"Purple wings" - Earrings

Okay, just as a warning: In this blog post are way too many images from the same earrings. Always the same... just maybe a different ancle or whatever. I was just not able to edit them any further. After some struggling I thought: Why not? It is your blog. Don't waste too much time with editing if you could otherwise create something new. 

Also add a warning, here it is ;)

The lampwork beads are made by Julie Wong Sontag from uglibeads (I always want to write Sonntag being german ^^). Lovely shades of colour, yet subtle and with a certain amount of playfullness...

...they were just waiting for the wings to be! I started my first etching trial this year since the temperature go up. You may remember by necklace from the Swap 'n Hop Blog hop (have a look here) with the butterfly. I made several and under one butterfly there was an airbubble and I just had part etched. 

I cut the butterfly apart and cut out the useable parts thereby craeating these small wings. 

They go so perfect together... what would I have done without the airbubble? ;)

And both earrings and lampwork beads a little bit more in detail :)

"Dark red - Earrings

Again some very long earrings. I just love this lenght even if it is unusual for most people. But quite often people are surprised that they actually enjoy this lenght if they just try ;)

The fish bone brass chain was torched, pickled, oxidised, sealed.... just organic, like old vertebrates! They also move "dangle" in a great way. 

"Blue moments" - Earrings

Aren't these earrings lovely? Also they are really easy to make! With easy I mean easy ;)

The metal parts are from Vintaj arte metal. Black round metal pieces with a hole at the top and a beautiful pattern. All I did was to add some vintaj patina on top. After it dried I sanded it down a little bit. 

 I also have a metal hole puncher (1,5mm round), so I added a lot of holes at the bottom and attached some old czech glass bead dagger with bronze jump ring (and of course some ear wires).

That was it! They have a beautiful bohemian style, add a lot of colour perfect for summer and are a nice and fast project. One of the projects perfect be done together with friends and family who don't have a lot of experience but would love to create their own jewelery :)

"Hidden" - Earrings

The polymer clay beads were a surprise for me. I made them with polymer clay (fimo professional) and acrylic paint (Reeves). In the beginning the looked simple maybe even a little bit too simple for me. But step after step they got or depth and became more interesting for me.

Now I just love them. Their long and slender shape, how they move and how well they go together with the czech glass beads. They have a tribal vibe for me and still remain elegant (and they dangle! ^^). 

I need to make more of them!

"A delicate affair" - Earrings

My work speaks to a lot of people but you know how it is, not every size and style is for every person. So even if they are drawn to my work, they don't find something fitting. The two missing "parts" in my work are smaller and more filigran earrings and more wearable pieces for men. 

Especially my organic and more tribal pieces are loved by men (and hey, I was told a few ago by a man that this year jewelery for men is really THE thing ;)). But most my pieces are a little bit too much for them to actually be worn. I am thinking about this because I don't create just to sell. That is not me. But the idea that someone would love to wear my work and just needs it a little bit more wearable for him... mh... that could be an interesting challenge!

A good friend (and one of my best customers also ^^) tells me for years I need more pieces that could also be worn by men or are even made for men. She just laughed when I told her that my hairpins with polymer clay skulls were mostly bought by men to be used as tie pin!

While the "men" challenge still has to wait, I got the opportunity to create something smaller and more delicate. Rumpel's mom gave me a lot of old jewelery to take apart and reuse the single parts nd there was a chain just shouting to become earrings!

So the wire and the filigree piece belong to the same chain and I just oxidised them and added small czech glass bead drops! Surprisingly both of them also sold at the first market. The were bought by the same person because she couldn't decide on a favorite. During her struggle I decided to give them to her for a better price. Something I a not doing normally (my prices are really at the lower line, anything lower would not be right) but if I see someone struggling and still loving my work... it is sometimes just the right thing do to. 

One time I did this with a student who really didn't had the money for two of my earrings and also couldn't decide. She asked me if I could put them away for two hours. I did and she came back and had decided to buy both. You could see that it was not easy for her to pay for this but she had fallen in love with both pairs. She gave me the money and somehow this made a  difference for me. She didn't want to bargain, she was willing to pay the full price, she was just struggling at the amount. So I also gave her a better price.

It made her day. It made my day. :)

"Western tribe" - Earrings

The glass bead headpins are made by Julie from uglibeads (you can find her at her blog, shop and on fb). They look beautiful but I also knew just seeing them for the first time, that they would be a challenge for me to use. Not a big one, but still, they went to a more yellowish side. But also dark and organic, so this side fits my style.

Forgive for all the images, it was just impossible to edit and cut any more ;)

Julie left the wire on the headpins really long (thank you for that!) and I used the wire to create the beaded ring. Yes, just the earhook is attached, the rest is really just one piece! The turqouise glass beads are some of my favorite ever and belong to a really old stash from me. I use them regulary but are already afraid if the moment they are gone.

I added tiny bone beads. I got them from old jewelery from Rumpel's mom. There is nothing like taking old jewellery apart to create something new from the components. 

At the end it all looked good but something was missing. I tried a lot of different things just to realize that even if the creme and turquoise go beautifully with the lapwork beads, a real connection was missing. You have bring all component of a design together, something that give the connection. In this case it was to take the red from the bead and repeat it again with some waxed linen. It actually was coincidence that I had the perfect colour at hand. The last curious kit I got from Rebecca (The Curious Bead Shop) was called "wonder woman" and had this red waxed linen inside! 

Inspirations: On the streets (Hasselt, Belgium)

I was a few days in Hasselt in belgium. It was a symposium for an EU-consortium and I was invited to give a talk about our research. Hasselt is a small and so far I could see a lovely town. 

So far I could see... because I mostly just saw the lecture rooms and the university inside. *sighs*

But one evening I took the chance to at least go a little bit around. Everything was already closed (they close their stores at 6pm... that is no time!) but I had the chance to take some great streetart pictures before it was to dark!

I just love the cat image. Look at the deatils! Sadly seeing it now I see that it actually already was a little bit too dark for my camera.

Still, beautiful! And: How many other animals can you find?

Swap 'n hop - Reveal day!

The main reason why I love to take part in bead swaps and blog hops is the challenge they provide. You may get material that you would not have bought yourself and it takes much more thought and effort to integrate them into the own design. That you make them "yours".

The Swap 'n Hop was organized by Linda. Thank you so very much! You can find links to all the participants at Linda's blog "from the bead board". Furthermore you could have a look at the facebook group "bead peeps" or the pinterest board for the Swap 'n Hop. Still, I would always advise to visit the blog to also get an idea about the person behind the creations and also what ideas and thoughts went into the finished pieces!

While I got a lot of different beads and styles from Kathy from Bay moon Design (my swap partner), I especially took her challenges to heart: Pink and the metall butterfly. I just posted the images just yesterday because my bead package for her is still on it's way... *sniff* So even if today should be the reveal day, stay tuned for what is still to come!

You mad recoginze the pink items I used... but I believe it may be a lot more difficult to find all the "butterfly pieces" ^^

So I will start with the pieces made for the "butterfly" challenge.

I took the butterfly apart with some metal figure scissors, punched it some or more holes and sanded it all down. I also roughened the surface because I like this worn look! All of them move beautifully!

And, can you find where the parts belonged to the butterfly? 

I also added some paint on some pieces to play more with colour while keeping the random and organic shapes.

Kathy: I used vintaj patinas! Just sanded them down afterwards a little bit again and then sealed them with two layers protective gloss. 

I also used a long piece for a necklace. Sadly I didn't manage to really get a great shot. I will try again but I have to think about how to take pictures from long necklaces, showing the overall design as well as the details. Here is even a little handmade lampwork bead included!

Now to the pieces for the "pink" challenge.

You may alredy get my preference for an organic and worn look. So I sanded down all metallic flower pieces! The black ones are wrapped with the beautiful pink silk and some tiny wee beads.

The pink soft leather pieces I also used for earrings.

I cut them in smaller pieces and made some tassels with wire. The beads I made with polymer clay. Can you see the tiny pink dots?

The bronze piece I curved to create a bracelet bar. With some czech glass beads (the light ones are real old ones and the bold english cut I got from Rebeccas Curious Bead Shop) as well as some indian pressed glass and the silk again, I think it looks lovely. And soooo girlish! ^^

I finally had the perfect opportunity to use the bead chain made with swrowski crystals I made some time ago (I showed them in my "chain ideas" log post). I also started to play with etching again since it starts to get warmer outside: I made a butterfly pendant. Combined with the silk and a lampwork head pin from Julie from uglibeads, it all came together quite easily.

The only difficult part is again: Take a fitting image! The lampwork is more prominent in real life, it sparkles more, shows more depth than I was able to capture in a photograph. *sighs*

And now for the piece I used my two favorite beads I got from Kathy. It also is my absolute favorite piece and I will keep it just for myself! Please bare with me, I know, there are already a lot of images but from this piece I just have to show you more than one... or two... or...

Okay, the first thing that comes to my mind describing it is: Mine! Mine! Mine! Now also imagine me with a big smile and not able to stop touching the beads!

Since the hole was relly big with the two green beads I glued bronze bead caps on both sides. I really like the shape the create together with me bead! The necklace is made with purple waxed linen (again from Rebeccas "The Curious Bead Shop") and finished with a small and recycled silver claps.

It just happened that I had so many beads at hand that all look like they just had to come together. You could make a "name the bead artist" challenge out of all of them. ^^ It is also special because there are the first art beads I ever bought included. The ones that made me addicted! 

Just to give you an idea: It was an orphan bad mix from Kimberly from Numinosity Beads! You may also find sea glass beads from Julie from uglibeads and really tiny lampwork beads from Michelle Bryant as well as cermaic bead from Karen from Starry Road Studio and from Teresa from Bu Hulley Beads and also some of my own polymer clay beads.

Comined with new czech glass beads, as well as recycled indian silver beads, african glass beads that are between 400 and 800 years old and last but not least some small roman glass beads that are maybe even two thousand years old.

What else can I say except: Mine! ;)

Here are the rest of the beads I still have to play with! I already prepared the other bronze flower piece to become a bracelet bar, some more painted butterfly pieces (two of them already with holes to be used as pendants), some wire ball pin attached to the humble bead (I just have to search for fitting beads) and I also painted two of the wodden beads with a chevron pattern. I think they look lovely but also still struggling with the design for them ;)

I didn't include the other metall pieces I still have, they are drying at the moment.

So... Kathy: Thank you very, very much! I loved your challenges and surprisingly, like it often is, your beads were my inspiration to create my most loved necklace!