Hedgehog Delight

My husband is from Germany and many of the German picture books that his family gave our children, when they were little, featured adorable hedgehogs. Here in the United States we don't have wild hedgehogs, although some people keep them as pets.  One summer, many years ago, we took a vacation with my husband's family, at a resort in Ronshausen. And that's where I first saw these cute little critters. I've been a fan ever since!

I've had these cute little polymer clay hedgehogs for such a long time that I no longer remember who the artist was that made them. Aren't they cute?

The ribbed, gold tone tubes were salvaged from a vintage necklace and I topped them with some luscious, faceted garnets. These cuties are now available on my website.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Cork Fabric And Ceramic

I've been curious about cork fabric ever since Lisa Peters Russ started carrying it on her website and since Heather Powers did a tutorial with it last week. Specifically, I wanted to see how it would look with my ceramic jewelry components.

So what is cork fabric? Cork fabric, often referred to as an ethical alternative to leather, is made with a thin layer of cork that is permanently bonded to fabric. No trees are cut down or harmed, so it is a sustainable product. It is strong, durable and flexible. You can even sew purses out of it! It is easier to cut than leather and it comes in many colors and designs. There are tons of beautiful patterns, but I wanted to start with solid color sheets as a background layer for my ceramic pieces.

I thought these rounded teardrop shapes would pair well with my yellow and blue ceramic earring charms and some silver spacer accents. What do you think? I have lots of ideas percolating in my head now, for more cork fabric jewelry. It's a welcome emotional boost to have something new to create with while we all shelter in place. I think I'm onto something fun!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Statement Headpins

Some of my favorite pet projects are working on these asymmetrical headpin designs.  It gets my juices flowing - it's all freeform and sort of like a  game of word association (sort of..lol) well, you know what I mean, right?  

These stunning vibrant lampwork headpins are by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads.  

This color combination is by far one of my favorites!

I decided to let the beads move freely on this particular design.  I made large loops at the top leaving space on the wire for movement.

I softened some of the bold colors by adding lovely vintage Miriam Haskell pink glass pearls and balanced the look by adding some spacers with bling.

Here is another example but in earth tones.

I think I'll call these "Twist and Shout"  lol

These organic, etched headpins are also by Kimberly Rogers.  I used recycled African glass with beautiful daisies, one big lustrous Miriam Haskell glass pearl, heavily oxidized spacers, and tiny AB crystals. 

Thank you for stopping by my worktable today!  See you back here in a couple of weeks!

Loralee xo

https://www.facebook.com/loraleekolton.jewelry/

Sweet Bun-Buns

Joan Miller of Joan Miller Porcelain is the amazing talent behind these sweet little bunnies.  For me, the biggest design challenge working with Joan's pieces is enhancing without overpowering; adding just enough to the ongoing story. 

Atop are bunches of tiny hand-painted flowers. I love the contrast of the matte mottled metal against the glossy clean lines of the porcelain charms.  The copper accents are warm and mingle nicely with the color palette. The heavily oxidized ear-wires give balance to the dark outlined characters.

Below are hand-painted pewter bunny silhouette charms by Kelly Luttrell of Soul Relica.  I love the softened squared off clover shape, it's just perfect for a tiny rabbit portrait.

I've hoarded these matte floral cubes for years, again by Joan. They look great not only colorwise but in proportion and shape as well. 

My adorable plate was made by The Storybook Rabbit. If you've never checked her out you should!  

I've provided links to all :) 

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Thank you so much for stopping my worktable today!!  Hoppy April, Y'all!

Loralee xo

https://www.facebook.com/loraleekolton.jewelry/

Turquoise Trio

A Facebook friend asked me to make some turquoise earrings for her niece. She said they should be under 1.5 inches long and be made with Sterling silver. Other than those two guidelines, she said I should make whatever I wanted to. Since I'd never met either her or her niece, it was impossible to know what style of earring the young woman would want. So I ended up making three pairs and letting my Facebook friend choose the pair that she thought would be best suited for her niece. Here's what I came up with.

This is the pair of earrings which were chosen. The disc shaped beads are Peruvian opals. Such a lovely milky turquoise! I placed Bali silver spacers beneath the opals and between the opals and the lampwork beads by Paradise Beads. I then topped the earrings with sterling silver beads. Unfortunately this is the only photo I took, before sending the earrings to their new home.

The other two pairs of earrings are in my shop now. I like all three pairs of earrings, but I think this pair is my favorite. They feature lovely hammered Sterling silver hoops with dangles of turquoise "cathedral" beads that are coated in silver on the tops and bottoms. I placed small embossed Thai Hills Tribe beads beneath the cathedral beads.

The last pair of earrings features the most wonderful, shimmery turquoise beads by Sue Beads. I can't stop admiring these lampwork beads. A photograph really can't do them justice. I used the same Sterling beads at the bottom of these earrings, as I used on top of the first pair. Then I topped them with some beautiful Sterling bead caps and more of the embossed Thai Hill Tribes beads.

So there you have it - a Turquoise Trio.  Which pair would you choose?

Linda Landig Jewelry

Lava, Raku and Hawaii

My husband and I just got back from the island of Hawaii. We spent the week there with our daughter, son in law and their adorable 6 month old daughter, who I'm completely smitten with! We were in the Kona area of Hawaii. If you've ever been to Kona, then you know that many (but not all) of the beaches and hills in the area are covered with lava.

The lava fascinated me. In some areas it was all broken up, sharp and rocky, as in the photo above. But in other places it was smoother and you could see how it had flowed and piled up. It reminded me of pouring just cooked caramel or pudding out of spoon and watching it mound and puddle up.

The raku beads in today's earrings remind me of those mounds of cooled lava.  Very organic and mounded up a bit. Perhaps I've got Hawaii on the mind and so I'm seeing Hawaii in totally unrelated things.  I've always had an active imagination! 😉

The lava, erm, raku beads were made by Xaz beads. The tops and bottoms of the beads have a definite metallic purple sheen to them. I emphasized that purple sheen by topping the raku beads with amethysts. The leaf shaped head pins and fancy, wire wrapped ear wires are from Handmade by JGL.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Sunshine, Showers and The Tempest

 

It's been an odd sort of week, weatherwise. At the beginning of last week we were out on our bikes in warm sunshine; by weekend, it was back to rain, sleet and hailstones. Tonight we have a mini storm, and there will be some fences down by morning - hopefully, not ours as we had to replace them all at a similar time a couple of years ago. So this weeks earrings represent the weather - sunshine yellow, rainy blue and stormy soldered silver.    

 

 

 

The beads are, of course, Basha Beads; nothing quite like them for magical depth of colour, with gold, blue, and aqua all vying for attention. The headpins are Lucy Haslam's 'punkies'; copper, soldered with bits of recycled silver - here I bent them sideways, to form an interesting shape, and from them dangle vintage oxidised silver chain and swarowski crystals.

 

So there you have it - this weeks weather, condensed into a pair of earrings! In my Etsy shop now.

 See you in a couple of weeks, by which time, we will have hit Spring. Hope all is well in your world!

                                                                          Lindsay x

                                                                     My Etsy shop

                                                                My Facebook page

Snow Flurries

The weather here at the very end of Puget Sound has been completely free of snow - at least so far. However the mountains have been getting some nice snow - skiers rejoice! And its white in the eastern part of the state, where I lived for nearly 30 years. So even though I've been spared the white stuff this year, I was still inspired to design some snowy earrings.

I started with the pretty snowflake charms.  The large, ribbed lampwork glass beads were a perfect choice to go with the charms. The white glass that swirls throughout the blue beads reminded me of the way snow flurries blow and drift all around. The Snow Flurry Earrings are available on my website.

Winter is not my favorite time of year, but I did enjoy designing these earrings. Do you have snow where you live or are you in warmer climes?

Linda Landig Jewelry

Anticipation

Carly Simon's song, Anticipation, keeps running through my mind these days because our daughter and her husband are expecting a baby daughter any day now. This grandma is very excited. Every time the phone rings, I'm anticipating it will be them, announcing the start of labor. ( Nothing has happened so far.)

Simon's song was in my head when I made these earrings too. Each season brings with it the anticipation of the changes ahead.  Some of my Facebook friends are already posting photos of snow.  Here, in the Pacific Northwest, we still have colorful leaves clinging to some trees, while others are already bare.  Its a time of transition, of anticipation of cozy nights ahead, spent near a fire, reading a good book.

The gorgeous lampwork leaves, the green beads and enameled bead caps are all made by Sue Kennedy of Sue Beads.  The fancy wrapped ear wires were made by Joan Moritz-Langmo of  Handmade by JGL.   The Anticipation Earrings are available in my shop now.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Happy Ending For The Bride & Groom!

While preparing for their wedding day, this June bride and groom experienced a near tragedy!  *Gasp!

Either the agate bead had a hidden flaw, or pressure from the steel wire wrapping was too tight for the etched Dzi bead and it crumbled right in my hand.

I thought of a couple of options, but as you know, you don't get a second chance wrapping lampwork headpins.  Once you've made the commitment (like our happy couple, here) there's no turning back!

Even before the mishap, I had wanted to bring more warm gold tones into the design.  So, I decided to do a fabric wrapped bead in a mellow gold tone wire on a dark background.  I had also thought of stacking ornate open jump-rings but there would be too much gold on one side; this had better balance.

I think the Mr. is looking even more dapper now.  I love this design far better than the original!  Now they compliment one another and each has their own individual style - like every couple should. 

~

Umm, it's honeymoon time...we should be leaving now I'm thinkin'.

♡

I hope if you experience a mishap while working, you'll think of it as a challenge!  You may discover a new technique or come out with an even better design!  I believe many refer to it as a "happy accident".

The amazing skulls were made by Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade.

The lampwork headpins are the creations of Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads.

Many thanks for stopping by today, it's always a joy to be here and show you what's happening on my work table!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads

Surprisingly, Pink

When you think of rustic-industrial, pink probably doesn't jump to mind ~ but, isn't it a nice little surprise?!

THE coolest lampwork glass with nailheads by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads; one-of-a-kind, handmade, patina finished, pewter charms by Inviciti; vintage glass pearls.

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Stacked, mismatched headpins!

 I had one lovely, drool-worthy, orphan headpin, by Kimberly Rogers.   So, I thought I'd make a stacked mate using a small headpin by Pipandmolly, then layer a rhinestone spacer, a shimmery matte teardrop lampwork bead by Kay Mallery and a rough cut piece of pyrite.  I topped both off with yummy vintage AB faceted crystals for a little symmetry .

Many thanks for stopping by today!

Loralee xo

LoraleeKolton ~ artful in beads

Caribbean Sunset

My husband and I will be celebrating our 45th anniversary this coming July and we've been discussing some ways we might celebrate.  Our favorite idea, at the moment, is a return trip to a very remote beach in Costa Rica, that we have visited twice before.  

This is our secret piece of tropical paradise!  We stay in a rustic, thatched roof cabin, swim, read in the hammocks and eat fresh fish and tropical fruits while listening to Caribbean music in an outdoor bar. Pura Vida!

So I was thinking about this getaway when I was designing these Caribbean Sunset Earrings.

The colors make me think of evenings in an open-air, beach-side bar.  Picture it:  The sun is going down and setting the sky ablaze!  Its warm, with a light breeze.  You've got a fruity adult beverage in your hand and these happy earrings dangle from your ears.  The colors reflect all the intense hues of the tropics: turquoise, blue, purple and orange. Lovely!

The small, orange lampwork glass beads are by Paradise Beads and the larger, multicolor lampwork beads are by Out West Designs. The earrings are available in my shop.

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Linda Landig Jewelry