Good King of Cats

Hello!  

I had received some wonderful polymer charms from a bead artist in Sweden by the name of Anneli Gustavsson.   It was love at first sight!  All the charms had whimsical medieval illustrations and mostly of little animals.  Loveeee I tell you!

I must have tried a half dozen different designs and then I thought to pair them with a cross or sword of some type.  I dug around in my stash of Inviciti charms and huzzah - the perfect rich gold pieces! I almost added some pearls but decided to leave them more primitive. I used handmade twisted ear-wires by Joan Moritz Langmo which add just the right touch.  When you decide on a more simple design it's important that each piece is amazing on its own. Honestly, I couldn't be more thrilled with the way they turned out.

Thank you for stopping by my beading table today!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Hope Springs Eternal

Being on the cusp of Spring, I bring to you this day ~

Proverb-

"It is human nature always to find fresh cause for optimism."

There are two amazing and glorious things about these earrings: First, the newly created enamel work by Inviciti!!!  Yass! Garden sprouts with seedlings, just ready to emerge from the earth. Also, I'd like to mention that this is one of my favorite retro color combinations! 

Secondly, rare scalloped antique furnace glass!!  I've had this strand in my stash for a long time and I can't even begin to tell you how special it is.  Stunning emerald green with a beautiful scalloped edge that captures light and brings so much texture.  I also found some vintage black spacers with the same scalloped edge to build on.  At the very top are rustic peeled vintage glass pearls which always have a nice mellow color.

♡

Thank you for stopping by my worktable today!!  Happy Spring!!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Day Of The Dead Calaveras

As some of you may know, about 6 years ago, my husband and I spent a month on Oaxaca, Mexico; from mid-October till mid-November. This put us right in the middle of one of Mexico's most exuberant celebrations of The Day Of The Dead. Handmade altars, decorated with food, flowers and sugar skulls, were constructed all over the city. Huge skeleton puppets were paraded in the streets and placed in business storefronts.

Near Llano Park in Oaxaca, Mexico

The puppets as well as the sugar skulls, were often crowned with colorful flowers, especially marigolds. Orange marigolds are said to guide the spirits of the departed, back to their homes on the Day Of The Dead.

In keeping with these customs, I dangled bright orange flowers beneath these wonderful pewter skull (Calavera in Spanish) charms by Inviciti.

The flowers have a golden luster finish that looks especially pretty in the light. I made my own Sterling silver ear wires to go along with the skull earrings.

The skull motif is popular year round, but these would be especially fun to wear this month! You can find these earrings in my shop now.

Linda Landig Jewelry

With Open Hands & Hearts We Welcome The New Year!

Welcome, 2019!

I love New Year celebrations, resolutions, and the best intentions it brings.  I love the feeling of hope for the future.  I love the thought of opening yourself to new possibilities.  

Painterly finished, artistic hands by Vincent and Nooma Cav of Inviciti.

Transparent red Czech glass hearts with verdigris sides and faceted vintage crystals from the 30's.

♡

Wishing us a New Year of hands covered in paint, blackened by the oxidized metal residue and perhaps even some Band-Aids!

Cheers!  Now go get dirty and have the most creative year ever!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

By The Light Of The Halloween Moon

Chandelier connectors by Inviciti handmade of pewter in a dark finish to set the mood!

Blackened rustic stars dangling next to the most glimmering golden druzy. 

Mysteriously masked, ceramic, man in the moon charms by Nadia Terra in a charcoal grey.

This is a photo of one of my most fondest Halloweens.  My boys were at that age where they lived for trick or treating and couldn't wait to get into their costumes.  That year the weather was absolutely perfect and the autumn colors were amazing - it was pure magic!  I will never forget it.

I love this poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater:

Wishing all the magic of Halloween!

Loralee xox

loraleekolton.etsy.com

Neutral Bling

I love using hand components in my designs so I thought I'd share a few in today's post.  The beautiful and extremely versatile pewter hands are by Inviciti.  I used the same blank for the back and used the hands in 2 different ways.  I hope you like them.

Group shot

In this pair I attached large rhinestones and seeds to brass blanks using copper wire.  My attempt at 'sewing' metal :D.  In the original version I had 2 more lines of seed beads in space above the hands but the earrings looked really busy.  I love OTT designs but it wasn't working in this instance so I removed those 2 lines.  I think they look neater and the empty space brings down the bling by just the right amount.

For the second pair I attached the hands directly on to the blank, framed with opal white cup chain which also act as dangles.  I added little seed bead dangles on either side of the chain to complete the look.

So there you have it.  My attempt at making 'sewn' (softly) blinged up earrings.  These will be available in my show next Tuesday in The Jewellery Show FB group.  Hope you cam drop by.

Suhana 

My Etsy shop: Suhana Hart Jewellery

Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again...

Presently, it's all about autumn and All Hallows' Eve on my worktable.  The dog days of summer, in my mind, have drifted away and all I feel is cool crisp air with a hint of mystery.

Striking pewter charms by Inviciti featuring printed images of original art by Nooma Cav.  These are rare pieces and so lucky to get one!

I had some edgy cool glass with metallic raised dots made by Dana M. Graham in my stash.  The petite size was perfect and had a cast of blue-grey which brought out the colors on the bottom of the charms, adding a lot of life to the pieces.

For the finish, I chose some lovely vintage coated glass pearls, the kind that was used by the Miriam Haskell Company, circa the 1940's.  They have an amazing patina in a grey metallic.

♡

Thank you for stopping by and seeing what's happening in my tiny studio!  I'll see you again the first Wednesday in September!  

(that's right, one chair for me and one for the kitty)

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ Artful in beads

“Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it.” ~ Shakespeare

I was excited to find these very cool West German vintage plastic cameos from the 1940's.  They have an AB cast to them, which you're able to see a hint of in some of my photos; not always the easiest effect to capture. This retro green is a favorite of mine.

I have always found cameos a little mysterious  - not exactly sure as to why.  I find keys mysterious too, so I thought, that might be an interesting direction to take.  The keys are from Inviciti Jewelry and made of pewter.

I wanted to create a bit of space and airiness between the two main focal pieces so I added these amazing tin-cut crystals from the 1930's.  I had never seen a tin cut crystal in this aqua before!

I love when I sit at my worktable and by pulling a few of my favorite things together  - somehow, a little mystery or story starts to unfold.  I will let you fill in the rest ;)

Thank you for popping in and having a look around today!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~artful in beads

These earrings are in my shop!

Retro Temple

Hello, Beady Peeps!

I was in the mood for something different, so here we go...

Rustic, distressed patina pewter charms by Inviciti. I remember when I bought  these because I loved them so much I purchased multiples! When I like something, I tend to REALLLY like it a lot!!  lol

Vincent and Nooma always come up with interesting and exquisite new finishes.  I wanted to play on that touch of burnt orange they subtlety added so I paired them with these lovely rare carved vintage Celluloid beads from the 40's. Then, gave them an added pop of color with another pair of green carved vintage pieces also from the 1940's.

I love the multicultural vibe of these earrings and hope you do too!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kotlon ~ artful in beads

Surprisingly, Pink

When you think of rustic-industrial, pink probably doesn't jump to mind ~ but, isn't it a nice little surprise?!

THE coolest lampwork glass with nailheads by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads; one-of-a-kind, handmade, patina finished, pewter charms by Inviciti; vintage glass pearls.

↔

Stacked, mismatched headpins!

 I had one lovely, drool-worthy, orphan headpin, by Kimberly Rogers.   So, I thought I'd make a stacked mate using a small headpin by Pipandmolly, then layer a rhinestone spacer, a shimmery matte teardrop lampwork bead by Kay Mallery and a rough cut piece of pyrite.  I topped both off with yummy vintage AB faceted crystals for a little symmetry .

Many thanks for stopping by today!

Loralee xo

LoraleeKolton ~ artful in beads

All things Inviciti

Hello!

So I am busy busy busy, making lots of new things for a Facebook showcase over on The Jewellery Show on the 26th of this month. This will be my first showcase since November and I always get a little nervous, especially if I've had a gap. Will people like my new creations? Will anyone show up?! And if i take a break from making things, I always feel so rusty! Sometimes the creative spirit gets a bit....stuck...

So what's needed is some inspiration via post. And the wonderful Vincent & Nooma of Inviciti kindly obliged. They make the most beautiful pewter and painted charms, and a little package from them popped onto my doormat on Saturday and suddenly I was on a roll! Funny how that happens sometimes? How it can be so hard to create and at other times, it just flows?

So here's a group shot of everything together

Look at that gleaming pewter! So here's the first pair with some delicious lampwork by our very own super talented Kimberly of  Numinosity (by the way -have you seen her instagram feed? It's a visual feast! She has quite the eye for all things interesting, grungy and beautiful). Teamed these with some twisted silver plated rings and spacers and the Inviciti charms, of course.

The next couple of pairs have gorgeous lampwork nuggets by Maryse Fritz-Thillens. The first pair, a striking pinky purple colour, with silver plated spacers, co-ordinating czech glass and some silver-plated leaves too, just poking through the charms

Love these star charms. Just a few little twisted jumprings and spacers in this pair (possibly my favourites?)

And finally, keeping it simple with a little stack of Roman glass rondelles. Just love that these are ancient. Amazing to be able to wear a little bit of history in your lobes :-)

So that's me done for this month. All of these will be available over on The Jewellery Show on the 26th. Pop on over and say hello if you can. If they don't find a home there, they will be off to Utterly Lovely Stuff

See you next month

Sue x

Criss-Cross Applesauce

I know, what does applesauce have to do with this?  Do you remember that saying from when you were a kid?? ... No, you say, I'm just ancient!... lol.  Well, maybe I should update it to "criss-cross awesomesauce"...that'd work, too,  lol!

 The pairs of earrings below have a couple things in common,  a wonderful cross-over wire pattern and cool bar-beads which lend to that tribal look I love so much.  

The amazing hand painted focal beads are by Nooma Cav of Inviciti. They are made of wood so they are super lightweight even though they are on the larger side.  I used painted round wood beads in green to draw that magnificent color back to the top.  The ceramic red bars are by Michelle McCarthy of FireflyStudio and she makes them in an array of colors.  

Stunning enamel pieces by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare; Polymer accent beads by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I adore the detail in Heather's beads, it brings so much to a design of a smaller scale like earrings.

It's freezing and kind of grey here in the mid-west, it was so nice to play with some bold colors!  

Thank you for stopping by!!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads

Dia de los Muertos

Hola!  Loralee here for a visit and I've brought a couple of friends with me today!

A festive pair of earrings using lovely unglazed skullies from Gaea Handmade.  I gave her a rhinestone necklace and a hand carved, two-sided, mother-of-pearl, rose crown.  She is wearing the perfect party dress by Inviciti! Yes, the lady can dance, as her dress moves freely from side to side!

La Catrina

Bold, vibrant, primitive crosses by JoesphineBeads paired with hand carved bone skulls that are two sided.  I wanted to keep the continuity of the cross and skull, so I made a fabric wrapped neck piece, joining the two.  I really love the way it looks!

Las Almas

The components are two-sided or finished on the backs so it actually could be used as a second pair of earrings if you flip them on the ear-wire with a pair of pliers.  The backs of the crosses are a bronze metallic and are beautiful.

¡feliz día de los muertos!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton Jewelry

Randomness

Hi everyone, I'd completely forgotten about today *eek*! Luckily I had an online show a few days
ago which means I have new earrings to show you.

First up are these featuring enamelled shields by Candan Imrak.

Pewter peace charms by Invicit.

Pewter charms by Invicit, polymer connectors by Areto Beads and lampwork by GlassBeadArt.

Ceramic connectors by Areto beads

These are a bit too cute 😀, featuring polymer owls by Areto Beads. 💖💖💖

And these, again with ceramic connectors by Areto Beads.

Some of these have sold and the rest will be available in my next online show in this group before they are listed on Etsy. 

See you again in 2 weeks time.

Suhana 💜💜💜

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads