Pobrecitos

I was chatting with buddy Kim of NuminosityBeads the other day and she called something or someone a "pobrecito". Being from the Midwest, Spanish isn't as prevalent in my lexicon as I'd like it be. Since I'm a word hound and love to pepper my conversations with obscure underused linguistic gems, I immediately googled this funny little term. Turns out a "pobrecito" is more or less a "poor little guy". What a perfect expression!

 You stubbed your pinkie toe--it's a pobrecito.

Your basset hound puppy trips over his big floppy ears--he's a pobrecito.

You always got picked last for the kickball team in gym class--you're a pobrecito (or pobrecita).

As I was in the midst of creating a silverworked agate drusy earring series several weeks ago, I found myself cooing over this wee lilac purple pair. So tiny, so easy to overlook, so easy to underappreciate next to their bigger, swankier mates. The earlier conversation with Kim was fresh in my mind, and voila, a star was born. 

To create these teeny post earrings I cut, soldered, filed, and sanded sterling silver sheet and bezel wire plus trios of my hand-cast cratered granules. Such a soft spring hue to usher in all the budding flowers, bulbs, and blooming trees. Squeal-worthy little babies.

So now you have a new word for the day--use it with abandon!

Happy Wednesday,
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Crocus, Anyone?

This morning I was admiring the recent posts here on the EE blog and was struck by the color palette--we all seem to be in the mood for spring pastels, including me, for once. I'm usually not one for pastels, as I prefer bold earthy darker hues. But the recent warmer weather, sunshine, and brisk breezes have me in the mood for crocus purple, anemone blue, and hyacinth pink. 

At Tucson this year I snagged a handful of matched agate drusy earring pairs in beautifully muted pastel hues. The adjective "glam" is not a word I would typically use to describe my jewelry, but when I saw these soft little drusies I was struck with a vision of sparkle. And so the past week I've been working on a series of metalworked post and drop earrings featuring these wondrous little miracles of nature.

This particular pair features a beautiful pair of amethyst drusies in soft lilac purple with a warm amber tinge. I created simple sterling silver bezels and then accented the shapes of the stones using some of my beloved cratered hand-cast granules. I wanted to design these post/stud earrings so that when worn, the shape and sparkle would really light up the curve of your lobes.


I'm still working my way through all 10 pairs of these, so stay tuned in about a week to see the results! 

 




Happy Wednesday and Happy Spring!

Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Stones And Swarovski

Hi everyone, I hope the beginning of the new year has been kind to you so far. Here in Sweden it's been cold and lots of snow.

Do you remember my latest post here, when I told you about the wonderful gift of stones and pebbles that I got from a friend of mine. Well, here's another pair of earrings made with another couple of stones from that lot. This time I've combined them with Swarovski crystals. Which probably surprises those of you who are familiar with my style. You haven't seen me use Swarovskis very often, have you. But in my bead stash I have a rather large collection of them in different colors and sizes. I haven't actually bought most of them myself, but received in different collaborations in the past. I keep them all together in a box, because I haven't known what to do with them. But, anything odd or uncomfortable challenges me creative wise, so lately I've been thinking more and more about ways to incorporate them in my jewelry.



I am rather pleased with the result. However it was difficult for me to capture the sparkle of the swarowskis in a photo. I hope you get the idea anyway. When you wear them and they dangle they constantly and beautifully catches light from different angles. Makes them rather suitable for a party or a night out in my mind.

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Drilled local stones from Ostergotland Sweden - Mia Christensen

Messy wrapped oxidized copper wire in two different gauges

Swarovski crystals

Handmade earring hooks in oxidized sterling silver

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All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.se

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, 

Festive Sparkles

Over the years, I've accumulated a large inventory of high-quality jewelry components, and as I learned new metal working techniques, I sort of moved away from using ready-to-use parts and favored doing my own. But, these components are so pretty, I decided to bring them out to play, and make a good number of earrings for the Christmas Craft Show last month.

It was really nice to offer them as well as my more time-consuming/higher priced designs. 

These new Swarovski Crystal Earrings were very well received, and I have decided to also offer them on my website.... These are just a few examples of the earrings styles that I made:

Amber & Montana Blue Copper Chain Earrings (Sold)

All these earrings are set on non-allergenic Titanium ear hooks (from RioGrande), and are created using USA-made Tierra Cast components (lead-free), beautiful chains (from ArtBeads), sparkling colorful Swarovski Crystals and tiny glass beads.

Light Green & Blue Gunmetal and Gold Tone Earrings

  It's fun to play and design earrings using the various textural and visual elements.

You can really come up with new fun and flirty designs :)

Lilac and Clear Silver tone and Gunmetal Earrings

Each pair is unique (one of a kind) in terms of design elements and/or color.

Playing with the vibrant colors and beautiful shapes

of the Swarovski Crystals always makes me happy!

I'm not finished uploading the bulk of these designs on my website (I hope to have this completed within the next couple of days), but if you want to take a look at what I have listed so far,

you can find this new collection in my lead-free pewter section HERE.

Thank you for stopping by & have a wonderful weekend!

Nathalie Lesage at http://www.NatLJ.com

New! Free Shipping to Canada & USA on orders of $50.00 or more... don't miss out!

Bling

I'm in the midst of planning our holiday party and I have Christmas on the brain! These earrings were inspired by the beads, that I found at Michael's craft store! They have the most amazing coloring and AB coating that I've ever seen, along with this very unique etched matte flower design on them! I created these to go along with a bracelet using the same beads.  Definitely planning to make set for me to wear to my own party! Can't wait!

These are for sale in my Indiemade shop!