Two-Faced

That's how I like my pendants!

This side:

Verdigris Gypsy

That side:

(With amazonite, larimar, pearls, copper and leather)

This side:

Sunset Clouds

That side:

(With fire agate, amethyst, red aventurine and golden pearls--oh and a little drop of peach moonstone too)

This side:

Firefly

That side:

(With carnelian, amber, and jade)

This side:

Sunset Gypsy

That side:

(With amethyst, red aventurine, cherry quartz, carnelian, charoite and leather)

This one is reversible, but I don't think I took pictures of the other side--they look identical! You'll just have to take my word for it:

Red Creek

(With red creek jasper, green marble, amber glass, hessonite garnets and leather)

This little bracelet goes with the pendant above. It isn't reversible. Unless you count being able to wear it on either wrist:

Red Creek Part Deux

(With red creek jasper, lampwork glass, Czech glass leaf, and waxed linen. And copper (duh))

And with that, I bid you good night.

New Work

Considering how much time I've had off lately, I sure haven't brought much to completion. It seems I am always preparing...snipping, sanding, sawing, etching, coloring...It takes forever to get to the end product!

I did however finish a few things over the long holiday weekend. I finished this necklace yesterday--I sort of stumbled on a nifty way to make interesting caps for pendants (I just can't bear to stick a plain jump ring on a pendant, I have a compulsion to cover up that hole), and in my usual fashion I put these caps on every stone pendant in my stash. So now I have to start turning them into necklaces! This was the first:

Sold

The pendant is aqua terra jasper (also known as impression jasper), as are the big roundels on the middle strand (absolutely stunning roundel beads from Beads and Honey--fabulous shop and service). The sweet little cream colored beads in the top strand are encased khaki lampwork spacers by Kelley Wenzel (sadly for me currently on a bead hiatus--good thing I've been hoarding a bunch--SEE??? this is why we must hoard, because sometimes the beadmakers start taking pictures instead and THEN what will you do?), and the stick beads near the bottom of the photo are new jade from a local shop. Also featured are Indonesian glass beads from Happy Mango Beads in celadon (such a perfect match!) and oatmeal. The little copper heishi spacers are also from Happy Mango (they are a real staple of mine, I love how they add a little flash of metal, but are plain so don't interfere with the feel of the piece).

I've also been slowly working my way through my stash of enamel from Anne Gardanne. Over the holiday weekend, it was beadcaps! I really love the pointy little tulip caps. This is my favorite pair:

Regular Garden Party

I love the colors on these caps--lemon yellow, strawberry and grass green. So inspiring! I combined them with pink quartz briolettes (from FineGems--got some GREAT stones from them), Czech glass in antique rose (on the earwires), and little pale peach seed beads on creamy Irish waxed linen. Now I want to make about a hundred things in pink and yellow. I love these colors with copper.

These are almost an identical design, but with violet blue quartz briolettes instead, and denim blue caps. The berry sprinkles on the caps told me PINK!!! I obeyed.

My Little Pony  Garden Party

I love the blue violet with the azure in the beadcaps and the pink tones. I never would have thought that I would fall in love with a My Little Pony color scheme.

I wanted to use cording with this pair below too, but I just didn't have the right color so I went with little copper headpins. These caps are an electric violet blue (so hard to photograph purples, they are more purple in person than they appear here.)

Psychedelic Garden Party

The little turquoise saucers sitting atop the green leaves are itty bitty handmade lampwork spacers by Meital, and the matte turquoise Indonesian glass seed beads from Happy Mango were a perfect match (I have two long strands of these beads, they are AWESOME, they are more like little stones than glass beads).

This last pair got its color inspiration from the wonderful fuchsia color left on my headpins after I torched them. I couldn't bear to pickle it off so I left them as is, and when I set them aside with these orange caps, I thought PLUM!! I had these wonderful Czech glass rounds in a "lumi" finish, and I loved the contrast with the opaque enamel. I added little fuchsia button pearls to the earwires to pick up the fuchsia on the headpins.

Pee Wee's Garden Party

I just love these darling little flowers.

There's something Seussian, or Willy Wonkian, or Pee-Weeian about them. Can't put my finger on it...They make me think of all my favorite childhood books and movies. I sort of went with a Willy Wonka color scheme.

That's all for now!

Scorched Earth

I recently stumbled across a shop I saw in my Etsy activity feed, Scorched Earth (apparently I was the last to know about this treasure trove of porcelain awesomeness), and promptly fell in love with everything I saw! So I tried to buy everything I saw. But then common sense prevailed and I decided to just buy 14 things instead. Here is a sampling:

Moss Creek Bobble Drops

I am obsessed with this shape. And the word "bobble."

China Sea Bobble Drops

Petra Carpreau is a genius. And a doll. (You must check out her blog--HERE you go.)

Sour Apple Bobble Drops-like tiny Bartlett pears!

I also love these eggplant-shaped drops so I bought a bunch:

Bronzy Droplets Dutch Blue

These are like creme brulee. I might have to faux-nibble on them, just a bit:

Bronzy Droplets Amber Crackle

I do that, the bead faux-nibble, with yummy noises. Nom nom!

I am thinking these might combine with the last of my "midnight" beads from Kelley Wenzel, in a necklace perhaps:

Scorched Persia and Copper Oxide Drops

And look at these fabulous things! Those are the colors of where I live! Glacial lake green, midnight sky, and white snow.

Glacier Porcelain Tips 

And these look edible, don't they? Pretzel Stix! I will do the Faux-Nibble Nom Nom with them as well.

Bright Orange Porcelain Tips

And lastly, perhaps the piece de la resistance, these little handbag shapes:

Wedge Droppers

I should have gotten these too, dammit:

Hoopy Wedge Connectors "Pillar Box"

So much fabulousness, I was nearly weeping as I filled my shopping cart. (One thing I really like about these droppers, is the heavier gauge steel wire Petra uses--sturdy enough for my peace of mind, and it will just look better with the heavier gauges of wire I tend to use in my jewelry.) And as if the fabulousness weren't enough, prices and shipping are also very affordable! Hence the 14 items. I'm going to have to buy more storage soon. I'm thinking something like this:

Baby Bjorn, available at Zappos