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Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Indian Summer

We were certainly having an Indian Summer here last week - warm and sunny enough to get out on our bikes to the local wildlife reserve, sit and watch the swans gliding regally over the water. Leaves are turning from green to gold and red, berries are ripening, and there are some fabulous textures around as well.

Todays earrings are full of texture - Helen Backhouse wrapped polymer clay that has been textured with silk fabric and coloured perfectly for the season. The 'stamens' are Kimberly Rogers lampwork headpins. Lucy Haslam's dark copper earwires and crusty rusty czech glass finish them perfectly.  




The second pair are again Helen's polymer clay, textured with her grandmother's old silk bedspread. Beautiful brocade-like deep green, perfect with malachite, vintage venetian gilt collars and tiny beaten brass drops from Bernie Ryman.



Both pairs will be available in our upcoming 'Indian Summer' show this weekend over in The Very Nice group in Facebookland. Hope you can join Helen, Lucy and me on a brief tour of India and it's vibrant colours.
                                                  Keep well, and see you in two weeks.

                                                                      Lindsay x

                                                           
                                                                 My Etsy shop
                                                             My Facebook page

Looking Forward To New Adventures Ahead

I made today's earrings the day before my 66th birthday. As I was trying to name the earrings, it occurred to me that the turquoise parts of the lampwork beads looked kind of like eyes. They even have a little air bubble decoration in the center, that could be interpreted as the iris of the eye.
Well, anyway, that's how I saw them, late at night after a glass or 2 of wine... Anyway, my thoughts went to the fact that even though my body sometimes fails me at 66,  my eyes (and heart) are still always looking forward to the next adventure in living this life of mine. The adventures may not be as physical, as they once were. I have some chronic illnesses that I have to contend with.
So I may not be hiking in the mountains or backpacking all over Europe anymore. But life holds many different types of adventures. I look forward to watching my grandkids grow up and being a part of their lives. I look forward to learning more about ceramics, to making new jewelry, to growing older with my husband. I maybe entering into senior citizen land, but I have much to look forward to.  So the turquoise "eyes" in these earrings symbolize looking forward to all the adventures to come. What are you looking forward to?

The Looking Forward earrings will be in my shop later today or tomorrow. Thank you, as always, for visiting Earrings Everyday.  I'll be back in two weeks.
Linda Landig Jewelry

Monday, September 23, 2019

Colourful Wooden Designs

Hi everyone, it's a bright morning here and I have some colourful earrings to show you. They are all made using my new wooden components which I paint, then add line work using pyrography, paint the sides and backs black and finally I use renaissance wax to seal and protect them.

My first pair are these fun cats and I have added wonderful lampwork beads by RĂ©gis Teixera, Czech glass beads and acrylic zig-zag spacers.


Next, these earrings have a playful spiral design in gorgeous graduating colours. The beads at the top are polymer clay and I have added Czech glass beads, sparkly lampwork headpins by Nicky Townsend and acrylic spacers which highlight the colours in the wooden components.


My final design which I call 'The phoenix' has these fiery colours which again graduate. I have added fabulous lampwork by Jasminka Milovanovic which reflect the colours in my design, Czech glass beads, Vintaj bead caps which add to the fiery design and acrylic zig-zag beads.


I hope you like my designs, they will be available in my group later today, Nicola Morse - jewellery & components.



Friday, September 20, 2019

We're All Ears :: We're All Little Dotty Here

Hello peeps!

This will be a short and sweet post. I am almost late for an eye appointment where I am sure I will be seeing spots after!


This month's challenge was inspired by a dress that I picked up on clearance at a cute little boutique in downtown Galena, IL after the Adornments retreat in July. I knew that it would be the perfect thing to wear to a swanky family wedding that I am leaving for today! Look at all the happy dots!

I am not one to wear much pattern, but I am trying to embrace that! I just knew that the shape of the dress worked for me and it felt so fun.
This is the no-make-up-oh-crap-I-forgot-to-take-a-picture look!
Thank goodness for early morning diffused northern light! :-)
So I whipped up a funky necklace with a melange of dots and stripes including pieces by Jennifer Heynen of Jangles (Remember her fun work? She no longer makes beads but focuses on fun fabrics). Dots go with stripes. Right?

In the spirit of the challenge (and knowing that the gifting season is soon to begin!) I made 7 pairs of earrings, + the last pair which is what I am wearing with the necklace, that I made back when we did the black+white challenge here.


Now it is your turn! Show me your DOTS + SPOTS!

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Layering

Hello lovely earring friends,

First of all, my apologies for missing my post in the first week of September. It was my first work week after my holiday and well, what can I say, I just completely forgot about it. 

The earrings I like to share with you today were made for my last earring show. I love vintage beads, especially flower beads and bead caps. Layering them meant I could even use more LOL.

Layered vintage resin and enameled beads and bead caps and gorgeous lampwork glass beads made by Karen Kordan.




 
Here combined with delicious polymer clay beads made by Elaine from TooAquarius.

Thank you so much for looking and your support for Earrings Everyday :)
Share the love, don't be shy and leave some words. And do check out the other posts of my friends here. 

See you in a couple of week(if I remember LOL).
Wishing you all a wonderful day, full of laughter, joy and lots of love.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019



“Pink will always show one's love.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

 To keep a bit of organized chaos at my workspace, I've made a habit of keeping the lids of small boxes near me.  As I search through my stash, usually looking for something completely unrelated,  I toss in components, beads and odds & ends of things I feel will complement each other for a possible future project.  Sometimes the combinations never get used and other times, magic happens!


Over the past few months, I noticed this beautiful mixture of pinks come together in one of those lids.


The top fuchsia beads are from the 1960s, extremely unique with texture in a resin that I hadn't seen before.  They almost have a foiled appearance and have a cast of orange in certain light.  Amazing.


Next, I added these outstanding satin, raspberry-colored, vintage glass pearls from the 1950s.  They have THE most beautiful soft, almost metallic sheen to them.  Super lovely next to the rough textured resin!




Then by chance, I ran across some stunning hot pink headpins by Sasha Crow which completed the look!  *dropped the mic* I knew it was the right combination and the earrings were finished!


Thank you so much for stopping by to see what I've been up to!  I'll be back next month with more goodies!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Metal...and Rainbows

Hi, everyone!  

My latest pair of earrings, below, is the fourth in a series of similar earrings I've made over the years.   



When I created this style in 2015, I was playing with several pewter charms by Inviciti that all had open spaces in them that could be filled with a stack of little beads.  The earrings were designed to be whimsical and eccentric.  Interestingly, what I discovered while working on this post is that my newest design in this style is probably the least eccentric of all of them. 

These earrings, below right, were the first of the three pairs I made in 2015.  I was learning how to wrap the red linen thread around the top of the "shoulders" of the component and to bring both ends of the thread down on each side, stringing my beads on the front, then threading both ends through the bottom hole and tying them together at the bottom.  I trimmed the linen thread to a nice spiky length.

These little ones below were more overtly whimsical, I think, because of the shape of the charm:  a fish!  So when I put these earrings together I made sure to wing the thread out in the same plane as the "fish tail" of the charm.  đŸ’—


These, below, also from later in 2015, are just a little over the top, with two strands of beads, in front and back.  I don't think I would do that again, because it doesn't look particularly tidy.  I do love the stripy beads and the orange-red discs and just the "go-for-it" sort of vibe these earrings carry.


So back to this year's model. đŸ˜‰ These earrings are more polished, with their threads pulled tight to their backs and tucked under some nice--and carefully glued--red handmade paper.  They're also sporting a beautiful pair of small red and cornflower lampwork glass beads by Beth Mellor of Beeboo. đŸ’—



Thanks so much for reading!  I will be back in two weeks' time.  đŸ’—

xoxo
Meridy






Tuesday, September 10, 2019

One Day in September

It's not hard to find inspiration for earrings at the moment. I'd nothing ready for today, but doing a bit of deadheading and clipping back in the garden this morning, it was all around me. I decided to make a pair to reflect what was going on - it was warm and sunny, leaves were a mixture of green and red, butterflies were fluttering around the last flowers on the buddleias, and there were even a few ladybirds left - it's been a very good year for them. Noisy starlings were squabbling over the bird feeder. Bliss.

It also gives me the opportunity to introduce you to a new ceramicist - ceramiky, from Poland.


The first pair use Ceramiky connectors - rich and rustic - with Czech glass and lampwork leaves, a tiny brass bird atop a lampwork 'nest' by Julia Hay, dark copper leaf by Lucy Haslam, peridot, a dark copper butterfly and tiny Czech glass ladybird. Just fun! Then I couldn't resist another pair; these have ceramic leaves by Michelle McCarthy, fabulous picture jasper beads and those tiny ladybirds creeping up the connectors. 


 
 
I'm really making the most of the garden now, as it won't last too much longer. she says sadly! At least the earrings will last all year round, and they're available my Etsy shop.
 
 
See you in two weeks time; take care
 
Lindsay xx
 
 




Friday, September 6, 2019

We're All Ears :: September Inspiration :: Dotty

The first time the words "polka dot" were used together to describe the beloved pattern was in 1850. They never really had any connection to polka dancing, but these dotty spots have been called that ever since.


At first they were found in small doses, like in men's bow-ties. But with the turn of the century and textile technology advancing, it quickly became an iconic fashion statement to wear polka dots. Over the years this pattern was further popularized by fashionable entertainers and Hollywood stars, like Marilyn Monroe or Lucille Ball. Even the fa-mouse fashionista Minnie Mouse made them a pop-culture trend in the 1930 - all the way to present day Julia Roberts in the movie "Pretty Woman." Polka dots are seen as sweet, feminine, classic, playful, fun.

Close up of A Sunday on La Grande Jatte By Georges Seurat - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., online collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11500867
Artists have long used dots for impact in their paintings. George Seurat's most famous work A Sunday on La Grande Jatte in the style of Pointilism (essentially dot painting) is masterful and scientific in its precision. Damien Hirst, a British contemporary artist, once exhibit 300 dot paintings in all eleven galleries at the Gagosian. These paintings were mesmerizing. One featured over 90,000 hand painted spots. Amazing!

Jemima, 2016 © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2019.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

I originally wanted the Spots to look like they were painted by a human trying to paint like a machine. Colour Space is going back to the human element, so 
instead you have the fallibility of the human hand in the drips and inconsistencies. There are still no two exact colors that repeat in each painting, which is really important to me. I think of them as cells under a microscope. —Damien Hirst
Yayoi Kusama, Whitney Museum
Yayoi Kusama was a Japanese artist who turned her lifelong experience with traumatic hallucinations into wild immersive art installations punctuated by dots on every surface. In 2012, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton created an array of dotty accessories inspired by Kusama's work. 

Collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama, 2012



A polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is the symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots can't stay alone; like the communicative life of people, two or three polka-dots become movement. Polka-dots are a way to infinity. 
--Yayoi Kusama


Let's celebrate the polka-dot! Make some dotty-spotty earrings for the reveal on Friday, September 20th!

[Please remember that all artwork shared here is for your inspiration only, and not to be used in your designs.]


Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Along Came A Spider



Jill Stoffregen of Foxpaws made these stunning porcelain discs with a lovely silver luster.  They are  rustic, tribal and made the most lovely spider webs!


I constructed my own spiders from bead-caps, rhinestone spacers, and metal accent beads.  I really love these miniature industrial-looking sculptures.


The spider's legs mimic the web pattern in the discs and it all just works so well together.


đŸ•¸

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my worktable today! 

There's a pretty good chance I will be continuing with my spooky designs for a while 'cause - 'tis the season!

Until next time!
Loralee xo

Monday, September 2, 2019

Bunny-Go-Round

Hello!  It's Loralee, thought I'd show you something fun today!  


Stunning lampwork glass headpins by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads.



Vintage lucite bunny that looks very much like stone, stunning vintage glass Haskell pearl and vintage German glass accent bead in a circular pattern.


These reminded me so much of a carousel.  I added a tiny pop of red which really enhanced the beautiful variations of grey tones. 

I always love working with these magnificent headpins, it gives me a chance to do something asymmetrical and experiment! 

Thank you for stopping by today and seeing what I've been up to - I'll be back on Wednesday!


Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com