Bead Peeps Swap n Blog Beads Arrive

I am participating in Bead Peeps 2nd Annual Swap'n Hop.  The reveal date is May 15, 2016.  I am paired with Marcy Lamberson, a glass artist who loves making people smile through her whimsical beads and sculptures. Many of her pieces are animal fetish beads and sculptures. Her art work is gorgeous. Just look at these bear sculptures below! She uses dichroic glass to make her "sky" shimmer and a silvered reflective glass to make her "mountains" reflect light and bring out the metallics.   

Bear sculptures by Marcy Lamberson

She revealed in a blog that she is not someone who goes fishing, but when it gets cold and gray outside, she does daydream about being at the beach.  It comes out in her beads. 

Lampwork fish by Marcy Lamberson

She sells  via her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/marcylamberson and in her etsy shop at http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com. I suggest that you visit them to look at more of her work.   

Lamberson beads sent to Bay Moon Design

My pairing with Lamberson works really well for me.  A big thanks to Linda Anderson for that!  I love all things connected with the water.  When I am in Lewes, Delaware, I enjoy the Atlantic Ocean and beaches there.  In the winter, I live in the Florida Keys and take advantage of the gorgeous water there.  My jewelry reflects the love that I have for the water.  Needless to say, when I opened the box of goodies that I got from Marcy, I was thrilled.  She sent me beautiful pieces and I am going to try to use as many of them as I can between now and May 15.  I would like to create a collection from them for the Delaware by Hand Members' Outdoor show in Lewes, Delaware on May 28 . I hope that Bay Moon Design will have a collection of jewelry that reflects the ocean and seashore for the kick off of summer.

I have started already.  The whale tale is the focal of completed necklace.  Three of the fish and most of the sea glass have gone into another necklace.  I am working on a third necklace now with the large sea shell and cream and putty colored round lampwork.  I hope to get a few more pieces done between now and May 15.  

Stop by my blog on May 15 to see what I make from these goodies. I am grateful to Marcy for sharing her lampwork with me.
I know I can't wait to see what Marcy comes up with!

March Art Bead Scene Challenge

"Still Life with Pussy Willows"
By Taisia K. Afonina

The inspiration piece for March Art Bead Scene Challenge is "Still Life with Pussy Willows" by Taisia K. Afonina. The painting shows a table laid for tea drinking on a spring day in a Leningrad apartment mid-1960s.

The painting has lots of pale grays and neutrals with punches of dark, muted colors like that dark peacock teal, the hint of purple, that dull bit of yellow and the gilded accents of gold on the dishes. I choose to work with the dark peacock teal, golds,black, and browns.  I also decided to include a mix of metals to add to the contrast in colors.

Long Teal and Gold Earrings by BayMoonDesign

These long teal earrings are made with handmade teal and gold polymer clay beads by Emma Todd of Polymer Pendant. The beautiful polymer clay beads have swirls of teal and gold which remind me of a peacock's feathers. I used yellow Czech glass beads flowers and yellow crystals. I mixed the metals that I used. Natural brass ear wires,  gold bead caps and headpins, and tiny copper beads were used to provide contrast.  The teal earrings are 3 inches long and available for purchase HERE.

Finished Projects for Humblebeads Book-Along Challenge

Beautiful Elements by Heather Powers

During the month of March, Heather Powers of Humblebeads is hosting a book-along challenge based on using her latest book Beautiful Elements. The challenge is to create a piece of jewelry inspired by a project or technique in Powers book. Entries can be submitted until March 25th on the Humblebeads VIP facebook page. She will randomly picked winners from all the entries on March 26th. Prizes include a $100 and a $50 gift certificate from Humblebeads.com.

Beautiful Elements is a mixed-materials jewelry-making project and technique book that teaches simple techniques using wire, metal, and polymer clay to enhance and personalize beaded jewelry. I am working my way through Beautiful Elements and I shared some of what I learned and made in a previous blog. Now I want to share what I completed for this challenge.

acorn headpins by BayMoonDesign

I made a number of these polymer clay acorn headpins by following the directions in the book.  I mixed my own version of the acorn color.  I didn't have the Spanish moss that Heather recommended but I had an emerald green color and yellowish green.  Using the photo of the acorn in the book, I created my version of the green color and I used bronze PearlEx that I had on hand for the caps of the acorn.  I used 2 of them along with some Czech glass flowers to make earrings.  I absolutely love how easy it was to wrap the acorn headpins for these earring. I also love the look of the dark annealed steel wire on the headpins.

Beginnings of Acorn earrings by BayMoonDesign

I then added some sterling silver ear wires that I made from directions in the book.

Acorn Earrings by BayMoonDesign

Once again I used the  dark annealed steel wire for making the wreaths described in  Heather's book.  I made the headpins and turned them into the acorn earring above by following the directions in the book.

Copper Oak Leaf and Acorn Pendant on Wreath by BayMoonDesign

I also used the dark annealed steel wire to make the wreath for the necklace pictured above.  Once again the directions are in the book. You can see I used some more of the acorn headpins and turned them into charms. There are patterns in the book for use with metal.  I used the oak leaf pattern from the book and copper to make the oak leaf that I added along with a Czech glass leaf.  I used gunmetal chain and clasp and added a Czech glass leaf to give the neckline some interest.

Acorn and Leaf Necklace by  BayMoonDesign

I am pleased that I have been able to add to my skills with this book.  I hope you will join the challenge or stop by the Humblebeads VIP facebook page to see what others have created.  I decided to enter my necklace in the challenge.

We're All Ears :: March Inspiration

Celling of Hazrate-Masomeh’s mosque in Qom, Iran, all images courtesy of Mehrdad Rasoulifard (@m1rasoulifard)

We're All Ears March Inspiration is made up of a series of tightly woven tessellation patterns with repetitive geometric patterns. Popular colors for these tiled edifices include gold, white and turquoise often on a dark blue background. From all of the many choices offered for inspiration I selected the image of the Celling of Hazrate-Masomeh’s mosque in Qom, Iran. I was inspired by the stunning forms and patterns and color palette.

Blue gray ceramic earrings by Bay Moon Design

The color palette me inspired to create this pair of pale turquoise blue and gray ceramic earrings. The ceramics by Marsha Neal Studio have the pale turquoise blue and cream color of part of the ceiling along with a hint tan.  I wrapped annealed steel wire around them and added a gray cultured sea glass to pick is the blacks and grays in the ceramics and wire wrapping. I followed with gunmetal gray wires to continue the gray blacks.  Just as the ceiling has a repetitive pattern so do the ceramics.  They have a circular repetitive pattern as does the wire wrapping.

I have to admit I was overwhelmed by all of the repetitive patterns and I had to choose a color palette to work with first.  This month's inspiration was definitely a challenge for me, but I feel like I met it.  What do you think?

A Book-Along Challenge

Acorn Headpin by BayMoonDesign

During the month of March Heather Powers of Humblebeads is hosting a book-along challenge. The challenge is to create a piece of jewelry inspired by a project or technique in Powers latest  book. Beautiful Elements.   Entries can be submitted until March 25th on the Humblebeads VIP facebook page.  She will  randomly picked winners from all the entries on March 26th. Prizes include a $100 and a $50 gift certificate from Humblebeads.com. 

Beautiful Elements by Heather Powers

Beautiful Elements is a mixed-materials jewelry-making project and technique book that teaches simple techniques using wire, metal, and polymer clay to enhance and personalize beaded jewelry. There are thirty projects that teach how to create natural shapes from metal, “sketch” with a hammer to create clever designs, and transform bits of polymer clay and wire into adornments. The book covers how to make simple findings like handcrafted earring wires, chain, and toggle clasps. 

Dark Annealed Steel Wire

I am working my way through Beautiful Elements and I want to share what I have learned so far and what I am working on in the book.  Heather uses dark annealed steel wire in a number of her projects.  I never used it before and I love it now.

Beginnings of ceramic earrings by BayMoonDesign

I am working on a pair of earrings now.  I absolutely love how easy it was to wrap the ceramic for this earring with the dark annealed steel wire.  I also love the rustic and earthy look it gives.

Beginnings of Acorn earrings by BayMoonDesign

Once again I used the  dark annealed steel wire for making headpins and wreaths.  Heather's book shows how to make acorn headpins and turn them into earrings. I love acorns so I zeroed in on this project.  I took a brave step for me when I mixed my own version of the acorn color.  I didn't have the Spanish moss that Heather recommended but I had an emerald green color and yellowish green.  Using the photo of the acorn, I created my version of the green color and I used bronze PearlEx that I had on hand for the caps of the acorn.  I made the headpins and turned them into the acorn earring above by following the directions in the book. Heather also shows how to make your own ear wires.  I still need to add my handmade ear wires to these cute acorn earrings.

Copper Oak Leaf and Acorn Pendant on Wreath by BayMoonDesign

I also used the dark annealed steel wire to make the wreath for the pendant pictured above.  You can see I made some more of the acorn headpins and turned them into charms.  Once again the directions are in the book.  There are patterns in the book for use with metal.  I used the oak leaf pattern from the book and copper to make the oak leaf.  I am not done with this pendant yet.  I may change some things a bit and I need to add some chain, but I am close to completing this project from the book.

I am pleased that I have been able to add to my skills with this book.  I hope you will join the challenge or stop by the Humblebeads VIP facebook page to see what others have created.  Which project do you think I should enter in the challenge?