RAW. A stitch I don't use very often. but sometimes it can be just the right texture and rhythm for the beads.
These are a gun metal color of crystals that I got from ZnetShows and I absolutely love them. I used a variation on the stitch to include two smaller beads (size 16) to each crystal and it created a beautiful, simple bracelet band.
I added a slide clasp and silver charm with the tree of life. Which I think looks quite nice as the focal to the bracelet. This piece was the last one I made. And so it was just a tad late, and isn't shown in the recent Spark Magazine. But I thought you all might like to see just one more design as I finish out my Summer Design Series.
I love this dress that Kate's wearing in this second photo session. But then I did pick it out on a recent shopping trip into NYC. She slipped it on, and It fit her perfectly. So there you go.
We were a good hour into our session, and Kate starting to wonder if I was ever going to stop asking her to put yet another pair of earrings into her ears. You'd be surprised how sore your ear can get after a few 20 times or so of this. So can't say I blame her for wanting to switch to bracelets.
After I made the multi-strand necklace I posted a few weeks back, I had just two yellow sea glass nuggets left sitting there on the bead table. I always hate to leave bead orphans in a bowl just waiting to be used in some other piece. So I went on the hunt through my stash. I've been trying very hard to use up my beads vs. running out to buy more beads. I found these sweet lotus charms and decided to pair them with more crystals and a touch of leather. The look gave me a nice, light weight rustic boho pair of earrings.
I love this carnelian orange color. It reminds me of those deep colors of late summer and fall. I guess some would call this 'burnt' orange, or even tangerine which is what ZnetShows calls these tube beads of sea glass.
The thing about color (at least for me) is all in how you pair it. Sometimes you need to give a vibrant color a little breathing room. So when I paired it with some hematite and gun metal colored crystals I noticed that it seemed to deepen the orange color and create a very rich combination. Where black might have been striking, the grey was rich. It does really pop paired with Kate's pale blue boho dress.
This is the last multi-strand necklace that I created for this summer design series. All of these necklaces were the same pattern, but I changed up the colors and textures between ribbon, leather and beaded accents. Funny how just a small adjustment can seemingly create a whole new look.
Of all the pieces I made for this series I believe these earrings are my favorite. I have had these silver twist connectors for years, but have never been able to find the right use for them. But for some reason when I saw these gorgeous little crystals in a color called 'lake blue' I knew exactly what I was going to do! I could just see them set as cluster drops for these earrings.
They are perfect, long and dangling earrings for summer that are feather-light to wear. They like to twist in the wind. And when the light catches them they sparkle like the sun dancing across the water.
I made two pair of these which are both featured in the recent version of Spark Magazine. The other pair have single crystal drops vs. these that are in clusters.
Sometimes you just need to do the matching set. Although I am a believer in not wearing it all at once. It can seem like over kill, and as one of my friends likes to say it is too 'matchy-matchy.' I tend to agree.
That said, this pair is a matching set. It is that same yellow sea glass and sand colored Chinese crystals I used in the previous post. These are hoops with some serious fringe ---that swings. Not sure why exactly, but I have been in to fringe earrings lately. Can you ever get too much fringe? I think not.
Another set of photos with Kate, but this time lounging in the yard in my husband's favorite Adirondack chair. He walked out in the middle of this session grumbling that we'd stolen his chair.
.... that would be the look on Kate's face wondering if she was about to be kicked out. And the smile when she heard me say you'll have to find another chair since we were in the middle of the photo shoot and I had earrings, bracelets, scarves, necklaces, camera lenses ... strung out carefully placed all over the yard. Last thing I needed was him to step in the middle of my work!
So, this is the second in a series of multi-strand necklaces I've created with Sea Glass from ZnetShows. This one uses some beautiful silk to tie at the neck by Marsha Neal. I love the combo of necklace and Kate's cute baby-doll dress. Hard to believe just how grown up she is these days.
My daughter Kate has been doing quite a bit of modeling for me lately. And I have to admit that I am so enjoying spending the time with her. I don't have a lot of time left as she'll be off to college come August. I am feeling so nostalgic about her leaving, and it probably doesn't help that we've been cleaning out her bedroom and we're finding all kinds of things from when she was younger. It seems like yesterday that she was still small enough to crawl up in my lap and snuggle. So many sweet memories.
NOTE: for some reason I deleted this post and lost all my comments. Thank you to everyone who did stop by and leave me a comment!
Recently Hope sent out a call for designers to work with some ZnetShows beads. As always, there were some great choices of Cultured Sea Glass. But there was also an amazing choice of Chinese crystal beads. I'm not normally one for crystals, but these caught my eye. And once I opened the package from Hope it was love at first sight. These have a deeper texture to the colors than your typical Swarovski. I much prefer this colorway.
I created a series of these clustered, double strand necklaces for this round of designs. I have two others but I thought I'd start with this yellow one. It uses beautiful honey colored sea glass with the Chinese crystals (in a sand color). I wanted to keep the tone light and so added a blond leather. The result is a beach-boho look for summer.
I have a whole series of photos for these designs as I think it makes such a difference sometimes to see them modeled. So check back this week to see my other designs modeled by my daughter Kate. You can also see them featured in the magazine here. Bonus, Hope surprised me with featuring this necklace on the cover!
Thank you all for your comments (I didn't want to lose them):
Karin: What a perfect combination of colors and materials, I love multi strand necklaces and this one has a lot of softness to it.
Duni: That's gorgeous!! Such a unique design and congrats on the feature :)
Linda: What a beautiful design and beautiful model. Love the monotone color scheme in this piece. Great job. Congrats on the cover. This piece is definitely a summer winner.
JoJo: Beautifully done!!!
Val: Oh I love it! The pale yellow is not a color we see to often in jewelry. It really makes it unique and so perfect for summer. It looks so pretty on Kate!
Patti: That magazine was certainly a feast for the eyes! I can count on one hand the times I have used yellow ...but this necklace is so soft ...you know?! Gorgeous! Love EVERY piece that you contributed!
Susan: very pretty and looks just right for a Summer party. I really like how you paired the crystals with the honey colored leather.
Margaret: fabulous design! Kate makes a lovely model!
Alice: I love the yellow beads. Just right for summer that blond leather is just the thing to finish the necklace.
Keith: it's absolutely beautiful :)
Stacy: Gorgeous!!! Unique and beautiful! I love your creations! Congrats on the magazine!!! Big Hugs!
Claudia: Lovely yellow color, perfect for summer!
Amy: It was a perfect choice for the cover!!!! Bravo! Love your work in this recent issue of Creative Spark!
Edi: The yellow is such a pretty color and looks great on Kate :) Congrats on the cover feature!
Sharla: So pretty! Clever use of the sea glass! Congrats on the front page too!
Marcela: Beautiful necklace!!! Nice photo!!! Have a nice day!!!:))) Besos, Marcela
It is that time of year when we dream of warm weather while staring out the window at a snow globe world.
It's snowing through much of the Eastern US including my little corner of New England.
As pretty as the world looks covered in a blanket of white, I dread what comes next. Shoveling out.
I'm not sure exactly why but I've been quiet lately. I haven't been blogging, but I've tried to make it over to people's blogs. I think I'm in a reflective mood this year. Looking back to assess and forward to adjust. But sometimes life just happens, and all you can do is try to find the calm in the storm. I have been looking for that dead spot.
I know I haven't posted many new projects lately. That is because there isn't much jewelry making going on at my house except for this set I made for a friend who loves beach glass. She apparently is obsessed with it, and particularly multi-colored. I don't do blaring colors very well and decided to go with a classic soft green with pearl accent. I found some patterned leather that gives it a bit of flare. I hope she enjoys the set.
This is the final posting for my sea inspired series using sea glass beads from Znetshows.com. I still have a few beads left, so good chance I'll be back with more designs. But later in the summer, or maybe this fall. I've been swamped at work lately and haven't made it to my bead table at all yet this summer other than this handful of sea glass designs from early June.
I made one last pair of sea glass earrings, this time in a beautiful sea foam green. And I included a companion pair using silver sequins. I never really thought of myself as a sequin person, but in these designs I love how it gives off just a bit of chime in your ear when you wear them. I can imagine sitting high up on the bluff of the sea with that bit of sea breeze giving everything a bit of sway.
For this series, I've given you a few places that top my bucket list to visit. This next place is featured in my inspiration board. The Aegean Sea, home to some 2,000 islands inhabited through the ages by Greeks, Turks, Phoenicians, Philistines, Egyptians and countless other travelers. If I were a time traveler and could go back in time, this would probably be my first stop. All those flowing fabrics, strappy sandals, dangling jewelry and plenty of wine. Who's with me?
The first time I can remember reading about the Mediterranean I was cracking open that enormous book of Homer's Odyssey that talked about journeys on the sea, colossal statues and sirens off the sea cliffs. Even though it is full of myth and legend, it had me dreaming of warm breezes and clear blue seas. Don't forget to check out all the other designers and the most current edition of Creative Spark.
This is the second post in my sea inspired series using beautiful, softly tumbled sea glass beads from Znetshows.com. I absolutely love the pale aqua blue in these beads. And normally I would just stop with blue, the color of the sea, and a touch of silver wire. Usually I gravitate to using silver with sea glass as I feel like it brings a sharp, fresh feel to the design.
But in these, I went with gold and it brought out the touch of the exotic to each pair. The gold also paired up beautifully with this soft yellow, a color I had yet to try from the huge color choices over at Znetshows. The chain had me thinking of belly dancers, which a few of you might remember some past designs I did with a similar theme. These designs got me into a Near East state of mind for some reason, and transported me to the shores of North Africa.
The term Near East isn't used much anymore. Originally it was used to refer to the Ottoman Empire, and the countries under its control that lined the shores of the Mediterranean. The term was used in contrast to territories that would fall in the Far East, or Northeast / Southeast Asia and Far East Russia. Both terms are clearly defined through a Western lens. It described territories by the super powers of the age, the British, French and Spaniards, as they fought to gain more land and riches and outline the world by their conquests. Today, the terms are used mostly in the context of history and old empire boundaries.
There is an air of the exotic when I think of the historic region. It brings images of camels, sands, bangles, baskets and rich fabrics. Not to mention spices, tajines and tea served in glass cups. I long to shop the markets of Marrakesh or explore the romantic city of Casablanca. Not the one of Bogart and Bacall, but the ancient city called Anfa which was settled in the 7th century BC by the Berbers (the original indigenous people of North Africa). Berbers call themselves i-Mazigh-en, scholars guess the meaning to be 'free people' apart from the Romans and Greeks. The area was one of the most prosperous cities on the Atlantic coast because of its fertile land.
Anfa became a safe harbor for pirates, which was its undoing. The Portuguese attack and destroyed the town in 1468 and used the area as a military fortress. They renamed it Casablanca, meaning the White House. The old city of Casablanca is still referred to as Anfa. The beautiful Mosque in my inspiration board is called the Grande Mosquee Hassan II, and is the largest mosque in Africa, and 7th in the world. The minaret is 60 stories high and has a laser which light is directed towards Mecca. The building itself sits a rock edge looking out to the sea, and where the glass floor of the main hall shows the sea bed. The Mosque was commissioned by King Hassan II, with work starting in 1986 and finishing 7 years later. Pretty spectacular location looking out over the sea.
One more area that also sits near the top of my bucket list, right behind Croatia. Eventually I'll travel to Morocco, but probably after the kids are no longer traveling with us. Check out all the other designs and artists in this edition of Creative Spark.
A few weeks back Hope, of Crafty Hope, sent around the call for a few designers to work with that gorgeous sea glass beads from Znetshows.com. I just cannot help raising my hand every time she asks. I love pretty much everything about the sea, including all the treasures you pick up in the sand. Znetshows has some of the best shapes and sizes in their glass ... just check out those sea foam green fish!
I decided this time around that I was going to do an earring series, so over the next few days I'll show you a few designs and some sea inspired images that brought my designs to life.
For quite some time now Croatia has been at the top of my bucket list. Not only because it is stunningly beautiful but because it has that touch of history and an 'off the beaten track' appeal, at least to me. Sure plenty of Europeans have known the secret of Croatia's beauty, but not many of the masses of tourist from my neck of the woods would have it on their 'must see' lists. And frankly that works for me.
Croatia is known for its views of the Adriatic, one of the many seas that spill into the Mediterranean. It is the northern most arm of the Mediterranean with over 1,300 islands alone, most of which are located along the coast of Croatia. Anyone seen the Game of Thrones? King's Landing is filmed in Dubrovnik. One of the amazing things about watching the show is how they transport us to another time through the filming locations. Real places that I want to see. Well, some of them I've already seen, but Croatia is still on the list of places to visit. Don't forget to check out the designs from all the other artists in the latest edition of Creative Spark.
A few months back, Hope Smitherman who works with ZnetShows ask a few of us if we'd be interested in doing some Fall designs for the new Fall issue of Creative Spark. The themes were 'inspired by Fall' or using 'upcycled materials' in our pieces.
Well, I knew immediately that the upcycled one was for me. I had in mind that I was going to use an old key that I found up in our camp in the Adirondacks. I was thinking about leather and grey pearls for a dress-up Boho look.
Now I know a few of you (Christine in particular) who are going to laugh at this next bit of information. I saw the grey pearls and thought perfect! .... um yeah, and when they arrived they were not just large, they were huge. Well at least based on what was in my mind. Yep, didn't pay any attention to the diameter size ... because that is what I do.
So plan B was in order. I did actually like these grey pearls, but they needed a more substantial idea that made them the star. But now I needed something else upcycled for my theme. I remembered that I had some old basting tape I scavenged from one of the drawers in my mom's desk sewing machine. I liked this option as it was more rustic looking than pulling out the expected silk ribbon. I created a chain between the pearls and hammered out a piece of silver for the focal. I was finally happy with this one.
On to the next. One of the items I got from Znet Shows was some leaf chain. I really love this stuff. It is fun, a bit whimsical and very Fall. Nice combo in my opinion. I had been holding on to some acorns for about a year. The Bead Girl (aka Anne, my apprentice) started collecting these last Fall. Every few days she'd come home and pull out a few from her pocket. We stuffed them in can as she collected them, and forgot about them. I pulled them out last August to find a fine film of mildew on them .... oh gees, these are real and I should have dried them. Note to self. So we buffed off the mold and laid them out for about 2 weeks. Worked perfectly. I made a little copper loop and a coil bead cap. Then glued it right on top of the acorn. And now I had acorn beads! My kids tease me all the time saying that I think everything is a bead. Well maybe not eeeeverything, but lots of things.
This post is feeling like a list of true confessions today. So one of the other things I ordered from Znet Shows was some jasper polished stones. And guess what happened? Yep the opposite of the pearls. When they arrived they were much smaller than I thought and I could not get my cording through them. Seriously, I need to pay attention to the bead sizes. I had in mind that I was going to use them with these pretty copper filigree charms. I decided to just make some simple earrings using a pretty champaign quartz briolettes. So I have some jasper stones I need to get to work on and think of a more delicate design with my stones. I am hopeless when it comes to bead sizes.
ZnetShows has come up with another fantastic challenge with more sea glass (a personal favorite of mine). I just could not resist when I saw the call for artists from Hope Smitherman. She asked us to create two sets with the beads sent; one set designed as for daytime, and a second set that is more dressy for nighttime.
When my beads arrived I knew the second I saw the lavender colored sea glass that I was going to pair it with a recent bit of glass I picked up for a cabochon. I was traveling last April in Oregon and stopped into a local glass blowing studio called Fernhill. They had a big bowl of bits of glass that they snip off in the process of making vases, glasses, bowls, etc. I went straight for the bowl and spent a good hour sifting through all the variations. What a find! They sold the bits of glass to me by the pound, and I feel like I walked away the winner!
The focal you see here is one of the glass cabochons that I used small pearls to bezel around. I paired it up with the lavender sea glass from ZnetShows and used more pearls as accents. It created the prettiest combination, and with the beaded bail you can shift the necklace around to show off different parts of the pattern.
For matching earrings I decided to use some of the pretty tear drop shaped white sea glass in my ZnetShows stash with some amethyst to match with my necklace. I felt like the pearls were more of an evening wear set even tho it is light in color. It would look fantastic with a summer dress for a night out!
The second set I made was with the deep green sea glass. I LOVE this color. When Hope asked what color I liked, I of course said green. I was sent these beauties in wonderful, large rounds. I loved the simplicity of the simple string of the sea glass, and so went with it and matched them up with some onyx rondelles. I thought the onyx really brought out the richness in the color. I wanted to add chain around the back, but need something that could carry the size of the design. When I first added simple silver chain it just seemed to be lost with all those larger beads. So I decided to make my own chain using jump rings and smaller hematite rounds. I love how this one turned out.
I wanted to echo the colors in earrings, but didn't want to use the sea glass as they would be too heavy. So instead I use these wonderful flat black rounds from my ZnetShow's stash and pair them with some green tinted glass beads, which was perfect and not too 'matchy-matchy' ... as one of my friends says.
So for my daytime necklace and earrings I created this green set that I think would pair up beautifully with some shorts, black shirt and simple sandals. You'd be all set with this baby for a summer lunch with the girl friends!
I thought I'd show you the rest of my stash that I'm still working on. ZnetShows was really generous with us to design with! And I do love me some sea glass to play with. You'll see mine and all my fellow designers in this months edition of Creative Spark, which you'll find over on the ZnetShows blog. And here are the rest of the designers so you can see what everyone else made.
Amy Serverino, Andrea Trank, Becky Pancake, Bobbie Rafferty, BR Kuhlman, Charlie Jacks, Christie Murrow, Christina Miles, Christine Stonefield, Cynthia Machata (that's me), Cynthia Riggs, Donetta Farrington, Hope Smitherman, Kashmira Patel, Kathy Lindemer, Kay Thomerson, Kelly Patterson, Klaudete Koon, Lee Koopman, Lisa Lodge, Renetha Stanziano, Sandra Washington, Shaiha Williams, Sheryl Stephens, Stephanie Haussler, Tammie Everly
ZnetShows asked a few of us to create for an amazing charity called 7000 Bracelets of Hope. It is an initiative from the Global Genes | RARE project, which is an advocacy organization for individuals with rare and genetic diseases. This organization started the 7000 Bracelets of Hope initiative to provide blue-themed bracelets to families fighting rare and genetic diseases. The idea is that these bracelets give support and a little hope to these families. As well, the unifying blue theme may help spread awareness.
ZnetShows asked us to pick some blue colored beads to create with, and I picked these amazing double hole sea glass beads. I absolutely love them and had so much fun playing with the design in this bracelet. The pale blue really pops with the matte black onyx beads. I've been wanting to practice beading around another bead, and so I did a little blue accent around the onyx to pull the blue color through out the design. This one should look great with a pair of jeans!
The other bracelet I'm sending off to RARE is a bracelet I made this summer with beautiful Chinese crystals I got from ZnetShows. It also features a large clear crystal as the main focal, and a blue sea glass hoop as a toggle (both from ZnetShows). You could wear this one either way!
I have really enjoyed working with all the stones, beads and sea glass that ZnetShows has sent us to try out. Really beautiful stuff. Click on the link to check out their beads!
ZnetShows has a new twist on a bead soup swap. We were sent a catalog to peruse and pick out 5 items for our partner. Then ZnetShows sent our items off to our partner. My partner, Sandi James, sent me a gorgeous soup to play with, and it was full of green - my favorite color! I tried to include the links to all the beads I used below just in case you want to do a little shopping on your own.
In my soup was some small pebble sea glass in a sea foam green color. I absolutely love these! I paired it up with some light green fabric. Now here is a great idea. Christine over at One Kiss Creations happened upon a furniture store getting rid of the sample books from last season (aka, free). And those books are full of great fabric swatches to use for beading. She let me sift through and pull out some samples to try. This is my first piece using one of them. I did a little bead embroidery along the edges, and then ran large chain along the sides so I could add sea glass dangles to a very Beach Boho piece.
As a second piece I did a necklace I call Spring Equinox with it's yin-yang colors of light and dark ... dormant and rebirth. I used one of the beautiful green sardonyx stones and did a freeform peyote around it using that same light-dark theme. The green and white beads are a pretty candy jade faceted bead. I finished it with one of the leaf connectors from the soup. This one could be worn all sorts of ways!
The next piece is a simple double helix pattern using various tones of greens and some lovely opaque green Chinese crystals from the soup. The smaller green rounds are a light jade.
I love the flower petal pattern in this next bracelet. I picked it up years ago and haven't had a chance to try it out. It actually beads up very quickly as a RAW (right angle weave) with large beads. The pearls have a faint green tinge to them, which is just gorgeous. I wanted to bring that out a bit and added a button closure in a soft green. This one feels very luxurious on!
Ok, one last pair of earrings. I LOVE these crystal twist beads that I paired with more Chinese crystal. It is a simple pair, but would be lovely for a summer night out. I have more, but ran out of time to keep beading. So, I'm sure I'll be back with more ideas using these pretty lemony yellow crystals.
For the final surprise, ZnetShows is doing a giveaway .... so head over to their blog and get your name in! They've got some amazing beads, and rumor has it that they pulled out a little of all our soups for the give away!
