Seasonal "Twigz"

Hello!  I have something totally new to share with you tonight!

We all have our favorite beadmakers and one at the top of my list is Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads.  I can always count on her to challenge me as a designer which I thrive on.  

One of her latest creations is called "Twigz", they are made of glass on a zigzag of steel wire.

Shown above, are a pair in blood-red garnet glass. I have added lovely mismatched, mellow, Miriam Haskell glass pearls, heavily oxidized caps, spacers, and vintage accent beads. I kept this pair elongated, slim, and elegant.  I purposely left a bend of steel wire exposed as a design element. I think it lends a bit of delicacy and grace if you will.   They have a very gothic vibe.

And moving on into winter ~ Icy Twigz

Here are a pair in etched black glass with hints of blues and greens.  I have wire wrapped some dark grey silk to the top with the tiniest clear AB Swarovski crystals I could find.  

It's hard to photograph just how spectacular the large antique tin-cut crystals are at the top.  They just dazzle in the light.  I used handcrafted ear-wires by Lucy Haslam with that lovely dark twisted effect.

Well, thank you so much for taking a look at what's happening currently on my work table!

Until next time!  Much love from me and the studio cats.

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

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 

 

Simple, But Significant

Hello, friends!

This past week I've been working on a few projects and in-between, have also been playing around with random things living on my worktable.  So, for this blog post, I have an eclectic mix for you.

I may have mentioned in past posts one of my favorite quotes from Mad Men: "Make it simple, but significant."...you'll probably hear it from me again down the road because it's become my mantra.

Lovely artisan enameled discs by Anne Gardanne and wire wrapped fiber cocoons by Anna Pierson.

Outstanding lampwork headpins by Kimberly Rogers that I've looped and added tiny vintage Miriam Haskell wood beads to.  The wood beads were surprisingly delicate to work with, perhaps due to their age.  They are well worth the risk, as they are beautiful.

Vintage Japanese opal glass with delicate frit.  I added artisan hollow glass dangles to the bottom.  I am embarrassed to say I cannot remember the name of the glass artist but I will try to find out and update my info so bear with me!


Thank you so very much for stopping by today and seeing what I've been up to.  As always, if you have any questions please feel free to ask here or message me.

Loralee xo

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

https://www.etsy.com/shop/loraleekolton

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." ~ A.A. Milne

I love playing around with strong contrast, and this pair of earrings has quite a nice mixture of texture and different types of material.

The beautiful porcelain earring charms are by Terri DelSignore of Artisticaos.  They have all the qualities I love - beautiful color, nice lines, and endless possibilities for designing with.

 I decided to build an abstract sort of flowering weed.  I didn't want to add a lot of color to the top of this pair, keeping the focus on the colorful stems. I used dyed lucite berries and added some sweet vintage glass pearls for a little softness and light.  It's a nice sophisticated and versatile color palette this way.

It popped into my head to use some bold rustic metal bead caps to represent the withering sepal. Also, they complement the outline of the leaves. I think the rustic look of the metal lends a nice little element of surprise, too, and really brings the whole design together.

Thank you, thank you, for stopping by to see what's happening on my worktable today!

See you back here in a couple of weeks!  

Loralee xo

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

Cute As A Button

Mismatched vintage red buttons that go 'sew' nicely with these unique bone connectors!  

Itty-bitty green vintage daisy spacers and oxidized copper wire.  

Handmade ear-wires by Joan Moritz Langmo

Thank you for stopping by to see what's happening on my worktable this week!  I'll be back on 4/2 with some sweet bunnies :)

Loralee xo

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

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/

Hope Springs Eternal

Being on the cusp of Spring, I bring to you this day ~

Proverb-

"It is human nature always to find fresh cause for optimism."

There are two amazing and glorious things about these earrings: First, the newly created enamel work by Inviciti!!!  Yass! Garden sprouts with seedlings, just ready to emerge from the earth. Also, I'd like to mention that this is one of my favorite retro color combinations! 

Secondly, rare scalloped antique furnace glass!!  I've had this strand in my stash for a long time and I can't even begin to tell you how special it is.  Stunning emerald green with a beautiful scalloped edge that captures light and brings so much texture.  I also found some vintage black spacers with the same scalloped edge to build on.  At the very top are rustic peeled vintage glass pearls which always have a nice mellow color.

♡

Thank you for stopping by my worktable today!!  Happy Spring!!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

In The Pink

I am a gingham lover; they remind me of more innocent times but most of all, they remind me of my grandmother ♡.  

These sweet gingham enamel hearts are by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare.  

Heart charms always have the small challenge of what to do with that center dip.  In my stash, I found these vintage acrylic etched beads with perfect proportions and color.

This was a nice little surprise - the backs had a daisy pattern on them!  Cathleen always finishes her work so beautifully. 

These had been on my worktable for a few weeks.  I have a newfound obsession with vintage sequins.  They were in the same soft pink so I thought I'd include them in today's blog post.

The lovely enameled wire chandelier hoops are by Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade.

The vintage pink petal sequins are from Allegory Gallery

Thank you for joining me!  I have no clue as to what I'll be working on next ... but hopefully, you'll look for my posting in a couple of weeks!  😺

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Flutterby

Thinking about Spring in January gets me through the winter!

So, how do you like these flirty-girls?  Aren't they sweet?!!

I picked out these lovely vintage petal-shaped sequins from Andrew Thornton and William Jones of Allegory Gallery last summer (they still have them in stock, FYI).  I also purchased them in pink and yellow but my studio seems to have swallowed them up whole and I can't find them at the moment! *sigh

The top Robin's-egg blue, rustic enamel flower wheels, were made by Susan Kennedy of Suebeads.

Transparent sequins in mint green with a lovely pastel iridescent cast.  The quality of vintage sequins is wonderful.

The beautiful pod-like handcrafted enamels were made by Anne Gardanne.

On darker backgrounds and/or in a certain light, the pinks show up! This photo shows all the layers fanned out. When it is worn it hangs straight down.

Well, thank you for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks :)

All the supply resources are linked with the names of the artist or shop.

Cheers! 

(I've been watching a lot of British Shows lately.. ♡)

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Star Bright

Hello!  

Over the past couple of years, I've been very attracted to pink during the holidays.  I love a mid-century color palette but I suppose these aren't quite that.  Would you go for mid-century tribal?!! lol  It really doesn't matter what you call them...nope... blending and mixing is exciting and the eye likes what the eye likes :)

The "sugar beads" at the top are lucite with a coating of tiny glass beads. They were made in the '60s and are loaded with texture and catch the light.    I think the tiny bit of sparkle looks great with the light flecks in the enamel charms below.  It just goes together so beautifully.

The artisan enamel charms were made by Spurwink River Arts.  I adore the freeform star design with the pop of stripe and red in the center on a beautiful grey background.  So organic and lovely.

♡

Thank you for having a look at my worktable today!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Vintage Birds

Hi, I hope you've all had a good week, the weather is turning colder here and we  put some of the more tender plants into the greenhouse yesterday.

I have two pairs of earrings to show you on a vintage theme with birds. I really love these polymer clay components by Susana Paredes which are faux ceramic and I had fun carefully sorting through my beads to find some to match and compliment her components.

The beads I finally chose to match Susana's components which have tones of pink, green, brown and gold. are lampwork beads by Irina Samek with Czech glass bead caps and beads and brass palm leaf bead caps.

With this next pair I wanted to highlight the gorgeous colour of the bird and used etched lampwork beads by Natalya  Darlin together with beaded beads by The Curious Bead Shop, Czech glass beads and again brass palm leaf bead caps which I think go really well with the vintage look.

Thank you all for taking a look at my post. If you are interested in purchasing either they will be available in my FB group page later today, this is the link - Nicola Morse - Jewellery & components.

"Pins and needles, needles and pins, it's a happy man that grins."

Joan Miller, my Queen Of Halloween bead maker, just had her first show of the season and I was lucky enough to purchase these wonderful little autumn-inspired flowers. Fresh green and butter yellow are one of my all-time favorite color combinations. 

I always see little fancy black spiders in the center, do you?? Anyway...

I wanted to play up the beautiful green so I added some lovely vintage glass beads with small black slashes.  They have a wonderful matte finish and look very much like pods.

I could have left them alone at that point, but oh heck, it IS almost Halloween and I had the most perfectly adorable, teeny-tiny skulls, sooo... look who is now popping out of the pods...lol

My favorite thing to do in a design is add a little element of surprise.  From a distance, they are just pretty little flowers, but up close, someone is looking back!  My friend, whom I bead with every Saturday night, saw the earrings from across the table and said "Oh, how pretty!"  Then looked closer and went "Whoa!"  We've been friends forever and REALLY, she should have known better!  lol

Thank you so much for joining me and having a look at what I've been up to!  I'll be back in two weeks' time!

Loralee XO 

loraleekolton.etsy.com

Devilishly Charming Is What They Called Him...

Hello,  Happy October To You All!

Take a look at this strikingly bold and playful image Anna Pierson of Sagahus Components used on her faux tin charms!  I really fell in love with this guy and ordered a few pairs to play with.  

These charms were made on copper and have a nice substantial weight which dome beautifully. Doming the image really enhanced the facial features and gave it life!  

Don't you just love the little headdress of skulls he's wearing!  What also makes this design special is the soft muted yellow background, it really makes him pop!

I wanted this design to be a bit modern yet keep a warm rustic feel.  I loved the idea of extending the main image so I created a goatee for him!  It's like when an actor leaves the stage and comes into the audience! ha! 

In my stash I had these cool little wire wrapped charms by Shipwreckdandy Supply which were just the right size and shape!  Also, the tin is very smooth and the wire wrapping lends a lot of rich texture. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a peek on my worktable!

I will see you back in a couple of weeks!

🔥

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Bunny-Go-Round

Hello!  It's Loralee, thought I'd show you something fun today!  

Stunning lampwork glass headpins by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads.

Vintage lucite bunny that looks very much like stone, stunning vintage glass Haskell pearl and vintage German glass accent bead in a circular pattern.

These reminded me so much of a carousel.  I added a tiny pop of red which really enhanced the beautiful variations of grey tones. 

I always love working with these magnificent headpins, it gives me a chance to do something asymmetrical and experiment! 

Thank you for stopping by today and seeing what I've been up to - I'll be back on Wednesday!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com 

Jeepers Peepers!

"Oh, jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?Jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?

Oh, gosh all, git up, how'd they get so lit up?Gosh all, git up, how'd they get that size?"

Song by Louis Daniel Armstrong

Sweet little ceramic retro doll faces by Donna Perlinplim.  I especially love these pieces because they are made thin and very lightweight. 

I added stunning faceted, vintage blue glass beads. They really bring out her eyes!

I also added some highly oxidized spacers that look like the spikes on some Jacks! 

I ran across a photo of my kitty Pepper and I from a long while ago goofing around in the studio with a big eye app.  Pepper's eyes were big enough naturally that he really didn't even need it! lol  

Thank you for joining me today and checking out my worktable!  Hope you enjoyed it!  See you in a couple of weeks :)

Loralee and Pepper, with the Peepers! xo

loraleekolton.etsy.com

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