We're All Ears :: January Reveal :: Ultraviolet

One of my newest Tesori Tesserae ("treasure tiles") on display at the Gallery Q

Purple is a color I can get behind. I don't always care for the colors that Pantone selects, but this one has me excited. Especially since I seem to have all the purple beads in the Universe in my studio! It is a mult-tasking hue that has so many different facets, so many layers. And I love the way purple plays with other colors. I love purple with orange or red, all the shades of blue, emerald or mint green, soft butter yellow and of course, black and white. I love purple!

Right before I found out what the 2018 Color of the Year was, I met a client at the Gallery Q where I exhibit my work. She was looking for fun earrings. In talking to her, she asked me to consider making her some custom earrings and I gladly jumped at the chance. She is always sporting really dynamic and intriguing hats (due to a medical reason), and she said that she had recently ordered a custom made-to-order hat that she wanted me to use as my inspiration.

Isn't this model just the BOMB in this pretty felt cloche?! My client is going to rock this beautiful hat!

Serendipity that the color the year was PURPLE!

First up, I did a variation of earrings that she tried on featuring flattened lentil beads by Heather Powers of Humblebeads. Trust me, they are far more purple than they seem (funky lighting was not working for photos!). I pulled out some tiny brass leaves that I painted in variegated tones of purple, and wrapped a few gold charlottes for some texture.

Second, I did another variation of some earrings that she had seen in the gallery that went with necklaces by the same name that had a sort of dreamcatcher vibe. These little silver charms are so much more lively when I paint them with Vintaj metal patinas. Some of my coveted faceted pearls in a bright magenta color and brought in a spicy copper bead cap and rhinestone rondelles for a bit of bling.

Finally, I used some of my favorite beads ever from Heather Powers. The patchwork quality of these beads and their shape are awesome. I especially love the coral orange colored blooms. I found that I had these little carved coral flowers that were perfect. 

I let the client know that they were in the Gallery Q and she came right over last Friday. I happened to show up when she was looking through my case, so instead of swapping out the displays, I spent time helping her try them on. I let her know that I can go back to the drawing board and she was under no obligation to buy any of them.

We spent a lot of time together that afternoon and she kept finding other things in my case that she couldn't live without, including several pieces that she said she was going to give to friends "who were so nice to her." When all was said and done, she ended up buying all three pairs of earrings...and six other necklaces and bracelets, too! I was flabbergasted! That is the single best day of sales (almost $400!) for me at the Q, ever. I am quite honored. And I told her that she is officially a collector and a Superfan! And I think that she is going to ROCK these earrings with that hat!

I am very much looking forward to seeing what you created with one of my favorite colors! Your turn!

For Auld Lang Syne

                                                        Our last post of  2017!


As I write, I'm humming 'Auld Lang Syne' - a poem by Scotsman Robert Burns, set to the tune of  a traditional folk song and sung all over the world to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on 31st December. For old times sake....so you might be expecting me to reprise some of my favourite earring pairs from 2017.

Nah.......never look back is my motto. Life's too short. Let's look forward to 2018 and think about         

                                                                   COLOUR!                    
                                                                                      
How much notice do you take of colour predictions when designing? PANTONE have declared 2018 the year of Ultraviolet. 'Dramatically provocative and thoughtful, communicating originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking'.  With a business named after my granddaughter Violet I can't help but be excited. The fashion magazines are already full of it and I know from experience it's one of my customers' favourite colours - it never stays long in my shop. Here are a couple of pairs I made recently with leaves from Helen Backhouse and lampwork by Juliette Mullett of Avette Glass. 

 

 

 

 

 

And this pair, I made for Hallowe'en with vintaj black arte metal and Rejetta's witchy hearts.

 

 

The top pair has been repinned from my Pinterest page almost 700 times in two weeks - so I guess we can't ignore Ultraviolet. Here I've kept it fairly subdued, with silver, bright blue or black. But it looks vibrant with lime green, moody with mustard, soft with pink; flamboyant with red.  Cool with silver, warm with gold. The possibilities are endless. Is it for you, and what other colours or metals will you use it with? 

 

 

It just remains for me to thank you all for joining us for another year; and to hope we continue to enthuse you through 2018!

 

 

Lindsay x

 

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Asymmetry and I

As a designer who gravitates toward earrings, I'm always thinking in terms of pairs, especially when it comes to purchasing art beads. It's just one of those things that gets engrained in your brain and becomes second nature---like riding a bike, remembering to turn off the burner when you're done cooking, or making sure you put on deodorant each morning.

So when Kim of NuminosityBeads threw me for a loop and offered just ONE of these crazy glowy ultraviolet etched dichroic lampwork glass beads, well, I was vexed. Panting, starting to break out into a cold sweat, I assured myself that I could incorporate it into a necklace...make it a focal...pair it with other complementary beads. It will be fine, right? RIGHT??!!

Against my better judgement, I was determined to make it work in a pair of earrings. Which could only mean one thing: it was time to get asymmetrical. 

Asymmetry and I are good friends---sometimes we veer way off to the left and sometimes we operate in a more conventional range. What's more important to me in a piece is the balance, not so much the symmetry. 

So I pawed through my bead hoard and came to the last tray in the tower (yes, tower)---the box I reserve for my own polymer clay beads. I keep them at the bottom because I don't make many polymer beads. And the sets I do make tend to get mostly used, leaving one or two left over. Those one or two tend to languish and get forgotten.

This pearly cratered lavender polymer chunk was just the ticket. Its soft frostiness plays a beautifully complementary second-fiddle to the intense ultraviolet flash of Kim's glass. I opted to keep the design simple, pairing each bead with two grungy vintage bone "cruller" beads and capping everything off with some soldering. Sweet, dangly, squeal-er-ific. 

Hope you're having a delicious week!


Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy