Finally Spring

Hello. I do hope this finds all of you well. 

With sunny days and temps reaching aaaaaallllll the way to 55F -- yeah, I know, but it's all we have!! -- Spring has finally come to Southeastern Lower Michigan. Spring is such a rejuvenating time of year. Truth be told, Fall is my favorite, but I'd never turn my back on a lovely Spring day. It seems to be all about renewal. That's a good feeling.

I have two pairs of earrings to show you today, both made when Spring was still an abstract thought, with snow on the ground in April. 🙂 All just a memory now. 

Flower Bobble Earrings

The first started with Petra Carpreau's Bobble Flower Drops in an "Oriential Princess" glaze. I paired them with columns cut from rusted tin tiles and given a bit of a "whitewash" with hints of pink. Green translucent glass beads and oxidized brass accents are strung on waxed Irish linen and hang from soldered brass metal rings. The backs of the tin are felted to give them a bit more substance and a nice finish. 

The second pair includes ceramics by Andrea Salkowe of JosephineBeads. Floral decals with a retro feel are paired with Natural Stones of Peach Moonstone, Rustic Blue Watermelon Tourmaline and rondelles of "Nephrite Jade." Small blue glass beads accompany the semi-precious stones, all wrapped with handmade oxidized copper ball-tip headpins. Simple but not. . . . they're really beautiful. 

As an aside, I think ball-tip headpins were one of the things I learned to make that really changed things when I first started making jewelry. Very easy, cost effective, and great design elements. 😉

Flowers & Stones

Thank you all so much for popping in today to give us a read. I hope you are all enjoying the best Spring ever, and that your Summer will be much of the same, filled with Creativity and Joy!

Thank you!
Norbel Marolla
She Flies Again

Red Tulips

As you may know, we recently moved to a new house.  Its been fun to discover which plants lay below the surface in our new gardens.  Much to our delight, red tulips appeared in the early spring.  I've named today's earrings in their honor.

The ceramic discs and beads are from Suburban Girl Studio.  The discs are glazed around the rims and have a hole in the middle. I decided to fill the center hole with flower beads.

Because I was filling the hole with beads, I had to come up with an alternative method of hanging them from the ear wires. This required a little mechanical engineering. Several of my initial tries weren't strong enough and the discs flopped forward.  Here's a view from the back showing what I finally came up with.

I placed the flower on a headpin, and then added a 4mm red fire polish bead.  Although the bead doesn't show, it  fills up the hole and stabilizes the flower. After the fire polish bead, I made a wrapped loop.  Using a heavy gauge headpin, I added two size 8 seed beads, the wrapped loop and four more seed beads. Then I added a spacer and the red ceramic bead.  I wrapped the top loop snugly and wrapped down around the top of the bead, to strength to the construction.

I think the Red Tulips will be fun to wear all summer!

Linda Landig Jewelry