"Gloriously Summer" - Bright and colourful and dangling earrings!

I love this time of the year. Summer is finally coming (yes, a little bit late around here). It is my favorite time of the year. 

There is a certain fragrance in the air, just lightly but it tells you summer is coming. With all its warmth and light, with all its bright colours and long days, with the ease only summer can bring. 

Summer is for me all this, colours and light, endless long days and wonderful warm nights, music and dance, the world around us alive in a dark and rich green.

There are downsides. If it is really hot and humid and you don't want to move anymore, can't anymore! But every season has its downsides and the bright ones are so worth it! 

The ease of life. Troubles seem less and smiles come easier. Just magic, just summer, gloriously summer!

I tried to capture all of this in these little bright and dangling earrings! The middle beads are lampwrok beads made by Sue Reynolds. I combined them with new and vintage czech glass beads, with oxidized copper,... you may also find swarowskis or old indian silver beads. 

Oh yes, I need to make more of them! 

I also listed them in my shop here :)

"The hare and the egg" - Showing some of Rumpels work!

I loved Rumpels sculptures way before we two got together. Maybe this already tells you something... (or not... ;)). In the past he made bigger ones, in a kind of wax to allow for a mold and a later casting. I hope he will start doing this again. In the mean time I am sooo happy if the makes smaller pieces (rare enough). 

This one was a commission work for a friend. She wanted a hare. This is his interpretation... with an egg! It is made with super sculpey firm, a polymer clay version that I am loving more and more also for my own work. It is not as easy to work with like other polymer clay version but it holds details just so good! Still not as good as the waxy kind of stuff he used to work with but at least this will be baked and is finished. Also you can put polymer clay in the fridge to cool it down.

Afterwards he painted it with acrylic paints (Reeves) and put all together with a nail and a piece of wood. 

He went for a rather comical approach and I love the exaggerated ears and teeth! 

Our friend already found a small and old drawer as a kind of frame for him. 

In the past I showed already some of his work: Here is another sculpture (in our living room) or some graphics I am using for cards ;) (dipus, MIAU, the LOOK).

"Uliginous dreams" - Earrings

Uliginous dreams may sound strange, but seeing these earrings there are so many images coming up in my mind. The dark mood inside the swamps, all the lush growth of plants, the humid air, the air filled with natures own flavour, the strange mixture of flowers and decay, the water with all its life in between, overgrown and hidden. 

There is life everywhere. There seems to be movement around you, but as soon as you try to have a closer look, it is hidden again. 

The earrings jingle while moving, a light and playful sound. Something to lure you in, to tempt you to go deeper inside. 

The enamel metal pieces are tintins made by Kimberly Rogers from Numinosity beads. I love them and struggled a lot if I should really use them together with the brass toads. But nothing else seemed right, nothing except this combination. I oxidized the brass toads to get this dark brown to black surface. The earwires are made from oxidized copper.

And in case you are curious: Have a look at the back! You can see how all the little chains are attached. There are a lot of different chains, all of them upcycled from old jewelery (from the stash Rumpels mother gave me). 

Combined with czech glass bead drops. Julie (from uglibeads) send me some glass etching solutions to play with and see if I need it (the answer is yes! Thank you again soooo much Julie!) and I used it to get these matte glass drops. The clear ones would not have been fitting for my feeling of deep hidden swamps. 

I am just in love and enchanted by these earrings! The movement, the sound, the colours... and most of all, the hidden stories!

 If you want them, you can get them here in my shop :)

"Frozen dream" - Necklace

Sometimes you hold a bead in your hand that is magical. It shimmers, it sparkles, there is something inside, a feeling, a moment. 

This bead was made by Kimberly Rogers from Numinosity Beads. It is such a rare precious treasure. A bead that has a story to tell, an ancient artifact...

It is quite simple compared to my usual style. But I love the combination of the black vintage leather and the bead. I couldn't add more. 

The clasp and wrapped leather ends were made with filled silver wire and oxidized with liver of sulfur. I made them a little bit bigger for an organic look and maybe after all to have the necklace balanced to the bead.

You can get it here :)

"No rose without thorns" - Earrings

Smooth and rough. Soft and hard. Light and dark. Young and worn. No rose without thorns...

Sometimes there is just an idea in your mind. Simple on one hand, a triangle combined with the soft coloured rose lammpwork headpins. But it is not simple, not at all. The copper got its organic and worn look due to every single step involved in the making. They are handcut, uneven, and hammered again and again and again. Every stroke leaving a single mark. Round imprints or harsh lines.

They are growing during the process. From a simple piece of copper to something more beautiful. The texture was enhanced with liver of sulphur. The same was done for the copper wire of the lampwork headpins. The wire was really long and I could not only make the loop but wrap it around the bead itself. They dangle, they move, they are soft but still catch the light.

The lampwork headpins are made by Julie Wong Sontag from Uglibeads (not my last but my stash grows smaller and smaller especially on small headpins!). 

You can find them in my etsy shop here :)

"Lost pieces" - Earrings

Again I challenged myself to create more delicate earrings. The first pair may be not small but just delicate but I think they still count! ;)

They look old to me. Long lost or maybe carefully hidden a long time ago. 

The chain and the tiny flowers are from the old jewelery I got from Rumpels mother. She gave me a big bag with jewelery to take apart. Oh, how I love this! I can start sorting the single pieces later for hours and hours!

I used moonstone in both earring pairs with copper headpins. I still have some chain parts left but already started to use them for more delicate and small earrings.

You can get both earrings also in my etsy shop here and here. :)

"Fallen leaves" - Earrings

Maybe not the best time for fallen leaves since summer just tries to start but...

The folded and formed copper pieces remind me of the beauty of fallen leaves, Fragile and crumbling but with gorgeous shapes and colour.

These are my first copper folded pieces. I am surprised why I never used this technique before because it creates so wonderful organic shapes!

Why did nobody ever tell me how much fun this is? And how lightweight pieces can be made from thin copper sheets but still stable and robust?

They needed some movement so I added some copper headpins. Just getting the idea of the barren woods and maybe even the last stems from flowers after the bloom. 

You can also get them here :)

Dragon blood - Dark dragonfly earrings

"You know, there is a reason why dragonflies are named after dragons. 

A simple drop of dragon blood hold magical powers. The moment it falls it crystallizes, becoming a beautiful jewel. More rich and deep in colour than anything else. If you look deep inside you can see it glowing and maybe, if you are lucky, even feel the steady heart bead of the majestic creature. 

Because no piece of a dragon ever loses its connection. The blood of the heart will always be part wherever it may be. And through the blood comes the magic, the power. A drop of blood can never be forced. It has to be given: For a tale or a task, for boldness or love.

It was and is always the magic of the dragon that speaks to the dragonflies. It whispers to them, calls them. Wherever the dragons go, they follow. Wherever dragons fly, you will find them. 

And deep down, everyone knows it. Because if a dragonfly comes close to you, the world is shifting. You hold your breath, try to hold onto the moment at the same time. Just to see behind the curtain into the beauty of the world a little bit longer."

(You may also find them here :) )

On my worktable...

On my worktable right now!

Maybe this needs to be clarified: On a part of my temporary worktable also known as living room table in a lot of piles and boxes lying and standing around. Also the term temporary is used in a very broad definition. It started somewhere and it might end sometimes, that could be called temporary, or not?

I drilled some plastic toys a long time ago. Time to wrap and use them finally! I like miniature animals. They are as weird as they are cute!

I found some old crocheted rings I made years ago. I made a lot of earrings with them and then I got bored of creating them. Now I may be tempted again. Or I may even find some more already finished rings ;)

I also bought a box with copper wash rings. Difficult to get, I had to order them online! Nowadays they are mostly not made from pure copper anymore. 

After annealing I played with texture, oxidised them, polished them again... Aren't they all ebautiful?!

Look at all the pattern made with only two hammers. All the not roundish ones are made with a simple household hammer. My favorite hammer ever!

In my hand you see my absolute number one textured copper ring! The secret? More force, less control ;)

I also can show you a lot of necklace UFOs...

This could also just be a bead assembly for a market ;) But I combined some cermaic beads from Karen Totten with some of my polymer clay beads and a pendant. Actually I love how they work together. Just the worst to come: What kind of chain/string/necklace to add?

This is an older polymer clay pendant I made. I love the bird and the bright blue but until now it was just colelcting dust. So, I had to start somewhere!

I made a pendant from a uglibead headpin made by Julie. I could wrap it after making a double loop! The golden leather and a lot of the czech glass beads are from several Curiosity kits Rebecca is selling at her Curious Bead Shop.

I also started using one of my bird skulls! Oh, I just love all of them! With crackles and metallic spots... 

Here you can see how I actually start: Randomly assembling beads that are just telling me that they belong to each other. I don't know how the elefant jumped into the imade. He was not meant to be there... but you have to see how well he looks on the numinosity bead made by Kimberly (the etched glowing one)! Is there a organic rustic playful style? I don't know but he will stay ;)

Uhm... the picture of the new wings is actually not very good. They reflected the evening sun to well and were still on the paper towel drying. But I made some more! I used one for myself (one of the small ones at the top) and will start adding some of the other to my shop. I was asked for these and so here we go. They will probably also be my last for a long time. I can't stand too much repetition ;)