Devilishly Charming Is What They Called Him...

Hello,  Happy October To You All!

Take a look at this strikingly bold and playful image Anna Pierson of Sagahus Components used on her faux tin charms!  I really fell in love with this guy and ordered a few pairs to play with.  

These charms were made on copper and have a nice substantial weight which dome beautifully. Doming the image really enhanced the facial features and gave it life!  

Don't you just love the little headdress of skulls he's wearing!  What also makes this design special is the soft muted yellow background, it really makes him pop!

I wanted this design to be a bit modern yet keep a warm rustic feel.  I loved the idea of extending the main image so I created a goatee for him!  It's like when an actor leaves the stage and comes into the audience! ha! 

In my stash I had these cool little wire wrapped charms by Shipwreckdandy Supply which were just the right size and shape!  Also, the tin is very smooth and the wire wrapping lends a lot of rich texture. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a peek on my worktable!

I will see you back in a couple of weeks!

🔥

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Les Fleurs du Mal.

Buds. They're all over the place. On my clematis (purple of course), on the roses (Albertine - an old English climber with a wonderful scent), on the iris, on the aquilegia - granny's bonnets, we call them here. Anyhow, you get the idea. A garden full of promise. I love late spring - all still to play for.

I wanted to make some floral earrings this week, but floral with a difference. I began with the tiny ceramic buds by Robyn Cove, beautifully graduated from white through lilac to purple. Violet sari silk hoops by Anna Pierson, gold bicones and tiny ceramic seeds. Looped with black chain. A dark evil type of flower -  fleurs du mal.

 

Hope you like them. I'll see you again in two weeks - and by then, we should have blooms!

 

Lindsay x

 

My Etsy shop

 

My Facebook Page

 

Crows and Clovers

I have some special components to share with you today!  These lovely crow charms were made by Sasha Crow - Artisan Jewelry Components.  They are hand drawn with many layers of colored pencil on hand cut copper pieces. Each layer is baked and sealed.  

I was very lucky to have won a pair of little beaded "U" connectors by SagaHaus Components for a 'giveaway' prize during a show.  Aren't those colors just perfect?!! I wanted to bring a Celtic knot vibe to the design so I added wire components by Joan Moritz Langmo.  I'm pretty thrilled with the way this design came together.

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Revisiting a design I made last year with crows and clovers ~ couldn't resist showing you.  I guess I'm just in love with that spring green with that pop of black!  

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While at Bead & Button this past summer, I found these wonderful little vintage clover connectors from a vintage dealer.  I added teeny-tiny vintage enameled four leaf clovers for the dangles.  The top AB faceted beads are not vintage but do have a vintage feel so it all works nicely.

So happy to be here, and a million thank yous for stopping by today!

All my best,

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads


Sasha wanted me to add this comment and a coupon to her shop today!

"Cool stuff! Thank you, Loralee! You did the crows well! Although I don't have any more crows or other pencil components, I am having a SALE today in honor of the Earrings Everyday mention --- 15% OFF everything in my shop -- only today -- coupon code EARRINGSEVERYDAY"

Please share!
www.etsy.com/shop/CrowsCacheSupplies xxx

Oh the possibilities - Sari Silk

I hope this finds all of you healthy and well this flu season! 

Both pairs of earrings I'm showing today were made using handcrafted Sari Silk components by Anna Pierson of SagaHus. 

I have lots of silk to work with. . . . large amounts of it so generously gifted to me by a friend. . . .and prior to that I had a few ribbons of my own here and there. Never have I been able to pull it together, not for lack of trying. I have tried and used and used and used a fair amount of silk trying. I have managed small areas of an earring design, and have also used different kinds of ribbon over the years successfully. So although I will continue my efforts at some point, I was delighted when I managed to snag these components to work with. Fun, colorful, unique. Thank you, Anna! 

SheFliesAgain

This gorgeous pair of silk components is paired with various Czech glass beads and Greek bronze castings in a column-shaped design. They're all wrapped with waxed Irish linen and attached to soldered copper metal rings. 

SheFliesAgain

The second pair includes handcrafted copper ovals by Shannon German of MissFickleMedia, and wonderfully crackled recycled glass shards made by Emily Cohen of CatFishStu. Again, wrapped with waxed linen and attached to soldered rings.

SheFliesAgain

Both pairs are amazingly lightweight, at only 0.10 oz / 2.83 grams, and 0.15 oz / 4.28 grams respectively. 

Thanks for checking us out today.

Always with Love and Joy,
norbel
SheFliesAgain

I'll Follow The Sun...

These completely knock me out of the winter doldrums! Stunning enamel charms by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare Art Wear.  I wanted to set that color off to its fullest, so I went with all black as the companion piece.  Extra fuzzy fabric beads by SagaHus  gave me the impact I was looking for....bold but still soft.  All you would need is a black top and you'd have an outfit!

☀

Hot enamel spikes by Spurwink River Arts!  I wanted to add more pattern but it keep a modern clean line, so I went with a nice thin black and white stripe with a pop of red on the top.  They have a nice tribal vibe.

I'm looking out the window as snow flurries whirl around a grey sky in Chicago.  However, it's nice and sunny inside :D  Hope I've brightened your day, too! 

Loralee xo

☀

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads

Let it Snow

This weekend we had the first snow of the winter up here in the north of England. We don't have it often, and it wasn't that deep compared to some areas, but still the kids were out on sledges and snowballs were flying. The roof of my conservatory-cum-studio was covered in beautiful ice patterns and I was contemplating the different patterns in the snowflakes. No two snowflakes are alike - each one is formed from a single ice crystal which falls through the atmosphere as snow. I was moved to dig out my stash of snowflake charms for this week's earrings - my last post before Christmas.

 

And who better to start with than our own Jetta ? These lovely blue and white snowflakes are incredibly detailed. With wooden 'branches' and swarowski pearl snowballs, they have a little winter woolly fibre scarf !














Here we have some vintage BoHulley pure white porcelain charms, with tiny pearls, bright red lampwork, and gingham connectors from Anna Pierson wired in red enamelled copper to Faerystone fancy earwires. 







Next up a bit of sheer glamour. Sparkly glossy Petra snowflakes with magnificent swirly silver lampwork beads from Juliette Mullett of Avette Glass.

And the final pair, below - the uniqueness of snowflakes - mismatched stoneware by BoHulley with spotty beads (have I told you Ultraviolet is Pantone Colour of the Year for 2018 - I'm so excited!) with Anna Pierson carved bone birdy nests and Faerystones violet earwires.







So, here we are....Merry Christmas to you all, have a lovely time and see you on the other side!
                                                        
                                                                     Lindsay

                                                                My Etsy shop
                                                            My Facebook page

Gone To Seed

Happy November, my seedy-beady friends!  Loralee here, today I'm sharing  sculptural botanical beads by Melissa Gabelle of The Clay Hen!  

I love the rough texture of the petals and the bold lines.  I wanted to carry those lines back to the top so, I added some fabric beads by Sagahus with blackened steel wire and that same yellow-green.  I originally was going to wire-wrap the petal to the fabric connector, but thought the tip was too delicate.  Instead, I tried an oversized hammered jumpring and added some larger seedbeads.  It turned out much better this way!  It protected the charm, added more variety of color, and the suggestion of seeds that I was envisioning all along.

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Such a beautiful rich brown color with that beautiful pop of yellow - it's a favorite of mine.  To me, they are Georgia O'Keeffe-esk, but at the same time, with the use of the heavier gauge wire, look somewhat urban/industrial.  

For the seeds I used, Czech glass, teardrop Picasso beads. They are matte with soft painterly spots of yellow...I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I discovered them in my stash!  Don't you love when things fall together like that...just meant to be!  

~

I paired these open pods with some wispier fabric wrapped beads, again, by Sagahus.  The feathery fabric pieces match the gentle brush strokes of paint used on the pods. I have a tendency to oxidize most things but these are amazing in bright copper.  Eventually they may have a more subtle natural patina.   At a recent beading retreat I was gifted some fine (26g, I believe) braided copper wire.  It made the most beautiful wrapping.  *Psst...thank you, Lin Standke xo

November is always bittersweet for me, as I say goodbye to my favorite season.   However, I've started pulling some wintry things out now....it's time.

Many thanks for joining me today, it's wonderful to hear feedback especially when you work alone in a studio for so many hours...lol . Until next time!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton Jewerly

Versatile Components - Wire and Fiber Connectors

Have you had a chance to see Anna Pierson's wire and fiber components?

She does her business primarily in her facebook group as SagaHus Components

She makes all matter of lengths and color with her "cocoons" and mixed some with glass and pearl beads as well for charms and connectors.

I did a something a little different with the wire wrapped saffron cocoon I got from her and doubled them up and dangled my torch fired enamel "numi-sticks" against salmon skin leather shields here.

Here I have left them full length and I thought they became complete in this simple design with HappyFishThing's organic and bright ceramic charms

Anna is having an event in her facebook group today but don't worry if you miss this one as she posts  new collections often.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Kimberly Rogers

www.numinositybeads.etsy.com

Numinositybeads component group

Good Fortune - Vintage Meets Fiber

Nothin like a few new components that come into your possession to inspire a new design.

Oh, I have hoards of beads but these are some of my newest.

I was at the Alaska Bead & Gem Show as a vendor down in Anchorage at the beginning of the month. They had brought in a vendor all the way from Texas. Not an unfamiliar name as I had seen Sandy Schor's booth at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. They had a plethora of vintage beads. These little textured "fortune cookies' fairly  jumped out at me.

Actually I had hallmarked  them for another one of our designers that posts here and immediately posted off a picture to a certain amazing designer Claire Lockwood as  I could see her doing something amazing with them as well. I find it kind of funny now that when I'm bead shopping I  kind of end up spotting things for others!

I must say that feeding the wire thru the corner of the fortune cookie was a bit of a challenge but I persevered  and was delighted to see my wire emerge so I could continue with my idea.

           

Also Anna Pierson of SagaHus has been making some really cool fiber connectors and has been posting new ones weekly in her facebook group.

I have to admit that I made these at the last minute as I'm flying out to New England tomorrow and will be taking a polymer clay workshop with Christine Damm of storiestheytell.blogspot.com which I'm really looking forward to.

Enjoy your summer days and see you when I get back.

Kimberly Rogers ~ NuminosityBeads

www.numinositybeads.etsy.com

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