Tin Moon Madness

Hello, my Beady Friends!

Happy September!  My workshop is in full Halloween mode now!

    I happened to find this Chocolate tin from at least 20 years ago in one of my nightstand drawers.  It was given to me long before I started making jewelry, so until a few days ago, it was just a cute tin box.  But now, I'm looking at through new eyes!

 

I put my disc cutter to work and began to punch out as many discs as possible, not wasting one bit of this adorable tin.  For this design, I'll just be using the large stripe discs and will save the spooky eyes for another day.

The lovely enameled bats are by Israeli bead artist, Pearly Karpel. 

Thanks for stopping by to see what's happing on my worktable today!  I'm excited about Autumn and looking forward to digging deep into all kinds of Halloween designs for the next couple of months!

 Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Unfinished Projects

I made one of these earrings a few weeks back, loved how it turned out.  We all know how time consuming it is to make an item where you design it as you go along. I think I spent several hours creating the first earring. I made the second earring, it was almost finished.  I was rather chuffed with myself until I realised I'd used black thread instead of grey.  I couldn't face re-making the component in that sitting. So off it went in my 'box' of unfinished items.  I think we all have quit a few of these 'boxes' lying around in our studio.

I always make my blog post earrings last minute.  So I looked through my 'unfinished projects boxes' and came across these. I was ready to finish them.  I hope you like the finished pair.

Beautiful enamels by Annet Riabukhina hang from my beadwoven squares.

That's all for today.   See you soon.

Suhana <3

My group: Suhana Hart Jewellery

Treasures, Old and New

Recently when I was cleaning in my office, I was putting things back on shelves, taking things off shelves that didn't belong there, and straightening things on the shelves.  At some point, I stopped tidying and started looking through the drawers and boxes of artisan-made ceramic beads I've collected over the years.

There were so many beautiful pieces, from delicate porcelain charms to large carved and vividly colored tribal style beads.  I really did have all the best intentions of finishing up the cleaning I'd started, but I found myself picking up beads I hadn't seen in a while, turning them over in my hands, reacquainting myself with them.

When I got to my stash of beads by Karen Totten (one of my favorite artisans), I saw a pair of beautiful green spiral connector beads I'd had for quite a few years.  I turned them over and looked closely at them and wondered what if I paired them with rustic, whimsical ceramic faces I'd bought from artisan Judie Mountain in Tucson this past winter? 💗 

From that point, it was on.  Once I'd finally determined what all the components were going to be (Karen Totten's green spiral ceramic beads, Judie Mountain's ceramic faces, an oval copper connector, a scalloped ceramic ring also by Karen) all that was left was putting them together.  I really had fun making these rustic and whimsical and asymmetrical pretties.

Thanks so much for reading!  I won't be here for my next scheduled time (October 24) because my husband and I will be in Hawaii to celebrate our son's wedding. 💗 But I'll be back.

I hope you and yours are all well.  Have a Happy Hallowe'en!

xo
Meridy
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Chain, Chain, Chain...

My newest earrings started with these tiny (under 2 cm long) rustic black clay hearts with their pretty metallic bronze glaze... 

Made by Sarah Kandell-Gritzmaker of Slate Studios Supply, these little hearts are one-of-a-kind pieces that beautifully carry off both rustic and delicate.  I wanted that balance to be the focus of what I brought to the rest of the elements of the earrings I would create with the them. 

Since the ceramic hearts are so small, everything else needed to be equally petite, including these little bits of sparkle, 7 x 5 mm Czech glass rondelles, opal with mercury style and AB finish...

Maybe the most interesting thing, though, are the bits of chain that became crucial parts of the earrings.  I cut two "crescents" from a strand of antiqued copper crescent moon chain (below) from Beadshop.com.  (They also carry this chain in bright silver tone, antiqued silver, antiqued brass, and gold.) 

In the finished earrings, the copper crescents from the chain remind me of armor, a contrast to the pearly Czech rondelles and the delicate open-wire petals of the copper bead caps.  

When I finished the earrings, I wrapped some 15/0 silver-lined pearl seed beads to each copper ear wire to continue the quiet sparkle.   

These little earrings (less than 2 inches long) remind me of the famous quotation from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" about the petite yet very strong-minded Hermia:  "Though she be but little, she is fierce." 💗

 

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back again on June 13.

xo
Meridy

My Shop

Kinetic Loops

Hi, everyone!  Before I show you my new earrings, bear with me for a moment.  Life has been kind of chaotic at Casa Meridy lately.  My daughter Rhia, her husband Ken, and their two children, Kaity (10) and KJ (almost 4), are moving out this week after living with Rog and me for almost five years!

As you can imagine, our house is full of boxes and piles of things to give away and pack...and our hearts are full of memories and love and mixed feelings.  The move has been a long time coming--and much needed--but even so, we've had such a wonderful time living together that it's a little bittersweet too...maybe even more than a little, to be honest.  😔

I haven't made a lot of jewelry lately, but my latest pair of earrings are a lot of fun:  Kinetic Loops!  As you can see, they're chainmaille (of the very easy sort), made of bright and shiny aluminum rings.  The aluminum is extremely lightweight, which makes the earrings easy on your ears.  They're 2-1/2 inches long and  move around like little kinetic sculptures in your ears as you move.

Here they are hanging:

Below they're laying flat--quite a difference from the movement you can see in the photo above.

The largest rings in these playful earrings are 3/4", made of 14 gauge bright aluminum wire; the smallest are 1/8" and 18 gauge.  These could be made with just about any metal, but I'd think they would get pretty heavy!

They're wonderfully versatile, since they go with anything, a dressed-up look or your most casual jeans. 

Thanks for reading, as always!

Our kids and grandkids are starting their move today as I write this.  They're only moving a couple of miles away, so we'll still see them a lot (and I'm a primary chauffeur for school pickups and after-school mom stand-in).  But I still need to make sure I have enough Kleenex for these next few weeks.  💗

I'll be back in two weeks with something new--it's my birthday week! 

xoxo
Meridy

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Glorious Geometrics

Hi, everyone!  The first thing I'd like to say about these earrings is that I really loved making them...even if they were time-consuming.  😉

As a chainmailler, obviously I like working with metal, but as a woman who for years transcribed the (sometimes unintelligible) dictation of doctors, I now find myself with arthritic thumbs that aren't up to heavy-duty metal work anymore.  These days, the idea of making chainmaille in stainless steel--famously hard to work with--is a little scary at best.

But I really enjoy working with wire that's easily manipulable, and with chainmaille rings in softer metals.  So every now and then, rather than pair beads with beautiful components like these (made by Marlene Kazor Quigley of MarKazo Art), I create something out of wire instead.

 

In this case, I made circles out of several wraps of copper wire, antiqued and tumbled them, and wired onto them tiny beads in colors that bring out the vivid hues of Marlene's enameled copper triangles.  I even wrapped some little beads to the ear wires.

I always did like geometry.  💗

Thanks so much for reading!
xoxo
Meridy

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In the Dreamtime

Some designs just seem to turn out dreamy and abstract, and in the case of these earrings, pastel as well.   

A while back I fell in love with these lovely pink coin beads, below (found at Arte Bella Surplus on Etsy), and I wanted to try making earrings with them using my thread-wrapping construction.   

I had a pretty strong feeling it probably wouldn't work, because wrapping beads and components together with thread/cord requires torque upon the components...and there was a natural frailty built in to the stacking of the coin bead, the small Caribbean-green Czech glass rondelle, and the rose-colored glass disc.  What would be stable wired might not be when pulled tight on cord.  

As it turned out, I ended up needing to wire wrap the earrings to give the beads the stability they needed to stay in place.  But in the end I still had fun with some fiber by wrapping pale lavender Irish waxed linen thread around the tops of the beautiful polymer clay components by Jeni Houser Alasad of Auntie Moons.  💗 

As I write this, it's raining gently outside my window, after a day of heavy rains; it's been a busy day, and I'm ready to rest.  When you read this it will be Valentine's Day, and I wish you all love and best wishes!  I'll be back in two weeks with something new.  💕

xoxo
Meridy

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Gratitude and Joy

In the U.S., today is a day officially set aside for giving thanks.  Thanksgiving Day was designated a federal holiday in 1863, during the American Civil War, to be celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in November.

Well, as it happens, the fourth Thursday of the month is one of my regular blog days here at EE.  So I thought I'd share a few thoughts about thankfulness and gratitude...and maybe show off a new pair of earrings too. 😊



Long ago I was taught the benefits of an "attitude of gratitude," being grateful for the good things in your life, no matter how small, instead of focusing on the negative.  Being actively grateful takes some effort and retraining of the mind. Meditation is, of course, an excellent mind-trainer (and mind-quietener), but I learned that even just making lists of things I'm thankful for is a good (and easy) way to start.

So on this day I'm thankful for all of you EE readers and writers and for creators and appreciators of beauty in all its different forms. And I'm sharing these joyful, whimsical earrings on this day because I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to make them. 

Recipe for the Earrings

Colorful dotted charms by Nicola Morse

Dotted golden hollow glass rounds by Beth Mellor  

Orchid lampwork glass discs by Beth Mellor

4-mm faceted purple garnet coins

Gold-filled bead caps, Swarovski crystal rondelles

Gold-filled ear wires

💗 Thank you, Nicola and Beth! 💗

Thank you for reading...and Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo
Meridy

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The Firebird

More than a year ago, I fell in love with these heart-meltingly beautiful resin wings by the wonderful Joanne Louvaine Bell of Twinkiedinky:    

They're perfectly made, with gold veins and just the right amount of sparkly gold dusting, fading into a beautiful padparadscha pink-red-orange color to die for.  I held on to these beauties for a long time, working on other projects, but I kept thinking about them...and I finally asked one of my favorite bead artists, Beth Mellor, to make some beads to go with them.  And did she ever! 

Beth's two-color hollow beads are perfect, with their swirls and streaks of gold over a delicious color that's a close match to the little padparadscha Swarovski crystals right beneath them.  The fiery colors, the lines, the heat of the earrings remind me of the title character of The Firebird, one of my favorite ballets: 

Ballerina Misty Copeland as the Firebird.

The Firebird.

Thanks for reading, all!  

I'll be back in a couple of weeks.  💗

xoxo

Meridy

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Amethysts All the Way Down

Recently I've been fortunate to have collected a number of pairs of delicately beautiful enameled earring components by Raida Disbrow of Havana Beads.  My newest earrings, below, are made from one of her gorgeous pairs: luscious florals in purples and deep purply blues, with droplets of pink and baby blue.  

It's been a long time since I've made much rosary chain, but I enjoyed putting together the little chains of small faceted amethysts.  And I'm not dreading this whole briolette-wrapping thing so much anymore either, probably because I'm getting a little better at it despite myself.  That's what happens when you keep working on it, right? I can hear my mother asking me now from the other side.  (Of course, she's right.) 😉🌷

Recipe for Amethysts All the Way Down

(2) Enameled earring components

(12) Small faceted amethyst rounds

(6) Small anodized niobium rings, purple

(2) Faceted 10mm amethyst briolettes

(2) Anodized niobium ear wires, purple

24 ga copper wire, darkened

26 ga copper wire

These pretties can be found
  here at Two Trees Studio.

Thanks so much for reading.  I'll see you next time! 💗
xoxo
Meridy

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Wings and Orbs 💗

These beautiful glass wings and beads by Pati Walton and Beth Mellor have been waiting a long time to be made into earrings.  😊  It's funny, though, that I'll be posting this the very day after Lindsay's "Winging It" post.  💗

Sometimes it just happens like that...you have beautiful components and beads that sit quietly in a drawer for a while.  Then you find just the right elements to go with them, pull the beads out for the first time in a while...

...and the earrings come together with such ease that you wonder why you let those beautiful beads languish in that drawer for so long.  

These earrings are rich in twilight colors that are perfect for the coming season of shorter days and longer nights.  They'll be available in my shop soon. 

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back again on September 13. 

Meridy

xo

My shop, Two Trees Studio

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Chainmaille: Variations

For today's post, I thought I'd share two very different pairs of chainmaille earrings:  one pair that looks like they might have been worn during the Renaissance--or earlier--and one pair that's much more modern.

The cool thing is that both pairs of earrings are made with the same chainmaille weave, called European 4-in-1 (below),  a simple and familiar weave.  Woven tightly of small metal rings into large flat pieces, it was

the armor worn by medieval European fighters (you may have noticed it in just about every sword and sorcery film or TV show).  (In ancient Asia, chain mail armor was made of a totally different and beautiful weave, which is a story for another day.)

Because I specifically wanted these earrings (below) to look like they could have been worn centuries ago, I needed the triangular chainmaille pieces to hang like banners, so I made the spiraled "hanger" pieces

and hung the chainmaille triangles from their widest section, the seven woven rings.  I made 4-mm mother-of-pearl dangles and attached them to the outer edges of the chainmaille, and then fashioned wire-and-bead links to connect my decorated "Renaissance Banners" to matching ear wires. 

My second pair of earrings are completely different:  small and sleek and simple, sterling silver and midnight blue. The chainmaille part of these earrings was made using the same weave as the first pair, but with one fewer row of rings, stopping at six, naturally making the earrings smaller and slimmer.   

Ingredients:  Sterling silver rings, sterling silver wire, sterling silver ear wires, and deep blue polymer clay spikes by Jon Burgess. 

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll see you in about two weeks. 💗 

Meridy (Two Trees Studio)
xo

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Sister Earrings

Hi, everyone!  It's good to be back.

First, let me thank Norbel, who covered my last blog date at the last minute.  I really appreciate it, my friend! 💓

I've always loved the idea of "sister" jewelry:  pieces that resemble each other but aren't the same.  I hadn't made any sister anythings in a while...but then, about a month ago, I bought these exquisite rainbow leaf earring components from Kristi Bowman Gruel:

From a strand of four beads (by one of my favorite glass artists, Beth Mellor of Beeboo) I picked two that would be perfect with the leaves:  beautiful little round-edge cubes with colorful swirls and teal blooms. They would make a gorgeous pair of earrings.  So I made them, adding some copper beads, Czech glass rondelles, and Swarovski crystals:

These sold quickly (thank you, dear lady!), but I didn't forget that I still had two more of those wonderful floral beads.  Two or three weeks later, Kristi had another show, and I found leaf components that resembled the original leaves. 

 
I used different copper accents for these new earrings, making them more airy, and they're also a bit longer and more slender than their sisters.

These "sisters" are clearly separate designs, but they're definitely family!

  


Thanks for reading!  xoxo
Meridy

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