Fall, Leaves, Fall

 I've been collecting art beads for over a decade now and I'm pretty good at remembering who made what and when, but for the life of me, I can't recall buying these delicate ceramic leaves.  It's very possible they were included in a package as a gift or a trade at some time.  So if they look familiar, please help a girl out!  lol. They are lovely!

I designed these freestyle- just doing what felt right.  I usually make all my necklaces that way as well, no beadboard.  It's like dabbling on a canvas with paint to me.  These feel tribal with a wee bit of Victorian.

I made the faux tin pieces (on copper) last year at an autumn beading retreat with Heather Powers.  There won't be a retreat this year because of social distancing so I'm really missing being in South Haven, Michigan, right now.  Maybe that's why I pulled these out to work with.

The ornate rings are vintage, as are the tiny wood beads by Miriam Haskell.

Here are some stunning lampwork headpins by my favorite artist Kimberly Rogers.  Falling leaves upon falling leaves with an almost birch tree background.

The accent beads are hollow vintage brushed silver-tone with a light aged patina.  Amber rhinestone oxidized spacers for a little sparkle.

It's an hour and a half past midnight and I'm late with this posting -- life has been busy lately!  Hope I squeezed this in just in time...but I don't think so...lol 

 Please take care and enjoy the season.     Love to you all ~

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

"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/

Pine Tassels

Happy Holidays!

I wanted to do something special for the holidays, something nature-inspired and yet a little dressy!  Here is my version of festive pine needle tassels and holly berries! Ta-da!

Ceramic connectors by JosephineBeads 

Silky pine colored tassels secured with a vintage ornate jump-ring and

rustically wrapped faceted red rondels.

That's a wrap for 2019!  I'm looking forward to 2020 if the kind folks at EE have me back! ;D

Cheers to all,

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Head In The Clouds

Greetings! Thanks for stopping by!  

I've had these on my worktable for a while now.  I originally was going to messy wrap the charms to the clouds with AB crystals but it came across too stiff.  I wanted a little movement --a little shimmy, so I decided to add these tiny little silver charms and I'm super happy now!

Hand formed ceramic droppers by Petra Carpreau of ScorchedEarth with Rene Magritte images.

The tiniest and sweetest little pale blue ceramic clouds by Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade.  Honestly, could those clouds be any more perfect?!!!

I'll be back in a couple of weeks!  Hard to believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

Until then! 💙

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

Jeepers Peepers!

"Oh, jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?Jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?

Oh, gosh all, git up, how'd they get so lit up?Gosh all, git up, how'd they get that size?"

Song by Louis Daniel Armstrong

Sweet little ceramic retro doll faces by Donna Perlinplim.  I especially love these pieces because they are made thin and very lightweight. 

I added stunning faceted, vintage blue glass beads. They really bring out her eyes!

I also added some highly oxidized spacers that look like the spikes on some Jacks! 

I ran across a photo of my kitty Pepper and I from a long while ago goofing around in the studio with a big eye app.  Pepper's eyes were big enough naturally that he really didn't even need it! lol  

Thank you for joining me today and checking out my worktable!  Hope you enjoyed it!  See you in a couple of weeks :)

Loralee and Pepper, with the Peepers! xo

loraleekolton.etsy.com

https://www.facebook.com/loraleekolton.jewelry/

Tribal Fringe

Helloooo Bead Peeps!  This is a short but sweet posting today as I'm off to Bead & Button in Milwaukee, WI this morning!

True confession:  I have forgotten who made these lovely tribal ceramic connectors so If anyone can identify them, please let me know!  I've paired them with some wonderful African glass, wrapped sari silk and some vintage golden beads.

I made the fringe by recycling some scrap gold plated parts.  Originally, I was going to hang them from jump-rings but, I really wanted them splayed apart so I messy wrapped them directly to the wire connector to achieve that effect.  

Thank you for stopping by today!  Hoping to find some unusual goodies at B&B this week!  I'm also on the hunt for new tools.  Most importantly, I'm looking forward to seeing my beady tribe!

Loralee xo

wwwloraleekolton.etsy.com

Frolicking Bunnies

 I was ignoring the heavy, slushy snow falling outside my window as I was working on these little bun-buns.

 Inside the studio, it was green, grassy and sunny!

I am utterly in love with these guys so don't hate me, but I have to keep these forever!

These sweet ceramic charms were made by Jill Stoffregen of Foxpaws and they are her original drawings.

I had pulled a few options for this design but loved them with fabric cocoons by SagaHus the best.  I chose a nice mossy green color with warm ox copper wire.  I used wax linen cord not only protect the delicate charm holes but also to make little whiskers!  I think the frayed cord lends a little "action" to the scene as well.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

you can also find me on FaceBook and Instagram under my name.

Just Because

I decided to go all glamorous for today's post.  Perfect for winter (my favourite season).

First up are my wire wrapped hoops but on a much bigger scale, topped by cute little ceramic birds by Caroline Dewison.

Another view.

Then there are these.  I had to find a way to include a rainbow :D Here I have wire wrapped brass triangle frames with cup chain, stacked with silver plated brass, raw brass caps and Czech glass flowers. I'm making more of these btw ;)  

Another view.

These will be listed on Etsy shortly.  Have a lovely weekend everyone.,  See you soon with my last post of the year.

Suhana <3

My Etsy Shop: Suhana Hart Jewellery

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

Holiday Ferris Wheel Earrings

I've had fun making, what I call, my Ferris Wheel ceramic components, in a variety of color combinations.  So I thought, "Why not see how they look in holiday colors?".

So I made one pair with a green background and one pair with a red background.  The green background pair sold at Bead Fest and the other pair became the earrings you see here.

Gold always feels festive during the holidays, so I paired the ceramic dangles with gold plated beads and some satin finish, red "o-beads".

I will have these for sale at a show I'm doing this weekend, but if they don't sell, I'll be adding them to my shop. Do you like to wear holiday themed jewelry or not so much.  Let me know in the comments.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Blue For You

Hello dear friends,

Todays earrings are made from a pair of lovely ceramic disks I have had in my stash for a very long time. I believe they were among the first batch of art beads I bought from Round Rabbit, aka Nancy Adams, back in 2010 or 2011. They are rather big, 3 cm diameter, but very thin, so they are super light weight.

I've assembled them with the earring hooks via some pewter square profiled rings and one of my favourite materials, waxed linen cord. I have a small box of scrap bits of cord that I just roamed around in and soon found the bits of these three perfectly matching colours.

The whole equipage comes to about 15 cm and will just barely touch the shoulders when being worn. These are a kind of everyday yet statement-kind-of earrings. A style that I myself am very fond of. I am looking forward to taking them out on their first excursion in the city any day soon.



Art Beads:
Blue rustic thin ceramic disks - Round Rabbit

 Other ingredients:
Waxed linen cord
Pewter square profiled rings
Handmade heavily oxidized sterling silver earring hooks

-------

All my best,
Malin

Gilded Fragments

I find these components very moving.  Blissfully asymmetrical with the touches of rich gold that bring a warm cohesive feel.  The beautiful ceramic charms in both earrings, were handmade by Andrea Salkowe of JosephineBeads.   They remind me of broken pieces of fine china.

The folded pod type beads at the top, were purchased at The Bead & Button Show.  They are 24k gold vermeil.  I remember in detail, going to the register to pay, and the shock on my face when the little baggie of beads I was carrying was totaled up!  You see, you pay per ounce for the beads of this kind and not by design like I'm used to.  It was an education! Maybe I am the only one who didn't know..lol  But goodness, just look at 'em...

To create the illusion of space and add a little sparkle I used some very old crystals repurposed from a 1930's necklace.

For this pair I used some lovely druzy agate for texture and a bit of softness from glass pearls.

Can you tell I'm gearing up for the holidays with the touches of gold?  I will also admit that I've listened to more than a few Christmas carols already..lol

A million thank yous for stopping by and having a look today! 

Talk with you soon,

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton Jewelry

On Wobbly Legs

Hi again, I'm back. Have been on a brake for a few months as you might have noticed (and if you haven't that's fine too :-)).

Isn't it interesting how often after you have created something and you take a step back and look at it, you realize that it so much represents you and the time you are going through right now. In fact the subconsious always seems to have this kind of grip on me. And it always catches my by surprise.


Like with these earrings. The first piece of jewelry I have completed for some time. And I am on very wobbly legs in my life right now. In many ways. Both literally and methaphoricly. So "wobbly legs" they are named.



Ingredients:
Green and yellow raku fired ceramic disks by Jubilee
Dark grey (black) matte 6/0 seed beads
Oxidized copper wire 20 G
Heavily oxidized sterling silver handmade earring hooks


All my best,
Malin