Weathered Wild Flowers

My hubby and I can't resist snapping pictures everywhere we go. Thankfully, in this digital age, it's easy to take and store a ton of images almost effortlessly. I love having this huge pool of images to inspire me, and remind me of the places we've visited together throughout the years.

My inspiration this week is a picture taken by my love, as we strolled through a field of wildflowers at sunset in the Peace River region, Northern British-Columbia, Canada:

Northern Wildflowers at Sunset by "Mr. Nathalie" :)

I just love the colors, and that sense of freedom and peace I feel when I look at that photograph.

These flowers have been there for a long time, wild and free, sun-kissed and happy.

I used both copper and sterling silver in making these wild flowers earrings.

Softly weathered, definitely wild and rustic.

 Topped with small handmade multicolored artisan glass beads from Little Crow,

which capture a variety of colors that we found during our sunset walk in the forest.

The antique patina creating shadows, and the satin texture on the petals softly catching the sunlight.

Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy your weekend!

... and believe in your dreams... 

Nathalie Lesage

www.MyGardenOfLove.com

Stargate: A Mixed Metal Twofer

Stargate

Lately I've been trying to juggle fixations on both mixed metals and colored glass beads. Right now the mixed metals are winning! Today I'm going to share two very similar pairs of earrings I made on Saturday, using fabulous brass beads I've had forEVER--so long in fact, the seller doesn't even carry them anymore (I should have bought MORE--this is why you always buy lots of them)--with some of my hand-crafted copper petal beadcaps and a dash of sterling silver. (I'm also obsessed with these metal torpedo beads--these are from Monsterslayer.) These make me think of the fabulicious costume stylings in the wonderfully weird 1994 "Stargate" film--maybe they would be worthy of Jaye Davidson...

I used a different pair of brass beads, and larger, slightly different petaled beadcaps for the pair below, and hammered the wire on some of my wraps. I think I'm going to start doing that more often, that cut end of wire on a wrap is starting to bug me...

Stargate Redux

Plus it will give me more opportunities to hammer things, which I like.

These are available in my Etsy shop.

Subtlety in textures and color

I'm attracted to the textural subtlety that my "silk" Fretz hammer produces when I hammer metal with it... I wasn't sure about it when I first ordered it a few years ago, but I always love the results when I use it. My inspiration this week is Subtlety in Textures and Colors:

One of my very favorite "subtle" gemstone to use is Labradorite. See the hint of purple on the top left gemstone? And the hint of green flash on the top right one? (seen in both the picture above and just below)... the purple (especially) makes me go ga-ga lol

I love to chase the "flash" of Labradorite, depending on the direction that the stones are cut, and how the light hits it, you get these gorgeous colors, it's like opening a present on your birthday :)

 

You can also see some beautiful flashes of blue in the larger bottom gemstones... yummy!

And look at the "Silk" texture on the bottom hoops... I love how the look changes depending on the angle and how the light hits the copper (above and below):

 

This is the hammer that I've used. 

It looks funky a bit, and it's not a cheap tool, 

but the results are subtle and pretty darn cool, if you ask me :)

Silk Texture Fretz Hammer at RioGrande

Of course, I had to mix my metals again... I've left the copper and sterling silver au naturel, because so many love their metals bright, but I can oxidize them if a buyer prefers the antique look.

The rich warm hues in the copper are perfect for Fall.

These earrings are listed HERE on my NatLJ.com website :)

So, what about you??

Do you have a favorite subtle touch that you like to use when you make

(or 'see' when you buy) jewelry?

Do you have favorite textures that you tend to be more attracted to?

I'd love to hear about it!

Have a great day and thank you for stopping by!

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith, Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

Last Days of Summer

Tomorrow is my birthday, and it's always a little bitter sweet for me. 

I enjoy the celebrations, but it also reminds me that Summer is sadly fading away.

When I was a child, it meant that I'd be starting school the following week

and that my days at the beach were coming to an end.

Inspired by what this week has meant for me for nearly half a century,

I've created this set on Polyvore, to go with my earrings

I just LOVE this dress, don't you?

Boho Beach by nathalie-lesage featuring a glitter lipstick

The earrings I've made are simple 'stick' earrings with mixed metal

and features a pair of gorgeous 'blue jeans' color Topaz gemstones:

I wanted to capture the simplicity and breezy airy feeling of the beach,

and some of the geometric lines found in the dress and sandals.

The gorgeous slightly muted blue shade of these faceted Topaz gemstones

captures the sun and some of the colors in the sundress :)

 

I think that mixing metals is my favorite thing to do... 

You can find these earrings on my website.

Enjoy the end of Summer while it lasts!

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith, Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

 

Beach Stones

Winter always puts me in the mood for neutrals. These natural beach stone earrings make me think of a winter lakeshore, all pearl gray sky, steel gray water, and tawny dried grasses. Other elements are red creek jasper roundels, copper, sterling silver, and little pale champagne-colored seed beads on the earwires.

I picture them with the perfect winter outfit of soft neutrals:

beach stones by lunebijoux featuring long sleeve shirts

I will be listing an assortment of these beach stone earrings in my Etsy shop this weekend--stop by!

Rustic Charm

Leprechaun Sand Dollars

I am a sucker for these itty bitty ceramic charms by Karen Totten. I was determined to find an earring design for them yesterday and after much thinking this is what happened. Sterling silver wire, dragon's blood jasper (the little green stones), delicate copper peanut chain from Chain Gallery (which I antiqued to a darker patina-I LOVE this chain), and robin's egg blue Indonesian glass beads from Happy Mango Beads (on the earwires). (As soon as I finished these I realized I needed more--LOTS more--of Karen's charms.)

For some reason these make me think of the northern east coast of the US, like a windy shoreline in Maine with lighthouses and everything. So I picture them with a pretty variation on a traditional fisherman's sweater and of course, a pea coat.

rustic charm by lunebijoux featuring a green shawl

You can see more at my Etsy shop HERE.