RAKU WINGED HEART.

More raku!  I love it -- and what's better for Valentine's than a big heart with so many beautiful colors pouring outward from the center.  The colors of the glaze truly do change with the light.  You'll see that in the pics below.  Unfortunately, this is the last of my Dragonfly purchased rakus... boo hoo.  It's also part 2 of my last post - more wire wrapping to embellish, encompass and compliment a flat back medallion with no holes.  I added a necklace of wonderfully dyed siri ribbon from LaShell (Etsy shop) in two coordinating colors and tied it to a clasp on the end.  Very easy and soft to wear.

This next pic highlights the change to more copper/orange tones, with the purple and blue at the top.  Ooh la la...

RAKU MEDALLION AND OTHER WRAPPINGS!

I purchased a couple Raku medallions a few years ago from one of my favorite locally owned stores Dragonfly.  I absolutely loved the size and coloration!  Fast forward to now, and in searching my rather large stash of "special" pendants and other beads, they popped up and yelled... me, me, me!  Ha.  So, I was feeling the creativity and decided I'd do some wire wrapping, which doesn't always go perfectly!  But, on this particular day, the force was with me. :) I started by shaping and hammering some patinaed 16 gauge wire for the outer round and then used that as my base for attaching the pendant with 18 gauge wraps.  On a really great day, as we all know, creativity can flow with such positive force.  So... here are the wire wraps from that day.  I hadn't determined what I would do for a necklace on either one, but eventually did make a leather strap for the horse medallion, which was perfect.  Unfortunately, that beauty has galloped off to a very happy new home, so no picture available to show the leather.  Also, some earrings to match below.

The coloration and coating on the drops in the earrings below (from Fusion Beads) are so gorgeous and really pick up some of the same tones from the Raku medallion.  I also used some 1-hole lentils for a bit of add'l design.

And for my next wrapping, an incredible Staci Louise Originals Day of the Dead pendant.  The design of this piece, along with the colors, is so unique!  Love it and I must say, I'm thrilled with my wrapping ability on that ONE GIVEN day.  :) 

JANUARY CREATIONS ABOUND!

The new year brings lots of "necessary" creativity -- both for my own sanity and in preparation for many birthday celebrations.  So, right after Christmas I happily begin the process of designing or coordinating that perfect piece for each of my specials!!  Here's the first one of 2018, which began with a beautiful pendant from Claire Braunbarth @ Smitten Handmade.  Claire does gorgeous work, and I have several of her beautiful creations that I am hoarding!  Ha.  I created everything around this pendant, with stitching, wire working and some painting thrown in for a bit of extra color.  The necklace turned out so gorgeous... ooh la la... beautiful gem stone pieces to bring it all together. 

And last, but never least, some earrings to compliment the necklace.  A simple assembly of fun combinations, as not to fight with the beautiful necklace, which should command most the attention when being worn!  

PLAYING CATCH-UP AND REFLECTING!

Ah, December... how did you arrive and depart so rapidly?  I'm still back in November, or maybe even October!  I was already playing catch up, and then some family health issues came to the fore, and that's all you need to know to understand that the extra consecutive hours I thought I would have to get last minute projects done, quickly vanished into thin air.  But, alas, let me highlight the projects I did complete before that occurred.

Projects from my fall collection -- first a necklace showcasing several different techniques learned from Heather Powers of Humblebeads in her generous "Bead Table Wednesday" videos.  The metal hammering, the painting of metal, the making of a bead using wire and sari silk (LaShell from her shop on Etsy) -- all so dang fun and different than my normal bead stitching.  The hammering is so awesome and very cathartic... the harder I hammer the better I feel.  Ha ha.  (the picture below shows the hammered wire before I added a bit of dimension.)

The beautiful sari ribbon bead I made.  Love the colors in this ribbon from  LaShell.  Her Etsy shop address is above.

In the pictures below I added some wire wrapping embellishment to the hammered connector.

And below some earrings of fun!  I only knew which beads I wanted to include and I started wrapping (with 20 gauge) on a frame of 16 gauge copper wire.  

Another fun pair with some sari silk below.  The colors of fall just speak to me so I wanted to include as many of those as possible.  :)