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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Keep On Haunting Me

 October Greetings, Beady Ghouls! 

Rustic, spooky, yet hauntingly glamorous with their golden touches are these wonderful enamel houses by Anne Gardanne.   

I used a sweet little mix of vintage bobbles:  AB faceted crystals and peeled vintage faux pearls.

Darkly oxidized metal bead caps with soft lightweight rattling chains - a must for every haunted house.

👻

Garden spirits of a summer gone by.  

Lightweight polymer leaves by Heather Powers, etched lampwork glass with touches of autumn color by Kimberly Rogers and carved bone spirited little folk.

Boo! From, Luna!

Thank you, as always, for popping in and having a look at what I've been up to.  I love hearing from you and appreciate your time!  Wishing you all the best of this glorious season!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks with some bold spooky designs!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads.  

P.S. I haven't had time to list these earrings but feel free to message me!

A Lick and a Promise

"A lick and a promise" is a phrase that my mom used to use to describe making our house presentable now and doing a full housecleaning later.  I'm afraid that my post today is going to be a little bit like that--short and hopefully presentable!--since I've caught my grandson's cold/bronchitis.  I'm not feeling so great, and on top of that, the cough/cold medicine has zombie-fied me to the point where all I really want to do is stare into space 😵 or curl up with a blankie and pillow. 💗

But I still wanted to share these new earrings with you since they just feel so much like

summer to me, with all the flowers and aqua and lavender!  The lovely blue-and-purple

striated-and-dotted lampie beads are by Terry Turner of Silverfish Designs, and

Raida Disbrow of Havana Beads made the exquisite enameled charms.  I added Czech

rondelles and discs, in purple and aqua; leafy copper bead caps; tiny aqua Swarovski

bicones; and even smaller seed beads, also in aqua.  Thank you, Raida and Terry, for

making these gorgeous beads and components that allow me to make beauty in turn.  💗

Thank you all for being understanding.  I promise to be back next time

(May 24, I do believe) with an entire "housecleaning."  😊💗

xoxo

Meridy

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Glass Mosaics

It's good to be back here at EE!  Things have been hectic around Casa Meridy for a while now, but I finished these color-drenched new earrings just a couple of hours ago (as I write this on Wednesday afternoon) and wanted to share them with you. 

I'd had these beautiful Cathleen Zaring (Blue Hare Art Wear) charms for a few months, but it wasn't until yesterday that a design idea came to mind.  I probably would never have remembered the gorgeous lampies used here if they hadn't just happened to be on my work table, in a bag paired with something else.  I'd had the beads for quite a few years and had never found the right design for them, but they sure make magic with Cathleen's charms--serendipity!  ❤️

I wire-wrapped the beads and charms together with some pretty copper bead caps, little iris Czech rondelles, and tiny orange-gold Swarovski bicones.  Given the rich colors and the lush detail of both main components, keeping everything else simple seemed right. 

And:  I don't know what happened to March, but clearly I missed a posting here one Thursday and didn't even realize it until much later.  To quote the great Thomas Dolby, "My brain is like a sieve."  My humblest apologies!  ❤️

Thanks so much for reading.  I'll see you in a couple of weeks--have a wonderful Thursday! 

xo

Meridy

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Gift of the Mermaid

I recently came upon these gorgeous enameled components in Raida Disbrow's Etsy shop, Havana Beads...

...and a dialogue started between my head and my heart.

Heart:  Oh, my gosh, those are GORGEOUS.  Look at those colors!
Head:  Ohhh, but those can be such a pain to work with. They're handmade--those things are never even, you have to fight to get them to hang straight--
Heart:  But I've got beads the same color as those little violet-pink dots!!  And lots of pink rondelles--
Head:  --hey, come to think of it, there's that stash of rhodolite garnets that haven't been used in about seven years!




That argument didn't last long.


Since I did have a goodly stash of little Czech glass rondelles in various shades of pink, the garnets, and sterling silver beads, jump rings, and headpins, I gave in to the lure of the Boho chandelier earring--and I loved it. Now that my heart has helped my head get over its jitters, I aim to make more. 💗

And, funny thing--they do hang straight after all.  😉

Gift of the Mermaid

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back in two weeks.
 
xoxo
Meridy
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Waiting...and Waiting...and Waiting for Spring

Why, oh why, does it seem to take forever for spring to arrive?  Is it the old "a watched pot never boils" syndrome?  Maybe it's just me.

I can't complain about the cold and snow, because I live in Sacramento, California, which has pretty nice weather, actually.  It has a Mediterranean climate, rainy in the winter (no snow), hot and dry in the summer, and spectacular in the spring.  Seriously, in the spring, virtually everything blooms here.  Having moved to Sac (as we say) from Colorado, I wasn't used to that.  Colorado has its own stunning beauty, but here everything grows fast, gets large, and blooms--all sorts of flowers, bushes, and even trees, from huge magnolia trees to ornamental trees that fill the skies with beautiful blooms of red, fuchsia, baby pink, or purple.

And spring comes early here.  Our first flowers usually start peeking out of their beds in mid-February, maybe a crocus or a dwarf iris.  The warm weather usually follows along gradually, getting a little warmer each week.  This year, however, California had heavy rains caused by "atmospheric rivers" that parked themselves over the state, causing floods and mudslides.  We were happy to have the rain because California was in a five-year drought, but these heavy rains caused real problems.  The cold, heavy rain lasted for almost two months, with only a few short breaks of blue skies and sunshine here and there.  We were starting to really feel the lack of sun!

Anyway, since it's been such a cold, wet winter, I decided to make these golden-sun, grass-green, and blue-sky earrings using Cathleen Zaring's beautiful enameled copper earring charms and a pair of lovely green

These "Bringer of Spring" earrings are available here.

lampwork discs by Terry Turner.  It's only recently started to warm up here, and I'm really feeling the quiet arrival of spring, with its fresh energy.

Who knows--maybe my earrings will help move things along a bit.  After all, the Spring Equinox is only about ten days away!  ;)

As always, thanks so much for reading!  I'll see you in two weeks. 💙

xoxo
Meridy

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