Bay Moon Design - Kathy Lindemer - My partner in the Swap 'n Hop from Bead Peeps!

All images show jewelery made by Kathy from Bay Moon Design :)

I am participating in the Bead Peeps Swap 'n Hop. Yes, I love bead exchanges, challenges and fixed deadlines! Not that it is easy for me to keep the last one... but no chance at all without one!

My swap partner is Kathy Lindemer from Bay Moon Design (and before you go on, you can find her blog here and since I am showing you her work here, go over to her shop here if you want to claim some of her work fror yourself :) ).

That was really a great surprise because she is not a stranger! We are both reading each other blogs for some time now. She is commenting on my blog entries quite often and you have to know, I am a sucker for some feedback and comments! Quite often she just made my day with her lovely comments! Now, what you should now: While I am loving comments, I am guilty of not commenting myself so much. But just to make clear: I am reading every single blog entry from you Kathy! :)

She already wrote her blog introduction for me: Uhm... now I am blushing! But I think I can try to blame it at the cold weather? Or so? ;)

I enjoy reading blogs and while a lot of people tend to neglect their blogs and/or change to fb, instagramm or other social media, there is just something special in blogs. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy the fast answers and images fb offers, together with news, giveaways and bead auctions. But it is mostly superficial and extremly short lived. A blog shows you more of the person behind, their ideas, motives and inspirations. A lot of people start their blog soley for advertisment or just to try blogging without any real motivation for writing. I think that this are also the reason why so many blogs are short lived. Kathy is the opposite. She is not only showing her finished pieces but also shares her ideas, her travels and (what I really like) her experiments!

If I would have to describe her (just knowing her online, her work and her writings), I would describe her a curious and creative person who also has a need to experiment and to grow. Examples are her use of new ways to colour metal or start making her own findings for her jewelery (just you know, I blame her for tempting me to bu so many vintaj patinas!). She is also challenging herself quite often, her participation in this one just being an example, by taking part in a lot of blog hops, designing for Z-net show as well as organising new challenges herself.

Kathy also won one of my blog giveaways (some time ago already :)). Therefor I can even show you some of the pieces she made using some of my polymer clay beads! Please bare with me, I am just always curious what people create with my beads and wanted to share this with all of you (by the way Kathy: I send you beads from different artist, but... of course... there may be also some of my own included. But I don't think this may come as a surprise ^^).

I am not sure how to create a real challenge for Kathy since she enjoys working with so many different colours, bright as well as soft one, shiny as well as matt, wire, fabric, thread.... But this is my personal challenge.

Thank you Kathy for being my partner in this challenge!

PS: I think Kathy may have a preference for shades of blue, turqouise and green! Just having a closer look at her work again ;) Could be due to the ocean before her door....

On my worktable: Tins to pendants... (and maybe some day eben in finished necklaces)

Seing my blog entry with my tin earrings claiming that I used my leftover tin pieces... you may have wondered leftover from what or... just these tiny pieces? (speaking of the tuna can tin only) I also made a pendant and a bracelet bar. The tin in the picture aboce in from a black tea can...

...and the tin with the flowers from an unknown but already rusty tin. 

I also want to use one of the bitter lemonade bottle caps as a pendant insteadt of using them in earrings. Sadly here in germay most tuna cans are not as beautiful as the spanish ones (and also I just want to buy the resposnible and not net caught tuna) and... there are no new tea cans anymore! They now have fany packages, beautiful designed but... but... not made out of metal anymore! When did this happen? Where do I get more beautiful cans/tins now?

Of course they are now all in the box with my ongoing projects. ^^

"El velero" and "Bon" - The rest of the tin for earrings!

It is lat and the last day.... weeks... were really full of work. Sleep would be nice from time to time as well as more play time or rather more energy to start playing with all my beads, findings and just stuff!

These earrings pairs are quite simple but it took me som time until I got the tin parts how I imagined them, a little bit rough and uneven and epecially worn without losing their beauty.

The czech glass bead drops are so fitting for me... the clear sky and water or a rough and stormy sea ;)

Oh... and while not being able to use my beads I managed to get a lot more! Maybe I should start showing them ;)

"Summer heat" - More tin earrings!

Yes, I still make more. At the moment I think I will keep going creating some from time to time. The movement, the bold colours, the re-cycled/up-cycled bottle cap (always some from stuff I really drunk, not just bought for crafts ^^), just the fun... it all draws me in. 

This is now the third version how I connected the bottle cap to the ear wire. I like all versions. I can't decide whether there is a favorite one. 

Strangely I found out that this bottle cap earrings only work for me if they are actually not identically. They have to fit but being identically they somehow lose their appeal for me. So the last versions were bitter lemonade (from spain and italy) and now two lemonade caps from the same brand but different versions (Thomas Henry, made in Berlin).

On my worktable - Polymer clay meets metal

The polymer clay cabochon is made with a mold I made from an old and broken button (this is why the edge is missing, I like it this way!). Just white polymer clay (not fimo classic but fimo professional now) and paynes grey acrylic paint (Reeves). 

I am also still learning (the classical way - by trying and failing ^^) in regards to metal work. The theory is no problem, I also had a little bit of practice but I still need to get a feeling for the material and all the techniques involved. I know this will take nothing but time and play! Despite all the grumpy and growling and highly frustrated moments, I enjoy to play and to see how I am evolving. 

This pendant has a lot of flaws like too much solder and overflown and a little bit bumpy solder. I filed down a lot but not all because I wanted to keep some roughness (now I play the "it-was-all-part-of-the-plan-card"). It was not part of the plan but I just kept going. The organic form actually was part of the plan to go together with the broken button cabochon. 

The bezel part was pickled after soldering and oxidized with liver of sulphur, the filing and polishing part was done with nail files (and to think how long I bothered using sand paper only) and coated with Renaissance wax.

You notice all the holes ready to create necklace with an extreme high dangliness factor?

Looking at the pendant I see where my balance is still missing. I also think I should have added a lot of tiny metal balls to set accents. But I don't have metal balls here and this was meant as a learning piece.

I like it :)

"Winter leaves" - earrings

The leaves are made with polymer clay (fimo classic, white) and I made them already a long time ago. Long as in 2012 before Rumpel and I moved together. I have to admit I also already made these earrings some time ago (but far away from the creation date of the leaves ^^) and the only part missing was to work harden the ear wires. Such a simple and small step and it took forever... the liver of sulphur bath was quite fast done, as well as the light polishing (I didn't want a too shiny look) and the protective coat with renaissance wax.

There are two pairs. The beads are all czech glass beads I got from Rebeccas "The Curious Bead Shop". I am especially dran to the clear facetted beads. They look like drops of frozen waters, small pieces of ice above the winter leaves glazed with frost.

For one earring pair I used the combination with these tiny dark red beads with a picasso finish. They remind me of the last berries in winter time, even being so tiny they add the last bit of colour in a landscape only consisting of white, grey and black.

The same idea I had with the green facetted beads: Hints of moos growing on the trunk and branches of the tree.

Okay, in the end they are just earrings. I know. Even quite simple ones. But sometimes it doens't need a lot to tell a story :)

"With ease" - Earrings

This beads were part of one of Rebeccas beads kits. This one was called "Copper beeches" and all the beads I used were included.

Okay... that is not completely true. I just saw that I forgot to mentioned the seed beads I used. Not sure if you can see them but I needed them to gold everything in place and "round up" the general shape.

I had a hard time with the flower beads. They are lovely but the combination of colour and shape is not one that would normally be on my work table. But this is also the reason why I love the monthly bead kit. It is a regular challenge to get out of my comfort zone. Also with all the beads whether I would have chosen them or not being beautiful it is only a moderate not a hardcore challenge (expect for yellow - this colour always provides a hardcore challenge!).

They are sweet and lovely earrings with movement and due to the copper bead a subtle sparkle. Even thought they were a challenge for to create I called them "With ease" because of the ease and playfulness they now have. Not the slightest hint of the challenge they were ;)

"Indian gold" - Earrings

From the quite simple earrings yesterday to more elaborated today! I got some beads for christmas from a good friend. You see the beads with the inlays? I got some more in other shapes and sizes too! 

(you may think this is not surprising but no, beads are a rare present for me. I don't know why people -especially family members- have problems thinking of a gift for me, honestly, I don't! Is there any person easier to please? Beads, fabric, paper, scissors, hammer, old jewelery to take apart, sea shells, bone, other weird found stuff... but that is not fair... since I get beads from good friends as well as weird findings from family as well as friends... just it is not a common christmas present!)

I combined them with some of my polymer clay beads- They are white with speckled dots of metal in them, you can find bronze, golden and copper colour. This made the mixture of material more coherent in the whole design for me. 

I hope you bear with me: I want to complain about taking pictures again. Either the white of my polymer clay beads was too bright or the rest of the earrings was to dark. Due to this I also flood this blog entry with a lot of images of just the same earrings ;)

The two bigger parts are stiffly connected to each other. I thought I should mention this because most of my earring design enable every single earring part to move. But here I preferred the stiffer version. Still, earrings need movement so the chain and drops will give you that!

Also the last pair of Nikys copper findings (you can find her blog here). I just have a single one left. The make such beautiful ear wires!

Oh, and of course a lot of these tiny bronze drops. I am still not sure how I ever could be content without having them! 

"Hidden beauty" - Earrings

Simple ones again. I have to say even while they are not complicated to create, there are some small often overlooked details that make them just complete (any one seeing the little bronze bead on top for example? Took some time to find the right size, colour and fit ^^). 

What also add for me to their appeal: I was able to use a bead size and form that was -although lovely- difficult for me to use. The first pair I made was with beads I got from one of Rebeccas bead kits (you can find them here "The Curious Bead Shop"). In another kit I got the brown-creme beads with the picasso finish. So my colours, still, so difficult to use... 

The dark red glass beads I got during a fair. There was a big plate with gorgeous glass beads mixed and you could select the ones you liked and pay per weight. I could spend hours looking through stash *sighs*. I had them for some years now due to the size/shape problem. This earring shape is perfect for the beads. Furthermore there is an important aspect why I like this earring design so much (and yes, more important than finally being able to use the beads): They look absolutely lovely on the ears! Something about the long slender shape with the big focused colourful drop enhances most faces. They have movement and visual weight (hope you know what I mean). I was really surprised the first time I saw them worn.