Turquoise Trio

A Facebook friend asked me to make some turquoise earrings for her niece. She said they should be under 1.5 inches long and be made with Sterling silver. Other than those two guidelines, she said I should make whatever I wanted to. Since I'd never met either her or her niece, it was impossible to know what style of earring the young woman would want. So I ended up making three pairs and letting my Facebook friend choose the pair that she thought would be best suited for her niece. Here's what I came up with.

This is the pair of earrings which were chosen. The disc shaped beads are Peruvian opals. Such a lovely milky turquoise! I placed Bali silver spacers beneath the opals and between the opals and the lampwork beads by Paradise Beads. I then topped the earrings with sterling silver beads. Unfortunately this is the only photo I took, before sending the earrings to their new home.

The other two pairs of earrings are in my shop now. I like all three pairs of earrings, but I think this pair is my favorite. They feature lovely hammered Sterling silver hoops with dangles of turquoise "cathedral" beads that are coated in silver on the tops and bottoms. I placed small embossed Thai Hills Tribe beads beneath the cathedral beads.

The last pair of earrings features the most wonderful, shimmery turquoise beads by Sue Beads. I can't stop admiring these lampwork beads. A photograph really can't do them justice. I used the same Sterling beads at the bottom of these earrings, as I used on top of the first pair. Then I topped them with some beautiful Sterling bead caps and more of the embossed Thai Hill Tribes beads.

So there you have it - a Turquoise Trio.  Which pair would you choose?

Linda Landig Jewelry

Mermaid jewels

Some of my favorite color combos for the Summer are ocean greens and ocean blues. Add in some sparklies in the mix and I just become totally giddy lol

I like to mix things up when I create new polymer clay jewelry components, and this time around, I created some cool earring drops with fabulous glass cabochon that I have encased in polymer clay. I had those cabs saved aside to use at some point, and I figured, why not use them with Polymer Clay? I'm very happy on how each design turned out!

Here's the earrings I made with a pair of my latest handmade components:

Handmade polymer clay & glass chandelier style earring drops made by me, with little oxygen bubbles springing up all around; A mixture of Swarovski crystals and Czech glass beads, there's a little flower detail on each, with a tiny silver color glass bead in the center, like the flower in the hair of a mermaid :) and I used anodized aluminum jump rings in coordinating colors. These earrings are suspended on a pair of hypo-allergenic Niobium ear wires.

I love how the colors in the glass sparkle like the sun hitting the ocean. I love the movement in the colors and the feeling that you're holding a precious treasure. These are one of a kind.... a precious treasure indeed :) The glass set up feels like you're looking into the ocean through a porthole on submarine (I used to work on one of the Atlantis submarines in the Carribean, btw! It's magical!)

If you're interested, I have a few other pairs of one of a kind glass/polymer clay components that I will be listing in my shop HERE, along with these earrings.

Which colors make your heart giddy? Do tell!! I want to know what makes your heart sing :)

Cheers,
Nathalie

Visit my Etsy Jewelry/Components shop here: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Etsy Digi shop here: The Crafty Tribe

New Dress - New Jewelry

My brother is getting married this weekend, which seems like a fine reason for me to treat myself to a new dress.

 And with a new dress, comes the need for matching jewelry. Its hard to really see the pattern in the fabric from a distance.  Here's a close-up.  Lots of pretty jewel tones to work with in designing coordinating jewelry. 

Of course I'm still making jewelry the night before our flight to L.A. for the wedding. Its 9:30 p.m. and the earrings are done.  The necklace is only about half complete and I haven't even packed yet.  At this rate, I may be finishing the necklace in the hotel hours before the big event.  Oy !

The saucer shaped beads are Thai Hill Tribe beads that I bought long ago when such things were affordable!  I dangled 3 lengths of silver chain beneath the silver beads.

I placed Swarovski crystals above the silver beads and wire wrapped crystals to the end of each chain dangle.  The crystals are turquoise but they have an emerald green AB finish on one side, so they accent the 2 main colors in the dress.  And people keep telling me that L.A. style includes more bling than I'm used to.  So I definitely have the bling thing going on here.

 The necklace has Swarovski crystals too and some beautiful lampwork glass beads.  I'll share it on my blog after the wedding. 
Hope you are enjoying sunny weather!  L.A, will be hot!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Avoiding A Girly Look With Rose Quartz Pink

According to the color experts at Pantone, the two big colors for Spring and Summer of 2016 are Rose Quartz Pink and Serenity Blue.  For all the world, those two look like traditional nursery room colors to me.  Gah!  I really dislike the stereotyping that starts right at birth or even earlier, when the gender is known.  Women of my age (uh-hum) worked really hard to break down the narrow definitions of what women (and men) can or should do.  I used to know a very nice bead shop owner, who always referred to her staff as "My girls".  I had the same knee jerk reaction to that as to the baby colors.  OK, I know that lots of people will disagree with me and I also know that many people  don't feel as strongly as I do about calling women, girls or using baby pink.  I'm just speaking for me and I wanted to give you the back-story for today's earrings.

I decided to challenge myself to create something in Rose Quartz Pink that I would be comfortable wearing!

 Copper has a pink tinge to it, so I started with that.  These copper charms were made by Melinda Orr of ORRTEC.  I topped Melinda's copper with some speckled pink Czech glass from my stash.  The speckled effect helps tone a color down a bit.

Then I added some twisted wire jump rings and topped them off with matte purple lampwork glass beads from Paradise Beads.  I added a couple of loops of antiqued brass wire work to up the rustic look.  And for a final touch I added some hand dyed lace trim.  The dye is purposely spotty with patches of creamy white and hints of orange, mixed in with the pink.  It is not old lace, but it appears vintage.

So do you think I pulled this off?  Pink with out the cutesy, baby stuff?  What colors do you dislike?  Have you ever challenged yourself to use them despite your feelings?

These earrings are available here:  Pink Lace Earrings

 

Linda Landig

Red Raku Earrings

When I showed these earrings to my friend Rebekah Payne of Tree Wings Studio, her comment about the color palette was, "Bright, clear blue autumn sky... last green of summer... rusty red shades of turning autumn leaves. Yep, works for me!".

The raku fired ceramic drops were made by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio.  And the hand-dyed and hand-felted Wooly Wire is the creation of Nellie Thomas.

The Red Raku Earrings are available in my shop now. 

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Garden Path Earrings

For some reason I've been feeling a bit frazzled lately, so I made a pact with myself to be intentional about spending some time in nature every day, even if it was just a walk along our garden path.  I've been pleasantly surprised at the calming effect this simple change has made this past week.

 While many of our flowers are in full bloom, others are just starting to bud.  I love the bright yellowish green of new growth.  The greens in these earrings remind me of that new growth and as well as the growth of deeper serenity in my soul.

Sue Kennedy of Sue Beads has been offering some of her beautiful lampwork glass beads for sale on her Sue Beads Facebook page. I've snapped up several lovely pairs!

This pair of lampwork glass beads was a perfect match for a pair of ceramic charms I made last weekend. The translucent green glass is accented with wisps of brown and cream, while the widest parts of the beads are decorated with a trailing of fine silver.  So pretty! I added a touch of sari silk in coordinating colors to bring some softness to the look.

For a tutorial on how to make these earrings yourself, go to Art Jewelry Elements. The earrings are available for purchase in my web shop.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Luminous Éire

Éire

Lately I have found myself awash in all manner of green stones and green artisan-made treasures--it must be the approach of St. Patrick's Day, already working its magic! In particular, I must have been in a green trance when I made my most recent purchases from Jana Bližňáková of Happy Fish With Heart, because there was a trio of glorious green charms waiting for me when I opened my package! And then I thought to myself, well, there is some good timing, because soon we will be celebrating all things green and Irish.

I can't help but think of Ireland when I look at these earrings--the varied green hues and the rustic shapes, and Jana's charms like old Celtic arrowheads. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland on a bicycle trip in 2004, and the pictures don't lie--it is a velvety green paradise!

Photo near Ballyieragh, County Cork, by Pam Brophy, via Wikipedia 

I loved the wild feel of the countryside, especially the miles and miles of painstakingly stacked stone fences--for someone who loves rocks and rustic stuff, it was heaven!

Photo by Eckhard Pecher of Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, via Wikipedia

My day on the island of Inishmor during that trip, among the ancient rocks and emerald grass, must have been floating in my subconscious when I put these together, and Jana's charms were a wonderful inspiration!

Ceramic charms, prehnite nuggets, freshwater pearls, and both fine and sterling silver

You can see more of my work at my Etsy shop.

Art Deco Revisited

Art Deco

I found these fabulous fan-shaped shell beads at a local shop, Powderhorn Trading Company. They are just lovely, like giant pearls. I used my embossed poppy caps on them in sterling silver, with Argentium silver earwires and Indonesian glass beads (from Happy Mango Beads) in a soft turquoise color and matte finish.

I was surprised, when they were finished, what a strong Art Deco vibe they had, which delighted me because I adore Art Deco!! I think it was the repeating fan shapes and angular lines, with both the shell beads and the caps--there are fan shapes, sunbursts, and similar motifs everywhere in Art Deco! And of course an emphasis on angular patterns:

From Wikipedia, 1930 Milwaukee Gas Light Building, Photo by Seth Anderson

From Wikipedia, Chrysler Building, New York City, Photo by Postdlf

From Wikipedia, Sunburst, Eastern Columbia Building entrance, photo by Binksternet

From Wikipedia, Griffith Observatory detail, Los Angeles, Photo by Nathan Day

I've never really considered myself a triangle person, but all this Art Deco goodness could make me change my mind...

More information available at my Etsy shop, HERE.

Celebration Earrings

What are we celebrating?  I don't know, but wearing these earrings is like having a party on your ears!  These bright colors make me so happy that I just want to celebrate the fact that it is a new day!

Celebration Earrings, with polymer clay beads by Margit Boehmer.

I've always loved playing with colors, but being in Oaxaca, Mexico this winter has made me even bolder.  Check out this house, just down the road from us.  Can you see how the house colors play out in these earrings?

No pastels going on here!  Bright, in-your-face colors.  The colors make me happy, so I named these my "Celebration" earrings!

Do you have certain colors that always put a smile on your face?

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Chain Gang

I designed these earrings around these wonderful African brass beads from Afrobeadia, and my embossed sterling silver rings. I fashioned copper chain links to join the beads together.

I had so much fun with the design, I did it again with my copper embossed rings, and fine silver links! Both pair feature Argentium silver earwires embellished with copper beads and brass wire.

And here's a little tune from the Pretenders to start your work-day off right!

Silver and Gold

Silver and Gold. And Copper.

Here is some mixed metal finery for you to enjoy while you hide from the in-laws this Christmas morn! Cast brass-over-pewter discs by Mykonos via Stinky Dog Beads, a pair of my poppy caps in copper, and sterling silver earwires, spruced up with brass beads and copper wire.

Sam the Snowman's "Silver and Gold" song from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie is stuck in my head right now. And if you're old enough, it's stuck in your head now too. Sorry.

We at Earrings Everyday wish you a peaceful and merry Christmas day!

Keirsten

Alabama Petticoats

Alabama Petticoats

I have been trying to force myself to use yellow--and not cheat, and use "mustard," or "saffron," or "butterscotch" and try to claim it's yellow--I mean, real, honest-to-God YELLOW. As in Tweety Bird. As in Big Bird. As in Sponge Bob. And here is me, above, using African recycled glass discs in Minion Yellow. I combined them with cool ice blue African recycled glass tulip beads, stacking them for a little more drama (and hey! Petticoats!) Just the two colors together seemed a little lonely, so I added some Indonesian glass beads in turquoise. I love these three colors together. There is something French Country about it that seems to make the yellow go down better.

I capped the yellow glass discs with rustic petaled beadcaps in sterling silver, and capped the petticoats with a pair of my own embossed sterling caps; each petticoat is fastened to the glass disc via one of my sterling silver paddle headpins. I made--as is my habit--the earwires myself and added a couple more turquoise glass beads to pull it all together.

Glass tulip beads from Happy Mango Beads.
Yellow recycled glass discs from Afrobeadia.
Petal beadcaps from Cathy Dailey.

Visit Keirsten and her work at Lune on Etsy.

Coral Spike Earrings

A friend and I recently went to a gem and bead show.  I didn't really need any new beads, but I was looking forward to spending the day with my friend.  I did try to exercise some restraint, but of course I did not leave empty handed.

So for today's earrings, I wanted to use some of my newly purchased treasures.  The wooden beads were inexpensive and had nice grooves all around.  I think the beads below the wood beads are made of bone, but I'm not sure.  The minute I saw them I knew they'd be an ideal shape and size for earrings.

The fabulous textured spikes were made by Marsha Neal. The coral colored spikes really make the dots on the bone beads pop. 

I'd love to pair these earrings with this pretty outfit.  The colors would be perfect together!  The Ceramic Spike Earrings can be found in my shop, here:  https://www.LindaLandig.com

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Confetti Hoops

Confetti Hoops

I was captivated by these strands of tiny multicolor lampwork glass rondelles from Indonesia --I grabbed up a pile of them! I wanted to use them all together in a riot of color. I constructed copper hoops for them, with hammered paddles on the end, and strung them on. Because of the paddles, I needed beads with bigger holes to slip over them, and this was the color assortment that sported the biggest holes--I like it! Then I connected the hoops to earwires via recycled glass discs in sea green, and wired little seed beads in robin's egg blue onto the earwires.

I've been in kind of a confetti mood--THIS really appeals to me too, from BabaYagaFashion, a UK shop--oh for the youth and guts to wear it!

Upcycled Skirt at Baba Yaga on Etsy

(I've marked this shop as a favorite, just in case I hit my head really hard whilst falling into the Fountain of Youth, and I emerge dewy and lithe, with the lack of inhibition common to traumatic brain injuries.)

I'm planning to make additional pairs of these earrings sporting different colors, and probably without the glass disc. This was kind of a prototype, to see if it would work. They are fun to make!

(All of the beads in these earrings are from Happy Mango Beads.)

You can see (a very tiny bit) more of my work at my Etsy shop.