Rings by Giovanna Blog Hop!

We have been sharing with you some of the projects featured in the new “Rings by Giovanna” beading manual just released by Dazzle-it.    This manual is the first of a series that will showcase projects featuring Czech seed beads from the Dazzle-it Collection.  For our debut issue, we commissioned bead weaving artist Giovanna Fiume to create a collection inspired by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

Now that the manual is published, it was time to put it into the hands of jewelry makers. We sent a blog hop kit to mostly inexperienced beaders to see if they were up to the challenge of creating a ring with seed beads.  We were sure that the big step-by-step photos and instructions would make them feel like there were in a classroom with Giovanna herself!

All the blog hoppers received a similar kit.  Various Czech seed beads, Wildfire beading thread, Dazzle-it beading needles and our new publication.  Not one project came back looking the same.  Here are their results.

Lisa Pace has a blog title that really matches this project; Its In The Details.  Her project looks like it came right out of our manual.  In her words; “after view­ing the tech­nique book­let included along with the prod­ucts needed, I decided to give a try at mak­ing the Dot­ted Ring. The Dazzle-It Rings by Gio­vanna book­let has very easy to fol­low step by step instruc­tions which pretty much guar­an­tees a suc­cess­ful project every time.”   Lisa’s blog post is here.

Tammy Powley is also known as the Crafty Princess through her blog:  The Crafty Princess Diaries.   She is currently obsessed with green and purple so I am pleased her kit for the blog hop contained the colours she loves.  After reviewing her project options she noted “I had to decide on the stitch and the project. I decided to go with peyote and create an adaptation of the “Sinuous Ring” design from the book.”  Like several other blog hop participant she now has “some ideas for other ring-related bead designs.”

Nancy Donaldson shared an image of her supplies, the ring in progress and her finished submission that made it easy for me to show you what she created.  She managed to create something instantly wearable. “in  this wonderful kit from dazzle-it, instruction booklet –Rings by Giovanna, tons of Czech seed beads and beading needles and thermally bonded bead weaving thread which i have never used (not sure why) and totally love!”  Nancy’s blog post is here.

Marisa Decidepa-Wong has a blog she calls MDW’s Love.   I know her to be very busy in her day job so when she has time to work on jewelry it is usually in the evening and wee hours of the morning.  The new Rings by Giovanna manual gave her permission to start a new project.  “I had a blast making this ring. It’s been awhile since I’ve done peyote stitch and I had to restart a couple of times but finally got the hang of it.”  If you head over to Marissa’s blog you’ll see several more rings that she continued to make after Midnight.  Marissa’s blog post is here.

Cyndi Lavin from the blog Beading Arts is exactly who we wanted to send our new manual too.  She had never made a ring before.  She used this blog hop as an opportunity to experiment with new products.  In her own words “what I learned was that the beading thread matters too.  I did not like the WildFire at first.  I found it difficult to thread the needle, hard to coax the beads into place, and really a pain in the neck when you wanted to remove a bead.  But the more I worked with it, the more I saw the value.”  The link to her blog post is here.

Jennifer Tryon has a blog called Tryon a Homemade Life.   I know that she has never worked with a seed bead so this would be a great introduction for her.  There is always a learning curve to starting a new craft and Jennifer commented: “Thankfully the pictures in the instructions were large, because the beads are tiny. Literally seed beads. This was my first time string beading with such tiny beads, I broke 3 needle threaders and the head off two pins just threading the darn needles.”  Her ring was completed and we just need to post a picture of it for you to see as well.  Link to her blog post is here.

Eileen Bergen has a blog called The Artful Crafter.  I love her blog description of the new booklet: “WHAAM”, was I ever surprised! The Dazzle-It rings designed by Giovanna all evoke the 1960s comic book art of the master in one way or another. The book is sprinkled with talk bubbles for the directions and a few BAMs, WOWs and POWs. Very clever. The booklet alone is a collector’s item.”  This is Eileen’s first bead weaving project and I do believe she will be making a lot more items in the future.  Her ring is perfect!  Link to her blog post is here.

If you are looking for the book it is just going into online stores now.

Here are some immediate sources:  

BeadFX

The Northern Bead Company

 

Thank you again to everyone who joined the hop!  I have one or two more contributors to post over the next month.

Cyndi Lavin Post linked here.

Marissa Decipeda-Wong linked here.

Tammy Powley linked here.

Jennifer Tryon linked here.

Lisa Pace linked here.

Nancy Donaldson linked here.

Eileen Bergen linked here.