Was anyone else disappointed that Chris March didn’t end up being a judge as well as a guest mentor? Not that I am opposed to Ru Paul, you understand. But I loved Chris last season, and I think he would have been a great judge as well.

Bye, Daniel, I’ll miss you! Not that I’ve liked anything you made since the first week when you went way out on a limb to construct that fabby blue dress out of plastic cups, but I’ll miss your slightly bewildered looks and last second sewing. Your dress was beautiful; I would have happily worn it. And that was the problem…I’m not a drag queen!

Daniel

I was torn between the winner and the runner up for this one. Many seem to feel that Terri got robbed…do you agree? As for Korto, she looked like she was almost crying in the back room. I don’t think that she realized that the judges kept her on stage as one of the best, not one of the worst!

Joe, the winner!

Terri

Korto

Images: BravoTV

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Carrie, of Dobeadobeado, makes the most elegant pieces of semi-precious stone, glass, and vintage bead jewelry. Her designs are simple at first glance, but then you begin to take in how perfectly balanced and absolutely gorgeous they are. And she does chainmaille pieces too!

I think you’ll really enjoy a visit to Carrie’s piece of cyberspace!

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Belle Armoire Jewelry is published by Stampington as a quarterly magazine. The deadline for submissions for the next issue is October 15, 2008. From the website: If you’d like to share your inspiration and detailed how-to instruction for creating beautiful jewelry with readers, we want to hear from you. Belle Armoire Jewelry covers a broad range of mediums, from art clay to polymer clay to found object to fiber to wire to beads and much, much more. Whether you are a creator of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, pendants, rings or other jewelry, we welcome you to submit your artwork for consideration of publication.

Please read submission guidelines before sending your submissions to: Stampington & Company · C/O: Belle Armoire · 22992 Mill Creek, Suite B · Laguna Hills, CA 92653

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This is the book that polymer clay artists have been waiting for! Not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for beginners, Grant takes you on a whirlwind tour of what’s next. The book is gorgeous, and all techniques are well-documented, but it still took me only moments before I realized that I was way out of my league! Which is fine…lots of gorgeous inspiration is not a bad thing, even if I can’t hope to make any of them (at least not yet!).

Truly, this book picks up where the others leave off. Grant explains mica-shift and how to achieve it, lathe-turned beads, recursive molded beads, hollow-form beads, and mandrel-formed beads. Seeing what beautiful, beautiful objects he makes, I almost want to play with clay.

Beginners, drool over this book. Intermediates and advanceds, buy it now!

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I have a review and giveaway going on over on Layers Upon Layers for this delightful book!

Image: Amazon.com

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Materials & Tools:
Large donut of desired color (40 - 60 mm is a good size range)
Brass mesh necklace, 18 inches (Fire Mountain Gems)
11/0 Delica seed beads
Beading thread
Beading needle

Basic directions for square stitch can be found at several of the links here. Start with the link for the Beadwork site at About.com.

1. Using a mixture of bead colors, square stitch a small band that is long enough to wrap through the donut hole and around the mesh wire necklace, with just enough slack to keep it from rubbing or binding.



2. Continue following the square stitch thread path to attach the ends to each other.
3. Enjoy different color combinations!

Copyright 2008 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Red jasper necklace

These are so easy to make that you’ll almost certainly not be able to stop at just one! I’ll show you how tomorrow ;-)

Chalk turquoise necklace

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About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy gives you some tips and jewelry project ideas for designing and making jewelry you can wear to work, even if your job’s atmosphere is super up-tight.

Art Bead Scene
Let your jewelry do the talking! Enter the Art Bead Scene’s creative challenge!

BeadStyle Magazine
The staff shows off some of their favorite jewelry from the pages of BeadStyle magazine.

Carter Seibels for Divali Glass Jewelry
Carter ponders the organization of beads in the Bead Trust booth, and shares some new projects!

Jennifer Jangles Blog
Make Jennifer’s Long, Dangle-y, and Jangle-y Earring Project

Jewelry & Beading
Make a cigar box handbag…featuring beads, of course!

Naughty Secretary Club
The Naughty Secretary Club book is finally here. If you love your jewelry kitschy proceed immediately to Jen’s blog.

Salt Shaker Bead
Carmi turns an odd collectible into something wearable.

Strands of Beads
Melissa finds that it’s still easy to be green in August

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Jerell and Stella

Unbelievable! I want their outfit so badly I can taste it, but it would never look as good on me as it would have on Ms Brooke Shields. And there is something just so sweet about a person who pretends that the partner he got stuck with is the one he would have chosen all along (remember Sweet P and Elisa last season?).

Jerell scored major points with me last night when he told Stella she was the right one for him because he was going to use “leatha”. I liked them both so much last night, and I really thought they deserved the win: from bottom to top in one week.

Keith and Kenley

Not that I have any complaints about Keith and Kenley’s outfit. I think it’s lovely, and I can see why it won…I just like the other one better!

I also think the judges got it wrong for the “auf”, but I’d like to hear what you think about that…

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