Artist Alert...Galit Barak...

Hi all, in my quest to find great artists & show them off here, I have found Galit Barak Jewelry Designer...below is an interview I did with her...she is pretty cool...enjoy

1. Tell me a bit about you & what is your art form/media? My name is Galit Barak, I'm 22 years old from Israel.I live in a small town next to the Mediterranean Sea. I always loved to create, and studies fine arts in high school. I learned to knit and crochet at that time and wanted to explore the technique a bit more and started to use simple metal wires.

2. How long have you been working in the medium, why or how did you get started? I started crocheting wire for jewelry making while serving the IDF 2 3 years ago as a tour guide for soldiers in Jerusalem, and just couldn't stop creating my jewelry ever since.

3. What inspires and influences your art? Well, it's hard to say, I really love using circles and natural shapes but more than anything I'm inspired and influenced by the semi-precious stones and wires I'm using.I combine colors, shapes and textures while using high quality materials as 14 karat gold filled, sterling silver, semi-precious stones and pearls.

4. What is the most favorite part of working with your art medium? For me each one of my creations is unique. I love making custom order for special events, wedding, and personal ideas of customers. It is important to me to continuously developing and improving my jewelry so I'm attending to collage for B.Des degree in jewelry design.

5. What was the last item you bought on Etsy & why? If it was a good transaction lets give a shout out to the seller? The last item I bought was 26ga gold filled headpins from frogcottage http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=14978395 She is so kind, great prices, and no one sell these perfect headpins in Israel!!!! Thank you!!!

Thank you Galit oh and here is her blog galitbarak.blogspot.com...Thanks for stopping by everyone...

Jelveh

Peace

We have a Winner, New Beads & New Giveaway...

Hi all, hope your weekend was great & you are having a wonderful week so far...ours was good, a bit colder than I like my November, its been icy cold here in Oxford...can not wait till we go home for the Christmas holidays...

OK first we have a winner for last week's bicone bead giveaway and that person is Stephanie, thanks for all the comments.

Now for this week's giveaway I have a nice big (24mm)round spring flower bead, flowers on both sides, with a couple of friends, 10mm Sterling Silver beads I bought in Turkey this past summer...now to win this set please enter a comment in this thread about which bead set of mine from the past you wish me to make again...you can check these out in my etsy shop sold items, or on my web site archives, you can copy & past a photo of the set you like in the comment, if not just a name & where you saw it, or a link to it would be good too...one entry per person...

and now for the new beads...I have added a bunch of new yummy beads to my etsy shop, with some spring colors in mind, a few focals & such...hope you like, click here to see them...

thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

New beads & one to win...

Hi all, wow has this been a great week or what...we have a new president elect & life seems full of hope...and that is always a good thing...

I have some new beads for you listed in my Etsy Shop

& the bead to the left is this week's giveaway this is a large encased in the middle bicone bead, about 35mm along the hole, I love how it came out, the colors are better in person, some Raku purples, greens...

To enter to win this bead, leave a comment on this post with your favorite jewelry commponant or fixing as it were...the Contest will end by Monday afternoon England time...Jelveh...Peace

Beads & a Giveaway...

Hi all, hope you had a good week...ours was good, sunny & cold...I have been feeling a bit ill, but other than that all is good...I did make some beads & you can enter to win the yummy gourd bead above by responding to this blog entry...in your response please say what color beads you wish you had right now, you can only enter once...a winner will be picked from all entries by Tuesday AM California time...

You get a $5.00 Discount, via a paypal refund, if you purchase 2 or more items between now & the day after the Election in America...

Have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

Off on Vacation....

Hi all, my parents are here, and they are jet lagged, can you tell from the photo...? we are taking some time off to go on vacation with them...so there will be no new beads listed for about a week or so, then I will have some beads...for now if you buy any of the items listed in the shop, they will not ship until after the 12Th of September...

First up, a visit to Turkey to meet with some of my Glass friends & my aunt is coming from Iran to see us there, I have not seen her for 30 years, this is going to be a great trip...I will update with photos & story as time goes on...

Thanks for all the love...

Jelveh

Peace,

Eye Candy for your soul....

Hi all, Last week when I was in line at the Book Festival in Edinburgh, waiting to get my husband's copy of Will Self's book signed by him, I thought of another great writer I like named Christopher Moore, and how so much of their styles can feel the same, although they are different form one another...so I asked him what does he thinks about over lapping ideas in creative writing these days and how sometimes it is just plain plagiarism that we see in writing or in other art forms...he looked up at me, with his strange set of eyes & without so much as missing a beat he said, "its easy I just don't read what others write, that way I will never know either way" he laughed after he said it, so did I, we had listened to him for about an hour taking questions from a sold out crowd of several hundred people in a small venue. by this time I knew he was smart and funny, but I also believe he has a point...we are only responsible for what we do, not what others do...

When I first started to make jewelery with lampwork beads, I used to look at them all the time, eye candy was a huge reason for me to go to the forums... 7.5 years ago when I started to make my own beads, I visited the forums & sites of my favorite glass artists like Sharon Peters, Diana East & Corina & still do in fact, I took only 2 classes in person that was years after I had made beads, they were with Diana East & Sharon Peters...

When I got my own site up and running I wanted to make sure others could come and see my beads as they wished, I never locked my photos or got upset & never will get upset, when some were inspired by my beads while making their own...there are so many designs even names of beads that I have seen out there that could very easily be one of mine...some pretty obvious, some a 1000 years old...I have always been flattered & never ever questioned anther's creative mind...

Speaking of inspiration take a look at the eye candy photo of what the lovely artist Ginny made with a set of 3 beads I made inspired by the famed Salmon Egg Beads by Andrea Guarino-Slemmons...I added my own twist to them of course, in fact I have seen tons of people make the Salmon Egg beads, in some way or another, but never credit the original creator of them, I think this is getting harder & harder as I go along in my journey with glass, as I do not have time to look at other's work to see if they are inspired by mine or to be inspired by them, Andrea made the first of these beads years ago, as far as I know they are her design, but who is to say, prior to my eyes looking at this art form of 3500 years old, others had not done the same design...perhaps Will Self is correct...

In Ginny's hands my beads find a gorgeous place to call home...I love how she showcases & takes care of them, when you see these lovely works of art, when you see how it all comes together & makes a circle, gets handed down to the next group of creative minds, this is when I can not agree with what Will Self said...we must share art, we must share our creative minds, in this way we can all grow & better our artistic nature, not to mention the truth that Eye Candy is great for our Souls... What do you think about sharing art and Creative minds? Who is your favorite Writer...?

Thanks Ginny for all the love... & Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

What is today...?

Hi all, we are back, I have been so tired, I don't even know what day it is... we came back a couple of days ago from Edinburgh in Scotland where we enjoyed a bit of the Fringe Festival, from Music to Comedy, from Theater to the Book Festival & everything in between, this town rocks for a whole month...click here to see some of what goes on at the Edinburgh Festival...there is a link below to our photos from the trip...

We saw one of Martin's favorite writers Will Self, he was amazing. We also saw 2 great Comedians, Shazia Mirza & the ever so funny Mark Watson, I don't think I have laughed this much & for this long forever...

Here are some photos of our Trip...we loved the castle, the city as a whole is so alive, with its rich history & all the people who bring so much art & talent to the city during the festival...we were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people & the wasting of so much paper used to print information for the hundreds of shows at the many venues that you can visit...

There is so much more to talk about today...I saw my "President" Hillary give one of the best speeches I have heard this year on why we are all democrats & we should stick together...I cried when I watched, I think Mr. Obama will be our next President & I think he will be a good president for America, but I think we missed a great opportunity as a people to elect a person of great intellect & strength to be our next President...Hillary is such a class act...maybe in 2012?

Where are the Beads...? I will list some yummy beads for your after 4pm on Thursday...I will send an email letting you know when they are up...& yes there will be a chance to win some yummy beads on the blog... We are so excited my parents will be here next week, they are staying for a whole month, we are going to Turkey with them in about 12 days to see my aunt who is coming from Iran to see us, it will be the first time I have seen her in 30 years...& we have a big dinner planned in Istanbul with my Turkish friends & fellow glass addicts...so much going on...more on this later...

Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

River Rock....

Hi all, I have new beads & a new contest to win the lovely River Rock focal bead above...You can win this focal bead by being the first person who guesses which colors of glass I have way too much of...Blues & Greens, Oranges & Corals, Reds & Yellows, Ivory & whites, Black & Grays, Purples & Violets, or Amber & Browns....

I have been Unpacking my glass, what was I thinking, see I had 2 studios one at the house & one at the shop in Gilroy Ca. well I never did inventory I guess & just kept ordering glass...Please note, one guess of a 2 color group (ie Black & Grays) & one entry per person...please make a comment on the blog with your guess...oh yeah maybe you can tell me what to make with it all...

Thanks for Playing

Jelveh

PEace

Where are the BEADS??

Hi all, well I listed some beads & they sold before I got a chance to let everyone know they were there...thanks for the love, as I said a few times before I love listing beads as I go, more than a set time for listing beads...so once a week I will send out an email telling you whats up & the rest of the time you need to check etsy or my blog for updates...

Not sure if this is fair to all, but this is best for me right now... so the photo above is of some beads I am listing in the next few days & there is more in the kiln...send me an email if you want me to save you one of the sets in the photo...I will send out an email with the game to win the beads in the last post, on Friday AM my time...

Thanks for stopping by... Jelveh

Peace

Camden Market...

Over the weekend, Hubby & I went to London to visit the famed Camden Market. It was raining pretty hard, but we had a blast, it is perhaps the best Bazaar I have seen anywhere, although you will not find the same kind of items as you would in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, you would find just about anything you want, I am not even sure what more we could have found, it goes on & on, in & out of buildings, side street, & under ground & right off the street...its not really just a market as it feels like a market town...amazing...

click here to see a few photos of our day...it was hard to get the camera to focus & most sellers did not want photos of their shops taken, some of the outer stores did sell a lot of things not hand made, but there was just as impressive as a collection of Vintage, Antiques & of course Handmade Art...I even met a very nice glass artist who is from Turkey, she will be taking my advanced class in April in Istanbul at Glass Furnace... Hope yours was good too...Thanks for stopping by

Jelveh

Peace