We're All Ears January 2020: Pantone Color of the Year

Each January, my friend Erin Prais-Hintz challenges us to make earrings using the recently announced color of the year for the We're All Ears challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog.  I don't know about you, but this is the first time in ages that I've actually liked the Pantone Color of the Year!  Happy days are here again!  Not that I normally pay much attention to color trends and whatnot... I tend to just make what I want to make. 

I had a surprising amount of earring-appropriate blue beads in my stash to potentially play with this month... this picture doesn't even capture all the art beads!  As is often the case I had more options than I had time.

I have to admit that I wasn't really considering the different color palettes featuring Classic Blue.  Probably because I have a strong tendency toward more monochromatic designs!  I did pull together a couple of things that I think fit with specific color groupings though so I'll start there.

First up, a little take on the Ponder color palette.  I had some fun abstract enameled moth shapes from Gardanne that just needed to fly into a earring design.  The picture doesn't do them full justice, but there is some great color and texture on the solid side of the moths from the silver she used.  I decided to go for a slightly larger bead dangle than I might normally, but these faceted labradorite teardrops were too perfect to pass up.  The stone has some nice flashes of blue fire that was difficult to capture.

My next pair features some fabulous polymer clay charms by our gracious hostess Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  With the fun metallic foil accents and the super dark blue, these were perfect to go with the Desert Twilight palette.  I chose metallic coppery English cut Czech glass beads and some bright blue dyed agate for the dangles.

The last two pairs that I made for this month focus just on the Classic Blue itself!  I had a couple of fun spiral swirl beads from Marsha Neal that decided to come out to play.  I just added some small dark navy Czech glass beads and a bead cap at the bottom and a little silver toned bead at the top.  These are on sterling ear wires.

Next up, I salvaged some faux tin pieces from this past fall's Inspired by Nature Retreat.  The colors were perfect, but the original rectangles were a little flawed on one end.  No problem!  I just trimmed them down smaller and then got busy filing the edges down.  After punching holes at top and bottom I just wire wrapped some adorable little Czech glass flowers with crystal centers on the bottom.  Tiny, simple, and cute!

Not made specifically for this challenge, but still celebrating the 2020 Color of the Year, here's a few more.  These were all made at the end of December for the Art Bead Scene Art Journey #9 challenge.

From left to right:  polymer clay charms by Humblebeads and cocoon beads by Saga Hus; ceramic charms by Artisticaos, polymer clay discs by Humblebeads, and dyed agate; porcelain charms by Kiyoi Design.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  As this posts, I'm at the tail end of what I hope will be another fabulous Disney World vacation.  I'll catch you on the flip side!  For now, pop on over to the Earrings Everyday blog to see what everyone else was inspired to make HERE. 

We're All Ears: February 2019: Frozen

This month's theme for the We're All Ears challenge is Frozen.  Well, Erin could not have chosen a more apt prompt for this month, at least for those of us living in the great stretch of the country dealing with the polar vortex and stupid amounts of snow.  Minnesota is already having the 4th snowiest February in history, and we're not even half way through the month.  Whoever pissed Elsa off needs to apologize!!! 

I have to admit that at first blush, I honestly wasn't sure I had much to use for this month's challenge.  I used lots of snowflake themed items for the December Art Elements Theme of the Month (which was "White."  You can see that post HERE if you like.)  I was surprised at how many ideas I suddenly had when I shifted my thought process from actual snowflakes to beads with an icy feel!

My first trio of earrings all focus on frosted or Mercury finished Czech glass.  These all have a winter woodland theme going on with leaves and wee pine cones.

Next up, a couple of pairs of earrings with long ear wires.  The ones on the left feature some vintage plastic from Allegory Gallery paired with snowflake bead caps and dyed agate.  The pair on the right uses some cultured sea glass under some of my favorite pewter bead caps that remind me of lily of the valley.

I didn't ignore my art beads either!  The pair on the left has some fun swirl pattered ceramic charms by Marsha Neal dipped in teal matched with polymer clay discs by Humblebeads, crystal, and brass.  The pair on the right is totally fit for Elsa!  Photos don't do the sparkles in the clear pale blue lampwork glass justice.  I added crystals and leafy bead caps to the design and topped things off with some Swarovski crystal and sterling ear wires.

I wasn't done yet... but I'll say that these last two are a bit outside my normal design comfort zone.  I played with some oval pewter links and iridescent Czech glass teardrops for the pair on the left.  I'm unreasonably happy about the pair on the right which are in no way my normal style!  I've been working on getting my studio under control and have been sorting through beads and supplies.  In this process, I found these fun caged gems that I got in a goody bag at a retreat.  I didn't have anything appropriate to hang them from, so I got out some copper wire and my hammer!  Although I like how the hammered copper curves in this instance, I do wish that I was capable of getting this sort of thing to stay straight!  I like the way the gold and copper tones work together in these shoulder dusters. 

Pop on over to the Earrings Everyday blog HERE to see what everyone else was inspired to make this month!

Art Elements Theme of the Month: Petroglyphs

The theme for this month's Art Elements Theme of the Month challenge was another challenging one for me... Petroglyphs.  At first I really wasn't sure that I had anything that would work... but after some good digging through my art beads with an open mind, I found a few earring charms that felt right.

First up a simple little pair of earrings that I whipped up with some of Marsha Neal's fabulous ceramic charms and Vintaj Natural Brass findings.  Even though these are a simple design, they have a nice visual impact. 

Next, I finally played with one of the few pairs of painted pewter charms that I've managed to snag from Inviciti.  I felt like the raised pattern and the colors evoked the feeling of cave paintings or carvings.  For this pair I used some faceted Red Creek Jasper rounds, some Swarovski studded rondelle spacers and some little Czech glass beads in pale neutral tones. 

Last but not least, a colorful little pair of earrings featuring some super fun charms from Jana of Happy Fish Things.  I haven't made two many earrings with charms that have two top holes or loops (although there are two in this post!) so this design definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone!  I paired some little Amazonite rounds and fun shaped vintage German glass beads. 

And just for giggles, I'll leave you with this little photo taken at a lovely set of waterfalls near Mankato, MN.  I wonder if future civilizations will one day find things like this and wonder about the cultures that created them... Hmmm.

This is a blog hop.  Check out the links below to see what everyone else was inspired to make this month!

Guest Artists:
Jill Egan: https://kilnfiredart.wordpress.com
Tammy Adams: http://www.paisleylizard.com/blog
Alison Herrington: http://AlisonAdorns.blogspot.com
Alysen: http://chicchixnchampagne.blogspot.com
Sarajo Wentling: https://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com
Jenny Kyriach: http://anafiassa.blogspot.com
CraftyHope: http://CraftyHope.com
Kathy Lindemer: https://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com

Art Elements Team:
Lesley Watt: http://www.lesleywatt.com
Jenny Davies-Reazor: https://jdaviesreazor.com
Cathy Spivey Mendola: http://cmendola.blogspot.com
Sue Kennedy: http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com
Caroline Dewison: http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk
Laney Mead: https://laney-mead.blogspot.com/
Marsha Neal Minutella: http://blog.marshanealstudio.com
Claire Fabian: https://saraccino.blogspot.com

Art Bead Scene: February 2018

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge inspiration is The Star Lovers by Warwick Goble.  It is a watercolor illustration that originally appeared in the book Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales in 1910.  You can read more about the artist and the artwork over on the Art Bead Scene blog HERE.

Title: Star Lovers

By: Warwick Goble

Date: 1910

Medium: Watercolor

There is a lot going on in this painting... and so many different directions you could go with it.  This is such a enchanting piece of artwork... I can only hope my designs can achieve a fraction of the magic!

For this post I focused on the starry element of the artwork as well as the blue and grey tones.  I pulled out a pair of crescent shaped ceramic charms from Marsha Neal.  I thought I was going to run lengths of chain from the two sides of the charms with some sort of beads at the top connecting things.  Before I even grabbed any chain my mind wandered off to some fun beaded "U"s from Anna Pierson of Saga Hus.  Happily, the size was a perfect fit!  Even though the charms have dots instead of stars on them, they are reminiscent of the field of stars to me.

While looking through my little stockpile of Anna's lovelies, I came across a fun set that I special ordered a little while ago.  The shape of the glass beads and the color of the sari silk ribbons reminded me of the lantern in the inspiration art.  The blue was perfect for the color palette and the stars... well, I told you I was focusing on them this round!  I kept my design simple by just adding some etched star charms from Vintaj that I highlighted with a reliefing block.  To add a little pizzaz to the long ear wires that I chose, I wire wrapped them with some seed beads in shades of blue.  Ta da!

Thanks for stopping by to see my designs!  I have an idea in mind for a necklace for this month too... but we'll see if a trip South to visit family and friends will leave me enough time to conjure that up before the end of this short month.

Some Sunday Earrings!

I had a good time this weekend making my favorite thing... earrings... and I wanted to share with you in a quick post!  I'm going to be heading to Heather Powers' Inspired by Nature Retreat on Friday morning for a weekend of beady fun, but that means that I've got a lot to do to get some jewelry delivered to Unearthed Arts before I leave.  For the second year, Unearthed Arts, the gallery where I sell most of my jewelry, is going to be setting up an exclusive shopping boutique during the Achieving a Healthy Balance event sponsored by the Ridgeview Hospital Foundation on October 15th.  Anyway, my point being that all of these earrings are headed to this great event to support a great cause in our community!

I finally made a couple of earrings using some of the beads from Allegory Gallery's Mermaid Lagoon challenge.  (You can see the necklaces and bracelet I made with the kit HERE if you missed it!)  First up is a pair using glass beads from the kit paired with brass beads and findings.  The idea is that these would go with the starfish necklace that I made.

Next is a pair that features a gorgeous pair of ceramic charms made by Marsha Neal that I picked up at Bead & Button.  I added some recycled glass, more brass, and some funky glass beads from the kit to top things off.  Now I'm itching to play with more of Marsha's pretties that are in my hoard... we'll see what the week ahead brings!

It wasn't all mermaid colors this weekend... I also whipped up some more earrings with hand-painted brass elephant charms!  I had a recent playdate with my friend Marcia where we broke out my collection of Vintaj patinas and I got a few pairs of charms painted and sealed.  I love the green and purple color combination!  I made another pair in turquoise and red like I sold during the Art Wander.  I want to try these in some other colors soon because I think they are so cute!  

  

And for my last pair, it's back to the beach!  (Seriously, why am I in the mood for beach and ocean themed jewelry when I should be in fall mode??)  More charms that I painted with Marcia.  The base color is really a turquoise color, but I wanted to demonstrate how to mix the metallic patinas with the glaze for a nice overcoat and she'd already poured out some gold.  The result is was a happy surprise that turned out a cool and weathered greenish color.

I hope you enjoyed my newest earring creations!  It was fun just to get to play around with some things with no real direction... just following my muse this weekend.

AJE Earring Challenge Weeks 19 & 20

First off, happy Memorial Day!  I hope that everyone is enjoying a happy and safe holiday weekend.  I'm getting this posted a little later than usual since Eric and I have been out of town for the weekend.  Much more about that will appear here and on my hubby's beer blog, JABlog soon.

It's time for another installment of the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge!  This week I focused on artisan beads made by other artists instead of my hand painted pieces.  I'm trying to mix it up!

First up are my Denim Dreams earrings featuring porcelain discs by Marsha Neal.  I love the denim blue and brown glazes she used and the little swirly raised pattern!  I paired them with brass findings from Vintaj, gorgeous Czech glass from Lima Beads (really, the pictures do not do those beads justice!), and small spacer beads from TierraCast.

Week 19

Next, I've got a pair with some cute little polka-dotted lampwork beads from Tanya McGuire.  They look like candy to me!  I kept it pretty simple and just added some small Swarovski crystals and wire wrapped them on copper headpins.  I hung the bead units off of some new copper-plated arched earwires from Nunn Design.  I love turquoise and copper (ok, I'm also a fan of turquoise and sterling silver, but copper is far more economical these days!) and think these just feel like summer.  Simple, quick, and cute!

Week 20

One pair is up in my Etsy shop and the other will be as soon as it's bright enough for me to take some better pictures.  Thanks for stopping by!