All that glitters

Hello everyone! My last post of the year, and it's a glittery one :-)

Treated myself to these beautiful components from Petra Carpreau's shop. Firstly, these gorgeous porcelain and ceramic triple star stacks with 3 different glazes. Aren't they fantastic?

I added some brass triangles with some African silver spacers, and Hill Tribe silver beads. Cool party

 earrings, perfect for the festive  season!

Now this next pair are a commission and feature more of Petra's triple glaze stacks, but this time -pretty circles. This time I wrapped some pretty bronze seed beads around the middle section and added some more gorgeous Hill Tribe silver beads

The star earrings are available in my shop And that's it from me for 2018. Just remains for me to wish you a Happy Christmas and a happy, creative 2019 

Sue x

Embracing the Artist Within

Our lives are forever evolving and we are always *becoming. These last few years have been a tremendous time of change for me on many levels, professionally and personally. 

For my work and my art as well. 

As an artist who works, there is a struggle of making a living and also producing what's in  my heart. Feeding the artist within. And trust me when I say that creativity is a constant craving. 

My endeavor into ceramics feeds that artist within to a great extent. I can get lost in it for hours and not be aware of time passing at all. It is wonderful and soul feeding.

See my blog for more of an in depth look at my process.

http://www.artandsouljewelry.com/blogs/news/ 

These earrings feature ceramic beads from my latest kiln batch. White stoneware clay with variegated color glazes. Hints of deep blue, and golden brown with a white matte over-coat and background. Highlighted by the texture.

Paired with natural, found sea glass that really off-sets the glaze colors. Wrapped in silver wire with Hill Tribe fine silver beads and dangle. Ear wires are hand forged sterling silver. 

Available at Art & Soul Jewelry. 

peace & blessings, 

Not your grandma's pearls

I've accumulated an extensive stash of fresh water pearls over the years. I hoard them. 

I really think I need an intervention group or something for my bead-hoarding...

(but I'm guessing that we'd all end up participating in the group lol)

The other day, when Miss Erin showcased the new 2015 Pantone colors, I started looking through my stash and pulled out a couple of strands of pearls that caught my eye with their soft cool hues.
They seemed to match really well with this year's palette.

When I use pearls in my designs, I aim to set them up in a non-traditional way, so that we don't end up thinking that we're wearing our grandma's pearls ;)

So this is what I've come up with for this design:

Designer Pearl Earrings by Nathalie Lesage at NatLJ.com

The fresh water pearls featured at the top are a soft cool blue, almost a dusk blue (Pantone 16-4120). Although the color is soft, I think these two pearls at the top really 'pop' and add a touch of brightness and spunk to the design. They seem almost luminescent :)

The set of pearls at the bottom is a Titanium grey (Pantone 17-4014) that picks up

the same metalic hues as the Hill Tribe Fine Silver Squares.

Soft cool grey hues inspired by the Pantone 2015 colors

These hollow HT square were very plain originally, but a few years ago, I had heavily distressed them to use them in a project, and I ended up using something else instead. I kept wanting to do something with these, and it seems that today was the right moment.

I hope that you'll agree that these are not your grandma's pearls :D

You can find these earrings HERE on my website.

Have a fabulous day!

Nathalie

Metalsmith & Jewelry Artist

www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

Salt of the Earth.....

A few weeks ago, I attended ArtBliss, where I took a couple of classes and got to hang out with some friends, new and old!  It was great fun and I learned lots...I have a blog post in the works for Art. Life. Love., to share more of that adventure.  While there, I had the good fortune of attending a trunk show of the amazing, Jenny Davies-Reazor.  Jenny and I had met before, but this year we had something in common...we both just got chosen as contributors to Art Jewelry Elements!  I bought several cool items from Jenny, but these earring components practically threw themselves at me!

David Eldreth salt glaze pottery, photo via Pinterest.com

Ever since I was introduced to salt glaze pottery, like this David Eldreth pottery, by 2 of my sisters, who are collectors, I have loved it.  I don't have a huge collection, but I have some choice pieces.  These earring components  evoke that same simple, earthy, down home vibe that I get from my Eldreth pieces.

I love that they are components aren't identical!  I paired them with sodalite rondells and lots of sterling silver.  I embellished  the connecting links with Hill Tribe silver disks, wrapped on with copper headpins.

These are the kind of earrings you can put in your ears and just leave in all autumn!  You can find these and more of my eclectic jewelry designs at my website, Melismatic Art Jewelry, or in my Etsy shop.

Bella Fuschia

Is the weather insanely beautiful where you are?

Here in the middle of Wisconsin, March can usually be quite blustery and cold. There are biting winds stinging your face, angry gray clouds and plenty of snow piles and slush. I said usually. This month has been above normal and beyond outstanding. We have no snow, the temps have varied from high 60s to nearly 80 all month long and the grass is starting to green up. That has me thinking months, MONTHS earlier about hanging plants. One of my favorites is the complex, dainty and highly seductive fuschia.

According to GardenHarvestSupply.com, fuschia plants are "exotic-looking, two-toned flowers that provide striking color and tropical ambiance. Fuchsias are perfect for hanging baskets, though they look just as nice when allowed to cascade from a large planter sitting on the ground or on a pedestal. Many people are intimidated by their tropical beauty, thinking that they are difficult to grow. That is just not the case!"

These are also known as "Lady Eardops" for their obvious resemblance to earrings. I think that they look more like pretty ballerinas dancing in the wind. I am thinking that big baskets of cascading "Lady Eardrops" might be gracing my front porch this spring. Even though I kill nearly every plant that comes onto my property ;-).

{Bella Fuschia available on Etsy}

What are you planting in your flower garden this year?

Erin Prais-Hintz invites you to go on a journey of inspiration at her blog Treasures Found :: Inspiration is Everywhere. You can view a gallery of her work at http://www.tesoritrovati.com/ or purchase her new line of 'Simple Truths' in her Etsy shop.

Azure

I totally fell in love with these drop-dead gorgeous borosilicate glass beads by the talented Lori Robbins as soon as I saw them!  The blue and green combo reminds me of the lush tropical greens and cool azure blue ocean from a long-ago trip to Hawaii…anyone else need a vacation?  This may be as close as I get!

Waipao Valley on the Big Island of Hawaii - via Pinterest.com

These quick and easy earrings show that sometimes all you need to create beautiful unique jewelry is to just combine beautiful components…not alot of extras.  I simply embellished the glass beads with a lovely Thai Hill Tribe silver flower charm, and a Balinese silver bead or two, then dangled them from my hand-wrought sterling earwires.

I have a market day coming up this Saturday and will definitely be creating a few more simple pairs like this!

You can find these earrings and much more at my Etsy Shop, Melismatic Art Jewelry.  For more info about me and/or my designs, check out my blog at Art, Life, Love.