Vivid!

Hi, everyone!  This past month has been a tough one, with a major household upheaval and the death of a beloved family pet.  💔   So I'll keep this short, but I'd love to show you all some recent earrings.  

The focus of the first pair (below) is a classic polymer clay design by Helena Benkoczka, pretty stylized feathers in violet, fuchsia, purple, and gold.  I paired the feathers with deep-blue lampwork glass rondelles, fuchsia Czech glass rondelles and Swarovski bicones, and gold accent beads, and tied the earrings together with fuchsia linen thread.

Kristi Bowman-Gruel's vividly colorful dotted-and-swirled painted copper charms (below) are so colorful all by themselves that I couldn't resist adding even more color and texture.  Even the little green Czech discs are dusted with gold, and Beth Mellor's rosy rondelles have subtle little dots.  A little over the top?  Well, maybe...  😉💗

Thank you so much for reading!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks.  💗

xoxo
Meridy

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Rustic Charm

I decided to make a set of earrings featuring enamel components by Brumedeterre. I just love their rustic charm and fabulous colours. For the first pair I have matched the enamel charms with rustic lava free form lampwork beads by Natalya Darlin that perfectly highlight the orange and blue colours. Then, I couldn’t resist using Kerstin’s hand-beaded caps as a kind of crown, again the deep orange colour is perfect and I feel that it adds a tribal feel. To finish off I added some Czech glass beads.

For the second pair I have used these enamels, again by Brumedeterre with a fabulous daisy petal design in strikingly contrasting colours. I found the perfect lampwork beads to match, these bubble beads by Joanne Joyce and finished off by using copper beads and bead caps as a balance with the other colours.

For my final pair I chose to use these very striking enamels, again with a daisy petal design. The exposed copper on half with the use of a flower stamp is a lovely touch I think. After having a good search through my lampwork stash I found these gorgeous beads by Australian artisan Susan Clarkson which I combined with copper bead caps and spacers.

Thank you for reading, you can find my designs at Nicola Morse - Jewellery & components.

Sister Earrings

Hi, everyone!  It's good to be back.

First, let me thank Norbel, who covered my last blog date at the last minute.  I really appreciate it, my friend! 💓

I've always loved the idea of "sister" jewelry:  pieces that resemble each other but aren't the same.  I hadn't made any sister anythings in a while...but then, about a month ago, I bought these exquisite rainbow leaf earring components from Kristi Bowman Gruel:

From a strand of four beads (by one of my favorite glass artists, Beth Mellor of Beeboo) I picked two that would be perfect with the leaves:  beautiful little round-edge cubes with colorful swirls and teal blooms. They would make a gorgeous pair of earrings.  So I made them, adding some copper beads, Czech glass rondelles, and Swarovski crystals:

These sold quickly (thank you, dear lady!), but I didn't forget that I still had two more of those wonderful floral beads.  Two or three weeks later, Kristi had another show, and I found leaf components that resembled the original leaves. 

 
I used different copper accents for these new earrings, making them more airy, and they're also a bit longer and more slender than their sisters.

These "sisters" are clearly separate designs, but they're definitely family!

  


Thanks for reading!  xoxo
Meridy

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In Praise of Color! 💗

I enjoy designing and making jewelry for a lot of reasons.  I love following the spark of a creative idea and enjoy learning and using techniques that allow me to make new kinds of things.  I enjoy the feel of wire-wrapping and, even more, the back-and-forth rhythm of a knotting project.  I also love scrolling through my favorite haunts on the net for new art beads and components (well, who doesn't?).

But, even though it's sometimes hard to point to exactly what inspires me to design something, it's almost always color or a colorway that grabs me first.  Color is powerful:  It energizes us, soothes us, nourishes the part of our being that knows and responds to beauty.  

I've had a wonderful relationship over the years with the talented jewelry artisan Helena Benkoczka of Areto Beads and Jewellery, who makes gorgeous jewelry and components in multiple media.  But I've particularly loved working with her vibrantly colorful polymer clay earring charms, and I thought for today's blog post I'd introduce my newest pair of earrings made with Helena's components as well as share a few of my earlier earrings made with her colorful earring beads.  It's a Feast of Color for the Eyes!

Blue-Sky Days

                                      

With components as colorful

as Helena's (including these, left), my urge is to really go with it by using beads (lampwork, glass seed beads, and copper), fiber, and even ear wires that play up the colors, in this case, the orange and teal. 

Pink Champagne

These earrings (above) were made with Helena's teardrop components, a shape I grew

to love because they're perfect for adding colored rings and bead dangles 

for movement and even more color.  These are some of my favorites. 💗 

Fruit and Vine

These teardrops (left) are such a blast of color, and the earrings were SO much fun to make.  With seed beads on top and dangling from the purple aluminum rings, Czech Saturn beads, and little lampwork glass slices in a grassy green to match the waxed cord, and green niobium ear wires.

Colored Feathers, Colored Stone

This pair (right), more recent, starts with a vibrant pair of Helena's teardrops that have so many colors that I chose just two colors to use in my earrings:  purple and magenta (magenta and purple lampwork beads, purple Czech rondelles, magenta cord, purple rings, and tiny magenta seed beads).

Summertime Mandalas

The vibrant floral earrings above are brand-new--I couldn't resist the lush colors of Helena's gorgeous mandala components!  I hung lots of little beads from sterling silver rings, including pink agate rounds, tiny faceted pacific blue apatite rounds, silver rondelles, faceted dyed purple jade rounds, and turquoise blue magnesite rounds, finishing each beaded dangle with tiny sterling silver drops.  They have a Summer of Love sort of vibe, I think.  ;) 

Thanks for reading, everyone!  I'll be back again in a couple of weeks.  💗

xo
Meridy

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Glass Mosaics

It's good to be back here at EE!  Things have been hectic around Casa Meridy for a while now, but I finished these color-drenched new earrings just a couple of hours ago (as I write this on Wednesday afternoon) and wanted to share them with you. 

I'd had these beautiful Cathleen Zaring (Blue Hare Art Wear) charms for a few months, but it wasn't until yesterday that a design idea came to mind.  I probably would never have remembered the gorgeous lampies used here if they hadn't just happened to be on my work table, in a bag paired with something else.  I'd had the beads for quite a few years and had never found the right design for them, but they sure make magic with Cathleen's charms--serendipity!  ❤️

I wire-wrapped the beads and charms together with some pretty copper bead caps, little iris Czech rondelles, and tiny orange-gold Swarovski bicones.  Given the rich colors and the lush detail of both main components, keeping everything else simple seemed right. 

And:  I don't know what happened to March, but clearly I missed a posting here one Thursday and didn't even realize it until much later.  To quote the great Thomas Dolby, "My brain is like a sieve."  My humblest apologies!  ❤️

Thanks so much for reading.  I'll see you in a couple of weeks--have a wonderful Thursday! 

xo

Meridy

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Seed Bead Tassels

Seed beads. Don't you just love them. They come in so many various colours, shapes, finishes and sizes. Just makes my mouth water.

Ingredients:
Seed beads of various colours and sizes
Tassels are strung on FireLine beading thread
Brass coloured large acrylic closed rings, light weight
Brass jump rings
Handmade Sterling Silver earring hooks, heavily oxidized

All my best,
Malin

Colored Feathers, Colored Stones

It's so great to finally be over the flu--and it felt so good to finally be able to sit down and make some new earrings (five pairs in all--I did say it felt good to get back to making things, right?).  ;)  It's also wonderful to be back here at EE with all my beady friends.

You can find these earrings here.

These earrings are a variation on one of my favorite styles.  I made them with these pretty little bumpy purple-and-fuchsia lampwork rondelles by Deborah Crow Roesly, paired with vibrantly colorful polymer clay tribal feathers by Helena Benkoczka.

Complete "recipe" for the earrings:  Deborah's rondelles, Helena's feathers, 3-mm fuchsia Swarovski crystals, scalloped copper bead caps, 3x5-mm tanzanite Czech glass rondelles, small copper jump rings, 15/0 dark fuchsia seed beads, dark fuchsia anodized aluminum jump rings, fuchsia waxed linen cording, and dark pink anodized niobium ear wires.  

The earrings are extremely lightweight and easy to wear.  The backs of the feathers are covered with glazed paper to keep the cord ends tidy and out of sight.

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back again in a couple of weeks with some new earrings.  :)

xoxo
Meridy

Two Trees Studio

My FB page  

Stacked with cornflakes

Why not put some really attractive colours, textures and shapes together in a stack?

Art Beads:
Pink, gold, and black stamped and painted polymer clay beads - GracefulWillowBeads

Handmade Components:
Triangle tinned artisan headpins, antiqued patina - CrowsCacheSupplies
Oxidized Sterling Silver Earring hooks

Other Components:
Bronze/brown/maroon cornflake/keshi pearls
Bronze czech glass rondelle disk spacer beads
Pink rubber spacer beads
Ochre, light green and forest green seed beads
Square profile closed metal rings, rhodium plated, stainless steel coloured

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All my best,
Malin de Koning

Easter, Twigs and Fringes

Easter time. School holiday. We've had a busy and nice week with excursions and meetings with friends and family. I made these earrings just last night. Twigs and Fringes.

Art beads:
Ceramic twigs - Donna Perlinplim

Other components:
Different coloured waxed linen cord
Messy wrapped oxidized copper wire
6/0 seed beads
Handmade oxidized copper earrings hooks



Now, as I sit here and write this blog post and watch the images I took earlier this morning, I realize I must have been subliminally inspired by the season of the year and the typically traditional Swedish Easter decorations of coloured feathers on twigs or tree branches. It wasn't at all what I thought about as I made them last night. Isn't that just fascinating how the mind works in lovely mysterious ways :-).

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Colours in Stack

Hi there,
hope you are all well. Here's todays earrings. Something colourful and hopefully spring-like for this wonderful season. 


Ingredients (from bottom to top):
Handmade enameled copper headpins - Barbara Lewis of PaintingWithFire
6/0 Orange duracoat metallic seed beads
Purple opal czech glass flowers
6/0 Lilac gold luster seed beads
Aqua green greek ceramic beads
Lime green opal spacer glass beads
Bronze czech glass spacer rondelles
Purple opal czech glass druks
Handmade copper earring hooks

All my best,

Malin
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Longing For Colors

January. Where I live, in Stockholm Sweden, is very far north on our planet. We are on the same latitude as Alaska, Siberia and northern Canada (but our climate is much milder due to the golf stream). In the winter time we get very short days.  Oh, how I now long for brighter days, more daylight, sunshine ... and ... colors. Lots of colors. I really need it.

Beads and components are (from the bottom):

Handmade enameled yellow head pins by Barbara Lewis of PaintingWithFire

Copper heishi spacers (African)

Small copper tubes with circular pattern

Yellow opal Toho seed beads size 8

Opal white gilt lined seed beads size 6

Teal glass trade beads

Gaspeite rondelles (gaspeite is a rare and lovely semi-precious stone)

Again, yellow opal Toho seed beads size 8

Copper heishi spacers (African)
Swarovski Crystal facetted champagne colored rounds
Dark pink matte Matsuno seed beads size 8
Handmade oxidized copper earrings hooks

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

www.etsy.com/shop/MalindeKoning

Please contact me if you are interested in any jewelry of mine that isn't yet listed in my Etsy Shop. (I am known for my delayed listings procedure. So sorry for that.)

RinTinTin

I've had a hankering lately to play with materials that I've taken a break from in the past year, including tin--both vintage and new. I shared this story earlier in the week on my Facebook page, but I do believe it bears elaboration here. 

My husband and I host a family Christmas party every year. Last year someone brought cookies on a red and white tin plate which got left behind at the end of the night. For all of the past 12 months, Matt and I have kept the plate stashed on top of the fridge, loathe to throw it away because it was kind of nice, but not wanting to keep it because it's not really our style. Being slick, flat tin, it would occasionally slide off the fridge and clatter to the ground, eliciting expletives and foul moods. 

the devil platter on the workbench

Last week I decided that enough was enough. I took metal shears and cut it up for use in hollow tinned metal baubles. Annoyance eliminated, jewelry gained. 

Using a technique elaborated by guru Tracy DiPiazza of pipnmolly, I cut out circles in the tin, gradually dapped them into half spheres, soldered them together using my soldering iron, filed, sanded, oxidized, and waxed. In the past I have typically hung each bauble with a lightweight wood bead of some sort. However, since I've been headed in a "less is more" direction the past year, I decided to let these little wonders speak for themselves. I simply torched up some fat-bottomed copper headpins, dotted them on top with some additional silver solder, and hung them from my long copper ear wires.


I did a whole series in different prints and colors. And when they were all done I sat on my couch and let them pour through my hands, making the most delightful muted popping noise. 

Quite the transformation--from annoying clatter to music for the ears. 

Happy New Year!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Stones And Swarovski

Hi everyone, I hope the beginning of the new year has been kind to you so far. Here in Sweden it's been cold and lots of snow.

Do you remember my latest post here, when I told you about the wonderful gift of stones and pebbles that I got from a friend of mine. Well, here's another pair of earrings made with another couple of stones from that lot. This time I've combined them with Swarovski crystals. Which probably surprises those of you who are familiar with my style. You haven't seen me use Swarovskis very often, have you. But in my bead stash I have a rather large collection of them in different colors and sizes. I haven't actually bought most of them myself, but received in different collaborations in the past. I keep them all together in a box, because I haven't known what to do with them. But, anything odd or uncomfortable challenges me creative wise, so lately I've been thinking more and more about ways to incorporate them in my jewelry.



I am rather pleased with the result. However it was difficult for me to capture the sparkle of the swarowskis in a photo. I hope you get the idea anyway. When you wear them and they dangle they constantly and beautifully catches light from different angles. Makes them rather suitable for a party or a night out in my mind.

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Drilled local stones from Ostergotland Sweden - Mia Christensen

Messy wrapped oxidized copper wire in two different gauges

Swarovski crystals

Handmade earring hooks in oxidized sterling silver

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All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.se

Stacked colorful playfulness

A trend that's been going on over the last year or so is the stacked earrings style. Perhaps it's on its way out already, I don't know, but I am still a big fan. I just love to play around with different kinds of beads and colors in this way. I tend to end up with slightly mismatched pairs when I do these kinds of designs, because they often spring from the bead soup of leftovers on my messy work table. 

The cute blue rhombic ceramic dangles came in a gift package from someone - I am a little bit unsure who it was, but I believe it was HappyFish. The other beads are a mix of ethnic beads, seed beads and czech glass.

If you too like the stacked earrings style you might want to check out this board on Pinterest called Stacked Earrings Challenge. 

All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.se

We're All Ears :: July Reveal

"The quilters start at one of the corners of the sari and work their way around it, usually in a counterclockwise direction. They fix patches made from the family's old clothing to the sari with a running back stitch that eventually covers the entire quilt, both patchwork top and sari bottom. Some quilters create small, close-spaced stitches, others spread them further apart. The stitches exhibit a distinctive rhythm that is part of the individual quilter's visual signature."

~Professor Henry Drewal

There is color and life in these textiles and a lot of heart. What I was intrigued by most was the manner in which the Siddi quilts are constructed. The idea of starting in one corner and working around the outside to the inside in a sort of rectangular spiral, if you will. That was the impetus for my earring design.

The spiral is such an ancient symbol. It is representative of the cycles of birth, life and death, which is a fitting image for these quilts. They are often given to babies in their cribs and I suspect that they are carried for comfort all the days of their lives. The way they spiral the winding path of fabric patches is quite like a tactile labyrinth. Labyrinths are sacred spaces slowing down time in the meditative act of walking one. I imagine that the stitches in these quilts are like one foot in front of the other, slowing time down, focusing on the change that comes with building the textile, living a life. Walking a labyrinth is a metaphor for life—the path shifts in unexpected ways, sometimes diverting you from your goal, but ultimately leading you to the center. Unlike a maze, there are no dead-ends and you can't get lost.

I limited myself to a single, continuous piece of wire, much like the threads that are woven in the blankets. I tried adding some simple color with tiny beads and textiles in the form of some sari silk. But they seemed too fussy. So I opted to leave them plain.

As I was creating these I sought out some appropriate background music and opened up my Pandora channel for Cirque du Soleil music. I really like the haunting melodies, the ethereal voices and the "cirquish" nonsensical lyrics with a world-beat sort of vibe. Listening to such music helps me get into a flow. I hit upon some Adiemus on the channel that at once had a Celtic and African vibe to it (you might recognize their musical style from the movie Avatar). I could imagine the joyful rhythms being hummed as the Siddi women worked on a community quilt. The distinctive rhythms of their stitching echoing in the song of life.

These earrings are quite long, about 2 1/2-3" each, yet extremely lightweight. Their continuous form is like the road that each of us is on. We may not know what the journey ahead will give to us, but there is a definite beginning and and ending, with plenty of twists and turns in between to keep things interesting. I call these Life Labyrinth earrings, and each pair, just like each one of our journeys, is different.

 

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