Donuts are Good For You

by Staci L. Smith

Well, this kind of donut is not bad for you anyway.  If you know me at all, you know I love using donuts in my designs, and I make a huge amount of them as components as well.  I love the round shape, the negative space the hole creates, and most of all, I love the endless possibilities.

Not everyone shares my passion though.  Some people just don't know what to do with them.  So I thought I'd share some tips and inspiration for using donuts in your work. 

I wish I had pictures of my earliest work.  One of the first things I did with donuts was use it as a toggle clasp.  Alas, I do not.  But I did find this sample online.  I love how she used the flower donut as a toggle clasp!  

Necklace by Karen Grosset Grange
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fginkgoetcoquelicot.blogspot.fr%2F2014%2F06%2Fblu-mudd-challenge-4.html&h=LAQHCibI_

Donut by Blue Mud Studio

If you don't do seed beads and can't make that kind of toggle, you can make one out of wire, or even use a center drilled stick pearl as a toggle.

You can also use wire to make a bail on a donut bead.  You can do a simple wrap around look- this one is just wire wrapped around the top a few times, and I make a large wire wrapped loop for a bail.  Then I did the same on the bottom to create place to add a charm.

Staci Louise Smith

Below an old style of pendant I loved making, it involved a wire bail, with a spiral...then I would dangle charms from the spiral.  A great way to dress up and plain donut.

You can also get fancy with the wire work like Dana Hickey did

www.etsy.com/shop/winddancerstudios

or like these pretty little earrings by Stacie Florer

www.stacieflorer.com 


Another options is to bezel them, either in seed beads

Carol Dean Sharpe of Sand Fibers
http://sandfibers.blogspot.com/

Or bezel them in metal

 Staci Louise Smith

Staci Louise Smith

You can even prong set them- this is great especially if they are thick, highly textured, or you just want to leave as much of the donut showing as possible

Collaborative piece by Staci Louise Smith and Lisa Peters Art
www.stacilouiseoriginals.com
www.lisapetersart.com 

Another option is using fiber to tie your donuts into your design.  You can use waxed linen, silk cord and leather, just to name a few.  (ok, leather is not fiber, but I thought I'd group it here)

Waxed Linen Cord used as a bail from the donut onto leather cord
Staci L. Smith

 Plain old leather looped through the hole, through a large hole bead, and as a cord
Staci L. Smith

Silk Cord or something, tied through the donut on these earrings by Marcia Dunne
It really makes them light and dainty, and compliments her wire work and small beads perfectly
https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etsy.com%2Fuk%2Fshop%2F13Alternatives%3Fref%3Dl2-shop-info-name&h=YAQHYKOtt

Here is a piece I made a couple years ago, called Khaleesi, after my favorite Game of Thrones Character.  I used a large donut, with a smaller donut inside, and linen cord to add the accents to the piece.

www.stacilouiseoriginals.com


Someone who is always SUPER creative when using donuts (or any focal for that matter) is Keirsten Giles

She used wire and sheet metal to make high end bails for her donuts, and it absolutely makes the bail part of the main design of her piece.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etsy.com%2Fshop%2Flunedesigns&h=xAQGGUlTa

Another design that I adore are these bracelets by Judith Boyer.  I really like how she used the donuts, to make an symmetrical bracelet.....and the genius of it, is that the multiple strands will be heavier, and land on the bottom of the wrist, allowing the donut to be on top as the focal bead.  

https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.judithannboyer.com%2F&h=HAQEJ6Nwt

Lastly, I like to use donuts in my pieces, using them among other donuts and beads, either in a choker style or a long dangle.  It is achieved by using wire to wrap them into place.

I figured I'd share this technique with you, since I get asked all the time how I do my wire for the above style pieces.

You begin by taking a nice long piece of wire and a donut.

Make a wire wrapped loop, and go through and around the donut, wrapping back around the base of the loop.

Now take the wire and feed it over the top and through the donut hole again, so it comes out on the bottom of the other side.

 back view

Now make a wire wrapped loop on the other side, wrap the wire around the base, and come back over the top of the donut

Feed the wire through the hole again, it will come out on the other side from the bottom

Wrap the excess around the base of the loop and cut, or, you can continue to go back and forth a couple more times, depending on the look you want.

Wrapping donuts this way allows you to use them in designs, and control how they hang.  By having wire on both sides, your donut will not flip around on you.  It also creates a look of the donut floating in the wire.  Essentially, you are doing a figure 8 through the donut.

I hope this helps to give you some inspiration and encourages you to use donuts in your designs. 

Please be considerate, the examples here are peoples original designs, are are not to be copied, but, merely a jumping point for you try something new.  Be inspired, but give it your own flavor, make it your own.  

Some of the art bead donuts in this post and just some of my favorite places to get art bead donuts are listed below

www.lisapetersart.com

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MarshaNealStudio

https://www.etsy.com/shop/suburbangirlbeads

www.stacilouiseoriginals.com 

www.starryroadstudio.com 



Boot Camp: Hoops and Negative Space

by Staci L. Smith

I was going to do a little tutorial on soldering hoops, but MaryAnne posted this great video that did all the work for me!  Thanks MaryAnne!

 

So it allows me to talk today about why I love using hoops / loops in my designs and some ideas of how to use them. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have always been drawn to hoops, whether in the form of wire or a donut bead.  They offer endless possibilities in design.  They can be a focal piece or an accent.  The can be connectors, or made into chain.  The form of the hoop, can give you an array designs and styles to chose from.

 

I personally like the negative space it creates.

Negative space is a space that is not occupied, or taken up by a focal piece.  It is used in great paintings, to push your eye to the main focal point of the picture, or to keep your eye moving around the piece. 

 

I find that water color artists often are the masters of negative space in paintings.  Below is a good example.  See how the negative space between the trees allows you to focus on the trees themselves? 

 

 

Painting by Pat Howard of the Painted Prism

http://thepaintedprism.blogspot.com/2012/05/watercolor-workshop-negative-painting.html

 

In jewelry, not only does a hoop provide negative space, but it can also lighten up a large piece of jewelry by occupying more area, using less material.  Using heavy stones, ceramic and glass can weigh a piece of jewelry down.  Especially if you like your jewelry large like I do.  Hoops allow me to make the pieces more wearable.

 

Creating a large focal using hoops, like this piece, allows you have a large piece that is very light, both in actuality and to the visually.

 

 

 

Adding negative space can also break up a flow of solid chunkiness, to give the eye a break from the heaviness, and since its a hoop, it carries the eye through the piece, without creating a break that is unappealing.

 

 

 

In fact, I am so drawn to negative space, I even started adding it to my beads, as in these skeleton hearts I created in polymer clay.

 

 

 

I have used hoops this year, to allow me to make some simpler pieces, that can still be funky.  In this piece, I used a simple loop to hang a bead I loved from.  That way, the focus is the paisley bead (by Diana of Suburban Girl Studio).  A very simple design, that is light and chunky at the same time.

 

 



Here I soldered some loops together and gave them a verdigris patina, and they have become the focal point.  I made it asymmetrical, so it could still be funky, yet it is light and simple at the same time.

 

 

Hoops don't have to be empty though, and I have also used them to frame beads that I want to accent, like in this piece with a fancy Joan Miller Bead

 

 

I hope you enjoyed a little trip through my mind, and how and why I love the shape of the hoop.  I also hope its inspired you to use them in jewelry creations.  Hoops span all styles of jewelry.  It is the most basic form.  It can be simple or complex.

 

Please share you hoop /loop creations in our Flickr group this month for the current Boot Camp.  I also hope you will join us on

 

October  14th for the blog hop, and show off what you have been making with hoops!