"Tribal marks" - Long earrings made with polymer clay

So much I would love to do, so much I just have to do... and in between a lot of ideas are lost or worse, in the little saved time, there is no energy anymore to be found to use those ideas. It happens more often to me than I like to admit. But this is also the reason why I try to do baby steps. One at a time, not the overall big idea or project, but the little parts... 

So I made some more polymer clay beads. I made hree pairs in total only (yes... in terms of energy definitely a waste, in terms of motivation for me, just worth it!)... one o the other ones you can see here: "Grown in time"

I was thinking of adding something more but in the end I just stopped at the simple dangling earrings. The polymer beads are already full of interest with the tribal marks, their length and the different colours. 

I also listed them in my shop here :)

"Blue steel" - Tribal, rustic and dark earrings with braided steel wire

 

My partner bought some steel wire for a wreath (yes, he made one with a looooooooooooot of christmas balls!). There was a lo left after he was finished and then he told me: That is now your wire. 

Okay... mh... it is really thin but quite sturdy. So I started to play with it. I ended with trying to braid the wire and after some initial problems, it was surprisingly easy. 

I used it to wrap it around these gorgeous turquoise and rustic lampwork beads (made by Julia Hay). The design is simple but I like the look. Especially the texture the braided wire is adding!

 They are also listed in my shop here :)

"Silver rain drops" - Recycled rustic and tribal necklace

In case you are wondering if this looks somehow familiar.... yes... the pendant was shown in one of my "working table" blog post. I finally managed to finish the necklace... took me just over a year in total ;)

But maybe that was just the time needed. Because I was unsure in between but now, I just the necklace!

The metal pendant is made from an old chinese tea tin box. I cut it apart, sanded, hammered, formed and punched it. I love the geometric golden pattern that looks quite worn and rustic. 

The silver czech glass drops add a beautiful contrast to the yellow and golden tin wrapped in copper with a really dark patina. Also all the other beads are czech glass beads, ranging from golden to mustard, from black to clear glass.

The dangles at the pendant move beautifully and add the right amount of weight to the light weighted tea tin box pendant.

I also liste it in my shop here :)

PS: And yes again... I just had to show you sooooo many pictures! Just a try to show you how beautiful it is (but as always difficult to capture on camera).

"What time tells" - Delicate, rustic earrings

Delicate and yet rustic, lovely shades of green combined with a really dark patina. They seem to be just found at a archaeological site, some ancient relics from a different time. Holding them in my hand, they seem to tell a story about earth and stone, about dark woods and wild land.  

The green crusty beads are made by Kimberly Rogers from numinosity beads and the tinned headpin drops are from Sasha Crow with some small semi-precious stones in between.

They are also listed in my shop :)

"Purple haze" - All the beauty of artisan lampwork!

Gorgeous jewel tones, from purple to a deep blue combined with all the shades in between. The dark patina of the wire keeps the focus on the colours. I just love the long slender shape of the lampwork headpins. Tactile qualities are also always something that play an import role for me creating jewelery. The matte surface of the glass is wonderful to touch and in contrast with the soft fibers of the silk around the top.

All the beads are artisan lampwork beads. The beautiful headpins are from Kimberly Rogers (numinosity beads) and the small weenies on top from Julie Wong Sontag (ugliebeads). It seems again that the pieces were made for each other!

Oh, I had to put the other pair I made with such long headpins out of my shop. I couldn't bear to pass them away and now wearing them so often!

You can find them in my shop here :)

"Pink blush" - Long and slender elegant earrings with ruby in zoisite

What can I say? Sometimes the beads just come together, simple, slender, elegant. Surprisingly simple for me but still intriguing with the hidden spots of pink in the dark moos green.  

They are listed in my shop here :)

"Slender blue" - Earrings with indian glass beads

While the general shape from the small beads to the overall earrings is in harmony with all the shades of colour and therefor seem to be symmetrical, each and every bead itself is different. 

They are simple, slender, elegant earrings with all shades of blue. They dangle and move beautifully!

Oh yes, there is one hidden green beads! ;)

They are listed in my shop here :)

"Slender stone" - Earrings with semi-precious stones

I have some small semi precious stone beads for some time now. Small discs, nuggets, fragments... Not the highest quality or rare ones, rather from old jewelery taken apart or just some beads I couldn't resist buying. In the end the most important part of choosing what to buy is the feeling it has. Texture, colour, tactile qualities, shapes... it all comes together.

You may also see here some of my favorite colours, somewhat greenish and blueish up to gorgeous shades of grey. Moonstone actually (the white and grey pieces) combined with apatite. 

I love the contrast of the general tear drop shape and the rough shapes of the single beads, the colour gradient against the bronze and brass, the idea of stone yet so light weight to wear.

They look really lovely when worn. One of those earrings that even look more lovely worn!

And yes, I try to list them faster, so here you go, they can be found at my etsy shop here.

"Wood and bone" - Earrings with old bone and wood beads

Wood and bone, bronze and steel... All of the beads are from old necklaces that I took apart to reuse the beads and elements in new ways. The bone beads are old and taken from different necklaces, like the black wooden beads. 

They are old and worn and not at all perfect but beautiful in their very own way. Combined with steel wire and bronze they are a little reminder of ancient human history. Tribal little artifacts. 

The ear wires are brass. You can find them in my shop here.

"Human hands" - Earrings

It may sound like a strange name, or? But for me, it is what these earrings represent for me. Have a look at all the beads, at every single one of them...

Do you see all the different colours, the subtle shades making every single one of them unique?

The rough and crusty surface, the little speckles time left on them...

Some of the beads are new. Lovely made by Kimberly from numinosity beads. But other are old, some just a few hundred years and some even one or two thousand years old. Roman glass, trade beads, art beads, the work of human hands then and now combined. 

To hold something in my hand that was made by other hand so long ago, lost in the earth just to be found again. It is beauty, pure beauty, with all the stories they behold.

A clear design, a round and a spindle shape combined, but with the weight of so many stories inside. 

Human hands.

You can find them here, if you want to hold onto these ancient little treasures :)

"Alive" - Earrings

  

Sometimes I am struggling to come up with a name for my pieces. Or rather the right name... a name that somehow reflects the impression and feelings I have seeing the piece. There are pieces that don't have their own name because they just don't have their own story or they just don't speak to me. But here it was different. I love the earrings. I just love them! They have such a fresh, lush, natural feeling to them...

...the best I can describe it is the fragrance of a wood. Just this moment, in summertime, shortly after a rain when the sun comes out again, and you smell the earth, the plants, the flowers, the grass... You take a deep breath, getting it all inside of you even if you seem to be too small to hold this powerful feeling. 

The moment where everything is okay, where you are just here and now, where the world around us, nature shows it's most beautiful and yet so powerful side. 

Alive.

The lampwork beads are made by Sue Reynolds and the tinnes headpins by Sasha Crow. I have listed the earrings in my shop here.

"Remembrance" - Earrings

The little headpins remind me of flower petals, the subtle translucent colour like the first blush of roses in spring. The vine leaves wrapping around the purple and blue lampwork beads strengthen this image in my mind. 

 The dark oxidated metal sets a beautiful contrast to the colour.

The lampworkbeads are made by Sue Reynolds and the headpins by Sasha Crow. Seeing them together, they just seemed to be made for each other. The earrings move beautifully!

They are all in all surprisingly romantic for me, a kind of dark romantic, but still, who would have thought that this part can also be found inside of me? ;)

I have listed them in my etsy shop here.

"Deep within" - There is an inner glow...

There is something magical in these beads. They seem to glow from deep within. Every time the light falls through the glass the colours seem to change, to move and to glow. The lampwork glass beads are from Sue Reynolds.

I chose a really dark patina this time to act light a dark background for the glowing colours, to enhance them. All the wire and ear wires are copper oxidized with liver of sulphur.

The lovely dangles add movement and I love the organic touch with the tin on top of them. They also seem to glow. You may already know most of the people I am buying lampwork beads from, these headpins are from my first order from Sasha Crow. 

I really have to look at these earring again and again. "Deep within" describes my feeling seeing them and trying to capture their magic.

You can find them in my shop here.

"Grown in time" - Earrings

These are some of the few polymer clay pieces I made in the past weeks and months. On one hand I made more ceramic beads and was active in the general organisation at the makerspace leipzig. On the other hand work took over quite a lot of my private life. *sighs* It will also change again but for the moment it is like this. 

 I went for a more organic look again, adding texture to create a tribal feeling. I think I'll have someday to prepare a lot of polymer clay sheets incorporating translucent but here we just have a natural colour alone.

The drops you see were made from headpins by Sasha Crow (you can find her here). I follow her work for some time now (oh, she also creates beautiful ceramic pieces!) but the final straw was an irresistible offer from her for a bunch of ten headpin pairs... yes, I also got some others too ;)

In case you are wondering: I'll try to list them soon with some other new pieces at my etsy shop.