Boho Ruffled Hoops

I was honored to have several projects chosen to be included in Interweave's 2015 Easy Metal.  I created these hoops based on traditional foldforming techniques.  They are lightweight, colorful, unique and versatile.  I  need to make myself some in other metals as well!

Copper hoops with sterling earwires and Czech glass embellishments

The beauty shot by Interweave

These aren't up in my shop yet, but they will be soon as a custom order, available in 3 different metals.  If you are interested in making your own, be sure to check out Easy Metal...there are a lot of wonderful designs by fabulously talented artists!

These would look great with my uniform of jeans, t-shirt and boots, but are really so versatile, they would go with anything!

Thanks for stopping by!

Melissa Meman

Melismatic Art Jewelry

Tropical Hibiscus

"Tropical Hibiscus" earrings featuring artisan lampwork beads by Sue Kennedy

These colorful earrings feature flower beads and headpins by the wonderfully talented Sue Kennedy of SueBeads.

I added little copper caps to the flower beads and embellished the earwires with some teal seeds.

They totally make me want to go to a sunny beach on an exotic tropical island.  I can imagine wearing a bright sarong with a big hibiscus flower in my hair and of course, a big fruity drink!

Gorgeous Rainbow Sherbet Hibiscus  via Pinterest

Melissa Meman

Colors of the Ocean

Colors of the Ocean, lampwork by Lori Robbins, ceramic charms by Jenny Davies Reazor.

I have had these sweet charms by Jenny Davies-Reazor since last August!  I love how she leaves the rough edges on the clay and the organic designs she embosses them with!  I remember choosing these 2 specific pair because of the intense hues each possessed...they reminded me of the colors you see at the ocean...from the darker blue to the more teal, almost green hues.

A closer look...look at the colors in those borosilicate beads!

These were on my work table and I decided to use some lampwork beads that I had in my stash...I believe both pairs are by Lori Robbins.  She makes incredible borosilicate beads.  Her pairs are almost always perfectly matched.  Unfortunately, she hasn't had anything in her shop for a while and I don't know if she has a website!

These are wrapped with sterling wire and include hand wrought sterling earwires, that I may or may not change out...these are a bit big for my taste :)

Now, if I could only get to the ocean to enjoy the colors in person...until then, these will have to do!

Color Escape - A gorgeous ocean palette from Design Seeds!

Melissa

Hugs & Kisses!

Hi there! Melissa here, filling in for Keirsten today.  When she asked me to post today, I was a bit worried I wouldn't have anything, but after I got home from work yesterday, I took a look at what was already in my work area and found some sweet red lampwork from Sue Kennedy.  Hmmm, Valentine's Day is just a couple days away and these would be perfect!

Sue trailed fine silver over the beads, "hugging" them with brilliance.  I chose some of my new little metal clay morsels...white copper hearts to dangle beneath.  I was going to let it go at that, but decided they needed a bit more "oomph", so went back through my stash and found these white pearl sticks.  After seeing the little x's the wire-wrapping left, I thought of how we sometimes use x's and o's to symbolize hugs and kisses.

Too late to purchase in time for Saturday, but they will be up in my shop a bit later.  I also have a few more tiny heart charms there as well ;)

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Valentine's Day! XOXOXO!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry

Throwback Thursday - Winged!

Hi all...today's post is an homage to Facebook's Throwback Thursday!  I got a little behind and forgot that I agreed to fill in today, but thought this would be a fun thing to do.

These are earrings I made back in 2011...I had taken an online class with Stephanie Lee who taught me how to cover a copper base with molten solder, then embed brass filigree into it.   This technique really opened up a world of design possibilities to me and I use it a lot in my work today.

These are embellished with pretty faceted peach moonstone briolettes and my hand wrought sterling earwires to complete the airy, fairy look!

Like most of my work, I tend to make things that can be worn with my staple day to day outfit...jeans & boots.  I envision these with a flowy white shirt as well!

They are available in my shop...

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry

Winter Blues

Got our first snow of 2015 here in Maryland yesterday, and I immediately thought of big bulky sweaters, jeans and boots!  These cuties would be the perfect accessory all the way into Spring!

Cool speckled blue stoneware drops from Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio, LLC dangle beneath copper washers that have been hammered, then wrapped with copper wire and colorful Czech glass beads.

I added a couple more glass beads in between, and finished with some my favorite lever-back ear wires...these are the only mass-produced ones I use!

Happy Winter!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry

Purple Haze

My hammered copper & torch-fire enameled morsels, embellished with Jen Cameron's fabulous lampwork headpins which have been wrapped into a bail, finished with  my hand-wrought sterling and copper earwires.

"'Scuse me, while I kiss the sky"...(thanks, Jimi!<3)

"is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?"

Have a "purple haze" kind of day!

Disclaimer...after writing this post and looking at the photos, I realized that these aren't truly purple, but more raspberry-ish?  But, I have been singing "purple haze" now for at least a day, and can't really get it out of my head, but if you like, you can substitute "Raspberry Beret" by Prince :)

Melissa

Autumn Flower Garden

Inspired by all the pretty, colorful autumn flowers I've been seeing in the garden shops and a few in my own garden, I created this pair of copper, lampwork, and Czech glass earrings.

They feature my own new copper metal clay discs, gorgeous orange lampwork beads from Sue Kennedy of SueBeads, pretty teal Czech glass beads, and my hand-wrought sterling and copper earwires.

Sue's beads are perfect for autumn...the orange glass is embellished with all that gorgeous raku frit that look like tiny impressionistic flowers on their own!  The bits of teal really pop with the addition of the teal Czech glass, I think.

It was really hard to photograph these, since the lampwork is round and my metal clay discs are so flat...they kept rolling around!  I don't usually like to include my hands in photos, but sometimes this is a good way to get a good shot.

My favorite late summer, early fall flower...zinnias!  My past blog name was PinkZinnias! via Pinterest

These will be up in my Melismatic Art Jewelry shop later today or tomorrow!

Pinwheels

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've had the privilege of posting on EE, but am happy to say I will be showing up with a post here and there!

These fun earrings were created from lampwork headpins by the talented and lovely Jen Cameron of Glass Addictions.  I layered them onto brass flowers that I torch-fire enameled with bright colors and then wired them onto textured copper ovals.

Even though they are securely attached, they have just enough slack so that the flowers twirl around...sort of like a pinwheel or a whirligig!  Remember these cute little toys?  As a kid, I used to get plastic ones that had little candies in the stem.   I would stick them out the window of the car to let them twirl in the wind as we drove home from the store...much to my mother's disapproval!

From livingtheswelllife.com via Pinterest!

They are so fun....I will be putting them in my shop later today, and will be creating more, since I had the opportunity to snag more of of Jen's gorgeous headpins at BeadFest last weekend!

A sweet bouquet of lampwork headpins by Jen Cameron and Sue Kennedy!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love.

Autumn Harvest

Fall is in the air!

We just got a post-card from the local farm where we normally take our yearly autumn hayride into the pumpkin field to choose a few for Halloween and to have on the porch for the rest of the season into Thanksgiving.  I love those little jaunts with my 2 boys.  The little store where you pay for your pumpkins always has a pile of cute little gourds and multi-colored corn with dry shocks; beautiful chrysanthemums in magnificent shades of magenta, yellow, and rust; and yummy apple cider!

Photo from terragreenhouses.com/ via Pinterest

I got these sweet little ceramic hearts/leaves from Diana P of Suburban Girl Studios, when I made a short trek to BeadFest in August.  I thought they actually looked pretty "Spring-y" and was going to save them for then, but when trying to find inspiration for a post today, they were on my table along with some enameled brass elements I had been experimenting with.  The colors sort of popped out at me and said "Apple Cider"!

They needed another color though, so after looking through my Czech glass stash, found these cute little flowers in rust.  They wouldn't face forward though, so I strung them on sterling wire and did a sort of herringbone wrap with copper to hold them tight!  I finished the pair with hand-wrought sterling earwires embellished with copper.

Perfect for the season, or anytime!  They are long, about 3 inches, and would look so great with lots of outfits, but neutrals, denim, leather all sort of jump to mind!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love.

More Leaves!

I was cleaning out a closet the other day and found an old box of jewelry...some silly costume stuff from pre-jewelry making days and some early pieces I attempted.  The leaves in today's earrings were favorites that I used to wear before I discovered artisan/handcrafted.  They were a brass finish, without any real patina, and immediately, my wheels started to turn.  I took the old earwires off and went down to my work station and stuck them in the torch!  Yay, they didn't melt!  I had been working with seafoam and nile green enamel, on a previous piece, so that is what I used.  I love how they turned out.

Old bits and bobs...going to see what else I can salvage!

I had been working on completing my necklace I started for Art Jewelry Elements' Component of the Month for August, which was my month.  The combination of juicy orange with the seafoam blue really hits home for me, so I decided to keep the earrings in that color scheme!  I added Czech glass leaves and flowers dangled from a bit of chain.

My Melismatic Morsels with enameled copper and Czech glass..finally finished!

It is fun to breathe new life into something that was probably going to be tossed...I am going to see what else I can find to repurpose.

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love.

Sunshine Drops

In my last post, I was talking about how ready for Autumn I was, and today, wishy-washy girl/woman that I am, I am loving the sunshine!  Maybe because it was a bit cooler over the past few days here in my neck of the woods, but I actually enjoyed being out in the sunshine instead of dreading the hot, sticky,drippy feeling that being outdoors in sweltering heat can cause!

I made these the other day for a last minute addition to a craft show, which unfortunately bombed, but the earrings are sweet nonetheless!  Gorgeous sunny orange/yellow lampwork beads by Mermaid Glass, wrapped with copper and embellished with tangerine orange Czech glass flowers!

I'm definitely going to need better photos...the bottom one is the truer yellow shade of the lampwork! The top ones wouldn't stop moving, so they are a tad blurry!

Beautiful, simple drops of sunshine to keep your days bright, no matter what season or weather!

Melissa
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love.

Thinking Ahead...

to Autumn!  I know, I know...there is a hekuva lot of summer left.  I haven't been into it very much, though.  I saw a few autumn photos on Pinterest the other day and it started me  pining for the cool, crisp weather, earthy smells and rich colors that season brings.  

I had these earrings started, but they had been in a pile on my table for quite a while. Lampwork disks (from SueBeads) have been layered onto copper disks that I textured, and embellished with Czech glass leaves.

Even though they are inspired by the inevitable change of season, there is no reason they can't be a great addition to your late summer wardrobe!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love.

Red, White and Blue

Happy Independence Day!

Perfect for today's barbecue, or any other summer day for a patriotic girl!  

Carved red coral flowers, my torch-fired brass stars, and little, faceted lapis briolettes, all wired together with copper wire and finished with sterling earwires that have been embellished with just another little pop of blue glass!

Flag on my back deck a couple years back!

Star on my backyard fence!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love.