One in, one out

You may have heard the saying, "one in, one out" referring to letting go of a clothing item before buying a new one. I have tried this with beads with only partial success. There always seems to be more beads coming in than being made up for my shop!

I decided to try that rule out again recently after going on an artisan bead buying binge. Now to make lots of earrings so I don't feel so guilty...here are three pairs I made in my challenge.

My first pair of earrings have recycled glass that matches my rustic, grungy Numinosity  Beads perfectly. I do have a passion for grungy enamel beads. I have had these for a while just waiting for the perfect beads to go with them.

 

I love working with blue and this next pair is a lighter blue using Marshall Jodie lampwork stripy beads and fabulous hand painted polka dot beach stones from Plymouth Rocks. I used some blue Irish waxed linen to stack the lampwork beads and connect them to the bead stones.

 

 

My third pair of earrings has artisan lampwork headpins from Monte Verdi Lampwork. I have had these in my stash for a long time. So long, I don't think they make head pin anymore. Finally time for these little sparkling poppies to shine in the sun. I added padparadscha crystals with sterling silver bails and attached them to sterling silver ear wires.

 

 

I dug deep to find beads to use in my latest creations. I went so deep in my stash it was like getting these beads new all over again. It was a great project to make room for MORE beads. I highly recommend trying out the 'one in, one out' method as a challenge.

 

I hope you have a great week and it is jam packed with creativity and beads,

Jetta

What's wrong with this picture?

Can you see it?

Have you seen it yet?

I'll tell you anyway.
So I made the first earring on the left with 3 antiqued brass rings (top half).  When I went to make the second one I realised I didn't have a 3rd antiqued brass ring.  I searched everywhere, my desk, floor, all the rooms in my house (my beads are everywhere) to no avail.  I still wanted to finish the earrings and decided to use a raw brass ring for the second earring (on the right) in place of the 3rd antiqued ring.  I then undid the first earring and made it up again to match the second one.  I took photos yesterday...everything was perfect.
Later in the day as I began to edit the photos my eyes were drawn to the gold on the right one, I also noticed that there was no gold on the left earring.  I thought to myself "but I made that earring up again to match the second one"
Oops.  Apparently I've made up the same earring twice using the same 3 antiqued rings.  As you can imagine I called myself lots of names which I won't repeat here.  I could not bring myself to make the same earring for a 3rd time with the gold ring so for now they are staying like this. Ceramic connectors by the one and only Petra Carpreau

On a brighter note, I also made these - part of my industrial collection, a phase I am going through right now.  More about phases another time.

That's all for today.  I will be back in a couple of weeks time.  Have a lovely weekend.  

Suhana

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

An apple a day

... keeps the doctor away :) Well, at least let's hope so!

I was talking with my hubby a couple of months ago about wanting to make some mini apples and pumpkin beads for Fall creations. It's my favorite season in terms of the richness of colors, the nice cool crisp air, and because it's actually cool enough for me to snuggle up in a cozy sweater. I love handmade sweaters!

I don't knit much these days, but playing with beads is always on the agenda... So my hubby made me a small batch of super cute apple and pumpkin beads! Yippee!!

I may be biased here, but I think he did a really fabulous job. He's very patient and likes a challenge. Each one is individually hand sculpted by him and I added the finishing touches of pretty shimmering mica colors and protective glaze.

Check these out:

Polymer Clay Handmade Red Apple Beads

Don't you just want to eat these precious little Red Apples?

Although I don't eat 'pumpkin' anything.... I know, bad girl lol - but hey, that leaves more for you!
I really adore how these little pumpkins turned out:

Polymer Clay Handmade Pumpkin Beads

I wanted to make a pair of Red Apples Earrings and this is what I made, featuring a pair of my honey's gorgeous apple beads:

Handmade Fall Apple Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

I've added a dangling drop of wood beads (for the tree), and some green and copper Czech glass beads, as well as some Swarovski crystals in Light Siam and Topaz. Lots of sparkles showcasing end of Summer/Fall colors!

Most of the pumpkin and apple beads sold in my FB showcase in July, but we made a couple of extras to list them in my Etsy shop HERE (the quantity is VERY limited). Grab 'em while you can. We're both quite unwell at the moment, and I'm not taking any more custom orders at this point.

These one of a kind Fall earrings are also available for grabs HERE in my shop :-)

Our thoughts and prayers are going to everyone in the path of all the hurricanes, as well as those affected by all the wild fires both in the States and up here in Canada.
Be safe, stay strong, don't give up xoxo

Nathalie
Visit:
My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop

Striking Stripes

Hello, beady peeps from Loralee! 

Could you use a little va-va-voom in your designing life?  Has your get up and go, got up and went?   Well, how about trying some bold patterns, like stripes?!

Look at these enameled earring charms with pops of striped Millefiori glass cane by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare Art Wear.  Cathleen's enamel work is always so lush and vibrant.  Her use of color and pattern is like none other.

The tiny vintage sugar beads look adorable with the surrounding small daisies, don't you think?  The black and white vertical striped glass beads are from Indonesia.

Here are some earthier tones of yellow/green.  I added some small polymer glitter beads by Heather Powers of Humblebeads...called 'Wobbles'.  I call them Fabulous Glitter Balls...she laughs ..lol

We need a pair with more stripes you say?!!  Yes, I agree!!  

Revisiting a past design that is still one of my all-time favs. Wax resist striped beads by Joan Miller.   In this pair I had also experimented with making large wire wrapped headpins for the first time.  It all just worked so well together; bold yet mellow.

And, look what came in the mail this week as I was putting my blog post together... more beautiful patterned beads from Joan!

OH, but wait! Wow!  Just this past weekend I discovered these beauties by Holly Stultz!!  I almost jumped straight out of my chair!!!  

Holly hand sculpts, then meticulously hand paints each one.  Her work is simply marvelous!  She offers a wide range of subjects and themes but I'm very partial to her bold patterns.

Holly is originally from Wisconsin but now lives with her husband in Romania!  I've had the pleasure of chatting with her a bit last week and she is just the sweetest person.  

Holly's work can be found in various Facebook bead component selling groups.  If you're interested in seeing more, send her a message for more information on her next show.  Holly Stultz

Hope you had fun and feel inspired to give stripes and bold patterns a try! 

Classic...whimsy...tribal...fabulous!

Until next time!

Loralee Kolton Jewelry

Twisted Sisters

A couple of weeks ago my friend Lucy had an on line show to ease herself back into production of her metal work, after a break while she settled into her new house in wild Wales. A one woman show is quite taxing, and she won't mind me saying she isn't always in the best of health, having had an industrial accident several years ago which left her with a badly damaged back.  Late in the afternoon I knew she was pooped (her words!) so I offered to go on for an hour with some examples of how I use her more unusual findings.

So I posted my 'Twisted Sisters' They use Lucy's 'twisted sisters' connectors - she tells a good tale about how I rang her up one day and said imperiously ' I need something new - make me something different' and she came up with these. Bit of poetic licence, I say...................

These were the pairs I posted. I called these 'Platinum Blonde and 'Blood Meridian.' I overwrap Lucy's connectors with swarowski crystals in colours that blend, or contrast with the ceramic drops - they are fun to make.

It wasn't too long before I started getting comments asking if I was making some more - it's a style I haven't made for well over a year now. But now I'm hooked again. 

So here we are - some lovely new autumn colours. The ceramic drops that I take my colours from are, of course, by the wonderful Petra.  

 

                                   

                



                  A Clockwork Orange

                Fiesta - The Sun also Rises.

The new pairs will be in my Etsy shop this week, and I feel more coming on!

               See you in a couple of weeks

                              Lindsay

                         My Etsy shop
                   My Facebook page

Welcome Heidi Ahren Williams!

Opal Perfection ~ Australian Opal Doublet Hand-Fabricated Earrings

Hello and thank you all so much for the opportunity to write an article for Earrings Everyday! How fun is this?! Let me quickly introduce myself, and then I'll go into a bit of the process of creating these Opal beauties, from finding the gemstones, to following the Muse and her winding, twisting, adventurous path to perfection!

My name is Heidi Williams, and I'm sure I know many of you from Facebook and Instagram - I stay pretty active in a lot of those groups, and on social media in general.  I live in Wyoming, near the Snowy Range and Medicine Bow Peak. We love to hike, camp, and motorbike in the mountains, enjoying the beauty of the untamed wilderness. Every time I return from the mountains, I feel rejuvenated and freshly inspired to create!

Back from one of these wonderfully relaxing mountain adventures, I began creating these Opal earrings - they are sweetly petite, with tiny little teardrop opal doublets, (which were a challenge to fabricate bezels for) and elegantly organic with a sleek, lightweight design. I love keeping such beautiful gemstones as the star of the show, while adding my own touch of hand-fabricated metalwork to create a One-Of-A-Kind design.

Finding gemstones that are of high quality, and yet unique can be a challenge at times, although social media and the popularity of Instagram and Facebook sales makes this much easier...I am always on the lookout for fabulous gemstones, especially in matching (or semi matching) pairs for future earring designs! I collect these gemstones and then when so inspired I will design around the stone - I rarely purchase a stone with a specific design in mind.

Having settled on these teeny tiny opal doublets from Australia, I began fabricating the smooth silver bezels - choosing the correct height of bezel wire is so important, and something I still mess up on occasionally, but I am happy with these! After soldering the bezels to silver back plates on which I remembered to stamp my little signature heart, and popping them in the pickle pot, I begin work on the upper portion of the earrings.

I select narrow bits of silver sheet 
hand cut and hammered, 16-gauge wire for the front which will be what the opals attach to, and 20-gauge wire for the ear wires. For this portion I use medium paste solder, placing all of my silver bits together in their places on my soldering board. I begin soldering by heating up the 16-gauge wire first - making the end of the wire ball up to create a nice drop for the loop that the opal will hang from. After the 16-gauge wire is balled up sufficiently, I begin heating and soldering the rest of the earring upper. 

Once soldered, I let cool before removing from my soldering board,  as Argentium (935) Silver is brittle when hot - I've shattered one too many designs because I was impatient and tried moving the piece before it was cooled enough! 

These upper earring parts are now popped into the pickle pot, and out comes the tear drop bezels! I trim off the excess silver, file and sand edges, and solder jump rings to the top of each. 

After all of these pieces are sufficiently pickled, I file, sand, and polish. Then out comes the LOS gel (which I LOVE), giving them a nice black patina. (Black Max is also a great blackening agent for silver!) After tumbling, I again polish the bits up, taking off enough of the LOS to highlight the texture. Setting the stones is the next to last step - and a tedious process to keep the bezel smooth and wrinkle-free, especially at the corners. Sometimes I like that wrinkly rustic look, but for this pair of earrings, I wanted a smooth setting.

 I always begin at the corners, smoothing them down first, and move around the setting gradually working the bezel down a bit more with every rotation. Slow and gentle will have your bezel looking amazing in the end! A bit of filing, sanding, and polishing to top it off (avoiding the stone of course), and we are ready to attach the opals to their upper earring parts. These earrings were so much fun to make, and best yet, a success!

Some product information for the curious:
Have you ever wondered what an opal doublet was? Well, quite simply Opal Doublet as the name suggests, is a thin layer of precious Opal cemented onto a backing, usually a piece of common Black Opal or Ironstone. They were originally created from Opal that was perhaps too thin to produce a solid stone.

Wondering about Argentium Silver? Let me tell you! Argentium Silver is .935 pure silver, with germanium as its alloy instead of nickle. It is hypoallergenic, nickle free, and perfect for those who are allergic to traditional Sterling Silver!

Thank you so much for having me! I hope this little article inspires your muse a little!

Be Inspired, Stay Creative~
Heidi

Azteca Designs Boutique
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It's all about hoops!

Now, I love hoops. They pop up in nearly everything I make. Can't help it. Even if I try not to include them, they end up sneaking into a design in some form or other. I particularly love these ceramic hoops by Petra Carpreau - I have quite a stash of them, with all different colours and glazes. All the colour is on the outside edge of these hoops, so I try to make sure that this is the focus of the design.

This first pair have a beautiful rose pink pair of hoops, which I teamed with pretty ceramic triple flower charms (also by Petra Carpreau). I kept it simple with some large brass jump rings to connect the flower charms and the earwires, but needed a little something extra. A few tiny brass jump rings accentuated the gold/brass in the glaze of the hoops and flower charms.

This next pair had a gorgeous pair of blue hoops as their starting point. I had some very pretty lilac etched lampwork beads by UK artist Joanne Joyce, which are rather like sea glass. I added some lilac glass rondelles, and some indigo seed beads for contrast. Love these colours together

Really hope you like them! They'll be available in a showcase on The Jewellery Show over on Facebook on 25th September, although the blue pair are listed in my etsy shop Utterly Lovely Stuff at the moment

See you in a couple of weeks :-)