure to check out the Facebook group for more info on this fun event!

In December 2019, we started doing our Dry Gulch Weekly Pick videos, which are short snippets and info bites of some of the beads and stones we carry on our website.  Be sure to take a look at our newest video this week here on our website.  Some of the jewelry we've created with past edition's Weekly Picks are displayed below, you'll notice that we have a love for soft colors like cream, clear and pastel as they're perfect for making designs that you can wear with any outfit.  Let us know which of these creations is your favorite in the comments below!

Art Bead Scene Art Journey 2 - Fairytales, Knotted Crystals and Art Solder

We've been working on some new jewelry designs and components for our upcoming shows and we found some fabulous inspiration by the creators at Art Bead Scene.  We joined their Art Journey 2 challenge this month, and we're excited to show you some of the designs that we were inspired to create!  For the Art Journey, creators are inspired by 3 Art Nouveau illustrations made in the early 1900s.  These beautiful works of art were created by Virginia Frances Sterrett and feature lovely colors, textures and elements reminiscent of fairy tales.


Our first design features gorgeous opalescent crystals and Czech glass cathedrals in colors found in the "Blondine and the Tortoise" - Gianna loves to match colors and we think she did a beautiful job pairing up the pretty blues and pale peaches.  The necklace was hand knotted by Deborah on nylon for a soft, supple look.  We also created lampwork headpins that we can't wait to design with - these pins are our new Unicorn Horn shape made by Catherine and they feature gorgeous mottled blues and greens similar to the Tortoise shell featured in the illustration. 

  

  

Our second design was inspired by "Proserpina and the Sea Nymphs", this pretty illustration features ocean and mermaid themes.  For our design, we again created a hand knotted necklace that features delicious ocean colors of crystal glass beads and cathedral cut Czech glass.  This necklace was designed by Gianna, and knotted by Deborah on a coral colored nylon cord. Our focal echos the coral in the illustration, it is a vintage piece of bright orange branch coral that Catherine topped with an art solder cap.  We used rubber stamps during the molten solder process and we love the barnacle-like texture that came about!

  

Our final design was inspired by the 3rd Art Journey illustration "Blondine Threw Her Arms Around Him" which features Art Deco elements and a lovely white deer.  This bold, geometric illustration prompted Gianna to put together many different kinds of crystal glass beads and Czech cathedrals that Deborah then hand knotted into a long, sparkly necklace.  The focal for this design features several handmade elements like a vintage chandelier teardrop and druzy quartz nugget that Catherine accented with art solder bezels and caps, and a lampwork glass leaf charm from Jennifer.  We have loved adding art solder elements to our designs, the textures are so much fun!

  

  

We have thoroughly enjoyed creating for the Art Journey.  Be sure to check out our entries at the Art Bead Scene gallery, and come see these jewelry designs and many more at our shows this spring in Kansas City, Joplin, Tulsa and Branson.  Don't forget, it all starts with one little bead!

Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2019 Swap Showcase

  

We have once again joined the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop event from Linda Anderson - this year being the 5th year running!  For this event, creators are partnered up to swap beads with each other, then they post their creations on the reveal date and hop to each one and see what everyone has created.


Our partner this year is Sarah Auerbach from New York.  She sells beads in a FaceBook group under the name Larynx Jewels, and also has a jewelry subscription service on her website under the same name.  She started making jewelry to help causes she cared about, and her favorite styles to create include simple, striking and vintage accented with assorted handmade components.  Armed with this info, we sent Sarah a selection of crystals, stones and vintage rice beads in earthy greens, blues and bronzes.  Our artisan components included a lampwork focal, one of our Molten Solder teardrops and Molten Solder links.  We also sent a tasty artisan chocolate bar!

 

We also received our partner's Bead Swap, and it's chock full of fun items!  Sarah sent beads and components that she catered to each of our styles, including seed bead triangles, vintage glass and findings, and some fun comic book beads that she made herself!  She also sent a yummy chocolate coffee bean bar (which we all love!) and a recipe for lavender lemonade (using lavender that she has home-grown) which we can't wait to try.

We already have some fun ideas for all these beads, and can't wait to get started creating.  Be sure to come back and see us on April 7th to see the Big Reveal!

Art Elements February Challenge Reveal - Artisan Jewelry Inspired by the American Kestrel

Welcome to the Art Elements February 2019 Themed Challenge Reveal!  The theme of this month's Challenge was Birds of Prey or Raptors.  Makers were encouraged to submit any kind of artistic endeavor representing these magnificent flying creatures. We created handmade jewelry for this challenge as we have been prepping for our spring shows.  We are headed to Kansas City next week for the 58th Annual Gem, Mineral, Jewelry and Bead Show and we have been working hard to bring our customers lots of new jewelry designs and handmade components.

We are usually inspired by song birds like cardinals, bluebirds and robins, so working with a birds of prey theme with this Challenge was a little out-of-the-box for us.  We have a new song bird pendant focal that we are introducing in our Spring 2019 painted pendant collection, so we incorporated the feather coloring of a bird of prey for one of pendants, an American Kestrel!  We were struck by the lovely colors of the Kestrel, this little falcon features a coat of slate blue, rust, cream and a striking speckled pattern throughout the feathers.  Catherine hand painted all of these elements into our songbird pendant, and then we paired our new focal with a hand knotted crystal bead necklace from Deborah.  Our little Kestrel dangles freely from a hand stamped O-Ring that says "Fearlessly Authentic" - a fitting and inspirational quote!

We also created this boho pair of earrings in the same American Kestrel theme to match with our necklace.  These feathers, inspired by the American Kestrel, have been hand painted in our studio by Catherine and then accented with lots of bling by Gianna.  They're super sparkly and lightweight!


While looking up feather inspiration for our hand painted components, we discovered some interesting tidbits about the American Kestrel.  Read below to learn more about these adorable little falcons!

• The American Kestrel is the smallest and most common falcon in the US.

• Kestrels can be tamed easily and trained quickly - because of this (and their small size), they are popular falconry birds for working in the city.

These American Kestrel jewelry designs and lots more of our new handmade jewelry will be available at our shows in Kansas City, Joplin and Tulsa this spring.  Visit our website for more info on our Dry Gulch shows.

This month's Art Element challenge was hosted by Cathy Spivey Mendola - thank you for an inspiring theme.  Be sure to read through and visit all of the Challenge makers links below for more Birds of Prey inspiration - we'll see you in a few weeks for our next Challenge reveal!



Guests:
Tammy
Beth
Cat
Anita
Kathy
Alysen
Linda
Rozantia
Catherine You Are Here!
Hope
Sarajo
Melissa
Sarah

Art Elements Team Members: 
Caroline
Cathy
Claire
Jen
Jenny
Karen
Laney
Lesley
Lindsay
Marsha
Niky
Sue

Art Elements July Theme Reveal - Funky Seed Pod Jewelry

Welcome to the Art Elements Theme July Challenge Reveal from Dry Gulch.  We missed the June challenge last time, but we made sure to join the July monthly challenge!  We have enjoyed working on our project for the reveal the past few weeks in between getting ready for our summer shows this August.  We would like to send a thank you to hostess Jennifer for putting this challenge together. Don’t forget to visit all of the participating reveals, listed in the links at the end of this blog.

A selection of our late summer garden seed pods & dried berries.  We often use them as photography props.

This month, the Art Element's Theme Challenge was Seed Pods, one of our favorite things!  We tend to a flower and vegetable garden every year, and we always love seeing the different seeds our plants provide.  From the sweet little seeds we plant in the spring, to the dried husks of seed pods throughout the hot summer and cool fall, we enjoy finding inspiration in their rustic and organic shapes.  We have 2 shows that we're preparing for in August, a bead show and vintage show, so we focused on creating a pair of earrings that we could bring along.

 

This pair of earrings showcases our lampwork headpins.  We lampwork in our studio once a week and love to create funky shapes that can be used as charms or in earrings.  We named this shape Dew Pod because they look like little seed pods that have been studded with dewdrops.  In this pair, Catherine melted glass in beautiful caramel raku colors and then added soft metallic gold dewdrops.  Once the headpins were ready, Deborah then paired them with our Ancient Alchemy bead cone caps, filigree brass caps and sparkly Swarovski crystals.  We really like the juxtaposition of the shiny pod lampwork paired with the rough caps!

This pair of earrings and lots more handmade jewelry will be available at our shows in Tulsa, OK and Joplin, MO. Visit our website for more info on our Dry Gulch shows.

We would like to send another big thank you to Art Elements and Jennifer for hosting this fun challenge.  Be sure to hop around all the links below to see all of the participant challenge creations in this month’s reveal!

Guest Artists:

Tammy 

Raven 

Alysen

Anita

Cat 

Kimberly 

Rozantia 

Sarajo 

Divya

Caroline

Catherine

Kathy

Jill
Norma

Art Elements Team: 

Claire

Caroline

Lesley

Niky

Laney

Susan

Marsha

Jenny

Cathy

Jen

Welcome to the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2018 Reveal!

Welcome to the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2018 Reveal!  Thank you Linda Anderson for being our hostess.  This was such a fun challenge, we were paired up with Joanne Louvaine Bell of Twinkiedinky, so how could it not be fun??  Below is a picture of what our partner Joanne sent to us.

And now, the story begins...

Our first creation

"Trinkets" - a ribbon tassel necklace made with vintage Sari silk ribbons and tied onto a vintage horse tack ring.  The tassel has been adorned with Joanne's wonderful "Doof" component, a copper bezel that she created - isn't she lovely?   Our tassel is attached to a hand knotted crystal necklace with a filigree bail. 

Our next creation

 

The loveliest pair of whimsical wings you ever did see! ☺  They didn't need much because they're so beautiful on their own.  These resin wings by Joanne were soldered by us with a touch of filigree.  We crown thee "Princess Lilybell".

Ah, but wait...

 

Here lies the crowning glory.  This seed bead flower of loveliness was made by Gianna.  This flower has a raspberry rivoli crystal center and is dripping with chain, Czech glass, Swarovski crystals and more fantastic resin wings from Joanne.  What beautiful, magical sprite wouldn't love this??!!?? ♥

It was so fun to be whimsical!  Joanne, you are the "Twinkiedinky" that put a sparkle in our creations.

Here is what we sent Joanne for the Swap, hop on over and see what she has created!

Also, don't forget to hop around and check all of the other fantastic bead peeps that joined this blog event.  View their creations by clicking the links below. 

Beaders

Linda Anderson http://fromthebeadboard.blogspot.com (Hostess)

Inge von Roos https://ingetraud.wordpress.com 

Kari Asbury https://kariasbury.com/blogs/design-challenges

Nadine Edris http://instagram.com/moondancemaine

 

Kathy Lindemer https://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/

Hope Smitherman http://CraftyHope.com 

Marde Lowe http://fancimardesigns.blogspot.com

Christina Hickman https://www.instagram.com/laughingsalmon/

 

Terry Jeanette Carter https://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com

Lisa Johnson https://spudandmrsbutters.blogspot.com/

Catherine La Vite http://drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/

Joanne Bell https://joannetinks.wordpress.com

 

Rosantia Petkova http://bairozan.blogspot.bg/

Bonnie Robbins https://www.instagram.com/brobbins_wireandwonder/

 

Natalie Davidson http://www.northshoredays.com/

Robin Reed http://www.willowdragon.blogspot.com

 

Karin King http://www.maverickbeads.blogspot.ca

Jenny Kyrlach http://anafiassa.blogspot.com

 

Erika Price https://www.instagram.com/erikapricejewellery/

Sarah Reid http://www.instagram.com/sarahreiddesigns

 

Divya N http://www.jewelsofsayuri.com

Lori Schneider http://beadaddicted.blogspot.com

 

Robin Showstack http://heartsdesiresjewelryforyou.blogspot.com/

Nicole Rennell https://www.instagram.com/nicolerennelldesigns/

 

Fay Wolfenden http://torchfairy.blogspot.com

Shai Williams http://www.shaihasramblings.com/

 

Andrea Frank https://instagram.com/andreazeef

Cheri Reed http://creativedesignsbycheri.wordpress.com

Seed Beaders

Deborah Apodaca https://deborahapodacadesigns.blogspot.com/

Palak Udeshi http://kalaabhushan.blogspot.in/

 

Penny Houghton http://www.forgottentrack.com.au/blog

Paulina Russell Http://www.instagram.com/thewildbead

 

Heather Canepa http://www.instagram.com/canepaheather

Tina Hemr http://instagram.com/mariecaroldesigns

 

Naomi Knafla https://www.instagram.com/naomiknafla/

Michelle Marson https://www.instagram.com/ellecountry/

 

Rebecca White https://morganafeycreations.com/blog/

Laura Bosch https://www.instagram.com/lauraboschmultibeadia

 

Kathleen Breeding https://www.instagram.com/99bobotw.kb/

Becky Pancake http://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com/