Feeling the Blues

Don't worry, I don't have those kind of blues!  I'm too busy to feel down right now!  I've just really been feeling the new shades of blue patina paints that I recently picked up from Vintaj!  In particular the Deep Turquoise which is just a super yummy shade of teal.

Generally when I play in the paints, I prep way more metal than I'll actually use in one sitting.  That way if I accidentally squirt out or mix up too much of one color, I've got plenty of other things that I can add color to waiting in the wings.  So, when I tried out the new color (on something I still haven't finished) I just couldn't stop adding it to more things!  All of these new designs will be available at my studio later this month during the Art Wander studio tour September 22-24!

Eager to restock some of my most popular styles of bracelets, I made a batch that included some of the new color.  I even did a feather with the lighter Turquoise mixed in along the edges.  I quite like how that turned out!

Next up, a few new necklaces!  Some are new versions of older designs and there's also a brand new butterfly pendant that I want to play more with.  So dainty!

Of course I couldn't totally neglect the earrings during my little teal frenzy!  I added some white gold/silver mixture to the centers of the flower charms then a wash over the whole thing.  I love the shimmer that gives and it plays so nicely with the mercury glass and crystal rondelles!  I added pops of orange for my elephant earrings.  These are pretty petite for dangly earrings and super fun!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to lately.  I'm up to my eyeballs in show prep, so I hope to be sharing lots of new designs with you all soon!

Simplicity

In an effort to get prepared for my upcoming holiday shows, I've been putting in a lot of time at my bead table.  While my favorite things to make are earrings and one of a kind necklaces with art beads, I want to make sure that I have a wide variety of styles and price points for everyone's gift giving needs!  I thought I'd share what I've been working on to fill the need for more simple styles today.

For this first series of necklaces I wanted to keep things super simple and let the gemstones shine.  Each necklace features one lovely gemstone pendant on either silver plated, copper plated, or brass chain and they are all about 20 inches long.  At under $30, I'm hoping that these will be popular with gift givers this holiday season!

I've also been playing with the idea of making chain tassels to go with colorful focal beads.  Here are two that I made this past week with almond shaped ceramic beads by Golem Design Studio.

I decided to revisit a best selling design too and whipped up a couple more large dragonfly necklaces with gemstones.  I've had these two painted for a while but finally got around to finishing the pieces.  I probably won't do more of these until spring unless I get a special order.

Lastly on the simplicity front, I'm working on making more embossed medallion necklaces.  Full disclosure, this picture is from the fall and all but one of this batch have sold but I'm making more this week!  I make these in 20 and 28 inch chain lengths.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my experiments with simplicity.  I hope that you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving this year.  Let us embrace the simple things that mean so much!