Short Version......

I recently made some earrings using porcelain beads, metal beads and seed beads.  They were long........

Marti Conrad came up with a great idea to shorten them........so I did.  I like them better short, but then I prefer short earrings.  In a spirit of "waste not, want not" the wire cut from the long sides were fashioned into dangles.

This pair is made with Ingrid Mueller's "stoney" beads.  I love the matte glaze that she used on these.  These "Beaded Buckets" are listed HERE.

This version is just 2-5/8" long

Sophie, I am still planning a discussion on crimp covers.

Something to look at while I go get a haircut......

I'm off to get a haircut today - been trying to get that done for two weeks - finally reached that point this morning where if I don't get it cut today, I am going to cut it myself tomorrow, and that would not be a good thing....

In the meantime, just took this set out of the tumbler.  I used lampwork discs by Julie of Outwest on etsy and I used Yellow Jade and Labradorite along with just a few faceted glass picasso beads in the new earthy colors.

In case you are new to jewelry, these are earrings.

And, this is a necklace.  They match.

Earrings and Bracelet - Southwest Flavor

I have recently started buying lampwork art from a couple of etsy suppliers and I love their work.  The first is Outwest.  She makes beads that really capture the flavor of the west.  The second is Lynda Cogbill.  Her beads are broader in style, but I was drawn to this set of southwest beads.

The turquoise is from another etsy seller that I recently discovered.  Her products are great, her selection is managable, and her service is perfect.  Most of all, she is friendly.  Take a look at  Rosemary's shop sometime you have a moment.

I rarely use an entire set of lampwork in one piece because really good lampwork by a really good artist can make a piece very pricey, but this set was an exception.  It would have been like splitting up ninetuplets (or whatever you would call a litter of 9).  I simply separated with faceted pyrite, added some wavy copper spacers and stuck on a clasp.  That wonderful little heart turquoise magnesite bead also came from Rosemary's shop.

I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Lotteries, Gambling, and Giveaways....

I know it varies around the country, but I live in Kansas City, MO.  About twenty years ago, our state legislature voted to allow legalized gambling on river boats.   There are now several such boats in Kansas City.   I was not glad to see that being of the opinion that gambling is a detriment on a society and not a help, but the legislature didn't ask me for my opinion. 

Most of my opinion on legalized gambling is a direct result of my Mother's opinion.  She says that the worst thing that can happen to a person at one of these river boat gambling casinos is to win.  Because once they win, they think they can win every time and will usually lose much more than they can afford trying to win again - which is where it becomes a hindrance on society. 

But, I did not intend this post to become Jean's Treatise on the Ills of Gambling.  No, indeed!  Now on to the purpose of the post......

I have won two - not one, but two giveaways in the last couple of weeks!  Okay, in case you didn't hear me, let me shout it.  I HAVE WON TWO - NOT ONE, BUT TWO GIVEAWAYS IN THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS!  Now, let me say that I hope you won't interpret this post as being braggy - I don't intend it to be braggy -- in fact, I never (can't say that anymore) win anything -- but rather I intend it in the spirit of getting these artists names before as many of you as I can.

The first that I won was from Jo, owner of Daisy Chain Extra on Etsy on January 23.  You can visit her etsy shop here.  Jo lives in Southampton, England.  She is a jewelry designer and tutor and makes the sweetest jewelry components from sterling and copper.  I didn't even know I'd won until February 6 when she posted on my facebook.  Don't you just love facebook?  She was giving away 20 (is it English pounds - I don't even know) in free products from her shop.  I went online to try to find a money changer and I think it is about $32.58 in US Dollars.  Hey folks - that's a lot.  Did you hear me?  THAT'S A LOT!  I really don't know why I think all of you are hard of hearing today....

Anyway, these are some of the items I picked from her shop, along with about that much more that I purchased.  I just can't pass up free shipping....

This is a daisy.

These are poppies.

The second giveway was from Pippa PipsJewellery.  She lives in Bath, United Kingdom.  She makes jewelry and jewelry components from polymer clay.  She is a true artist with color and I believe I am going to love her beads.  She describes her shop as Handcrafted.  Unique.  Special.  She sure has that right.  They are beautiful, in fact they are beautifully gorgeous.

She gave me my choice of a set of polymer beads.  I chose these --

And to go with them, I purchased this....

And then because I love free shipping, I purchased these.

Also, because Pippa is so generous and because she was so pleased with the huge response to her giveaway she also gave a set of beads to Cilla of TellYourGirlFriends on etsy.  Cilla makes beautiful artisan jewelry - and she is also a customer of Ingrid Mueller's which proves in my book that she has good taste in jewelry makin's.  I can prove she makes beautiful artisan jewelry if you will click here.

I can't wait to receive all this booty.  These women are very generous to have offered such spectacular giveaways.  I would encourage all of you to check out their shops and consider their contributions to your jewelry designs. 

Anyway, thank you Jo and Pippa for making the opportunity to win these gorgeous components possible.  Now, I have to go do another happy dance.
P.S.  Apparently, the English spelling of jewelry is jewellery.  We American's we want to take the shortcut on everything don't we.

Long Exotic Earrings Inspired by Marina Rios.....

Recently Marina Rios a/k/a Fancifuldevices issued her invitation to other jewelry designers to copy her designs.  Well, knowing that I could never copy her unique design I just looked on at what others created - in awe - of course.  Her work is amazing.  But, her attitude on sharing is even more amazing.  If you are not familiar, you really need to read her Art Theft Manifesto.  I really don't have words to describe her work.  You know that drawer that you all have where you just throw stuff because you don't want to throw it away, but you don't know what else to do with it, and in the back of your mind you think "well, I might need it someday?"  Well, she can take things from that drawer and make beautiful jewelry with them. 

She recently started using Ingrid Mueller's beads in her work too.  Ingrid has a couple of bead designs that are truly her own -- the two I'm thinking of are her stonies, that actually contain bits of gravel to give them texture, and her beads done in very matte finishes.  I have known for a couple of years now that Ingrid's work was wonderful, but now it seems as if other designers are figuring that out too.  But, I digress.

I received some beads from Natalie Pappas a week ago and even though they are not matte or stonies, they are magnificent.  They have swirls around them and not where you would expect them to be either.  I began playing with them and while I was doing so, I kept thinking of Marina's style and soon, voila!

Now, these are long - 3-1/4" long.  Ingrid would love that.  I like them and I really like the fact that I got to play with my wire.  I left the copper very dark, like Marina would have done. 

Now, Marti Conrad makes a bead that she calls a knuckle bead.  It is truly her own.  I am playing with them today in this same design to see what happens.  See I'm now starting to talk like Marti and Natalie -- they say things like "look what came out of the kiln today."  Well, I am just going to see what comes off my table today......stay tuned for the next installment of this experiment in Marina.

Thank you all - Ingrid, Marti, Natalie and Marina.  Knowing your work makes me a better designer.  I appreciate you all.
Disclaimer:  There are many more of you that have remained unnamed in this post.  Your day is coming.....

Well, I finished these using Marti Conrad's "knuckle" beads.  They have African copper heishi in the center row and faceted Czech beads in a variety of earthy colors with picasso finish in the bottom row.  They are also a bit longer....

I want to maybe try one more set if I can find some of Ingrid's beads that are begging to be made up like this and I can find the appropriate coordinating beads, etc.  And, also, I would like to try making a pair out of the annealed steal wire I have rather than copper.  We'll see.

Giveaway at Love My Art Jewelry Blog

The Love My Art Jewelry Blog is featuring a giveaway today for this necklace.  I made it just for Valentine's Day.

Ingrid Mueller made the sweet little blue and red porcelain heart pendant and I have attached a Swarovski crystal dangle.  It is on Greek Leather and has a lobster claw clasp.  Those are gold brass tube beads in the front to frame the pendant.

Click here to go to the LMAJ Blog for up to three chances to win.  The winner will be chosen on February 14. 

GOOD LUCK!

Kristi Bowman Blog Hop Reveal Day

Well, today is the reveal day for Kristi Bowman's Blog Hop challenge.  I was excited to participate as I really love Kristi's copper clay components.  She has developed several wonderful textures and this is one of my favorites.  She gave us a choice of two bracelet connectors with which to participate - one with an ammonite design and one with a sea urchin design.  I love them both but I chose the ammonite.  Just a word on the beads that I used.  Some months ago, I received a packet of bead soup as a free gift with an order that I placed on etsy.  I don't remember who gave it to me, but I wish I could show them what I made with it.  Using the bead soup was not a challenge as it was exactly the type of beads I love working with.  I also wish I had taken a picture of the bead soup before I started, but again, I didn't.

These beads were included in the soup:  One etched evil eye barrel agate, one lampwork glass heart, five nugget shaped crackle fire agates, four wild horse jasper coins, and an assortment of light and dark amber seed beads with silver lining, and a small supply of very small matte black seed beads. 

I used everything in the bead soup except the few seed beads shown in the photograph.  They are in a copper bowl that Kristi made also with an ammonite texture design.

From my own stash, I added only a few red and orange lentil glass beads, a dark red African trade bead, the green trilobite Czech pressed glass bead and the brown leaf Czech pressed glass bead.

I hope you like the bracelet.

Click on the links below to see the bracelets of the other participants.  What fun this is!

Kristi Bowman Design http://dreamsomedesigns.blogspot.com/
Lana Kinney is sharing on Kristi's blog above

Jean Wells http://jeanawells.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE

Melinda Orr http://orrtec.blogspot.com/

Sue Kennedy http://suebeads.blogspot.com/

Shannon Chomanczuk http://formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/

Pam Brisse http://bluebetween.blogspot.com/

Melissa Cable http://createrecklessly.blogspot.com/

Cindy Wimmer http://www.sweetbeadstudio.com/

Mary Harding http://maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/

Karen Totten http://starryroadstudio.blogspot.com/

Jan Molten Mayhem http://moltenmayhem.typepad.com/molten-mayhem/

Linda Landig http://lindasbeadblog.com/

Kristi Harrison http://kristibasket-itsanewday.blogspot.com/

Kimberly Sturrup http://bahamadawn.blogspot.com/

Sally Russick http://thestudiosublime.com/

Polymer Bead Giveaway

Just a heads up that Pips Jewelry is hosting a great giveaway going on for some beautiful polymer beads at:  http://pipsjewellery.blogspot.com/2012/02/giveaway.html

Check them out.

Eyepod......

This was a fun necklace to make.  I love Marti's take on the "Eyepod" and her striped oval bead and Natalie's pod beads seem right at home here too.  Add some wire wrapped sari silk and some copper chain and here to go.  "Eyepod".

This necklace has many materials including porcelain, copper, leather, silk, gemstones, wood, jobe's tears (seeds), yarn fibers.


Reminder that tomorrow is the reveal date on the Kristi Bowman Copper Bracelet Blog Hop - Be sure to check back.  You won't want to miss it.

Natalie Pappas Also Does Lampwork....

I really need to start reading the descriptions of the things I buy on etsy.....I guess I like pictures better than words.....maybe I have become sick of words being an attorney the last twenty years.  Anyway, I received some beautiful beads from Natalie Pappas yesterday.  I had found a great little set of four beads in her shop that just begged me to buy them.  So I did.  One of them was a porcelain white with a pink, purple, and green flower decal.  Loved it.  She had paired it with two green coin beads on which she made a three leaf design.  She also included a pink and green bead that just seemed to tie everything together.  I pulled out a pink and a purple lampwork bead made by Joyce O'Shea and also a large soo chow jade that also begged me to be included.  Well, to my surprise, the pink and swirly porcelain bead made by Natalie wasn't porcelain at all....it was lampwork.  So I ran back to the listing to read -- yep, sure enough, she does lampwork too.  Then I heard one of Ingrid's butterfly pendants begging me to let it join.  Man, I get so tired of begger beads.......

I built this necklace around copper wire and also used olive green glass pearls and more of my new metallic Greek leather in light fern.  It looks so springy, and layered, and all full of Natalie's and Ingrid's and Joyce's gorgeous work.  It won't be long we will all be looking for spring accessories and this one will be in the shop.....waiting, waiting.