The Unknown

“I will not let you go into the unknown alone.”
― Bram Stoker

October Greetings, My Friends!

Today I have some lovely antiqued collage earring charms by Jill Stoffregen of Foxpaws to show you.  

The charms are made of thin porcelain ceramic and are quite delicate. I used a 4 ply wax linen cord to attach them to the rest of the components so there wouldn't be any metal rubbing against them.  In this particular pair, I frayed the ends of the cord to create a tattered look which also went perfectly with the slashes you see in the sleeves.  

I created a sort of gobbet using vintage bead-caps and amber-colored faceted beads.  Well, of course, we all know vampires don't drink....wine...However, they may offer you some to be hospitable. 

I hope you enjoyed your stay at my little bead table today!  It was wonderful to see you again!

Be well,

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com 

 

If The Moon Were Made Of Cheese

So, I love destashes and usually check them out when I can on Facebook. For me, it's a great opportunity to pick up artisan beads that people bought years ago but never found a use for.  It's especially exciting when I find some from a retired bead maker or sometimes it's a series that an artist is no longer doing. 

That's how these earrings came to be! The porcelain beads on top were made by Mellisa Gabelle of The Clay Hen and I found them in a destash!  I really didn't have a vision for them right away, but I have a weakness for pale yellow and these had a matte finish (another weakness of mine) with a cool metallic shiny center.  I love the unusual and with the added holes all over, they are just that!  

My immediate random thoughts about these beads were:  Swiss Cheese; Moon; Wallace, of Wallace and Gromit saying - "Gromit, that's it! Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese!" 

Yes, folks - this is my creative process  -  haha!!

So who else loves cheese?  Kitties do, that's who!  The lovely faux tin charms are by Helena Benkoczka. I combined these two components together not only for their whimsy but also because I loved the proportions of the two shapes together as well as the colors.

My little cheesy moon story was starting to develop!  By luck, in my crazy stash, I had some great
steely matte vintage stars which pulled the colors from not only the grey kitty but, the moon centers as well.

Wallace would remind you:  "Don't forget the crackers!"

A little tip:  On Facebook, just type destash in the search bar and it should pull up some nice destash groups for you!  If you have a hard time finding some I'd be happy to share some; just drop me a note.

Thank you for stopping by my work table today, hope you found a little inspiration!!

Loralee XO

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Textures of porcelain

I have a love of wildlife and quite often I like to use birds in my designs. These two pairs of earrings feature porcelain components by Emma Wilson and both have a bird theme. I just love the detail and texture as well as subtle colours in Emma’s organic designs. Her pieces are small and dainty so I feel require a delicate and sympathetic touch when designing with them.

For this first pair of earrings I have used Emma’s components with a bird design and chose to highlight the pink/red colours with lampwork spacers and headpins by Linsey Peck as well as using a hint of gold with the seed beads and bead caps. The bronze ear wires are by Louise Goodchild.

For the next pair I have used Emma’s fan shaped components that have an Art Deco feel about them and thought that these adorable lampwork birds by Juliette Mullett would fit perfectly. Again, I have matched the pink and blue colours with lampwork spacer beads and some shimmery textured Czech glass daggers that reflect both colours. Then I've finished off with brass/gold colour bead caps. The ear wires are gold filled.

Thank you for reading. Both pairs are available in my FB group as from today - Nicola Morse - Jewellery & components

Nature and Design

This is my second post here, the first as a ‘proper’ member and I’m very excited to be able to contribute.

I have chosen to create these two pairs of earrings using porcelain components from one of my favourite artisans, Melissa Gabelle at The Clay Hen. Her pieces are influenced by natural forms and I like her strong sense of design.

The first pair I created using Melissa’s porcelain paddles. Chartreuse green is a colour I love so decided to echo this in the other components I used. The hand-beaded beads match perfectly and add an extra texture to the design whilst the glass beads echo the strong design element in black and white. Also added are lampwork spacer beads and Czech glass flowers.

For the second pair of earrings I have used Melissa’s porcelain petals, again with a strong black and white polka dot pattern. With these I thought it would be nice to introduce another colour to compliment them and although I’m not really a pink person I thought the ceramic melon beads by 'Golem Design Studio' where perfect especially with the black stripes. Once again I echoed the colours in the other smaller elements. The black patina ear wires in both designs are by Louise Goodchild.

I hope you like my designs, thank you for reading. I will be listing them for sale in my FB group - Nicola Morse - Jewellery & components

In the night sky

Hello!
So the nights are drawing in, and what better way to mark this than with some celestial beauties by the goddess that is Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth!

Petra sometimes includes beautiful little porcelain stars and moons in her updates, and I always look forward to stocking up on these when they appear. These beautiful little stars with aqua glazed porcelain are just gorgeous! I matched them with my current favourite African spacers, punctuated by teeny tiny turquoise seeds. I finished these with another silver spacer and sterling earwires. I wanted them to be quite long and stacked. Simple, but striking.

This second pair had little crescent moons as well as  stars. I used the same components as with the first pair, but went for a different design. Oxidised brass geometric hoops  provide a frame for these stellar beauties. I may be keeping them for myself...or there'll be making an appearance at my next showcase over on the Jewellery Show in Facebook Land at the end of the month. You can message me if you'd like them :-) 

See you next month! x

Sue

Curve With Silence

Since I started doing ceramics, I've been ruminating on trying to make my work more 'from scratch'. I recently started doing metalwork classes to help me to this end. The thing now is trying to co-ordinate all the different lines of development/experimentation that I'm doing with these different materials. Do I sit down and sketch designs then make all the elements? I don't tend to work like that. I've always favoured the chance, 'hands on', combining of things, the designs that come to you when you happen to have some of the materials in front of you.

I've just finished (and listed!) a large batch of beads. When making them I did make the time to make some beads just for me, to use in pieces that were already formed in my head. This pair of earrings is one example.

Admittedly there wasn't much to add. Really, sometimes, I'm just a sucker for 'sticking a pearl on top'. I did stretch to a pair of blackened vintage bezels, drilled to make bead caps, and a couple of etched brass rings.

And I don't think they need any thing more. They're listed here on Etsy.

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

www.somethingtodobeads.etsy.com

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

Shabby Chic Rustic Rococo

Hello there, 
November is here. And here's my latest earrings creation.

I started with the porcelain charms that I recently got from RoundRabbit, and pretty soon I knew I wanted to use the newspaper newsprint jasper heishis together with them. What a perfect match! But then the next step was the hard one. How to connect them? How to make a well proportioned whole? I tried a few solutions using thinner wire in different metals, and with the jasper beads sitting in different ways. Even trying to use more than one for each earring sometimes as a way of creating some boldness. But I rejected all of those attempts. Simply not good enough.

I knew the jasper and the porcelain charms were so good together, and I didn't want to give up on that gut feeling. So I let the thing rest for a week or so on my studio table. When I went in there the other day I realized what was needed was something with a much more rustic look to go with the other two. Hence the 20 gauge heavily oxidized copper wire. The doubled circles I created around a marker pen which made a perfect proportion of the rings. And then my ever so often occurring messy wrap. Now I was finally very pleased. 

(Handmade earring hooks by MetalFuze.)

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Mirror / Mirror

As you may well be aware of by now, our own Claire Lockwood happens to make some of the most deliciously unique ceramic beads, in addition to her inspired jewelry. I've missed out on quite a few new sets because they tend to sell so quickly---wonderful for Claire and maddening for me! 

However, on her latest batch update, I was able to snag some beautiful "naked" fluted porcelain rounds. Claire carves the grooves into each bead before firing once, and then used oxide to color them in a second firing, giving them that smoky velvety texture with slight minty green overtones. 

I'm just crazy about these beads! So crazy that I knew as soon as I took them out of the package that I was going to make something for myself using them. No equivocating here, no sharing, just MINE!

I'm a big fan of mirroring shapes, textures, and colors of the various component in my assemblage pieces. And I'm also a big fan of old wood beads. So when I saw the fluted grooves of Claire's beads, my mind immediately jumped to a pair of wood "pumpkin" beads that I've been saving up for a special occasion. The textures of the two sets play beautifully off of each other, but they still manage to maintain their own individual flavor and flair. 

I tend to wear simpler styles, myself, so I kept these earrings minimal using wee crusty metal bead caps and some decorative blackened soldering for effect. The result makes me squeal every time I wear them---earthy, swingy, dark little baubles.

Thank you, Claire, for sharing your beads with us!

Happy Wednesday :) 
Nikki 
LoveRoot on Etsy

Porcelain Pinwheels

Fabulous Porcelain Flowers by LisaPetersArt!

I knew right away I wanted them to move and twirl so that's what I did!

Topped with fabulous Rainbow Metallic Lampwork Cubes by BeadAbundant and a perfectly matching Czech Glass Bead!

These are so much fun and beautiful too!!

Extremely lightweight but certainly no shrinking violet!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

KristiBowmanDesign on Facebook

Happy Accidents

Sometimes I could beat myself round the head. You know when you do something very stupid and vow to learn from it? Well, some time ago, I came up with this idea for a pendant/charm that I wanted to make - a calla lily sort-of-a-thing, like these:

I spent several hours figuring out how to form them, then making a batch of about eight. I was mid-bead-making-marathon, so rather than move the new things that I'd spent all that time making out of the way, I put them in a little tray and shifted them to one side of my table. You can guess happened. Some hours later I caught the tray somehow and sent all my hard work tumbling to the floor. Where it smashed into pieces. Excellent. 'What a fool', I thought, amongst other thoughts, 'I won't do that again!'

Recently I started making these cone caps. 

I've since made them in a number of wares, but these, and the first ones I made, were made from porcelain. I'm not sure what I was thinking as porcelain is far more of a fiddle.  Anyway, I made a tray of them and.... 

I really was furious with myself. But when I picked them up I found that only two had broken - and they were a matching pair.  And, with a very gentle bit of hit-it-and-hope, I manage to get the breaks on the two cones to mirror each other.

My sneaky wee inner-goth couldn't resist colouring the interiors red, and giving the outsides a black satin finish. Given what I used to colour them, I expected the black to be totally matt, but I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the kiln to find that the vitrification of the porcelain had turned the surface to something like vinyl, or even leather. This is one of the things that makes me love porcelain in particular. While it can be unforgiving to work with, when it is fired it transforms itself into such a beautiful material, and in doing so it can ultimately be the most forgiving of wares. 

I'm sorely tempted to keep these earrings as I'm unlikely ever to replicate this happy accident. For now they're listed here on Etsy. As for knocking trays of greenware off my desk, I have no doubt I'll be doing that for a good while to come.

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

www.somethingtodobeads.etsy.com

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

Rocky Coast

We took a quick trip to the coast last week to hunt for beach finds for my jewelry. I was so lucky to have the most gorgeous day possible. The sun was low in the sky and I was in heaven. 

Miss Molly helping me find shells and rocks.

My earrings and jewelry reflect my love for nature. I am especially drawn to coastal and woodland finds since that is sort of my home-base here in WA. 

These earrings feature handcrafted ceramic beads by Cindy's Art & Soul, along with found sea glass, and rustic little Czech class beads from Art-Bella Surplus on Etsy. Wrapped in fine silver wire with handcrafted sterling silver ear wires and headpins.

You can see more of my most recent trip to the coast on my personal blog here: 
http://www.cindypack.blogspot.com 

You can find these earrings and more jewelry with natural found objects at www.ArtAndSoulJewelry.com

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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Rusty Green Ceramic Earrings

These earrings feature some of my newest and first ever Ceramic beads. I am having a wonderful time experimenting with glaze and texture.

 Working with porcelain and making beads are not new to me. But making porcelain beads is. This will probably be a life long learning experience for me and I am ready for the challenge! 

There is so much to do and so much to learn. I cannot imagine this ever getting old. We'll see. 

 These beads have a leafy pattern imprint and "turquoise lagoon" glaze.

I really love how the colors look rusty. 

Like an old rusty green metal thing you'd see out in the woods.  

Yeah? Click for more inspiration on Pinterest.

 

These earrings can be found on my website

at ArtandSoulJewelry.com

☮ Cindy

Pale Tropics

I have been holding on to these pretty floral porcelain charms created by LeAnn Weih of Summers Studio for a while!  I love the pale green glaze with just a hint of blue in the depths.  They are so sweet ...to me they didn't really need anything else...I could just put them on earwires and call it a day.  I didn't do that, though...I added some pale green fluorite beads that are carved into flower shapes, the wrapped sterling wire around them in a "herringbone" weave for a little extra somethin' somethin'.

I can envision wearing them at the beach or boardwalk with an outfit similar to this I put together on Polyvore.

Summer Knockabout by melismatic featuring short sleeve t shirts

These earrings and more of my eclectic jewelry can be found at Melismatic Art Jewelry!