Controlled Chaos

So much of what we do as artists boils down to this: controlling the chaos. 

Come on now, you know what I mean, I know you can relate. You have all these ideas and inspiration bubbling around in your hot little skull and they just won't give you a moment's peace:

• You caught Blade Runner on TV the other weekend and its gritty cyberpunk cityscape has been haunting you. 
• You were cleaning out the garden last spring and came across a fragile translucent snake skin snagged in some brush. 
• While you were driving to your parents' house in the country you passed this dilapidated barn half-covered with peeling crackled paint, half-covered with moss.
• After you finished reading Suttree, you couldn't stop visualizing that ragpicker passage over and over again. 
• That head of romanesco cauliflower you roasted for dinner yesterday--remember the fractal peaks and whorls that seemed otherworldly?
• That dream you had the other night...wow. 

For those with artistic inclinations, it can sometimes be challenging to organize all these ideas into a coherent vision that translates into our medium of choice. I have days where I flit from one project to another like a hummingbird. It's thrilling to have ideas popping into your head rapid-fire, but it can also be exhausting. Learning to take a deep breath, focus, and hone in on one vision...well, it ain't easy. Sometimes we have to be willing to let some go in order to fully realize others.


This week's pair of earrings is a metaphor for that attempt to control--or better yet, to be at peace with--that chaos. Any metalsmith will tell you that reticulating silver is an exercise in...blind luck. I created each charm by carefully taking a piece of silver through the process of reticulation with repeated heating and quenching to obtain the crumpled topographic texture that you see. I quite literally had (almost) no control over what the melting metal was doing under the torch. Half the time when I reticulate silver I'm just hoping and praying that I get a piece that's interesting and usable. These two charms ended up being completely asymmetrical yet beautifully matched--a little miracle! 

 
I filed off the rough edges, oxidized to bring out the contrast in texture, sealed to protect the finish, and hung them from some of my long sterling silver ear wires. A much needed personal reminder that we must strive to both control and flow with the chaos. Too much of one and not the other, and we get lost down the wormhole.

Happy Wednesday,
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Asymmetry and I

As a designer who gravitates toward earrings, I'm always thinking in terms of pairs, especially when it comes to purchasing art beads. It's just one of those things that gets engrained in your brain and becomes second nature---like riding a bike, remembering to turn off the burner when you're done cooking, or making sure you put on deodorant each morning.

So when Kim of NuminosityBeads threw me for a loop and offered just ONE of these crazy glowy ultraviolet etched dichroic lampwork glass beads, well, I was vexed. Panting, starting to break out into a cold sweat, I assured myself that I could incorporate it into a necklace...make it a focal...pair it with other complementary beads. It will be fine, right? RIGHT??!!

Against my better judgement, I was determined to make it work in a pair of earrings. Which could only mean one thing: it was time to get asymmetrical. 

Asymmetry and I are good friends---sometimes we veer way off to the left and sometimes we operate in a more conventional range. What's more important to me in a piece is the balance, not so much the symmetry. 

So I pawed through my bead hoard and came to the last tray in the tower (yes, tower)---the box I reserve for my own polymer clay beads. I keep them at the bottom because I don't make many polymer beads. And the sets I do make tend to get mostly used, leaving one or two left over. Those one or two tend to languish and get forgotten.

This pearly cratered lavender polymer chunk was just the ticket. Its soft frostiness plays a beautifully complementary second-fiddle to the intense ultraviolet flash of Kim's glass. I opted to keep the design simple, pairing each bead with two grungy vintage bone "cruller" beads and capping everything off with some soldering. Sweet, dangly, squeal-er-ific. 

Hope you're having a delicious week!


Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Basic Black

What is the main color that fills your closet? Mine has a lot of black. I don't want to be that "emo" girl who always wears black but I am drawn to it. (no offense emo girls!) I love wearing black and it's easy to fit any other color with it, so it's a good go-to accessory & clothing color. 

These earrings are another take on my beach glass/stone earrings. The only two stones I found that were so beautifully smooth and really *black. All the other stones I collected on this day were some sort of gray. I really love the look and feel of these smooth stones. 

photo by Cindy Pack free for personal use

They pair well with the silver and add a nice contrast to the metal, even in it's rustic patina'd state. 

My original idea was to have the asymmetrical rings hanging side by side. But I was inspired by some of the many asymmetrical earrings I've seen here on the EE blog and I mixed it up a bit. I'm really pleased with how they came out. 

Available at Art & Soul Jewelry 

http://www.artandsouljewelry.com/

Found black stones, handmade fine silver rings, and black stone beads from Alexanders Bead Bazaar (Seattle, WA). 

What's your go-to color? 

Peace~

Cindy 

Collective

It's been a little while since I posted here, with one thing and another, but I'm back today with another asymmetrical pair of earrings.

I love these washed out blues. I've teamed a deep blue Scorched Earth drop with a ceramic feather that I made. Then I added a beautiful streaked czech glass rectangle and a sodalite hoop. I also mixed in some more czech glass and some teeny moonstone wheels. 

They're available here in my Etsy shop.

Bye for now, Claire 

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

www.somethingtodobeads.etsy.com

Tomorrow River Winding

I made a necklace and earring set for a very, very patient client name Jen who lives in the Tomorrow River area a short drive from me. When we met earlier this year, she described what she wanted by showing me a Pinterest board that she created (how clever is that?!). She started with pictures of my work, but that led her to other artists that she admired who were linked on my pages, specifically StaciLouise Smith. 

 For the earrings, I went with two polymer clay disk beads by Heather Powers that had similar colors but different patterns, and the same size. Then I found some different shaped but same sized links and wrapped them in Wooly Wire from Karen Totten. The client asked the earrings to be asymmetrical. I never have a problem with making asymmetry in necklaces but earrings were tough!This is really my first attempt at making earrings that don't match.  

What do you think? 

If you would like to see the necklace that goes along with these earrings, please hop on over to my blog

Treasures Found

Bohemian?

Bohemian See Glass Earrings with Copper


"To take the world as one finds it, the bad with the good, making the best of the present moment—to laugh at Fortune alike whether she be generous or unkind—to spend freely when one has money, and to hope gaily when one has none—to fleet the time carelessly, living for love and art—this is the temper and spirit of the modern Bohemian in his outward and visible aspect. It is a light and graceful philosophy, but it is the Gospel of the Moment, this exoteric phase of the Bohemian religion; and if, in some noble natures, it rises to a bold simplicity and naturalness, it may also lend its butterfly precepts to some very pretty vices and lovable faults, for in Bohemia one may find almost every sin save that of Hypocrisy. ..."

"His faults are more commonly those of self-indulgence, thoughtlessness, vanity and procrastination, and these usually go hand-in-hand with generosity, love and charity; for it is not enough to be one’s self in Bohemia, one must allow others to be themselves, as well. ...
What, then, is it that makes this mystical empire of Bohemia unique, and what is the charm of its mental fairyland? It is this: there are no roads in all Bohemia! One must choose and find one’s own path, be one’s own self, live one’s own life."

Gelette Burgess

Bohemian - are you a little, a lot,or not at all?





Copper clay arrowhead components by Kristi Bowman.

To see more of my Bohemian earrings, click here or here.

Rustic Indonesian Glass

The art of glass bead making in Indonesia dates back to at least 600 AD, with most of the oldest beads discovered near East Java. Indonesia is strategically located for trade, so the beads were used as currency. They were coveted for their protective powers, many people believed these beads could keep evil spirits from harming them.

These colorful glass beads add so much character to handmade jewelry and I like to use them often. This earring design uses rustic blue Indonesian glass beads in a triangular shape with hand forged oblique copper hoops, Greek bronze coated flake shaped ceramic beads and orange Czech glass.

Saturday Sweater by bohobeader featuring soaked in luxury

Quiksilver / Soaked in Luxury , $71 / H&M , $45 / Kenneth Cole Reaction platform boots / Bottega Veneta hobo handbag / Christian Lacroix cinch belt

To see more of my rustic earrings click here or here.

Daydreaming of the Tropics

My defense mechanism for dealing with post holiday slump, frigid weather and tax headaches is to daydream about a warm beach in the tropics. That perfect place in my memory where I am relaxed and rested, where there is someone to oblige my every whim. I can take all the time I need to dress up and do my hair, or just spend the entire day in a swim suit and feel the warm sand between my toes. Who wants to share my fantasy?

These earrings are designed to capture some of that care free tropical mood. Bright lime green colored leaf drops by White Clover combine with blue sea glass nuggets, turquoise and copper in an asymmetrical arrangement.

Una margarita por favor by bohobeader featuring beaded dresses

Matthew Williamson beaded dress / Jimmy Choo turquoise heels / ALDO / Melissa Odabash wide brim hat / Christian Lacroix round sunglasses, $210

To see more of my earrings click here or here. Follow me at Chrysalis for the Curious.