Christmas Baubles

Hello Earring Folk

Nothing brand new from me this time, as I am woefully unprepared for Christmas, and it's a whirlwind of picking up people from University, and school carol concerts. However, these are fairly new (I made them for a recent showcase on Facebook) and certainly seasonal!

First of all, I made these sterling silver hoop studs and bashed them about a bit and oxidised them too, to bring out the texture of the hoops. I added some gold coloured ceramic baubles by Petra Carpreau, and some fancy silver jumprings.

I rather like the combination of gold and silver. Good for Christmas, without being too Christmasy!

That's all from me. I'll be back in 2020! Just remains for me to wish you a happy Christmas and a healthy and peaceful new year.

Sue

Utterly Lovely Stuff

Rock pools

Hello earring people :-)

Here we are, hurtling towards the end of October already, and I should be designing with Autumn in mind....but.... I had these glorious blue ceramic rock pools, by the one and only Petra Carpreau. She makes these beauties from Earthstone and fills them with glass,  coats them with fine silver and fires them -creating beautiful, individual rustic pieces. Now I know the blue is perhaps much more suitable for summer (it makes me think of the Mediterranean) but I just couldn't resist.

I've been taking a course in silver jewellery and learning all about soldering and I've been loving it! I'm still a novice and everything takes me three times longer than i think it will...

I wanted to create something that would co-ordinate with the rock pools. I took some sterling silver sheet and spent a happy couple of hours sawing, sanding and texturing it, and soldering jump rings and ear posts to the little squares I created. Finally, I oxidised them and rubbed them back a little to create a reasonable match with the fine silver on the rock pools.

So, there we have it! Not autumnal at all, but sometimes you just need to take inspiration from whatever catches your eye. See you next month

Sue
Utterly Lovely Stuff

Summer colour!

So we have had a taste of summer over here in the UK. And it has inspired me to create some earrings with bright summer colours.

My starting point was Petra Carpreau's ceramic sticks. Love the vibrant reds yellows and oranges in these two pairs. They scream hot summer sun. 

In this first pair they are accompanied by some large juicy cherry red agate barrels. Just luscious...

The second pair have some delicious carnelian and pyrite rondelles. Love the sunset colours in these. And of course, both pairs have oxidised brass hoops to frame the ceramic sticks, for that extra bit of drama :-)

All of the semi-precious gems are from Sylvia Stungo's shop -a treasure trove of pretty things. These earrings will be available in my show this week over in Facebook Land -look for The Earrings Show.

See you in a couple of weeks

Sue

Grungy Spring

So, it's now April! In the UK, our clocks have gone forward which means we lose an hour of sleep, but gain an hour of daytime. All very confusing! But upshot is, Spring is very much here. I spent the weekend in Norwich, a city in the east of the UK, collecting my oldest daughter from University and everywhere was bursting with spring flowers. Gorgeous.

Now, as I've been a lil busy driving around all weekend, I've had no time to create something new for this blog. But I thought I'd share these pretties from my last showcase on Friday. They feature some gorgeously grungy ceramic connectors by Petra Carpreau. They remind me of little lily-pads.

I decided to add some pretty green czech glass teardrops, and a little stack of Roman glass rondelles, framed by oxidised brass hoops. Love the shape and the textures of these. You really can't beat Petra for organic, quirky and grungy. So there you are. A bit of grungy Spring. Although I've just read that we are due for gales and snow in parts of the UK next week....so maybe Spring will be on pause here for a little while!

See you in a couple of weeks 

Sue

Utterly Lovely Stuff

Dark hearts

Blimey...where does the time go! I know it's the beginning of March and I should be making earrings inspired by Spring. Unfortunately, I've never been terribly good at doing "seasonal"...

So these gorgeous ceramic ball and heart drops are by Petra Carpreau and they are clearly much better suited to a February post and Valentine's Day...Sorry!

The hearts have a gorgeous deep red glaze, and grungy feel to them. I thought I'd dress up the connecting bits of wire with some pretty silver seed beads to match the silver ceramic ball.

 And, of course -there have to be hoops. Beautiful dark oxidised brass hoops to frame the ceramic pretties and add some extra swing.

So there we have it! Dark hearts. Nothing to do with Spring, but I hope you like them anyway. There'll be in my showcase at the end of this month, over on The Earrings Show.. 

See you in a couple of weeks :-)

Sue x

Don't forget the earwires!

Hello earring lovers!

Today's blog is all about earwires. Well, a particular design of earwires I love working with, by our very own Lucy Haslam of Faerystone. Now, our Lucy has a talent with metal and creates all sorts of wonderful things. These twirly earwires are (I think) among my faves of her creations. You could really just pop them in your lobes on their own, with no adornment! Earwires are usually things we (or certainly I)  hook on, right at the end of creating a pair of earrings , often without much thought. while the beads that hang from them are undoubtedly the stars of the show. But sometimes it's nice to give them equal billing!

This first pair, feature gorgeous ceramic drops by (of course) Petra Carpreau. The most beautiful turquoise glaze on these. I added some little hand forged copper hoops and a little ring of turquoise seed beads and a teeny tiny seed on the base of the earwires to echo the design.

This next pair feature beautiful glass headpins by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads. They are so feminine and pretty. This time I wrapped some seed beads around the earwires themselves, so they were really an integral part of the design.

And that's that from me this month! These and many more will be available in my showcase over on The Jewellery Show in Facebook Land on the 26th Jan. Do pop in and say hello!

Sue x

Utterly Lovely Stuff

New year, new stuff

Happy new year lovely earring people!

I always find this time of year a bit sad. The festivities of Christmas are done, the decorations taken down and the long month of January ahead. So I have been glad to throw myself into making lots of new things for my first showcase in ages at the end of the month. Creativity is a funny thing, isn't it? The more I've made,  the more ideas have come easily and  the more I've felt like making.

Some beautiful ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth were the inspiration for this pair. Look at the glaze on these! The most beautiful greys and mottled purples and mauves. Gorgeous.

I kept it simple with some copper washers which I textured and oxidised, and added a simple ring of co-ordinating seed beads to reflect those lovely mauves and purples. All that was needed, I think.

Short and sweet from me. These pretties will be available in my next showcase at the end of the month in  the Jewellery Show in Facebook Land. 

See you soon 

Sue

Utterly Lovely Stuff

All that glitters

Hello everyone! My last post of the year, and it's a glittery one :-)

Treated myself to these beautiful components from Petra Carpreau's shop. Firstly, these gorgeous porcelain and ceramic triple star stacks with 3 different glazes. Aren't they fantastic?

I added some brass triangles with some African silver spacers, and Hill Tribe silver beads. Cool party

 earrings, perfect for the festive  season!

Now this next pair are a commission and feature more of Petra's triple glaze stacks, but this time -pretty circles. This time I wrapped some pretty bronze seed beads around the middle section and added some more gorgeous Hill Tribe silver beads

The star earrings are available in my shop And that's it from me for 2018. Just remains for me to wish you a Happy Christmas and a happy, creative 2019 

Sue x

In the night sky

Hello!
So the nights are drawing in, and what better way to mark this than with some celestial beauties by the goddess that is Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth!

Petra sometimes includes beautiful little porcelain stars and moons in her updates, and I always look forward to stocking up on these when they appear. These beautiful little stars with aqua glazed porcelain are just gorgeous! I matched them with my current favourite African spacers, punctuated by teeny tiny turquoise seeds. I finished these with another silver spacer and sterling earwires. I wanted them to be quite long and stacked. Simple, but striking.

This second pair had little crescent moons as well as  stars. I used the same components as with the first pair, but went for a different design. Oxidised brass geometric hoops  provide a frame for these stellar beauties. I may be keeping them for myself...or there'll be making an appearance at my next showcase over on the Jewellery Show in Facebook Land at the end of the month. You can message me if you'd like them :-) 

See you next month! x

Sue

A random mix

Hi everyone, for this week's post I have been playing with my latest haul from Petra Carpreau's shop and came up with the following.  I messed around a lot trying to come up with clever designs, not sure I've achieved anything new but here they are.

I absolutely love love these connectors with multiple wire loops. I had a similar pair from Petra several years ago and was really happy to see them again. Not sure why but I felt like making them asymmetrical even though they looked just fine as symmetrical earrings.  I made some wire wrapped hoops in black and periwinkle, and stacked both with my usual brass bits.

Here I used Petra's bobble flower connectors, topped with brass bits and Czech glass flowers, hanging from the bottom are my wire wrapped connectors with slight asymmetry. 

Bobble flowers again, teamed with brass flowers and insects.  

These are now listed in my Etsy shop.  See you again later this month. 

Suhana 

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

🌟Shine like a star🌟

⭐⭐⭐Hello⭐⭐⭐

Have you guessed this week's theme yet?!  Clue is in the title ;). 

So today I bring you several pairs of star studded ear candy.  

Group shot of some of them.

This was the first pair I made featuring Invicit pewter stars.  I blinged up the stars with rhinestones, added vintage brass triple star stampings on top for that mixed metal look that I absolutely love.  They are finished with lampwork caps (GlassNatalyaDarlin) and brass hearts.

Second pair features Inviciti's Lady in moon charms along with lampwork butterfly lentils by Helen Chalmers and my wire wrapped hoops.

I made a third pair with Inviciti hands (those Invicit charms are addictive!), added teeny brass stars to keep with the theme, finished them with antique silver plated brass leaves, crowns and lampwork caps.

And finally this pair with Scorched Earth discs.  I didn't add much to these, they looked pretty glamorous just with sari silk and cup chain so I resisted the urge to add more.

 I also made this pair with my painted resin daggers but I'm not too sure about these.  They may need a makeover. 

You can find out if these did undergo a makeover in my show on Monday where I will be listing this star studded lot.  My show will take place in The Jewellery Show FB group.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you again soon. 

Suhana 💖💖💖

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh................!!!!

Yes, the screamers.  You may have seen Petra's screamers around for a while - aren't they just fab!!.  I made some earrings with them earier this year and loved them so much that I went back to Petra'a shop and bought a LOT more.  But that's where it stopped.  I had absolutely no idea what to do with them.  Recently I started seeing some pop up in my Instagram and Facebook feed....that sort of inspired me to take them out and have a go again.  In my previous efforts I think I was trying to over-think the design which is why it got nowhere. I kept things simple as the components alone are just WOW and hopefully I've added just enough to accentuate their fabulousness.

The usual group shot.

Screamers with double ended claws, fabric and Czech glass.

Screamers with claws, caps, fabric and Czech glass.

Screamers with claws, caps, fabric and Czech glass.

By this time I had had enough of claws so I used double caps instead with fabric and Czech glass.

I know it's the same design but I'm happy with the way they've turned out.  

These and many more will be available in my show on Monday and Tuesday in this group.

Until next time <3

Suhana xxx

My Etsy Shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Fun with Fungus

Fungus. Mushrooms. Toadstools. How often do you really look at them, and see how complex a structure they are? Shapes and patterns. Especially on the underside.

It's been warm and wet over here and fungi are springing up all over the place. Don't they have just that little element of magic about them? Home for fairies and elves. Often at the base of an old,  possibly magic, tree. I've been instagramming them like mad as I walk round our village.

During one of her shows, my eye was caught by these translucent polymer clay pieces by Jeni Houser Alasad . They looked to me like the underside of a toadstool, and I loved those rich garnet brown colours on the edges.  Anyway, I missed them with my slow broadband but Jeni made me a special pair.
How to do them justice? They're extremely unusual.  And quite large. I've given them a few coats of looking at (as my gran would often say) and here we are.

I've tied them up; bound with copper wire and irish waxed linen cord, to Lucy Haslam's twisted sisters, her hand made chain and beaten copper circular earwires. The fab ceramic drops in metallic garnet are, of course, Petra's.  Loads of texture, just like the real thing.

 

                    Hope you like them. And don't forget to look around for your own earthly treasure  
                                                    - you never know what you may find!

                                                                      See you in two weeks

                                                                              Lindsay xx

                                                                            My etsy shop

                                                                       My facebook page

What's wrong with this picture?

Can you see it?

Have you seen it yet?

I'll tell you anyway.
So I made the first earring on the left with 3 antiqued brass rings (top half).  When I went to make the second one I realised I didn't have a 3rd antiqued brass ring.  I searched everywhere, my desk, floor, all the rooms in my house (my beads are everywhere) to no avail.  I still wanted to finish the earrings and decided to use a raw brass ring for the second earring (on the right) in place of the 3rd antiqued ring.  I then undid the first earring and made it up again to match the second one.  I took photos yesterday...everything was perfect.
Later in the day as I began to edit the photos my eyes were drawn to the gold on the right one, I also noticed that there was no gold on the left earring.  I thought to myself "but I made that earring up again to match the second one"
Oops.  Apparently I've made up the same earring twice using the same 3 antiqued rings.  As you can imagine I called myself lots of names which I won't repeat here.  I could not bring myself to make the same earring for a 3rd time with the gold ring so for now they are staying like this. Ceramic connectors by the one and only Petra Carpreau

On a brighter note, I also made these - part of my industrial collection, a phase I am going through right now.  More about phases another time.

That's all for today.  I will be back in a couple of weeks time.  Have a lovely weekend.  

Suhana

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Twisted Sisters

A couple of weeks ago my friend Lucy had an on line show to ease herself back into production of her metal work, after a break while she settled into her new house in wild Wales. A one woman show is quite taxing, and she won't mind me saying she isn't always in the best of health, having had an industrial accident several years ago which left her with a badly damaged back.  Late in the afternoon I knew she was pooped (her words!) so I offered to go on for an hour with some examples of how I use her more unusual findings.

So I posted my 'Twisted Sisters' They use Lucy's 'twisted sisters' connectors - she tells a good tale about how I rang her up one day and said imperiously ' I need something new - make me something different' and she came up with these. Bit of poetic licence, I say...................

These were the pairs I posted. I called these 'Platinum Blonde and 'Blood Meridian.' I overwrap Lucy's connectors with swarowski crystals in colours that blend, or contrast with the ceramic drops - they are fun to make.

It wasn't too long before I started getting comments asking if I was making some more - it's a style I haven't made for well over a year now. But now I'm hooked again. 

So here we are - some lovely new autumn colours. The ceramic drops that I take my colours from are, of course, by the wonderful Petra.  

 

                                   

                



                  A Clockwork Orange

                Fiesta - The Sun also Rises.

The new pairs will be in my Etsy shop this week, and I feel more coming on!

               See you in a couple of weeks

                              Lindsay

                         My Etsy shop
                   My Facebook page

Gone Industrial....

Hi everyone.  I have been making lots of new earrings for my upcoming earrings only FB show.  I always make several pairs of the same design with slight variations....I keep making the same design until I'm either bored or I run out of supply.  In this case, I ran out of the Petra connectors.

A group shot, just because 😄

1. with a pair of vintage raw brass filigree beads.

2. With little chunks of tanzanite

3. with little druzy geode chunks

4. and with peace beads

These plus many more will be available in my FB show on Wednesday the 16th from 9pm BST/4PM EST in The Earrings Show group.  Hope you can pop over.

See you again soon.

Suhana 💜💜💜

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Faces

Hello, I have 3 pairs to share with you today. 

First up are these with ceramic faces by NadiaTerra and a new artist for me, Holly Stultz, who made the beautiful polymer charms. 

The original lady of decals, Petra Carpreau's da Vinci charms are featured here along with crown caps.

Petra Carpreau's Klimt charms with crown caps

Not much to say this week but I hope you enjoy looking at the earrings :D They are now available in my shop <3.

See you again soon.

Suhana xxx

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads