Happy Monday everyone! Another Monday, another week – and another selection of beautiful handmade beads.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the wonderful readers that shared their beautiful beads and jewellery with us last week! It is so wonderful to see your creations and the art beads that have inspired you. Keep ’em coming!
This month, our theme is ‘bird beads’, and last week I shared my favourite ‘bird’ poem with you all. Claire Lockwood of Something to do beads (I have a feeling she knows a thing or two about poetry…!) shared another ‘bird’ poem in the comments, and I thought you would all like to read it too.
The Darkling Thrush
BY THOMAS HARDY
I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.
The land’s sharp features seemed to be
The Century’s corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.
I know I am not the only jewellery designer reading this blog who is also a little bit in love with words. Do you have a poem to share with us? We’d love to read it!
Claire also shared some of her favourite bird beads…
…and also one of hers, looking for a home. Will you adopt him? Look at his sweet wee face!
Monique shared some wonderful finds as well:
Menagerie Studios
Liona shared bird beads from 2 familiar faces…
Tesori-Trovati – otherwise known as our very own Erin 🙂
Humblebeads – or, editor-in-chief of ABS, the amazing Heather!
Not only that, but she shared how she used them in her own designs:
Liona has just started her own blog, so hop over to ‘Confessions of a Bead Addict’ and take a peek.
Like Monique, Liona is also a fan of….
Sweet, sweet sweet little birds from Too Aquarius, in either shade!
Last, but not least, Caroline (whose birds I shared last week) shared her favourite bird bead ~
Wow! A stunner, I’m sure you’ll agree – love the swirling detailing. And the colour…..well, needless to say, aqua and I get on rather well 🙂
Get sharing in the comments! I can’t wait to see your beads and jewellery. And now poems too, if you feel so inclined…..;-)
And now for the BeadBlogger Links:
Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer, currently living in Belfast, Northern Ireland. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.
Claire Lockwood
February 10, 2014 at 12:20 pmOoo – there are lots of bird poems to share! I'll root out some favourites. And thank you for including lonely bird! I do hope he gets a new home… You've selected some beauties here!
Liona (Blue Merlin Creations)
February 11, 2014 at 4:12 amThank you for sharing my links and my blog, Rebecca! That was an unexpected lovely thing for today =) The other birdie links were such fun, too. (It gets dangerous following this blog…there are so many beads clamouring to be bought!) I did think of one other artist who makes beautiful bird beads – Kerri Fuhr. This one is one of my favourites
https://www.etsy.com/listing/96795667/lampwork-little-bird-focal-bead-by?ref=shop_home_active_22
and here's another that's a little more dramatic
https://www.etsy.com/listing/171148338/new-kerribeads-lampwork-ravens-landing?ref=shop_home_active_1
I like birds a lot, so this is a lot of fun to follow =)
Kristen
February 11, 2014 at 10:49 amI enjoyed the poem. Perfect for these winter days. Here are two of my enameled birdy toggle clasps
https://www.etsy.com/listing/178872894/red-bird-enameled-toggle-clasp-with?ref=shop_home_active_9
https://www.etsy.com/listing/178879434/blue-bird-enameled-toggle-clasp-with?ref=shop_home_active_7
Thanks! Kristen
Donna
February 11, 2014 at 12:51 pmWhat a beautiful poem. I am more inspired this month from the poem than from the monthly art challenge. Please post more poems in the future.