Dragonflies and Faux Australian Koroit Opals

One thing about suffering from a chronic illness, I end up spending a lot of time (sadly) laying down, thinking and designing things in my head. One of things I do is work through various creative ideas in my brain, and try to work out all the kinks so that when I feel well enough, then I can actually implement things quickly. Kind of like hitting the ground running.

So, among the many ideas swirling around in my coconut, the idea of making some 'faux' Australian Koroit Opals had been swimming in there for quite some time. I figured it was time to try it out, and see what happens! Yay!!

So this is what I ended up with. I made several oval-shaped faux opals (some smaller, and these slightly larger ones), and picked a pair to use in these dragonfly earrings:

Faux Koroit Boulder Opals Sterling Silver Dragonfly Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

I'm also fond of charm necklaces, but wanted to make some 'charm earrings' since we're all about earrings here. Extremely lightweight (gotta love Polymer clay for reducing the weight on our earlobes!) these cuties are ready to play and explore the world with you! These measure 2.5" tall x 1" wide.

I used some 20g Sterling Silver wire to make the hoops, added a bit of textures while cold-forging, and decided to go with a pair of fun twisted sterling silver jump rings to suspend my faux opals. I kept the rest simple (truth: I made these quickly before running out of light to take pictures and write this post..... haven't been well at all lately)... so fun little Sterling dragonflies, and a few sparkling Czech glass beads became part of this little party.

I'm happy on how these turned out, but I want to try again and go a bit finer on the chunks of host-rock (the brown areas) I think. It's definitely fun, and I'll keep at it. Practice makes perfect!

I have a showcase planned on FB for October 1st. I'll be selling some faux opals and other polymer clay handmade jewelry components (Search for the Handmade Beads and Findings FB group to discover lots of great handmade jewelry components makers!).

In the meantime, these earrings can be found in my Etsy shop HERE, along with other jewelry supplies. I've started to list some of my personal gemstones collection on Etsy too. I'm just too unwell to make much jewelry, and I need to part with some of my stash.

Have a wonderful weekend! I can't believe September is almost done already...

Cheers,
Nathalie
Visit my Etsy shops:
My Garden Of Love
The Crafty Tribe
Nat Lesage Designs

An apple a day

... keeps the doctor away :) Well, at least let's hope so!

I was talking with my hubby a couple of months ago about wanting to make some mini apples and pumpkin beads for Fall creations. It's my favorite season in terms of the richness of colors, the nice cool crisp air, and because it's actually cool enough for me to snuggle up in a cozy sweater. I love handmade sweaters!

I don't knit much these days, but playing with beads is always on the agenda... So my hubby made me a small batch of super cute apple and pumpkin beads! Yippee!!

I may be biased here, but I think he did a really fabulous job. He's very patient and likes a challenge. Each one is individually hand sculpted by him and I added the finishing touches of pretty shimmering mica colors and protective glaze.

Check these out:

Polymer Clay Handmade Red Apple Beads

Don't you just want to eat these precious little Red Apples?

Although I don't eat 'pumpkin' anything.... I know, bad girl lol - but hey, that leaves more for you!
I really adore how these little pumpkins turned out:

Polymer Clay Handmade Pumpkin Beads

I wanted to make a pair of Red Apples Earrings and this is what I made, featuring a pair of my honey's gorgeous apple beads:

Handmade Fall Apple Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

I've added a dangling drop of wood beads (for the tree), and some green and copper Czech glass beads, as well as some Swarovski crystals in Light Siam and Topaz. Lots of sparkles showcasing end of Summer/Fall colors!

Most of the pumpkin and apple beads sold in my FB showcase in July, but we made a couple of extras to list them in my Etsy shop HERE (the quantity is VERY limited). Grab 'em while you can. We're both quite unwell at the moment, and I'm not taking any more custom orders at this point.

These one of a kind Fall earrings are also available for grabs HERE in my shop :-)

Our thoughts and prayers are going to everyone in the path of all the hurricanes, as well as those affected by all the wild fires both in the States and up here in Canada.
Be safe, stay strong, don't give up xoxo

Nathalie
Visit:
My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop

Gold Fish

My apologies for writing this post so late in the day. I've been under the weather and totally zonked out on the day/date! Last year we bought (as a gift to my in-laws) a really nice wall clock that also shows the day and the date all in one spot. Both my hubby and I keep saying that we should get one for ourselves, as one day just seems to seamlessly blend with the next.

Does this happen to you too, at home? Not having a set Monday-Friday type of schedule really messes with us at times lol

Without further delay, here's the earrings I wanted to share with you today :)

I call them Gold Fish, although not quite in the traditional sense of the name, but you get my drift:

I found this cool pair of almost pink-gold opal-like artisan lampwork beads in my stash (I apologize, I do not remember who I purchased these from, as it was many years ago)... but their color played so well with my handmade Polymer Clay "Sunset" color-scheme Tropical Fish charms that I had to use them. I wanted to pair them with gold-filled wire and beautiful TierraCast (lead-free) gold-tone pewter. They are suspended on Niobium Ear Wires.

I wanted to showcase the gorgeous wispy feel of the lampwork glass beads, so I decided to simply suspended by the side instead of the more traditional 'up-down' direction. I'm really pleased how they turned out - I'm a big fan of pink and gold together :)

What are you favorite color combinations for Fall and Winter coming up? Any favorites? I'm really attracted to rich plums and blues, with copper...

I'm going to list these in my Etsy shop by the weekend. I'm catching up on a few other things first. Chronic Illnesses have been ruling our schedule for the past 16 months, gotta go with the flow at the moment.

Thank you for reading!
Happy up-coming Long Weekend to my fellow Canucks ;)

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
Visit: My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
and The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop