Making the Best of a Situation

Sometimes our delicate components don't make the cross Atlantic trip so well.

I was a little crushed when this heartfelt gift from dear Claire Lockwood  arrived in not so great shape.

I was trying to think of some sort of fix and I'm awfully fond of Apoxy Clay for repairs such as this.

I was planning on using the chain as a texture element on my  newly formed points but I liked the chain embedded so much that I left it on!

Apoxy Clay is paintable so I was able to to match up the colors with some handpainting.

And here are the other halves of the headpins. I can make two sets of earrings out of this mishap now!

I had some copper hoop earrings that had been kicking around in my studio for years ( bought new and waiting for some clever idea of how to use them)

I finished them off with a couple of little lampwork spacers and patinated jump rings.

So don't despair when your components break sometimes. There are some fixes to see you through.

Thanks, 

Kimberly Rogers

#numinositybeads

www.numinositybeads.etsy.com

Blossoming.

Spring is beginning to make itself felt even up here in the north of England and we've had two or three days of lovely blue skies and sunshine. It was Mother's Day here on Sunday and my house is awash with plants and flowers of all colours and scents. Close your eyes and smell hyacinths - it's just the best!

Today's pretty pink blossom earrings are made with beautifully detailed enamels from  Linda Younkman . I've had quite a few pairs of Linda's enamels and been really pleased with the quality and unusual shapes of every one. Vintaj black arte chain and jump rings hold a bouquet of small Czech glass flowers and the swirly pink lampwork is from another northern English lass, Joanne Joyce. My mate Lucy Haslam made the beaten copper circular earwires for me at her home in Wales.

                                          
                                           Just like having a bunch of flowers in your ears.

                                                      Enjoy the weather, wherever you are!

                                                                  See you next time

                                                                        Lindsay x

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The Vivid Creatures Can

I don't tend to do green.

I made these cones for my last bead shop update, and decorated them with some new glazes I'd picked up. I was a little underwhelmed with the initial results so I added some teal blue stripes and popped them back in the kiln. When I fished them out I was much happier: they have a seventies ceramics look about them. I nearly kept them from the off but I try to resist keeping the best things when listing beads so I added them along with *a lot* of other pieces. Much of the stock sold quickly but, for some reason, these cones were overlooked. So, taking that as a sign, I decided to pull them out for my own use.

I topped them with some rusted filigree caps and hung them from some blackened vintage copper rings, which frame some pleasingly rustic African brass charms. Within the cones I've added slender lengths of sterling silver and labradorite chain and some patinated copper pieces from Miss Fickle Media. The colours in both work really nicely with the blues and greens in the glazes.... and I'm still highly tempted to keep them!

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

With love

Hello peeps.

First of all I apologize to you for missing my post two weeks ago. Somehow I managed to mix up the dates.
Currently I am in the Netherlands and spring is here. Yay. I love the soft greens of the new leaves, the pinks and whites of the blossoms. Birds are busy to build their nests or are hatching already. Everything comes alive. How about where you live? Has spring arrived yet?

Original picture from Di Keeble

Participating in the bead soup blog party, bead hoarders edition made me rummage through my tiny stash of beads. And gave me the idea to challenge myself for the rest of this year. For every blog here on Earrings Everyday I challenge myself to use art beads I have been hoarding for quite some time. Starting today.   

I have been hoarding these handmade polymer clay charms, made by Di Keeble for a very very long time. In fact, these were among the very first art beads I bought.
From these three I picked the two square ones. I like asymmetrical jewelry a lot, so one square and the rectangle one would be the natural choice. But I am not great in asymmetrical earrings. Necklaces or bracelets, not a problem at all. In fact to make these symmetrical is a problem for me. But asymmetrical earrings.... somehow I cannot master that. Luckily the print on the square ones are different.. so... just a wee bit asymmetrical.
The blue seeds beads did have the perfect matching color to accompany these charms, but they are tiny. Well, they are seed beads, so naturally they are tiny. So...what to do with them? These beads have 2 holes, so why not make a ring with them? I took out even more tiny seeds beads in white (the smallest beads you can buy) and beaded these rings. 
For a little pop of color I added a small Czech glass bead in dusty rose.

These earrings are available in my shop. Thank you so much for looking and I see you in a couple of weeks. Here on Earrings Everyday we appreciate and love to read your comments. So don't be shy and let us know your thoughts. 

Wishing you a wonderful day, full of joy, sunshine and spring flowers.
Janine
Esfera Jewelry

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Spring Bling

Today's earrings feature beautiful headpins by Bea Stoertz.  I have teamed these up with vintage glass beads in a round frame - they were simple and perfect at this point but I wanted to add more (as always). 

I added a stack of Swarovski rondelles, brass spacers and more vintage glass beads. 

Now they look perfect - to me 😁

These are now listed in my Etsy shop.  See you again in  a couple of weeks time.

Suhana <3

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Earth Rebirth

In my last post here at Earrings Everyday, I wrote about how much I was yearning for spring to arrive.  Well, it's finally here, officially at least, and for some of us the weather is even getting warmer and sunnier!  So I thought I'd make earrings that would reflect the beginning of spring, that period of rebirth and renewal, when the birds are building nests for their families-to-be, the flowers are starting to bloom, and the trees are leafing out.

I looked through my cache of earring components and opened my box of treasures by Helena Benkoczka of ARETObeadsjewellry, who (as I'm sure you know) makes uniquely beautiful earring charms.  I found just what I wanted:  a lovely pair of tribal teardrop charms in soft turquoise and purple that reminded me of the Easter celebrations of my childhood.

To go with the charms, I picked lovely streaky transparent purple lampwork rondelles by Beth Mellor of Beeboo and pretty turquoise discs made for me by my friend Barbara Steffen of Fire Spirit Beads.

I added tiny purple seed beads and turquoise jump rings, and wrapped and knotted everything together with turquoise waxed linen cording.  These pretty, softly colored earrings are the result.

Thanks so much for reading--I'll see you in two weeks!

xoxo
Meridy

My Etsy shop

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Stopping to Smell the Roses.

 

Hmmm.........today just happens to be my birthday. Not planned this way, it's just my regular posting day, but having reached the kind of age where my younger granddaughter Hazel asks me 'which birthday will you be dying on, Nannie?' I make a point of stopping to smell the roses - both real and metaphorical -  whenever I can.

This pretty Hellebore (aka Christmas Rose, Lenten Rose) was given to me by a good friend for my birthday exactly two years ago when our new garden was in it's infancy and is reaching a decent size now. When all is barren in the garden they can be relied on for weeks of colour to cheer you up and herald Spring. It's  a plant with history.

 

(19th C botanical image)

 

Co-incidentally, I received my order of several of  Kimberly Rogers lampwork criffles (which I love - and aren't they like the hellebores?) so last weekend I 'went pink' with several pairs of pink earrings. Some have already gone, and there a couple still in my Etsy shop, but I saved this pair for today as they're my favourites. 

 

 

                                  


The crustiness just takes the edge off the 'sickliness' of  pink. They have a  'threader ' element to them in that the lovely vintage soldered silver chain (given to me by an elderly lady - actually older than me - when I shortened a VERY trendy pendant for her) pulls through the criffles so you can adjust the balance of the dangles. They have some great bruised pink biwa stick pearls (also from Kim) wired on to the ends.

 

                                                So what do you think? Is pink for you?

                   See you on the other side of the birthday cake (assuming someone buys me one -       given the choice of baking or making earrings these days, the earrings get it every time!)

                                                                         Lindsay xx

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Always Experimenting

I haven't been making a lot of earrings lately. I seem to be running out of venues now that I have decided not to drive the 100 miles each way that I had been to our Alaskan farmers market this coming summer. Similarly I am getting less and less fond of doing consignment with galleries and have all but pulled my inventory from them as well.

I continue to make components - lampwork, polymer and torch fired enamels and no am doing some fold-forming of copper as well

I was doing a little experimenting with some copper flashing that I picked up at a junkyard and wanted to see if I crumpled it up enough would it be sturdy enough for fold- forming and enameling

Here was the result of  my enameling which I wasn't super thrilled with.

I wasn't trying to be very exacting with the application of the enamel.

What I was happy with was the reverse side however!

They seemed like the perfect backdrop for my new Ivy's Garden resin charms from Susan Silverman.

She's been frequently listing on the LBA Galleria Elementals group on facebook.

Thanks for looking

Kimberly Rogers

www.numinositybeads.etsy.com

Business page https://www.facebook.com/NuminosityBeads/

 My sales group https://www.facebook.com/groups/967164829979604/

https://www.instagram.com/numinosity/

Colours in Stack

Hi there,
hope you are all well. Here's todays earrings. Something colourful and hopefully spring-like for this wonderful season. 


Ingredients (from bottom to top):
Handmade enameled copper headpins - Barbara Lewis of PaintingWithFire
6/0 Orange duracoat metallic seed beads
Purple opal czech glass flowers
6/0 Lilac gold luster seed beads
Aqua green greek ceramic beads
Lime green opal spacer glass beads
Bronze czech glass spacer rondelles
Purple opal czech glass druks
Handmade copper earring hooks

All my best,

Malin
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

We're All Ears :: March Reveal :: Owls

Alas, you get no credit for the best laid plans.

I had grand visions of finding glass beads that looked just like those haunting eyes and pairing those with a multitude of feathers. While I found some glass beads in my stash, but none of them seemed quite right.

So then I set about to create some components of my own. I had this idea to make an owl head tablet bead. I succeeded in making eight of them. But then I couldn't quite decide how to finish them and everything I did seemed to make it look worse.

Then I decided to switch gears away from the obvious owl face and focus on the feathers. I came up  with a new feather design, one that required sculpting each so they would be unique.

Still, none of this was quite right, or at least not how I envisioned it in my head.

But it is my party, and I figure that I should share with you what I made, even if it feels a bit more like cocktail weenies than prime rib. Plus there is always a lesson to be learned in the process....like using different colors of clay, or coloring it before baking, or simply don't wait until the very last minute to gather your materials (!).

"Perfection is the enemy of done." So here is what I made. Now I know that I have the spark of some ideas that I can revisit and refine another time.

Whoooo else made something to share? Add your link to the blog hop below and have fun flying around to see what everyone else created!

Quiet Moments and Elegance

As we've been simplifying our life for the 15 months, we've been even more aware of the preciousness of special moments. There's a certain softness and peacefulness that moves into this type of life transformation.

Winter peacefulness - Photo: Nathalie Lesage

It can be a scenery, a glimpse of something surreal, a feeling of a magical moment. When we collect too many physical things, it takes space not only in the space surrounding us, but it also takes up space in our mind.

In a world where we're encouraged with every single commercial on TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, online adds, etc, to 'consume' 'consume' 'consume'... more, more, more, it's good to take a break and re-evaluate what we truly need. Turns out there's a lot of things we don't need at all.

Less is more.

So in that theme, I've decided to design this simple pair of earrings:

The blue-flash Labradorite gemstones remind me of the picture (above) that I took on one of our road trips up North. I've set these gemstones on a pair of lilac drop shape Amethyst gemstone sterling silver headpins (with the cute little trio of dots/detail at the bottom) that I've been hoarding for many years. I only have a couple more.

Although it's hard to see the color of those Amethyst gemstones, the Swarovski Crystals that I've suspended on the Anodized Aluminum rings are the same color... a soft lilac, cool and peaceful.

At the top, I've used a pair of handmade Polymer Clay beads (wavy textured croissants beads, in black and silver) made by the love of my life, my husband Darren :)

Long, Lightweight, Slender, Simple, Quiet Elegance that catches the light... you have to stop and take the time to get a glimpse of the blue flash in the Labradorite when the light hits them 'just so'. It's like a little secret that only a select few will get to enjoy.

Do you have any plans to lighten up your surroundings this Spring? Try it and see how it feels!

Wishing you a peaceful and quiet relaxing day!

Thank you very much for stopping by :)

You can find these earrings in my Etsy shop HERE.

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
My Garden Of Love on Etsy
The Crafty Tribe on Etsy

I'm Late, I'm Late...

 
 ...for a very important date...

 
It's a funny thing. I never used to be the type of person who would flirt with lateness---not having enough time to do what I need to do, or get where I need to get, or meet who I need to meet. I was always so anxious about everything, so I would overprepare and usually have way too much time on my hands. As I've gotten older (and hopefully a little calmer), I find that there are some occasions where I cut it close. Like, for instance, today's post. 



On Monday a post-reminder popped up on my phone and I told myself "I've got a couple days, I'll just bounce around some ideas for a little bit." Last night I went to bed knowing I had to post this morning. "I'll take care of it when I wake up with fresh eyes," I told myself. So I woke up this morning, and, of course, it's time for me to post. And I have made no new earrings in the past couple weeks. And I have no ideas. And what did I think would end up happening?!

 
So here I am, in my pajamas, scrambling to find ear wires for a just-finished pair of earrings. Bleary eyed as I shoot pictures and try to keep Ming from cameo-ing in all of them. Pulling my hair back into a scruffy bun as I adjust my glasses and put on my writer's cap. It's a glamorous life.

Maybe it's a thing? This whole getting later as you get older? I've noticed it in my ever sweet, formerly punctual parents. Maybe the same thing is happening to me? I need your wisdom and insight here, dear readers. 

These earrings are a continuation of a little series from last year that pairs wee agua nueva agate chips with unique wood beads. Blackened silver solder dots the head and tail of each bead. The webby mossiness of the stones just pairs so well with the wood--reminds me of a forest floor. I have six of these ready to post as soon as I get around to making ear wires...

"But I've got time for that, though, right...?"

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki 
LoveRoot on Etsy

Ethereal Greenery

Ethereal: (adjective) extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world: her ethereal beauty. Heavenly or spiritual.

I truly love Pantone's 2017 color of the year "Greenery" and the gorgeous color palettes derived from it. One particularly caught my eye:

Ethereal Color Palette - Click on image to go to the Pantone website to see all of them.

The Caramel Cafe (sounds like my favorite kind of flavored coffee drink!), Rich Gold, Dull Gold, and add some Greenery to the mix and I ended up with these:

I designed these earrings around a pair of my Handmade Polymer Clay diamond shaped charms. I used some green and dull gold, and inserted a round gold-tone stud in the middle. The texture and dots add visual movement, a bit of a vortex maybe?

The caramel cafe is represented in the pretty wood beads, the Anodized Aluminium jump rings, and hypoallergenic Niobium ear wires. You'll find a hint of the Caramel Cafe also in the Green Czech glass beads, they are two-tone, and I just love how the light gently shows the hint of caramel color amidst the greenery. The airiness and colors give these earrings a bit of an ethereal feel:

The frame and wire wrapping is done in 14kt gold filled (rich gold) wire. They measure 3 inches long, but because they feature my polymer clay components, they are EXTREMELY lightweight to wear, which to me, is very important. I have sensitive ears and the lighter, the better.

So what's your favorite Pantone 2017 Color Palette?

You can find these earrings, as well as these Polymer Clay charms (and more) in my Etsy shop.

P.s. Don't forget about our big reveal coming up! Have you created some earrings inspired by owls?
I can't wait to see what you've all come up with!


Thank you for stopping by!
Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop

It's all about..........

This ↓

So Claire Lockwood updated her bead shop last week and not surprisingly everything went super fast.  I was lucky enough to snag this lot minus the Moff (Moth) wings which were donated to me by my lovely friend Sue Robinson as she knows how much I love them 😁

I started working with them straight away and here's what I've made so far.

Lampwork by Meital Plotnik

Lampwork by Meital Plotnik.

and these also with lampwork by Meital Plotnik.  Claire actually sold the feathers as pendants but they were really lightweight and a good size for earrings so I thought why not.  There's some subtle asymmetry going on, which I think gives them even more character. 

Only the top pair is available and will be listed in my Etsy shop soon.  See you again soon.

Suhana 💖💖💖

My Etsy Shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Waiting...and Waiting...and Waiting for Spring

Why, oh why, does it seem to take forever for spring to arrive?  Is it the old "a watched pot never boils" syndrome?  Maybe it's just me.

I can't complain about the cold and snow, because I live in Sacramento, California, which has pretty nice weather, actually.  It has a Mediterranean climate, rainy in the winter (no snow), hot and dry in the summer, and spectacular in the spring.  Seriously, in the spring, virtually everything blooms here.  Having moved to Sac (as we say) from Colorado, I wasn't used to that.  Colorado has its own stunning beauty, but here everything grows fast, gets large, and blooms--all sorts of flowers, bushes, and even trees, from huge magnolia trees to ornamental trees that fill the skies with beautiful blooms of red, fuchsia, baby pink, or purple.

And spring comes early here.  Our first flowers usually start peeking out of their beds in mid-February, maybe a crocus or a dwarf iris.  The warm weather usually follows along gradually, getting a little warmer each week.  This year, however, California had heavy rains caused by "atmospheric rivers" that parked themselves over the state, causing floods and mudslides.  We were happy to have the rain because California was in a five-year drought, but these heavy rains caused real problems.  The cold, heavy rain lasted for almost two months, with only a few short breaks of blue skies and sunshine here and there.  We were starting to really feel the lack of sun!

Anyway, since it's been such a cold, wet winter, I decided to make these golden-sun, grass-green, and blue-sky earrings using Cathleen Zaring's beautiful enameled copper earring charms and a pair of lovely green

These "Bringer of Spring" earrings are available here.

lampwork discs by Terry Turner.  It's only recently started to warm up here, and I'm really feeling the quiet arrival of spring, with its fresh energy.

Who knows--maybe my earrings will help move things along a bit.  After all, the Spring Equinox is only about ten days away!  ;)

As always, thanks so much for reading!  I'll see you in two weeks. 💙

xoxo
Meridy

My Etsy shop

My Facebook page

A Boy called Hilda.

This week I thought I'd introduce you to one of my favourite photographic props. It's the tale of a boy called Hilda.

 

'Hilda' was one of the myriad of antiques/objets d'art/bits of tat my mother used to collect when she retired from work. As well as some wonderful beads and pieces of broken antique jewellery; that's for another day. 

 

Hilda is a beautifully carved native head in a solid hardwood, well polished by age. 'She' had pride of place on one of my mum's many cabinets, and when my kids were younger they always used to turn 'her' head towards the door as they left and tell my mum it would afford her protection from robbers while she slept. So it became a bit of a tradition, and when Hilda passed to me we always made sure 'she' was facing the door in our home. And yes, touch wood, we have never been burgled.

 

You will, of course, all have noticed that 'she' is male, but my mum would never have it and so 'Hilda' stuck. I'm guessing he's from some S. American tribe - but if anyone can enlighten me please do.

 

Hilda has provided an atmospheric backdrop to many, many pairs of tribal style earrings  and I wouldn't be without 'her'!

 

 

 The earrings this week I've called 'Arrowhead'. I imagine Hilda with a bow and arrows, maybe with tips poisoned with curare! The dramatic arrowhead shaped ceramics in green and bronze are by one of my favourite ceramic artists Mari Carmen Rodriguez Martinez and I've wired them to beaten wrapped oxidised copper rings by Irish metal artist Colleen Campbell. Faceted pyrite chunks echo the bronze cast to the ceramics, and they hang from fab beaten copper circular earwires made for me by Lucy Haslam.

 

Have you a favourite photographic prop to share with us? Or maybe you could think about using them a little more - they can provide great atmosphere and add meaning to your work. 

 

See you next time

 

Lindsay x

 

my etsy shop

 

my Facbook page

 

 

 

 

 

Treasures of the Sea

Treasures are in the eye of the beholder... What may seem insignificant to a person, may be an incredibly precious treasure to another. Where does your mind go when you think about "Treasures of the Sea"?

When I was younger, whenever I would think about the Treasures of the Sea, I would automatically think about Seashells, Pearls, Sea glass, Sand Dollars, etc.

As I'll soon be entering my (hopefully) wiser years by becoming a grandma next month... Now, when I think of Treasures of the Sea, my mind now goes to artful pieces of soft driftwood adorning our beaches nearby, stones of various colors polished to a super soft finish by the sea, the gentle waves rolling on my feet as I walk along the water line, holding my loving husband's hand. I feel so happy in my heart and soul, and that feeling is my most precious Treasure of the Sea.

Kin Beach, Comox, BC - Photo: Nathalie Lesage

The blue sky, the sun, or cooling clouds, the birds singing, the whales and seals floating by...
every single thing is magical in an even deeper way than when I was a child.

This story is my inspiration for these earrings... precious little tumbled nuggets of color with shades of the water, sand and sky (in my handmade polymer clay beads), the driftwood (the rustic wood beads), the gentle waves of the ocean (in the copper wavy bead caps), held together on a pair of non-allergenic niobium ear wires:

The perfect way to carry the good vibes of the beach everywhere you go ... at 1 7/8" tall.

I prefer to wear shorter earrings, but I find it challenging sometimes to incorporate everything I want in a design, while keeping the overall size under 2 inches :)

I've made a couple of extra sets of these cute little beach inspired rustic shaped Polymer Clay Nugget Beads. You can find these earrings and my handmade beads in My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop HERE.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a fabulous day!
Cheers,
Nathalie
My Garden Of Love on Etsy
The Crafty Tribe on Etsy