Half Cracked

I've never been one for smooth, shiny, flawless surfaces in my metalwork. There are plenty of artists out there who do it and do it beautifully. I prefer a little more texture, distress, and time-wear. Maybe it's because I'm an old soul with lifetimes behind me, who knows?

So I surprised myself last week when I was tinkering in the studio with some fold formed copper charms. Rarely one to plan out an exact design beforehand, I started out this pair by simply annealing matched squares of copper, folding them, hammering flat, annealing again, and unfolding---revealing beautiful rustic creases in the metal. Now normally I would next turn to my favorite texturing rock (plucked from our garden) and start banging away as if my life depended on it. For some reason, I stopped short halfway through this time. 

How about we just leave half shiny, smooth, and serene---as a stark contrast to the chaos of the textured side?

And this is how designs are born. 

I'm quite fond of making coin-like discs out of copper, so that's the final shape I decided to go with here. Reminiscent of an ancient coin plucked from the soil, perhaps. I filed a bit along the folds of each, sanded, sanded, sanded, oxidized, buffed, and sealed with wax. Simple, perfect for everyday wear, yet noteworthy enough to make you feel like a pagan goddess. 

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Layers Upon Layers

 
I've always been fascinated by the layers in things. Nothing is ever black and white, most things are gray...meaning there are nuances, multiple factors, different sides. Maybe that's why I have such a hard time making decisions sometimes! 


Lately I've been on a big layering/stacking kick with my earrings. Taking lots of little bits and stacking them together haphazardly yet melodiously and then using wire to accentuate. 


It's been fun to experiment with stacking things both vertically and flipping them on their sides horizontally. Quite the challenge to dig through +20 bead boxes to find that one PERFECT missing element. But then again, that's the fun of assemblage jewelry. 


One of my latest pairs features several elements that I've really been digging on: muddy ceramic discs from Marsha Neal and blackened pewter charms from Inviciti. Married together with my beloved Roman glass, rustic wood bicones, and some pyrite. I love the browns and robin's egg blues of this pair. Very soothing and natural. And they have such fun swing to em!


Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Stacked

It seems so simple - making a stack of something. We make piles and stacks of things all the time in our everyday lives - bills, shoes, sandwiches, dishes, folded clothes, the list goes on. Yawn. Boring.

Now talk about making jewelry stacks and you've got my attention. I've been loving stacked earrings lately, both vertical and front-facing. It's an exercise in graduated size, texture, color, and medium. I love to mix ceramics, glass, stone, textiles, shells...you name it.

 

Here's an sweet little pair I listed last week that plays with all of these different elements. Two reptilian ceramic discs from Petra at ScorchedEarthonEtsy serve as the base, and I've layered them with art nouveau steel PMC washers from Kiyoi Design as well as crusty little shards of violet Roman glass and flashy raw moonstone nuggets. 

I love how the garish chartreuse olive yellow-green of the ceramic base contrasts with the eggplant purple of the Roman glass and the ultraviolet flashes in the moonstones. Olive and violet - a weird color combo I've been stuck on lately. 


OK girls, now get stackin'!

Happy Wednesday :)

Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Ode to Raku

 

Raku. Who doesn't love raku? Who doesn't drool over its unpredictable rainbow sheen, charred edges, and matte textures? And how cool is it that of all the raku artists out there, each one has his/her own techniques and "recipes" that give their raku a singular, identifiable look? It's an inconsistent and uncontrollable process, yet these artists still manage to create their own consistent aesthetic.

I've been on a raku kick all this year and have hoarded pieces from several incredible artists, including Jennifer Pottner of Urban Raku, who happens to live right here in Cincinnati! She's big into making discs and donuts that are perfect for stacking and layering. Let me tell you how much trouble I got myself into when I stopped by to see her studio...dangerous.

When I first picked up these two mismatched pieces, I didn't know what I'd do with them, but knew that they needed to be made into earrings. After hours of toggling with designs and going back and forth, I realized that the incredible spectrum of colors didn't need any ornamentation - they were stunning when allowed to shine themselves. All they needed was some snug, crazy wire wrapping and extra long ear wires. 

Dark drama, that's what these babies are all about.



Happy Mid-Week :)
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

The Other 1%

We all have them squirreled away in our wardrobes and jewelry boxes, don't we? That hard-edged bracelet or scissored dress or tall boots that just make us feel take-on-the-world confident. I'm 99% a quiet, sensitive, artsy type, but every now and then I enjoy flaunting my 1% bad*ss.

These earrings have all the oil-slicked iridescent flashy black magic that you could ever want. Raku ceramic discs from Urban Raku, crusty little shards of gray ancient Roman glass, plus two insanely flashy electric blue nuggets of white moonstone. Stacked and wrapped. 

Bring it :)

Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Fuschia Disc

Mix Polymer Clay Discs, beautiful Lampwork Headpins and a little bit of Sari Silk, wrap them all up in copper wire and this is what you get. 

I'm finding myself using touches of Sari Silk in many of my new designs lately and I really love it. It just adds such a wonderful texture and dimension to all the other handmade bits and pieces.

I made the Polymer Clay Discs and the amazing headpins are by SueBeads.

These earrings are available HERE in my Etsy Shop.

Thanks for stopping by, I'd love to hear what you think of my new earrings!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

KristiBowmanDesign on Artfire

Cocoons

In case you all didn't know it yet, I've been playing with Polymer Clay recently.
These Cocoons are one of the first things I made and I think they turned out really cool!!

I paired them up with Glass Discs from Outwest, absolutely perfect color match!!

These are nice and long with lots of wonderful movement but light as a feather!

So unusual and that splash of Turquoise blue with the neutrals just sets off.

And those Outwest Discs...Perfection!!

I am bordering on obsessing about Cocoons now,

 in my search I have found so many amazing Cocoons that I had to start a Cacoon board on Pinterest

Cocoon Board

 I can hardly wait to try to duplicate.

These Earrings are available HERE in my Esty shop.

We always love to hear what you think so please leave a comment!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy