Collaboration!

As I have said previously, I sell my jewelry in a small local Gallery, the Orchard Artworks. It's a cooperative, with artists of just about every media. Our June show will feature collaborative art. The members were encouraged to collaborate with another artist. It could be someone from outside the gallery, or another gallery artist.
Ellen Pine Litwin is a ceramic artist who is a member of Orchard Artworks. Her art usually manifests itself in beautiful pitchers, mugs, bowls, etc - items for the home. So, when she said she would make beads if a jewelry artist wanted to collaborate with her, I was intrigued (and said yes!).
About a month ago, she handed over 3 baggies of beads and pendants. I have not counted them, but there are many I haven't gotten to yet! Every piece is made from Terracotta. The beads are unglazed, and the pendants are partially glazed. Here now, is our collaborative works:

Pendant and beads by Ellen Pine Litwin, copper bead caps and chain. I'm just now noticing that my photos doesn't really show the cool square jump rings I used - they are vintage, a.k.a. old-new stock.

 

 This pendant is the same glaze as the above pendant. I love the scalloped edge! The necklace is a little simpler. I didn't want every necklace to be "fussy". Chain is Vintaj, bead caps from Fire Mountain.

 

 This pendant has aqua glaze that was rubbed off, to highlight the rope texture (I love this one!). Ellen also made a handful of textured beads, so I used them on this necklace. After I finished the front of the necklace, I looked through my new stash of silk ribbon, to see if anything coordinated with the beads. OMG - this ribbon has the aqua of the pendant, and the pink-coral of the terracotta (looks less pink in real life). This silk ribbon is from RibbonsAndSilk on etsy. They have beautiful silk ribbon (as you'll see, if you click the link)!!

 A closer look at the focal...

 

Ellen made a couple pendants with a sunrise/ sunset. Is that like glass half full/ half empty? If so, I'll call this a sunrise! I have had these colored tin discs for soooooooo long. So long that I can't even guess how long. I bought them when I was very new to jewelry making, at a cool little shop in Lambertville, NJ - Sojourner. They carry lots of cool imported things, and lots of beads. It was the only place, back then, where I could get quality beads. And, coincidentally, I got more of the exact discs at the auction a couple years ago!!
Anyway, I thought the colors matched the pendant pretty well. I used aqua colored Beadalon bead wire, and some filigree tubes from Panda Hall.

 

 Beads and pendant by Ellen, Vintaj brass chain, Fire Mountain bead caps. This is aqua matte glaze....pretty!

 

 I think this my favorite pendant that Ellen made. I love the scalloped edge (like the grey one above) and the matte aqua glaze. I paired it with Vintaj bead caps and aqua translucent crystal beads.

This pendant is baby blue. I found an odd bag of blue beads. I couldn't tell you anything about them or even where they came from, only to say they are glass, I think. I used some delicate Vintaj chain and bead caps.

 

This is a second sunrise pendant. I paired this with some vintage Amazonite beads I got years ago at the auction. (I love it when there's jewelry making supplies at the auction - it's rare when it happens!)

 

 And, of course a couple pair of earrings. There are a couple other pair, but I did not photograph them. Just your basic, everyday earrings.

 

It was fun to participate, and collaborate with someone. I had no idea what Ellen would make, and it felt a bit like the Bead Soup Blog Party- time was limited, and I had to work with the materials I was given. But, I truly enjoyed working with Ellen's pendants and beads. I tried to stay true to my style, while showcasing Ellen's work as well.

If you live in the Bucks/ Montgomery area (of PA), please stop by the gallery during June to see these in person, and all the other Collaborative art on display. There will be an opening on June 2 from 1pm to 4pm. Orchard Artworks is located on Tomlinson Rd in beautiful Bryn Athyn, Pa.
You can visit our facebook page (and like us, if you like us!)  www.facebook.com/pages/Orchard-Artworks/104664492932219

M.I.A.

I apologize for not being here much lately. Family issues arise, and they take the priority.

I have some new things planned for the near future, but in the meantime, I found some older photos of jewelry that I never posted!! I don't know how or why I never posted them...in any case, here they are.

This first necklace is a Lilly Pilly horn pendant, with a carved bone flower bead, smokey glass nuggets, and Vintaj brass.

 

Next, we have a mother of pearl printed leaf, with faux pearls and Vintaj brass bead caps and filigree leaves. I believe the MOP focal was from a sale bin at Michael's - I love digging through those bins for bargains!

 

 This mother of pearl focal is really pretty in person. I love green. I buy lots of green beads, so finding something to go with this was not a problem! Fire polished green crystals and an odd lampwork bead, along with more Vintaj bead caps and leaf. Pantone is finally coming around to my way of thinking - Emerald is the Pantone color of the year!!

 

 This is an old brooch that looks like an old buckle. This brooch probably sat on my bead desk for at least 3 or 4 years before I used it!! Sometimes the designs need to just percolate in my subconscious for a while! Well, that, and the fact that I did not have the rhinestone rondelles before then. Once I bought rhinestone rondelles in black metal, I was able to pull it together, with faux pearls.

 

 Lastly, this is Chinese crystal and, yes, more brass (bead caps are from Vintage Jewelry Supply). I love the look a super sparkly crystals with the dark brass, don't you? This necklace would have looked right at home on Downton Abbey around Lady Mary's neck.

Hopefully my next post will be sooner than later, and it will feature a collaboration project I'm doing with a ceramic artist - stay tuned!!

B&B Bead Buzz Blog

Back in January, I was reading "Bead Buzz", the editor's blog at Bead and Button magazine. The post was about making jewelry with family heirlooms. Jane Cruz told about how she made a keepsake necklace from a very special button of her grandfather's. I felt compelled to leave a comment, and it lead to a fun and lively email conversation about jewelry, family and Missouri (the place where my mother grew up). I sent Jane some photos, and she asked if she could use them in a future blog post. Of course, I said yes.

Fast forward to yesterday.
I pretty much forgot the details of the conversation - after all, it was over two months ago. Imagine my surprise to receive an email from Jane yesterday saying she posted my photos on the Bead Buzz blog!
I have made lots of jewelry over the years, but the pieces I made with my Mother's treasures remain some of my most prized. I gave most of them to other family members, including my Mom. She wears hers often.

I kept this one for myself!

Thank you Jane. It was fun to get to know you a bit!

 

Upcycling chandelier crystals!

I'm a member of a small local gallery - The Orchard Artworks. It's an artist's cooperative, and we have shows about every month. Being a jewelry artist, I don't do "solo" shows, because it would take A LOT of jewelry to fill the gallery room! But we often do "group" shows.

There is a fun group show coming up in May, featuring Upcycled Art (art made from re-purposed and recycled items). I am gearing up for this show, using found objects and old stuff (when I'm not using an artbead, I'm usually using an antique bit of some kind). I normally do not like the look of chandelier crystals in jewelry, because they always look like what they are - chandelier crystals! But, in the context of the show, I've been inspired to pull some out and use them. I have to say that they are growing on me! I paired some with some old buckles. I think some of these would look good worn in multiples.

This crystal is about 3 inches long!



This crystal was actually off an old candlestick bobeche.



I wrapped wire around and over the top to stabilize. The old wires in the crystals look pretty fragile.

 

 I have always loved old buckles. I used to buy them at auctions, with no plan for them. I was just buying them as artifacts from a by-gone era. I mean, who wears these kind of buckles anymore? I've got Bakelite, celluloid, Sterling, brass, rhinestone studded, pot metal filigree, and simple plastic buckles.

This buckle is celluloid.

Dyed pink Mother of Pearl buckle! My pink MOP beads just happened to match!!

 

I'm headed to Beadfest Spring tomorrow. I don't NEED any beads, but I'll probably come home with plenty to add to my stash. ;-)

 

Bead Soup follow up

My bead soup is in the previous post, please scroll down there to see it (or click here)!

I thought I'd post a photo of my partner's (Bridget Torres) bead soup, since her website is tricky to navigate. I could not find her photos when I visited www.shears58.com, so I thought maybe other hoppers had trouble too (or maybe I'm just too dim to figure it out!). On her website, you can view Bridget's slideshow by clicking the little boxes next to "Bridget's Creations". Her bead soup is the bottom 5 photos.

Anyway, here's her finished soup!

I think she did a great job!! Feel free to leave a comment, I'll forward it to Bridget!

 

Bead Soup Blog Party - Reveal!

It's better to be early than late, I always say - unless it's to a real party, and when you arrive, the hostess is still in her bra and pantyhose, with curlers in her hair, trying to finish her makeup. Yeah, that's embarrassing. But, for this virtual party, it's ok if you're wearing curlers, or anything you want - cause I'm a little early.

I'm sure everyone knows about the Bead Soup Blog Party by now, so I won't get into the details. If you don't know, you can visit Lori Anderson's blog here.

My partner is Bridget Torres, and here's a reminder of the soup she sent me.

I started with the focal, or shall I say focals (plural). There's a stone focal, but also a brass focal. I was going to try to make a necklace with the focals on either side of the necklace, but that did not work out. So, I layered the brass over the stone. A couple inches of wire later, and I now had a layered focal. The multi-colored strand of beads matched the focal pretty well, so I used them, with some brass cones I bought from Panda Hall. I also used one of the birds Bridget sent me. I made the "tassel" at the bottom of the focal with one of each of the colors of the round beads.

I thought the round beads were stone, but as I worked with them, they seem more like glass that's been colorized.

Next, I moved on to the clasp Bridget sent. Now, this clasp, as I said previously, is quite simply - LARGE. So, it demanded to be front and center. We compromised, and it's front and off center! ;-)

I had the ceramic flower beads in my stash. I bought these a couple years ago from Fire Mountain. I don't know what I thought I was buying, but when they arrived, they were much bigger and heavier than I imagined. (in the age of online ordering - sometimes I don't picture the millimeters accurately!) But they are just the right size and weight to go with my clasp/focal. I decided to use all the colors I bought, rather than just pick one. It's a long necklace (about 30"), due to the large size of everything. This is not for the faint of heart (or the weak of neck).
It ain't heavy....it's my brother bead soup. (a musical reference!)


I think my Mom would like this one, but she's got a bad back!!

After I finished with my focal and clasp, I was under no obligation to continue, but I just has to use the blue "balloon" beads for earrings. The Vintaj bead caps fit the skinny end of the bead perfectly - enough said?


Thank you Lori for organizing the Bead Soup Blog Party again. I know you have not been well these past weeks (months?), and I hope you are feeling better SOON!

Thank you Bridget for my soup! I had fun playing with everything! I hope you did too - I can't wait to see your creations.

Please go to Lori's blog, for the list of all the other participants (it's a long one!!)

Bead Soup "sneak peek"

I'm not supposed to show you my bead soup until next week, but I can hardly wait. Please come back March 30th for the reveal (and blog hop), when all the photos will be clear as day.

 I'm wearing this one today!! (this was fun experiment with filters)



A bead soup Kaleidoscope!

Please come back next week, ok?

Znet beach glass....I mean, sea glass

Whew! I am in between challenges right now. With the Challenge of Music in the rear window, and the Bead Soup Blog Party not until March 30th. Unbelievably, I think I have everything done for the March 30th reveal! I have tons of beads left over, so I might make something else yet, but the focal and the clasp have been used, per the rules of  BSBP. I finished up last night. I might make some more earrings. Earrings are like Jello - there's always room for more!

Anywho, I designed a little something with my sea glass from znetshows (see previous post). This necklace was inspired by my friend Cyndi Johnsrud of Ornamental Style. She designs similar necklaces, and the sea glass shell was perfect for this style of "charm" necklace. While my design aesthetic is more rustic than Cyndi's (she is way more elegant and classy!), the overall design works in any style! Thank you, Cyndi, for the inspiration.

All the beads - faux pearls and crystal beads - were from znetshows, as well as the sea shell. I just happened to have the Vintaj seahorse!

 

That's it, just a quick little post. I haven't been up to much else...

Challenge of Music Blog Hop

Chopsticks!!

What do you think of when you hear that word?

Chinese food? Probably.

But in relation to music, certainly you hear the childhood piano favorite, "chopsticks", playing in your head.

As a child, I wanted to learn to play piano. I took lessons, but could never get my left hand to do something different than my right hand (am I alone with this one?) But I could play Chopsticks. Because both hands are doing the same thing, but in the opposite direction. Then mid-way through the song, they do the same thing, but a couple keys apart. This was easy for my child hands (and brain) to "master". We played chopsticks until we were told to "knock it off!!" by the adults in the room (then we switched to "Heart and Soul" - another easy song for the piano). As an adult now, I can see where more than a couple minutes of chopsticks would make you yell "knock it off!!".

Liberace plays it in this youtube video, like I have never heard it before: (wow!)


And here is what I discovered on Wikipedia about Chopsticks (it's a waltz - who knew?!):

"Chopsticks" (original name "The Celebrated Chop Waltz") is a simple, extremely well known waltz for the piano. It was written in 1877 by the British composer Euphemia Allen under the pseudonym Arthur de Lulli.^[1] Allen, who was the sister of a music publisher, was supposedly only sixteen when she composed the piece, with arrangements for solo and duet. The title Chop Waltz comes from Allen's specification that the melody be played in two-part harmony with both hands held sideways, little fingers down, striking the keys with a chopping motion. This name suggests the piece should be played in 3/4 (waltz) metre, although it is also commonly heard with the stresses as in 6/8 time.

On to my creations!!
***Obligatory apology for the photo quality. I was forced to use an indoor light box, which is no substitute for natural sunlight***

I knew when I decided to use this song I would need to make some decisions. Should I go with an Asian theme? Or a childhood theme? Or make some thing that represents the two halves of the song?
Rather than make a decision, I went in all directions.

My first photo is the childhood theme. When I think of "chopsticks" I think about being that kid at the piano! I'm not a bracelet fan, so this can be worn either as a bracelet or a necklace. Simply remove the length of chain and wrap the charm bracelet around your wrist! Lots of plastic kid charms and pixies, a bottle cap bead, a vintage red celluloid heart and wooden mini yo-yo.



Above the dog it says "I'm in the doghouse"

Next, I got to thinking about the Asian influence this song had on my thoughts. On a recent visit to Erin's etsy store, I saw her Asian inspired simple truths, to compliment the monthly painting at Art Bead Scene Blog. Serendipity! - It was perfect for what I had in mind. And the colors would be perfect too! In the meantime, I've had an Arizona iced tea can on my workbench, waiting to test my disc cutter. The can is fairly thin gauge, and it cut like buttah! My "plan" was to dap my discs into bead caps, but I now realize (after mutilating unsuccessfully dapping a couple discs) I do not have the right kind of dapping block for that - something to shop for, like I need a reason to shop ;-)
OK, plan "B"!
It took me a while to figure out how to fold them, but I made mini fortune cookies out of my discs! I absolutely love them! But then, my pendant arrived, and, while I love it, the colors were more subdued than I imagined they'd be. My fortune cookies are too bright and don't look good with it.
OK, plan "C"!
I happened to have an Asian brass fan sitting out on my bead desk (from Trinity Brass, I think), so I designed my fortune cookie necklace around that. I am actually quite happy with it. I have enough fortune cookies left over to make a bracelet too! (someday)


Faceted fuscia Jasper, Brass Fan, and my little fortune cookies!

 

 Of course, I made earrings to match!

I case you're wondering, I did not slide tiny little fortunes inside the cookies - but I could!

But what about Erin's beautiful pendant? Not to worry. I had strawberry quartz beads that matched wonderfully.
Now, this was another one of my ideas for Chopsticks...if you count the number of chain links on this necklace, it's the same number of notes in Chopsticks:
123456.123456.123456 (clasp) 12.12.12345.12345.12.12.

(plus, you might have noticed that I chose the stick version of Erin's pendants, rather than a round one or some other shape - get it? chop STICK)

18 links per side, represent the two "halves" of the song

Strawberry Quartz and sea glass, adventurine, Lucite leaves, and the lovely Simple Truths pendant

Lastly and also serendipitously, last weekend I stumbled across a bunch of chopstick I had bought, back during my auction-going days. They are petite (about 6" long) and beautiful, with mother of pearl inlay. So, at the last minute, I wanted to try to make something with two of them. This is more of a experimental necklace, and not really meant to be worn. I may add to it, but this all I had time to do. I think it has potential. The chopsticks alone would be beautiful stuck into a hair bun.
 

Czech Dragonfly bead from Maya Honey

Rather than copy the list here, please go to Erin's blog post here to see the other participants!

Thank you, Erin, for hosting once again. This challenge proved to be a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, but I'm happy to have been a part of it. I'm anxious to see what everyone else has done!

Downton Abbey Inspired

I've been so busy getting ready for the Challenge of Music blog hop this Friday, and The Bead Soup Blog Party at the end of March, I haven't had a lot of time to make anything else. But I was so inspired to make jewelry while watching Downton Abbey, I couldn't help but follow through on a couple of my ideas. I know there are MANY out there that love Downton, too!

Lady Mary always has the best dresses and the best jewelry! This necklace was inspired by a necklace she wore to dinner one night. Her necklace was more delicate, and had teardrop pearls. I couldn't find my teardrop pearls, but when I do, I'll make another similar necklace. In the meantime, black crystal drops stand in nicely!

Next, is a necklace inspired by Mrs Hughes' chatelaine. I have always loved Victorian jewelry, and I would kill to own a REAL chatelaine!! If I ever find a small pair old scissors and a mechanical pencil, I'll add them!

I had some vintage watch chain, so I used some of it, sparingly.

The rhinestone oval is from Vintage Groove, lock and key are Vintaj

Bring on Season 4!!

Bead soup received!

My soup is here! My soup is here!

I showed you what I sent Bridget. Now, here's what she sent me.

I think the really interesting (and fun) thing about exchanging beads with someone is that you get beads you've never seen before. There are several in this soup.

For instance, the little bird charm - I've never seen this particular bird (she is so sweet!!). And I've got a pretty keen eye for birds on etsy!


A closer look at my sweet little bird!



Also the 6 large blue beads. They appear to be a stone of some sort, and the shape is so unique - I have NEVER seen this shape bead before.


What would you call this shape? They look like birthday balloons to me!

Another discovery is the clasp. It is far and away the largest toggle clasp I have ever seen. The branch toggle bar is over 2 inches long! It will no doubt end up being the focal of a necklace!

This doesn't look that big when it's cropped so tight.

Thanks for my soup Bridget. I'll do my best to make delicious soup!