Welcome 2020!

Happiest New Year Wishes!

New beginnings, fresh starts!

Cheers!

Stunning ceramic earring charms dripping in gold with rustic clock faces by Lina Macijauskiene.

Festive vintage lucite with captured gold tinsel confetti falling!  Omgosh, I love these!  

Thank you for stopping by and having a look at my worktable!  I'm very much looking forward to sharing 2020 with you, my beady family!  It's always such an honor to be included in this lovely blog.  Thank you all for your thoughts and kind words this past year, it means the world to me.

♡♡

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com 
(although, there isn't much in the shop at the moment - ha - looks like a 2020 goal for me!)

Frida Kahlo

Some earrings tug at my heartstrings more than others, and these do just that.  Normally I don't tend to gravitate towards beads with portraits or printed words on them (unless they are really silly words - ha).  However, when I saw these charms by Sue-Lin Tarnowski I just utterly fell in love.  I was especially drawn to their shape, color, soulfulness.

♡

For this pair, the chains really appealed to me ~ the suggestion of the tortured artist I suppose.  Then, loved adding the softer, beautiful floral beaded hoops by our very own, Suhana Hart ~ kinda wonderful in a quiet way.

Thank you for sharing your time with me!  I'll be back in two weeks!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest under my name.

Textures of porcelain

I have a love of wildlife and quite often I like to use birds in my designs. These two pairs of earrings feature porcelain components by Emma Wilson and both have a bird theme. I just love the detail and texture as well as subtle colours in Emma’s organic designs. Her pieces are small and dainty so I feel require a delicate and sympathetic touch when designing with them.

For this first pair of earrings I have used Emma’s components with a bird design and chose to highlight the pink/red colours with lampwork spacers and headpins by Linsey Peck as well as using a hint of gold with the seed beads and bead caps. The bronze ear wires are by Louise Goodchild.

For the next pair I have used Emma’s fan shaped components that have an Art Deco feel about them and thought that these adorable lampwork birds by Juliette Mullett would fit perfectly. Again, I have matched the pink and blue colours with lampwork spacer beads and some shimmery textured Czech glass daggers that reflect both colours. Then I've finished off with brass/gold colour bead caps. The ear wires are gold filled.

Thank you for reading. Both pairs are available in my FB group as from today - Nicola Morse - Jewellery & components

Faux Vintage Tin

Tin has become increasingly popular and recently I have discovered artists that are making their own! 

Faux tin cicada charms featuring original drawings by Heather Powers.  Heather has workshops where she teaches this craft.  I've been lucky to attend some and it's a fascinating process. It can be quite a labor intensive with all the cutting and filing but with the help of Jess, her husband, they make the most beautifully finished pieces which are smooth like butter.

 Teal lampwork glass with 24k gold leaf and very old ornate vintage chain dangling from the bottom.  Oh, this chain - can we all just pause and appreciate this for a moment - ahh.  I've never been able to get my hands on more, but I'm always searching!

♡

Charms made from salvaged tin embellished with vintage decals by Marina Rios.  Marina has a completely different approach which is partially done over a flame!  She has a wonderful tutorial you can purchase in her Etsy shop.  I've attached a link to name above.

I paired these lovely woodland charms with some roughed up connectors and added small touches of gold leafing to bring out the detail.  I added some long chain with crystals attached at the bottom for some weight, movement, and sparkle.

Oh, and I almost forgot to show you the backs!  Butterflies!  Beautiful on both sides!

So that's me for today.  I'll be back in two weeks with another pair of tin charms and perhaps some enamel :D  Try to contain yourselves...Hahaha!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

By The Light Of The Halloween Moon

Chandelier connectors by Inviciti handmade of pewter in a dark finish to set the mood!

Blackened rustic stars dangling next to the most glimmering golden druzy. 

Mysteriously masked, ceramic, man in the moon charms by Nadia Terra in a charcoal grey.

This is a photo of one of my most fondest Halloweens.  My boys were at that age where they lived for trick or treating and couldn't wait to get into their costumes.  That year the weather was absolutely perfect and the autumn colors were amazing - it was pure magic!  I will never forget it.

I love this poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater:

Wishing all the magic of Halloween!

Loralee xox

loraleekolton.etsy.com

Gilded Fragments

I find these components very moving.  Blissfully asymmetrical with the touches of rich gold that bring a warm cohesive feel.  The beautiful ceramic charms in both earrings, were handmade by Andrea Salkowe of JosephineBeads.   They remind me of broken pieces of fine china.

The folded pod type beads at the top, were purchased at The Bead & Button Show.  They are 24k gold vermeil.  I remember in detail, going to the register to pay, and the shock on my face when the little baggie of beads I was carrying was totaled up!  You see, you pay per ounce for the beads of this kind and not by design like I'm used to.  It was an education! Maybe I am the only one who didn't know..lol  But goodness, just look at 'em...

To create the illusion of space and add a little sparkle I used some very old crystals repurposed from a 1930's necklace.

For this pair I used some lovely druzy agate for texture and a bit of softness from glass pearls.

Can you tell I'm gearing up for the holidays with the touches of gold?  I will also admit that I've listened to more than a few Christmas carols already..lol

A million thank yous for stopping by and having a look today! 

Talk with you soon,

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton Jewelry

Swedish Druzy

Check out those wonderful druzy beads i got just the other day. I wanted to showcase them with all their glitter and exciting shapes. Hang them just simply from a great looking thin chain with some messy wrapping, and have them dangling a lot when being worn. 

Ingredients:

Blue and yellow/gold druzy crystal nuggets with electroplated coating

Messy wrapped oxidezed copper wire

Verdigris patinated copper chain by MissFickleMedia

Handmade oxidized copper earring hooks

And some extra info:
My earrings are extra suitable to wear on a day like this. As today, the 6th of June, is the Swedish National Day. And the Swedish flag is blue and yellow. Below a very typical view from the countryside of Sweden on a beautiful summer's day. We do love our flag.

All my best,

Malin
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

SparaSparaSparaSpara

The Art of Restraint

A very kind woman gifted me with a very generous compliment the other week:

"...you do something very mature, as an artist. You know when to stop with a piece. Most people load on all but the kitchen sink, but your pieces are restrained and elegant. That is a rare quality." 

When I stopped grinning, squealing, and blushing like mad, I had to pause and think, because she hit on something that I strive very hard to emphasize with my pieces: less is more; more is just more. 

As designers, it can be hard to self-edit, especially when you're surrounded by mounds of attractive, colorful, shapely unique beads:

"Ooooooo, I've always loved these beads, let's add in a couple here."
           and
"Ack, the colors of these match those perfectly, let's add in a couple here."
           and 
"Crap, I forgot I wanted to include these stones, let's add in a couple here." 

And before we know it, our designs can get unwieldy, impractical, and sometimes gaudy. 

Knowing when to stop or when to remove components from a design can be a tricky thing. We may feel like we are dumbing things down, like we haven't invested enough time and creative energy into a piece, like it's too simple. I'm here to tell you that's BS! Unless you're planning on hitting the red carpet, a runway, or an art gallery opening somewhere, most people don't typically wear ginormous overwrought pieces of jewelry. Not that there's anything wrong with statement pieces - I do plenty of those - that's a discussion for another day!

 
Case in point: these demure ceramic raku squares from local artist Jennifer Pottner of Urban Raku. Her work is INCREDIBLE. I visited with her the other week at a local bead show and snagged this pair from her table. Their muted, velvety dark gold and plum hues really spoke to me - the colors of autumn without clubbing you over the head with pumpkins and scarecrows and bright orange and all that. The size on the squares was enough to make a statement itself, plus I didn't want to cover up too much of that beautiful finish. So I chose to give them simple ridged soldered "belts". Sleek, geometric, artful, and restrained as all get out.

So the next time you're feeling the need to do more, ask yourself if you could actually do with a little less :) 

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki 
LoveRoot on Etsy

Cubist Roses

It's not often that I use clearly identifiable imagery in my jewelry. I usually prefer to leave things more abstract and open to interpretation - makes things more interesting and guarantees that no two people will have the same experience. 

However, when I saw these burnt graphic ceramic cubist roses from DonnaPerlinplim, SOMETHING inside me clicked. What IS that that thing? Our muse? Our happy place? The voice that keeps talking and doesn't know when to shut up?

 
I took the background golds, silvers, and ivories and pulled them out using my beloved stacked bead approach: old neolithic quartz trade beads from Africa, discs of real ostrich shell (I know!), shards of crusty Roman glass, and some grungy wee metal bead caps. I finished things off with some globby soft soldering on the wire wraps to make things interesting. 

 
The end result is cubist modern meets grungy primitive - now that's not something you see everyday!

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

The Light of the World

Those of you who know me already know that I love using evocative (sometime provocative) quotes to complement my jewelry. I'm an avid bookworm and am infamous for peppering conversations with arcane underused words. My husband always gives me the eye-roll when I pull some old-timey phrase out of my hat. There are so many nuanced words out there - why stick to the same boring limited lexicon?

When I'm reading and come across a passage or phrase that haunts me, I dog-ear the page so I can come back to it and pull the quote. Sometimes they're humorous, sometimes beautiful, sometimes they hurt.

My bread and butter is 20th century fiction---pre-1980s, if I can help it---and I've been on a huge William Kennedy kick lately. His Ironweed series mixes darkness, humor, beauty, and verve in a really delicious way:

" 'Four hundred dollars there, boy,' he said. 'Feast your eyes. The sky's the limit on this trip.'

I took the money into my own hand, counted it (fifties and twenties), tapped it on my knee to even its edges as I would a pack of cards, folded it, felt its thickness and heft.

'It's nice,' I said. 'What are you going to buy with it?'

'I'm going to buy the light of the world and bring it home,' Peter said.

'Where's the light of the world?' I asked.

'I'm not sure,' Peter said, 'we'll have to go shopping.' "

When I was creating these polybells, the little radiant textured suns never really struck me until they were already formed. Earthy warm hues, abstract glyphic textures, ragged organic forms. I formed these from polymer clay, textured, cured, painted, and sealed them. They're deliciously lightweight. Once I looked on the finished bells, I knew I needed to give them a name that dealt with light. The above quote was just perfect.

Art inspires art - a wonderfully endless circle!

Happy Wednesday :) 
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Silver and Gold

Silver and Gold. And Copper.

Here is some mixed metal finery for you to enjoy while you hide from the in-laws this Christmas morn! Cast brass-over-pewter discs by Mykonos via Stinky Dog Beads, a pair of my poppy caps in copper, and sterling silver earwires, spruced up with brass beads and copper wire.

Sam the Snowman's "Silver and Gold" song from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie is stuck in my head right now. And if you're old enough, it's stuck in your head now too. Sorry.

We at Earrings Everyday wish you a peaceful and merry Christmas day!

Keirsten

Gypsy Gold

Gypsy Gold

These earrings make me think of a Gypsy lady, wearing her earthly fortune in gold and silver. I think it's these striped beads--I always think of striped carnival tents when I use them. I have no idea if Gypsies use striped tent fabric but for some reason this is embedded firmly in my mind.

Ha! Stripes.
"Two Gypsies" by Francisco Iturrino 

I started this pair with rustic, brass finish Mykonos "cornflake" charms from Stinky Dog Beads and built a subdued palette around them in silver, cherry red, olive green and ivory. The little striped Indonesian glass beads, as well as the big "Casbah" pewter bead caps, are from Happy Mango Beads. The big clear glass nugget beads were cannibalized from a necklace a customer once gave me--I will be so sad when I use them up, I just love them! I haven't seen anything like them anywhere else.

I leave you with Vincent:

"The Caravans - Gypsy Camp near Arles"
Vincent van Gogh

Keirsten

Tender Greens

It's finally here - that time of year when trees start to take on a misty green hue. Buds appear, swell, and burst into leaf. Skeletal gray branches come back to life, filling out and reaching toward the sky. It seems like this past winter was more brutal than most for those of us in the US - you can certainly tell by the recent posts here on Earrings Everyday! It seemed like Spring would never get here, but that's the beautiful thing about nature, you can't stop her...

Coming off of a 70F degree day full of warm sunshine, daffodils, and singing birds, I thought I'd post about a recent pair of earrings that celebrate the tender, sweet, young green of Spring. 

 


This sweet, simple little pair

features a pair of my own polymer clay "bud" beads that dangle lightly from the bottom of two amazingly craggy raw green garnet stone nuggets. I textured and painted the poly beads and then kissed them with a little gold on top for some warmth. Each bead has been crowned with wee etched nickel bead caps from Maire Dodd.

 

I hope everyone is able to pause and soak up the season this week <3

Nikki 

LoveRoot on Etsy

Pop My Top

I love quirky and fun. Bottlecaps the definition of quirky to me. They are an affordable type of kitsch that brings back memories of our childhood, or afternoons tipping back a cold beverage. Good times.

{Pop My Top earrings}

In 2011 I met Cathy Collinson at Glass Garden Beads at the Bead & Button show. I had admired her bottlecap beads for some time and as I pawed through her bins of thousands of different bottlecap beads I asked her if she had ever seen the Point Root Beer guy from the Stevens Point Brewery (they make beer and soda). Yes! She told me that she sells out of them almost immediately because they are so fun with the signature conehead guy (do you remember the Coneheads from SNL? The Pointer guy looks like their grandpa) and the quirky sayings on them. Things like... Get the Point... Turn Me Loose... Twist & Shout... Point Well Made.

{back of the earrings - Turn Me Loose - can spin around depending on your mood!}

I told Cathy that I could get her all the Point bottle caps she could want just by going down the street to the little pizza place. I did that for a few months, stopping by now and then and carting out a bag of bottlecaps at a time. I ended up with a full gallon bag of Point Root Beer bottlecaps and a second bag of other caps. Then I met up with Heather Lawrenz at the booth during this years' Bead & Button and presented my offering and my request: would they take what was useable from this bag and make me 100 bottlecap beads with assorted messages on each side? (Usually they try to match the message.)

{bowl o' bottlecap beads}

Within about a week they had made up the bottlecap beads for me - super speedy! - and I had them in my hands. I have ones with holes from top to bottom, a few with two holes near the top for stringing, and some from side to side, with the images upside down so no matter which way they flip it will be right side up! Clever!

I plan to make fun necklaces and bracelets and earrings like these for sale in our little home town where the Stevens Point Brewery is located... and the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, home of the Pointers.  In this pair I used some quirky pixies from MyElements in the Pointers' colors of purple and gold. I hope that the fans snatch them up in time to cheer their team on. Go Pointers!

{Stevie Pointer}

What about you? Do you love kitschy and quirky? Do you have a favorite bottlecap in your collection of things? Do you ever make earrings appealing to a sports team or activity? Do tell!

Erin Prais-Hintz invites you to go on a journey of inspiration at her blog Treasures Found :: Inspiration is Everywhere. You can view a gallery of her work at http://www.tesoritrovati.com/ or purchase her new line of 'Simple Truths' in her Etsy shop.