Calavera Earrings

Three years ago, I was lucky enough to be in Oaxaca, Mexico for the Day Of The Dead celebrations.  It was magical. Words fail me when I try to convey the beauty, solemnity, humor and faith that filled the city that week.
People create altars all over the city and in their shops and homes.  The altars are decorated with flowers, usually marigolds, special breads made for the Day Of The Dead and brightly decorated sugar skulls or clay skulls, called calavera.

Skulls represent those who have passed away and sometimes have the name of the departed written on the forehead.

I made two pairs of skull earrings to share with you today.  I bought these fun skull beads at Bead Fest in October last year.  But I was so exhausted after vending at Bead Fest that I never made anything with them in time for Day Of The Dead. I didn't want to neglect them another year! This is the first pair I made.

The bright colors are typical of most Mexican celebrations and the flowers above the skulls represent the flowers on the altars that welcome the departed spirits back home.

I made the second pair of skull earrings using gunmetal finish wires and slinky chain tassels.

Follow the link below, if you would like to learn more about Mexico's Day Of The Dead celebrations. https://www.tripsavvy.com/day-of-the-dead-vocabulary-1588706  
Both pairs of earrings are available in my shop now.

Linda Landig Jewelry 

The Bead Fest Weekend Storm That Never Was

A possibly historic storm was expected to hit Washington State last weekend. It was predicted to be second only to the 1962 Columbus Day storm.  I was 9 years old in 1962 (do the math) and I still remember the tremendous winds (wind gusts to 160 mph!). There was widespread loss of electricity, lots of structural damage and the roads were carpeted with branches and trees. 46 people in CA, OR and WA lost their lives.

1962

No cell phones in 1962!

This was not a good forecast for the Fall Bead Fest weekend!  I was not surprised that many people chose caution and stayed home, (not surprised, but still disappointed). The biggest storm impact was supposed to hit on Saturday afternoon.  Anticipating periods of low shopper traffic, I brought jewelry making supplies with me, on Saturday.

Although the "storm" turned out to be no worse than gusty rain, I did have some time to create new earrings.  Kristi Bowman and I had tables next to each other, so I thought I'd start with a pair of Kristi's marvelous colored copper components.

I topped the copper with some dyed turquoise mother of pearl flowers.  At the last moment I decided to thread in some faceted AB coated hematite. It was the perfect finishing touch.

I was pleased with how these turned out and despite the non-storm turn-out, I had a lot of fun at Bead Fest.  What could be better than being surrounded by beautiful beads for 3 days (& buying bunches of them), hanging out with beady friends, meeting folks that I had only known online and even meeting fellow Earrings Everyday blogger Cindy Pack for the first time!  Cindy is a Washingtonian too.  We've talked about meeting before, but have just never pulled it off before this.  It was so great to spend time with her in person!  So I'll leave you with this picture of Kristi, Cindy & I.

Left to right:  Kristi Bowman, Linda Landig, Cindy Pack

Linda Landig Jewelry

Marvelous Mookaite Earrings

I assisted Earrings Everyday team member, Kristi Bowman Gruel, at a show last weekend.  She spent two nights at my house, as we live about halfway between her house and the bay side town where the show took place. We always have such a good time together.  I love spending time with my beady friends!

A mutual friend and lampwork artist, Sheila Davis, was also at the show.  Kristi cracked me up; entering Sheila's booth, with hands around her eyes, like blinkers.  "I'm not looking", she declared, "I'm just here to say hello".  I totally get this, because to enter Sheila's booth, is to want to buy every bead and pendant she has made.  This is a seriously skilled lampworker!  I wasn't nearly as self controlled as Kristi was.  I walked in wide eyed and walked out with 2 pairs of marvelous lampwork head pins.

 I was attracted to these head pins because the color combination was so unusual.  Once I got them home, I realized that they would go perfectly with Mookaite jasper. Mookaite jasper is found only in Australia.  It has a wide range of colors, most often it is dark red and ochre yellow, but it can also shade toward mauve, white, tan and even purple.

 I placed dark red recycled African glass above the head pins, then gold colored Mookaite nested in copper bead caps. I topped the earrings with small, dark red Mookaite beads.  Then I made a double loop of the head pin wire and wrapped it down, around the red Mookaite.  I wrapped more wire between the glass beads and the bead caps.

I love how these turned out!  Its a good thing I got 2 pair of these head pins, because I may need to keep one pair for myself!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Sunny Day Celebration

Its a totally gorgeous spring day as I write this. The high today is predicted to be 79 F and it is a very pleasant 77 F right now.  We've eaten dinner "al fresco" the past two evenings and will do so again tonight. Our rhododendrons are blooming and we have sweet smelling bouquets of lilacs in the house.  Perfect in every way!

This bright, happy weather is infusing my jewelry designs, as well.  I bought some gorgeous lampwork headpins from Sue Beads last week and couldn't wait to use them!

I accented the yellow dots and orange stripes by pairing the headpins with yellow and orange ceramic beads.  These beads were made by a local ceramicist who (unfortunately) no longer makes beads.  We both used to have work at Gallery One in Ellensburg, WA.  I bought up several handfuls of her beads and have been hoarding them for about 15 years!  The slip trailing (raised designs) on these beads is so detailed and exquisite. You can see why I've treasured them!

However, the time has come to use these beads and Sue's beautiful glass headpins were calling out! The minute I slipped the orange and yellow ceramic bead on Sue's headpins, I could see that it was a match made in heaven.

I kept the earring design simple, because I felt that there was enough going on with intense colors and the patterns.  A couple of brass bead caps was all they needed for a finishing touch.

My new headpins and the sunny day were all I needed for inspiration.  Wishing you sunny days, too.
The Sunny Day Earrings are available in my shop, which, by the way, is undergoing a face lift.  Hope you like the new look.

Linda Landig

Copper Spiral Earrings

I love spirals.  They are found throughout nature, art, mathematics, space and more.  Its fun to keep your eyes out for spirals as you walk through a city or in nature.

From an apartment door in Seattle.

By Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17114028

Spiral Galaxy

So naturally I fell in love with these copper spiral charms by Kristi Bowman Designs.

The charms look so pretty with these faceted prehenite beads, but their oblong shape looked awkward with the shape of the copper.  So I tried several versions of what you see above.  First I discovered that 6 prehenite beads made the circle too large. I tried using 4 beads on Fireline, but the Fireline wouldn't hold a round shaped.  So I tried 4 beads on thin wire and found they were hard to shape nicely. They made sharp angles with gaps between the beads that left the wire exposed.    When I added some matte crystal seed beads between the prehenite, I was able to bend the wire smoothly, without gaps between the beads.   Sometimes it is surprising how much fiddling around it takes to get things just right.

I'm pleased with these now, and I'll probably try this same approach with some other earring charms and a different gemstone.

If you'd like to add these earrings to your spring and summer wardrobe, you can find them here.
And now I'll leave you with one of my favorite nature spirals: A sunflower.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Avoiding A Girly Look With Rose Quartz Pink

According to the color experts at Pantone, the two big colors for Spring and Summer of 2016 are Rose Quartz Pink and Serenity Blue.  For all the world, those two look like traditional nursery room colors to me.  Gah!  I really dislike the stereotyping that starts right at birth or even earlier, when the gender is known.  Women of my age (uh-hum) worked really hard to break down the narrow definitions of what women (and men) can or should do.  I used to know a very nice bead shop owner, who always referred to her staff as "My girls".  I had the same knee jerk reaction to that as to the baby colors.  OK, I know that lots of people will disagree with me and I also know that many people  don't feel as strongly as I do about calling women, girls or using baby pink.  I'm just speaking for me and I wanted to give you the back-story for today's earrings.

I decided to challenge myself to create something in Rose Quartz Pink that I would be comfortable wearing!

 Copper has a pink tinge to it, so I started with that.  These copper charms were made by Melinda Orr of ORRTEC.  I topped Melinda's copper with some speckled pink Czech glass from my stash.  The speckled effect helps tone a color down a bit.

Then I added some twisted wire jump rings and topped them off with matte purple lampwork glass beads from Paradise Beads.  I added a couple of loops of antiqued brass wire work to up the rustic look.  And for a final touch I added some hand dyed lace trim.  The dye is purposely spotty with patches of creamy white and hints of orange, mixed in with the pink.  It is not old lace, but it appears vintage.

So do you think I pulled this off?  Pink with out the cutesy, baby stuff?  What colors do you dislike?  Have you ever challenged yourself to use them despite your feelings?

These earrings are available here:  Pink Lace Earrings

 

Linda Landig

Citrus Swirl Earrings

While citrus fruit does not grow here, in Washington state, our recent gorgeous weather would have you thinking otherwise.  As I was making today's earrings, the colors in Kristi's Bowman's copper components were giving me citrusy (I just invented a new word) thoughts.

Wouldn't these just be super cute with shorts or a sun dress (along with a drink that has a little umbrella in it!)?

I paired Kristi's copper dangles with some green glass discs and some orange and white stones, which I think are fire agates (if you know otherwise, please tell me in the comments).

 The Citrus Swirl Earrings are available at Linda Landig Jewelry.
I know this is kind of a short post, but I need to go attend to my citrus mixed drink with the cute lime green umbrella.  Till next time...

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Peacock Feather Earrings

There's a peacock that lives a short distance from us.  Sometimes I see him at the side of the road, strutting his stuff.  I don't know if he belongs to someone and sometimes gets out of the yard, or if he was someone's pet that got away and lives in the woods now.  In either case, these earrings are dedicated to Mr. Roadside Peacock!

The beautiful copper peacock feathers were made by Earrings Everyday member, Kristi Bowman.  I topped the feathers with gorgeous lampwork glass beads and little ceramic cubes.  The finishing touch is a bit of teal silk, knotted between the lampwork and the peacock feathers.

I purposely paired the copper with shades of blue, green and teal, the stunning colors of peacock feathers.  You can find the Peacock Feather Earrings in my shop.

Green peacock from South east Asia

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Coral Spike Earrings

A friend and I recently went to a gem and bead show.  I didn't really need any new beads, but I was looking forward to spending the day with my friend.  I did try to exercise some restraint, but of course I did not leave empty handed.

So for today's earrings, I wanted to use some of my newly purchased treasures.  The wooden beads were inexpensive and had nice grooves all around.  I think the beads below the wood beads are made of bone, but I'm not sure.  The minute I saw them I knew they'd be an ideal shape and size for earrings.

The fabulous textured spikes were made by Marsha Neal. The coral colored spikes really make the dots on the bone beads pop. 

I'd love to pair these earrings with this pretty outfit.  The colors would be perfect together!  The Ceramic Spike Earrings can be found in my shop, here:  https://www.LindaLandig.com

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry