Thursday, October 18, 2012

Lampwork beads handmade by glass artist Katerina Koroleva

Handmade lampwork always fascinated me! There are amazing artists out there who turn glass into art beads of different shapes, colors and sizes. I can easily imagine people collecting glass beads as some of them are as beautiful as gem stones. I've recently came across lampwork of glass artist Katerina Koroleva of MayaHoney. She works in her own studio creating totally amazing glass beads. Katerina was kind enough to share her aspirations and inspirations.



My name is Katerina and I'm a Russian artisan currently living with my family in Slovakia (EU). I started lampworking in 2008 after my daughter was born. I'm now a proud member of American organizations: Self Representing Artists in lampwork and Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design.



I create glass beads out of my studio in Slovakia which is a beautiful country located right in the middle of Europe. Slovakia is known for its manufacturing traditions. It's a close neighbor of Czech Republic famous for its glass beads and traditions of glass making. Bohemian crystal glass of Bohemia region is known all over the world.



I always dreamed about living in a small town or a village surrounded by nature. My dream has finally come true a few years ago. The place we live in right now is a huge source of inspiration for me. We live next to the most beautiful lake Slnava that looks and smells like the sea. Our house is surrounded by woods with plenty of squirrels, hairs, foxes and even bears. So I just try to replicate in my organic beads all designs nature displays to me every day.



I just adore the sea and you can track sea-ocean theme in my lampwork beads. I make a lot of shells, starfishes etc. I just love to make my customers happy. When I think of how many people own my jewelry and beads - oh, it's a really good feeling, trust me!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Summer jewelry by Alery

When I first saw colorful earring and pendants by Alery I instantly fell in love! Bright summer colors of Alery earrings radiate positive energy and make me think about ocean vacation, exotic flowers and refreshing cocktails at a beach.
I was curious about the technique and materials these bright pieces are made from. Thus, I simply had to talk to Avery and share what I’ve learned.

Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Valery and I was born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine. It’s a beautiful city with rich history and beautiful ancient churches. A few years ago my husband, our two children and I moved to California where we now live in a small city not far from San Francisco. I work in IT but in my spare time I turn into a jeweler.



How did you start?
I’ve always been into crafting and art. Over years I’ve tried different crafts, techniques and fibers. Finally jewelry making became my main passion. I started about six years ago with incorporating precious stones and beads into my jewelry. Later I moved to wire wrapping techniques and metal. Nowadays I mostly work with hot enamel. I love to experiment and to incorporate completely different techniques into my creative process.



What are your main sources of inspiration?
On one hand I’m inspired by the diversity and sophistication of nature. One can indefinitely contemplate intricate creations of nature finding something new and surprising every time.

On the other hand man made objects can be as beautiful. Apart from nature architecture and art serve as great sources of inspiration. The simplicity and elegance of minimalism where every shape and every line have a well defined meaning and purpose prompt me to create simple yet bright and colorful jewelry items.



Could you tell us about the technique you use in jewelry making?
The technique I use is called enameling. A metal surface is covered with a finely grounded glass powder. The surface is then heated to about 1450F so that the powder melts and fuses together. One can use either kiln of hand torch to heat the powder.

It usually takes a few melting iterations for a jewelry piece to be ready. With each iteration a jeweler can change the color of the glass powder, its quantity and transparency. As a result most of the pieces turn out to be one of a kind and completely unique as it’s simply impossible to replicate them.

The process of enameling offers a jeweler a lot of freedom for creativity and experimentation. The results are sometimes very surprising and unpredictable. I totally love it!




Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Summer suncatcher by FleetingStillness

I've recently received an amazing gift from a very talented stained glass artist FleetingStillness who lives and works in Maryland.

It's always nice to receive gifts from fellow artists who are members of vast and diverse hand made community. When such gifts turn out to be beautiful hand made pieces of art it's twice as nice!
stained glass suncatchers
I always had a soft spot for pieces made of glass. I praise glass for its transparency, variety of colors and opportunities for creativity. The suncatcher I've got is made of bright yellow and blue glass and a copper foil. It was created in a "Tiffany" style meaning no lead was used to attach pieces of glass.
glass objects
The suncatcher is a perfect summer gift. The sun shines through brightly colored glass lighting up everything around and making me happy! Yellow and blue colors are of the warm sea, sand beaches and vacations! This piece of art will always remind me of the summer. From now on I'll have a small part of an ocean beach in my room.
glass candle holders

Alla, thank you for such a great gift!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Dyeing hand felted bracelet with blue Kool Aid

Since I bought plenty of blue colored Kool Aid on line I continue experimenting with dyeing different hand felted items in bright blue. This time I decided to create a hand felted bracelet.

I first hand felted eight beads mixing white and dark blue wool. To read more about how to make wool beads please visit my earlier post.

To create a blue dyeing mixture I poured Kool Aid blue raspberry drink mix into a plastic container with water. It's important to stir the mixture well before soaking beads in it. Thus, the color will be applied equally on all the beads.
blue beads
When my dyeing mixture is ready I placed all my eight hand felted wool beads into the container and microwaved it for about 3 minutes or until it starts boiling. Don't overheat the beads as they can get burned! Please be careful handling beads after the microwave as they get extremely hot!
blue dyed beads
My beads absorbed bright blue color. They now look like marbles with spots of light and dark blue.

Dyed beads could be turned into a necklace, a bracelet or a pair of earrings. I decided to create a jewelry set this time. First I made a bracelet chaining six beads together. I still have two blue beads left. They will look great as a pair of earrings.

The set is of bright colors of sea waters, ocean lagoon and sky. It's completely unique as beads were hand dyed and now have their own special color. That's the beauty of hand dyeing. It creates unique colors and special items!
blue bracelet and earrings

Thursday, February 17, 2011

San Diego as a New Year vacation destination

I've been to the West Coast just once and loved it. The way people live and work there is somehow different from the way people go about their business in the East Coast. I just recently came across beautiful vacation pictures of the East Coast by IrinaPhotography. It sounds like a great tradition to go on a family trip to San Diego around New Years. What a fun way to start a new year!

IrinaPhotography coastal picture

Monday, February 7, 2011

Crocheted flower brooch in blue

I stopped by a supplies store last week and picked up some really cool yarn in blue and its different shades and hues. The yarn is very pleasant to touch, soft and stylish. As a result I crocheted a flower brooch in blue with white hand felted bead in the middle. It looks great of lightly colored outfits. The brooch can be worn on outdoor coats as it's rather durable. fiber flower brooch in blue

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Spring necklace in lime yellow and blue

I totally fell in love with felting yarn of that bright yellow lime color. It radiates so much positive energy and besides is a perfect color for spring and summer. To contrast bright lemon I added dark blue beads. Those two colors look beautiful together. The necklace will go well with bright spring dresses!
summmer necklace in lime

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Summer earrings in green blue cream

The winter is almost over! I don't know about you but I'm already thinking about deep blue colors of the ocean and pale yellow, cream, bleached out colors of a beach. I'm ready to have a break from white cold snow and immerse myself into sunny days somewhere near the sea. Blue, green, yellow, cream are my favorite colors these days!
summer nautical earrings

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Damselfly at Camp Merryelande

I came across these Dragonflies - Damselflies at Camp Merryelande, a really cool spot for summer vacation at the beach. It's a rather undeveloped and wild place but that's exactly why we like it so much.
dragonfly at Camp Merryelande
Surrounded by tall grass and pine trees the camping is very secluded. One feels being in a jungle full of unique birds and beautiful damselflies.
Damselfly at Camp Merryelande
These insects are actually ideal models as they normally freeze for a minute or two on a leaf or a piece of wood before leaping to a similar object nearby. A photographer has enough time to make a good shot. These are beautiful creatures definitely worth being photographed.

Friday, June 25, 2010

My first GIVEAWAY results

My first ever Giveaway ended yesterday, June 24th. Thank you so much for participating. I very much appreciate your time and attention!

I ran the number of comments through a random generator.


Let us congratulate Tina Reynolds who won the set of my handmade beach bracelets in berry cream sherbet!!!

Congratulations Tina!!!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Giveaway: Beach bracelets in berry cream sherbet

I so much like summer colors of pink, berry, strawberry, raspberry, sherbet and fuchsia. They add color to any summer outfit. In combination with grey these colors look very elegant and stylish. I handmade this set of three bracelets in pink for a summer at the beach. They are water resistant and easily adjustable. The bracelets attach well and will fit any wrist.
Beach bracelets in pink
I'm hosting my first giveaway ever! One lucky giveaway participant selected by True Random Number Generator will win my handmade beach bracelets in berry cream sherbet next Thursday, June 24.

To enter:


Please visit my Etsy shop TonyaUtkina and leave a comment about your favorite item in my Etsy shop. Don't forget to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you in case you win. Your e-mail info will NEVER be used for any other purposes!!!

Extra entries:


Please leave one separate comment for each entry. (So if it is 2 extra entries for example, leave 2 comments, etc.)

1 entry - follow my blog with Google friend connect

1 entry - follow me on Twitter TonyaUtkina

1 entry per day - retweet the following message and post a comment about it (just copy and paste the following into the twitter window). Can be done daily:
RT @tonyautkina GIVEAWAY Beach Bracelets berry cream! Visit my blog http://www.tonyautkina.blogspot.com/2010/06/beach-bracelets-in-pink.html

2 entries - grab my button and put it on your blog

4 entries - blog about this giveaway

No purchase is neccessary, but if you happen to buy something you will get extra 5 entries .

Open to US and Canada only. Winner will be chosen by online random generator. Winner will be notified by e-mail on Thursday, June 24, 2010 and will have 3 days to reply or another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!:)

Monday, June 7, 2010

Beach bracelets blue green yellow

Beach bracelets blue green yellow
I love the summer colors of blue oceans, green mint from cocktails and yellow sun and sand. For a perfect day at the beach I've created this set of three colorful bracelets that are water resistant and adjustable. They will add color to your summer gowns and beach outfits.
Beach bracelets blue green yellow

Friday, May 14, 2010

Minimalist blue aquamarine fish earrings

I created this minimalist and elegant fish shape earrings of beautiful blue aquamarine glass cubes. These Czech beads are made of high quality glass and shine and sparkle under the sun. Earrings are very easy to put on and take off. They will match almost any summer dress and will add style and color to business outfits as well.
blue fish earrings

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Blue east treasury

I've selected a few wonderful items in different shades of blue. I've got sky blue birds, deep blue oceans, aquamarine stones and exotic blue flowers! It's a great color!
blue east treasury

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Blue ZigZag earrings

I like to work with wire. It's so nice to be able to twist and bend it the way you want. When I add bright and shiny glass beads and stones to my twisted creations they turn into either blue zigzag, red fish or red apple earrings! It's amazing how much room for creativity a simple wire can offer!
blue zigzag earrings

Friday, April 23, 2010

Vacation at the Bahamas

The Bahamas is a nice place to go. It's exotic, beautiful and very friendly. The beaches are white, the ocean is blue with all the possible shades of aquamarine, turquoise, green and people of the Bahamas are very warm hearted and hospitable. The colors of the summer are all there.

Blue Ocean at the Bahamas

If you stay at one of the hotels on either the Cable Beach or other beaches of the capital of the Bahamas, Nassau, you can always get on a local bus called "Jitney" and for just a few dollars get to one of the lovely local restaurants that serve fried snappers, conch salads or Bahama-mama cocktails.

Exotic fruits of the Bahamas and Bahama mama

Most of the local Bahamian restaurants are located at the place called Fish Fry where tourists mix with Bahamians for an authentic meal or a sip of exotic drink. Conch fritters, conch salads and fried fish dishes are very good! Cooked from local fresh catch, these meals are quite popular not only with tourists but locals as well.

Red, pink flowers and shrubs of the Bahamas

Beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees add to the overall cheerful vacation mood. Some of the plants that in less sunny and warm climates are mostly grown indoors and are normally very dull and plain, are enormous and booming at the Bahamas. All these bright and vibrant colors and flowers, I'm sure, inspired many talented artists and craftsmen.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Summer jewelry for a day at the beach

summer jewelry at the beach
Forget work! It's sunny and warm and all I can think about is white colors of the sand and shells, inviting blue colors of the water and bright rainbow colors of summer and spring flowers! Let's go to the beach!

More Summer jewelry items at Tonya Utkina