Devilishly Charming Is What They Called Him...

Hello,  Happy October To You All!

Take a look at this strikingly bold and playful image Anna Pierson of Sagahus Components used on her faux tin charms!  I really fell in love with this guy and ordered a few pairs to play with.  

These charms were made on copper and have a nice substantial weight which dome beautifully. Doming the image really enhanced the facial features and gave it life!  

Don't you just love the little headdress of skulls he's wearing!  What also makes this design special is the soft muted yellow background, it really makes him pop!

I wanted this design to be a bit modern yet keep a warm rustic feel.  I loved the idea of extending the main image so I created a goatee for him!  It's like when an actor leaves the stage and comes into the audience! ha! 

In my stash I had these cool little wire wrapped charms by Shipwreckdandy Supply which were just the right size and shape!  Also, the tin is very smooth and the wire wrapping lends a lot of rich texture. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a peek on my worktable!

I will see you back in a couple of weeks!

🔥

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

We're All Ears :: Encapsulated Potential

I hope you found something intriguing about the graceful curving forms of Ruth Asawa's beautiful wire work. For me the challenge was trying to miniaturize these forms and to get the sense of the shape within the shape that her wire sculptures depicted.

I found this short video about the experience of seeing one of these forms on display and how we are meant to interact with these sculptures in a way that was different than what most had known about sculpture up to the mid-century when she was creating them. The brief video only shows one piece, but she intended for them to be shown together, like the picture above, where the shapes play off one another and the shadows they create are part of a sort of living exhibit. The biomorphic designs were built with very common materials - copper, brass, steel wire - that she elevated to something staggeringly beautiful. Asawa also believed that art should be accessible, which is why the permanent exhibition of her work is in a space that does not charge people to see them, and also that art is something that you do every single day. I love this sensibility and try to bring that to my own art projects.

So I started with the wire. I was using 16 gauge steel wire for the base and made a couple of contenders to replicate her shapes. I also pulled out some metal beads that I thought would work for the enveloped orbs that are common to her work. I think that I would go back and try to do this with other metal colors, as that is the only color in her work.

Now I don't know how to crochet with wire, but that would be something. Ruth learned these techniques in Mexico when she worked with local craftspeople who made baskets like this, but she came back and transformed the craft into art. Can you imagine some crochet orb earrings like this? I think that would be incredibly dramatic! What I decided to do was cage a bead with simple wire wrapping. I found these fluted beads that worked well because the grooves could be used to trap the bead in the wiring, giving it a sense of floating inside the shape. I like a little bit of movement, and just a hint of bling to catch the light, so I added some smalller fluted beads and just a little Swarovski crystal that helped to reinforce the cascading, morphing shapes.

There is a lot of mystery with Ruth Asawa's art. I can't fathom how she did all of these, especially getting those bubbles suspended within. So I called these "Mystery Within" as her art hints at seed pods and all the encapsulated potential.

I am curious to see how this art influenced your design.

We're All Ears :: May Inspiration :: Wire Forms

I love the Google Doodle. 

I find out the most intriguing things through it. 

The Google Doodle on May 1, 2019 was all about artist Ruth Asawa. She was a prolific Japanese-American artist of the mid-20th century after World War II. She was known for her commitment to art in all forms and especially art education in the San Francisco Bay area. I was most intrigued by her large wire form sculptures.

By Angel2u4now - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63428437

Ruth was sent to an internment camp during WWII. But instead of cursing that experience she actually credited that experience for pushing her down the path of art when she met three Disney animators also detained there who taught her how to draw. After that time she attended university in Milwaukee to become an art teacher, until she learned that no school district in Wisconsin would offer her a teaching position. Eventually she ended up at the Black Mountain College near Asheville, NC to study with great artists like Joseph Albers. But a trip to Mexico in 1947 really set her down the path of working with wire using an ancient technique for weaving baskets.

I quite love the forms that she created. The undulating shapes are at once solid and airy. They are also quite sinuous and organic, like giant alien pods or some sort of unknown sea creature. The hidden-in-plain-sight internal forms that are suspended within recall mothers and children and hint at protection and love. The shadows that they cast are mesmerizing. And the fact that she used common materials like copper, brass and steel wire - letting those metal colors shine - transforming them into something spectacular with just her hands and a pair of pliers is incredible.

Although Ruth did a lot of different art forms, I thought that we could use these specific pieces of art for our inspiration. Consider this quote from Ruth Asawa:

“I was interested in it because of the economy of a line, making something in space, enclosing it without blocking it out. It’s still transparent. I realized that if I was going to make these forms, which interlock and interweave, it can only be done with a line because a line can go anywhere.”

 So go forth and find these undulating shapes in your bead stash, play with the shapes evoked, break out your wire and make some statement earrings that honor the life and work of the incomparable Ruth Asawa.

See you on May 17th for the reveal!

Did you find the face yet?

Today we welcome innovative designer, prolific author and charming instructor Nealay Patel. Nealay is an artist who crafts in beads and fiber to produce jewelry designs that are striking, colorful and textured. He is a problem-solver who sees his designs as solving a puzzle. His intricate jewelry is always highly textural and full of life, using a mix of metal and fiber and beads and wire. He has authored three books: Jewelry for the New Romantic, Jewelry Designs with Knitted Wire, and his most recent, Jewelry Made with Wire & Fiber. Recently, Nealay has started doing monthly Live Facebook videos (so much fun!) featuring a kit that he sells on his Etsy site to go with it. It is called Beads & Bubbles, because there is always a glass of champagne at the ready! Nealay was kind enough to share an earring project with us from his new book.

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Picasso Earrings

Wire is something that I’m very uncomfortable working with, but that won’t really stop me. In fact, it fuels me to try harder to try to find new ways to use it, where if I screw it up, it’s okay!

I would hardly call anything of Picasso a screw up. He found ways to reinterpret what was considered normal or standard at the time. This lead me to think how wire can interact with another material to create something with interest and movement.

So, I started with a scrap of flat fiber cord and looked at it for a long time, thinking “how I can apply wire to it?” I thought the pattern on the fiber cord was gorgeous and didn’t want to cover it up.

So, after twisting and turning the wire I placed in on my table over the fiber cord by accident and took another look. There an idea was born! So after tweaking the design format a little bit, I came up with some Picasso art of my own!

This pattern is available in my book Jewelry Made with Wire & Fiber, available on Amazon.

Nealay is inviting you to come and join him at his Facebook page where he says all the action is happening!

@beadsandbubbles

Twisted

Twisted Copper and Steel wire with beautiful Jasper Points hanging below.

I adore the look of these 2 metals twisted together and the Jasper look so with it!

I must say it is challenging to twist small lengths of this wire together so that they match but I'm getting the hang of it the more I work on them. They are worth the effort in my opinion.

These have beautiful Lampwork Headpins by Leese Mahoney dangling from them!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

KristiBowmanDesign on Facebook

We're All Ears :: September Reveal

It was all about line and movement for me this month.

 

 

The challenge of translating a fast-paced music video like "Torque Starter" for me lies in picking something to focus on. I chose to focus on the section near the end when the glowing ball was making spirals that overlapped on themselves.

It took me a fair bit of trial and error, but I finally made something that felt right. Just a few feet of wire wrapped around two different size Sharpie markers made the base of the spirals, wired them totether and added a little glowing crystal rondelle for the flash.

I wanted the ear wires to be integrated into the design, so I came up with a spring that sort of unravels. And yes, I purposely made them asymmetrical! Nothing groundbreaking in this design, but it did open my eyes to new forms (I could see flowers like these) and how to manipulate the wire to suit my vision.

There was so very much in this interactive performance art that you could use to inspire your designs. I can hardly wait to see what you did!

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Let's see what you created!
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We're All Ears :: May Reveal

"Sure he was great, but don't forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards
...and in high heels!" ~ Bob Thaves, creator of the Frank & Ernest cartoon

With a challenge like this, that is at once visual and auditory, I spend a lot of time looping the music and the video to really immerse myself in the inspiration. Luckily, this song is quite nuanced and intriguing and the video is equally as fun to watch. Each time I watched it, over and over, I found something new to focus on. One time it was her dress...another time her shoes...then his perfectly hued wardrobe...and yet another was on the walls that served as their colorful backdrop.

As I watched, I had a pad of paper with me. I sketched shapes that seemed to recur to me, wrote notes on the colors that jumped out at me most (and the ones where I liked her outfits ;-) and made a whole word cloud of the words and phrases that came to mind.

I was struck by the give and take of the dance. The measured steps. The total control. And the giving into the seduction. These dancers are different, unique, distinct when separate, but they move as one. That is what I set out to capture with my earrings.

I wanted to bring lightness, an ease, effortlessness to these earrings, but yet I also wanted them to be strong and substantial. They also needed to have an element of male/female, yin/yang, give/take. And they had to have COLOR!

Now I have to admit that I don't leave myself much time to do any of these challenges. I sat down on Wednesday evening and thought that I could pull off a rather complex technical feat, but that didn't quite happen.

I have been researching the mysterious art of plique-a-jour which literally means "glimpse of daylight." I intended to make organic, flowing wire forms that held translucent color in the cells. Plique-a-jour is much like cloisonne, but there is no backing, so the light travels through the cells (or cloison) much like stained glass. I wasn't able to do exactly what I have in mind...but my mind is still racing with ideas to make this happen for real that will continue to feed my creative hunger. I WILL master what I have in my head. These are only the beginning.

So tonight, after I got home around 8:30 after a baseball double-header an hour away (we won both games - yea!), I set to work making a total of 4 different pair (I was shooting for 6...not bad!).

 

 I formed the shapes in my favorite dark annealed steel wire and then colored some of the cells. I think the naked wire forms look pretty darn great, but the color just makes them pop, and when I figure out how to make them more translucent, I know they will be even better!

They still need to be sealed, and perhaps some resin over the colors to make them last at bit longer. They are just experiments at this point, prototypes, if you will. But I am encouraged by the way this is turning out.

 
You will notice that I don't have any ear wires.... I want to make them myself but right now it is nearly 2:00 am and I have to get some sleep! I didn't think they looked good with any of the mass-produced ones that I have, so that will wait. Plus, they were technically still drying! ;-)

I can't wait to see what marvels you created from this color-filled and musical inspiration!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's see what you created!
Please take the time to hop around to the participants.  

Leave kind, encouraging comments.
Visit their shops. Make new friends!   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An InLinkz Link-up

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Get the InLinkz code for your blog!

get the InLinkz code

A Twisted Gesture

So have any of you ever taken an art class where the instructor had you do gesture drawings? Quick "first impression" line drawings that are less about accuracy and more about getting a feel for shapes, perspectives, and movement. They can almost be called a scribble or a doodle...capturing a macro idea in a short period of time, usually in about 30 seconds.


Well, the birth of my playfully named "twisted root" earring series is loosely grounded in this idea. Take textured copper wire, beat and twist it to hell, and then solder it into conceptual shapes. Do it quick and hot without a focus on perfection and more of an emphasis on instinct. The end results are deliciously primitive, organic, and wickedly pagan. I've had so much fun the past few months playing with this concept. I find it allows for a completely different kind of freedom from the traditional beaded approach. 

This particular pair has been set aside (read: hoarded for myself). The shape was inspired by the "devil's nests" from the TV series "True Detective". Yes, I'm a dork. But I just couldn't stop thinking about those dark mysterious beautiful little bundles.

It's fun to explore chaos in design. It can produce surprising results :) 

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Cocoons

In case you all didn't know it yet, I've been playing with Polymer Clay recently.
These Cocoons are one of the first things I made and I think they turned out really cool!!

I paired them up with Glass Discs from Outwest, absolutely perfect color match!!

These are nice and long with lots of wonderful movement but light as a feather!

So unusual and that splash of Turquoise blue with the neutrals just sets off.

And those Outwest Discs...Perfection!!

I am bordering on obsessing about Cocoons now,

 in my search I have found so many amazing Cocoons that I had to start a Cacoon board on Pinterest

Cocoon Board

 I can hardly wait to try to duplicate.

These Earrings are available HERE in my Esty shop.

We always love to hear what you think so please leave a comment!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

Hoot

I wanted to showcase these adorably sweet Owl charms from Humblebeads, and decided to pair them with some hand-forged copper wire links and handmade earwires.  The teal waxed linen cording ties give a nice little splash of color on the metalwork.

Owls are huge right now, everywhere! Even at the mall and in clothing stores! I'm sure the influx of them in the crafting and hobby world had something to do with that! It's one of America's favorite birds! Any owl or bird lover would be thrilled to own these! They are listed here, at Lorelei's Etsy store!

Inspired by Lime and Purple

I'm usually inspired by nature but for these earrings Pinterest lead the way. I am constantly seeing wonderful photographs of inspiration there, and saw this beautiful Bedroom in Lime and Purple.
I love all of the different textures- they are classic but romantic just like this room. If you would like to purchase these earrings, they are for sale in my webstore. Thank you for stopping by today!!

Versatile Wire!

The only way to put it is to say, I am in Love with wire!! The more I use it, the more I Want to use it! It is versatile and fun! So here is to wire!!

You have to look at the different ways it looks when you move it around in the light. Shimmering and shinning. Dull and Dark{in a good way}. It is simply wonderful! This is solid copper wire that I patinaed in LOS for a nice Vintage feel!

You can find these in my ETSY shop! I hope to make more soon in different colours, with the wire curved differently. The possibilities are endless!!

 Wear them with a chic little Jacket!

Found on Pintrest

Click on photo to take you to original link

You can also find more designs on my Website
Please read my blog for more inspiration!

Thanks for stopping in for a visit! We love to have you!

Marie

Flight of the Bumblebee

I thought I'd share a pair of earrings from my book, Jewelry Designs from Nature. 

Although the season for honey bees has passed,  I like this pair for it's earthy autumn color palette. The wire petals with tiny seed beads adds a nice frame for the bee and a fun visual element without adding weight to the design.  See more inspired by nature designs on my blog, http://www.humblebeads.blogspot.com/.

Free Bird

Birds offer me never-ending inspiration in my jewelry designs. I have always said, I could probably open up another online store with just bird related jewelry items.  These earrings are super sweet.  I hand-stamped some copper discs, and then hammered and darkened them to bring out the detail. Dangling on pale green beading wire from Soft Flex Co., below small perched birds. The sweetest birds you'll ever see.  It's a simple design and looks great with any season. The ear wires are nickel free natural brass from Vintaj Brass Co. You can find these earrings in my online store.

You can find these and other fun jewelry designs in my Etsy shop, Lorelei Eurto Jewelry.
Check out my blog too, Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio

Entwined Earrings

My challenge was simple - create a pair of earrings that were mostly wire and used my tiny handcrafted beads.  After several attempts, I finally arrived at these oval hoops that are entwined in steel wire - looking very much like a bramble of twigs in a forest and rather nesty.  Nesty things make me all sorts of happy, so with that I called it a day.

Entwined Earrings

Here are a few of the trials and errors.  My first thought was a wire Christmas tree with seed bead lights that you can see on the top.  Cute and I may revisit and refine the idea before the season is over.  My next idea was hoops with seed beads and wire wrapped.  I like them, but I need to figure out some of the construction. I will save that for another day.  And finally, I tried round hoops with the wire wrapped around and they didn't quite work for an earring.  But with a little shaping the circle became the oval above and I went from there.

A seemingly simple pair of earrings took quite a bit before I was able to pare them down to a shape and design that best complimented the bead.  And that's what goes into creating a simple pair of earrings!

Heather Powers' blogs at www.humblebeads.blogspot and more of her work can be found in her Etsy shop.