Rustic Silver Flowers with Ruby Spinel

A few posts back I posed the question - what do you pick out first the jewelry or the outfit? I got mixed responses. My conclusion? It is totally an individual choice! Same goes for earrings and necklaces, I suppose. You find one you like and try to match another piece to it, yes? 

These earrings actually came after the necklace. And the necklace became something completely different than what I started from. 

Either way, I am very pleased with the end result. 

Again, these components came together like magnets! You may have experienced this yourself.. you get on a roll and light bulbs start going off in your head like explosions of inspiration!

The charms are sterling silver disks that went through he rolling mill, pressed with bits of flower rick-rack. The flowers left a lovely embossed impression on the silver. It reminds me of rustic tin... although I hesitate to compare sterling to tin.

They are framed in fine silver hoops that were hammered with a dotted texture. 

And then finally adorned with ruby and pale rose colored Spinel gemstones. Absolutely a gorgeous array of colors in these little faceted stones. I can hardly believe they lasted in my bead drawer as long as they did!

I was able to achieve a nice big loop on my ear wires so it almost looks like a tiny hoop. 

Farewell summer... hello autumn... Rustic Silver Flower Earrings. 

☮ Cindy 

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August Flowers

The month of August is the month of my birthday, and what I love most about this month is the sight of the mature greenery and all the flowers in bloom. I love to stroll and take in all the gorgeous flowers that I see in all the gardens, as well as the wild flowers that bring a touch of colors sometimes in unsuspected places...

I absolutely had to make a pair of earrings to represent August Flowers:

I made a pair of .999 Fine Silver hoops on which I have wire wrapped some stunning Fancy Cut (faceted kite shaped) Tsavorite Garnets, AAA micro-faceted lilac amethyst gemstones and gorgeous berrilicious Pyrope Garnets.

I have also added some sun-catching faceted sterling silver beads near the top, and stamped a small leaf under the wrapped area.

All handmade from scratch, including the .925 sterling silver ear wires... these are my August Flowers earrings.

I wish you all a great remainder of August... enjoy the flowers while we still have them. Winter will be coming too fast.

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith, Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

Sun King

 I always have my iPod on while I am in my studio creating and I had to laugh while creating these because The Beatles, 'Sun King' came on and I immediately thought to myself, "That's the name!". Love when the happens because often times I struggle with a name. A few months ago, my mom was going through old jewelry to donate or throw away and these sun charms were on a pair of earrings so I scooped them up and now I'm glad I did. Recycled into these beauties. The lovely ceramic drops are by Happy Fish Things . Have I mentioned how much I love Jana's work? It's lovely, you should definitely check out her Etsy shop.

 

You will find these earrings for sale HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

 

You Stud, You

A little tongue-in-cheek homage to my first pair of stud/post earrings - what took me so long? 

I guess I have always gravitated to longer more dangly earrings because you can add so many bits and pieces to them - a small collection of parts that come together to make a provocative whole. Post earrings, however, are an exercise in minimalism that can go horribly boring if not executed well. Plus, I just hadn't taken the time with my metalworking to hone in on the details necessary to make a wearable set of posts. 

So last week when I was in Austin, Texas visiting my brother and sister-in-law, they took me to Nature's Treasures, a fantastical rock shop. I think we spent about three hours in the store - me working myself up into a frothy lather while pawing through bins of crystals, fossils, and rocks. It wasn't pretty, but my haul sure was. When I saw these little cross-section coins of petrified wood branches, I knew I had to have them. A split second later, I knew that I was going to have to make them into earring studs. As soon as we set foot back home, I made a beeline to the studio and worked these babies up. Who wants to unpack when there's art to be made?

Primitive organic post-punk wicked faux-gauge-looking little devils - these will serve as a prototype for many pairs to come. In the meantime, I think I'll keep them for myself - you know, for research's sake...*cough*

Hope everyone has a great week :)

Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Earth Maiden

Woodstock Earrings

A bit of a flashback to the late 60s, these fringe earrings would have fit right in at Woodstock or Monterrey. Earth Maiden is just my idea of a potential Earth Mother figure, who is still being groomed for the position, sort of an apprentice type situation. You can almost smell the green meadow where dancers twirl about in a carefree frenzy, until the next morning when they wake up dehydrated, sunburned and covered with insect bites. Earth Mother and Earth Maiden will be there to nurture the wayward souls.

These earrings started out with the turquoise deerskin lace and the darkened copper ring and grew from there. I added nylon cord in blue and green, and the seed beads in chartreuse and turquoise with accents of African red orange seed beads, resulting in a tribal Bohemian fringe design. I make the ear wires from 19 gauge copper wire and oxidize them for that primitive look that is characteristic of my work.



Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Fall Flowers

I've been playing with different color combination on my Polymer Clay Hibiscus Flowers lately and this pair are a perfect match with some of the Beaded Beads I have from Kristen Stevens!!

They make a beautiful pair of Autumnal Earrings.
I know it's too soon to be thinking about Fall but it's coming up faster than I would like!

These earrings are available to purchase HERE in my shop!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

We're All Ears :: August Inspiration

One of my favorite blogs to follow is called The Jealous Curator. I find the most fascinating contemporary artists and their uncommon art and exhibitions through this site. While looking for inspiration for August, I thought that it should be something color-filled like the halcyon days of summer, yet light and airy to beat the heat. I found all that and more in the stunning installation art of Gabriel Dawe.

:: Source ::

Per the bio on his website:

Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel Dawe creates site-specific installations that explore the connection between fashion and architecture, and how they relate to the human need for shelter in all its shapes and forms. His work is centered in the exploration of textiles, aiming to examine the complicated construction of gender and identity in his native Mexico and attempting to subvert the notions of masculinity and machismo prevalent in the present day. His work has been exhibited in the US, Canada, Belgium, and the UK. After living in Montreal, Canada for 7 years, he moved to Dallas, Texas, where he obtained his MFA at the University of Texas at Dallas. For the final two years of his degree, he was an artist in residence at CentralTrak, the Artist in Residency program at UTD. His work has been featured in numerous publications around the world, including Sculpture magazine, the cover of the 12th edition of Art Fundamentals published by McGraw-Hill, and in author Tristan Manco’s book Raw + Material = Art . He is represented by Conduit Gallery in Dallas, and by Lot 10 Gallery in Brussels. 

Do you remember doing those string art projects at summer camp? This installation work takes that idea to the ultimate. Created with miles (and I do mean miles!) of sewing thread wound around hooks or nails on wood, these airy textile sculptures transform a dull place into a living rainbow. Hard to choose just one picture, so I settled on a collage of just one of his impressive installations. All angles have to be viewed to appreciate this magnificence of form and explosion of color. Pick the inspiration photo that inspires you or head over to his website to see more!

What inspires you about this amazing art installation?

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To participate in the We're All Ears creative challenge:

Make earrings inspired by this picture.

Write a post on your blog.

Add your exact blog post URL link to the InLinkz code right here
on Friday, August 15th.

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