New Beginnings

Today we got to meet our new baby grandson, Kai Landig! Grandma and Grandpa got to hold him and give him lots of loves! See how content he looks in his Grandpa's arms!

However, as far as blogging goes, you'll have to forgive the blurry earring photos.

I'm editing them on my phone, in the motel room near our son's  house, whereas I usually take them with a regular camera and edit them in Photoshop,  on my laptop.

If you do crafts of any type, have you had days where your hands seem to have a total disconnect from your brain and they bungle anything you try to do? I was having such a day when I made these earrings. The first earring came together reasonably easily,  but the second - gah! Either the decorative, crossed wires on the pearl, wouldn't lay flat or the cross was too high up and couldn't be coaxed back in place or....you get the idea. I had to keep cutting it apart and starting over. And this was Sterling silver wire I was mangling! 

Anyway, eventually I wrestled it into compliance. 

The earrings feature my own handmade ceramic dangles, colored mother of pearl beads and sterling silver. I named them New Beginnings in honor of Kai's new beginning in this crazy world of ours. 💖

Linda Landig Jewelry 

Purple or green?

Hello!

It's been a gorgeous Easter weekend here in the UK. Bright and beautiful. And speaking of bright and beautiful, I received my latest batch of goodies from Petra Carpreau recently! And these rather lovely connectors caught my eye straight away.

First off...purple. These connectors have a lovely long loop, which I wrapped with some oxidised copper wire and little seeds. I framed them with some small oxidised brass hoops and added some pretty amethyst beads.

The green ones were next... I kept the same elements of the design, but added some brass spacers and tiny czech glass. I love both colours -can't pick a favourite! What do you think? Purple or green?

They'll both be available over on The Jewellery Show on Facebook on Friday/Saturday. See you again soon!

Sue x 

Utterly Lovely Stuff

Spring in Mind

I know we are in the run up to Christmas but I've had enough of seasonal jewellery already! I started making for Christmas about 3 months ago and peaked last weekend so I'm now on the other side and looking forward to spring designs. My January copy of 'Vogue' arrived this morning and I've already got some new colour combinations planned.

Recently I've been excited by Helen Backhouse's venture into ceramics. I've made a few pairs of earrings which have all flown out but I saved my favourite pair for today's blog post.




The detail on these is quite incredible - the veining, the colouring. I've turned them in opposing directions for added interest.  Above the connectors are some of my favourite lampwork beads from Emma Ralph - great shapes, colours and textures - with bronze spacers from Anna Chernykh and opaque emeralds. Earwires are (of course)  by Lucy Haslam.

                   Below are chunky matte kyanite beads and tiny pieces of silvery leaf chain.

They'll be in my Etsy shop if you'd like them. And I shall be back with you all on Boxing Day - so from me and my family to you and yours - have a very Merry Christmas!

                                                                            Lindsay  x

                                                                         My Etsy shop

                                                                     My facebook page

Leafy Shade.

 

Oh my, it's so hot over here - the north of  England reaches 31 degrees? What's all that about? Hottest summer since 1976 - which I recall well, as I was chasing a very mobile 15 month old around at the time. So at least thank goodness for small mercies.

My workroom just happens to be my conservatory - wonderful for light and air but when I come down in the morning to open the doors and windows and it's off the top of the thermometer - 50 degrees C - I know I'm not going to get anything done again till evening. So making the most of getting out on my bike and keeping the garden tidy - the shady part with lots of shrubbery being my favourite part! This weeks earrings echo that sentiment - cool and fresh.

 

 

The leafy porcelain buds are by French artist PerlaYo - I've had them for ages, wondering how to make them come alive. Playing around with copper leaf headpins from Cecilia Lawrence I turned them upside down, twisted around and threaded seed beads on. Hung on Lucy's copper earwires, they have just the fresh look I was after.

 

Just popped them in my Etsy shop if you'd like them.  See you again in a few weeks time - I'm off to Greece for my hols in 10 days, hoping to pick up some inspiration for my next show, which is sea-themed.  Have a lovely summer, and if you are going away, have a great time.

 

 

Lindsay xx

 

My Etsy shop

 

My Facebook page

Garden Friends

We've had so much rain this Spring, that it seems now, we have much more little creepy crawlies and all sorts of 'friends' popping over in the garden... One of my favorite garden friends are beautiful  dragonflies!

I wanted to make some jewelry components that featured these cuties, and so I've created a handful of handmade dragonflies earring drops, and decided to use a pair to make these fun lightweight earrings:

The great part about making my own polymer clay colors is that I can pretty much 'match' any other component that I plan on using. In this case, I had this gorgeous green hemp cord that I wanted to use in some fun summery designs. It was perfect to use with the design I wanted to create:

A pair of my handmade green/blue dragonfly earring drops, Greek ceramic beads in dark blue, tiny seed beads in blue, and small TierraCast gold-tone rustic spacer beads, on fabulous green hemp cord.

The light flurry of beads/cords at the bottom represents that flutter effect that I feel/see when they fly around in the garden, like a light trail of happiness that they spread around.

Oh happy happy Summer Days....

What are your favorite garden critters?

You can find these earrings and more of my jewelry components HERE in my Etsy shop.

Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy the weekend!
Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage

Visit my Handmade Jewelry & Components shop here: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Digi shop here: The Crafty Tribe

Mermaid jewels

Some of my favorite color combos for the Summer are ocean greens and ocean blues. Add in some sparklies in the mix and I just become totally giddy lol

I like to mix things up when I create new polymer clay jewelry components, and this time around, I created some cool earring drops with fabulous glass cabochon that I have encased in polymer clay. I had those cabs saved aside to use at some point, and I figured, why not use them with Polymer Clay? I'm very happy on how each design turned out!

Here's the earrings I made with a pair of my latest handmade components:

Handmade polymer clay & glass chandelier style earring drops made by me, with little oxygen bubbles springing up all around; A mixture of Swarovski crystals and Czech glass beads, there's a little flower detail on each, with a tiny silver color glass bead in the center, like the flower in the hair of a mermaid :) and I used anodized aluminum jump rings in coordinating colors. These earrings are suspended on a pair of hypo-allergenic Niobium ear wires.

I love how the colors in the glass sparkle like the sun hitting the ocean. I love the movement in the colors and the feeling that you're holding a precious treasure. These are one of a kind.... a precious treasure indeed :) The glass set up feels like you're looking into the ocean through a porthole on submarine (I used to work on one of the Atlantis submarines in the Carribean, btw! It's magical!)

If you're interested, I have a few other pairs of one of a kind glass/polymer clay components that I will be listing in my shop HERE, along with these earrings.

Which colors make your heart giddy? Do tell!! I want to know what makes your heart sing :)

Cheers,
Nathalie

Visit my Etsy Jewelry/Components shop here: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Etsy Digi shop here: The Crafty Tribe

What's your Favorite _________?

Hello, and Happy September to all of you. I do hope this finds you and yours healthy and well. 

Someone really asked me this recently: "What is your favorite element to work with, just one?" Really? Really. That's like asking me what's your favorite Beatles song? Impossible! What is your favorite element? I can't answer that. Is it just me?

Ceramics were my first love, and the collection I continue to build is filled with little pieces of art. I love taking them out and holding them, staring at them, simply enjoying them, as you would any piece of art. But ceramics don't stand alone. I need copper and maybe glass, and whatever else I might choose to use. So I could never simply answer "ceramics." 

And lately I am being drawn more often to Lampwork glass. I've always used it and enjoyed it, but I am developing a much bigger appreciation for it and the many amazing ways the very talented Lampwork artists create with it. 

These earrings started with the Lampwork glass disks in a soft, weathered light olive green by Leese Mahoney of GlassByLeese, with an orange-like amber edge. I had my eye on the tan and orange stone-like Lampwork beads by Terry Turner of SilverFishDesigns to work into the design. Before actually working out a design, I thought I might want a pair of beadcaps. I couldn't find anything in my stash that looked quite right so I pounded out two small, rustic, flat pieces of copper sheet metal, distressed them, curled them under here and there. They're rough and rustic, and I liked them. 

"Vintage Ferris Wheel"

Here's the rest of the design process. I strung 20-gauge copper wire through the disk, brought the wire together at the top and put several glass beads and a blackened brass rice bead on the wire on both sides of the disks. I joined the wires together at the top of the disk, leaving just a bit of room above the disk, and used a Nephrite Jade stone with a large enough hole to fit both wires. I separated the wires a bit and put blackened brass rice beads side by side. Brought the wires together again and put on the Lampwork glass bead, topped it with a bead cap, and wrapped the remainder of the wire in a double loop. 

"Vintage Ferris Wheel"

That's that! i re-made these earrings a couple of times each. They didn't come together easily. Eventually I worked it out, and I liked them! 

As always, I thank you all for stopping by and visiting with us today. Comments and questions are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Norbel 
She Flies Again - Etsy Shop
You can find me on Facebook
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Summer Lemonade

Today I want to talk about life handing over some lemons and making lemonade with it...

I loooooooove lemonade, especially when it looks like this:

Summer Lemonade Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

Topaz, Chrome Green Tourmaline, Yellow Aquamarine, Copper Earrings

These earrings are so much fun in person!
The gemstone drops on the chains add fun movements and catch the light so well...
I made these last year, and they are still available on my website... just waiting for the right soul.

If you visit my website and it's not 'up', it's because I'm in the process

of making some changes to my site and adding on other types of products.
So don't mind the web work in progress if things look a bit strange.
It's all very exciting stuff :)

Stay tuned!

Nathalie

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

http://www.TheCraftyTribe.com

Emerald Isle Rustic

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!! Lively greens with rustic copper drops are a color combination that can't miss, and what could be more appropriate for St. Paddy's Day? I'm sure you all recognize the gorgeous copper components made by our own Kristi Bowman. In this design, I use faceted ovals of chalk turquoise that have been dyed a luscious shamrock green, along with tiny dangles of green onyx in a deeper shade of green that blends well and adds more dimension to the design.

You can almost smell the lush green fields and the musty earth after a rain shower. Ireland looks so alive!!! This country is on my list of places I would love to visit. If I were there now, I would put on my mud boots and take a long walk in the country soaking up all the freshness of spring. After the long walk, I might be thirsty and stop off for a pint in honor of the day?

Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry

Luminous Éire

Éire

Lately I have found myself awash in all manner of green stones and green artisan-made treasures--it must be the approach of St. Patrick's Day, already working its magic! In particular, I must have been in a green trance when I made my most recent purchases from Jana Bližňáková of Happy Fish With Heart, because there was a trio of glorious green charms waiting for me when I opened my package! And then I thought to myself, well, there is some good timing, because soon we will be celebrating all things green and Irish.

I can't help but think of Ireland when I look at these earrings--the varied green hues and the rustic shapes, and Jana's charms like old Celtic arrowheads. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland on a bicycle trip in 2004, and the pictures don't lie--it is a velvety green paradise!

Photo near Ballyieragh, County Cork, by Pam Brophy, via Wikipedia 

I loved the wild feel of the countryside, especially the miles and miles of painstakingly stacked stone fences--for someone who loves rocks and rustic stuff, it was heaven!

Photo by Eckhard Pecher of Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, via Wikipedia

My day on the island of Inishmor during that trip, among the ancient rocks and emerald grass, must have been floating in my subconscious when I put these together, and Jana's charms were a wonderful inspiration!

Ceramic charms, prehnite nuggets, freshwater pearls, and both fine and sterling silver

You can see more of my work at my Etsy shop.

Oh beautiful forest...

Living in British-Columbia is truly a treat (yes, even if we are currently experiencing really deeeeeep cold weather)... I never, ever, get tired of admiring the 'sea' of spruce trees that line our roads as far as the eye can see. I can look at them for hours on end, and never get tired of it :)

As soon as I step outside of our small northern BC town, you see gorgeous spruce trees lining the highways. Since Christmas is my favorite 'season', I am just happy, happy, happpppyyyyy, to the core when I am in the forest and there's a light sprinkle of snow :-)))

And, inspired by my spruce trees... I made these earrings:

I recently treated myself and purchased some of (our) Cindy Pack's gorgeous ceramic components, and this pair of swirly caramel-tone charms reminded me of wood, the forest, the trees... the textures of bark, nature. Ohhhhh happy days!!!

I have hand-crafted the copper bead caps (tops and bottoms), and decorated them by hand-stamping some pretty leaves and texturing the edges every so lightly... and suspended them on a pair of non-allergenic Niobium ear wires in a shade of dark rustic brown.

The gorgeous Emerald Green lampwork beads were recently acquired in a destash 'trade' I made with another artisan and they were sitting on my bench, just patiently waiting to find their spot to shine :)

You can find these earrings HERE on my website.

P.S. Don't forget to participate in our November We're All Ears challenge - this is open to EVERYONE! New to making jewelry? Jump in and participate! Have been making jewelry for awhile? Why don't you join us in this fun challenge? We'd love to see what you make!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day (and keep warm!)

Cheers,

Nathalie in the Enchanted Forest up North :)

Metalsmith - Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com