Saturday, May 24, 2014

Waxed Linen Design Blog Hop

Ceramic Paisley Waxed Linen Necklace and Earring Set
 
 
I am excited to be experimenting more with new jewelry making supplies, and waxed linen is one that I am really enjoying.  It takes away the worry that your wire crimps won't hold up.  I also sell my jewelry in many gift shops and galleries, and every now and then, a customer will break a necklace by attempting to pull apart your toggle closure.  Not cool!
 
I am a ceramic bead artist, so my first step was deciding which pendant and glaze I wanted to design with.  I love my new paisley and I am a blue fan, so I chose Blue Lotus glaze by Mayco.  It has a fun brown crystal burst which gave me my second color inspiration.  Plus, I like the way wood looks with the ceramic, so that's what I used as my accents, along with some 8mm hand rolled ceramic spacer beads glazed to match the pendant.  My favorite metal color is antique copper, so I reached for some chain and a lobster claw clasp to finish the necklace.  I also wanted a pair of earrings to match.  Here is my tray of beady goodness before I sat down to create the finished designs.
 
 
While designing the necklace, I though it would look nice to have some vertical drops, so I did add 4 more ceramic spacer beads glazed in Caribbean Blue to the mix.  Here's what I came up with....and I love it!  I hope you do, too.
 
 
Thank you to Diana P. from Suburban Girl Studios for being our blog hop hostess!  She also makes gorgeous ceramic beads.  I am the proud owner of quite a few of them!  Please hop around to visit the other participants blogs and see what they designed.  If you'd like to design with my ceramic paisley pendant, they can be found in my etsy shop at www.fireflydesignstudio.etsy.com
 
Diana Ptaszynski  

Kelsy Vincent
http://jillofalltradescraft.blogspot.com


Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

Kashmira Patel
 
 
Jenny Davies-Reazor

Vanessa Gilkes

Sandy Huntress
 
Kay Thomerson

Sarajo Wentling

Kari Asbury

Rebecca Anderson

Melissa Trudinger

Ann Schroeder

Shai Williams

Blanca Medina

Cheryl Brown

Johana Nunez Rivera
http://www.artincendi.com


Lori Bowring Michaud
 
Kelly Morgan
Barbara Bechtel
 
Kristen Stevens
 
Heather Boardman

Janet Bocciardi

Kathy Lindemer

Lesley Watt

Susan Kolovson
http://www.beadinspired.blogspot.com


Jayne Capps

Cynthia Deis
 
Erin Siegel
 
Becky Pancake
Kelly Hosford Patterson
Sharyl McMillian-Nelson
 
Inge von Roos
 
 
Linda Younkman
 
Sandi Volpe

Toltec Jewels

Michelle Mach

Jen Cameron

Dorothy Winchell

Darlene Mansue
 

 
 

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Friday, May 9, 2014

8th Bead Soup Blog Party

This is my first time participating with the Bead Soup Blog Party.....and it's been so much fun! Thank you to our Bead Soup hostess, Lori Anderson.  I am partnered with Debbie Rogers from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Her blog address is www.debbiestreasuresandgems.wordpress.com  We emailed each other and found out what kinds of beads we like.  Debbie is a nature fan, so I chose my ceramic tree of life for her focal piece and paired it with an assortment of other goodies.  I told her blue is my favorite design color, and she sent me so many blue beady treasures to play with!  This is what I received:



This next picture is what I used to design my necklace with.  We could add or take away what we wanted to from our own stash.  I used everything except the gunmetal toggle, cream satin necklace and the silver chain.  The glass heart focal has gold in it, so that is the metal color I designed with.  And....wax linen is really hot right now and I just happened to have a nice blue shade that matched the components.  It was a fun change from stringing on wire and using crimps.  Knots are so much easier!



Here is my finished design.

 
 

 Don't you just love the jangle spacers? They consist of  3 round circles....you string the middle on your design and wire wrap dangles (or jangles) on the outside 2 circles.  I get them from T Beads.  They come in all the metal shades.  For the 4 jangles, I made 32 wraps of beads and spacers.  It takes some time, but the result is worth it!  I made some ice blue ceramic round beads to compliment the heart focal.  I just can't make jewelry without including some of my handmade ceramic beads.  I hope I made Debbie proud, and I can't wait to see what she designs with the soup she received from me!

Please take some time and hop around the blogs of other Bead Soup Designers.  There were roughly 500 participants, so here are the blog links to my direct group:

Nicole Valentine Rimmer                  www.nvalentine.blogspot.com
Marge Beebe                                         www.rockcreekcreations.blogspot.com
Michelle McCarthy                              Www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Chandra Merod                                    www.Junipergoods.blogspot.com
Nancy Olliver                                          http://nancyolliver.com/blog/
Alison Sachs                                            http://beadsbyearthtones.blogspot.com/
Kay Mallery                                             www.kaymreflections.blogspot.com
Beth Petricoin                                        http://createmyworlddesigns.blogspot.com/
Marta Grabalowska                             http://galeriakota.blogspot.com/
Clare Etheridge                                     http://www.catseatdogs.com
 
 
The complete list can be found with Lori Anderson, Hostess     www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
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