Hoops again!

Hello! Hope you're all keeping safe and well.

Well, in these strange times I found myself reading too much news and getting rather overwhelmed with the state of things. So, I consciously took a step back, reduced my time checking the news and spent some time at my little workbench. The result? Feeling much better.

Now, I've mentioned in my  last contribution to the blog that my silver stash is dwindling, as my main supplier has shut their doors for a little while to keep their staff safe. And rightly so. So I have been looking at every little tiny bit of silver i have with new eyes! How can I turn this into something pretty? Will I have enough to make a pair of these? I have very little sheet left, and a little more wire -so, I thought I'd make some pretty hoops.

I love hoops. They feature in oh so many of my designs -old and new. Love their versatility -how they can be the main feature of a design, or simply an accompaniment to a striking component -be that an art bead or a gemstone.

Now, this pair are a gift for a fabulous friend who has cheered me on in my silver jewellery endeavours! They started out as a simple bit of wire, soldered at the top and shaped on a mandrel, with a little light hammering to harden their shape. I had some leftover semi-circles of silver from an earlier design, which just needed to be filed to to same shape and size, and then hammered to give them that pretty texture. Finally, soldered onto the hoops, oxidised and buffed to a shine -for a contemporary, but edgy look. Hope she likes them!

These others are made from slightly thicker pieces of sterling silver wire. I found a piece of beaded wire in my stash that I'd completely forgotten about, so once the hoops had been soldered and shaped. I cut the beaded wire in two, and wrapped it along the bottom half of each hoop. I made some earwires for this pair, and had a little of the beaded wire left, so added them around the join, just to embelish them and echo the main design.

So there we are! And if you don't have a torch for soldering, hoops are still so easy to make -you just need to know how to wrap wire, and have something to wrap the wire around! 

Hope you are finding something creative to do to keep you calm in these difficult times. Keep safe and well, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks

Sue

It's all about hoops!

Now, I love hoops. They pop up in nearly everything I make. Can't help it. Even if I try not to include them, they end up sneaking into a design in some form or other. I particularly love these ceramic hoops by Petra Carpreau - I have quite a stash of them, with all different colours and glazes. All the colour is on the outside edge of these hoops, so I try to make sure that this is the focus of the design.

This first pair have a beautiful rose pink pair of hoops, which I teamed with pretty ceramic triple flower charms (also by Petra Carpreau). I kept it simple with some large brass jump rings to connect the flower charms and the earwires, but needed a little something extra. A few tiny brass jump rings accentuated the gold/brass in the glaze of the hoops and flower charms.

This next pair had a gorgeous pair of blue hoops as their starting point. I had some very pretty lilac etched lampwork beads by UK artist Joanne Joyce, which are rather like sea glass. I added some lilac glass rondelles, and some indigo seed beads for contrast. Love these colours together

Really hope you like them! They'll be available in a showcase on The Jewellery Show over on Facebook on 25th September, although the blue pair are listed in my etsy shop Utterly Lovely Stuff at the moment

See you in a couple of weeks :-)

Hope and Love, Looking Forward

Joshua Tree 12/2015

As we approach the end of this year, many of us look back in contemplation and reflect. At the same time, we look forward at what's to come. 

It was a big year, with lots of shifts and changes. Our country was divided and still is on many fronts. With many people and many issues. 

None of us knows what's ahead but we can face it with hope and with love. We can be kind. We can treat one another with consideration and respect each others beliefs. 

Mannaz Rune of Higher Self

So many different human beings on this planet. The only way to survive is to embrace or at the very least, accept our differences and work as one. 

Maybe I am living in a dream.

Whatever may come, I must stay TRUE to myself. I will live in hope and with love and I will be kind. I will soften my face when looking at passers by. I will smile and say thank you to service people. I will look people in the eye and know that I have done my best. I will try to make this world a better place and keep hope that I can somehow inspire others to do the same. 

In troubled times people often (as they should) seek out messages of hope. I received a request for hope and love earrings. My thoughts immediately went to Runes. Beautiful imagery reflecting symbols of greater inspiration and meaning, this ancient alphabet still touches our subconscious on a deeper level, in modern times.

If you are interested in learning more you can check out the PBS Nova website and read more here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/viking-runes-through-time.html

These earrings are a riff on a design I first made in 2009 and again in 2011 with mixed metals.

Ball Babies Sold / Etsy 2011

 This design features two sets of rune charms. One spelling hope and one, love. Adorned with "ball babies" created of pure, fine silver. Wrapped onto solid copper, hand forged hoops. These will be available today at Art & Soul jewelry.

 This is my last post of 2016. Wishing everyone much hope and LOVE now and for the coming year. Look for my next post the 2nd Tuesday in January. 

 

Winter Blues. Cindy's Art & Soul.

Firey Carnelian Gemstone. Rusitic Silver Hoops.

Happy Halloween! 
So much going on today. 
Thank you for joining me!

In my last post I shared a leaf photo that had inspired me. And I never tire of looking at leaves in Autumn. I walk often and take a lot of photos. I took this one last week... 

The color of the leaves absolutely captivated me and still does. The rich hues of the reddish brown are stunning. Maybe that's why I've been wearing Carnelian all week. 

Carnelian gemstones have always been a go-to favorite of mine. The translucent colors can range from orange to reddish brown. These odd little nugget shapes often remind me of apples. 

According to my book the illustrated book of Healing Crystals, Carnelian is a very positive energy stone. "Carnelian is above all a crystal of personal happiness and fulfillment; if you believe in your unique talents and follow your personal goals rather than those set by others, you can achieve anything." Which I think goes for anything in life whether or not you wear gemstones! However, I do get a real sense of positive energy from this stone. 

Look for this set to be available with my next Art & Soul Jewelry shop update in about 2 weeks. TBA. 

Peace & Love, 

The Fringes of Society

Some days we really do feel like telling everyone to just kiss off, don't we? 

All the expectations, obligations, mores, fashion ideals, traditions, and respectability in the world could not mean less to us in these moments. We're looking for a way to express the fact that we're tired of XYZ (insert whatever you please, here). We're over it. All of it. And we're looking for something different. 

See, now, many people may argue that you're being childish, you're pouting, you're rebelling in such a pathetically predictable way. I say this: it's those who are brave enough to leave the herd that are most capable of discovering new ways forward. Getting pissed off can be a good thing if we choose to channel that energy in a constructive way. 

The past month or so I've been coming to terms with the fact that this year has not been among the best. Perhaps I've been in the "anger" stage of coping, I'm not sure. But I'm not too proud to admit that I have had definite moments of rage--a rare emotion for me. 

So it makes sense that I haven't been creating as much in the studio this year. The spark is still there, it's just not burning in quite the same frenetic supernova blaze that it was last year. That's ok, because I'm going to give myself time. I'm going to tell my own self expectations to buzz off. I'm going to give myself permission to not feel guilty for saying "no" to custom orders. And I'm going to take things at my own damn pace. It's the most loving act of rebellion I can think of.

Today's earrings fall nicely in line with my "f-off" mentality, as they're big, they're wild, they're looong, and they refuse to be overlooked. They feature two carved horn shields from India that have been painted or shellacked, resulting in a lovely crackled honeycomb pattern. Truth be told, I could have just hung these charms from ear wires and been perfectly happy. However, I took the opportunity to add in some additional relatively lightweight components to turn them into real statement pieces. Rusty hoops added behind provide a layered halo effect, and a cascade of mixed metal chain fringe spills all the way down to your shoulders, creating music as you move. Everything hangs from my hammered dark copper ear wires and ends up being a lot less weighty than you'd expect. These earrings don't even need to be paired with a necklace, bracelet, or ring--they can stand strongly alone.

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Silver In All It's Glory _ Hoops Are For Any Day

I feel like silver doesn't really need any bead or color to be beautiful. It's quite lovely on it's own. And hoops are my personal go-to earring of choice. Different sizes for different occasions work wonderfully. 

Going to see Cheap Trick at the Amphitheater? Gimme the big swinging hoops! Going out to dinner with the family? Gimme the medium sized hoops! Going out to the grocery store and just need a little something on the ears? Gimme the tiny hoops. (I can sleep in those too!) Yes, I love hoops any time, any day. 

BTW, Cheap Trick is still fabulous in concert! 

I've had a HUGE amount of fun and immensely enjoyed this summer working on new jewelry for my shop. My big reveal is today! Finally, breathing easy for a day or two... taking a few days off, then I'll be back to it working on the next update! #ilovemyjob 

These are a few of the earrings I am offering in today's shop update: 

Big Silver Hoops_

Average Sized Hoops_

Tiny Hoops_

Of course you could wear these whenever you like! That's just my take on it!

Shop updates happening now.

 

 

Blast From The Past. Fused Hoops. Cindy's Art and Soul

I am still very busy working on new jewelry for my August 31st shop update. Therefore I am going to share some earrings I made about six years ago. They are being modeled by my beautiful daughter who magically makes them 100 times prettier! Don't you agree?

Interestingly (or not?) enough, back then I was naming all my creations in order to keep track and ID them. This set I named Molly which is the name of my dog now. (fun fact!) 

I am still very proud of this design and that is why I am sharing it today.

Created with pure copper and pure silver, the hoops are fused. Fusing occurs when the metal is heated to the point of being molten and thus does not need solder. Fusing copper can be tricky, but is so rewarding, for me. I adore the rich hues of this metal and the natural patina that begins even one day after polishing. 

See you in two weeks! 

Peace.

Raw Silver Post Stud Earrings

Feeling grateful for so many things today. For open windows with a cool breeze. Fresh air coming in. Tea this morning with a good friend. Laughs, smiles. My jewelry bench and tools. Being inspired. And also, for this blog. For all the sharing and inspiration.

Today's offering has been rattling in my head for days. I wanted to do some post dangles with small hoops and raw silver nuggets and this is what I came up with...

These earrings are .999 Fine Silver except for the posts and post nuts which are .925 Sterling Silver. 

This set is a nice light weight and I think they'll be great for everyday wear. I am very pleased with how they came out and plan on doing more in this style with gemstone dangles. Stay tuned..

Happy Spring! 

 

 

 

Rustic Hearts Aquamarine Gemstone Earrings

Rustic copper hearts with a dotted hammered texture. Paired with green Aquamarine gemstones and fine silver hoops.  

  My shop has been pretty bare for many weeks now. I have been down and out with migraine headaches. 

Yesterday was one of the only days I've been able to work in what feels like ages. My creative side has been starving for this time. Craving the torch and hammer!

It feels amazing to be able to make jewelry again.

Just listed today... 

These and matching accessories 

available at Art and Soul Jewelry

Peace, 

Romance is Alive

I see crystals and think, Romance! I love amethyst, lavender, plum shades in just about anything! 

 

These earrings feature hand forged .999 pure silver hoop rings with tiny spiral images, amethyst Czech glass fire polished crystals wrapped with fine silver spiral headpins. Bronze Czech glass crystals at the top connect to hand forged sterling silver ear wires. A rustic, antique finish complements the shiny crystals!

Available at Art & Soul Jewelry

Peace & Blessings, 

One Last Summer Fling

One thing leads to another...
This set was born of a happy accident as are many of my designs. I intend to do one thing and something else happens... and it's all good!

We are somewhere between summer and fall here in WA. And If I had to choose I'd say these earrings are summer. Shiny silver, bright green Peridot and royal blue Iolite stones say "Farewell to summer" with one last summer fling. 

Available at Art & Soul Jewelry.
peace & blessings,

Tutorial for Hoop Earrings

Hello, hello, hello!

How have you all been?

It's been awhile and I've been busy making a lot of changes on my website - which is still not reopen for business. There's a lot of changes, and it's going to take a bit longer than I thought.

Since my site is not ready yet, and I don't have new earrings ready to share at this point, I wanted to share one of my very popular video Tutorials that I have on my YouTube Channel - with over 30,000 views, it has helped many make hoops fast and easy to do.

It's a video that I filmed back in 2010. I hope you will enjoy it and try making your own hoops :)

But you don't have to stop there, you can embellish your hoops with 'drops' and also wire wrap some pretty beads all around too :)

Regular Sterling Silver hoops - these are made with 16 gauge wire (for those with larger holes)

You can wire wrap some pretty beads and gemstones around the hoops for a totally different look :)

You can use 14kt Gold Filled wire, or Rose Gold wire to make sparkling gold hoops for the holidays!

I hope that this tutorial will help you make hoops faster.

Everyone works differently. I just find it nice to be able to watch someone make something and learn how they do it...

Thanks for watching and I hope you'll give these a try!

Nathalie Lesage

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

Concentric

These are some of my recent favourites. I love it when you spot connections between seemingly incongruous materials and they fall into place in a fresh design.  I had made the drops with the carnelian and the grey trade beads with the orange-y bands a few days before; I was just looking for something to hang them from. Then I remembered some large orange copper hoops I got from Natalie at Grubbi.  The resin coins and the salvaged earring findings were the final additions.

They're available here in my Etsy shop.

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com
www.somethingtodobeads.etsy.com
www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

Green River Black Copper Hoops by Art and Soul Jewelry

Lazy days by the river, camping July 2015- with Molly

Green River Hoops by Art and Soul Jewelry

Green River Hoops by Art and Soul Jewelry

 "Green River" fused, cascading copper hoops featuring shimmering Czech glass, faceted with a Picasso finish on hand forged copper wire headpins. Available for order at Art and Soul Jewelry. 

Happy Happy Summer! 

 

Soul Of The Sea Earrings by Cindy's Art and Soul

This holiday weekend I am at the beach. Looking outside at the clouds and sea mist coming in making the grass and road wet... feeling so grateful to be here. 

Yesterday was fairly dry and I took Miss Molly for a walk down on the beach. She loves to run free and chase the seagulls. I call to her and offer treats to keep her close.

We saw a lot of garbage that has washed up. Maybe from the Japanese tsunami? Reports say it may be washing up for years.

Inspiring is how nature takes things over 

and makes them her own... 

The blue on these sea shells are exactly what I had in mind when I was making these earrings. The lampwork beads are Bubby and McGurk Beads... fantastic colors!  

I really wanted to add some shimmery blue kyanite stones (which matched perfectly!) but I felt like the lampwork was enough. They really stand on their own and do not need anything more!

The starfish charms add a feeling of "at the beach".
Capped in hand forged sterling silver 
wrapped in thick 20 gauge ss wire.

Hoops are hand forged and fused 14 gauge fine silver.
Oxidized for beauty and character.
Hand polished.

Available for purchase at Art and Soul Jewelry.
(update: sold!)

Peace & Blessings~