Come Play With Us, Danny...

I love my little ghouls!

I've had these wonderful little faces by Claire Lockwood of Something To Do With Your Hands for probably a couple of years now.  They have always been a favorite of mine!  I remember squeeing when they arrived from England and I've hoarded them ever since.

Recently I purchased some Czech glass flowers in matte black. As they sat on my worktable, it dawned on me that they would make cool Victorian dresses!

I also added a pair of twisted lampwork beads by Michelle Hicks Lusk of Caliente Art Glass 

I hope these were a nice and strange little surprise!

Thank you all for dropping by my bead table today!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Rustic reds

Last weekend I had the good fortune to meet up with some of my very favourite jewellery people Petra Carpreau, Kimberly Rogers and Claire Lockwood. Well, now a fine time was had by all! And I was showered with beady goodness too (thanks guys!)

Had a tough time choosing what to make from my stash of goodies for this blog, but I finally settled on using a pair of Claire's beautiful ceramic headpins. Something about the colour -a gorgeous deep red which seems appropriate for the season -all the reds and oranges that are around as Autumn approaches.

So I had some rustic oxidised copper hoops by French artist,  Carole Pons Torres  and as I love a hoop, these had to be incorporated! I like the way they frame the headpins. Something a little bit gothic about them. Just right, in the run up to Halloween

Finally, some deep red picasso seed beads, combined with some African silver coloured spacers.

I'm listing them here  Hope you like them! See you in a couple of weeks x

Simplicity.......

Who knew making simple earrings or anything for that matter would turn out to be such a stressful affair. 
I suffer from tunnel vision when it comes to making jewellery.  I cannot seem to make a variety of things (earrings, bracelets, necklaces) in the same sitting.  If it's earrings, it has to be just earrings and nothing else.  So last week I was making bracelets and naturally I could not think beyond that. I decided I'd make some simple earrings for a change and give my brain a rest.  I dug through old designs for inspiration and found these. I decided to recreate these in a new fashion.

I swapped the brass sticks for brass tubes and added some Swarovski rondelles for a little bling.  I made these.

Ceramic feathers by Claire Lockwood

Ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau

I was happy with the bottom 2 pairs but something was missing from the top pair.  They looked bland.  I needed to dress up the brass tubes so I painted them and tried to achieve a distressed look by taking off some of the patina.  Here's the revamped pair. 

Did I mention I suffer from tunnel vision when it comes to making jewellery?!  Well here's the result.

Enamelled stars by Bea Stoertz

Ceramic flowers by Petra Carpreau

So much for making simple earrings! But I'm happy with the end result and I have a feeling I'll be painting more brass tubes (a bit addicted now) 😂

I hope you like my offerings for today.  I'll be listing these in my Etsy shop soon.  See you again in a couple of weeks time <3

Suhana 💖💖💖

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

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