"Ancient woods" - Necklace

This necklace was a commission with the idea that it should be green ;) Better to say it was a birthday present for one in our research group. Since green is one of my favorite colours especially in creating beads as well as jewellery I had quite a collection to select beads from.

You'll find some of my own handmade beads, made from ceramic clay as well as polymer clay.

But also a lot of art beads from others. Among them one of my favorite glass bead artist Kimberly Rogers from numinosity beads. 

As well as beads from Julia Hay, Sue Reynolds, Michelle Susanne, Samantha Capeling (I etched the beads, hope you don't mind!) and Karen Totten.

There are also new and vintage czech glass beads, some natural materials like petrified wood and even a tiny roman glass beads that is between 1000 and 2000 years old. 

It comes together with knotted waxed linen. As different as all the beads are, they come together through the colour scheme as well as the gradient size shape. I love how it turned out. Every bead has its own story, 

Simple without being simple :)

"The Awakening of spring" - Earrings

Pantones color(s) of the year 2016 is (are) "Rose quartz and serenity". They are not really my favorite choice or to put it in a more positive way, they were a real challenge. So you may understand why I am so proud of this earring pair! Beautiful artisan lampwork nuggets, small czech beads, hammered copper and some tiny copper spacer... so surprised how much I love Pantones choice now ;)

You can also find them in my shop here :)

"Penumbra" - Romantic and rustic earrings

After all the paintings some earrings again! I love the colour combination, bold and bright and still... with a dark gothic feeling :)

The czech glass beads and the tiny metal spacer are from Rebeccas "The Curious Bead Shop" and the lampwork beads are handmade by Sue Robinson.

They dangle of course! Earrings have to have some movement for me! ^^

You can find them in my etsy shop here :)

Wrap it up! Recycle match boxes...

A friend gave me a book with old maps to play with. Since I love to wrap "stuff", I just had to make some boxes! I cut long stripes as broad as the match boxes (uhm... I know have a lot of single matches... ^^) and glued the strip around the box. Simple.

I have some old stamp pads that I only use to age and antique boxes. It is a 4 colour stamp pad collection with brown and black. At first I go with the brown over the edges and then with the black. Just have a look at the effect! 

Some crochet lace, some cord... finish! Three are already gone, I used them for my butterfly copper wings to send them on their way! ;)

"Blush" - Earrings

A new pair of some of my long earrings. This time with some vintage buttons. Look at the back, you still can see some of the sea shell. I just love these old mother-of-pearl buttons where you can see the original material they are carved from! All the other colours, from also some white vintage czech glass beads. some old pressed glass diamon beads and new czech glass beads, they are all lovely and the first word coming into my mind was "blush". The colours of flowers around, the lovely blush of your skin, a small hidden smile...

"Coke and candy" - Earrings

After the name for earrings came into my head... and I wrote it down... it somehow appeared to me that one could get the wrong impression! But then I thought that it may even fit better in regards to the time of art deco. Also have a look at the beautiful redhead, she is looking like she would enjoy every aspect of live even the darker sides.

I made the circles with tin from a candy box. Don't ask me where I got the box because I had it for at least 15 years or so. The inner parts were starting to rust therefore I took it apart. The flavor was cola (as you may already have guessed). So... the coke actually comes from coka cola and not the other stuff and candy from the simple fact that it was a candy box. 

Although... it could also be true for the redhead ;) Okay, it is late, maybe I should stop writing. 

But I really like the earrings, the images combined with the glass daggers. Now I just have to find more of these candy boxes! If you know where I may get them, please tell me.

"Caught sunshine" - Earrings

The idea for these earrings was in my head for a long time. They look quite simple and I love how they fall and move. But actually it took me a while to really get them the way I imagined them. I started with the tiny beads on the wire and connected them to the bigger jump rings... and... they were awkward. I combined with different kind of beads at the end until I used the tiny drops (czech glass beads from  "The Curious Bead Shop"). Weight, size, colour, movement... it all came together. Definitely not my last earrings in this style!

The seed bead mix is one of my favorite glass bead mixes. Actually it was a really cheap one I found by luck in a shop that is selling offers from other shops. I took all mixes available but still my stash is quite limited and I used already a lot of them. *sighs* I will probably find new mixes...

"Hidden treasures" - Earrings

Slowly my stash of these old and worn silver beads gets smaller. One bracelet was all I had from them. I have seven beads of this size left. Seven... huh... But I try to use my precious stash (regardless if we talk about beads, fabric or something else). There is nothing special about hoarding your beloved and special items so that the only collect dust. They should be used and adored ^^ If someone buys earrings made with them, they should be loved! If fabric tears from use than also just because it was loved. If I used a found object that is completely unique than also my creation is unique. It took me a long time to let go of my precious stah.. and yes, some items are still hard to part with (parting as in using not as in giving away or even selling, that is another topic ^^) but I am getting better and better doing this. Why should I use "ordinary" things if I could use these special items? Quite often I kept things just for "the special project" not realizing that I could make every single project special just by using an item I fell in love with! 

I learned that the silver beads are actually real silver beads (seeing the patina and how they work during a gentle cleaning I already guessed). A thin layer of silver sheet is formed and filled inside with a kind of resin. I love there worn and torn (yes, had to use these words together!) look, there aged outside, the story they tell... Probably not every one can understand the beauty I can see in this beads especially because they show that they are old and used, because of every dent and scratch. I personally just completely adore them!

The glass beads are from the curiosity kit "Jacaranda" (from Rebeccas "The Curious Bead Shop"). It is a simple stacking of beads and this time also on one head pin (so no movement in between, just with the hook). It is a kind of colour gradient but also the shades of light and dark purple go well together with the aged silver. 

You see the colour now? I tried to capture the rich and lush purple. In the evening the flowers look dark nearly black but as soon as you got a little bit of sunlight the colour just shines :)

PS: I just had a last view over this blog entry before I want to set the time to publish it. Normally I take all my pictures at one day and then start editing my blog entries and if possible already set them in advance (put in "try" ^^). Honestly I am a little bit astonished how much I can write about a pair of earrings. I could even go on and on, why the colours speak to me, how I love the unusual but organic shape the combined beads have, why weight of beads is important for their movement... and on and on... But it also shows me why my own work is special to me. My work (with polymer clay, with jewelery, with other media...) evolved and developed over time. I can see how much let alone my earrings change from year to year (and still curious where I will go!). But especially for the last year (plus / minus), I know that in every single pair of earrings went a lot of thought. Nothing is "just combined" because of the colours or shapes or sizes but rather more had a story or an image for me that I wanted to show. Every single pieces shows a little bit of me and yeah, realizing this, that feels good :)

"Another time" - Earrings and buttons!

I spend a day sorting through my room (work and crafting room). It is chaotic, still not even sorted completely from our move (1 and a half year ago... uhm...), overfull... *sighs* A day is not enough but that was all energy I could invest. I got rid of a lot of things... some in the trash and more to friends. I also gave old buttons and crochet lace away (I asked in facebook who would like to have some for their work). I still have a lot more crafting stuff to give away... and even more to sort out... we will see.

But even while I sorted out a lot of buttons... there were some I kept. Like these tiny mother-of-pearl buttons. Really old and just beautiful... and since my rule is: If I want to keep it I also have to use it (no too precious stash anymore! ...or at least... not soooo big...). 

So here we go. 

 One of my biggest problem was: Which side of the buttons shall I use? Have a look at the (also original) back side: You can see the rest of the shell! How absolutely stunning are these buttons to see where they come from?

It is always a little bit difficult to catch the sparkle of glass beads in the sun with all the high contrast and dark shadows. Still the earrings look especially beautiful in the sunlight so here I tried to catch at least an impression :)

The clear beads as well as the blue and green reminds me of water... so fitting for mother-of-pearl buttons...

...and again a contrast that I also love, the perfect facetted czech glass beads and the old rough pressed glass beads...

Both earring pairs make me smile and seem to have a story of their own. This feeling... a little bit vintage, colourful bohemian and playful steampunk... just a little bit of all combined...

Blue and golden - flower earrings

Little flower earrings in different shades of blue and violett, with a hint of gold and bronce. Normally I prefer glas beads (or the polymer clay beads I make myself). Plastic beads... or rather (because polymer clay is also a kind of plastic to be honest) industrial produced plastic beads are not really the things I like to work with. High quality plastic beads like lucite may be a difference... and because I was so into the petal flower shape I ordered some and tried them. 

Yes, they were nice. Just to look at them made me smile... but... oh yes, there is a capital but! but... the colour had no depth even thought they were translucent. I tried to combine them with wire and glas beads... but always... no, didn't work for me. 

Until I started painting them! I added some darker blue with aqua acrylic colours and added with bronce and gold acrylic colours some finishing touches at the end of the flowers. For this I am alwys using my finger tips... Can't work with brushes for such details ^^

Now I just love them! They work really good with the real glas beads. They lost their matte finish due to the water acrylic colours but gained more depth. 

Some of the pictures I took at direct sunlight. Not the best for taking earring pictures but I wanted to show you how the light plays with all the beads!

I got five different colours, two beads of each... I started with the blue ones, now I have to play with the other!

Vintage birds - earrings

The earrings are made out of polymer clay (Fimo). I use some bird images which I found at Karens graphics fairy. The colour saturation and contrast was set to high (just use the word image tools, not moe necessary). 

For the image transfer just try out fimo classic and not fimo soft, I tried that too often: Don't work. It seems to work at first but then the colours are getting messy and sticky and will smear over the clay. Not happening with fimo classic. I never tried over polymer clay brands for image transfer so if you have experience with them and image transfer, please let me know! I am curious :)

I really like how the colours pop out! Like tiny vintage tiles :)

...and some bird cages...

...as last step: 5 to 6 layers (at least!) of shiny gloss...

A little bit of vintage (Formentera)

I have so many things I would like to show you... just waiting to be shown to you! But the little spare time I had went to creating things (or just sleeping! ^^) and not taking pictures, editing them and writing the blog entries. 

But I am also aware that I won't get more time ever... I just have to find a way how to use my time better. Or rather... everyone has some spare minutes (we are not talking about hours, just minutes!).. it is just a question of the priorities how to use them. 

For me this would be: Write more blog entries while drinking and enjoying your coffee! ^^

Please don't think this is something which is stress for me! I love my blog, writing about the thoughts in my head and showing you the stuff resulting out of them! There are so many ideas, contacts, experiences which came all together with my blog I wouldn't like to miss! 

In the end I write my blog for myself. Not for anybody else... but because of this it means a lot to me if you like my blog! In all my stuff there is a lot of me inside. 

Back to topic: These pictures are in the house on formentera. I am not sure how old they are but they already hung on the walls 25 years ago! (not being new at that time!). The bird in the middle was painted on fabric and the flower picture was painted on wood. 

Little vintage treasures - crochet earrings

Yes, I love them! I still can't get enough of creating more crochet earrings and I hope you still love them too ^^

Even if this light pink / rosa is not my personal colour, I am really into it in combination with the cream coloured wax beads and the copper metal parts! Strange how just the combination of materials and colours can make something attractive (like a colour in this case) which normally is not a favorite!