CONTINUING ON THE CATCH UP TRAIN...

Each of my creations truly does begin with a tiny flicker of a vision, and many come from pieces or parts I have purchased from other creators.  If you follow this blog, I'm repeating myself here, but I have my favorite artists - those who never disappoint.  Their work provides me with so much positive energy, and joy through the process.  The necklace below started with an incredible pendant from Staci Louise originals, which I then wire wrapped so I could layer on one of her incredible bronze pieces.  I also painted a metal leaf to dangle off the bottom, with a Czech glass flower, rondelle and round.  This piece feels like it has a lot to say... if I listen carefully.  LaShell Wyskochil sari silk for a soft drape of a necklace.

I also wire wrapped around the ribbon just above the pendant to keep it close to the focus.  I really liked the dimension it added without being too much.

And, below, some earrings I put together to go with.  The beads all jumped out at me as I was piecing together the design.  The light purple color of each is hard to see in this photo, but you get the idea -- they are truly yummy!  Czech glass and some swarovski crystals with some enameled C-Koop heart locks I'd been saving for just the right project.  Ahhhhhh, really beautiful together with the copper.

And then... one more raku pendant shot below with the gorgeous earrings, making it a set.  These are a design by Michelle McEn, from a 2015 Beadwork magazine.  Good thing I keep ALL these magazines chalk full of inspiration.  I was thumbing back through my stack... and came upon this pattern using pellet beads.  So many fun shapes of beads anymore... I can't keep up, but always love trying new beads and designs.

FREE FORM--ODDS AND ENDS!

I seem to be doing free form odds and ends of late.  Nothing planned or too extreme, just fun as they come to mind.  Looking through bead magazines and just starting to bead or stitch.  I tried to do a loom project, but since I don't own a loom, I tried both brick and square stitches, and had to abandon both midstream.  They were not working out like the loom picture!  Imagine!  So, I settled on doing odd count peyote and just went where it took me.  It's free form alright... but I love it!  Hard to get outside that "form" or "pattern" box for me, so always worth the time to just let 'er go where she will. 

This free form necklace matches the more patterned, yet still with a hint of free form, earrings from an earlier post, which were my own design.  The colors are so lovely...

Another raku medallion in patinaed copper free form wire wrapped glory.  Can't say enough about the beauty of the medallions.  The colors are ever changing, depending on the light, and the messages on the back of each one, wonderful as well.  "I am Courage" inscribed on the back and this beautiful winged heart fits it perfectly.  The siri silk ribbon also provides a nice balance to the size of the medallion.  It provides a bit of imperfect softness. (Reminder that I purchased the Raku medallions at my local Dragonfly store.  I am uncertain of the artist, but they do lovely work!)

A fun new style for me - 16 gauge wire hammered and then wrapped at the top and along the bottom with 18 gauge, leaving a few wraps loose to hang dangles from.  I also added dangles inbetween the loops to even it out.  Love the look of this and with the siri silk again - a black and blue gingham pattern gives it some whimsy.

Some earrings to match of course!

Creation Post Valentine's Day!

I meant to post my latest Heart creation on Valentine's Day, but time would not allow, so here it is a few days late.  Better late than never... My friend Judy get's full credit for the idea.  She had made herself a lone heart necklace, so I copied her idea, made it bigger and lopsided, and changed directions four times.  She also had the best idea to peyote stitch a link for the necklace, so I did the same, using several colors to tie it all in.  I have to say that CRAW stitch is so much fun to twist and turn... and then to embellish, which helps stiffen up the shape.  And to think I was afraid of this stitch just a month ago.  Time and practice heals all fear!!  I added a gorgeous red sari ribbon for just the perfect softness and finish -- love me some ribbon!  Thanks Judy for sharing your awesome idea. 

And to finish it off, some darlin heart earrings I made a year ago.  These go perfectly with this necklace.  I used 16 gauge patinaed copper wire to form the heart shape, and then brick stitched around the heart.  

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...

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.  :)