We're All Ears :: January Reveal

So in the span of 2 weeks I have come to a morphing conclusion about Marsala, the Color of the Year. It is actually starting to grow on me!

I found that I actually have more things in my closet and life that are this color. I love it paired with grey and navy and lavender. I can see it with silver, gold, brass, gunmetal and copper. I guess I am entitled to change my mind!

Just when I was thinking that I might not have the right shade of bead, I got a surprise package in the mail from Cindy Martin-Shaw. She has been making components and she was working on Marsala colored ones and she thought I might like to have some. How right she was! I was so delighted by her kindness in thinking of me. And now I had just what I needed to make my earrings for the reveal.

The first pair, called Marsala Medallions, feature these domed rounds with a heavy embossing on them. The color is that perfect shade of dusky Marsala. I wanted to try to pair the Marsala color with some of the others on the list of Spring 2015 shades. I chose to use Strawberry Ice in the form of cherry quartz faceted rondelles atop some vintage rhinestone drops. I like the almost monochromatic palette this creates and the dangles make these a bit longer and swingy, the way I like them.

For the second pair, I added drops of mauve pearl headpins with diamond faceted pyrite ovals. The pyrite, also know as 'Fool's Gold,' leans more to the Custard color. I gave the rings a little bit more interest with love knots in black gunmetal rings. I tried all sorts of ear wires, but couldn't find any that worked, until I swiped the ear wires off my piece from last month's reveal! I know, cheating. But I really like the paddle effect. Unfortunately, these ear wires are in a gauge that is too thick for ears, so I will have to recreate these in a smaller size. I call these Marsala Spark because I learned that when you strike a pyrite rock with a hard object you can get a spark!

This third pair, called Marsala Flora, was really more of an accident. I happened to have a bag of these lovely bead embroidered components lying on the table from my friend Kristen Stevens. I tried putting these lovelies with all manner of beads... glass, gemstone, hematite, drops, dangles and rondelles. I just couldn't find the right beads to go with them. And then I realized that it was because they were so very special on their own. So I dug out a special pair of sterling silver ear wires I had been hoarding and that was that! You shouldn't mess with perfection. I really can't lay claim to this design (thanks to Miss Kristen for the pretty beaded components!), but I did wear them today and I love them! Something new for me!

Which color in the palette do you think you will work with this year? Let's see what you made!

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Prairie Rose

I'm running the risk of repeating myself here! I've just looked over my last post, having started writing this one, and I was basically about the say the same things. So, suffice it to say here, that not much has changed in the last two weeks!  So I'm sharing a pair of earrings I made shortly(-ish) before Christmas.

They're predominately czech glass, with a few Indonesian glass beads and a couple of dinky pearls thrown in. They're available here in my Etsy shop.

It seems odd that I've yet to make anything new, jewellery-wise, in 2015 - apart from magazine work. I'm really looking forward to getting back to designing and kicking off the year with some new and fresh pieces. 

Mexican Flor

As some of you know, my husband and I are spending this winter in Oaxaca, Mexico.  I brought a limited number of beads along with me and it is a good challenge to design with what I have here.  I'm still enamored with Marsha Neal's twisty spike headpins.  I used a coral pair of them 2 weeks ago and today I'll share a new pair of earrings that feature green twisty spikes.

I topped the spikes with Czech glass flowers and threaded yellow seed beads onto the head pin wires.

I bent the wires into circles and also ran the wire down behind the flowers to keep them positioned facing forward.

Mexico is a land of amazing, vibrant colors and I think these earrings have a bright happy color combo that reflects the country in which I am living now.  You can view the Mexican Flor earrings in my shop.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Blue

Handcrafted ceramic beads by Cindy's Art & Soul

Handcrafted sterling bead caps and washer accents. 

Shimmering blue Kyanite gemstones.

Royal blue faceted Sodalite stones. 

Available at Art & Soul Jewelry (Later today)

ღ Cindy

Cindy's Art & Soul Jewelry

Bohemian Spirit

I have had these bohemian teardrops from Vintaj FOREVER. I've kind of been hoarding them until inspiration struck, I guess. Well, it finally did.

                                       You will find these earrings available for sale HERE.

I would wear with them with this ensemble that I created on Polyvore....

Bohemian Spirit by kristyabner featuring roxy shoes

Thanks for stopping by...would love a comment from you!

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

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!

Chain Gang

I designed these earrings around these wonderful African brass beads from Afrobeadia, and my embossed sterling silver rings. I fashioned copper chain links to join the beads together.

I had so much fun with the design, I did it again with my copper embossed rings, and fine silver links! Both pair feature Argentium silver earwires embellished with copper beads and brass wire.

And here's a little tune from the Pretenders to start your work-day off right!