Spotlight on Saorsa Studios

Connie Cooper of Plantersville, Texas, has played with beads off and on for her entire life. She moved through micro-macrame into lampworking. Connie says she's "done a lot of things in my life and this is something I really enjoy. I’ve found that trying to “make a living” doing a job I hate doesn’t make for living at all, so I’ve created a life for myself based on bringing the beauty of [the] Universe to you in my little glass and fiber creations." Take a peek:

This fantastic piece is on Connie's blog, on the "micro-macrame" page.

This steampunk-inspired lampwork bead is available on Connie's Etsy shop.

Here Connie combines her lampwork with natural stones and an African porcupine quill. I'm happy NOT to meet that porcupine!

Spotlight on Lisian Blue

Kris Hunt of Lisian Blue has been featured here before. Let me show you a bit more of this multi-talented artist's work. Here are two handpainted bottles:

Morning Glories

and Lilies.

Here's the stitching detail from a hat she's making for her granddaughter.

Kris also makes quilts. Her grandson thought it was sort of funny to cut material up into little squares, just to sew them all back together to make a blanket. Well, Kris admits, it is a little funny if you think about it. Read Kris' blog and check out her Artfire store.

Spotlight on Baublez P to A

Carmen Trueheart of St. Augustine, Florida came to precious metal clay via hippy beads, seed beads, and gemstone beads.

Precious metal clay (PMC) frees Carmen's creativity, as you can see in this pendant.

Bracelets are another favorite of Carmen's, and this is one of my favorites, too.

Carmen loves animals and donates 20% of her sales to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. Check her blog, and visit her stores on Artfire, HAF, and Etsy.

Spotlight on S & T Creations

Teri Baskett is has over 10 years experience as senior IT manager. She provides guided wine tastings and designs jewelry in her "spare" time. Check out her work on Etsy, and take a look at her blog. And look at this necklace from her Etsy store.

Spotlight on A Touch of Glass

This week's featured artist is Brenda Miller of A Touch of Glass in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Brenda makes incredible hand-painted fused glass pendants and other jewelry. Brenda believes that your jewelry should be as special and unique as you are.

You can see the love, attention, and painstaking detail that go into every piece.

Brenda has just introduced a new line call "SNOOKS" – "Sweet, Novel, One of a Kind Sensations." She combines her hand-painted fused glass faces with other found treasures.

You can see more SNOOKS on Brenda's blog.

And look what Brenda does with guitar picks:

Brenda has a blog, as well as stores on Artfire, eBay, and Etsy.

Spotlight on Kazumi

Featured artist this week is Kazumi, based in Yokohama, Japan. Kazumi works in many media, offering cheerful, whimsical drawings in pencil, pastel, and chalk as well as sock monkeys and amigurumi sock monkeys. She has stores on Etsy, another Etsy shop specializing in sock monkeys and small purses, Zazzle, and also on CafePress.

Kazumi recently added a line of chalkboards. Just add your message – tonight's menu, chores for the kids, etc. Erase and write a new message tomorrow.

Kazumi's Zazzle shop let's you purchase her art printed on items as varied as mugs, postcards, magnets, even baby's onesies.

Spotlight on iKnitQuiltSew

Her grandmother taught her to knit and sew, but Sandi, of Cedar City, Utah, had to learn quilting from a book. Check Sandi's blog for a delightful overview of the evolution of her quilting.

Here's the most recent version of her "house" design.

As you'll have guessed from her store's name, Sandi also knits and sews.

Here's a darling shaggy-furred teddy bear. Child-safe, this teddy has safety-stay eyes and jointed arms and legs.

Check Sandi's Etsy shop for more goodies, including knit clothes for baby and a delightful line of rag dolls.

Spotlight on twiddletoes

When it's just a bit too cool to wear flipflops, don't you wish you had socks that would fit around that thong? Have you ever wished someone would make socks with a big toe? Well, twiddletoes does exactly that.

Watermelon Tabi —
85% wool, 15% mohair

Tabi socks are named after traditional Japanese socks that have a separation for the big toe.

twiddletoes specializes in handknit, artisan footwear, designed and created entirely by hand — no machines, no mills, and no mass production. twiddletoes knits regular-toe socks, too.

Simple Luxury
Alpaca Socks —
100% Alpaca

twiddletoes explains that each sock is made up of over seventeen thousand stitches. Yes, that's 17 with three 0's. Each one of those stitches is slipped from needle to needle by hand, not whirled around the gears of a machine. A pair of socks has over 34,000 stitches — about twice what a proportionally-sized sweater (on larger needles with larger yarn, of course) uses. As for yarn, these socks take a little over 1/4 of a mile of yarn.

twiddletoes is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Check out her blog, her online store, and her Etsy and 1000 Markets stores.

Spotlight on Haffina

This week the Handmade Artists Forum spotlights Haffina, multi-talented Australian artist.

Haffina makes jewelry.

She creates some amazing beads from polymer clay.

She makes chainmaille,

even very tiny chainmaille.

She creates beautiful and complex seed bead pieces.

All this plus Haffina's the mother of five. Don't know how she does it, but I'm pretty sure Haffina's day has more than 24 hours. Visit Haffina's blog, and check out her Artfire, HAF and Zibbet shops.

Spotlight on NaLa

NaLa is a self-taught jewelry artist with a delicate and sure grasp of design. Her work has been featured in numerous Etsy treasuries. Visit NaLa's Etsy shop and her blog. Enjoy these samples of her work:

These "Irish Eyes" earrings were featured on Etsy's front page.

Here's an
antiqued brass butterfly/floral necklace.

Spotlight on Paradise Purls

Elizabeth Humphries of North Carolina started Paradise Purls after teaching herself to knit via a "how to" booklet. She makes beaded jewelry too. Check out her blog and her Etsy shop. Here's a sampling of Elizabeth's work:

Here's a toddler's hat with cheerful colors for a cool spring day!

Spotlight on Dreams and Echoes

Linda Talbot (a/k/a Raedawn) worked for years as a visual artist before she began creating beaded jewelry. She says "Beading is a journey ... a wonderful experience ... It's this experience of mystery and joy that I want my jewelry to convey ..." Check Linda's blog to read more.

Here are just two of her pieces. You can find them in her HAFShop, or in her Etsy shop.

Spotlight on DreamRiver Designs

Debbie Downs of DreamRiver Designs works from her farm in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, where she also raises Dexter Cattle and Olde English Babydoll Sheep. Raising these Heritage breeds helps to preserve critical genetic diversity in our livestock. When it comes to jewelry, Debbie enjoys wire wrapping and chainmaille. Visit Debbie's Handmade Artists' Shop and check out her blog. Here's a pair of her chainmaille earrings:

Spotlight on Lisian Blue

Kris Hunt of Albuquerque, New Mexico sells her art under the name Lisian Blue. She's been crafting all her life. Today, she works with glass, both hand painted and stained, makes beaded jewelry, and makes fine art prints from her most awesome photos of gorgeous flowers. See her work in her Artfire shop and check out her blog, too. Here are two of the items Kris has available:

Spotlight on ... LTD!

I am pleased and excited to have been the featured artist on the Handmade Artist Forum this week. My thanks go out to all for your consideration and kind words.

Spotlight on Banana Miranda

Carmen Trueheart works in metal clay and sterling silver. She uses gemstones, and vintage and lampwork beads. See her jewelry in her Etsy shop. Carmen also loves animals, and donates 20% of all proceeds from her jewelry to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.

Here's a wonderful pendant, and just guess what it's made from. (Hint: not a natural material) Would you believe that's not any type of stone at all, but automotive overspray that's been baked repeatedly (I'm thinking sort of fossilized). It winds up being hard enough to cut and polish like a gemstone. Carmen's setting is just perfect for this piece.

Spotlight on Tuscan Road Designs

This week's spotlight is on Tuscan Road Designs, created by a woman whose interest in beading started in Murano, Italy. So she came home and learned lampworking. Hard to beat that! Here's a couple of her pieces.

Spotlight on Red Fox Jewelry

This week's spotlight is on a woman who started making jewelry less than a year ago, when health issues took her out of the "regular" workforce. She exhibited at her first craft show just this week. She also writes the friendly Red Fox Blog. Here is some of her work:

I am impressed. Best wishes to Red Fox Jewelry!

Spotlight on Anagram for Ink

One anagram would be Nik, short for Niko, short for Nicole, as in Nicole Silvester of White Raven Bindery.

Okay, here I am: a typesetter most all of my life, recently laid off from my job creating pages in a prepress shop, busy making jewelry when not searching for another job. And here's Niko, doing hand bookbinding, and letterpress, and lithography, and …

And you can imagine how Niko's earrings warmed my heart:

Awwww … Niko's earrings are available in her shop on ArtFire or on Etsy.

She's also got a tiny intaglio print of Anthropophagus Octopus. Well, Anthropophagus means man-eating, but this guy just looks happy to me. It's in her ArtFire shop.