Firey Carnelian Gemstone. Rusitic Silver Hoops.

Happy Halloween! 
So much going on today. 
Thank you for joining me!

In my last post I shared a leaf photo that had inspired me. And I never tire of looking at leaves in Autumn. I walk often and take a lot of photos. I took this one last week... 

The color of the leaves absolutely captivated me and still does. The rich hues of the reddish brown are stunning. Maybe that's why I've been wearing Carnelian all week. 

Carnelian gemstones have always been a go-to favorite of mine. The translucent colors can range from orange to reddish brown. These odd little nugget shapes often remind me of apples. 

According to my book the illustrated book of Healing Crystals, Carnelian is a very positive energy stone. "Carnelian is above all a crystal of personal happiness and fulfillment; if you believe in your unique talents and follow your personal goals rather than those set by others, you can achieve anything." Which I think goes for anything in life whether or not you wear gemstones! However, I do get a real sense of positive energy from this stone. 

Look for this set to be available with my next Art & Soul Jewelry shop update in about 2 weeks. TBA. 

Peace & Love, 

Bold Colours

Hello, today's earrings feature a number of artisan goodies.  I got carried away as the colours matched so well. 

Ceramic caps by Claire Lockwood

Enamel connectors by Cathleen Zaring

and polymer charms by Elsie Smith

I have also added a pair of my own wrapped connectors.  Short and sweet for today.  Hope you like them. See you again soon <3

Suhana

Mt Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Spiffy Spirals and Other Words Starting With SP

Last week I mentioned having had an opportunity to make some earrings at the Fall Bead Fest earlier this month.  The earrings I'm sharing today were made that weekend also.

The pretty spiral lampwork beads were made by my friend and fellow Bead Fest vendor, Lara Lutrick.  They were a perfect with my ceramic spiral discs.  I also added wire spirals to continue spiral theme.  
When I was thinking of naming these earrings, I was looking for a word that starts with "sp" to pair with the word "spiral".  All I could think of was Spectacular Spirals. That seemed like overstating the case a bit.  On the other hand, Special Spirals seemed really lame.  So I Goggled "words that start with sp".

That Googled list made my husband and I laugh, as we started combining the "sp" words with "spirals".   How about these pairings:
Spineless Spirals, Spittle Spirals, Spelunking Spirals, Splattered Spirals or Spaetzle Spirals.  Now, while I love spaetzle (a type of German dumpling), its really an ugly name for earrings.  Just picture it as earrings!!!

Spaetzle

Then there's Sperm Spirals - um...nope!  
While we were going through this list, my husband all of a sudden came up with Spiffy Spirals.  Perfect.  Lighthearted, fun, not icky!  Ta-da!  
If you'd like to see more of the Spiffy Spiral Earrings and many other earrings, you should join the Facebook group, The Earring Show.  The group is not associated with Earrings Everyday, but our interests are definitely aligned.  Its a marketplace on Facebook for both finished earrings and earring components.  I'll be having a finished earring show on Friday from 1:00 pm PST (4:00 pm EST, 9:00 pm. BST) to Saturday at 1:00 pm PST (4:00 pm EST, 9:00 pm. BST).  The group showcases fabulous earrings and components for sale from a diverse array of artists.  Very inspiring...and tempting!

Hope to see you there!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Loop~De~Loop Hoops

Hope everyone is enjoying your day and so thrilled you were able to stop by.  Today I want to share with you what I call my Loop de Loop Hoops.  As you may or may not know, I recently discovered a new crackling technique that has taken me to a whole new level.

I applied the process to some hand cut half moons with bursting paper patterns.  The original plan was to make an ear wire run from one side to the other, but because the distance was too far, I ended up rolling over the edges and running wire through them.  

The pairs above show tiny copper rounds and teardrops that swing freely in the center showing off a fun Gypsy-Boho aura.  

The other two pairs below are a tad more simple but getting creative with the wiring. This isn't as easy as it looks, making sure your wire starts out the same length and getting those loops to look the same on both sides....well, we wont talk about how much wire I went through.

Any of these are available in my shop and if they're gone by the time you get around to looking, they can be easily duplicated.

Thanks for looking, comments are always welcome and we will see you again in a couple weeks, ♥

Lynn Ferro- aka Yucca Bloom Fine Artisan Jewelry

Horrible, Horrible, Autumn is here again.

Just kidding! What's not to love? I've never heard anyone say they didn't like Autumn. It's more often the favorite season. Especially for those who are fortunate enough to enjoy the colorful leaves this time of year. And, Pumpkin spice, anything. My favorite? Pumpkin spice yogurt covered pretzels. <3

All that and a welcome break from summers heat makes this the perfect time of year for me. Everything else is just icing on the cake. 

Including boots and scarves and all the rich autumn hues we can pull from the closet. 

sold

These earring feature handcrafted ceramic beads finished in a mossy green matte glaze; paired with rich Red Creek Jasper. I love wrapping in a thick, chunky fine silver and adding in rustic Hill Tribe silver for added character. Natural found beach stones dangle below. 

I have recently started a group on Facebook to offer supplies. I am downsizing my studio and will be offering a significant amount of my own handcrafted findings, and beads as well as my sea glass collection, other artist beads and commercial beads, findings and raw materials. 

Please join me and bring a friend. https://www.facebook.com/groups/643280319164605/ It's going to be GREAT!! I will be starting listings in the coming weeks. Lots, no... loads of beads. Beautiful beads... okay, do I have your attention now? 

Peace & love, 

  

Happy Monday

Hello. This weekend went a wee bit different than planned. I planned to show you new earrings with beautiful headpins made by Linda Newnham from Earth Shine Beads. Instead I am showing you a pair I made a while back. Still with gorgeous head pins from Linda!
I combined these with handmade spacer beads made by Amy from Lampwork by Amy in sky blue and oxblood red, copper bead caps and ear wires, brass beads and links and pinkish red seed beads.

 
Thank you so much for looking. These are available in my shop. Wishing you a wonderful Monday full of joy, happiness, laughter and hot chocolate.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

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We're All Ears :: October Reveal

I took a meteorology class in college because I thought it would be an easy and entertaining way to satisfy my science credit. WRONG! Meteorology = Math, and I am not great at that.

What I did love learning about were weather patterns and cloud formations. I find clouds fascinating. So this month I have been stopping and noticing clouds on my daily commute and find that I frequently take pictures of striking clouds.  

I also love weather maps. You know the ones that show what look like ripples in a pond radiating out? I can recall having to take a photocopy of the US map gathering some weather data and plotting all the wind patterns and isobars on there and then coloring it for temperature variations.  My professor couldn't understand why my wind patterns were always screwed up. But my colors were always perfect! I just love the color coding. Like the maps you find on the back of the USA Today newspaper when you stay at a hotel.

This map in motion from December 25, 2013 is from the Star Tribune website out of Minneapolis posted by meteorologist Paul Douglas. Isn't it fascinating to watch it morph and change? Looks like Christmas was chilly that year!

The colors that are assigned are based on temperature changes of 10 degrees. Red is the hottest, while blue and white are the coldest. These types of maps are called Isotherms.

i·so·therm

ˈīsəˌTHərm/

noun

1. a line on a map connecting points having the same temperature at a given time or on average over a given period.

   • PHYSICS

     a curve on a diagram joining points representing states or conditions of equal temperature.
   • 
     

Since there were so many options with weather (precipitation, wind, clouds) I just couldn't settle on one thing for my own challenge. But then I came upon these maps and the lightbulb went on....  I could make my own isotherm patterns in clay! Eureka! (At this point I should tell you that it was about 9:38pm...)

I set out doing some mokume gane and blended colors from fuschia and magenta, indigo and cerulean, leaf and wasabi, sunflower and pumpkin ending in blood red. I threw in a few layers of translucent mixed with opal and then some variegated gold leaf just for good measure. Then I impressed away with all sorts of tools to make marks. It always looks like a mess at this point. 

You don't know the magic of mokume gane until you make that first slice. They are always destined for the scrap heap, but not this time. I will make so many things from this amazing stack (and just in time for the onslaught of holiday shows right around the corner!)

From there it was just finding the right bezel in my stash. I sliced away, selecting contiguous pairs, covered them with resin. I found the perfect little heart charms for the bottom because I love weather! I think I will see what other bezels I have that might work with these slices... like long thin pendants in my favorite bezel might be awesome!

I call these earrings Isothermic for the variations in color temperature and the fact that they look like impending storms are brewing! Here's wishing you beautiful skies wherever you are!

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The Bead Fest Weekend Storm That Never Was

A possibly historic storm was expected to hit Washington State last weekend. It was predicted to be second only to the 1962 Columbus Day storm.  I was 9 years old in 1962 (do the math) and I still remember the tremendous winds (wind gusts to 160 mph!). There was widespread loss of electricity, lots of structural damage and the roads were carpeted with branches and trees. 46 people in CA, OR and WA lost their lives.

1962

No cell phones in 1962!

This was not a good forecast for the Fall Bead Fest weekend!  I was not surprised that many people chose caution and stayed home, (not surprised, but still disappointed). The biggest storm impact was supposed to hit on Saturday afternoon.  Anticipating periods of low shopper traffic, I brought jewelry making supplies with me, on Saturday.

Although the "storm" turned out to be no worse than gusty rain, I did have some time to create new earrings.  Kristi Bowman and I had tables next to each other, so I thought I'd start with a pair of Kristi's marvelous colored copper components.

I topped the copper with some dyed turquoise mother of pearl flowers.  At the last moment I decided to thread in some faceted AB coated hematite. It was the perfect finishing touch.

I was pleased with how these turned out and despite the non-storm turn-out, I had a lot of fun at Bead Fest.  What could be better than being surrounded by beautiful beads for 3 days (& buying bunches of them), hanging out with beady friends, meeting folks that I had only known online and even meeting fellow Earrings Everyday blogger Cindy Pack for the first time!  Cindy is a Washingtonian too.  We've talked about meeting before, but have just never pulled it off before this.  It was so great to spend time with her in person!  So I'll leave you with this picture of Kristi, Cindy & I.

Left to right:  Kristi Bowman, Linda Landig, Cindy Pack

Linda Landig Jewelry

The Best Laid Plans

I had a vision. 

I was lying in bed--drifting, woozy, floating in that liminal netherworld where ideas come to us so fluidly. What I would do, see, is I would take a piece of copper and fold form it and beat it over some rocks, see, and then texture it and punch it and file strategic places and shape it just so and...

I awoke the next morning with vague recollections of my vision and headed straight to the studio to bring it to fruition. Fifteen minutes into the project when the copper buckled and snapped, I realized:

shit, this isn't going to work

See, sometimes our dreamy ideas seem perfectly logical and functional. And then we go to execute and we realize they could use a little more refinement. There is nothing wrong with this. Rome wasn't built in a day. There is beauty to be found in the process.

Today's pair of earrings features the salvaged results of this vision. I took the two snapped pieces of copper, trimmed them up, softened up the edges, oxidized, sanded, and turned them into simple lightweight earring tabs. And you know what? For being "failures", I'm really quite fond of them. Funny how that works. When life gives you lemons...well, you know.

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

To Crystal or not to Crystal

Hello everyone, and thank you so much for joining us.

I rarely use crystals in my work. Not that I don't love them because I do. As an object they are fascinating. The sparkle and colors, twists and turns, are mesmerizing. And sometimes I wonder why I don't use them? I think there is still a part of my process that isn't fully open. Why can't I use a Swarovski crystal rather than a Lampwork bead? I don't know the answer to that, and I think the answer is buried underneath what I think I SHOULD do rather than doing what pleases me. This writing, what I am writing right now, has brought this to my attention and it is something I need to explore. I always say, with all honesty, that I make what I like, not what I think I should. Yet if I like crystals and don't use them, that seems to belie the fact. It's amazing to me what sitting down with a "pen and paper" can do. So you have now just witnessed a revelation! lol True. The title of this post was not "To Crystal or not to Crystal" before I wrote this paragraph! 

Okay, back to the task at hand. I love both of the handcrafted pieces in these earrings. The beautiful, celestial, pewter pieces were made by Vincent 'n Nooma of Inviciti. I think this is my favorite to date of their work. And the headpins at the bottom! When I received these, I honestly felt I could never do them justice; still don't think I can. They are one of the most unusual pair of headpins I've ever seen. They were made by Sasha Crow of CrowsCacheSupplies. 

You can view the full listing here:

I had already added the Swarovski crystal to the pewter pieces, knowing I wanted to use them, but there was nothing else going on as far as a complete design. I simply put them aside and went on to other things. I have pulled out the glass/solder headpins frequently over the last couple of months, not necessarily with the intent to use them; I just love them! Many times I thought I would simply put a bead on them that I love and keep them for myself, but that never happens. :) 

Pondering what to add to the bottom connection of the celestial pewter, the idea of clear crystals, or Crystal Quartz nuggets kept coming up as a possible, and eventually the vision of the clear glass struck and I leaped from my chair -- literally lol -- and knew that is where they would go. Adding a simple silver metal spacer and a second Swarovski bicone was perfect. 

You can view the full listing here: 

 I began to have thoughts of adding Crystal Quartz dangles here and there and more silver. . . and then I stopped myself. I thought about it, talked to myself about it. I have a tendency to want to keep going. . . I'm not sure why that is. Both of these handcrafted pieces could stand on their own, with nothing added. Yet I often persist in adding more embellishment than they need. I am really working on that!

The psychology of creativity confuses me. I've worked hard to encourage myself and allow myself to be me, to create what I want to create and be okay with it. Things changed a bit when I decided to sell my "art" in an attempt to contribute to the family income. Long story there completely unrelated, but all of a sudden I went from the joyful time spent creating to attempting to think business. I've done that most of my life, not a big deal, but THIS is very different and it became a big deal. It is still something I struggle with, but it no longer causes serious anxiety or sleepless nights. I've learned to not allow life in general to do that to me, and that includes designing and the sale of same. 

What I think is required for me, and for anyone who has that tiny (or large) feeling of insecurity about their work is to STOP (in the name of love. . .  :) comparing my work to that of other designers; no bouncing around Etsy and Pinterest viewing the work of those who are more successful than I am, more talented than I am, better at marketing than I am. Those people will always exist. There will always be those that are better than I am in all of those areas.  Loving my work and being proud of my work is a must if I am to create honest work. 

So join me in being free with your designing. Don't allow visions of the designers and shops that are more successful than you are enter into your design process. Designing that way inevitably looks contrived.

For me it continues to be a process. For the most part, I am free of it. Then a dry period, or a dry-er period comes around and the little gremlins start trying to spin the wheels. I take those little angry creatures and pop them right off their tiny stationary bikes and stop the wheels in their tracks! It is NO fun that way! 

So my bottom line is, and it's always my recommendation to en"joy" creative time; create what makes "me" happy, not what I think others might like, not what I think might sell. I think that keeps my designs honest and fresh.

Well, that was not at all the post I had planned. :) lol 

Thanks so much for stopping in. 

Yours in joy,
Norbel
She Flies Again Etsy Shop

Square And Opal

Lately I've been going through my beads and components stash searching particularly for things that I have had for some time, and really like. But haven't found a way to use them in a way that I am satisfied with. When I first got them I had an idea on what to do with them, but when I tried it out it didn't work how I had had in mind. So now I am challenging myself to think in new ways. How shall I make that bead or component talk in an interesting way? 

Like the square chain in these earrings for instance. It is unusual and I love its look. About 5-7 mm side. I never thought of it as something to use in earrings before. But why not, I now thought. It is made of aluminium, so it is light weight despite it's robust look.

I cut a couple of shorter segments. The pale pink peruvian opal stone faceted nuggets creates an interesting contrast to the somewhat industrial look of the chain. When I design jewelry I am always fascinated by unexpected combinations of different design elements. To make seemingly unrelated things look like they were meant for each other all the time.

Hung from handmade Sterling silver earrings hooks.

I have recently re-opened my Etsy shop. Its been on vacation mode for quite some time now, 

due to reasons :-). So far I have only listed a few things, but I intend to keep adding more pieces gradually over the coming period. 

Please contact me if you are interested in any of my pieces that I haven't listed there yet.

www.etsy.com/se-en/shop/MalindeKoning

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Autumn Moon

Hello and check me out!!! This is the first time I've actually named my jewellery :D. 

I don't tend to follow seasons, I just make whatever catches my eye on the beading desk.  For this post however I was determined to make something autumnal.  

I picked up these Muscha discs by Petra Carpreau as they had orange in them.  I wrapped some teeny leaves, orange seeds and of course rhinestone chain around big hoops and positioned the Muscha discs inside the hoops.  This was going to be it.  I was going to keep these short and simple.  But my Cathleen Zaring order arrived yesterday with these gorgeous moon connectors.  They matched the original earring colours so well that I just had to add them somehow. 




Muscha discs by Petra Carpreau

Luckily in the original design I hadn't cut off the excess rhinestone chain from the bottom of the hoops yet.

I added a moon connector to one of the earrings with the rhinestone chain hanging from the bottom.  I used some teeny leaves to fill up the gaps.  For the second earrings I decided to leave the rhinestone chain as it is and attach the moon connector next to it.  I think the asymmetry adds a lot more interest to the design.  I like the way they've turned out and hope you like them too.

Enamel moon connectors by Cathleen Zaring

Coming back to naming the earrings.  There wasn't much rocket science involved.  There were moon connectors and the colours were autumnal, hence Autumn Moon hehe.  There you have it.  My Autumnal earrings.  Take care and see you soon.

Suhana <3<3<3

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Czech romance

My earrings of today were inspired by these beautiful Czech lampwork glass beads.

For the dangles I used silver plated as well as copper beads and Swarovski crystal.
But this design will work with all kinds of beads you have on hand.
I think these turned out rather romantic. Something to wear during a candlelight dinner, either at home or in a nice restaurant.

   

Thank you so much for looking. These will be available later today.

Wishing you all a wonderful week, full of joy, laughter and romantic dinners.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

My etsy shop

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Treasures from the Forest Floor

Fall is the best time for hiking in Colorado.  Temps are perfect, colors are outstanding and the skies couldn't be any more bluer.  Working a 40 hour week, I make it a goal to get outside and enjoy my outdoor playground, let's face it- days are getting shorter and change is coming. 

This weeks share is a design I created embracing my hikes.  As I look around the trails, I find twigs, pine cones, pine needles, acorns and leaves to name a few. A bustling time for little critters to hunt and gather.

So here they are!!  Brass pine cones that dangle from wire threaded with a mix of glass and spacers up top.  

I hammered daggers to serve as my twigs with tiny disc's off to the sides. 

I'm very happy with the overall design and love the mix of silver and brass in any creation.

♥~ Embrace Mother Nature and be,"Inspired",~♥

Thanks for visiting and leave a comment if you wish, always good to hear from you ☺

Your friend~ Lynn Ferro, aka Yucca Bloom

Into The Forest; Mossy Green with Raw Copper

So many reasons to love copper as a jewelry maker and also as someone who enjoys wearing  jewelry. 

It's the perfect fall color metal and pairs well with most Autumn-like colors. Including Mossy Green and Olive. My go-to colors of late. 

The charms are mill rolled with a heavy fabric to create a deep texture on raw copper. Hand cut, filed, sanded smooth and finally hammered for a gentle curve. Intertwined tiny raw copper hoops are torched fused, danging below. 

Mossy green Swarovski crystals sparkle in contrast to the rustic antique finish copper. 

These earrings were created with a matching necklace in mind. A common way jewelry is born or ideas spring, a continuing thought or inspiration spanning several types of jewelry. 

Molly, Hiking McKenzie River Trail, OR 9/13/16

And my biggest inspiration is of course... the forest. We love hiking here in WA and OR. We have a lot of great forests to explore and enjoy. This photo was taken last month hiking the McKenzie River Trail in OR. I just wanted to soak in all the green around me! It's very lush and grounding.  
 

These earrings along with the matching necklace are available in the Art & Soul Jewelry store today. 

Fall

As you probably might know I’m not a full-time jewellery creator. In my other professional career I’m a self-employed chartered accountant. Due to my crazy working hours of late I didn’t have much time to spend on social media. And guess what, I felt more relaxed as a jewellery creator. Normally I see the most gorgeous jewellery pieces of other jewellery designers in my news feed. When I see this beautiful handmade jewellery I am in awe. I feel overwhelmed and I have to admit, insecure. My designs are not that sophisticated. I am not able to make my own beads. Well, not as long as we are still living in our motor home. 

Then I remember the wise words of Lesley Watt in an interview I held with her: “If I were to offer one tip it would be: be true to yourself and don't be tempted to compare. By which I mean don't compare your work, your style, your sales, your success, your prices with those of others because it will only cause you heartache".

These words are so true. We cannot all be famous or successful etc like… (You can fill in your own hero). But that doesn’t matter. As long as we remember we are all unique human beings, beautiful in our own way.
If you are struggling with insecurity as well, I hope Lesley's wise words can help you, they way it helped me.
For me it means that as long as I enjoy creating my jewellery and I’m doing it the best that I can with the best materials I can afford it is ok. They might not be masterpieces but they are made with love and they are unique.
As for these earrings. They don’t contain expensive handmade beads. I found the glass leafs in a craft store. I always have silver plated beads, Swarovski crystal and Czech glass in stock and I think the combination is lovely.

Thank you again Lesley for your wise words. Thank you all for looking. These fall earrings will be available later today. Wishing you all a wonderful time, full of happiness, laughter and fall joy.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

My etsy shop

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