Artists spotlight on Faye Higginson - The Beaded Bobbin #Blogtoberfest13 day 11

Recently I have been learning a little about how to work with seed beads and when Faye Higginson aka The Beaded Bobbin showed me the stunning wrap bracelet she had made with one of my encased tree beads I asked her if I could share her work on my blog. She also kindly agreed to be interviewed for my Artists spotlight, without further ado meet Faye and have a drool at her beautiful creations.

How did you get started in jewellery design and seed beading?

I have always loved being crafty ;) I saw a book on stringing seedies around 10 years ago and got some supplies. At that time there was very little available in the way of information and I could not get on with Nymo (the only stringing material I knew of) so I got frustrated and left it alone for around 3 years. Then when I was looking for tiaras for my wedding I couldn’t see anything that ‘spoke’ to me so I decided to learn how to make my own. That got my obsession with crystals started! I started to get involved with an online forum called Bead Buddies and later I found the OTTBS Facebook group, the gorgeous creations there continue to be an amazing source of inspiration. and admired all the seed bead designs but never for a moment thought that I could do it. Then I went to a bead retreat organised by Donna Sanders and Catherine Chinoy. I bezelled my first stone and have been hooked ever since! That was in 2010.

What would you like to do/learn/take up in the future?

I would like to learn more wirework – maybe even play with soldering. I have just started playing with resin and swelligants which I am really enjoying. I’m quite enjoying the results too.

How has your crafting and inspiration evolved over time?

I am more aware of the wearability of an item now. I used to need to show off all I could do in one piece. I now know that sometimes less is more and I love to try and mix different medias – sometimes with great failure.

Do you craft for your living or is it more of a hobby/passion/obsession?

It has always been a hobby. I have wanted to be my own boss for as long as I can remember and when I was made redundant 2 years ago, after many failed temporary employment opportunities I realised I was never going to be happy being employed and decided to take the plunge by opening a bead store online – recently I have also taken a retail unit to have a public presence. I have so many huge ideas for it and have to remind myself to walk before I can run and take 1 small step at a time.

What is your favourite ever piece of work?

I have 3 pieces I am really proud of. A wire weaved Tiara that was inspired by my imagination of what Anne Boleyn may have looked like and what she may have worn. I mixed it with the Something Blue rhyme. It took well over 12 hours and over 400 various sized Swarovskis as well as freshwater and Swarovski Pearls. I really wanted to create the ‘encrusted’ look and it definitely looks encrusted.

My other favourite piece of work is my first bead embroidered piece. I had a ceramic pendant that I got at a swap on an annual bead retreat I go to and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to do with it. This just evolved and it turned into this beauty. Everyone comments on it and I think the colours make it look so regal and Egyptian. It’s a collar length and the pendant sits comfortably in the V of your neck.

I also am so so proud of the Pinwheel Design. This is the first beadwork piece I designed myself and wrote a tutorial for it. Everyone who has tried it absolutely loves it and it’s the first experience I have had of people taking my designs and making it their own. It makes me so proud.

Pinwheel Necklace

Where do you find your inspiration?

I find inspiration in lots of things. Historical figures, dress shapes, shaped building windows, architecture and the beads themselves. Especially lampies – I adore the colours in them and can find colour inspiration in those alone. This wrap bracelet design was adapted from Nancy Dales design and was inspired by your lampie focal that I fell in love with. I am very proud of it (pictured below).
 

Stunning wrap bracelet with a Kitzbitz focal

What other crafts do you dabble in/would you like to try?

I love baking – but also adore to eat the fruit of my labour. I used to scrapbook and cardmake too. I gave up scrapbooking because I have no children so there was no-one to hand down my memories too and it felt like a wasted task. I still make cards now and then. I have recently ‘learnt’ to sew. I use quote marks because it’s the loosest of terms. I am currently exploring different ways of incorporating this into beadwork. I would love to learn bobbin lacemaking but have no time. I have compromised by buying a tatting shuttle – although I haven’t used it yet. I would also love to learn crochet.

Do you listen to music while you create? What is your favourite track?

I usually put ITunes on when I am beading. It’s got loads of different tracks on – Music by Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Michael Bolton (I know! I know!), Banarama, Etta James and lots more. Its background noise really – I can easily bead in total silence

Who is your favourite artists or designer?

I love Jamie Cloud Eakin – her embroidery is to die for. I also adore Nancy Dales work, Manek Lady, Kerry Slade is a total inspiration. Nicole Hanna does a-mazing wirework. I also love my lampwork beads and have some favourite designers. Amongst which is you, Jacqueline Parks, Sabine Little and The Fyre Fairie.

When not creating/crafting what is your favourite thing to do?

I love playing and snuggling with my 2 pups. My 2 gorgeous Yorkies. You can see why. I also like to spend time walking in the countryside and city walking too. I was bought up by the sea and when I feel like some alone time I love nothing more than to sit by the sea and listen to the waves crashing against the shore. It’s peaceful and therapeutic. I find it clears my mind of the daily fuzz and allows me to see things clearly.

You can find Faye on the www at
www.thebeadedbobbin.co.uk
www.facebook.com/thebeadedbobbin
Twitter - @thebeadedbobbin
Pinterest -Thebeadedbobbin

Link to Pinwheel tutorial - www.thebeadedbobbin.co.uk/shop/pinwheel-component-tutorial

Many thanks to Faye for such and fab interview and wonderful images.

If you are in the area why not pop over and visit Faye in her new reatil unit
The Beaded Bobbin - The Braintree Jewellery Village, Victoria Road, Braintree, Essex, CM7 3HL

Have a super day, Jolene x

My first crack at fusing........

I took a trip to Devon last summer with my family and sneaked a day away to have my first fusing taster day with expert tuition from Samantha Capeling of Venus Art Glass.

This is my first ever dish design created using some innovative techniques which Sam fired and then slumped for me. There was time in the day for me to make a second piece too. A sweet little coaster for my daughter Ruby.











I am a huge fan of Sam's work and own several pieces. Her Etsy shop is loaded full of beautiful one of a kind glass work including this gorgeous dish.





Jolene xx

Artists Spotlight - Jill Egan

Jill is, quite literally, the most versatile and talented artist I know.  She creates beautiful jewellery from a broad range of materials including aluminium, silver, porcelain and her own lampwork beads and fused pendants. You will also find in Jill's Etsy store a large range of elegant homewares, innovative keepsakes and beautiful works of art. The most breathtaking of Jill's work in my opinion are her paintings.


 Jill is a fine artist, an overglaze painter who uses Porcelain as her canvas. Jill's stunning hand painted fern bowl above was recently featured on the U.S Etsy front page, a well deserved compliment indeed.

Jill is a superb blogger, check out Out of the fire - Kiln Fired Art Blog. Her blog contains autobiographic tales, collections of images of past work and posts documenting current works which give you a lovely insight into Jill's design processes. There are also two wonderful sections of tutorials on Fusing and Overglaze Painting including one for this stunning tiger!



I'll leave you now with this image of one of Jill's hammered sterling silver sheep charms. How cute is he! This post only really just scratches the surface of the visual delights on offer when you go for a mosey around Jill's world. Pop to Kiln Fired Art to find out more.....

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Kayleigh Sexton

Today I'm blogging about Kayleigh Sexton, polymer clay artist and jewellery designer. Check out this journal, I absolutely adore it! This is Kayleigh's make for the New Year Journal Challenge on Craft Pimp Forum. It looks so tactile and softly shimmery that I kind of want to reach into the picture and touch it. Brilliant!

Kayleigh has just recently opened an online store called Polymer Clay Bits and Bobs where you can find a wide range of jewellery, cute and cool sculptural critters, custom options for cane slice covered photo frames and more!

To the right is a one of a kind beautifully detailed pendant, this one is made with my favourite colours, just my cup of tea! Click the image to visit Kayleigh's Flickr Photostream for a closer look.

If I had to describe Kayleigh's style in just three words they would be: vibrant, fun, tactile. I'm going to finish up with a diverse selection of Kayleigh's Craftyness to make you all smile.

You can see more online from Kayleigh on her blog Dizzy Kitten's Arty Farty Stuff and Kayleigh's Craftyness on Facebook.

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Laney Mead

Laney Mead is a class act and you can get an up close view of her literally wickedly sharp sense of humour right here on Etsy.


Laney's blog, Life with Izzybeads is a lovely place to visit. You'll quickly come to see that alongside her talent with glass Laney is also a natural wordsmith and story teller. I recommend that you settle yourself down with a nice cup of tea and let her cheer you right up with one of her warm and gently humerus anecdotal tales about life as a creative, an animal lover and Mother to teenagers!


Alongside her chorus of cute critters Laney also makes stunning sculptural floral beads and has recently had several images published in the Soda Lime Times, a fabulously cool monthly e-magazine for Lampworkers.

Laney exhibits regularly at well known craft events all over the country and will be right there in the thick of it at the Towcester Flame Off in April this year. She also keeps a well stocked shop on Ebay.

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Claire of Clasibags

Today I'd like to introduce you to Claire of Clasibags. She is an extremely talented textile artist and accessory designer who works with felt (that she also makes herself!) and with yarn and wool. This little tactile black and white number is my current most favourite of all Claire's bags so far but heck she is always surprising me and filling me full of uncharacteristically girly accessory lust with each new creation she makes.




I adore the way that Claire adorns her bags with her own special coordinating knitted and felted flowers. She also offers these in her sophisticated a range of stylish brooches.

You can find out more about Claire's gorgeous designs including this unashamedly funky hot pink number by following Clasicat Designs on Facebook. You acn also get the latest gossip from Claire on Twitter and follow her lovely blog.

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Mel Harding

I have been looking forward to writing this spotlight since the start of the Craft Pimp artist spotlight project. All week various things have happened including the blogger upgrade blip and a whole evening down at A&E with my eldest (don't worry folks, it turned out to be nothing serious after all).

It's almost the end of the week and I can finally sit down with a mug of coffee and surf about the net looking at Mel's beautiful creations. Mel and I have a fetish in common for winged things. This intricate enamelled six piece topper is my current favourite piece in Mel's brand new Etsy store called >Inkydoodlecrafts

These seaside scenes are rather gorgeous too and would look lovely in tiny driftwood frames. You can also find pretty toppers from Mel at >Inkydoodlecrafts on Ebay.

Mel is moving in the exciting direction of using her own original designs exclusively throughout her product range and I have been lucky enough to see her first original topper up close, you can read more about the birth of a dragonfly on Mel's own blog. When I think about Mel and her work and creative spark I can imagine such bright things in the future, demoing to packed crowds at the NEC or pitching products and original artwork to the buyers for Ideal World. I have this lovely feeling that I will get to say one day that I knew her before she was famous.

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Ruthies Ramblings

Today I have the pleasure of blogging about an amazing beader, Ruth Duck.

Ruth had her first experience of beading when she was little and told me that she had been taught by her mother to make a daisy stitch chain with picots when she was four. After a long break Ruth rediscovered her early fascination for beading about three years ago when she went through an arch she hadn't been been through before at her local craft centre and found her local bead shop. It was like walking into Aladdin's cave and Ruth left there that day with an armful of beading materials and beads and treasure.

I really like this cuff bracelet and amazingly Ruth had only tried bead embroidery for the first time about three weeks before making it. It was her entry for a Making Jewellery magazine bracelet competition and it took second place. When I asked Ruth about the inspiration behind the design she explained - The coin came about because I was skint at the time and didn't want to fork out for a cabochon.


Ruth designed the pattern for this delicious peyote cuff one day when she was bored at the day job. She describes this Celtic cuff as a cow to work out but even worse to stitch. Since then Ruth has moved on to using computer software to design new patterns for her peyote work but her designs will always start out on paper first.


 This necklace is a real work of art. I asked about the inspiration behind it's creation and Ruth said - I’ve always like Egypt (used to have a bright yellow bathroom with Egyptian stencils all over and full of cheap and nasty nick knacks although the camel was rather cool) and I got a book out of the library about jewellery design through the ages, just to get an idea of the thought process behind designing a piece and there were some lovely Egyptian pieces. I had an idea to create a beaded Egyptian style piece and Google some images for inspiration and spotted the piece I made out of gold and enamels. bead embroidered pendent based on ancient Egyptian jewellery design. The polymer clay scarab was created by the very talented Caroline Harvey. In total this beautiful embroidered bead necklace took about 9 months from idea to completion.

Visit Ruthies blog and flickr to find out more about Ruth.

Jolene x

Artists spotlight - Smitten Kitten

Nicola describes herself as a devoted hobbyist, keen crafter, passionate about making clean cut simple stylish jewellery.

I love this Fiery Dragonfly, it is part of a  hugely successful series of stunning cluster pendants that Nicola has a talent for creating.



Aside from pure eye candy, Nicola also shows off the funky fun side to her designs. These tweety bird earrings inspired by the popular "Angry Birds" game are so cute.

I'm also loving Nicola's more serious side. Glam Rock in Schwartz is a tasteful little number which would be equally at home with a flirty little black dress or looking cute and moody next to jet black painted finger nails.

To see more from Smitten Kitten check Nicola out on Facebook and on her beautiful and interesting blog and on her own website SmittenKitten.de too.

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Dizzy Kitten

Dizzy Kitten, otherwise known as Kayleigh is a fellow polymer clay addict. She has a real knack for combining zingy colours to create bold and vibrant jewelery designs. You can find out more about Dizzy Kitten by following her fan page, Kayleigh's Craftyness on Facebook.

This picture below shows a range of Kayleigh's whimsical toadstool necklaces which are very cute indeed!




And these pirate cats really capture the sense of fun that Kayleigh brings to her creations which brings her critters to life.

To see more visit Flickr and Dizzy Kitten's Arty Farty Stuff.

Jolene x

Artist's Spotlight - Larissa Symbouras

Wow........I have never, ever wanted to smell beer in the morning before, but this soap appeals to the beer snob in me too.



Larissa's Blog is eloquent, humorous, beautiful and has some of the most enticing product photography I think I have ever seen. Can you tell that I have a serious handmade soap fetish!

Check this out! Now this is the kind of wakeup call that I like the look of! Cafe Mocha Scrub...yumyumyumyummy



Larissa makes great stuff for guys too, check out this superb Clean Cut Saving soap in the Reef Botanicals artfire shop.



You can find more about what is hot and new from Reef Botanicals on twitter and Facebook

Artists spotlight - Nancy Rawlison

Nancy Rawlison is creative butterfly; with every style of craft she touches down upon, a pretty something comes to life. Nancy is a great blogger and looking around 'Twas Brillig Whiffling through the Tulgey Wood... brings to me a sense of wonder that I remember from childhood. And here is a little example of why....



As a child I loved the dark and whimsical writings of Lewis Carroll and this elegant print is one of three in an Alice in Wonderland triptych created by Nancy.
Below is an image of Nancy hard at work, creating art outside her real life brick and mortar store.



Nancy says her three main creative loves are handcrafted jewelry, silk floral design and photography. I'll try almost any craft once to see if I like it! Here a just a few more pics of her work.





You can find more stunning designs by Nancy at Shop Handmade and Etsy.