Good King of Cats

Hello!  

I had received some wonderful polymer charms from a bead artist in Sweden by the name of Anneli Gustavsson.   It was love at first sight!  All the charms had whimsical medieval illustrations and mostly of little animals.  Loveeee I tell you!

I must have tried a half dozen different designs and then I thought to pair them with a cross or sword of some type.  I dug around in my stash of Inviciti charms and huzzah - the perfect rich gold pieces! I almost added some pearls but decided to leave them more primitive. I used handmade twisted ear-wires by Joan Moritz Langmo which add just the right touch.  When you decide on a more simple design it's important that each piece is amazing on its own. Honestly, I couldn't be more thrilled with the way they turned out.

Thank you for stopping by my beading table today!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Charming Green Elephants

This is the season of renewal, the season of Green!  Elephants are a symbol of strength, power, and wisdom.

Vintage celluloid elephant charms circa the 1940s. 

Gorgeous polymer, tribal-inspired flowers by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity.

Sweet little vintage buttons.

I hope you all have a good and safe week!  Keep the faith!

Loralee xo

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

Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again...

Presently, it's all about autumn and All Hallows' Eve on my worktable.  The dog days of summer, in my mind, have drifted away and all I feel is cool crisp air with a hint of mystery.

Striking pewter charms by Inviciti featuring printed images of original art by Nooma Cav.  These are rare pieces and so lucky to get one!

I had some edgy cool glass with metallic raised dots made by Dana M. Graham in my stash.  The petite size was perfect and had a cast of blue-grey which brought out the colors on the bottom of the charms, adding a lot of life to the pieces.

For the finish, I chose some lovely vintage coated glass pearls, the kind that was used by the Miriam Haskell Company, circa the 1940's.  They have an amazing patina in a grey metallic.

♡

Thank you for stopping by and seeing what's happening in my tiny studio!  I'll see you again the first Wednesday in September!  

(that's right, one chair for me and one for the kitty)

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ Artful in beads

You Little Rascal

Art Beads:

Ceramic drop charms - ScorchedEarth

Purple patinated hammered copper rings - MissFickleMedia

Other beads and components:

Dupioni Silk

Copper findings

Fabric glue

Handmade oxidized copper earrings hooks

All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

The Best Laid Plans

I had a vision. 

I was lying in bed--drifting, woozy, floating in that liminal netherworld where ideas come to us so fluidly. What I would do, see, is I would take a piece of copper and fold form it and beat it over some rocks, see, and then texture it and punch it and file strategic places and shape it just so and...

I awoke the next morning with vague recollections of my vision and headed straight to the studio to bring it to fruition. Fifteen minutes into the project when the copper buckled and snapped, I realized:

shit, this isn't going to work

See, sometimes our dreamy ideas seem perfectly logical and functional. And then we go to execute and we realize they could use a little more refinement. There is nothing wrong with this. Rome wasn't built in a day. There is beauty to be found in the process.

Today's pair of earrings features the salvaged results of this vision. I took the two snapped pieces of copper, trimmed them up, softened up the edges, oxidized, sanded, and turned them into simple lightweight earring tabs. And you know what? For being "failures", I'm really quite fond of them. Funny how that works. When life gives you lemons...well, you know.

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Sailing Under The Stars

My husband and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary, last weekend, with a visit to Port Townsend, WA.  Port Townsend has been one of our favorite getaways for about 30 years now.  We love the ocean, the Victorian seaport homes, the many art galleries and the delicious restaurants.

And if all that weren't enough, PT (as the locals call it), is also home to Wynwoods Gallery and Bead Studio, one of my favorite bead shops!  The shop owner, Lois Venarchick, designs and casts her own line of metal charms.  I added these delights to my stash last weekend.

Today's earrings feature the Lois' bronze sailboat charms, which I paired with gorgeous matte lampwork beads by Out West.

I knew immediately that the charms and the beads belonged together.  Together they seem to tell a little story.  The bronze sailboats are sailing under a golden star and the blue, turquoise and black beads above the star represent the night sky. Everything feels peaceful and tranquil. It is all smooth sailing.

Lois Venarchick

Lois Venarchick

The Sailing Under The Stars earrings are available in my shop.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Lois Venarchick