Art Jewelry Elements March Component of the Month

Caroline Dewison of BlueberriBeads is March's Component of the Month host at Art Jewelry Elements. Caroline is an artist who makes her home in England, and she works in porcelain, stoneware, earthenware, raku clay, glass and copper. She makes beads and components as well as stunning jewelry--be sure to visit her website and browse through her gallery! I am particularly enamored with her sea urchin beads, particularly this set in "dirty green":

Aren't those the coolest? I need them.

I also adore her little "bird sets"--I love the serene colors in this one:

Well, when I saw the items Caroline was planning to offer for the Component of the Month challenge, I was even more bowled over! Look at these luminous beauties:

Luna moths! Aren't they stunning? Look at the depth of these glazes!!

I also saw sweet little bees and I fell head over heels for the little bees. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them before I started working on them (I was little excited to get started), but here's a closeup of them in the finished pieces:

As you can see, these two are in copper and gold tones. The copper-toned one on the left (I am amazed by this metallic glaze!) also has matte under-colors of muted mauve and violet. The finish is so rich and I just love the size--perfect for a little assemblage-type pendant, which is what I was thinking of.

Well, the gold one told me to go with mixed metal, and the copper one told me to be a purist. These were so inspiring to work with! Here is the mixed metal one with the gold bee:

I used a copper washer I had textured with a hammer and brass texture sheet for the central portion of the pendant. I applied brass eyelet rivets to the holes, and dangled a big gold pearl, a Hill tribes sterling silver bead, and some other small beads in sterling, copper and brass. (The little bees actually have steel loops at the top, but I wrapped them in copper wire to harmonize with the rest of the pendant.)

I used solid copper ball chain from Rings n Things, which I antiqued in liver of sulfur and tumbled (it really took the patina nicely, and it's clearly raw copper-YAY! I got a whole spool of it), and attached it to a sterling-wrapped brass toggle bar via Melissa Meman's brilliant design for ball chain ends--(they really add so much more than just a commercial ball tip! I love the kind of horseshoe-shape they have.) I tossed in another leafy Hill Tribes silver bead to make the chain portion slightly asymmetrical. I went crazy with my metals--I am realizing I need to do this more often because I really love all three together.

I just discovered these "melon" beads (the elongated silver football shaped-bead the bee hangs from) and I'm obsessed--I got them in both silver and copper. I hammer them gently with my Fretz embossing hammer to give them more of a handmade look--they have a seam, and the hammering actually makes the seam more visible, which I like--they look like a hand-formed, rolled bead then. I love how this piece turned out.

On to my "purist" piece--all glorious copper:

Again I used a washer (a twin to the other one actually--I had both of these in my stash already, I was so excited--work already done!) with tube-riveted holes, and a toggle closure. I wanted to draw out the mauve tones in the bee so I added mauve/berry-colored pearls. I used Melissa's ball chain end loops again, and added a delicious copper globe bead from a strand I recently got from AfroBeadia (these beads are FANTASTIC) with a couple of my copper beadcaps (I don't know why but the idea of a copper beadcap on a copper bead just sends me into orbit.) The bee hangs from a short length of tubing I cut with my saw and textured with my embossing hammer.

I've been wanting to do a necklace like this for a while, with a washer and some dangling bits. I haven't been making much jewelry lately--this is the first weekend I've felt good, and energetic for several weeks. I've had some kind of Everlasting Sinus Bug, I thought it would never end! It's not over yet, but it's much better which I have to take as a good sign.

Here are my two little grown-up bees together:

I made them to be worn high up on the neck, where the little bees will draw the eye:

This is a blog hop! Be sure to visit the other participants below:
Niky Sayers – http://silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk
The AJE Team
Caroline Dewison – http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk
Diana Ptaszynski - http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com
Susan Kennedy - http://suebeads.blogspot.co.uk
Kristen Stevens - http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/
Jenny Davies-Reazor - http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Melissa Meman –  http://melissameman.blogspot.com
Rebekah Payne - www.treewingsstudio.com
Lesley Watt - http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/
Linda Landig - http://www.LindasBeadBlog.com

AJE Earrings Challenge Reveal 18 weeks 37-38

Caught behind the eight-ball again with the earring challenge...but I coincidentally have three new pair of earrings to share!

Lily Pads and Roses

I soldered a bunch of copper rings, and patinated them in different colors; I mixed dye oxide patinas from B'Sue Boutiques to achieve this lilac-rose color. I thought I'd go girly and combine them with Czech glass dagger beads in moss green from Happy Mango Beads, and ivory lampwork in a lily pad theme from Kelley Wenzel. I put little Czech glass roundels in bubble gum on the earwires. (Also notice the little seed pods--from my Mommy's garden! I love new props.)

For these, I started with olive green copper rings, and fished around in my stash for some beads--aha! More Czech glass dagger beads from Happy Mango, in olive and azure, lampwork glass spacers from Julie Miller in cornflower blue, and Indonesian seed beads in olive green also from Happy Mango. I thought sterling silver would be nice (sterling silver beadcaps also by me):

Cornflowers and Moss

I just love this etched lampwork, it glows!

These remind me of fields of hay in September on the plains--golden! (More seed pods from Mom!)

Fields of Gold

I started with copper rings that I patinated with Old Lace and Violet dye oxide patinas from MissFickleMedia, and combined them with Czech glass leaves in caramel from BobbiThisnThat, lampwork glass "dragon eye" beads from Kelley Wenzel (somebody tell her to start making beads again, I mean it), glass tile beads in amber on the earwires, and antiqued brass.

Phew, that's all for now!

You can see more at my Etsy shop HERE.

Yes, I Do Actually Still Make Jewelry

Sometimes you just can't see it because it's going straight to Italy. Or to my Mom's house.

The Celtic Abbess

This one is a custom creation for my good friend and customer in Italy (the only person I do custom work for, so don't get any ideas. What can I say, she's special). It was a collaboration, based on an old design of mine that morphed into something different. I created the medallion from 26 gauge sterling silver sheet, creating three stylized poppy blossoms, texturing them with foreign coins, and riveting them together. The stones include moss agate, prehnite, and quartz. The gorgeous "avocado" hand-dyed/sewn silk ribbon is from Jamn Glass.

I created this bracelet to go with it:

Sterling silver button from Cathy Dailey.

I created this bracelet to coordinate with a necklace that I made a LONG time ago that is finally finding a home. I used aragonite and apple jade (I'm not exactly sure what kind of stone that is, but the color assortment is definitely apples--well, apples and caramel apples):

I made the brass button myself--I made a bunch of them! In copper too. I can't wait to use them all.

(Here is the unloved necklace, with golden jade, from eons ago--re-antiqued, tumbled and lacquer-sealed):

And here is another of my etched, double-sided pendants colorized with gilder's paste:

A dragonfly! The little transparent teal glass beads are Indonesian, from Happy Mango Beads. The three big black and teal beads are long-hoarded lampwork by Kelley Wenzel. I have a few more that I am still hoarding. This is the first design that seemed worthy of them! I touch them regularly. I made some ladder chain for it, I haven't done that in a while.

The pendant is reversible, there are different patterns with similar coloration on the other side:

This li'l dragonfly is going to live with my Mommy.

This pendant was made to coordinate with a bracelet from my shop (etched brass pendants by me):

I am in LOVE with these lampwork beads. They are from Lampwork by Amy. Amy lives in Canada. They're like confetti inside!! She has more like this in her shop and I WANT THEM. And I want all the other stuff in her shop. Except maybe the cremains beads. Not those. I'm like a dragon with gold. Sleeping on a big fat pile of lampwork beads. Or like a crack ho'.

Look at them:

"Straw Fire"

Just look at them. I want to re-buy them now.

Nightmare Insomnia!! AJE Design Team Blog Hop

Nightmare Insomnia

On July 1, I stopped by the Art Jewelry Elements blog, and saw a post by Jennifer Cameron featuring her "Nightmare Insomnia" bead series. I was utterly fascinated by these beads!! Jennifer was hosting a drawing to win five of her "Nightmare Insomnia" focal beads, the winners of which would then create pieces with them for a blog hop at the end of the month. Regular AJE partners would also be participating. I threw my hat in the ring and was thrilled to have my name drawn! I received the bead pictured above--and I think had I been able to choose from the beads featured in the post, I probably would have chosen this one! It was delightful to design around!

I was really wanting to do something dark and nightmarish with it--like really play up those spidery, gunmetal endcaps--but I just didn't have the right things. I contemplated using polished, annealed steel (which would echo those hematite-like endcaps and have this urban Underworld kind of vibe), but I like a heavier gauge wire, and my annealed steel wire was just too thin (plus if you could even find heavier gauge annealed steel wire, it would be too stiff to work with). I opted for sterling silver (I've never been able to do a sterling piece in a gunmetal patina. I Must. Shine. It. Up.)

I wanted to have a little more length descending from the bead itself, and it seemed like a faux toggle bail might be easiest to accomplish that with.

The sterling silver toggle bail, once in place, really drew my attention to the luxuriousness of the bead--as you can see, the endcaps really have an iridescence and shine to them, and the pattern in the center of the bead introduces a little bit of lighthearted whimsy into the whole design--they are seaside colors to me, and the pattern makes me think of confetti. So perhaps it was that advanced stage of insomnia, where you've gone without sleep for so long you're getting maniacally cheerful (right before you fall over).

I didn't want to add too much more color to it, as I didn't want to turn it into something sugary, so I stayed with the charcoal/black theme as much as I could. I had some awesome faceted Czech glass in a hematite color (they glitter, but, like, menacingly--haha!) that seemed perfect for the bulk of the design, and I liked the sea green accents best with the focal. A recycled glass bead in Coke bottle green from Happy Mango Beads seemed just right. For the extra length I wanted, I attached a short section of black silk string, with another glittery charcoal bead and a few faceted Czech glass rounds in Prairie Green (which I was thrilled to find matched my recycled glass beads--going to pair those up for earrings in the future!)

I finished it off with wide deertan lacing in black, nickel silver end treatments, and sterling silver chain and handmade clasp. My handmade sterling silver rivets on the leather ends turned out very rustic indeed. (I'm not very happy with the riveting block I bought, I think I'm going to go back to my vise for mushrooming rivet heads.)

Scroll down below to visit the other artists in the hop!

Beti Horvath: Stringing Fool

Gretchen Nation: Art Food Lodging

Karen Totten: Starry Road Studio

Kathleen Douglas: Washoe Kat's

Keirsten Giles: The Cerebral Dilettante

Kristen Stevens: My Bead Journey

Lola: Bead Lola Bead

Lori Anderson: Pretty Things

Nancy Pederson: Something Heartfelt by Nancy

Pam DeBoer: Purple Notes from the Studio

Rana Wilson: Rana Lea Designs

Shannon Chomanczuk: For My Sweet Daughter

Some Earrings

I decided the weekend would be for earrings. I made five pair, and one more pair is half done.

This pair features little orange-red seed beads from my Bead Soup from Donna Millard, tiny green turquoise heishi, large blue magnesite discs, pewter heart charms, and ruffly sterling silver beadcaps. The magnesite and heart charms are from Happy Mango Beads.

This pair is based around some "oil slick" lampwork beads from BeadAbundant (Etsy). They have such a lovely antiqued brass shimmer, I had to combine them with brass. I added garnets and pale purple seed beads to bring out the plum tones.

I started with Karen Totten's ceramic leaf charms for this pair, and added some verdigris patina discs from Shannon LeVart, pewter birch leaf charms, and little seed beads in periwinkle. Sterling silver earwires. Birch  leaf charms from Happy Mango Beads.

This pair is a little plain, but I really love these beads. The olive green is sort of glassy and rich. I like how the ivory base has some buttery golden patches, like a perfectly toasted marshmallow.

This pair below is my favorite new design. I wanted to try them first with just a smooth copper cap, but I think I would prefer them to be textured. They remind me of a fuchsia blossom--that's what I was going for with the little "stamens" dangling from the bottom. This pair sports a pair of lampwork beads from BeingBeads. I have another pair half done with green aventurine roundels and little Czech glass stamens in prairie green.

The Pot Sweetens! Artists Helping Artists

I am adding to the silent auction pot here at The Cerebral Dilettante:

These gorgeous sterling and fine silver earrings by Susan Fincher of Libellula Jewelry are now available for bidding, together with my copper jellyfish earrings! Susan was eager to join in as a partner in this Artists Helping Artists auction, and offers her support and warmest regards.

Here are some details about these lovely earrings:

• torch-balled sterling silver ear wires
• hammered, fused fine silver circular links
• (PMC) paisley fine silver stars
• torch-balled sterling silver headpins w/Czech glass beads

Everything but the Czech glass beads were handmade by Susan. The current bid from the previous post was $40--as those of you know who make jewelry, sterling silver is very valuable right now! By bettering that bid, you could be the proud (and crazy hot) owner of both pairs of earrings. A steal by any definition! These earrings are only available together, by bettering the previous high bid.

Would you like to be the winning bidder for BOTH pairs of earrings, from this post and the previous post? New bidders will be eligible, and previous bidders can increase their bid to be eligible for both pairs! Please, no bids on individual pairs; this fire-and-ice duo stays together! Please make your bid or rebid on the previous post. 


Bidding closes midnight, Sunday December 11. Thanks to Susan!

Grape Jelly and Autumn Splendor: A Natural Pairing

Ashanti cross in pewter with garnets and Crazy Horse Stone.

I can't help it, those garnets make me think of grape jelly. And the Crazy Horse Stone make me think of plum glaze. I've combined them above with Hill Tribes sterling silver spacers, each intricately stamped with a tiny design, some other sterling silver spacer beads, and a pewter Ashanti-style cross from Happy Mango Beads. Hand-forged sterling silver S-clasp and rings. I love these two stones together.

I couldn't resist doing this monochrome number below--I've been obsessively churning out these heavy wrapped copper rings, and after they came out of the tumbler all darkly glowing I pawed through my pearl stash to find something to pair them with and these teardrop and potato pearls in dark copper said PICK ME. I love the varying colors of the freshwater pearls--from dark gold to bronze to copper to almost cranberry. The teardrop pearls look like molten metal to me--very irregular and organic looking. Wish I could remember where I got them. (Jewelry Supply?)

Copper and freshwater pearls.

Hand-formed spirals, oval link chain, toggle bar and ball headpins.

In other news, I can say that I have mastered (as far as I know) the art of sawing jump rings, and getting my saw blade strung nice and taut. My project for my upcoming staycation is to saw metal sheet with it, and do some etched and stamped pendants and charms. I have some sketches done of what I am hoping will be easy designs. I don't have the patience right now for the iron transfer technique so I will attempt to freehand them with my limited drawing ability. I figure if they look too kindergarten-y I can just hammer the crap out of them and turn them into beadcaps.

Harness Your Frog Energy.

"Frog's song calls down the cleansing power of the rain. Frog is a reminder of the sacred power of tears to transform and cleanse away sorrow. Frogs will die if away from moisture for too long, and thus Frog reminds us to refresh ourselves, and allow joy to moisten our lives and our hearts. If you are feeling "muddied" by the world, take a moment to dream, to laugh and cry and renew yourself. Frog also reminds us to cleanse our bodies, our environments and our auric fields. People with Frog energy should learn and utilize methods of psychic cleansing."

Whatever.

I made this today with a pewter frog totem from most fabulous Happy Mango Beads, combined with lampwork from Pat Redinger at Beingbeads, and a stash of moss agate in a couple different sizes I completely forgot I had and obviously never really looked at closely because if I had I would have been OBSESSED with it and ordered 10 more strands and 80% of the stuff in my shop would be made with moss agate. It ranges from translucent, pale iceberg blue (even sometimes approaching periwinkle) through teal blue to vivid viridian and even towards a yellow-green, all of it with a delicate, glassy translucency, and fascinating veining that really does look like moss.

I added some little rice pearls in iris green. I've been meaning to use this totem with some of my blue-green lampwork from Pat and decided today was the day. And it wasn't even something I started two weeks ago and then stared at! I started it late this morning, and finished it the same day. Frigging amazing. I had to periodically LOS-ize more sterling wire, and melt more headpins in my torch, but it went pretty smoothly. My owl totem bracelet was very similar so I kind of knew how to go about it. This time, though, I looped the leather through a jumpring and wrapped it securely with a coil of silver wire, instead of using the crimp ends like I did with the owl bracelet. That was easier than I expected it to be.

I really do like frogs, actually (if I start collecting figurines in my 80s it will definitely be frogs--in fact my favorite is the poison dart frog). And I have been known to periodically sob in the restroom (public or private), after which time I generally do feel better although I look like crap. I had always thought I was just having a breakdown, but it's such a relief to know I was only instinctively cleansing my auric field. Moistening my, ah, life. Getting my Frog energy on.

What is Frog telling you?

Hint Jewelry Feature!

Woohoo!! Check out the great feature Beth Hemmila at Hint Jewelry posted about Lune Designs!! And if you aren't yet a follower of her blog, sign up! Beth's work is both lovely and inspiring, and from time to time she will take you "behind the scenes" at her studio and show you her process for creating it. Fascinating! She also shares handy tutorials about the various aspects of her craft and business, from creativity to packaging to marketing, and meditative kind of posts on expanding onesself as an artist and a person through the things life brings our way.


A sampling of Beth's lovely charms:

Go visit her if you haven't before! And if you haven't been in a while. You'll be glad you did!

Have Dremel, Will Travel

MONTHS ago I wired up this pineapple quartz point, and did the two short strands of Czech yellow opal crackle glass. I've been carting them around in a baggie ever since, waiting for sufficient motivation to accumulate in order to finish it. Last night the mouthy little angel on my right shoulder was telling me I should be productive, and I thought, I know, I'll do that thing that's already half done. And I'll add that chain I already made. All I really had to do was link everything together and polish it. I Dremeled the wrapping on the pendant, and hit the strands of glass with my steel wool and then the Dremel. The Dremel makes me unspeakably happy. The chain is currently doing another round in the tumbler. I  just love this pineapple quartz--the entire strand has swirls of iceberg blue that glow like Galadriel's Phial when the light hits them.

Unfortunately, I think the bead shop where I got these, and my favorite apple green howlite roundels, and other fabulous stuff, is going out of business. Her inventory is dwindling and she's not replacing it, and I haven't had the heart to ask if she's closing up shop. If she is, though, I'll have to go make a BIG SCORE at her closeout sale!!!!

For more information on this item, CLICK HERE.

Moonbeams and Leather

 

Myriad hand-torched sterling silver double-ended ball headpins flare and writhe like wild blue-fire moonbeams from a wrapped ring of dark, polished steel wire. This "flaming moon" hangs from a double strand of buckskin deer leather and a length of antique silver plated steel rollo chain. Additional chain links randomly dot the leather lacing. The leather is securely wrapped onto figure 8 sterling connectors with additional sterling silver wire.

I made this pendant at the same time I made my "flaming moon" earrings but couldn't decide what to do with it. I tried black leather, then black silk string, and it just wasn't right. When I found this deerskin leather from Magpie Gemstones, it just felt right. It was kind of a bear to attach it to the connectors--the leather is so soft, it's kind of hard to wrap. It looked a little bare, so I removed several links from the chain (it's antique silver-plated steel) and added them to the leather.