Tassel Making Mania!

I've been trying to divide my creating time between new projects (mostly for various monthly challenges) and taking care of half thought out older projects that have been sitting around.  I noticed a tassel theme running through a few of these and decided to run with it.  So, I'm sharing with you the fruits of my recent tassel making mania!

Tassels and fringe of all kinds have been popular in jewelry and other accessories... and the trend seems to be continuing for spring and summer 2017.  I'm not necessarily all about trying to keep up with the trendiest things, but tassels are super fun and fun to make!

The first type of tassel that I ever tried making was the chain tassel.  I made several simple statement necklaces with dyed agate slabs and chain tassels last fall and I've been meaning to make some more.  I've had a couple of stones set aside for just this for months... and now I've finally finished a few new ones as well as some with carnelian.  I like the look of the strands of fine chain tucked into a coordinating cone!

In addition to the agate and carnelian slabs, I also brought out some colorful almond shaped beads by Golem Design Studio.  These beads are so fun and vibrant that I wanted to add a little more excitement to the chain tassels... so I wire wrapped some tiny Czech glass and crystal beads for decoration!  What do you think of that idea?  It was more work, but I think it was worth it for these two.

Obviously, there are more materials that are perfect for tassels or fringe.  During our beading pajama party on the Bead Cruise last month, Heather Powers taught us how to make two different types of fun tassels.  Of course I wanted to make some new jewelry with my fun new tassel creations!

One of the tassels we made was a long dark purple sari silk ribbon number.  I really loved how rich this one feels!  When I got back from the cruise I found the perfect bead to add to the tassel... it's a large lampwork glass bead from Sue Beads with a wonderful combination of colors including dark purple.  Channeling my husband (who never wants a plain chain), I added some Czech glass links along the long length of brass chain.

My last design for you is more fringe than true tassel, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway.  This is the other project that Heather walked us through during the beading pj party.  We cut fringe into pieces of fun leather from PeggySueAlso and embellished a ribbon crimp end with wire and seed beads in coordinating colors.  This is a really fun idea for giving a plain ribbon end some extra pizzaz!  I kept the necklace with this focal pretty simple.  I just wire wrapped a ceramic flower shaped bead to add above the fringe and called it good on plain chain.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to!  Have a wonderful weekend!  I hope to have some of these at Unearthed Arts on Saturday.

New Earring Monday '15: Weeks 9 & 10

Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope that you all are starting to get adjusted to the switch to Daylight Savings... my body is still feeling a little confused.

For this week's installment of New Earring Monday I'm sharing a few pairs of earrings that I either made on the Bead Cruise or with techniques I learned there combined with goodies from our gift bags.  (I'll be posting my blog recap of the trip later this week.)

First up, a pair that feature Byzantine chain maille (which I learned in Tracy Stanley's class) and some cute little lampwork glass beads that Sue Beads donated to our goody bags.  Thanks to Diana Ptaszynski for the gift of aluminum jump rings!  I went with red, black, and silver to stay in the Queen of Hearts theme for our cruise cocktail party.  I also finished a coordinating bracelet (although not my actual class kit) during the cruise.

I'm super proud of this second pair that I made in Heather Powers' Metal Sketches class on the cruise... and not just because they are the only class project that I actually finished in class!  This was my first time using metal shears to make magic out of sheet metal and my very first time making ear wires.  I can tell you that I have some new tools on my wish list and I don't want to wait until my birthday in July to gift them to myself!

As an added earring bonus, here is a simple little pair that I whipped up during our Beading Jammie Jam pajama party!  I love the little flip flop charms from Vintaj and the beachy feel of the finished earrings.  I'll be taking this pair to Unearthed Arts in my next delivery.

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We're All Ears: October 2014

It's time once again for the monthly earring challenge hosted by Earrings Everyday:  We're All Ears.  It's super simple to play along.  Each month, Erin Prais-Hintz chooses an image (or images) to inspire participants on the first Friday of each month and then we share what we made on the third Friday.  That's it, no other rules!

This month Erin shared two collages of marbleized paper art.  You can see that post with all the information on both artists' work HERE.  As soon as I saw Jemma Lewis's work, I knew what beads would be the focus of my design this month.  I had just ordered some yummy lampwork with raku frit from SueBeads that seemed just the thing... now I just had to wait for them to arrive.

Here are the beads I was eagerly waiting for.... photos from the Sue Beads Etsy shop.  Aren't they just yummy?!

Now, I have to admit that when I make earrings with lampwork beads I'm guilty of just adding some little metal spacer beads to either end of the lampwork and calling it good.  I guess I just want the glass to shine and keep things super simple.  For this month's challenge I wanted to break out of that rut and try something a little outside my comfort zone.  So here we go...

First up, I paired Sue's yummy turquoise set with some matching Picasso finish rice beads that I dug out of a fun bead mix and some little blue green rondelles.  I added in the little copper plated bead caps (to take me further outside my normal comfort zone) and wire-wrapped them all on a copper headpin.  This is a pair that I may not be able to part with... I think I've fallen in love!

For my second pair, I decided to use brass findings and keep my bead dangles a little more tame as far as shape goes.  But to spice things up a bit I punched an extra set of holes in some hammered brass rings and added the beads to those instead of just putting them straight on the ear wires.

This is a blog hop.  Please check out the great designs everyone else came up with over on Earrings Everyday HERE.