Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2018 Begins with the Reveal

Red Heart Earrings by Hope Smitherman

I am participating in Bead Peeps Swap'n Hop. Bead Peeps is a Facebook group made up of jewelry designers and it is administered by the very kind and talented Linda Anderson.  Linda does a wonderful job organizing this.  She set the  reveal date of  March 26, 2018.   I am thrilled to be paired with Hope Smitherman. I feel like I know Hope really well.  I read her blog Crafty Hope regularly  and we have cross paths on other blogs and Facebook. Hope has an Etsy shop and I do too. 

 Hope grew up in the south.  Presently she lives in Fairhope, Alabama in a lovely country home in the woods that she shares with her husband and their pets.  She has been making jewelry for over 15 years..  Hope dabbles in lots of  mediums. She also loves to go thrifting for items that she can use in her jewelry like buttons, ephemera, vintage beads, and all kinds of other quirky odds and ends.  Her creative range enables her to make really unique pieces of jewelry. These red heart earrings are a perfect example of her using those skills to create a unique pair of earrings. The hearts for these earrings were cut from a gingersnap cookie tin from World Market. Brilliant find! I also appreciate the time and skill it takes to cut these hearts out. Hope then distressed the hearts, filed them smooth, aged, and sealed.  That is a lot of work and requires lots of skills. 

Cherish Key Necklace by Crafty Hope

This Cherish Key Necklace by Crafty Hope is another example of her creative talents. The focal of this necklace is an old key that serves as a base for assembled elements. A strip of rhinestone chain, an old filigree earring part, and a scrapbook embellishment with the word "cherish" on it make up the assemblage key. The chain is made of antiqued copper beads on antiqued silver tone eye pins and closes with an antiqued copper lobster clasp. The back of the key says "Fits Ford Cars". This is a one of kind piece.

Pantone's Ultra Violet

I decided to give Hope a choice of color palettes, I picked Pantone's Color of the Year Ultra Violet as my first offering. I love using this color and buying this color.  The large round ceramic bead is from Marsha Neal Studio. I put in a little assortment of beads which included a purple Humblebeads and shell, some Wooly Wire.

Her second choice is made up of the earthy colors turquoise and browns. I centered my bead choices around the large ceramic focal by Firefly Studio.  I included some jasper beads, polymer clay beads, and wood beads.   I included the turquoise beads because I love the size and color.

I also included a copper clasp by BayMoonDesign.

Package from BayMoonDesign Headed to Crafty Hope

I packed everything into a box and sent it to Hope.

I suggest that you visit Hope's Etsy shop to look at more of her work. If you are in the southern Alabama area you can stop by her booth Southern Antiques and Accents in Fairhope (the one on Greeno Rd.) where she has a small boothtop.


Stop by my blog on March 26, 2018 to see what Hope creates with these beads. I know I can't wait to see what Hope comes up with!

Art Elements "Use Your Stash" Challenge

Pendant made by Art Elements member Jenny Davies-Reazor

Art Elements Challenge for January is to begin the new year by creating with a handmade artisan component from your stash! In my case,  I was one of a group who were sent an artisan component by a member of the Arts Element group to use to help give those artisans a chance to destash. The idea is to help folks start the year 2018 with a clean slate.

I was one of the lucky ones who received an artisan pendant to use.  The component that I was sent was created by Art Elements member Jenny Davies-Reazor.  The mixed media artist Davies-Raezor has a wide range from ceramic tiles, pendants and shrines to mixed media collage and ...more pendants!  This pendant is an original hand sculpted pendant that was cast in plaster in order to create a mold.  Each pendant is pressed and pulled from the mold, and finished by hand. She used earthenware clay, and glazed it on the reverse. 

Her work is diverse - but unified in its inspiration: nature, mythology, goddesses, archetypal symbols. I  was thrilled to have an opportunity to work with a beautiful pendant that has a crescent moon hovering in the swirly night time sky.

crescent moon ceramic with a textured pattern of moon, stars in the sky

The crescent moon ceramic has a textured pattern of moon, stars in the sky. I added a handmade ceramic "Flourish" word bead to the moon pendant to add some additional symbolism, color and interest. I attached the word bead by Scottish artisan Grubbi. The focal that I created is attached to a hammered copper ring. 

Celestial necklace by BayMoonDesign

I then used antique copper chain and wire to add some white and blue beads. One of my handmade artisan copper clasps holds the necklace together.  The necklace is a perfect graduation, anniversary, birthday, or valentine gift and is available for purchase here.

Please check out what the others created.  We all love comments.  Feel free to let us how much you love our creations!

Guests:

Kelly Rodgers

Sarajo Wentling

Samantha Wescott

Kathy Lindemer  (here)

Patty Miller

Linda Landig

Renetha Stanziano
Samantha Wescott

Art Elements:

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Jen Cameron

Claire Fabian

Sue Kennedy

Niky Sayers
Lindsay Starr

We're All Ears :: January Inspiration :: Color of the Year

Photo by Remson Pellisserry on Unsplash

Purple tends to be a color that people either love or hate.  I love purple so I was very enthusiastic when I saw that  January's We're All Ears Challenge is focused on purple.  Pantone Color of the year is what they are calling Ultra Violet.  To me it is purple. Since I like purple so much, I have a nice collection of purple beads,  I get to dip into it to make Ultra Violet earrings! 

Because I have embraced this color for years, I have come to realize that when designing jewelry you need to take into consideration that there are three distinct purples: Red-Purple, Purple, Blue-Purple. Red-purples are warm, blue-purples are cool, and pure purple is neutral. I have developed some  combinations that I know work with different shades of purple. I love that fact that the Pantone people created  eight different color palettes that feature PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet to help us bring this year's beautiful shade into our designs. All color bases are covered; brights, deeper hues, pastels, mid-tones, and metallics. Each of the eight palettes demonstrate its own distinctive feeling and mood. 

To further inspire your  creativity, within each of these eight color stories Pantone has included three suggested color harmonies. The color harmonies provide examples of how individual colors in the palette can be mixed together and in what proportion. The color bars which make up the color harmony accompany each highlighted color story by Pantone.  These palettes are a wonderful resource for a designer.

I used the Intregue palette for one pair of earrings.  I have a couple of go to favorites that I use when designing jewelry.  One is green so Pantone's Intreue would be a go to palette for me. 

Intregue

Modern purple and green earrings by BayMoonDesign

These handmade purple and green earrings combine beautiful artisan modern lampwork and Swarovski crystals with silver. The violet and silver earrings have an organic and modern look to them. This silver, purple and green color palette is perfect for the lampwork by SRA artist Sue Kennedy.  The earrings are available for purchase HERE.

Purple Haze

Purple and lilac earrings by BayMoonDesign

My other go to favorites that I use when designing jewelry with purple are Ultra Violet and Misty lilac.  The Pantone palette Purple Haze is another palette that has my favorite purple combinations. The purple and lilac earrings have textured ceramics by Marsha Neal Studio.  If you would like to purchase these earrings they are available at BayMoonDesign.

Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash

I intend to grab a warm purple beverage and enjoy seeing what everyone made with my favorite color.

January Art Bead Scene Challenge

Title: Spring

By: Frances MacDonald

Date: c. 1900-1905

Medium: Watercolor on linen

Every month the Art Bead Scene challenges their readers to create jewelry inspired by a featured artwork. You have until the end of the month to share your work and then they pick two winners to receive beads and jewelry-making supplies from their sponsors. The only rule is that you must use at least one art bead in your piece!

This month's artwork is Spring by Frances MacDonald (1873-1921). She was a Scottish painter who contributed greatly to the “Glasgow Style” during the 1890s.  She was a great influence during the Art Nouveau period and the styles that it ushered in. Her style of Art Nouveau (literally “new art”) with its fluid linear forms is inspired by natural plant life, drawing on nature, gender, symbolism, mythology and modernity. The dreamy colors of the period were light and neutral, metallic and natural. The shapes are languid but there is also an element of more modern geometry, like squares and intersecting lines.

Pantone's Color of the Year--Ultra Violet

The color of the year for 2018 is Ultraviolet and this painting is perfect inspiration for using violet in a piece of art jewelry.  I love purple so this is my big chance to use some from my hoard of beads to create. 

Pansies Photo by Jakub Jacobsky on Unsplash

I look forward to pansies in the fall and spring so I couldn't resist these floral beads by by British artisan Natalie McKenna of Grubbi. The pansy beads have the perfect purples, greens, and yellow colors in the painting and the subject of pansies is perfect for this watercolor.  

Long Pansy Earrings by BayMoonDesign

I love the fact that these ceramics have a pretty back which is a green leaf.  These pretty floral beads are paired with violet Swarvoski crystals and pearls that dangle from the bottoms.  A couple of Czech glass matte metallics English cut beads and a few Czech glass luster root beer AB O-beads top off the earrings.  The pansy earrings have sterling silver ear wires. These handmade earrings are available HERE.

Other side of Long Pansy Earrings by BayMoonDesign

 These pansy earrings make a great birthday or Valentine gift.

I find the fact that these earrings are ceramics amazing. They look a lot like wood. I discovered that these ceramics are made from stoneware clay. Once shaped they are left to dry out for up to 7 days, they then go through their first bisque firing at cone 04 for approx 14 hour including cooling. They are then glazed with high fire glazes and fired for a second time to cone 6 (1222C) for approx 18 hours including cooling. A third and fourth firing in the kiln makes the image/word permanent. A lot of time and effort goes into these miniature pieces of art.

What are your thoughts on these ceramics and earrings?