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Friday, May 29, 2015

First Frost

I know we're just getting in to Spring but these Frosty Silvered Stone Lampwork Beads by
  Judith Billig and some of my Copper Leaves definitely need to be called "First Frost".


I topped them with a little bit of coiled wire and some Copper Bead Caps with a beautiful Scroll design and Hypo Allergenic Niobium Earwires.



I took this frosty photo a few years ago for a Macro Challenge, thought it was a perfect time to share it again. 




These earrings are available HERE in my webstore.

Kristi

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Kimfusion Reigns

Ever striving for new components to add to my arsenal as a component maker I know that new and novel pieces are like candy to the earring designer

I had been marketing my torch fired enamel matchsticks "numi-sticks" for a few years now and as a lampworker I wondered if I could apply my lampworking  technique to the enamels. The result of this was my "Kimfusions" in which the application of the glass magnifies the effects of the enamels beneath and add some extra texture and flash.

I felt I was perfectly within my rights to hoard a few for my own designing obviously!
I've paired these dangles with some of Shipwreck Dandy's faceted polymer clay beads and a few crusty discs of Roman glass. ( I sell them in my supply  shop)
Richelle even has a free tute on her blog for making  the faceted beads but her polymer clay beads that she sells are unusual and evoctive

The earwires are by our own LoveRoot Nikki Zehler

Thanks for looking!
Kimberly Rogers



Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Indian Summer Earrings

My sister and brother in law are visiting us this week.  My sister in law enjoys beading too, so today I took her to Shipwreck Beads, the largest bead store in the world!  And yes, I live just 15 minutes away.  Too much temptation, too close by!

Here's what my sister in law bought.
And these are my goodies. I used them straight off to create today's earrings.
The rondelles are Cherry Creek Jasper and the cool glass beads are called pellet beads.
 The bronzy porcelain drops are from Scorched Earth.

I couldn't come up with a name for these earrings, so I asked my sister in law.  She had an immediate response:  Indian Summer Earrings.  Perfect!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Soul Of The Sea Earrings by Cindy's Art and Soul

This holiday weekend I am at the beach. Looking outside at the clouds and sea mist coming in making the grass and road wet... feeling so grateful to be here. 

Yesterday was fairly dry and I took Miss Molly for a walk down on the beach. She loves to run free and chase the seagulls. I call to her and offer treats to keep her close.


We saw a lot of garbage that has washed up. Maybe from the Japanese tsunami? Reports say it may be washing up for years.
https://instagram.com/p/3CXOyNp_hz/

Inspiring is how nature takes things over 
and makes them her own... 

The blue on these sea shells are exactly what I had in mind when I was making these earrings. The lampwork beads are Bubby and McGurk Beads... fantastic colors!  


I really wanted to add some shimmery blue kyanite stones (which matched perfectly!) but I felt like the lampwork was enough. They really stand on their own and do not need anything more!

The starfish charms add a feeling of "at the beach".
Capped in hand forged sterling silver 
wrapped in thick 20 gauge ss wire.

Hoops are hand forged and fused 14 gauge fine silver.
Oxidized for beauty and character.
Hand polished.

Available for purchase at Art and Soul Jewelry.
(update: sold!)

Peace & Blessings~
http://www.artandsouljewelry.com/



Monday, May 25, 2015

Throwback... Monday

I know, I know.... it's not Thursday, but I'm still in "website reno" mode, and there's so much to do... 
I figured I'd show off a pair of earrings that I made a little while ago.

It may not seem like much at first glance, but there's a lot of significance in this design:

A mixture of geometry in jewelry... circle, square, triangle

Sparkling Farah Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

Think of the 3D shape of the Swarovski Cubes - Dimensions, the past, the present, the future..
 all belong in the collective energy of the cube.

The circle, representation of the Circle of Life. Never-ending, everlasting.

The triangles, found in the Triquetra charms: I have a Triquetra tattoo, and although it has many meanings throughout various cultures, for me, it stands for the Holy Trinity.

Protection, divinity, clarity.

There's usually more than meets the eyes ;)

Have a wonderful day!
Nathalie

Friday, May 22, 2015

Beach Chic



 Ah, the feel of the sand between your toes, warm wind in your hair and the cool water lapping up on the shore....who doesn't love the beach? I really enjoy making beach-y designs and these are no exception. I think they'd be perfect to wear on a vacation to the beach. They would dangle in the warm ocean breeze while the starfish crystals would catch the light in such a fun flirty way! Unfortunately we have no plans to go to the beach anytime soon but a girl can dream.....



You will find these earrings here on my website.

Thanks for stopping by, would love a comment from you!
Have a fabulous weekend,

Kristy Abner
Kristy's Kreations

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Dependents

I've been on a big asymmetrical earring making drive lately.


This pair strike me as being like an abstracted elderly couple, each leaning on the other, which is kinda what asymmetrical earrings do.



I mixed trade beads with Indonesian glass on hammered and patinated copper wire. They're available here in my Etsy shop.

Bye for now, Claire 



Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The Light of the World

Those of you who know me already know that I love using evocative (sometime provocative) quotes to complement my jewelry. I'm an avid bookworm and am infamous for peppering conversations with arcane underused words. My husband always gives me the eye-roll when I pull some old-timey phrase out of my hat. There are so many nuanced words out there - why stick to the same boring limited lexicon?

When I'm reading and come across a passage or phrase that haunts me, I dog-ear the page so I can come back to it and pull the quote. Sometimes they're humorous, sometimes beautiful, sometimes they hurt.

My bread and butter is 20th century fiction---pre-1980s, if I can help it---and I've been on a huge William Kennedy kick lately. His Ironweed series mixes darkness, humor, beauty, and verve in a really delicious way:

" 'Four hundred dollars there, boy,' he said. 'Feast your eyes. The sky's the limit on this trip.'

I took the money into my own hand, counted it (fifties and twenties), tapped it on my knee to even its edges as I would a pack of cards, folded it, felt its thickness and heft.

'It's nice,' I said. 'What are you going to buy with it?'

'I'm going to buy the light of the world and bring it home,' Peter said.

'Where's the light of the world?' I asked.

'I'm not sure,' Peter said, 'we'll have to go shopping.' "

When I was creating these polybells, the little radiant textured suns never really struck me until they were already formed. Earthy warm hues, abstract glyphic textures, ragged organic forms. I formed these from polymer clay, textured, cured, painted, and sealed them. They're deliciously lightweight. Once I looked on the finished bells, I knew I needed to give them a name that dealt with light. The above quote was just perfect.

Art inspires art - a wonderfully endless circle!

Happy Wednesday :) 
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Sila


 One of my favorite color combos is a light aqua paired with purple (and fuchsia looks great with aqua too). I've paired lampwork by my favorite lampworker (Bubby & McGurk Beads) with some Happy Fish Things ceramic spike drops. A simple yet dramatic pair of earrings.


 These earrings are available here on my website

Thanks for stopping by and having a look!

Kristy Abner
 

Monday, May 18, 2015

Ammonite Bloom


I've combined work from 2 of my favorite Ceramic Artists,
Beautiful Flowers from Karen Totten of StarryRoadStudio
And Rootbeer Ammonite drops from Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl.


Wrap them all up with Copper Wire and throw some Silver Seed Beads around the center to finish them off!


Kristi

Thursday, May 14, 2015

We're All Ears :: May Reveal


"Sure he was great, but don't forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards
...and in high heels!"
~ Bob Thaves, creator of the Frank & Ernest cartoon

With a challenge like this, that is at once visual and auditory, I spend a lot of time looping the music and the video to really immerse myself in the inspiration. Luckily, this song is quite nuanced and intriguing and the video is equally as fun to watch. Each time I watched it, over and over, I found something new to focus on. One time it was her dress...another time her shoes...then his perfectly hued wardrobe...and yet another was on the walls that served as their colorful backdrop.

As I watched, I had a pad of paper with me. I sketched shapes that seemed to recur to me, wrote notes on the colors that jumped out at me most (and the ones where I liked her outfits ;-) and made a whole word cloud of the words and phrases that came to mind.

I was struck by the give and take of the dance. The measured steps. The total control. And the giving into the seduction. These dancers are different, unique, distinct when separate, but they move as one. That is what I set out to capture with my earrings.

I wanted to bring lightness, an ease, effortlessness to these earrings, but yet I also wanted them to be strong and substantial. They also needed to have an element of male/female, yin/yang, give/take. And they had to have COLOR!

Now I have to admit that I don't leave myself much time to do any of these challenges. I sat down on Wednesday evening and thought that I could pull off a rather complex technical feat, but that didn't quite happen.

I have been researching the mysterious art of plique-a-jour which literally means "glimpse of daylight." I intended to make organic, flowing wire forms that held translucent color in the cells. Plique-a-jour is much like cloisonne, but there is no backing, so the light travels through the cells (or cloison) much like stained glass. I wasn't able to do exactly what I have in mind...but my mind is still racing with ideas to make this happen for real that will continue to feed my creative hunger. I WILL master what I have in my head. These are only the beginning.

So tonight, after I got home around 8:30 after a baseball double-header an hour away (we won both games - yea!), I set to work making a total of 4 different pair (I was shooting for 6...not bad!).


 I formed the shapes in my favorite dark annealed steel wire and then colored some of the cells. I think the naked wire forms look pretty darn great, but the color just makes them pop, and when I figure out how to make them more translucent, I know they will be even better!



They still need to be sealed, and perhaps some resin over the colors to make them last at bit longer. They are just experiments at this point, prototypes, if you will. But I am encouraged by the way this is turning out.

 
You will notice that I don't have any ear wires.... I want to make them myself but right now it is nearly 2:00 am and I have to get some sleep! I didn't think they looked good with any of the mass-produced ones that I have, so that will wait. Plus, they were technically still drying! ;-)

I can't wait to see what marvels you created from this color-filled and musical inspiration!
 


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Resistless




As a lampworker I am always looking for components to pair with my pieces that will keep the design light as the weight of my own beads seem to add up quickly. I have become hooked on  finding ceramic and polymer pieces that will complement my beads. But sometimes the beads that I find stand so well alone that they are the main feature.


I discovered Margit Böhmer's  wonderfully colorful polymer clay beads awhile back and knew that I needed a stash of them to play with. 
I love that they are matching but not quite so, but varied individual works of sculpture with carved elements. The stacked cornflake pearls seemed a great counterpoint to the geometry of her beads.
They were so light and springy I decided to use shiny sterling silver earwires unlike most of my earrings that I am currently making that have oxidized earwires.

 by Kimberly Rogers
NuminosityBeads on Etsy

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Peacock Feather Earrings

There's a peacock that lives a short distance from us.  Sometimes I see him at the side of the road, strutting his stuff.  I don't know if he belongs to someone and sometimes gets out of the yard, or if he was someone's pet that got away and lives in the woods now.  In either case, these earrings are dedicated to Mr. Roadside Peacock!

The beautiful copper peacock feathers were made by Earrings Everyday member, Kristi Bowman.  I topped the feathers with gorgeous lampwork glass beads and little ceramic cubes.  The finishing touch is a bit of teal silk, knotted between the lampwork and the peacock feathers.

I purposely paired the copper with shades of blue, green and teal, the stunning colors of peacock feathers.  You can find the Peacock Feather Earrings in my shop.



Green peacock from South east Asia

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Sunrise

Sunrise - a symbol of hope, new beginnings a fresh start. 

If you are familiar with my jewelry or bead work you know that I incorporate symbolism as much as possible. Symbols of hope and courage and strength for women. 

I feel like the world bombards us all to often with negative images and ugliness. We need to seek out beauty and inspiration wherever we can. 

These earrings feature hand forged fine silver hoops with tiny sunrise images along the border. 

I watch movies a lot. i don't often cry or get real emotional with a movie. But recently watch the movie Wild. I found it to be really inspiring and touching and yeah, I may have cried. 

If you are seeking out hope and courage, I recommend it. It's a true story which is even better!
http://www.artandsouljewelry.com/


Monday, May 11, 2015

Summer Lemonade

Today I want to talk about life handing over some lemons and making lemonade with it...

I loooooooove lemonade, especially when it looks like this:

Summer Lemonade Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

Topaz, Chrome Green Tourmaline, Yellow Aquamarine, Copper Earrings
These earrings are so much fun in person!
The gemstone drops on the chains add fun movements and catch the light so well...
I made these last year, and they are still available on my website... just waiting for the right soul.

If you visit my website and it's not 'up', it's because I'm in the process
of making some changes to my site and adding on other types of products.
So don't mind the web work in progress if things look a bit strange.
It's all very exciting stuff :)
Stay tuned!

Nathalie