Art Bead Scene Art Bead Scene's The Bead Biz offers up a "less is more" philosophy to selling your work
Carmi's Art/LifeCarmi's newest pendant is inspired by the forest floor.
Jewelry & BeadingMore spring cleaning tips to get your jewelry business in tip-top shape this season!
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!Easy Beading volume number 5 is out this month and is as great as always--check it out on Jean's blog!
The Writing and Art of Andrew ThorntonAndrew discovers the online jewelry supply store, Auntie's Beads, and was inspired to create a summery pair of earrings.
Bead & ButtonBead & Button magazine is talking about buttons and interesting ways to include buttons in jewelry designing.
CraftzineWhat do sporting goods and jewelry making have in common?

sorry about the lack of photos in this post! my computer was being a diva today!--jean!

Hello Ruse Family!

It’s been awhile since the last newsletter and we wanted to take this oppportunity to update you on all the great things that are going on in Ruse Town.

*Our song "Beautiful is Gone" has been selected as the iTunes Singleof the Week for June 9th-15th.

During that week, you will be able to download "Beautiful Is Gone" for free on the iTunes homepage and purchase Midnight in the City at the discounted price of $5.99!*

As a thank you to all of you who have been with us since thebeginning, here's a present just for you! Please follow this link:http://rusemusic.otmg.net/to download an exclusive "Beautiful is Gone" Remix by Heartour (aka ourdrummer Jason).

Upcoming Shows:May 23 - House of Blues in Anaheim, CA (opening for Scott Weiland)

Jun 10 - Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest, CA

July 8 - 710 Beach Club in San Diego, CA

July 9 - Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA

July 24- Bleachers in Bristol, CT

July 25- Gramercy Theater in New York, NY

See www.rusemusic.com/shows for more details

*Be sure to stay connected with The Ruse on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.Click the links below to add us if you haven't already!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/THE-RUSE/7565099357

Twitter: www.twitter.com/theruse

MySpace: www.myspace.com/rusemusic

As always, thank you for the support and please keep

spreading the word. We hope to see you again very soon :)

Love,Jim, Jason, John and Mark

This is May 2009's massive and beautiful volume culled from BeadStyle magazine -- a compendium (???) (compedium???--somebody help me out here! I hath lost my vocabulary mojo!) of best of the past year's projects from that lovely magazine, or I would hope
many of the best. Once again, I am in here. Delighted as always, as these volumes are heavy, great to own, great gifts for starter-outers, and impressively informative. I am always proud to be in them, they are so well thought out and well laid out! Easy Beading volumes rule! This cover is so different from last year's and the year before that. It sort of looks edible! I like it. I can't wait to get it onto my website for comparisons!

Jim loves the American flag! --photo by him

Happy Memorial Day!

the dog is chewing a navy blue rubber flip flop sandal in honor of this unofficial start of summer!

My oldest boys were in the boy scouts and there used to be parades here...everyone in uniform for every sort of group which HAD a uniform here (that was a bunch of uniforms) would march down the road and past the town park. Then there were other ceremonies too. We have a cemetary in town with soldiers from all the wars honored by some sort of plaque or plaques, so the marching part finished up there. I never went to it so I can't be more specific.

I do honor soldiers: my father and his brother and my uncles and my grandfathers and my great uncle Robert Connell, who was a balloonist in WWI, and more members of my family than you can shake a stick at, were all loyal members of various units of the militia. My fathers cousin's father, Karl Connell, invented the first gas mask which worked effectively against the deadly mustard gas of World War I. He was a remarkable man, see here -- http://www.slranesth.org/history.html , and my father's cousin Karl Jr. (who isn't German--he is Scottish like us, despite the spelling of his name) has written quite a fascinating book about him.
I have enjoyed reading it it very much!
at any rate:
Small towns exist!

About.com Jewelry Making Want to try bead weaving but not sure where to start? Consider one of these amazing kits for 1 Bead Weaver.

Art Bead Scene Beads made from nuts are all the rage. Go nuts and add some to your bead stash!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie chooses a new name for her new work: Toolbox Treasures!

Jewelry & Beading Repurpose old beads and charms into a wicked fun treasure necklace!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean reveals the cover of an upcoming wonderful new jewelry design book by Jean Campbell all about the fabulous Victorian-fantasy style of jewelry, Steampunk!

Strandsofbeads Melissa shows off a new necklace design inspired by a beautiful, Russian hand-painted focal pendant

"Tea for Tuesday" (Tuesday, in this case, is my doll's name), photo by me, taken with a 14 megapixel Kodak last Feb. 09

"Restored Bell" by Jim, photo taken today, amazingly using only his crummy cell phone (note: bell just restored and hung up on a porch by Jim)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OUR FAMILY HOBBIES, or the Erma Bombeck of Autism doesn't live here anymore...

Interestingly, Jim and I are both leaning in the same direction, hobby-wise these days. Hobby is a dopey word, IMO. IMO is sort of a dopey way of saying something, too, I think. SO LET'S TAKE THESE PHRASES INVOLVED AND HOLD A DO-OVER PARTY! Let's try:

"Things which appeal to Jim and to me, which we might consider our leisure activities" [that takes care of "hobby"]

and instead of "IMO", how about "in my opinion"? Works for me!

Well anyway, you're all gone for the weekend, stuffed in your cars with a massive beachball hogging the whole backseat, so I can pretty much write away and no one will notice! This rocks! In my opinion! IMO! What ho!

Anyway, I still like some of the things I used to do, but I really like my hobby (leisure activity), photography. Unfortunately, my hobby (leisure activity) doesn't pay anything, and requires that the viewer sincerely enjoy DOLLS as a prerequisite (<--is that the second time this week I have used this word in this blog, or am I delirious?). That is sort of tant pis, or too bad, eh?

Jim's situation is kind of the same but he doesn't take pictures of dolls. He is someone who likes to take the sudden, the surprise, the just flat out quick shot while enjoying his hobby(leisure activity) which often creates a better photo.

Obviously I like to take photos which have been arduously, agonizingly thought out. If you think that getting my doll Tuesday to stand on her head, with a bow on her head and her legs perfectly even, was easy, or that even getting those polka dotted tights on her slightly sticky plastic legs (Blythes all have these! what a pain in the neck!) was easy, you are just wrong wrong wrong.

The thing is, Jim sends his photos to my computer every time he takes them, whereupon I download them into my computer, whereas I take mine and stick them in my photostream on flicker. It is rare that I force him to view my photos, but it is almost daily that I get to see Jim's photos of his day. It's kind of nice to see what he is doing, and I have bought him a good camera in case it ever strikes his fancy to take a higher quality digital pic. I don't know though...he tried to teach me to use my cell phone to take photos and I didn't take to it. I know he could use his camera, but will he take to it?

As for that line, the Erma Bombeck of Autism which I mentioned earlier:

When I first wrote formally online, I wrote about autism. Other than English papers in college, it was all I knew. People thought my style was similar to Erma Bombeck. I heard this over and over. Children with autism are not objects you make fun of, and your situation isn't funny all (or even most)of the time of course, but there are aspects of it which ARE funny, or seem funny cause they are so downright weird (try driving around to every grocery store in three states when a company changes the color of a cereal box and your child will no longer touch one of his staple foods--hoarding boxes, and even writing the company! Yes--we have all done things like this! It is crazy and it is funny in its way). There is a bond which is created with other people concerning this complex disorder which makes it a relief once and a while to laugh about it. So I wrote, and Jim provided me with a lot of the material, as he is so quick witted and funny. Plus he is the driver.

So I guess he was the Ed Bombeck of autism. If that was her husband's name.

Now we no longer write about the kids very often, and we have developed these semi normal HOBBIES, or leisure activities, which enable us to pretend we live in the normal world. We don't live in the normal world even slightly, but armed with our cell phone and camera we share one little aspect of what a regular person enjoys and we like OUR LEISURE ACTIVITY TOO, LOTS! In my opinion!

Have fun tomorrow!

http://www.amazon.com/Steampunk-Style-Jewelry-Collection-Victorian-Mechanical/dp/1589234758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242837840&sr=8-1

Here is a link on Amazon.com for preorder to obtain to Jean Campbell's cool!!! new book, Steampunk-Style Jewelry: A Maker's Collection of Victorian, Fantasy, and Mechanical Designs (Paperback) , which will come out in January. What a pretty cover! I am proud to be a part of this book, as many of the best designers whom I love are in it. Jean rocks the house and infuses every project she embraces with masses of energy. I mean that Jean, not me jean, although I have been known to dance down the aisles to Hall and Oates once in a while.

Part of the editorial review on Amazon says:

"This how-to jewelry-making book features the work of an array of invited jewelry designers influenced by the growing Steampunk trend. In Steampunk circles, jewelry-makers are often master metalsmiths who combine found objects with fine metals to create elaborate pieces. In Steampunk Style Jewelry, the projects focus on "no fire" techniques--like simple stringing, wirework, hammering, stamping, gluing, stitching, and off-loom beadwork--so that even a beginner can create pieces in the style."

Does that want to make you race to preorder? I know I want to!

I love my project in the book, and intend to give you no sneak peeks at it (I don't think it is within my power!), but who knows what will go on at Jean's blog! She could be up to anything in the next few months! Here is a link to her blog to follow!http://jeancampbellink.blogspot.com/

She has some cool info on there today, in fact!

Thanks, Jean, for letting me participate in this fun and lovely book.

Today I received a wonderful surprise: an award! That is right: I received "One Lovely Blog Award" from Stephanie of Crystal Allure (http://crystalallure.blogspot.com/)! This made me so proud I figured out how to put it up on the side of my blog. I need some serious motivation to do that! Thank you so much, Stephanie! http://crystalallure.blogspot.com/2009/05/our-first-award.html: <--here is Stephanie's explanation of the rules of the award. I have some people to award this to as well, as that is a part of the rules when one receives this award. Some of my pals don't follow rules but what the heck, I love them and like them to know that I do. So here are my nominees for the One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you again, Stephanie, for one of the prettiest and nicest awards I have ever received!

PS: I added some people because of the fact that they all have big hearts even if they don't necessarily choose to award their friends with cool awards like this! They may if they wish, or they mayn't. It's MAY!

http://margotpotter.blogspot.com/

http://kimmiles-takingthelongwayhome.blogspot.com/

http://katemckinnon.com/

http://gregogden.blogspot.com/
http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com

http://www.ejrbeads.co.uk/

http://cynthiathornton.blogspot.com/

http://epdesertheart.blogspot.com/

http://ragtagsf.blogspot.com/

http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/

http://cooljewelsnaomi.blogspot.com/

http://jewelrymaking.about.com/

http://lampworkdiva.blogspot.com/

http://aardvarkartglass.wordpress.com/

http://farmgirlrootscitygirlstyle.blogspot.com/

http://offcenterproductions.blogspot.com/

http://jafabrit.blogspot.com/

http://simplyelegantpapercrafts.blogspot.com/

http://www.michellemach.com/

Thank you all for brightening my life!

jean

Dois Day on right--> la, la la

Flamboyant is an adjective used in describing the parrot tulips, which are usually larger than regular tulips. Their petals are unique, with unusual texture and a feather-like appearance, twisted and curled up. They are so fascinating to watch from the time the young buds appear, then get bigger and open up, with a gradual, subtle change in colors.

--so says google

Jim loves flowers and these parrot tulips were just the ticket for me, for Mother's Day, as I got to search the deep interiors of my mind and go way back when...to the time when I was a member of a garden club and flowers were my interest. Parrot tulips are not often seen anymore, although they were hip when the old masters painted still lifes (still lives?) and I think it took three hundred years for them to come back into fashion. People must have thrown down their leather bound reading materials as they sat near their hearths, with the big cauldrons of gruel bubbling on those iron hangers, and said, "Enough with these Parrot Tulips! They are too flamboyant! Let's get something that is more IKEA, easier on the eye, for pete's sake!"

And so to my mind that is why they fell out of favour. It went something like that. Because they really are gorgeous and pretty and they come in stunning colors and I haven't seen one in years until yesterday when Jim brought me home a bunch of ten, wrapped in cellophane and ribbons, and said excitedly and proudly, "These were THREE TIMES THE PRICE of the other sorts of tulips!!!" whereupon I noticed he had left on the taped on price tag--something he used to do frequently when he was courting me with all sorts of items.

Well a parrot tulip is worth it. You have a Dutch master in your kitchen when you pass a parrot tulip sitting in a vase next to the sink. Those painters were all kinds of flamboyant dudes where still lifes were concerned--if I have this wrong and it was another group of painters who were nuts about parrot tulips, don't correct me too harshly. I know a lot but not everything, sadly. So much to know, to recall and to learn!

Other things I received:

a bubble bath drawn by Jim for me with so many bubbles I couldn't find my head and had to push and coax many of the bubbles down towards my feet--I wonder if Doris Day ever had that problem! That was pretty flamboyant too. And I NEEDED this bath a LOT.

Oh! And some of those LU cookies. I could eat those all day long. I like the Little Schoolboy cookies Lu makes the best--they each have a full-on piece of chocolate on top of a cracker.

My grandfather on my mother's side told me that after World War I ended and he was still over in Europe, the little French kids were all running around celebrating with pieces of bread topped with chocolate. This must be similar, although I always thought that sounded odd.

I got some nice phone calls from the kids and also got to watch a lot of the House Marathon.

I had a good Mother's Day--I shall leave out the cleaning parts so you will imagine that it was perfect! :)

Art Bead SceneHello Spring! Goodbye self-control at the Art Bead Scene!
Art Jewelry magazineIt's video madness at Art Jewelry and Addie gives you a peek behind-the-scenes.
Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten ArtifactsCindy's Beads & Barbe's Creativity add up to some great necklaces!
Carmi's ArtCarmi sews crocheted flowered into a soft new collar.
Earthenwood Studio ChroniclesA special event inspired a special necklace, which now appears in a special issue of a bead magazine!
Jewelry & BeadingCombine wire work with seed beads for a one-of-a-kind necklace!
Katie's Beading BlogTry your hand at tubular peyote stitch with Katie's free beading pattern, Delicious Donut Lariat.
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!Like Art Nouveau? See this lovely book by Judith Durant and Jean Campbell who explore great works from that period in jewelry projects!
Strands of BeadsMelissa shows off a few beautiful fossilized coral beads.
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew shares the new additions to his bead stash.

Elizabeth King Gerlach, my friend who is a writer, has been in numerous books (as well as writing her own). See her site, where she offers some of her writing:
http://www.fourleafpress.com/

Now, wonderfully, she has yet another accomplishment! She has been featured on the Cup of Comfort site with her wonderful story from the book, A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Special Needs, pictured above. Her story is called "Reach and Pull". You can read it here: http://www.cupofcomfort.com/article/ReachandPull

It is so good to know you are not alone.

Robert Downey Jr. singing on Ally Mcbeal



Amazon. To be a highly respected reviewer on that site! Ah, Amazon!

As you all know, I pined for a "Vine position" when Amazon began bestowing them upon those reviewers who seemed to write good, thoughtful reviews which were "en pointe", as Marlo Thomas, playing Jaimie Gertz's mother, says in the above video piece which I have put up at least twice before I love it so. En pointe--to the point.

Anyway, I laughed so hard the other day when I went to one of my reviews, specifically for a Gillette man's razor, and I noticed a comment below it. I figure the guy isn't reading my blog so I am bravely writing this! The commenter is a top 1000 reviewer and a Vine voice, just as I am. <--Jean, showing off...However, we share a difference: he is a top 1000 reviewer and a Vine voice, bearing a grudge against ME. CAUSE I AM A GIRL, I GUESS! When I interviewed Jim as he shaved--it is a guy's razor!!!--and posted the review with a statement that I was writing all this second hand, as my husband had been using the razor, and not me, the guy simply lost it and posted this comment: "Another reviewer who hasn't actually used the product!"

I spent a lot of time trying to decide how to handle this antagonism. Why me? Did he hate me because we hold similar positions? Did he hate me for a just a second, or all the time? Did he hate razors, was he a electric razor guy? Did he actually want me to USE the razor myself, simply because I am a Vine reviewer? Makes no sense!

I looked at his photo--he didn't have a freaking beard, nor moustache. I queried to myself: Maybe he used to have a beard and regretted cutting it off recently. Hmm. I pictured him a beard. Double hmmm.
I figured finally not to respond to his comment. I wrote this blog entry instead. FYI, it is a great razor and Jim loves it and I gave tons of reasons why! GOOD REASONS, DARN IT!
I am so disgusted! Not really. Just a little!

About.com Jewelry MakingTammy has some knotting jewelry tutorials for you, as in making jewelry with fiber. It's an often inexpensive media that can add a unique twist to your jewelry designs.

Art Bead Scene Wings are the backdrop for a visual treatise on creativity.

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi turns a dried crab apple into something wearable.

Earthenwood Studio ChroniclesMelanie shares her thoughts on ethics in art and an example on how she used inspiration from another artist's work in her own work, finding her own expression with the idea without copying.

Jewelry & Beading Use antique optical lenses to make wonderful mixed media jewelry!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!Kim Miles is on the road and she is giving away beads as she blogs! Check it out!

Beadwork Inspired by Art

ART NOUVEAU

Jewelry and Accessories

by Judith Durant and Jean Campbell

I have owned and enjoyed reading this fine and thoughtful jewelry design book for several months now. I believe that the Art Nouveau movement is quite complex and difficult to understand. Fortunately Judith Durant and Jean Campbell have paired together successfully on other beadwork books (one was another "art inspired" book I recommend, Impressionist Jewelry), and are able to make clear what might be complicated to grasp.

The Art Nouveau movement, popular at its peak during the 1880's up through the early 1900's, not only reacted against the influence of Industrial Revolution, it embraced it, as many of the aspects of the actual buildings designed at the time and the decorative Art Nouveau styles could only have been made possible by the new techniques of the Industrial Revolution itself. This is pointed out by the authors of this book.

I am only disappointed that an Aubrey Beardsley project was not included in Art Nouveau. Otherwise I find it great! The Laburnum bracelet, which is influenced by a lamp designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, is stunning, true to its origins, and drenched with the earthy color of semiprecious stones and bronzed components. The Lalique earrings are charming and elegant in crystal and gold. The Metro Station earrings are fabulous and teach the reader, in excellent fashion, at least two new types of wire working if you are a newbie.

The cover piece is so Parisian, sexy, and so representative of the famous nightclub, Chat Noir, for which the bracelet is named, I expected a French Quarter nightclub show when I opened the book. Live your dreams!

As Art Nouveau style has a lot of meaning for me, with its rich organic heritage and its sensuous

vine-y power (after all, it influenced all the 1960's-70's psychedelic posters, when I was young), I am drawn to this finely researched and well orchestrated book. The projects are lovely and cool, including the one accessory piece, an amazing and outstanding beaded vase after The Kiss by Klimt. One project that took my breath away: The Galleries Lafayette Dome Pendant. If you have ever had the opportunity to stare up at that dome, you will be in awe at what the authors have managed to accomplish in replicating, with great care, drama, and love: the beautiful ceiling of the Galleries Lafayette, which was built in 1912.

If you love Art Nouveau, try this book. It is terrific.

I have a lot of cell phone pics of this gold finch feeder with thistle in it but this is the first one this year Jim has sent me where the trees were in bloom as well! Pretty!

pinnacles

I think there are lots of little milestones people don't even notice or stop to appreciate sufficiently which would be worth marking if only they bothered. Right now, I am busy being fairly quiet in my career--I have one project in a magazine this summer, and one reprinted project in a book...as well as another project in a book coming up fast, and also my pride and joy, an appearance in a gallery of a book. This might seem like a lot to you but for a person like me who used to create jewelry every day the way I took a breath, it is barely a drop in the water of creative energy.

So what is going on here? Have I lost interest in jewelry? I cannot say that that is so. I feel that I mastered something...

And that has something to do with it. I reached some sort of pinnacle.

Please do not think that I think I am such a hot shot that I am viewing myself as just the best jewelry maker around. I am laughing as I type that, in fact. It is more an attitude which goes like this:

1) a person gets interested in something

2) a person works really really hard at something

3) a person opens her heart to the world about this by mailing out her designs to magazines on a regular basis

4) a person STUDIES every day, as if she were in school, the thing she loves, for her own reasons

5) a person masters some aspect of the subject to the point where she has reached her version of a pinnacle for her own fulfillment: nobody else's.

Right now I have two idea for books. I am not going anywhere. However, I am also not rushing to anything either. I am pleased with what I have accomplished and I cherish the creative friendships I have made online which remain sturdy and fine. I will continue to do what I want jewelry wise when I get the urge...just the way I play with my dolls as a hobby when I feel like doing that.

I suppose it is similar to something I have observed in one of my children with autism: He works and works on something he finds interesting and then when he has gotten to the point where he has mastered it, when he has reached what he sees as the pinnacle, for him, he goes on to the next thing he discovers interesting and starts to work, HARD.

I will always work on some aspect of jewelry--I love it--but I have so many things I want to do! I have to climb some other mountains and fjord (???) some other streams. My latest interest myself is photography. I keep screwing up but I don't GIVE UP. Jim is far more natural at it than I am...and really should become a member of a cell phone group on flickr. He is so good at that! I got him a regular digital but he still uses his cell phone more often. Fascinating to me. I can't understand how to use mine.

So, anyway!

That is some thoughts...some thoughts concerning where we are at, here!