One of a Kind Jewelry for One of a Kind You: lampwork bead

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Bead Soup Has ARrived

My bead soup arrived last week, but I have been so busy....I am just getting a chance to blog about it now.

My partner Stephanie Haussler sent me an awesome mix of some pretty spring colors.

Her and her husband are a team, he makes glass beads, and she makes and sells jewelry. You can check out their etsy shop here.

http://www.stephaniehaussler.etsy.com/

This is the pretty box I got

and this is what was waiting inside

I love that she sent lots of ribbon- I love fabric.

The focal is by her husband. I like the black ends against the pastel green- very nice! However, this shape is hard for me, so time to get my thinking cap on and branch out from my comfort zone (but that is what this is all about- right?) She even sent me some Wooly Wire (which is funny because I sent her some too!)

I also got lots of accent beads in shades of purple, which I LOVE. Though I am not sure I will do a purple and green color palate on this just yet.

I got a little bag of more lampwork by her husband

What a great soup! I can't wait to start playing.

I sent Stephanie two soups. The first one is something that I personally would love to design with. Its a little on the colorless rustic side. It's not everyone's style for sure. The polymer donut and charm and bronze beads are by me. The clasp is by Genea Beads.

So just in case she hated it, I sent a second one with a little more color, and I included some beads from friends whose work I adore.

This one has a ceramic donut by Marsha Neal Studios, a polymer donut by me, sea glass (which I love), a starfish headpin by Genea Beads, and Wooly Wire by my friend Nellie!

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My friend Heather Marston contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if my daughter Julia would like to trade soups with her daughter Sarah. Of course, she jumped on it. So I will also be showing off her soup and her creation. This is what Julia received from Sarah. (sarah even made the enameled beads herself!!!)

Julia just squealed! She is kinda new to jewelry making- just finding a love for it this past year......so she is not sure what to do with it yet. I am sure she will rock it though !!!!

This is what Julia sent to Sarah

two of her polymer "candy hearts", some wing dings from Genea Beads, and some My Elements from Yvonne (her new favorite shop!)

Monday, October 28, 2013

Halloween / Day of the Dead Blog Hop

If you follow me, you may know that I do not do holiday or seasonal jewelry, at least not on purpose. I do however, love sugar skulls. I have been making them as components for some time now.

So I couldn't wait to participate in Diana's blog hop.

First I made this necklace using one of my current style sugar skulls in bronze.

It features beads from Lisa Peters Art, Starry Road Studio and bronze links from me with gemstones. I thought Lisa's rose heart was perfect with the skull and added in some yellows to give it life and color.

However, I didn't want to use one of my regular old sugar skulls for the hop. I wanted to make something REALLY cool. I had been wanting to try to make a 3-d one in bronze for some time now. This was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Well, it was pretty successful. After the first turned out ok, I right away made another.........

This is the more detailed and much larger second one all cleaned up from the kiln

Then came the fun part- making them into jewelry. I had to fill them with something and give them some sort of eyes. I used polymer and gemstones and baked them. Then I attached them to a copper back with rivets.

Finally, I got to make them into finished pieces of jewelry. They are big, chunky and weird, and I adore how they turned out.

This is the finished piece I made with the sugar skull above.

It has lava stone behind its eyes, a couple of large criffle beads from Numinosity, a rustic donut from Marsha Neal Studio, some pearls, some gemstones, and lots of little bronze pieces of my own.

This one, is all mine.

I also made this one below. It creeps me out a little more then I thought it would...but I love the colors. Not so sure of the zombie like eyeball, kinda kills the beauty of the sugar skull, but I am happy with the piece none the less.

This one also has a Marsha Neal Studio donut, some Starry Road Studio beads, and some of my bronze, along with gemstones and pearls.

I was really happy to try out this 3-d bronze a little further (I had done it before in hearts). I think I want to add more pretty detail, and perhaps even give the skulls some color in the future. I am definitely going to take it further.

Thanks for the challenge Diana! I love to find reasons to try new things.

To see what everyone else made, hop over to Diana's blog for the link list.

Diana Ptaszynski http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Staci Smith http://www.stacilouiseoriginals.com/ - You are here

Kathleen Breeding http://99bobotw.blogspot.com

Sue Kennedy http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Dianne Miller http://www.artbydianne.blogspot.com

Lisa Liddy http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Toltec Jewels http://www.JewelSchoolFriends.com

Linda Landig http://www.LindasBeadBlog.com

Laura Medeiros http://Www.zoeowyn.blogspot.com

Veralynne Malone http://www.veradesigns.blogspot.com