Clinkscales Arts

I have a love of stones and glass and when I find a piece of glass that looks like a magnificent stone, I’m inspired!  I purchased several of these borosilicate glass cabochons from the Etsy seller vadrian about a year ago.  I immediately began creating a bezel for this piece but never finished it…until now.  I had originally planned for this to have a herringbone beaded chain and be suspended from a peyote tab, but once I found the faceted crystal beads, I knew I had a great combination.  A beaded toggle finishes it off.  Fit for a Queen is listed in my shop.

One of my fellow EBW members and extremely talented beadweaver, Kerrie Slade, is using her beading to help support breast cancer research.  She designed the following lapel pin and the pattern is being sold on Beading Daily.  All proceeds from the purchase of the pattern from now until September 30th will be donated to help fight cancer.  Please help support cancer research by purchasing the pattern for $3.  If you do purchase the pattern, please respect Kerrie’s copyright.  She will allow you to make as many as you choose, but they can only be sold for charity, not for personal gain.

Beading Daily is also hosting a contest - The Power of Beading Contest - and you can win one of Kerrie’s fabulous pins.  Here’s a direct quote from the Beading Daily Blog:

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Enter the Power of Beading Contest

Do you have a dramatic ”got to be beading” story of your own?  Or maybe beading helped bring hope and healing to a smaller, more ordinary moment?  I clearly remember a day last summer when I accidentally tore a hole in a favorite skirt.  I was so upset!  And yet, after a little time beading, my anger just faded away.  It was not a dramatic, life-changing moment, but the small act of beading helped me overcome the challenge of keeping life in perspective that day.

How has beading helped you through a challenging time?  Tell us and you could win one of Kerrie Slade’s handcrafted ribbon pins.

There will be two first place winners.  Each winner will receive a handcrafted ribbon pin created and donated by talented designer Kerrie Slade. Kerrie has shared her creations in several issues of Beadwork, most recently the Olive Dangles and Periwinkle Choker projects in the August/September issue on sale now.

The pink ribbon has a 9K gold pin with a heart made of 24K gold cylinder beads. The teal ribbon has a sterling silver pin with a heart made of galvanized silver cylinder beads. Entries will be judged by Kerrie Slade.  Names will be removed from the entries prior to judging.

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So, do some beading for charity, have some fun and help support a cause that has touched so many lives.  Thanks!

That’s right, folks, Renoir and I have a date on Thursday!  I’m lucky enough to live within driving distance of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.  (I used to live within *walking* distance of the museum and never went!  Bad, bad, Susan…)  It seems that the Art Institute of Chicago is getting a bit of a face lift and they have loaned 92 of their “most celebrated works” to the Kimbell for an exhibit never before seen in Texas - The Impressionists.  One of Renoir’s most famous work, Two Sisters, is in the exhibit.

I’m from Texas and my family is still there.  I was planning a trip home this weekend and my daddy suggested I see this exhibit while I’m there.  So I am!  I can not wait.  I’m so excited to see the work of Renoir and Degas and Manet and Monet, but I think the one I’m most excited to see is Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte.  It’s huge - 83 1/2″ x 108 3/4″ (that’s 212.2 cm x 276.2 cm for y’all on the other side of the pond).  I want to just stand in front of it’s glory and soak it in.  I know that impressionism is meant to be viewed from a distance so that your eyes can mix all of those wonderful brush strokes into beautiful-ness, but I love to get close and look at each individual stroke.  I’m one of those “how did they do THAT?” kinda people.

If you get a chance, check out the site that The Kimbell has set up for The Impressionists Exhibit.  It shows every work in the collection.  I’ll report back next week and let you know how it was.  Go ahead, you can be jealous now.