"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/

Child's Play

In a previous life, these tin strawberry components were a vintage child's tea set.  Kimberly Rogers found the little plates at a rummage-type sale where she freeform hand-cut and filed each one.

Shabby chic, rustic with a playful history.  I love the roughed up bits on these charms as they show the many hours of fun some little girls must have had with them.

A row of pretty champagne colored rondell crystals added to the bottom for a little subtle bling.  

I love a pop of dark metal so I paired these with some handmade oxidized sterling silver ear-wires and blackened jump-rings.

Vintage celluloid strawberries in a beautiful iridescent cream, circa 1940.  I think they lend sophistication and polish to the mix and a lovely balance of color as well.

A sweet little Valentine for you all! ♡

Thank you for stopping by my worktable!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Along Came A Spider

Jill Stoffregen of Foxpaws made these stunning porcelain discs with a lovely silver luster.  They are  rustic, tribal and made the most lovely spider webs!

I constructed my own spiders from bead-caps, rhinestone spacers, and metal accent beads.  I really love these miniature industrial-looking sculptures.

The spider's legs mimic the web pattern in the discs and it all just works so well together.

🕸

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my worktable today! 

There's a pretty good chance I will be continuing with my spooky designs for a while 'cause - 'tis the season!

Until next time!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Shinies!!

Hi again, everyone!  Yes, it's me, once again being distracted from other projects by shiny new things from Nunn Design.  And why not, I say!  (My husband has been known to call me "Maggie" because of my magpie habit of moving from one shiny object to the next.  He is a very intelligent man in most other ways.)

I bought the Nunn Design copper- and gold-tone rings last week (along with some small round silver-tone rings), and yesterday I got out the gold and copper rings, along with some fine brown leather cord (cut into two 18-inch lengths).  Then I just started experimenting with the rings and the leather. If I wanted to connect the oval ring to the round one, a lark's head knot was fairly obvious, right?  So that's what I did, bringing the two ends of the leather cord straight up through the middle of the oval ring.  Then I tied the leather ends in a maddening (but kind of nice) braided knot at the top of the gold oval.

So at that point, I had the two rings connected with the leather cord, and the ends of the cord were at the top of the rings.  The earrings at that stage looked rustic and tribal, and my first thought was finding African or another type of rustic beads, with a large enough hole to accommodate the doubled cord.  I have a lot of beads that fit the description, but I happened upon these green/silver glass beauties by hot glass artist Wayne Robbins.  I added 2/0 matubo 3-cut glass beads, tied loops in the leather, and hung my Shiny Objects on Two Trees sterling silver ear wires.  😊

      

These earrings are a kind of prototype, because I was feeling my way around all the way, but it was really fun to play around with the different shapes and textures and mediums. 

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back in two weeks.  💗

xoxo
Meridy
Two Trees Studio

 

The Artful Dodger

Hello!  So, here is what I've been working on! 

I've named this earring pair The Artful Dodger, not only for the twisted olive and brown glass but, trying to capture them in a photograph was a real challenge!  Ahem, olive twist - camera dodger -see what I did there? *Ha!

The photo above was taken in bright direct light and the delicate, playful, enameled dots really show! 

Below, moving away from the direct light, it's far more subtle in color a little moody and dramatic.

The twisted glass beads are actually three individual pieces that I've fit together to create an ombre effect then caged in steel wire.  

The glass is by Michelle Hicks Lusk of Caliente Art Glass and the rustic amazing enamel work is by Kimberly Rogers.

“Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision.” 

― Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

And so, that is me for now!  Thank you for popping in :)

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

Dear Heart ♡

Oh, deary, deer!  Winter came early here in the Midwest and I'm buried up to my neck in coats, sweaters, and scarves!  For this reason, and season, I like to create shorter designs ♡

These lovely little deer charms were made by Vincent Cav of Inviciti. I am drawn to matte finishes and these are a new favorite!  Inviciti makes charms in an array of colors and combinations.

I purchased the large freshwater pearls from Allegory Gallery.  They are the most beautiful and subtle peachy-pink with a slight opalescence.  Andrew has such an eye for choosing beads for his shop and this is a favorite haunt for me, even if it's only online.  Those lucky devils that live nearby - I'm so jealous!

The distressed finish also looks amazing with vintage faux pearls; there are so many directions I could have taken these charms.

 I was having just as much fun playing with the photography (if you haven't noticed) as making the earrings themselves!  It's been so overcast that I'm surprised I got as many good shots as I did.

Well, that's me for now!  I'll be back in two weeks, just before Christmas! 

 ♡ Stay cute and cozy! ♡

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Keep On Haunting Me

 October Greetings, Beady Ghouls! 

Rustic, spooky, yet hauntingly glamorous with their golden touches are these wonderful enamel houses by Anne Gardanne.   

I used a sweet little mix of vintage bobbles:  AB faceted crystals and peeled vintage faux pearls.

Darkly oxidized metal bead caps with soft lightweight rattling chains - a must for every haunted house.

👻

Garden spirits of a summer gone by.  

Lightweight polymer leaves by Heather Powers, etched lampwork glass with touches of autumn color by Kimberly Rogers and carved bone spirited little folk.

Boo! From, Luna!

Thank you, as always, for popping in and having a look at what I've been up to.  I love hearing from you and appreciate your time!  Wishing you all the best of this glorious season!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks with some bold spooky designs!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads.  

P.S. I haven't had time to list these earrings but feel free to message me!

Icy Spicy Blue

I love when pastels are set against earthy browns and greys - it just makes them all the more beautiful.

Although perfectly matched, the two components I've paired together couldn't be more different!  

The large ceramic focal charms called "Circle Of Water" and were made by Nadia Terra.  They are 35mm, bold, but still lightweight. So rustic and beautiful!  I love the brush strokes showing through.

The accent beads are vintage lampwork glass circa 1950's.  They are a combination of that same brownish-grey with a glossy organic ice blue pattern.  

 Thank you for popping in today!  Hope you found a little color inspiration :))

Loralee xo

You can find these earrings in my shop below:

loralee kolton ~ artful in beads

On The Worktable, Part Two

Hello, hello!  I just finished up my little project that I wrote about last time~

Here are the last pair of charms that Foxpaws sent in our handmade trade!

The richness of the red Jasper stones really brought out the beautiful detail and made them pop.  The stones are oval in shape, and I wanted to prevent the stones from turning so I crossed wrapped them.  

Here are the original supplies that I had pulled.  The vintage beads are an amazing match in color, but I thought they were just a bit too slim and got lost next to the bold, wider charms.  It was actually a difficult decision because the fabric cocoons were incredibly cool and had oodles of texture, but I wanted to add more color without adding additional length.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by!  Until next time, when we meet again in June!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads

Owls On My Worktable

Hello Beady Peeps!

Recently I had the opportunity to do a handmade trade with Foxpaw Beads.  I chose some items for myself that I had been drooling over, and in return, she sent me some of her favorite charms to create earrings with.  Here are one of three pair.   :)

Two little carved ceramic owls of different sizes with horizontal holes.

I adore the body pattern on the owls, one had stripes and the other, dots.   I really wanted to play on that feature so I did some digging and found some nice pieces in that rich reddish brown and subtle grey.

I used an orphan African ceramic Kazuri bead with stripes and dots.  Next, I found some wonderful spacers by Heather Powers of Humblebeads with a feather like pattern and a deep pink base.

I needed to build some height onto the shorter of the two, so I added a large pinkish/grey, rustic vintage pearl.  I think it added light and softness to the design, as well as length.

Work in progress shot.  A little decorative support to keep them steady.  I continued the wire wrapping partially around the frame and clipped off a couple of wires.

♡

I've fallen for these guys and I'll be sending a piece of my heart back with them.

♡

This is the next pair I'll be working on.... I'm still deciding my direction - we shall see!   I will show you the final design next time!  

As always, thank you for stopping by and having a peek!  

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads

Rustic Shimmer and Glimmer

Hello! Today I have earrings that combine the lampwork headpins of Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads and some remarkable iridescent spacers by Donna Conklin of Prima Donna Beads.  

Together they are magic!

Kimberly calls her headpins "Combobulations" -  she uses silver reactive glass to get that metallic luster.  I love all the textures she creates, she's always trying out new things!

Donna's iridescent spacers were born as a result of what she calls "Plan B".  She explained that she got an off batch of dichro that just kept burning out on her, but she kept at it and came up with a process that worked, and wow, that effect is amazing!

I love mixing materials so I added some partially patinated copper rings and wired some rare AB violet opal Swarovski crystals.  Next to them I also added some tiny AB faceted glass from the 1920's.  It's all in the details, right?  :)

Many thanks for popping in to have a look!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads

Earthy and tribal

Hello! It'll be a brief post from me today. A little pair of earrings I made recently with some components from my very favourite artists. And also illustrating my slight obsession with layering in earring designs!

Firstly, we'll take Petra Carpreau's beautiful ceramic droppers. Made with black stoneware, they are earthy and rather tribal.

I added some oval brass connectors at the back, which act as a frame for some rather fabulous red brass chain, which peaks out from behind the holes in the droppers and at the bottom of the earrings for extra swing! I had a pair of Claire Lockwood's gorgeous textured denim ceramic rondelles in my beady stash for a while. They were part of a set of earring beads that Claire sold in one of her shop updates (her updates are rare, but oh my word, they are worth waiting for!) and I really like both the colour (that pop of blue is a nice contrast) and texture of these (co-ordinates with the primitive, tribal vibe I think!). Finally, I added some greek ceramic rondelles and some copper twisted jumprings.

Hope you like them. They are available in my shop.

See you in a few weeks
Sue

Surprisingly, Pink

When you think of rustic-industrial, pink probably doesn't jump to mind ~ but, isn't it a nice little surprise?!

THE coolest lampwork glass with nailheads by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads; one-of-a-kind, handmade, patina finished, pewter charms by Inviciti; vintage glass pearls.

↔

Stacked, mismatched headpins!

 I had one lovely, drool-worthy, orphan headpin, by Kimberly Rogers.   So, I thought I'd make a stacked mate using a small headpin by Pipandmolly, then layer a rhinestone spacer, a shimmery matte teardrop lampwork bead by Kay Mallery and a rough cut piece of pyrite.  I topped both off with yummy vintage AB faceted crystals for a little symmetry .

Many thanks for stopping by today!

Loralee xo

LoraleeKolton ~ artful in beads