Strength in nature

"Let’s take our hearts for a walk in the woods,

and listen to the magic whispers of old trees." 

~Author Unknown

Trees are healing, nurturing and comforting,

not only to us, humans, but to animals and our entire planet.

 I was inspired to create this week's pair of earrings

by my latest watercolor painting called Strength...

Strength Watercolor Painting by Nathalie Lesage

Strength Trees Of Life Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings with Gemstones by Nathalie Lesage

I pulled the colors for the gemstones from my painting, and painstakingly created two fairly similar Trees Of Life using 26g Sterling Silver wire. It takes patience to work with the delicate wire, and try to make the small 1" trees come out as similar as possible.

The gemstones that I used are all AAA... Purple Garnet (amazing purple color),

Green Tourmaline, Neon Aqua Apatite from Brazil, and Carnelian.

You can find these Tree Of Life Earrings listed HERE on my site.

As a special gift, the person that will purchase this pair of earrings, will also receive

a 5" x 5" limited edition print of my painting as well in their package :)

Have a wonderful week!

Nathalie

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

http://www.TheCraftyTribe.com

Riffed

So this word has been thrown around a lot and brought over to jewelry work from music. Which is great because they are both creative outlets to express ourselves. 

And this weeks offerings are all about riffing on (I wont say old) great ideas! 

This first set was created and sold clear back in 2010. I remember taking the photos with a camera that no longer exists and at my daughters home which at the time was pretty new to her. This is how I relate to my jewelry. During time periods and what was happening in my life... 

I took this first photo on her back deck. The wood stain was almost worn off and it was really rustic. The tree was allowing the sunlight to only flicker through. The setting was perfect! 

 And then my beautiful daughter modeling the set...

I have been in love with these earrings for almost four years now and wishing I could make another set. However, in the true character of beads you love... I only have ONE blue paddle left. 

Now for the riffed set~~

This set has fine silver rings instead of sterling, the ear wires are wrapped on instead of formed, and the beads are faceted Apatite instead of Czech glass. I hope I have done the design justice. 

My heart still longs to re-create that first set. I will forever be searching for those capri blue paddles......

And one more "riff" this week.

These earrings have been hugely popular in my Etsy shop. A customer recently left me feedback saying "make more like these!". So I thought- yeah, I will! 

Amethyst dangling on a cascading set of fine silver hoop rings...

And the Riff~
Carnelian dangling on a cascading set of fine silver rings... 

If you have a great idea, make it greater. Expand on it and see where that idea will take you! 
Until next time,
Cindy

Blue Waters

Believe it or not, we are *still* dealing with snow, and you know it... I miss Summer so badly!!

Today, I've decided to venture for the first time on Polyvore, and oh my! 

I found so many beautiful things to inspire me,

and these are the earrings I made for my Carefree Beach Chic outfit:

Blue Waters Brazilian Blue Apatite Sterling Silver Hoops by Nathalie Lesage

I think these would go really well with the outfit I just created:

Wire wrapping is something I've been doing for a number of years (on and off), and which I really enjoy. It speaks to the bohemian woman living in my soul :)

These flirty 1" hoops are made with beautiful natural (untreated) Brazilian Apatite gemstones

and loads of hair fine .925 Sterling Silver wire wrapped on a pair

of my cold-forged Sterling Silver hoops.

I was lucky enough to have the super talented Eni Oken as my mentor a few years ago,

and I've learned a lot from her over time. It takes a lot of patience and time to do fine wrapping.

Since we're on the road and currently living in a place where "good" water is at a premium (we're on a campground with bad pipe water at this time), doing soldered jewelry - which requires a good amount of water for quenching, pickling, rinsing, tumbling, etc - is just not something I can do much of because we have to buy all the water we use for daily living. I have to be very frugal with it.

Therefore, I'm back to doing more wire wrapped jewelry designs instead :)

You can purchase these earrings HERE on my new website.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith, Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

Texture

Blue Zircon Earrings

Mixing and layering textures is one of the more fascinating elements of designing jewelry. It may be a little tricky, but definitely worth the effort to add so much more interest to any piece. 

Blue zircon briolettes, neon apatite rondelles and rubies pick up the pink and blue highlights in these heat patinaed copper teardrop earrings. These delightful metal clay components, with their rich brocade texture, were made by Kristi Bowman. 

Texture by bohobeader featuring anna fields

More rustic copper earrings from Gloria Ewing on Etsy and Artfire.