Oh boy, I am working hard. I did a little new years cleaning in the bead studio. It needed to be done. Every week I make new beads, new ideas that I have that just need to get out of my head. They begin to pile up around the studio. So I gathered up all my idea beads and beads that I am not taking to shows or selling on my website any more. I took pictures of them all. So far that's 115 photos! Now I am entering them into my Etsy store. They are not there yet. I am going to have a huge sale next week to kick of the new year. They are priced so you can snap up several and help keep my studio clear for more of my bead ideas. So not much posting for now, there's so much work to be done.
Oh, and check out my new website. My web designer and I are still updating and improving but I am really excited about how it looks so far. Let me know if you see some thing that could be improved or I missed. want it to be user friendly, therefore, I am always open to suggestions.
www.jangles.net
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Years. Thank you so much for your support and friendship throughout 2007. I am looking forward to and exciting 2008.
Happy New Year!
Jennifer
Projects and Products to Make the World a Happier Place. Jennifer Heynen designs sewing patterns, craft kits, quilting fabric, licenses her art to companies for Garden Flags, Bags, Accessories and more all in a Happy and Bright Style.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Moving On
Hey everyone,
Christmas was good to me, I hope it was good to you. We ate, drank, and were merry for four days straight. I think I mentioned before we had ten people at our house for the holidays. All of my family and Nik's. It was a ton of fun and they have all decided that they will be back next year. We did agree they could come back. As always, as soon as the long break was over I was itching to get back at making beads. I don't sit still well.
I am in the process of moving my studio home. I have been at great pottery studio for the last year. It was supposed to be a transition studio when we moved to Georgia the summer before last. I enjoyed being there so much, I just stayed. But over the last few months it has been getting harder and harder to work away from home. My computer and all of my beads are at my home studio. So I really have two studios. It just seems logical and more efficient to have everything in one place. I took a picture of the empty storage room that will be my making and glazing room in a few weeks, if all goes as planned. This room was full of garden tools and storage this morning. My parent's were still here for the holiday so I put my dad to work. (He doesn't sit still either) We spent the morning cleaning it out. Hooray! It is done.
Now the hard part of getting everything from my away studio here, ugh, that's next weeks job. I am also including a picture of my bead studio. I bought this great book called "Organizing your Craft Space", it inspired me to make it pretty as well as functional. I had a ball finding storage and labeling everything. I am so happy now that I can find everything. It took about a week to get everything organized and in it's place.
Have a great day!
Jennifer
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Ornament Thursday
I told you and myself I would attempt to make ceramic cookie. Here they are. I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. My six year old, Fletcher wants to eat them. These aren't my usual beads but I made them in the same way I would make a ceramic bead.
Here's a quick run down of the process. I started by rolling out a slab of clay. I cut the cookies out with cutters and smoothed the edges. I also added a little ridge so they would look like they had icing on them. After drying for about a week, I fired them in the kiln. They come out a pure white color after the firing and they are ready to be decorated. I mixed a few underglazes up to make a nice cookie brown and then used bright colored underglazes for the icing. I put a matte glaze on the icing only. These were put back in the kiln for a second firing, this ones called the glaze firing. They came out looking like cookies but they needed sprinkles. What's a Christmas cookie without them? I made the sprinkles from crushed glass rods for lampworking, some crushed seed beads, and some glass frit. I carefully sprinkled them on and put them back in the kiln. This firing was a tricky one. I wanted the glass to fuse to the glaze but I didn't want the glass to melt in. So every half hour I would open the kiln and check the sprinkles. After reaching 1350 degrees the glass had stuck! I shut off the kiln and waited for them to cool completely.
Ornament Thursday has been tons of fun. There are a group of us that just can't let go of the idea. We are in the works of a monthly craft extravaganza, so stay tuned. I will keep you posted.
Here are the other great ornaments for this wonderful and last Ornament Thursday.
Happy Holidays!
Jennifer
Here's a quick run down of the process. I started by rolling out a slab of clay. I cut the cookies out with cutters and smoothed the edges. I also added a little ridge so they would look like they had icing on them. After drying for about a week, I fired them in the kiln. They come out a pure white color after the firing and they are ready to be decorated. I mixed a few underglazes up to make a nice cookie brown and then used bright colored underglazes for the icing. I put a matte glaze on the icing only. These were put back in the kiln for a second firing, this ones called the glaze firing. They came out looking like cookies but they needed sprinkles. What's a Christmas cookie without them? I made the sprinkles from crushed glass rods for lampworking, some crushed seed beads, and some glass frit. I carefully sprinkled them on and put them back in the kiln. This firing was a tricky one. I wanted the glass to fuse to the glaze but I didn't want the glass to melt in. So every half hour I would open the kiln and check the sprinkles. After reaching 1350 degrees the glass had stuck! I shut off the kiln and waited for them to cool completely.
Ornament Thursday has been tons of fun. There are a group of us that just can't let go of the idea. We are in the works of a monthly craft extravaganza, so stay tuned. I will keep you posted.
Here are the other great ornaments for this wonderful and last Ornament Thursday.
Happy Holidays!
Jennifer
The Cover
I have been waiting forever to see this. I got my book cover. It feels like a real book now. I have been working on my Ceramic Bead Jewelry book for over a year now,and it's so nice to something physical. I have learned so much about the process of writing books this year. First off all, I wrote the words and designed and made the projects and was on hand for the photo shoot. Actually, you'll get to see my lovely manicured hands in the book. They never look that good but for a book they have to. Ooops, I got off track here. This is what I am getting at. The author, most of the time has no control of the layout, look, or cover of the book. This is all in the hands of the editors and art directors. This of course is a scary thing since I am a control freak. But then again, I bugged and bugged Lark Books about publishing a ceramic bead book for this exact reason. I love every book they put out. The photographs are always wonderful and plentiful. They are always stunning books. I am thrilled with the way my book looks, I never could have made it look so good myself. Lark Books Rock!!!! Just in case you are wondering, my book will be out June 3rd. Yipee!
By the way....the new header on the blog matches my new website that will debut in January. It is freakishly similar to the cover of my book. I had no idea of what the cover would look like when I was designing the web stuff.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Yeah! It's ornament Thursday! I love ornament Thursday.I am really happy the way this ornament turned out. I bought some 2" wooden wheels at the craft store, got out my markers, beads, and nails and went to work. The first thing I did was pre-drill eight holes for the nails. I tried just hammering in the nails but these wood wheels were really dense, it might work on another type of wood but not for me on these. Okay, next I drew circles with markers, pretty easy right? Then I dug around and found some 2 inch finishing nails, they are nice because finishing nails are pretty skinny allowing most beads to slide on. I did put a dab of glue on the end of each nail before sliding it into the whole. I figure I am going to have this ornament for a long time and so I should make it sturdy. Last to make it a hanging ornament, I wrapped a piece of silver wire around the top of one of the nails and then made a hook on the other end. I want to make more. I think these would be too cute hung all together on a garland across the mantle.
For more great ornaments, on this wonderful ornament Thursday please visit these blogs of other handy dandy crafters.
Sara Naumann http://blog.paperwishes.com/sara/
Lynn Kvigne http://beading.consumerhelpweb.com/blog/
Candie Cooper http://candiecooper.typepad.com/savvycrafter/
Katie Hacker http://www.katiehacker.com/index.htm
Margot Potter http://margotpotter.blogspot.com/
Linda Augsburg http://cs.makeitminemag.com/mimcs/blogs/makeitmine/
Melanie Brooks Lukacs http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com/
Art Bead Scene http://www.artbeadscene.blogspot.com/
Cindy Gimbrone http://lampworkdiva.blogspot.com/
Suzanne http://suzanne-catching-up.blogspot.com/
Humblebeads http://www.humblebeads.blogspot.com/
Polymer Clay Craft Gossip http://polymerclay.craftgossip.com/
Alexa Westerfield from http://swelldesigner.blogspot.com/
Debba Haupert http://www.girlfriendology.blogspot.com/
Elaine Luther http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com/news
Melissa Lee http://www.strandsofbeads.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Peck http://vintagegirlmodernworld.wordpress.com/
Jean Yates http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/
Michelle McGee http://fromichelle.blogspot.com/
Jenny Harada http://pomly.livejournal.com/
Jennifer Heynen http://jenniferjangles.blogspot.com/
Hali Chambers http://www.labyrinthgal.blogspot.com/
Kriss Kramer http://www.art-interrupted.blogspot.com/
Brandy Lung Gill http://accesstoexcess.blogspot.com/
Lisa Liddy http://lisaliddy.wordpress.com/
Before I end my post today, I want to show you another project I have been working on. It's my Etsy store. I have wanted to get one of these up and running for awhile and I finally did it this week. I have some finished jewelry and one of a kind beads. These are things you won't find on my regular website. All of these pieces are in stock and ready to ship for all of you last minute shoppers.
www.Jangles.etsy.com
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Teaching, Teaching, Teaching
Hey everybody! I have just finalized the plans for three ceramic bead making classes this year. How exciting is that? Lets go in the order of which comes first....
I will be teaching a 2 day ceramic bead making workshop in Miami. This is for the South Florida Jewelry Arts Guild but anyone and everyone is welcome. The dates are April 19th and 20th. If you have any questions or would like to sign up please e-mail Lynn Yuhr at lynnyuhr@bellsouth.net This class will be fun!
Next is a one day ceramic bead making class at Bead and Button. This class will be taught Sunday, June 8th at the show in Milwaukee, WI. If you have never been to the Bead and Button Show you better consider going. It's a beaders heaven. For more info go to www.beadandbuttonshow.com
And last but not least, I will be teaching a one day class at The Puget Sound Bead Festival. The dates of the show are July 11-13th. I don't have a specific date for teaching yet but information will be available soon. Here's the show website for more information www.pugetsoundbeadfestival.com
So it seems as though I have three corners of the country covered for anyone who would like to learn the fun and addicting art of making ceramic beads. One more thing, the photo above has some of the beads that you can make in class.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Christmas Cookies
The boys and I made Christmas Cookies this weekend. It wore me out! Not that the baking is hard, it's cleaning up the mess of sprinkles when it all over. I am sure we will be finding them for days to come. I do love to bake. When I was little I wanted to be a cake decorator. Actually, I still kind of want to be one. My husband bought me a fancy mixer last year for Christmas and I have been playing around with decorating cakes. I wonder if that's why everyone always says they would like to eat my beads? They look like candy. It's too late for this week, but I think for next weeks ornament Thursday I will make some ornaments that look like cookies. I will see how close to real I can get. Check back in to see them.Jennifer
Friday, December 7, 2007
Holiday Jars
Hey there everyone, I just couldn't stop with ornament Thursday. I made these jars last night. I thought they would be great for putting baked goodies in for gifts. They were really easy to do. I spray painted the lids of canning jars. Once they were dry I hammered a nail through the center of the lid and then pulled the nail out. This left a hole just the size for my 18 gauge craft wire. I made a little spiral at one end, threaded it through the hole and put a dab of hot glue on the wire to hold it in place. While I had the hot glue gun on, I went ahead and put a little around the rim on the inside. This will hold the two lid pieces together. Next I added some glitter, strung on the beads and finished off the top with a little spiral or star.
Happy Beading!
Jennifer
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Ornament Thursday
Yipee! It's ornament Thursday! Here is my ornament, "I love Snowmen". All it took was a little 18 gauge wire, some Czech Beads, and a couple ceramic Jangle beads, and voila I had made my ornament.If you want to see more ornaments that some really crafty people came up with for today (Ornament Thursday) check out these great blogs.
Happy Beading!
Jennifer
Rebecca Peck http://vintagegirlmodernworld.wordpress.com/
Michelle McGee http://fromichelle.blogspot.com/Melissa Lee http://www.strandsofbeads.blogspot.com/
Melanie Brooks Lukacs http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com/
Margot Potter http://margotpotter.blogspot.com/
Linda Augsburg http://cs.makeitminemag.com/mimcs/blogs/makeitmine/
Kriss Kramer www.art-interrupted.blogspot.com
Katie Hacker http:www.katiehacker.com
Jenny Harada http://pomly.livejournal.com/
Jennifer Heynen http://jenniferjangles.blogspot.com/
Hali Chambers www.labyrinthgal.blogspot.com
Candie Cooper http://candiecooper.typepad.com/savvycrafter/ Alexa Westerfield from http://swelldesigner.blogspot.com/
My Book
It's an exciting day in the world of Jangles! I got the color proofs of my book! This is the final step before the book goes to the printer. I am so excited. So those of you who don't know, it's titled "Ceramic Bead Jewelry". It's being published by Lark Books and it will be out at the beginning of June.My book covers everything you need to know to make all kinds of wonderful ceramic beads. The book covers all types of decorating processes, like raku, underglazes, chalks, slips, and, more. And if that isn't enough, I also have 30 jewelry projects in the book all with full page photos and complete instructions. The folks at Lark Books have done an amazing job with the layout and look of the book, I couldn't be happier.
As you can tell, I am so excited about this book! I think you'll love it too.
Jennifer
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Decorating Has Begun....
So the decorating has begun at my house. . . For those of you who don't know, my husband and I are from Indiana. We spent four years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but last year we made the big move to Georgia. We love it here, we are the college town of Athens. The only draw back is that we are so far away from our families. It means there is always a big trip to Indiana to see everyone at Christmas. Which also means, we put up a tree and then pretty much leave. I never get to really decorate and that's a shame because I loooooooove Christmas. This year everyone has decided to come to us! Yipee! I am so excited to spend the holidays at our house. So as I said before, the decorating has begun! I made this wreath, and a garland that hangs over my door. We have lights galore outside and a big ol' tree inside. I love glitter and it seems that a lot of the do dads and decorations this year are covered in it. This is fine by me, therefore I have bought a lot of glittery things this year. If I could figure out how to get glitter to stay in my glazes all my beads would be covered in it too. Speaking of glitter, my friend Dori who is the artist and owner behind Dreaming Bear Designs has a glitter bar in her store! She offers twelve different colors and styles of glitter to decorate anything you would like. Doesn't that sound fun?Make sure you check back in a couple of days for Ornament Thursday. Katie Hacker, Margot Potter, and more artists are creating new ornaments on Thursdays. I have mine made and can't wait to show everyone Thursday. See you then, Jennifer
My website is www.jangles.net
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Holiday Projects, Free Shipping, and a Give Away!
If you're signed up for my newsletter you have been receiving my projects for the last ten weeks. All of these were focused on holiday jewelry to wear or great gifts for friends and family. If you didn't receive these projects then you're not getting my newsletter. I send out projects, show updates, etc usually once a month. Go to www.jangles.net and sign up now and don't miss a project.
Then ten projects of the Holidays have been so popular that I am posting all ten with the instructions here on my new blog. If you are signed up for my newsletter you have received notice of my giveaway and free shipping offer. Anyone who places an order between now and Monday December 3rd will receive free shipping. You are also entered in a drawing to win one of 5 great prizes. They are....
- A Candy Cane Necklace and Earrings
- A Set of Three Holiday Pins
- A pair of Snowmen Earrings
- A 25.00 Jangles Gift Certificate
- A 10.00 Jangles Gift Certificate
Jennifer
Earrings, Project No.10
Earrings Instructions for Holiday Earrings
Supplies needed:
- 2 holiday charms
- 2 seed Beads
- 2 sterling silver ear hooks
- 4" of 20 gauge sterling silver wire
- round nose pliers
- chain nose pliers
- wire cutters
- Begin by making a wire loop on one end of the sterling silver wire. String on one of the seed beads.
- Right after the seed bead make an second wire loop. Before closing the wire string on one of the ceramic charms. Close the wire loop and trim the excess wire.
- Open the loop on the ear wire and slide it onto the first wire loop you made. Close the loop.
- Follow steps 1-3 again to make the second holiday earring.
Napkin Rings, Project Number 1
Project Instructions - 1 medium or small character bead
- 1 12" piece of memory wire measuring 2"diam.
- approximately 10" of seed beads
- 4 small accent beads for ides of focal beads
- round nose pliers
- To begin, grab the end of your memory wire at the tips of your round nose pliers. Turn the wire to make a loop. Trim any sharp wire ends.
- Estimate where the center of the memory wire. String the seed beads up to this point.
- Next, string the accent beads, the focal bead, and the remaining accent beads.
- Finish by stringing the remainder of the wire with seed beads, leaving approximately 1/2 inch of wire at the end.
- Create a loop just as you did in step one. Keep rolling up the wire until the beads are snug.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Holiday Projects
If you're signed up for my newsletter you have been receiving my projects for the last ten weeks. All of these were focused on holiday jewelry to wear or great gifts for friends and family. If you didn't receive these projects then you're not getting my newsletter. I send out projects, show updates, etc usually once a month. Go to www.jangles.net and sign up now and don't miss a project.
Then ten projects of the Holidays have been so popular that I am posting all ten with the instructions here on my new blog. If you are signed up for my newsletter you have received notice of my giveaway and free shipping offer. Anyone who places an order between now and Monday December 3rd will receive free shipping. You are also entered in a drawing to win one of 5 great prizes. They are....
Jennifer
Then ten projects of the Holidays have been so popular that I am posting all ten with the instructions here on my new blog. If you are signed up for my newsletter you have received notice of my giveaway and free shipping offer. Anyone who places an order between now and Monday December 3rd will receive free shipping. You are also entered in a drawing to win one of 5 great prizes. They are....
- A Candy Cane Necklace and Earrings
- A Set of Three Holiday Pins
- A pair of Snowmen Earrings
- A 25.00 Jangles Gift Certificate
- A 10.00 Jangles Gift Certificate
Jennifer
Happy Thanksgiving!
Okay I am little late on this one, I know. But anyway I wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! I hope you got to spend it with loved ones. Stay tuned my ten projects for the Holidays are coming up next.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Bookmark Project
Supplies:
1 ceramic link bead
1 silver 2" headpin
1 accent bead
1 silver plated bookmark
round nose pliers
chain nose pliers
wire cutters
Instructions:
1. Begin by stringing your headpin with an accent bead.
2. Make a simple wire loop just above the bead. Before closing slide it onto one end of the link.
3. Open the jump ring and slide the remaining side of the link onto the bookmark.
Visit my Website, Etsy Shop, Blog, Facebook
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Last Class
So I am sad. I have been taking this great class at my ceramics studio by Annette Gates. It was so much fun but it is now over.
Annette's work is made from porcelain clay. She hand builds everything and has come up with a great and smart way of making feet by rolling the wet clay. Some of her pieces have rubies or glass inclusions. Her work is beautiful. You can see some here.
http://www.mudfire.com/annette-gates-workshop-20070825.htm
Here is a photo of what I made in her class. Not as nice, but still a lot of fun.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Fall Beads
Well it's finally turning cold here in Georgia. At least to the people who live in Georgia. It's 65 degrees today. I don't remember when it was under 70 last. It's nice and I get to wear my new sweater I got this weekend! It's purple and really comfy.
So I got some new beads out of the kiln today. They are for me to make a necklace for myself. These beads have been in my head for a while and I thought I better get them out of there and in clay. I am thinking I will put them with some wood beads of some sort. I haven't gotten that far yet.
I have decided to make myself some new jewelry to wear. I wear my black and white striped earrings everyday. They are on right now. So once this necklace and my other things are finished I will post some photos...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Holiday Projects
Hello there,
Okay I really am going to start posting on the blog. So to start things off I wanted to mention that I have gone crazy! I am sending out a new Holiday Gift Project every week for ten weeks. You can go to my website and sign up for the newsletter. You won't want to miss them.
Monday, March 26, 2007
First Post
Hello everyone! Okay My friend Melanie of Earthenwood Studio has been telling me I have to have a blog. So I am finally getting with the "times" and starting one. So far I have to say she is right, it's pretty easy and I don't usually run out of things to say so it should be fun. So for now I am just saying hello and test driving my new blog. I will have better things to say once I get the hang of this.....Stay tuned.
Jennifer