Silver, Copper, Bronze... Color Combo Challenge And More!!

Hey!! Wow it's been a long time since my last blog - Lordy I feel like I just knelt down in a confessional! But seriously - so much has been going on in 2011 and I'm a bit behind in my reporting!!

You know me, you know my style - I tend to create pieces for specific people - gifts... with specific people in mind. Which means I think about the person, and pull bits and pieces of them into the design. Well that tends to make it difficult for me to ... just make. So in mid January I joined a Facebook group called "Color Combo Challenge". This group is fantastic. I've watched it grow from less than 50 people to over 200 in a few short months. Each Monday a combination (palette) of colors is picked (or voted on) and you have one week to create a piece in that palette - the pics are then posted on Sunday or Monday and then the new colors are announced. I've had SO much fun! Besides the craziness of trying to find materials in the right colors and then creating something "just because" I've met some super great people and learned so much!!

Here are some pics of the pieces I've done for the Color Combo Challenge (the color squares show you the color palette we had that week):

8_Brown/Black, Topaz, Seafoam, Mint and Dusty Mint Greens

Necklace and Earrings: Bronze, Pale Green Granite (yep granite), Amber Glass Beads, Topaz Swarovski Crystals, Peace Stone, Sesame Jasper, hand-made chain and ear wires from vintage bronze wire. One lamp work bead is in the center of the focal - created by That Bead Girl. The necklace is approx 22" and the earrings are approx 2 1/2" long from top of ear wire.
Bracelet: Bronze, Green Granite (this piece has cool sandy pieces in it), Topaz Swarovski Crystals, Peace Stone, Amazonite, Amber Lamp Work Spacer by That Bead Girl, hand-made chain and forged closure.
Bracelet approx 7 1/4" long.

9_Honeysuckle (Pink) & Russet
Click Here to Buy Necklace! - or - Click Here to Buy Earrings!

Necklace: Bronze hand-sculpted rose focal with hand-forged texture. Two shades of pink lampwork beads by That Bead Girl. Swaros - Light Colorado Topaz, Smoked Topaz and Rose. Brown & White Enamel beads made by me (!) with hand-forged Antique Bronze wire work. Finished off with pink suede cord and hand-forged Antique Bronze hook with lampwork bead.

Earrings: Bronze flower drops with hand-forged texture. Pink Lampwork beads by That Bead Girl, Swaros - Light Colorado Topaz and Smoked Topaz. Antique Bronze wire.



11_ Mauves & Olive done with lamp work, Swarovski crystals,
vintage bronze and hand-dyed silk cord
Click Here to Buy Necklace! - or - Click Here to Buy Earrings!

Necklace: Beautiful lamp work heart by Bastille Bleu Lampwork and jungle twilight lamp work beads by That Bead Girl combined with vintage bronze wire to create what I think is a pretty cute necklace. Notice the vintage 10mm pink ab swaros (unsure the exact color but will find out)!! ;o) Piece is finished off with hand coiled beads, cord caps and a hand-forged vintage bronze "s" hook.

Earrings: More jungle twilight lamp work beads by That Bead Girl combined with green and pink swaros, and vintage bronze hand-coiled beads on hand-forged ear wires



12_Coral & Seafoam done with Fossil Coral Beads, Adventurine, Green Flourite, Red Jasper, Dark & Light Coral Czech Glass and Lampwork Beads and Bronze wire

SOLD... Necklace - Took the color challenge a little bit literal and used fossil coral beads for this necklace w/ adventurine and green flourite along w/ red jasper and coral & pink glass czech beads. Hand-forged bronze wire chain with hand-dyed silk cord. And two small lampwork beads at either end of the main focal section by That Bead Girl.

GIFTED... Earrings: Do not match the necklace - but I love these coral/pinky color shells (Strawberry Top Shells from Thunder Bird Supply). Matched w/ bronze hand-forged ear wires and coils along with VINTAGE peridot (or Chrysobryl (?sp)) swaros. I am checking on the Swaros.



14 - Teal/Seafoam/Royal - Bronze Component, Lampwork Beads,
African Jade and Blue Lapsis w/ Bronze Wire.
Bracelet - Bronze bracelet made from one of my bronze components, pretty blue/green lampwork beads by That Bead Girl, African Jade round beads and blue lapsis. Hand forged antique bronze wire chain. Closes with a square bronze toggle.



15 - Plum & Peach - Birds Eye Rayolite, Bronze Component,
Lampwork Beads, Harvest Stone, Swarovski Crystals w/ Bronze Wire.

Necklace - Birds Eye Rayolite focal surrounded by peach and plum lampwork spacers by That Bead Girl, Harvest Stone beads, and light peach Swarovski crystals. Purchased textured chain combined with bronze button component from my etsy shop as well as lampwork, Swarovski and harvest stone bead components. Hand forged closure. Necklace approx 20".

16_Pink Lemonade - Copper, Swarovski Crystals, Glass Beads,
Copper/Brass Wire, Copper Chain
Click Here to Buy Necklace! - or - Click Here to Buy Earrings!

Pink Lemonade Garden Party - Necklace & Earrings
Second try at 'beading' but first time on my own from start to finish. Came across a bracelet in a magazine this week that had these cool crystal bead components so I thought - hmmmm. Here's my try -

Necklace - "Beads" created from Sunflower, Vintage Rose, Rose Swarovski Crystals with size 15 pale pink glass beads. Combined with my own copper rose hips, hand-made jump rings from copper and brass twisted wire and Swarovski crystal w/ copper links. The toggle on this is a combination of Copper & Brass twisted wire and one of my copper twig with buds. Chains lengths are doubled to add to the flow.

Earrings - "Beads" created from Sunflower, Vintage Rose, Rose Swarovski Crystals with size 15 pale pink glass beads. Combined with my own copper rose hips as dangles. Hang from rose gold-filled ear wires for comfortable "non-greening" wear.



17_Green/Brown - Copper, Bronze, Swarovski Crystals, Harvest Stone,
Lamp work Beads, Suede Cording, Vintage Bronze Wire, Copper & Brass Chain
Click Here to Buy Me!

Necklace - dangle focal created from Lamp work beads by Bastille Bleu (rounds) combined with hand-coiled Vintage Bronze bail, patina'd Copper chain. Dangles are patina'd Copper Maple tree seed, Bronze rose hip, Swarovski crystals and a lamp work disc by That Bead Girl.

Focal hung from doubled beautiful green suede cord with side closure created from hand-coiled Vintage Bronze leather ends and hook with Copper/Brass chain and a rose-hip dangle with Swarovski crystals.
(Tutorial for the coiled bail from http://gailavira.etsy.com/)

20_ Teal/Gold/Purple - Bronze, Lampwork Beads,
Swarovski Crystals, Antiqued Bronze Wire
Click to Buy Me!

Necklace - Created this using a mold I made of a vintage pin. Used Bronze Clay, inset 2 fire-able CZs - Amythyst & Yellow Diamond. The Yellow Diamond lighted more than it was so it looks almost creamy clear. Then I took a piece of teal colored sea glass, smashed the crappola out of it and inset a small piece. Fired, tumbled, patina'd (carefully!!) w/ a torch to get some color on the lower wing and body. I added hand-made chain and Swarovski Crystals and Lampwork Spacers (by that bead girl). The chain on the necklace is purchased, the lampwork are all by that bead girl. The closure is also from Bronze clay. I'm SO excited that the piece worked w/ the crystals added in before firing - it opens up SOOO many more ideas for me!!

Earrings - used the lower wing of the butterfly for the earrings. These are done with hand made chain, Swarovski Crystals and again - Lampwork spacers by that bead girl. Hand-forged earring wires. If I had it to do over - and I prob will :o) I would add a crystal to one side of the wing and only two holes on the other side. I think they would dangle really pretty that way.

22_"Creamy Reds" - Pearls, Riverstone, Leopard Skin Jasper,
Swarovski Crystals, Sterling Silver
Click Here to Buy Earrings! - and - Click Here to Buy Bracelet!

Pulled this together quickly because I missed last weeks and 'needed' to do this! (LOL Afraid if I skip another week I'm doomed to skip all!) SO... I'm admitting that I was/am TOTALLY inspired by Jo Conway's beautiful LOOONNNG creamy pearl necklace that she posted in her shop this week.
(http://www.etsy.com/listing/72762044/long-glamourous-pearls)

Bracelet - Creamy little round ...Pearls, 6mm beigy/creme Riverstone, 8mm Black Diamond Swarovski round crystals, 8mm and 14mm Leopard Skin Jasper in cool reds, creams and black swirls. Finished off with 16g sterling silver "S" hook. Approx 8" finished.

Earrings - 8mm Leopard Skin Jasper, 6mm Black Diamond Swarovski Crystal rounds and 6mm beigy/creme Riverstone strung on hand made sterling silver earring wires. Approx 1 1/2" long

Thank you Jo for the inspiration! :o)



24_"Tropical Orange & Blue" Kazuri Beads, Lampwork Beads,
Swarovski Crystals, Copper & Brass Twisted Wire, Copper Viking Knit.

Bracelet - Hand-made copper viking knit chain w/ copper and brass twisted wire end caps. Decorated with two denim blue Kazuri ceramic beads, a large Swarovski Fire Opal Crystal and small Sapphire Swarovski Crystals, and two Orangie/Yellow lampwork bead spacers by that bead girl. Approx 7 1/2" finished.

Earrings - Hand-forged copper ear wires w/ copper and brass twisted jump rings from which dangle three small staggered lengths of chain with Swarovski Crystals (Fire Opal and Sapphire), a Clear AB Swarovski Crystal w/ Royal Blue lampwork spacer bead and Red Siam Swarovski Crystal w/ Orangie/Yellow lampwork spacer bead. Spacer beads by that bead girl. Approx 3" total.



25_Sea Green - Bracelet - Lampwork Beads, Swarovski Crystals,
Fine Silver, Hand-woven Sterling Silver Chain, African Jade.

I had some hand-woven sterling silver that I had made and used it for this bracelet. I used sterling silver wire to create the end caps for the chain and connected it to some sterling beading wire. The Lampwork Beads are gorgeous sea foam and pesto colored matte beads w/ silver made by Canyon Echoes Artisan Beads. They are combined with fine silver hand made bead caps w/ a carnation texture, four vintage pale green Swarovski Crystals and two larger black diamond Swarovski Crystals.

The center bead was created by me of fine silver and has a sea urchin texture. It's made with a large hole to fit over the viking chain but I wanted it to be the focal so I strung sterling beads and African Jade on the beading wire to go inside the fine silver bead. This allows the fine silver Urchin bead to slide back and forth and give it some movement.

28_Royal, Turquoise, White, Sand, Yellow - Lampwork, White Jade,
River Stone, Swarovski Crystals, Glass Beads, Sterling Silver.
SOLD...

Necklace - Lampwork beads by Firebabies, Focal by Bastille Bleu Lampwork, "Sea glass blue" spacers by Canyon Echoes Artisan Beads - tied together with beige River Stone and White Jade beads w/ silver balls. Hang on sterling silver rolo chain with a hand forged sterling silver s-hook. Small beads on hook and chain are crackled glass beads. Focal has Swarovski crystals in khaki, opal, sunflower, and sapphire.

Love how the lampwork from three different artists fell together in this set!! :o)

Some of these items are posted in my etsy shop - some are not -
if you are interested... let me know!! :o)

Earrings and Christmas!!

December was a carry over of craziness from November. Conference in San Francisco - return on Thursday - Friday off, Silver Clay class on Saturday, and then to the airport again on Sunday headed for Boston for work and a surprise 95th Birthday party for my great uncle. I was away for another week and a half and started to have withdrawals after all the wonderful fun on vacation.

When Creativity time is minimal what do you do? I decided to make earrings! What better chance to take out some aggravation than hammering wire!! Enjoy!!

A = Made from Sterling Silver hand-forged paddle wires, Purple Spacer Lampwork Beads from That Bead Girl and coiled sterling silver wire - on Sterling Silver Ear Hooks.

B = Made from Sterling Silver hand-forged paddle wires, Green Spacer Lampwork Beads from That Bead Girl and Fine Silver (.999) bead caps - on Sterling Silver Ear Hooks.

C = Made from Sterling Silver hand-forged paddle wires, Blue Translucent Lampwork Beads w/ fine silver by Canyon Echoes and Metalic Blue Lampwork Spacer Beads by That Bead Girl and fine silver (.999) bead caps - on Sterling Silver Ear Hooks.
(These are special for my fav Postal Lady! She takes great care of my incoming beads!!! AND my outgoing packages!!!)

D = Made from Red Spacer Beads by That Bead Girl and fine silver (.999) bead caps - on Sterling Silver Ear Hooks.

Red & Gold "Bead of the Month"
Bead of the month club! That Bead Girl has this and each month it's like a mini little Christmas. I got these a month or so ago - and thought they screamed Earrings!

Made from - Brass, hand-forged wire with brass coils. Dark Red Lampwork Beads w/ Gold Foil on the top beads. Gold spacer bead. Made the wires from Gold-Plated head pins and the worked beautifully.



Lampwork and Sterling
These were the first pair I played with! Took me 4 tries to get the darn hole maker to make the hole in the right place. ::sigh:: of course it was user error vs mechanical error.

Made on Sterling Silver hand-forged paddles with sterling wrap. The pinkish clear spacers are by Firebabies Lampwork and the beautiful center beads are Pinkish-hued Lampwork Beads with fine silver by Canyon Echoes. I love this combo!! They hang on Sterling Ear Hooks.

Ahhh Swarovski Crystals!
How did I get sucked into loving those? THESE beauties are vintage Swaros that I got from Brandy and are paired with a pair of pretty purple bicone Lampwork Beads by Bastille Bleu. Sadly I am having problems catching this purple color correctly. Hang on Sterling Silver wire and Earring Hooks.


Lampwork & Sterling
These earrings were fun - last pair I made and enjoyed making the coiled wire.

Made from - Sterling, hand-forged paddles, gorgeous lamp work beads from That Bead Girl (the color is actually achieved from putting copper on the beads while making them!! Cool huh?), sterling silver coils and silver spacer beads. Hung on Sterling Silver ear wires.

Meteors & Copper
I LOVE THESE EARRINGS! I couldn't resist these lamp work beads when I saw them on That Bead Girls site one day. I had NO idea what I'd do with them. Then poking around while making the earrings I thought - YES!! Try them.

Made from - Copper hand-forged paddles with copper coils and antiqued copper coiled spacers (did not make but love). They hang from rose-gold ear wires which looks perfect with copper but won't turn ears green! :o) I need to make more of these - have an idea for different style - combining a style I learned at The Lancaster Bead Company in Lancaster PA w/ these beads. Yep, got to make more!


Green & Brass
These beads are STUNNING and I had to put them with brass - the goldish hue with the green is gorgeous.

Made on hand-forged brass wire paddles with brass coils and small gold beads. The Green lamp work beads are by That Bead Girl. I made the ear wires from gold plated head pins and poof they worked perfectly.




Here are some additional earrings that I've made over the past few months... copper and bronze - OMG I LOVE BRONZE!! Next post will be about bronze!!

Copper Fern Gully - Copper diamond-shaped dangles with vine design and black alcohol ink. The lamp work beads are by Bastille Bleu Lampwork. I use rose-gold filled ear wires with copper so that they don't cause your ears to be green and the rose-gold blends in perfectly.

Copper - Art Deco Earrings with lamp work beads by Bastille Bleu Lampwork. Copper chain with slight patina and rose-gold filled ear wires.



Bronze (!) Turquoise Squares - created from Prometheus Bronze clay in the same manner as silver clay or copper clay - just has a different firing time. I love this product the color is fantastic, it's easy to use and not complicated to fire. Hand-forged ear wires and coils from antique bronze wire.

MY FAVORITE!
I wear these often! Bronze leaf shape is probably 2" on it's own! Textured in a delicate floral (carnation) texture. Hand-forged ear wire with Peace Stone and antique bronze wire.




CHRISTMAS!
I was lucky enough to pull my new Sister-In-Law's name in the gift grab and that meant silver jewelry! She asked for something specially for her - and knowing she loves bling I used clear czs in this Pendant/Earring set.

Fine silver (.999) is combined with the clear czs. They were hand patina'd to bring out the detail of the textured areas and tumbled for approx 4 hours to bring out the high shine. They hang from sterling silver wires. The pendant hangs from a sterling silver chain with a Swarovski crystal just above the focal.


Until next time... I leave you with this thought - Please take time to visit my friends using the links posted above. These gals make all their product by hand - in their work shops, rooms, studios. They are true artisans and I am so proud to present their work in my pieces.

Anniversary Gifts & Still More Birthdays! Nov 27, 2010

Anniversaries are tough - specially in the jewelry creation world. I mean girls like bling - the husbands not so much. SO how do you create a piece for the wife and something coordinating for the husband that he won't be afraid to show because it's to 'girly'?

Here's my attempt -

My Niece (yes she and her little family are the main focus of my creative world in August and September!!) and her husband have been married for 3 years now. They had a GORGEOUS wedding w/ bright whites, dark reds and well - she's blonde haired, blue-eyed and simply gorgeous (LUCKILY she didn't get the family genes! ;o)) so it had to be beautiful.

To celebrate their Anniversary I contacted one of my favorite lamp-work bead artists and asked her if she could make me a custom bead. I had purchased a big-hole bead from Principessa Glass in the past that was larger than a normal big-hole bead ... this is what I wanted a bigger than normal bead. I asked for a sapphire bead w/ Amethyst and Peridot colors added to it. Sapphire for their wedding month (and her birthday month), Amethyst for his birthday month and Peridot for their daughter's birthday month. This is where my friend Audrey of Principessa Glass knows best - if the blue was the base color the others wouldn't show up well but she did have some shards in her words... "really look cool and have a different look from different angles". And they were plum which actually looks sort of "Amethyst-y" on the beads. So she created 7 beads for me to choose from. One was lighter than the others and I asked to have that one cored in brass (her brass cores look very vintage and cool) and two others I loved and asked to have them cored in sterling silver. B is the one I chose for her necklace, C has lighter dots and I had that cored in brass for me, and A you'll see below...

From those beads I created this necklace - "Anniversary Sparkles" - featuring custom focal big-hole bead cored in sterling silver by Principessa Glass with two of my hand-made, fine silver (.999) big-hole tube beads. I added tiny 3mm Amethyst and Sapphire CZs to the tubes before firing. Fired and tumbled them to a high shine. The beads are hanging on a hand-dyed silk Sapphire ribbon by Jamn Glass. I trimmed the ribbon to approx 20" and created the sterling silver coiled end-caps. It's finished off with a hand-forged sterling "S" hook with a Sapphire blue spacer bead by That Bead Girl (::wink:: part of my That Bead Girl booty!)

As you can see I think I spend too much time thinking about the pieces I make - but then, if I don't love the pieces making them wouldn't be as fun and thinking of how personalized they are and hoping that the reaction of the recipient is positive keeps me creating!

Now for the hubby... What do you create for a husband? Hmmm - how about a key fob? Something he can clip onto his keys and carry with him. Something not to flashy, something that represents them. So here's my attempt - Custom Principessa Glass bead "A" on a piece of hand-woven sterling silver viking knit chain. I coiled sterling silver wire over a thicker guage wire and coiled the whole piece around to make a sort of end-cap. I still really have no idea what I'm doing now... but thought hmmm ok - push the left over wire from the coil up thru the center of the viking knit chain, loop it and make a wrap at the top. BAM! One Anniversary Key Fob. "What do you think?"

Ok so not so sure about that so I'll be adding a gift certificate for both of them with the package when I mail it! ;o)

OCTOBER - Birthday -

I have a new Sister-In-Law ... well, relatively new - she married my brother last year on Halloween. Now think about it - kinda bizarre eh? Getting married on Halloween? I mean ... oi - never mind! ;o) Anyway - her birthday is in October. NOT a great month for birthstones in the silver clay world because most opals don't like FIRE. ::sigh:: which means you have to make a bezel and set the opals and it's something I struggle with! YIKES! So what do you make?

In this case I had purchased a set of beads in June from Bastille Bleu Lampwork that made me think of her. She's tiny and feisty and has dark hair and flashing eyes. PERFECT mate for my brother! "Tiger Tails and Leopard Spots" how's that for a name? I love the names that Nikki comes up with - actually all the folks that make lamp-work beads come up with some hum-dingers for names! It's the artist in them, they can't help it - it suits the beads and gets folks like me to buy them! ;o)I also scooped up a big hole bead w/ similar feel that she created later in the summer. I thought if I edge it w/ bronze it will fit in nicely as the focal for the bracelet.

I am rambling again aren't I? Any who... I've also been playing with Prometheus Bronze Clay... and I thought hmmm she's got pretty coloring that would work well with bronze - so I decided to combine the two - beads from "Tiger Tails and Leopard Spots" set and bronze metal beads. The Prometheus Bronze is interesting - different firing times, set-up and temperatures. Even the feel is different. You really have to work it to get it in condition to roll out. But I liked it. And I've not had any really bad firings. My first batch bubbled a little on the top which someone said was too high heat, but when I researched more I found that people who have really tested bronze clay say the bubbles are not from too much heat - they don't know what it's from. The bubbles go away if you hammer it. And let me tell you I hammered it! I beat the livin' crapola out of some chain pieces that I made and those babies held up great!

So I created some hollow tube beads w/ little 3mm Clear CZs on them. Very pleased with how they turned out. The texture I used was wood grain and it came out subtle but good on the little tube beads. I had used some bronze chain that I made on the first go round of the bracelet and although I liked it - it was too beginner/chunky for this bracelet. My next try was thinner and perfectly smooth! So I redesigned and restrung. It was also my attempt at an asymmetrical design... didn't quite sit right in my mind SO ... I created this lovely instead. The beads as I wrote above are by Bastille Bleu Lampwork and LOVE them! :o) (Luckily have a few left over from the set!) I added some of my hand-made bronze findings - big ole end-caps, the tube beads with clear CZs, the clasp bronze and wire - and then created some 2x2 chain using vintage bronze wire. Yep got all crazy on this one and cut, cut, cut, cut, cut and then connected, connected, connected, connected the chain together each little jump ring! LOL! I really enjoyed it actually and like how it feels. The little green spacers and bronzey/brown colored beads are all lampwork from my That Bead Girl booty! ;o) I really love this piece - it's the first piece I've done in bronze w/ no silver and I'm excited to see what she thinks.

OK so I'm finishing this one even though there is more - yes! So much more! Quick note - for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding anniversary I didn't make jewelry - SHOCKED? Me too! But I found something better! What do you get the couple that has each other therefore has everything? A custom, artisan made, lampwork wine stopper w/ coordinating appetizer forks! What? You didn't think of that? Well neither did I! Until I saw the most awesome stoppers on Amber's site! That Bead Girl is more than just a place for me to get a "bead fix". She has beautiful gifts as well - all made by HER hands!! I loved the wine stopper so much I had to get it and then ordered 10 forks to go with it as a set. She did a fantastic job and if I hadn't shipped them this afternoon I'd run and take a picture right now but I can show you a picture of the wine stopper!

Until next time... I leave you with this thought - Please take time to visit my friends using the links posted above. These gals make all their product by hand - in their work shops, rooms, studios. They are true artisans and I am so proud to present their work in my pieces.

Lordy, Lordy... It's been a while. Nov 26, 2010

"DANG!" It's been a long time.
Work-work has been crazy. Changes and more changes and yet you know the saying - the more it changes the more it stays the same.

But I've been trying to keep busy on the creative side too - it helps keep my mind clear but sometimes I get caught up in the stressers of work and worrying about getting a piece done and then I step back and remember - this is fun... and try to relax. SO - here's some fun I've been having lately...

Gifts, Gifts ... late gifts!
August starts crazy birthday & anniversary time for our family! And as I indicated at the beginning of this post - it's been awful crazy couple of months so all my birthday and anniversary gifts are late! Yep - late... as in mailing tomorrow late! YIKES! OK enough of that - on to the good stuff!

In August my little great-niece turned two and I created two gifts for her - first is a charm bracelet I call "One to Grow On". It has little mother of pearl beads, Swarovski pearls and some precious hand-made lamp-work beads by Bastille Bleu Lampwork. The Rose is for her name, the cupcake because she loves cupcakes and the color is pretty close to her birthstone. The lady-bug is a nick name she has. The heart was hand-crafted by me from fine silver and stamped with Mom and Dad. The thought is that I can create fine silver charms and send to her and her mom can add them to the charm bracelet for her.

Now, knowing that she's only 2 and this has small pieces I figured that her mom would hold onto it for her for a little while so I created a cutesy little necklace that she can wear now to play dress-up with. Created with lamp-work beads from a number of artists but featuring a bear, ruffled disks and polka dot beads by Bastille Bleu Lampwork. The others are from Blissful Garden. The beads are strung on a piece of pink suede cord and knotted so that it can be shortened or lengthened as the little one desires!

September brings birthdays and anniversaries -

"Baby Love" is for my niece who is a wonderful mom. Her daughter is represented in this necklace. The pendant is hand-crafted completely by me in fine silver (.999). The heart starts on the lower left w/ a lily, curves up to the rose at the top and then curves down to a cz representing the babies birthday - Peridot. The pendant was made in stages w/ firings between each stage. I'm so in love with this pendant. From the little sparkly silver frit and patina in the lily flower to the rose made with individual-shaped rose petals to the leaves wrapped around the heart. It gave me grief but I learned a lot from it!

Now this beautiful (if I do say so myself) pendant hangs from a gorgeous, hand-dyed silk ribbon in chartreuse by Jamn Glass. I trimmed the ribbon to approx 20" and formed the sterling silver coiled end pieces and then hand-forged the sterling hook with a pretty little chartreuse lamp-work spacer by That Bead Girl capped on each end by my own fine silver (.999) hand-made, textured end-caps.

Oh now there's a fun story - Amber from That Bead Girl makes gorgeous bead, cabochons, and beautiful wine stoppers, appetizer forks, bookmarks, pendants and more all featuring her gorgeous lamp-work pieces. When she creates custom beads she makes extras to be sure her sizing, color, shapes are correct. When she has a large amount of these orphans she puts them together in a lot and posts them to ebay. Wellll let me tell you I scored one of her postings - 355 hand-made lamp-work beads. Spacers like nobodies business! Some focals, some regular beads, discs, mini's, roundels, OMG I was/am in bead heaven!!

So now you know how I ended up with the coordinating chartreuse lamp-work spacer for the hook!!!

OK - enough! Next post will be Anniversaries!! and still MORE birthdays!

Please take time to visit my friends using the links posted above. These gals make all their product by hand - in their work shops, rooms, studios. They are true artisans and I am so proud to present their work in my pieces.

Catching Up - Ramblings & Musings - Part 2 PLUS Creations!

I spent a few hours with a friend one Wednesday afternoon as she tried her hand at jewelry making - beading. She had expressed interest but was unsure if it was really something she wanted to pursue so I thought wwweeelll... I have a 'crap ton' of beads - natural, lampwork, swaros, etc; a 'crap ton' of beading wire, crimps, crimp covers and tools - so I invited her over for a play day.

She walked into my kitchen where I had moved all my jars of beads onto a huge lazy susan on the table and looked at those and then at the trays of little plastic jars w/ more beads and said "OMGosh I don't know where to begin". I watched her pour over the beads... thinking of a bracelet first for her daughter and thinking purple (what is it with tweens and teens and purple??) and she reached for a Paradise Designs long purple focal that I had always imagined on a necklace and she made THAT the focal for the bracelet. She combined it with some purple spacers that went w/ the focal, some swaros and some shampoo glass spacers and came up with a really pretty bracelet. (And no... I stupidly did not take a photo but I'm going to either get one the next time I see them or ask them to send me one.) Not knowing it was created as a 'necklace' focal she just went with her gut and thought of that bead as I hadn't... as a bracelet focal. She did the EXACT same thing for hers - she reached for a Canyon Echoes focal that to me read necklace all over it, turned it sideways added swaros and lampwork spacers and voila another bracelet that I hadn't 'seen' in the bead.

I learned a lot from her today and it all came back to me when I saw the spoke to the flight attendant about her necklace. (Last post... Work-Work Takes Over - Ramblings & Musings.)

Now for some jewelry -

I've been away for quite a while - work-work has kept me very busy but it seems to be leveling out again. I did managed to squeeze in a few pieces.

Sea Treasures Necklace...
Sea Treasures was created from a focal of varnished sand dollar with piece of cobalt colored sea glass by Northern Sea Glass (they have awesome antique Japanese & Korean Fishing Floats too!) and a fine silver star fish with a 4mm ruby cz in the middle that I made. The glass beads are hollow lampwork beads by That Bead Girl and it is interspersed with shampoo glass spacers. A fine silver artist mark and hand forged sterling silver pendant bail finish the piece.

Bracelets have become my new favorite things to wear and make!

I purchased these two lovelies from Sea & Sand Designs (floral bracelet) and Lune Designs (plum colored beaded bracelet) for myself sometimes I just have to splurge - and I love supporting the artisans I've come to know. I love these pieces and encourage you to visit their shops for beautiful pieces. AND Keirsten (Lune Designs) has a terrific sense of humor... check out her blog... The Cerebral Dilettante!

I MADE the next few ...

Rose Garden (I never promised you...) was done for a wonderful lady who welcomed me into her project group and became like family to me over the 2 years we worked together. She recently re-evaluated her goals and decided to go back to her love - teaching - and to continue her education to gain her teaching certificate and teach History in Canada. She's a terrific mentor, project leader, and friend and I know that she will bring History to life for the lucky students who get her as a teacher.

The bracelet is made from beautiful rose garden 'chintz' lampwork beads by Bastille Bleu Lampwork. It contains small fine silver lentil beads textured with a carnation texture and made by me. It also contains Swarovski crystals and is held together with a magnetic clasp. I hope she enjoys wearing it as much as I have enjoyed finding just the right beads and creating the piece for her.

Beach Dreamin'... I made this for my god-mother. When I was growing up we use to go to her parents cottage (my great aunt and uncle) and to my other great aunt and uncle's cottage) in York Beach Maine. I LOVE Maine, I love the beaches there - sandy and rocky... COLD... and hot all at the same time.
My god-mother now owns her parents' cottage and has created a beautiful summer home for herself. The focal point of York Beach lies between Long Sand and Short Sand ... "Nubble Light" Light House. This picturesque lighthouse is known by anyone who has gone to York, traveled the Maine coast line or seen a book of light houses. It's picture graces calendars, note cards, and I imagine millions and millions of envelopes, boxes and albums of photos by the people who have visited.

When I think of the beach (besides the sand in your bathing suit that makes you crazy) I think of cozy, relaxing, Martha Steward meets Shabby Chic. And when my friend Nikki of Bastille Bleu Lampwork showed this set of blue chintz beads I immediately thought of the beach cottage. (The fact that I had missed my god-mother's birthday might have helped that thought along but still! it's the thought that counts! ;o) )

The bracelet has Bastille Bleu Lampwork blue chintz beads, a focal bead made by me of fine silver - big hole style with urchin texture created from a texture mold I made of an urchin shell - and green translucent enamel. It also has a sand dollar fine silver lentil bead and a carnation fine silver lentil bead. A fine silver star fish charm w/ green enamel and a sea shell charm also made from fine silver. To memorialize the "Nubble" as us 'locals' call it - I made a line drawing from one of my many photos of the light house, created a PPP (photo polymer plate) and then stamped it onto the clay. I added texture to the area where the rocks are by hand and then fired it. When it was done I tumbled it to bring out the shine and then added Liver of Sulfer to the piece to give it an antique look. I was able to obtain pinks and greens and blues along with the darker normal antique color of LOS. When you look at the charm it looks like the sun is setting an the colors are reflecting off the wet rocks along the base of the light house. I'm very pleased with the effect and the charm as a whole. This bracelet too is finished off with a magnetic closure.

Tweens... in one of my other blogs I asked "what is it with tweens and teenagers and their love of purple?"... I made this Peaceful Purple bracelet for a tween 'belonging' to a co-worker. Her mom said she loved purple and was into peace signs. My initial thought was to make the closure a peace sign but it got a little out of focus as I worked on it and so the peace sign because a charm.

The focal is a lampwork bead pillow by Bastille Bleu Lampwork and the purple dot beads and green spacers are also from hers. The purple spacers are by That Bead Girl and the cute little heart is by Principessa Glass. It has pale blue Czech spacers as well as lavender purple Swarovski beads and olive green pearlized Swarovski pearls.

The chain is a safety precaution in case it unhooks and it also will allow her to wear the bracelet for a long time by moving the hook she uses to close it to one of the jump rings added onto the chain. The s-hook closure is hand forged sterling silver wire. The end caps on the green spacers are fine silver stamped with a carnation floral stamp and dapped to form the slightly domed shape needed to fit over the spacer. I also added a fine silver leaf that has my artist mark on it and the peace sign charm also made from fine silver is the same carnation texture as the leaf and bead caps.

Alicia's Frog...
This little necklace was made for a friend for her August birthday. She loves frogs - yah I don't get it but she does!! AND I happen to have seen a frog bead on Bastille Bleu Lampworks etsy site and knew I had to have it. I created a "A" pendant w/ a fine silver artist mark leaf. The "A" pendant is highlighted w/ LOS patina.

And finally:

Desert Oasis ... this piece was spur of the moment and I LOVE IT!!
A turquoise/teal big hole bead w/ ivoried silver on it from Bastille Bleu Lampwork creates the focal point. Then I've added beautiful mushroom colored lampwork beads w/ silver as well as butter cream lampwork beads also with silver both from Canyon Echoes. The blue spacers are from That Bead Girl and the 8 little white-ish looking beads are river stone. The bracelet started out w/ a magnetic closure but she opted to have an S-hook attachment instead so I removed a couple of the river stone on each side to allow for the piece to close correctly. I adore how this came out and how I was able to "go shopping" in my bead hoard... ahh I mean bead supplies and find pieces from three different artisan's that work together so well in a piece!

ALMOST caught up... more later! :o)