Charming Green Elephants

This is the season of renewal, the season of Green!  Elephants are a symbol of strength, power, and wisdom.

Vintage celluloid elephant charms circa the 1940s. 

Gorgeous polymer, tribal-inspired flowers by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity.

Sweet little vintage buttons.

I hope you all have a good and safe week!  Keep the faith!

Loralee xo

https://www.facebook.com/loraleekolton.jewelry/

Pine Tassels

Happy Holidays!

I wanted to do something special for the holidays, something nature-inspired and yet a little dressy!  Here is my version of festive pine needle tassels and holly berries! Ta-da!

Ceramic connectors by JosephineBeads 

Silky pine colored tassels secured with a vintage ornate jump-ring and

rustically wrapped faceted red rondels.

That's a wrap for 2019!  I'm looking forward to 2020 if the kind folks at EE have me back! ;D

Cheers to all,

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Treasures, Old and New

Recently when I was cleaning in my office, I was putting things back on shelves, taking things off shelves that didn't belong there, and straightening things on the shelves.  At some point, I stopped tidying and started looking through the drawers and boxes of artisan-made ceramic beads I've collected over the years.

There were so many beautiful pieces, from delicate porcelain charms to large carved and vividly colored tribal style beads.  I really did have all the best intentions of finishing up the cleaning I'd started, but I found myself picking up beads I hadn't seen in a while, turning them over in my hands, reacquainting myself with them.

When I got to my stash of beads by Karen Totten (one of my favorite artisans), I saw a pair of beautiful green spiral connector beads I'd had for quite a few years.  I turned them over and looked closely at them and wondered what if I paired them with rustic, whimsical ceramic faces I'd bought from artisan Judie Mountain in Tucson this past winter? 💗 

From that point, it was on.  Once I'd finally determined what all the components were going to be (Karen Totten's green spiral ceramic beads, Judie Mountain's ceramic faces, an oval copper connector, a scalloped ceramic ring also by Karen) all that was left was putting them together.  I really had fun making these rustic and whimsical and asymmetrical pretties.

Thanks so much for reading!  I won't be here for my next scheduled time (October 24) because my husband and I will be in Hawaii to celebrate our son's wedding. 💗 But I'll be back.

I hope you and yours are all well.  Have a Happy Hallowe'en!

xo
Meridy
My shop

We're All Ears ::March :: Leaping Greenly!

This is going to be short and sweet. I didn't get started on my greens until after my daughter left for her spring break trip to Florida. I am so jealous that she is soon to see grass and palm trees and flowers and sand and water. We are in a funk of dirty grey snow as far as the eye can see. So this month's challenge is all about hope for me, Hope that spring will be just around the corner!

So earlier tonight (it is just about 1 am as I am typing this), I pulled together all the green art beads I could find. I didn't have as many art beads in green as I had hoped, but I found a few.

I wanted to make three pairs, but I ran into a snag with one pair and had to abandon it to save my sanity. I ended up with just two pairs this time.

This first pair has some lovely ceramic headpins from Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Designs in a juicy crisp apple green. I found these bead frames that are sort of off-center and added some rizo beads in a great garnet shade of red with an iridescent finish. They remind me of seeds in a pod. Seeds are fascinating because of all the potential that is within waiting to burst into life.

For these I wanted to use the tablet glass beads from Sue Kennedy of SueBeads. They have a larger hole, so it was a struggle to get them to not wobble. I solved that by putting a bugle bead inside. They still spin a bit, but they don't wobble anymore! I stacked them on top of these nice heavy brass triangle bead frames and thought a pop of color would liven these up, so I found these pink coral beads, a bit of bling with the rhinestone rondelles and then some ceramic beads in classic blue-white combo. At the top I threaded some African tribal brass tubes for some texture. These feel like they are begging for a sun dress and a walk on a beach!

Your turn! Let's see what you made to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day (March 17!) plus the return of Spring (March 20!). It is returning...right?!

We're All Ears :: March Challenge :: Leaping Greenly

If you are living in the upper half of the US, you might be experiencing a white-out of epic proportions. Here is the snow hill where my kids used to go to school. The kids there were in heaven, rolling and tumbling and making forts. I can assure you that it was never, ever this high when my son was playing king of the hill. 

MAKE.IT.STOP.

Everywhere I look I am surrounded by white. The snow drifts around these parts are higher than my car in a lot of places, making it dangerous to just inch out onto a road. [And it seems neverending! I heard a prediction of -40 degrees again on Monday...guess that means I will have to put socks back on!] 

I know that last month I was all enamored of the sparkling beauty of the snowflake but this month I am all.....pffffffft.

I was going through my now defunct blog [treasures-found.blogspot.com] recently in preparation for a writing class I am teaching today, and I stumbled across this post that I wrote on May 19, 2011. 

I really enjoyed reading all the things that I wrote back then. I truly had a knack for telling a story. But more than just words, I also have love of visuals, and telling a visual story is just as compelling to me. 

Back then I used my Canon DSLR camera for everything, I bought some filters to turn my lens into a macro and took myself on a photo-safari walk around the riverside park next to my office. I still remember this vividly.

So I made a little collage to remind me that spring is just around the corner....right?!

[Just to be clear...I have actually used this similar set of photos in a challenge back in September 2014...but they are sooooo good and I am sooooo longing for these colors!]



Here's to a hopeful return of sunshine to start the onerous melting process. 
Here's to the Vernal Equinox that is coming on March 20th. 
Here's to the slumbering buds and the dormant blades of grass that are preparing their debut. 
And here's to the coming Saint Patty's Day celebration of all things green (especially my favorite Shamrock Shakes! ;-).

Let's break out all the GREENS we can find for this month's We're All Ears challenge. 

See you right here on Friday, March 19th!

“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!

Openwork

Hello, hello!!  I'll be on my way to the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, WI in a few hours!  It's such a thrill to be around other people who also share the same passion.  You'll see no eye-rolling...or hear, "Omg, is she talking about beads, again?"  Without a doubt, everyone at B&B is as crazy in love with beads as you are ~ and cheers to that!

While I'm there, one of my missions will be hunting for the unusual.  I love looking for interesting shapes and textures.  Here are a couple of cool pieces that I felt were just wonderful together.

The top beads are vintage, circa 1950.  They are made of glass in a rare beehive openwork pattern.  I paired them with some newly created enameled charms, also in a openwork pattern, made  by Marie Demicco of Spurwink River Arts.  Although the enamel work is not vintage they share a wonderful old soul that works beautifully. 

So, I'm off to go hunting now ~ Wisconsin here I come!   Along with shopping, I'm also taking a slightly more advanced (then my last) metalwork class.  I'm pretty excited about that, too!

Thank you for stopping by! 

Until next time, hopefully with new goodies to show and tell -  xoxo . 

Loralee :)))

Loralee Kolton ~artful in beads

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

A sense of direction

At this particular time in my life I feel I could use a stronger sense of direction. And a stronger aim. A kind of "just go for it". I suspect my subconciousness has had an effect on my design. As if it wants to push me a little harder.

In these earrings I've used beads and components that have been waiting for many years to come to use. Things I love but haven't been able to combine well with other things. I hope I managed with these earrings.

I think they would be suitable for for instance an opening night for a furniture designer, or perhaps a fancier dinner party with close friends.

Ingredients (from bottom to top):
Bronze drop bead
Green magnesite triangles (possibly partially man made)
Lovely white magnesite squares
Matte golden colour covered lucite squares (super light weight)

Strung on doubled 26G oxidized copper wire
Handmade earring hooks in oxidized copper

All copper is free from traces of allergenic metals such as nickel for instance.

All my best,
Malin

"Those earrings..."

"...will be good for the holidays, huh?" my husband said.

I looked up at him, put down my pliers, took off my magnifying glasses, and blinked a few times.  He could tell I wasn't really in the room with him but was lost in Beadland--or more accurately, Ringland.

He tried again:  "You usually make a few chainmaille bracelets and earrings to sell at Christmastime, right?" 

I nodded.  "That's why I'm working on these--well mostly.  They're also just kind of cute."

He smiled.  He's a great guy.  "I'm also planning to make a Hodo bracelet or two and one in Garter Belt weave," I added.  "They work up pretty."  I know he's seen the bracelets and heard of both of those weaves (and he remembers the names), though I'm not sure he remembers what they look like.  But he's always so nice about what I make that I didn't really need to say any more, so I got back to work.

These earrings ARE cute, and they're distinctive to boot because of the oval rings.  I wish could say I created the design, but I didn't.  I learned the design from my friends at Chainweavers, one of my favorite online vendors of chainmaille rings and things (where I also got the cool sterling silver oval rings).  The earrings are a simple design to make if you know the Byzantine weave (or as we maillers lovingly call it, "Byz"), the most popular of all chainmaille weaves.  Each earring consists of three units of Byz and three oval rings (small, medium, and large), plus a Swarovski oval crystal.  The lightness and openness of the oval rings adds to the earrings' airiness.

For comparison, here is a photo of a classic sterling silver Byzantine weave bracelet:  

You can see how dense the weave is, with one "Byzantine unit" (can you see where they begin and end?) disappearing into the next, making one long sinuous round ropy bracelet.  This weave feels so good on the wrist (and around the neck when woven into a necklace)!  

And here is an oxidized sterling silver bracelet that I made in a weave called "Byzantine Rose," composed of alternating units of Byz and "rosettes" or "Moebius" elements:  

The Byzantine Rose bracelet is a little less dense than Byzantine alone, but not as airy as the earrings.  The crystals add a nice sparkle too.  

These crystal Byz beauties are 3-1/4 inches long and very lightweight and swingy. 💗

If any of you are interested in chainmaille in general or in learning the Byzantine weave or how to make these earrings, just let me know, and I can steer you to the right references to get started.  I basically taught myself with tutorials (as we all tend to do), but it's always nice to have a guide too.  :)

Thanks so much for reading--I'll be back again soon!

xoxo

Meridy

My shop

My FB page

Green Eyes and a Heart Of Gold

Hello, beady peeps!  Loralee here, so nice to be back!

One of the coolest discoveries I made at The Bead & Button Show this year was that Golem Design Studio  came out with a smaller size lentil bead, and it's perfect for earrings!  

Below is one of the sets that I purchased.  The folk art pattern is just so warm and friendly.  

I played around with a few ideas but that green looked so amazing with brass that I knew in an instant I didn't need to look further.  I then layered some decorative wire on top of the hammered discs. Since the wire was also shiny brass, I decided to add some patina paint to make them stand out a bit. 

Here are some small round Golem beads that paired wonderfully with  drops from Josephine Beads!   Don't they look like gourds?  The colors and pattern of the charms are like tribal, meets autumn, meets a 1970's kitchen!!  They just make you feel good.

While looking through photos I ran across this pair I did a couple of years ago. The colors just had to be included in this blog post, right?!  Rich green and the warmth of brass again...perfect. These etched and extra crusty glass beads are the creation of Kay Mallery.  So much texture like Roman glass.  Kay's beads are ones that I reach for time and time again.

I wanted each piece to stand out on their own so I made extra large hoops in the center.  I think it makes an interesting look.

I'm am so happy it's autumn, I feel totally alive!  I'm crazy in love with this season.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks!  See you then!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton Jewerly - artful in beads

Gift of the Mermaid

I recently came upon these gorgeous enameled components in Raida Disbrow's Etsy shop, Havana Beads...

...and a dialogue started between my head and my heart.

Heart:  Oh, my gosh, those are GORGEOUS.  Look at those colors!
Head:  Ohhh, but those can be such a pain to work with. They're handmade--those things are never even, you have to fight to get them to hang straight--
Heart:  But I've got beads the same color as those little violet-pink dots!!  And lots of pink rondelles--
Head:  --hey, come to think of it, there's that stash of rhodolite garnets that haven't been used in about seven years!




That argument didn't last long.


Since I did have a goodly stash of little Czech glass rondelles in various shades of pink, the garnets, and sterling silver beads, jump rings, and headpins, I gave in to the lure of the Boho chandelier earring--and I loved it. Now that my heart has helped my head get over its jitters, I aim to make more. 💗

And, funny thing--they do hang straight after all.  😉

Gift of the Mermaid

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back in two weeks.
 
xoxo
Meridy
My Etsy Shop
My Facebook 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

--------------------------------------

All my best,
Malin de Koning

Let's go to the Fun Fair?

Scene: You have an extremely messy bead table. So many ideas and concepts tried out over a long period, which has left a myriad of beads and components just laying there. You sit and plainlessly fumble around with your beads. It's such an enjoyable process indeed. Then suddenly, you have something you didn't ever consider in the first place. But you like it somehow.

There is something about these earrings that make me think of some kind of fun fair or a merry-go-round from around the turn of the century 1900. Or a spinning top toy. You know the ones where you press a rod at the top and they start spinning. When I look at them I feel like I am happily swirling round and round.

Art beads:
White distressed matte glaze on dark ceramic cones - NadiaTerra
Green and lime glazed on edge raku fired on dark ceramic heishis - Jubilee

Other beads and components (from bottom):
Brass head pins
Brown 8/0 seed beads
Turquoise rubber heishi spacer beads
Gold and white distressed plastic bumpy heishi beads
Turquoise rubber heishi spacer beads
Red rubber heishi spacer beads
Red coral heishis
Opal white gilt lined 6/0 seed beads
Oxidized brass wire, messy wrapped
Brass square profiled rings
Vintaj brass earring hooks

All my best,
Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

The Vivid Creatures Can

I don't tend to do green.

I made these cones for my last bead shop update, and decorated them with some new glazes I'd picked up. I was a little underwhelmed with the initial results so I added some teal blue stripes and popped them back in the kiln. When I fished them out I was much happier: they have a seventies ceramics look about them. I nearly kept them from the off but I try to resist keeping the best things when listing beads so I added them along with *a lot* of other pieces. Much of the stock sold quickly but, for some reason, these cones were overlooked. So, taking that as a sign, I decided to pull them out for my own use.

I topped them with some rusted filigree caps and hung them from some blackened vintage copper rings, which frame some pleasingly rustic African brass charms. Within the cones I've added slender lengths of sterling silver and labradorite chain and some patinated copper pieces from Miss Fickle Media. The colours in both work really nicely with the blues and greens in the glazes.... and I'm still highly tempted to keep them!

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.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