Scary Melting Faces

I was excited when these wonderful, copper, melting faces, from Kristi Bowman Design, arrived the other day. Such a great and timely inspiration.  

I linked the melting faces to some beaded components made by Anna Pierson. The rustic look of the beads looked great with the copper. I then wrapped Wooly Wire around the bottom links and added my own handmade brass ear wires. I love how they turned out. I hope you do too. The Melting Face earrings are available in my shop now.

Stay safe friends. May Halloween be the only scary thing in your life. See you again in two weeks!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Haunted House

 Hallowe'en is fast approaching and time for one of my favourite designs - my Haunted Houses! I begin with polymer clay door and tower by Helen Backhouse, and add ceramic skull and flying bats by Jana Bliznakova. The orange pumpkin is one of my last from Jetta Sellars. 

               Add a fancy copper key in case you dare to unlock the door to the house of horrors! 

These are available now in my Etsy shop in good time for posting. See you again in two weeks and as always, please stay safe. 

                                                                   Lindsay xx

Tin Moon Madness

Hello, my Beady Friends!

Happy September!  My workshop is in full Halloween mode now!

    I happened to find this Chocolate tin from at least 20 years ago in one of my nightstand drawers.  It was given to me long before I started making jewelry, so until a few days ago, it was just a cute tin box.  But now, I'm looking at through new eyes!

 

I put my disc cutter to work and began to punch out as many discs as possible, not wasting one bit of this adorable tin.  For this design, I'll just be using the large stripe discs and will save the spooky eyes for another day.

The lovely enameled bats are by Israeli bead artist, Pearly Karpel. 

Thanks for stopping by to see what's happing on my worktable today!  I'm excited about Autumn and looking forward to digging deep into all kinds of Halloween designs for the next couple of months!

 Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Day Of The Dead Calaveras

As some of you may know, about 6 years ago, my husband and I spent a month on Oaxaca, Mexico; from mid-October till mid-November. This put us right in the middle of one of Mexico's most exuberant celebrations of The Day Of The Dead. Handmade altars, decorated with food, flowers and sugar skulls, were constructed all over the city. Huge skeleton puppets were paraded in the streets and placed in business storefronts.

Near Llano Park in Oaxaca, Mexico

The puppets as well as the sugar skulls, were often crowned with colorful flowers, especially marigolds. Orange marigolds are said to guide the spirits of the departed, back to their homes on the Day Of The Dead.

In keeping with these customs, I dangled bright orange flowers beneath these wonderful pewter skull (Calavera in Spanish) charms by Inviciti.

The flowers have a golden luster finish that looks especially pretty in the light. I made my own Sterling silver ear wires to go along with the skull earrings.

The skull motif is popular year round, but these would be especially fun to wear this month! You can find these earrings in my shop now.

Linda Landig Jewelry

By The Light Of The Halloween Moon

Chandelier connectors by Inviciti handmade of pewter in a dark finish to set the mood!

Blackened rustic stars dangling next to the most glimmering golden druzy. 

Mysteriously masked, ceramic, man in the moon charms by Nadia Terra in a charcoal grey.

This is a photo of one of my most fondest Halloweens.  My boys were at that age where they lived for trick or treating and couldn't wait to get into their costumes.  That year the weather was absolutely perfect and the autumn colors were amazing - it was pure magic!  I will never forget it.

I love this poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater:

Wishing all the magic of Halloween!

Loralee xox

loraleekolton.etsy.com

::: Do I Thrill You ~ Do I Chill You :::

Oh, let's begin with the little ghosts by Jeni Houser Alasad! They are constructed and made of hollow polymer clay and are super lightweight.   I fell in love with their rustic yet adorable good looks.  The glass striped beads have large holes which move freely up and down the blackened chain. Being made of glass also gives them just enough weight so they hang beautifully.

 ♡

Striking enamel skull charms by Cathleen Zaring!  

I've noticed that I have a natural tendency of following shapes and patterns throughout a design - many times I don't even realize I'm doing it until I've already chosen my components and have begun constructing a piece of jewelry.  Looking at this design now, I see that the red silk tassels follow the shape of the jaw in the skulls.  Also, the striped pattern from around the eyes is repeated with the black and white striped beads below.

Once again the glass beads give the very lightweight tassels some swing.

The head actually moves independently from the tassel which gives this design movement and personality.

 ♡

Little bit gypsy-boho-vampy!

Lush red, vintage copper patina hoops, by Missficklemedia. 

I attached wire-wrapped tiny black skulls adorned with Swarovski crystals on their heads for a pop of color and flash.

I love the fringe effect and the crystals really dance in the light.

Many thanks for dropping by!  I will see you all again on Halloween Day!  If you have any questions always feel free to leave a comment or message me!

Loralee xo

loraleekolton.etsy.com

Keep On Haunting Me

 October Greetings, Beady Ghouls! 

Rustic, spooky, yet hauntingly glamorous with their golden touches are these wonderful enamel houses by Anne Gardanne.   

I used a sweet little mix of vintage bobbles:  AB faceted crystals and peeled vintage faux pearls.

Darkly oxidized metal bead caps with soft lightweight rattling chains - a must for every haunted house.

👻

Garden spirits of a summer gone by.  

Lightweight polymer leaves by Heather Powers, etched lampwork glass with touches of autumn color by Kimberly Rogers and carved bone spirited little folk.

Boo! From, Luna!

Thank you, as always, for popping in and having a look at what I've been up to.  I love hearing from you and appreciate your time!  Wishing you all the best of this glorious season!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks with some bold spooky designs!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads.  

P.S. I haven't had time to list these earrings but feel free to message me!

Boo!

Hallowe'en - one of my favourite times of the year.

'Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Hallowe'en is a time of celebration and superstition.'

Thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, it was a time when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts, believing that at the end of summer the barrier between our world and that of the spirits became much thinner.

With Christianity, it became All Hallow's Eve - the day before All Saints Day on 1st November. Hallowe'en was made popular in the USA by Irish immigrants in the 19th Century and it is there it has really taken off, with trick or treating and pumpkin carving. And those films....I recall watching 'Halloween' when it was first released in 1978 and being scared absolutely witless. But on the other hand, we have had some really fun parties for Hallowe'en over the years and I still decorate the house for the seemingly hundreds of local children that come around.

A couple of weeks ago a customer of mine asked me to reprise some earrings I made this time last year. They were great fun to make and had 'ingredients' from some of our lovely team here on EE.

The spooky copper faces are, of course, from Kristi; the squashy pumpkins from  Jetta ; the
sari silk (mummified?) connectors from Anna Pierson; they have vintaj copper leaves and earwires by Lucy.

 The second pair have great wine and orange colours. They're little devils to photograph as they don't lie flat, and really need to be seen hanging!

  The darker pair are reserved, but the first available in my Etsy shop. Do you like Hallowe'en? And have any family traditions? Do tell us about them.

See you next time - stay safe!

Lindsay x

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