Feeling Fall! New Autumn Inspired Necklaces

So, true story.  I'm an art bead hoarder.  Certain artists can boast whole drawers in my art bead hoard.  It's like the more beautiful I think a bead or pendant is, the less likely I am to make it into jewelry.  Ok, not really, but I do find myself just opening up drawers and gazing fondly at my pretties.

What does all of this have to do with feeling (and designing) for fall?  Well, I've been guilty of sitting on a ridiculous number of pendants by my talented friend Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  I'm in the throes of getting ready for my biggest show of the year, the Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander, in less than two weeks so I figured now was the time to finally make something with my treasures!  Here's a look at the "before" mess as I was just starting to pull beads...

First up, the oldest pendant in my leafy collection... a two sided piece that Eric bought me that was in an inspiration bundle that Erin had pulled together in her shop several years ago.  The bundle came with the pendant, a string of freshwater pearls, some carnelian rounds (those will make an appearance later) and a couple of Vintaj brass blanks.  I kept this necklace pretty focused on the pearls and just added a few Czech glass leaves and barrels in shades of orange and brown along the way to bring out the colors from the leaf.  A brass plated toggle clasp completes the design.  Erin doesn't really do this style of pendant anymore with it's secret message on the back, but I do love them so!

The next thing that jumped out at me to be finished was the most unique color-wise of this whole little collection... a stick pendant in striking black and gold.  I realized that I had a hook and eye leaf clasp that was a perfect match for the leaf on the pendant.  I chose a mix of Czech glass beads in black and gold plus some vintage German glass flowers for the bulk of the necklace.  To balance out the clasp I used a fluted black agate and some freshwater pearls on the opposite side.  This is the most elegant piece in my opinion.

I had a second stick pendant in my collection... an older design but a newish addition to my stash.  I love the mix of orange and blue in the pendant and enjoyed playing with the color combination.  Lots of Czech glass in this one along with some Sunset Dumortierite and matte Denim Lapis.  The orange maple leaves pop against the blues!

This next pendant is the only one in this batch that has two loops... making it perfect for some fun leafy dangles including an enameled oak leaf by Gardanne.  She sells these charms in pairs so I usually end up making earrings when I buy them, but this singleton was a gift in my goody bag at a retreat.  For some reason, beyond finishing off the pendant and choosing the fun branch toggle clasp, this was the hardest necklace for me to figure out.  I knew that I wanted to go asymmetrical and use a mix of fun Czech glass leaves that looked very much the like the ones on Erin's pendant, but it took me several tries to get things where I wanted them.  The right side is a mix of Czech glass English cut beads and the Carnelian rounds that I mentioned from the inspiration kit.  There are also a couple of vintage glass beads sprinkled into the mix on both sides.  

I'm a little bit in love with this next design and the vibrant pendant that inspired it.  Eric thinks I need to keep this one for myself... we'll see about that.  I will admit that I'm always a sucker for the combination of turquoise (or teal) and orange, so this one makes my heart sing!  Another luscious (if I do say so myself) mix of Czech glass and gemstones.  This time Amazonite, Cuprite, Red Line Agate, and Carnelian all make an appearance.  It's a little tough to tell in this photo but there are some small hints of purple hiding in there to echo the darker tones in the pendant's bright leaf.

Lastly, for this mini collection of fall goodness, I made a necklace that is a pretty similar to one that I made for the Art Bead Scene back in November 2015.  The original was in brass while this one is copper.  I didn't have all the same beads so I made some substitutions while keeping the basic design and balance.  I'm truly not a heart girl, but there's something about this leafy little number that I adore!  I may actually like this version a little more than the original.

I've never been great about designing for the new season early enough.  I think this is finally the year that I've broken the spell with this collection of fall necklaces thanks to tons of inspiration and beady love from my talented friend Erin.  I've got even more fall designs in the works (or already completed!) that I'll have for sale during the Art Wander September 21-23 at my home which happens to be Studio L this year!  If you're local to the Twin Cities I hope you'll wander out and say hello.

Artisans Create Together: November 2017 Color Inspiration Challenge

While I don't always get around to playing along with this monthly challenge, I love the Color Inspiration challenges over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook group.  This month is no exception with this muted fall palette and we've been given so many luscious inspiration photos to get us motivated!

As you know by now, I'm not always the greatest at making seasonal jewelry ahead of time... but this challenge got me going!  Not long ago I got some lovely, rustic fall leaf ceramic pieces from Artisticaos and I've been itching to design with them... this is the perfect excuse!

I ended up making a necklace and earrings set that make me so very happy!  I had just gotten several strands of new beads that felt perfect for this set including some plated hematite saucers in "mocha" and a strand of medium sized English cut Czech glass beads in really soft and lovely muted shades . (Lima Beads calls them "Glowing Amber Picasso" for what that's worth!)

I decided to stretch my brain and go asymmetrical for the necklace.  I strung a pattern of Czech glass beads with the mocha hematite as spacers on one side.  Some Czech glass rondelles in pale orange bring in some of the warmer tones from the pendant and keep it from being too neutral.  (This girl loves color after all!).  For the opposite side I went with links on blackened metal connected with textured brass jump rings.  I used a combination of Wild Horse Jasper puff coins and some funky grey-green Czech glass rounds flanked by the hematite saucers.  It's hard to see it in my photos, but the jasper has a glorious mix of earthy colors!  I finished it off with a brass plated leaf clasp to keep with the leafy, autumnal theme.

The closeup of the pendant lets you see some of the beads a little better as well as the wire-wrapped details that I added to the pendant's connector wires.  I grabbed a couple of beads from the body of the necklace as well as some Czech glass leaves for the dangles.

I'm so lucky to have snagged a pendant and earring charms that matched in color so well from the Facebook sales event.  For the earrings, I used more of the English cut Czech glass and mocha plated hematite and continued the mix of blackened and brass components.  I topped off the earrings with some orangey glass beads to bring more color into the mix.

Now pardon me while I turn on the fire place and snuggle up in a sweater with a kitty in my lap.  If I can't keep winter from coming, I can enjoy the finer aspects of cooler temperatures.

New Fall Jewelry

The creative bug has bitten me hard lately with the desire to make fall-inspired jewelry!  I've been busy playing with beads both new and old... and trying to take some breaks to actually put things away and organize so I don't have so many pretties getting lost in the chaos of my studio!

As I'm gearing up for two holiday shows the first full week of December, I thought this would be a good time to share a few of the goodies I've been working on.  I plan on having all of these at my Holiday Open House on Sunday, December 4th (check out the Facebook Event HERE) and, if they are still around, the Minnesota Women's Art Festival on Saturday, December 10th.

Let me start out with some little birdie necklaces that are just dripping with art bead goodness!  I just got a few of the amazing new bird beads from Heather Powers of Humblebeads and couldn't wait to make something with them.  I've always loved Heather's solid color birds, but these are truly swoon-worthy with the rich and colorful designs she's added in using her magical abilities.  Using some design tips that Heather shared, I sat down to play with my new goodies and make some stacked necklaces.  Both necklaces are on long chain with twigs by Diane Hawkey.  The one on the left features a leaf by Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead and the one on the right has an oak leaf made by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio.

Next up, let's continue on with the Humblebeads theme.  I whipped up a little pair of owl charms (love these little hoots!!) made by Heather by adding some matte sunset dumortierite, Czech glass, and brass.  The pair on the right features some awesome rusty, crusty polymer clay daggers made by Heather's talented husband Jess Contreras (aka Mr. Humblebeads!)

In the process of trying to get my beads organized and (a little bit more) under control, I found some pairs of little oak leaves made from dyed coconut leaves that I picked up from Allegory Gallery a couple of years ago.  Now I'm wishing that I had grabbed more of them because these earrings turned out so cute!  They are colorful and super light.  I'm so tempted to keep the orange pair, but I'll let them out into the world to find a happy new home!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my newest jewelry designs.  Now I'm going back to my bead table to get back to work creating more designs for my upcoming shows!

Artisans Create Together Inspiration Challenge: October 2016

There's a new group on Facebook called Artisans Create Together that I just learned about and I was thrilled to discover that they do a monthly inspiration challenge (actually they do two, as you'll see below!)  And you know how I adore a challenge!

Fall is without a doubt my favorite season and I enjoy all the luscious colors that come with it.  While I enjoyed both of the October Inspiration color palettes, I found this group too late to get much completed by their deadline.  The combination of turquoise (or teal) with orange has long been a favorite for fall... or anytime really... so I had to start there.  In fact, I had so little time for this challenge that despite pulling tons of turquoise and orange beads and focals onto my bead mat, I only managed to complete and photograph one set of earrings before the deadline.  Here is that first pair:

Enameled leaves by Gardanne, Carnelian, & Czech Glass

As you can see below, my table was still covered in an embarrassment of beady riches arranged into half thought out projects.  I couldn't just walk away and waste all that effort... and I certainly didn't want to have to put all those beads away!  What choice did I have but to keep on creating with one of my favorite color combinations??  I had to share with you the rest of the goodies that I made.

Yup, this is pretty much how I always work.  I'm incapable of working on just one thing at a time!

It made sense to start by continuing with the little earrings that I had started (but not finished) for the challenge.  Once I added my favorite Czech glass flowers above an orange pair of Gardanne enameled oak leaves, I knew that it was a design that had potential without the charms too!  Before I knew it I had whipped up these three pairs of earrings:

With some things cleared off my mat, it was time to move on to some necklaces!  First up, a necklace featuring one of the polymer clay pendants that I made from my very own mold at the Inspired by Nature Retreat.  (You can read more about my exploits at the retreat HERE.)  Lots of Czech glass and a little bit of copper make up this little number!  I'm looking forward to using the rest of my creations from this project at the retreat!

Next up, I moved onto a gorgeous birch leaf pendant by the talented Mary Harding that I've had squirreled away for a while.  This piece had a brighter, more yellow-toned orange that just made me happy.  For this necklace, my brain wanted to go asymmetrical and I went along with it!  Once again I used a variety of Czech glass beads in turquoise and orange tones but added in some carnelian and vintage plastic as well.  I had fun playing with the leaf motif from the pendant... adding in some Czech glass maple leaf beads and a brass beech leaf charm.  This one is hard to let go of... I adore the finished product!

Lastly, I wanted to make something with a Vintaj brass pendant that I had painted a little while ago.  When I started adding color I was planning to stick to shades of orange but on a whim I dabbed on a bit of turquoise making it perfect for this challenge!  Since I had been doing a lot of stringing, I decided to switch things up and make beaded links for this one in a collection of Czech beads.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my little collection of turquoise and orange jewelry!  I'll be taking most of these designs into Unearthed Arts this week so there will be some pops of orange in my display just in time for the annual D.E.A.R. Hunting event this Saturday!

Acorn Inspiration

This week has certainly ushered in some fall weather rather quickly.  On Tuesday I was wearing a sundress and sandals, today I need a sweater and, shudder, socks!  (Seriously, it's 48 degrees now and we will only warm up to 58.)  I actually love fall... that delicious crispness in the air, the color changes, dreams of bonfires, pumpkins, apples, and acorns!  My problem is that living in Minnesota, fall is brief and means that our looong winter will soon be here.

But anyway, I digress.  The fall weather has lots of us thinking about fall themed jewelry.  There is a great post over on the Art Jewelry Elements blog today all about acorn and oak leaf jewelry and its symbolism.  Check out the whole thing (including some yummy acorn and oak art beads I'm drooling over) HERE.

The mighty oak tree, it's leaves, and acorns have had meaning and significance in many cultures and mythologies.  I think I'm most drawn to the idea of the oak tree and acorns as symbols of strength and endurance.  Also the idea that since acorns are only produced by fully mature oak trees that they stand for patience and perseverance.  

I've been doing my best in the acorn department making and squirreling away a whole bunch of acorn necklace and earring sets for Art Wander.

I just got some fun new iridescent green Swarovski Crystal pearls that I can't wait to use in an acorn and oak leaf set or two and I'm also playing around with a couple of other fall themed pieces.  We'll see how much I can get made and priced in the next two weeks!