Sharing my Big Moment!

It's always fun to pick up an issue of various publications and see pieces from some of my fellow Beads of Clay friends, or see a piece that features one of my pendants such as the "Swept by the Sea" necklace by the wonderful and talented designer Cherrie Fick in the July 2012 Bead Trends issue.  These people have all been encouraging inspirations to me, and I've learned so much from them. As well as Lori Anderson who hosts the Bead Soup Party Blog Hops.  Participating in a few of the hops pushed me to learn more about different techniques, and I found I really enjoy working with wire!

In the spring I decided to start submitting some of my pieces to a few publications. Why not?  What's the worst that can happen?  A little rejection? Ah, that just makes me stronger and more persistent. My Autumn's Allure bracelet that I made with my stoneware components was the first finished piece I sent for consideration to Bead Trends.

Usually when I'm designing a piece, I just take some similar beads and findings on hand, and start randomly putting them together, and what happens, happens.  But this piece happened a little differently.  The idea came out of nowhere, probably in the shower, and I roughly sketched it out. Yes, roughly.

So I had a visual of the finished product before I began. When we went to Florida on vacation in February, I took along a mold I had made from real maple and beech leaves, and created my stoneware maple leaf connectors and beech leaf charms, as well as some stoneware rondelles to match. Then glazed the leaves in bright fall colors, and accented them with my favorite combination of Coyote cone six glazes turquoise and teal, and oasis blue.

From the roughly sketched idea, I assembled the pieces using copper wire and elements, and added some dangles of real turquoise nuggets, Czech glass Apollo gold leaf beads, and smoky topaz seed beads.

When I received an e-mail from Tatia, the editor at Bead Trends that my bracelet was selected for the September issue, I was beside myself and promptly sent it off to them.  Then when I checked out the digital issue last month, I was definitely blown away to see none other than my Autumn's Allure bracelet on the cover! 

Wow.  I am so excited, and equally grateful to Tatia and the Bead Trends staff for choosing my piece.  It's a thrill to see my work in such a beautiful, quality publication.  If you haven't checked out Bead Trends, I highly recommend it for their superb photography and presentation of all levels of techniques and ideas for the latest in jewelry trends.  You should definitely see the September issue which is brimming with fabulous fall pieces by my friends Cherrie Fick, Shannon Chomanczuk, Amanda Cargill-Austin,Erin Strother, and more!