TOAD-ily SPRING!

It’s finally S*P*R*I*N*G – traditionally, the season for chirping birds, budding blossoms and new life! And hopefully, it’s time for at least a bit of a return to some of the things we’ve all missed over the past 12 months. I don’t have much of a green thumb so there aren’t many budding blossoms in my yard. And the branches on our tall oak trees begin far too high to hear birds chirping in them very often. However, one sign of spring that we do see in the yard pretty regularly are the 🐸frogs and toads🐸 that emerge and begin to spawn following hibernation.

Although I made these absolutely silly copper enamel frogs at the beginning of the year, I didn’t have a plan as what to do with them. But what better time to create a froggy design than the onset of Spring? Initially I was going to play up the sunflower🌻 idea and add bright yellow lampwork. But while I was looking for just the right beads, I stumbled on these chunky black and white striped tubes that complemented the stripes on the frog’s front legs perfectly.

I wanted to incorporate an Artisan component and thought the polka dots on the rear legs was the perfect inspiration. It didn’t take very long to decide on fun lampwork saucers by Ann Spirek-Wierbinski ….almost done. Just a few Czech glass spacers, and some crazy daisy spacers and wallah! Super crazy, one-of-a-kind sunflower frogs – TOAD-ily SPRING!

I would love to know your thoughts – too crazy? Too big?

These earrings will appear later today in my etsy shop, TwinklingOfAnEye

You can find other earrings on my fb page.

Thanks for spending a part of your day with me.🌻See you in a few weeks!

Silver Strike

⌾

Clean & Contemporary  

Touched By The Past

With A Color Pop 

And Striking Lines.

⭗

Ceramic bells in black, silver & peach by Candan Imrak.

Vintage metal tubes.

Blackened annealed steel wire.

Thank you for stopping by!

Loralee Kolton xo

https://www.etsy.com/shop/loraleekolton/

https://www.instagram.com/loraleekolton/

Girl and her wolves

Hi, I have 2 pairs to share with you today featuring enamels from Annet Riabukhina.  I kept them quite simple as the enamels are pretty awesome on their own.  I hope I've added enough without taking away from the focals.

In this pair I attached the enamels to antiqued brass connectors layering it with flowers and caps.  I hung brass sticks and chain on either side.  I completed the look by adding big hole glass beads and flowers above the connectors and pink niobium ear wire (to echo the subtle pink on the edges of the enamels)

Again keeping things simple here.  I layered the enamels with both raw and antiqued brass caps,  I usually paint the flower blanks that the enamels are attached to,  This time I kept them bare as they accent the gold from the enamels rather nicely

Another view 

These will be available in my next show in The Jewellery Show Facebook group.  Hope you can stop by on Monday. 

See you again soon.  

Suhana 

My Etsy shop: Suhana Hart Jewellery

We're All Ears :: Pump up the Contrast

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!

I am definitely the White Rabbit!

Late into the evening last night (because if it weren't for the last minute nothing would ever get done) I was creating my earrings for our monthly challenge: All About the Contrast.

I typically go through my stash and pull out all the beads in the color palette that I intend to use. This time Black + White. That was a significant challenge for me! Everywhere I look there is a sandbox of colorful beads beckoning me to dive on in. But I did manage to find some.

Eagle-eye Friend of the Blog, Miss Divya, pointed out a mistake on my challenge post that it is a misnomer to call Black + White a monochromatic color palette. Of course, she is right! I will admit that I have not formally studied color, but consider myself more of a Color-Embracer, so I appreciate learning the correct term. She let me know that Black + White is actually called achromatic. So I looked it up.

The term achromatic can be confused with monochromatic. Achromatic means only the neutral colors are used in decorating. These neutral colors are black, white, and gray. A monochromatic color scheme, however, means that designers use varying shades of one color. - Study.com

Thank you for the clarification!

 What I was really going for was a play on mixing patterns this month, but whatever direction you decided to go in is completely okay. The point of these challenges is always to have fun and make earrings!

I decided that I would stick with just Black + White and not mix any colors. But I did decide to add some touches of gold that I think really pop, as would any other metallic. Here is what I created:

I found these black glass petal beads in my stash from a video shoot that I did for Interweave back in 2015. Then I spotted a baggie on the floor with a defunct "grandma" necklace in it. There were these knobby plastic pearls in the bunch separated with the gold filigree bead caps. I know you can't really see it, but under the bead caps were these sort of rubbery black plastic daisy bead caps that allowed a little black to peek out. Topped it off with some great chunky faceted snowflake obsidian stones. I could picture these elegant earrings on a character like the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey (goodness, how I miss that show!).

I have no idea where I got these twisted glass wreath beads. Then I spotted these carved mother of pearl leaves. I added some little black beads that came from that defunct granny necklace (see above). I couldn't come up with a name for these since my mind was too full. Ha!

Long ago I had purchased some lightweight vintage plastic beads. I have no idea why I buy things, because I rarely have a need for them in the moment, and I am realizing that my studio is filled to overflowing with so many things like this! I really need to start using them up! That has been my plan this year. But it seems that when I find something like this and use it, that things just seem to multiply. I used to have quite a stash of Jennifer Heynen's Jangles beads over the years (if you need a dose of happy, just head on over there!). She has since stopped making beads to focus on making fabric, so what I have left are pretty special to me! She knew how to mix bold patterns fearlessly. I auditioned all manner of spacers to give an added oomph, and these vintage brass bursts did just the trick. I think that Jennifer would approve!

I really do adore mismatched earrings. But I never find myself making them. But these little stacks just sort of appeared in the jumble. All very similarly shaped elements, which makes this work. Bits of Jangles and JulsBeads.

Who doesn't love penguins? I bought these cute little critter beads from JettaBug Jewelry some time ago (see above re: buying-things-and-never-knowing-how-or-when-you-will-use-them). Now was the perfect time to bust them loose! They make me so happy! I decided that these sweet friends needed a little block of ice to feel at home. Friends forever doing their dance!

Okay. That's enough for me. Let's see what you made!

Turning Japanese

Art Beads:
Handmade Paper Beads Japanese Style - PassionForPaperBeads

Other Components:
Copper head pins
Copper heishi beads
Copper jump rings
Matte black seed beads
Handmade oxidized copper earrings hooks


All my best,
Malin de Koning
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Simple As Black And White

I'm usually the kind of person who sees so many sides of any issue that making a decision can become challenging.  But sometimes things really are as simple as black and white.  Okra or ice cream?  Handmade or mass produced?  Birthday party or a dentist appointment?  No shades of gray there.  These choices are as simple as black and white.

 I recently met with seed beader extraordinaire, Lindsay Starr, when she was visiting her in-laws here, in Washington state, (see her post about this here).  We met at Shipwreck Beads, which is close to my house.  While there, both Lindsay and I bought strands of of these really cool, wavy, black and white beads. Today, when I saw her blog post about our visit, I remembered those beads and decided to see what I could do with them.

I used some black Artistic Wire to connect the black and white beads to some lampwork flower shapes.  I topped them with some faceted onyx beads, then I wrapped the wire back down across the onyx and over the face of the black and white beads.

I like how the black wire wrap creates a diagonal line across the center of the earrings. And now that I've sat with these earrings a bit, I am thinking that I should oxidize those Sterling silver ear wires. I'll add that to tomorrow's To-Do list.

Shall I wear these earrings now?  The answer to that question is as simple as black and white.
The Simple As Black And White earrings are available on my website.

Linda Landig Jewelry

I Give You Nothing

Those who know me know that I don't get political with people. It's not my thing. It does not feed my soul. I believe what I believe, and that's enough for me. Likewise, I get nothing out of complaining. Especially aimless, complaining-for-the-sake-of-it complaining.

I try to live a purpose-driven life, and getting worked up over these sorts of things does not serve me. It's a trait that I had to develop and nurture quite a few years ago after hellish anxiety took me for a nosedive. I gently keep after it, as one softly blows on an ember to coax it into a steady fire. I remind myself that we have control over how we live our lives. It's a matter of accepting that control.  
So, I'm going to stay true to form and stop myself right here. I am only going to leave you with a quote that a beautifully kind, like-minded soul gifted me recently. It's from Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes". It dawned on me this morning that it applies pretty damn well to..........well, things of late: 

 

He gathered the boy somewhat closer and thought, evil has only the power that we give it. I give you nothing. I take back. Starve. Starve. Starve.

Today's earrings were named for these powerful words. They feature wee, smooth, matte nuggets of veined howlite. I fell in love with these beads at a local show recently--small, soft little pebbles that roll through your hands like tears. I appreciate that they aren't polished to a shiny gleam--I wish more stones were matte finished. I kept it simple, wire wrapping them in links of three and dotting them with blackened silver solder. 

Keep the fire burning and be strong, my friends.

Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy