Beach Glass :: Shades of Blues

I'm a little backed up on posting some of my projects, but I wanted to show you a series of earrings that I've been working on this week with sea glass in the shape of baby conch shells. Aren't they so cute! ZnetShows sent out a new batch of glass to play with, and I was having fun with wire all week.

This first pair clusters apatite chips in the same sky blue color. And I think the silver gives it a touch of richness. Earwires are shaped and hammered by me. I am starting to create my own earwires more often then not these days. 

Speaking of earwires, I wanted to do a nice long drop pair. More earwires created by me, and with a small hammered charm added to this pair on long dangles. What a pretty deep blue color in this glass.

This next pair uses some blown glass beads that remind me of the Japanese floats we used to find washed up along the coast when I was a kid. I grew up along the Oregon coast and we would go beach combing for floats washing ashore from the Asian cargo ships. 

I created a double hoop loop on top (that's fun to say!) and then I added one more loop beneath to hold a series of wrapped Chinese crystals also from ZnetShows. These earrings are shades of blue hues, matte and fire polished. A lot going on, but would look lovely with a simple white summer dress and strappy sandals. 

Ok, one more pair to show you. These are my favorite because of the color. I simply love this sea foam color. So often I remember the water and foam that would form along the Oregon shore had this soft hue. I painted many a surf with this color. This last pair I matched up with a beautiful marcasite connector to give them a touch of antique. I love the curves in the marcasite and how it mirrors the shells, the sea and the surf.

Focusing on Life :: Green

This week's prompt for Focusing on Life is to find the green in your life. As Sally says, it is the color of balance, learning, growth and harmony. It symbolizes calm, self-respect and well being.

Green has always been my favorite color. For as long as I can remember. And when my husband and I got engaged, I knew that I didn't want to do anything in a traditional way. We ended up eloping, which means no one knew we were engaged. And when we did get married (about 3 months later) we exchanged simple wedding bands. 

Afterwards, my new husband surprised me with my engagement ring which was an emerald. Our marriage has been about building a life together, about finding balance in life and a harmony in our relationship. I can say we really have grown together over the 20 years we've been married. And I cannot image any other path in my life.

The second ring is a beautiful diamond that my husband gave me five years after we were married. Certainly not traditional! He surprised me on the eve of giving birth to our first child. Funny story, but perhaps for another post.

Tone on Tone :: with Lesley Watt's Design

I have been wanting to try my hand at Lesley's tutorial that she calls Double Strand Seed Bead and Jump Ring Bracelet. I saw this posted months ago back on her blog and thought what a fantastically simple, and elegant design. 

So many other projects got in the way, but I finally gave it a go. I've been wanting to use these beautiful shank buttons with a 4 leaf pattern, which I think have sort of a Celtic feel to them. The background in the button is coppery brown, so I pulled out copper jump rings. And just to accentuate the pattern I played the copper off alternating white crystals to really show them off.

I've been experimenting lately with tone on tone pieces that let the pattern really be the star. And I have to say that I am quite happy with the elegant, subtle color of this one. Anyone else playing with tone on tone lately?

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

I really have had so much fun creating with the beach glass sent to me from ZnetShows. I love that Beach-Boho look, and these pieces just fit right in on my beading table.

My latest piece is a fun little beaded summer cuff with an orange starfish that is actually a shank button. So it made the perfect button closure on this simple ladder patterned bracelet. 

I added a little orange sparkle throughout with some accent beads in Chinese crystal that was sent along with my beach glass. It does look so pretty together! And, it looks great on my daughter with a whimsical, beachy top. Perfect for summer.

Focusing on Life :: Typography

This week's Focusing on Life challenge was to look for typography and blog about whether it drew you in, inspired you or perhaps spoke to you. Hmm, this one really had me thinking.

Each day as I commute to my job, I walk through Grand Central Station. Recently I've noticed the sign for the Graybar Building. Ornate and interesting. I must have walked by it hundreds of times. Always in a rush, never paying any attention. But in the last few weeks I kept thinking, I need to look up what 'Graybar' means. So this week, I did. In fact, I took a lunch hour to walk over to the building and snap some pictures. Both inside the lobby, and from across the street.

The Graybar Building sits next to Grand Central Station. I mean literally, right next to it. There are entrances in the station to the building lobby. Across the street is the Chrysler building. I think with all these other iconic locations, the Graybar Building gets lost. I had never heard of it, yet I walk by it every day. The Building was the first office building in the immediate Grand Central Terminal area of the city. Wow. There are so many today, but then this building dates back to early 1900s. 

It was named after its original tenants Elisha Gray and Enos Barton. It has that same classic Art Deco style that I love in the old buildings of New York, complete with an old mail slot. It isn't in use (note the "closed" on the box). I love all the details in the lobby. They have a Moorish feel to them. The floor has tiles like the edges of a rug, look up and you see beautiful rich reds in the ceiling with lantern-like light fixtures. Lots of circles adorn the lobby. No detail seemingly forgotten.

The most interesting part of the building is just outside the front door. The canopy, above the entrance, is held up by 3 large metal rods resembling the ropes (or mooring lines) off a ship. You'll notice cones on the rods which are 'rat guards' that keep rats from climbing on ship when in port. Just below the cones you see that there are 3 cast metal rats. Some say that this is the first nod to New York City being called the 'rat race.' If you look closely, where the cable (or 'hawser') reaches the building there are eight rat heads. (You might need to click on the link as I couldn't quite capture them with my little iphone). So the question is ... are we the people, represented by rats, trying to get in? Or are we already inside trying to get out? The conundrum of New York City.

The most common explanation for the 'rat' architecture is that it represents the shipping business that defined the historical roots of the Graybar company.

Also, at the time of the building's construction the city was much more of a waterfront, or port city. I can honestly say I never noticed the rats. But standing there and looking up; sure enough ... they are metal rats! 

There are figures on the building facade. They are bas-relief panels and have an Assyrian look to them. I could't find any explanation or background on what these panels had to do with the building, but I like them. 

The Graybar Building is certainly one of the lesser known skyscrapers in the city. I had no idea about it's background, or that it is registered as a Landmark. But I quickly found out as I drifted through the lobby taking pictures on my paisley covered iphone. As I was snapping away one of the security guards shouted at me to stop. I didn't realize that it was threatening to take pictures of clocks. But apparently anything deemed a Landmark is off limits. Good thing I got my snaps in before he chased me out!

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

Sea glass from ZnetShows is still on my bead table! But I am coming to the end of the amazing stash Bill sent my way.

I love these diamond shaped ones. They have such a softness to the edges of the glass, and really do look like they were tumbled by the sea. 

I love the simplicity of how the orange hue from the glass comes through the etched leaves. I wanted to lock the pattern in place by wire wrapping both the charm and the glass together. A simple double wire wrap. 

If you want to give a double wrap a try, you can find my tutorial on this technique in one of my posts from last Fall, along with a few examples.

Upcycling :: Spanish Galleon

This was a fun project for so many reasons. First, as you all know I'm nuts about history and the origins of artifacts. But I was thrilled when a friend handed me a bubble wrapped mystery and asked if I might be able to do something with it. As I unwrapped it, I got very excited. Yah, I know I'm a geek that way. But I saw these shards and realized that they had to be from a recent trip to Thailand. 

Our friend was explaining that he'd been snorkeling off a small island in the Philippines called Isla Verde, a popular dive site where a Spanish Galleon ship went down in 1620 after returning from a trip to China. It was full of items; including Chinese pottery, when it went down. Those pottery shards are now washing up on the shore of the small island. 

The island is located right in the center of a strait in the Philippines and known for it's pristine clear waters with a great view of the wreck. Not much is left to salvage from the wreckage except for shards of porcelain and a few larger pieces of terracotta jars. It is a pretty unique place where you can enjoy amazing scuba diving, and above the water you can walk the beach to discover pieces of porcelain from the shipwreck centuries before. 

Our friend asked if I might be able to take the shards and create a pair of earrings for his girlfriend. I tried to be as minimalistic as possible (or in other words, I did not not want to bezel these). I wanted to leave as much of the edges as I could so you could still see the wear on the porcelain from the sea. I decided that I would cold forged some 16 gauge silver to create a partial bezel and glue it to the porcelain. Because the porcelain is porous it worked quite well for this technique. These are a secret gift, but no worries as I don't believe she reads my blog. I hope she likes them!

Anklet Hop

Kashmira is hosting a hop today featuring anklet designs. She gave us a few tips prior to us getting to work on our pieces. She tells us that we really need to first think about the construction of the ankle itself. It is cylindrical, and therefore the pattern really needs to flow well. And don't use anything too large which will prevent it from draping well.

The other thing about the ankle is that it is bony and anything sharp can cut into the skin and make for a seriously uncomfortable situation. So avoid bicone crystals or anything else that can feel sharp.

As we all know, we tend to show off our ankles when it gets warm, but hot weather can also cause swelling, especially if you're walking a lot. So make sure you've left enough room to your pattern; definitely it should not be tight. All great advice! 

I decided on a beaded anklet with turquoise (I love this color in the summer especially with whites). I also could just not help myself ... I've always wanted to add a little chime to an anklet, so I did add small bells. It took quite a hunt around Manhattan to find a place that carried these! The second the bells were added, my daughter was asking if she could try it on. My model for these pictures would be my daughter, and the anklet has found it's new home as I haven't been able to get this one off her since.  

Check out all the other bloggers and their anklet designs

Kashmira Patel              Kaushambi Shah

Jean Wells                    Mischelle Fanucchi
Shellie Grindie               Ginger Bishop
Monique U                    Cynthia Machata

Susan                           Kay Thomerson

Mimi Gardner                Anindita Basu

Rita (Toltec Jewels)        Gina Hockett

Tammie Everly               Dyanne Cantrell

Ema Kilroy                     Emma Todd

K Morgan                      Sharyl McMillian-Nelson Cheri Reed                    Rochelle Brisson Michelle Buettner           Sandra McGriff Stephanie Weiss             Shelley Graham Turner Lynda Carson                Roxanne Mendoza Dagi

Focusing on Life :: Foodie

This week Sally asked us to focus on food for our Focusing on Life prompt. Well alrighty then. I can do that!

A comfort food to me is a lazy weekend lunch of bread and toppings. An open-faced sandwich if you will. Growing up; it was a staple. You can find this in pretty much any Scandinavian kitchen. My Norwegian friends call it a smørbrød, and if you're Swedish you might call it a 'cold table' or smörgåsbord. I just call it delicious.

So a favorite for me is to slice a few pieces of a fresh Italian bread, some greens (I prefer arugula with its slightly peppery flavor), a few slices of cheese and a little kick with jelly. I LOVE chili jelly. And a good friend of mine makes some pretty amazing homemade stuff. On my table is a little from her farm called The Land of Nod in Canaan CT (just in case you're in the neighborhood and can stop by).. it's worth it.  

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

Earlier in the week I posted a blue sea glass necklace in silver. I really like the blue sea glass with silver as it has a casual Beach-Boho feel. But I wanted to try something with a little more glam.

This is a similar piece, but this time I used gold and orange glass. I created a focal with a beautiful piece of orange sea glass from ZnetShows shaped as a conch shell. 

This is a handmade chain with faceted cut, accent beads and gold bars I was gifted from Christine of One Kiss Creations. I also made a hook clasp with a little hammer gold 18 gauge wire. 

A simple piece, with a touch more elegance in gold vs. the silver. Perfect for a summer's night out.

BBA Monthly Challenge :: May Flowers

This month Sharla of the Beaded Tail has challenged the BBA team to "create something with flowers and let your imagination bloom!"

I confess that this Spring has been start and stop. One day it is miserably cold, and a few days later it feels like July. I think my flowers in the yard are equally confused! Their blooms open up to the spring rains, and the hot days wilt them. 

This year I've been feeling like the colors are washed out, and decided to do a piece in muted colors. I took inspiration from my yard. 

I've been wanting to use some new beads that most people call "dragon scales." If you line them all up in a row they do look a bit like scales. If you click on the link you'll see an example of a bracelet made this way. 

But I wanted to try something different. I did a double cross over which created a cluster that locks in place, which I think resembles a lotus flower. I also used a few faceted yellow glass beads from Znetshows. I like how the white makes the pale yellow stand out like my flowering dogwood or my double bloom daffodils. I do like how this pattern turned out. I just might have to try it in other colors!

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

I wanted to make a simple necklace with a single sea glass focal from ZnetShows. 

This one does just that. I added a starfish charm to pull in that Beach-Boho feel. Bill also sent along a few blue faceted glass beads to use as accent. They work perfectly in this simple hand-made chain I did for the necklace. You might notice some sweet silver bars I also used ... many thanks to Christine who gifted those to me!

Clearly, I'm having a lot of fun with the sea glass pieces. You can dress them up, or down ... make elaborate bead weave patterns or simple wire wraps. Hope you are all having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! Be safe out there.

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

I wanted to really play up on the richness of the orange sea glass from ZnetShows and decided to pull our some charms that I got when we were traveling in Spain a few years ago. I picked these up in Toledo. They are a technique called Damascene where they score metals and oxidize the unmarked areas. I blogged about our trip to Spain awhile back.

I wanted the charms to lay flat on the sea glass, but to do that I had to make my own kidney wires. Typically the wires only have room for a single charm. But with the thickness of the glass I needed to make a larger loop. Making wires are actually not difficult at all to make. One more thing I ask myself why I buy them if I can make them so easily? Hmmmm, note to self.

For this second pair (same glass shape) I used a pale yellow, etched glass leaf. The earwires are copper from Melinda of ORRTEC. The copper gives it a little more rustic look, which I really love. With these earwires I also had to re-shape them to widen the loop to fit both pieces, but that was easy enough. These are a sweet little pair and I just love the simplicity of them.

Focusing On Life :: Reminisce

When people talk about something being an 'acquired taste' they typically mean that as you grow older that you've had time to become familiar with unusual tastes, smells or even odors (such as cheeses). Over time you might actually grow fond of that unusual taste.

Salmiakkis are an acquired taste. But I don't think it has much to do with age since every kid on my block loved them. They are considered a treat for Finnish kids, and my neighbors had them shipped (by the box load) directly from Finland. We all asked to get in on the action. 

What, might you ask, is a Salmiakki? It is salty licorice that originates from the early 1900s in Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. Originally it was used as a cough medicine known for 'tongue-numbing,' and somewhere along the way became a candy. Clearly, an acquired taste! They are quite salty.

This week Sally asked us for our Focusing on Life prompt to think of a time when in the middle of your busy day something unexpected brings you right back to childhood. I was traveling for work last year and was in our London offices, and saw a box of Salmiakkis on a co-workers' desk. She cracked open the box and I popped one in my mouth. Instantly I got flashbacks of me, standing in the yard with my childhood friends. I get that with tastes, smells and especially music. Salmiakkis definitely make me feel like a kid.

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

This is a quick post today from my bead table to show you a simple pair of earrings with sea glass from ZnetShows. I used infinity charms from Nina Designs. They are the last of my stash that I was sent last August. I really love how well the gold and orange go together.

I have a few more earrings paired with orange sea glass to show you that I'll post over the weekend, so stop back by!

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

This piece came together quickly. I was playing around with bezeling the outside of a piece of blue sea glass and then added a second and saw a focal coming together.

I think for me, when Bill of ZnetShows sent me a stash of sea glass I immediately saw how a few pieces here and there could be added to patterns. I've shied away from using the mother-load in any one piece. But that also means that the projects will just keep rolling out over the next few days, to a week. Dare I say 2 weeks? I'm not sure yet as I'm still working my way through it all.

Ok, back to the piece here. The inspiration was silver. I really love how silver can bring out a richness to deep blues. 

I found this gorgeous bail at a recent bead show. And yes it is a little heavy, and yes they weigh the silver which means this was a bit of a splurge.  But I love it. I added my own hammered charm and a few large silver beads. Just enough silver to play off the blues. 

The spiral is a Russian Spiral done with all the same size beads. What this means is that it has more of a webbing look and feel. I threaded the spiral over light blue cord and used a couple basting stitches to keep the spiral in place. Honestly, this piece came together inside of 2 hours. And I just love it's Boho Zen feel. Check out my teenage daughter sporting it with a denim shirt and lace top.

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

I've got a lot of sea glass from ZnetShows on the bead table at the moment. In fact I kinda have it all over the place with pieces in varying levels of 'done-ness.' Much to my family's chagrin. 

I'm working as quickly as I can to plow through the patterns, but just as I'm halfway through one another pattern seeps in and I need to start that project so I don't lose the idea. Yeah, I know, it's kinda a sickness. But the ideas are just pouring out as I play with this wonderful sea glass!

I think this freeform piece might just be my all-time favorite. Not sure why exactly since I had a bit of a throw down wrestling with the pattern. It was all good in the end. The cream, matte beads seemed to pick up the texture of a starfish and the orange sea glass are like windows beckoning both sides of the cuff. It is uniformed when looking at the whole piece, but pull up close and it has the uniqueness you'd find on the surface of a starfish, or snowflake that only a freeform pattern can do.

I used a number of stitches in this one. The main one being freeform peyote, but I also used ladder and brick with some larger square beads. I also continued this freeform stitching for the bezels around the sea glass, and brought in some micro seed beads to create a bit of a dainty pattern around the edges. I am still working on the closure, but I will most likely use my most recent zig zag pattern to give it a continuous feel. 

I have been trying to find my groove with freeform, but I have struggled with feeling like I am suppose to create a somewhat 'messy' pattern. But my big epiphany with this piece is that there are no rules, and who says you can't have a little structure to freeform? I still stitched organically across the pattern, but I used some structured elements too. I think this might actually be my comfort zone with freeform beading.

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

I showed you a blue glass hoop yesterday from Bill at ZnetShows, and today I'm switching over to orange glass. Same hoop, different color, and earrings instead of a toggle.

I picked up these cute brass dragonflies on a recent excursion to Metalliferous with a beady friend Linda Younkman of Lindy's Designs. She and I were like kids in a candy store sifting through all the fun charms they have there! I walked away with a bag full of great new brass to play with.

These are a fun, and easy pair to make. Just a quick twist of a large wire loop and a bend of the brass charm. Easy peasy, and you have a fun pair for summer!

Featured :: ZnetShows Sea Glass

I'm a little late to the party, but I'm so glad to finally get a chance to try my hand at some of the sea glass that ZnetShows has been sharing through the beading community. 

I love sea glass, and this 'cultured' glass is wonderful. If feels exactly the same as the pieces I've picked up along the shore and comes in such amazing colors and shapes!

Bill Zhang of ZnetShows sent me beautiful blue glass and orange. I've got projects going in every direction at the moment and I'm just lining them all up to show you what I've done with his glass. This first piece uses a glass hoop as a toggle along with a beaded bar (more Russian spiral!). Bill also sent accent beads, which I used here with matching blue faceted cut glass. The center focal is also from ZnetShows; a large white faceted bead which I added a few strands of beads to. Somehow it gives it that deep sea look to me like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! I am just loving this sea glass, and can't wait to show you all the pieces. So be sure to stop back by over the next week (or maybe two - Bill sent me quite a stash!)

Focusing on Life :: Looking Up

I think we all get tunnel vision from time to time; I know that I do. For me it is about my commute; it eats up 3 hours of my day every Monday through Friday. A coping mechanism is to find ways to use that time productively; reading, working, and the occasional 'power nap' (aka exhaustion). 

What happens when we pull in to Grand Central Station is that most people 'hit the ground running.' There is a mass shoving to get to your destination for the day. For the most part I keep my eyes on the road (so to speak) and stay focused to navigating the streets of New York. I do, in fact, forget to look up. I forget that I work in a very iconic place. This week I took Sally's Focusing on Life prompt and played tourist for a few moments.

I've been in the Chrysler Building many times, but always for a meeting. It is a real office building, and it's conference rooms look the same as any others. Typically I am rushing to the meeting, so I hurry through the lobby. But this week I decided to walk over during lunch and pull out my iphone and snap a few pics like any other tourist, which by the way there were many.

I thought I'd take you on a quick tour of the Chrysler Building lobby. A gorgeous example of Art Deco Architecture. The first picture is standing just in the entrance and looking back out to Lexington Avenue, but looking up through the backlit glass above the revolving doors. 

Once inside, looking up you see ceiling murals. I love the one of the Chrysler Building itself. 

When I have come here for a meeting, I needed to check in with security. This is mandatory in every building in New York City after 9/11. At the concierge desk, if you look up you see a clock that flips the numbers for the hours and minutes of time (click on the photo to see this one better). The main elevator again reflects the Chrysler Building itself with the base of the spire on the doors. Looking up you see the geometric patterns of the light sconces both beside the doors and above the doors.
Walking around the corner you find the stairways. I tried to get a good shot of the lights, but my iphone just wasn't cooperating. However, I do like the reflection of the lights in the marble walls. For a better picture you can check out this link. The stairway feels straight out of the movies. I expected Greta Garbo to cascade down the stairs at any minute in some flowing gown.

One last little picture I snapped on my way out was this great old post box. You'll find these all over Manhattan in the old buildings, and this one was such a great example. I slipped my phone back in my pocket, darted across Lexington Avenue to my favorite deli to grab a little pasta salad before heading back to my office. It was a nice little break for lunch. Thanks for a great prompt this week Sally!