Fighters

Bit short and sweet from me today. I have been immersed in experimenting with ceramics and so I haven't made any new earrings for the last week or so, which is most unusual! So today I'm sharing one of my favourite pairs from the back catalogue.

They're fairly simple but I really like them - and I don't say that very often!  Of course, the ceramic spikes are from Scorched Earth. The eyelash-like vintage nailheads were in a stack I won on Ebay some years ago now. They're larger than a lot of the 'spiky' nailheads you see. They were the only pair in the selection that I got; I kinda wish I'd kept them for myself! If anyone has any of these in their stash and is prepared to part with them, or if you've seen some somewhere, please let me know! 

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

Ode to Raku

 

Raku. Who doesn't love raku? Who doesn't drool over its unpredictable rainbow sheen, charred edges, and matte textures? And how cool is it that of all the raku artists out there, each one has his/her own techniques and "recipes" that give their raku a singular, identifiable look? It's an inconsistent and uncontrollable process, yet these artists still manage to create their own consistent aesthetic.

I've been on a raku kick all this year and have hoarded pieces from several incredible artists, including Jennifer Pottner of Urban Raku, who happens to live right here in Cincinnati! She's big into making discs and donuts that are perfect for stacking and layering. Let me tell you how much trouble I got myself into when I stopped by to see her studio...dangerous.

When I first picked up these two mismatched pieces, I didn't know what I'd do with them, but knew that they needed to be made into earrings. After hours of toggling with designs and going back and forth, I realized that the incredible spectrum of colors didn't need any ornamentation - they were stunning when allowed to shine themselves. All they needed was some snug, crazy wire wrapping and extra long ear wires. 

Dark drama, that's what these babies are all about.



Happy Mid-Week :)
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Faerie Lights

Originally I planned to show you the necklace that inspired these earrings, also. But I was blessed with an unexpected visit from family who live out of state! So I did not finish the necklace. That will be for tomorrow... or another day.

I have been working on making new porcelain beads. Playing with textures, shapes and glazes. It's a lot of fun but I am new to glazing... and there are a lot of unexpected results thus far. Happily I have a few beads that I like, and this is one of them.

I really love this color! I don't really know how I achieved it. Unfortunately... I did not take notes when I was glazing. Lesson learned. I have a kiln FULL of beads ready to fire and there will be note taking this time around! :-D 

Back to the color. I am thinking it's light or PALE amethyst. What do you think? What would you call it? I have paired it will some really pretty Czech glass beads that have an iridescence to them that reflects the sunlight in an amazing way.

My camera lens is cracked. Because I dropped it. And I have not gotten around to researching cameras enough to know what I want to get to replace this one yet. I have loved this camera! And honestly, I don't want to get rid of it. But sometimes it does this funny thing with the light... sunlight... direct sunlight does this funny thing... 

And it's kind of pretty in this one- so I left it. 

And the name came... Faerie Lights...

These are simple earrings. I find that sometimes the simplest designs are the ones I prefer. Uncluttered and just pretty. 

For these earrings I used some Bali silver flowers I have had in my "stash" for years. I have had them so long, I barely remember where they came from. If you work with beads, I'm sure you can relate. Those beads that you love and love and love and you want to keep them forever- only to take them out once a year to fondle? 

Yes, these are those beads.

This was one of those times that I knew exactly what to put together. These components almost came together on their own - magically? I don't know. The flowers time had come!

Necklace coming soon! 

Cindy 

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That 70's Vibe

My husband and I are leaving the full-time RVing to move into an apartment later this week, and the building is older (but nicely maintained) and it has a definite "70's vibe" to it, which I love!

It takes me back to some good times, and looking forward to more good memories

to be created with my love :)

I really enjoy the colors and styles of that era, so I created an outfit on Polyvore as my inspiration:

That 70's Vibe Arizona Shades by nathalie-lesage featuring a straw hat

And I made these earrings to match... Rustic shades of the 70's in Arizona: 

I just loooooooove this stash of rustic Tourmaline nuggets,

and how they change colors depending on the light.

These two have rich shades of caramel and mossy green, plus a hint of peach.

Just yummilicious earthy tones, with a bit of funky 70's groove.

The artisan lampwork beads have various shades of caramel, cream, silver glass and turquoise.

These earrings are not all that different than a few pairs I've showcased before,

but every pair has sold out so far... I had to make another pair. Each one is unique. 

You can find this pair on my website HERE.

Thanks for looking! Enjoy your week :)

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith & Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

 

Bohemian Fringe

These earrings took quite a bit of time because the design was in my head but just took awhile to come to fruition. I love them though and plan on making a pair for myself in silver and turquoise. They are quite dramatic and sexy at four inches in length!

They would look fab with this ensemble found on Pinterest. Original source unknown.

You will find these earrings for sale here and many other pieces on my website. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

Birch Twig Earrings

I needed a simple pair of earrings for my fall/winter 2014 collection that I'm currently designing. My heart relishes in autumn inspirations so I don't mind mentally wandering through birch forests in the middle of summer. It's sort of my happy place!

These were inspired by Gustav Klimt's Birch Grove painting.

The earrings have hand-forged twigs: copper that is hammered and darkened with patina, accented by tiny Czech glass beads and hung on natural brass earwires. 

I made the earrings to go with these Woodland Butterfly Bracelets,  the birch forest reflected in the mixed colors of glass beads. These have tiny polymer clay butterfly wing charms. I love their earthy bohemian style. I kept two of these for myself and have been wearing them everyday. Love stacking them together!

Humblebeads Jewelry

Verdigris Moroccan Earrings

I do a show every August that is a fund raiser for transitional housing for women and children.  They always have a theme and this year it is "Moroccan Mystique".  For the first time ever, they have asked the vendors to dress in accordance with the theme.  Which got me to thinking about what contemporary Moroccan style might look like.

So naturally I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.  What did I ever do without Pinterest?  I saw lots of caftans and blouses that were designed like short caftans. 

There were sandals and gorgeous henna designs.

But the best thing of all was the jewelry!  Totally inspiring!

So, while I still don't have a Moroccan style blouse, I do have some Moroccan inspired earrings now.  These lack the diamonds and gemstones of the earrings pictured above, but I can see an echo of Moroccan Mystic the the shapes.  The verdigris metal stampings are from Miss Fickle Media. 

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Fossilized

It's me again!

I'm a last minute substitution for today and I'm happy to share these wonderful earrings.

These earrings feature Gorgeous Lampwork Beads by Radiant Mind paired with some Polymer Clay Ammonite Drops I made. Both of these have been hanging out on my table for some time.

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

Forest Talisman

I made a mold of a piece of Elk/Deer antler and made these copper pieces from it.

These amazing Lampwork Beads by Terry Belcher of SilverFish Designs are powerful enough to handle these large copper pieces.

Source

If you love nature photography as much as I do I highly recommend you click on the source of the wonderful photograph above.

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

We're All Ears :: July Reveal

:: Source ::

The hot July winds are upon us. This picture feels so very fresh and alive to me. I don't often get the chance to go to the ocean, but this is what I feel it must be like... the horizon line meeting the steely sky... the rolling of the waves... the smell of the sea-salt in the air... the breeze ruffling my hair...

I did sail once, on Lake Michigan and it did look very much like this. I remember that steamy August day in 1997 well... because I fell asleep! I don't know if it was the rocking of the boat, or the fact that the next week I discovered that I was pregnant with my first child that did it, but I know that it was a beautiful day on a boat filled with family and friends.

The sails on these vessels were what caught my eye first. The patriotic colors of red-white-blue is classic and fits the Independence Day feeling that we have during July here in the U.S. But more than the colors, I was struck by the shapes. The billowing out of the fabric and the strong geometric lines on the pattern were calling to me.

The triangle shape of these metal components have a stylized puffed out shape and echo the lines of sails. The red glass beads positively glow on the tiny star-tipped head pins with sparkly blue goldstone and some milky white rondelles on top. These are the perfect accessory to swing jauntily in the hot summer breezes. 

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Dotty

I've never worked with feathers before. I've meant to and have a number in my stash, including a lovely selection that I picked up a while back from Lima Beads. Now I've tried them I wish I'd ordered more, because when I finally got them out of the pack I realised just how beautiful they were.  And, of course, they are now out of stock... There were two of each of the different feathers in the pack so they kinda demanded to be made into earrings.

I've paired the feathers with some fabulous hand-painted pebbles from Plymouth Rocks.  I just love these pebbles and I frequently check Tammy's shop to see if she's produced any more.  These have a mix of neon shades dotted onto them. (Personally, I've rather enjoyed the neon trend.)  I've topped them with a black czech glass ring and a pop of hot pink glass.

These are now available here in my Etsy shop.

Before I go, a quick reminder: tomorrow is the day of the monthly We're All Ears challenge blog hop.   There's still time to join in and get a pair made!  For all the details and to see the challenge inspiration image, click here.

Bye for now, Claire 

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

Butterfly Wings

Light

delicate

precious

fragile

renewal

rebirth

hope

I love the symbols of butterfly wings. I'm slightly obsessed lately.

I created these earrings using my butterfly wing beads, each color is a different layer of polymer clay in the design. The perfect charms to compliment my wing beads are these peachy colored enameled butterflies by Gardanne Beads.

I made the earrings to go with this boho butterfly necklace that is featured in a fun blog hop I'm hosting today.  

Both will be available on my website later day. 

Humblebeads Jewelry

Mohican Legacy

Mohican Earrings

It is possible to find inspiration in some very strange places. One of my favorite movies is "Last of the Mohicans" based on the book by James Fennimore Cooper. At the very end of the movie, the vengeful and sadistic Huron enemy, Magwa, is undone by Chingachgook with a battle axe type weapon. What does this have to do with earrings, you may be asking yourself? It is the fascinating shape of the weapon that has been stuck in my mind, wondering how I might be able to incorporate that shape into a design.

When I saw these chrysocolla wings, I knew the time had finally come to design earrings inspired by this beautiful native weapon. I added rusty red and brown Greek ceramic spacers and African copper rounds to the chrysocolla for contrast, and wrapped them in a heavier gauge oxidized copper wire to maintain their primitive character.

We find inspiration in the things we are drawn to, and I have always been a great admirer of native American culture. Even the native weapons had artistic lines and artful embellishments.



Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire

Summer in the Prairies

Summer in the Prairies could be summed up by one word: Grain.

In the Central-Northern region of Alberta, every year in July, you see yellow as far as the eye can see.

Canola oil production is a huge deal around here, and confirmed by the sea of yellow Canola flowers that you see all around you, no matter where you turn your head. It's beautiful, happy and sunny!

Couple that with vast clear blue skies, and you know that you've arrived in the Canadian Prairies :)

I have two go-to oils when I cook: Canola Oil and Olive Oil... I love to cook, and the beautiful golden color of canola oil is a staple at our house and in our RV.

Inspired by all this, I found in my stash a pair of beautiful yellow golden citrine drops (their shape and color reminds me of large drops of Canola Oil), that I have coupled with a pair of very playful and sunny artisan glass beads with shades of yellow and a pop of red for a touch of playfulness. These beads also have that bit of 'stormy weather' in there with the silvered glass reaction, which instantly transforms sunny skies into storms almost every night here. 

All set on 14kt Gold Filled, for this golden-colored metal speaks of Summer:

Lightweight, flirty and happy, you can find these Prairie-Inspired earrings on my website HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

 (Don't forget to participate in our July Inspiration Challenge!)

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith & Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

 

Orange Blossoms

I recently acquired these gorgeous Czech flower beads and immediately wanted to pair them with Turquoise (that's becoming a habit-put down the turquoise already!). I have also been using a lot of the waxed cording in my jewelry lately and I'm loving the look of it although I need to learn more than 3 knots at this point. :P

You can find these earrings for sale here on my website .

I also made a coordinating necklace, it's available here as well.

Don't forget next Friday is our reveal day for the "We're All Ears" June inspiration challenge.

Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous weekend!

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

Homespun Chandeliers

Homespun Chandeliers

I made these earrings around folded cones I made from raw copper sheet (Click HERE for a short tutorial on how to make these cones)--I hung seven lengths of fine chain from each one, and petite clear glass beads in an iridescent finish from the end of each chain. The beads remind me of tiny light bulbs. I would love to have an old nautical pendant lamp in a crusty finish, with cascades of crystals hanging down!

Why hasn't anybody done this? Anybody want to do this? Anybody? I have the perfect corner for it. Let me know.

In the meantime I will have to just content myself with these miniature versions.

(Someday when my eyes are no longer up to making tiny things, I will make lamps!)

Keirsten
Etsy
Blog
Flickr

Wooly Wire Earrings

When do you get your most creative ideas?  Just before you drift off to sleep at night?  In the shower?  While you are driving or taking a walk?  There is something about being in a relaxed, almost meditative state that fosters creativity.  You are focused on your senses, but have given your mind permission to wander or to just rest.  In any case, the idea for these earrings came to me yesterday, during my morning shower.

 I threaded vintage glass beads and ceramic flower discs, by GinPins, on Wooly Wire.  I love the fuzzy texture the Wooly Wire adds to the design and the little bit of green and gold that peeks out in the earring on the right, (above).

Wouldn't these earrings be a perfect accent to an easy, breezy summer outfit such as this?

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry