Welcome to News Day Tuesday -  the day for jewelry updates and snippets of life

Upcoming Show – Sort Of

I am blessed to live in a  funky, artsy town.  An annual event here is called the Artist’s Garage Sale.  This is not your everyday art show!  It is an opportunity for area artists to destash unwanted art supplies and sell their less expensive artwork.  It’s a great event for people to pick up affordable art,jewelry, beads, art print cards, paints, canvases, fabric, yarn etc.  I will have a booth at the Artist’s Garage sale this Saturday.  I will be selling my jewelry, plus I’m destashing tons of beads at below cost.

The Facebook event page describes it this way:

Need art supplies? Searching for a great gift for yourself or a friend? Check out the artistic wares and whatnots of over 70 area artists! The Artists’ Garage Sale is a unique event that gives Olympia’s artists and art lovers the opportunity to meet, shop, and connect.

The event is just $1.  All proceeds benefit POSSCA’s mission to support the arts, including the Cultural Assistance Program for Students (CAPS) program which provides musical instruments to students who otherwise couldn’t participate in school music programs and annual arts scholarships for high school seniors pursuing a college arts education.  

Olympia Armory, 515 Eastside St SE, Olympia WA 98501

If you live in the Olympia area, I hope you’ll stop by, say “Hi” and support a good cause!

I am always delighted to read your comments!  Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy

Love earrings?  I do.  So I joined the Art Jewelry Elements 2013 Earring Challenge.  To meet the challenge, participants must create a pair of earrings every week for a year.  The earrings must contain at least one art bead.  Every other Sunday we have a blog hop to share what we have made.  Here are my designs for the past two weeks.

Ammonite Impression  Earrings

Last weekend I helped  Kristi Bowman with her booth at the Whole Bead Show in Lynnwood, WA.  Spending the weekend with Kristi  inspired me to make more earrings with her copper components.  I made the Ammonite Impression Earrings last Saturday evening, while staying at Kristi’s house.  I used some of Kristi’s deeply textured copper components and a yummy pair of sage green lampwork beads that I bought from Lara Lutrick, one of our booth neighbors at the bead show.

Kristi’s home studio is great fun to poke around in.  She has several different sizes of fossilized ammonites that she uses to make impressions in copper metal clay.  One ammonite is so large it takes two hands to hold it and I’m guessing that it must weigh over 5 lbs.!

Starfish Earrings

My second pair of earrings also features Kristi’s copper, this time in the form of starfish headpins.  When Kristi torch patina’d these, the copper turned a subtle mauve color, which is unusual and very pretty.  On Monday I went to the Bead Factory in Tacoma, with my childhood buddy, Lee Anne, of  Baubles Handcrafted Jewelry.  I found the perfect match for the headpins there.  The beads are the same mauve color as the headpins, and they are made of shell, so they continue the ocean theme.  I could hardly wait to get home and see what the shell beads looked like with the headpins.  They were perfect!  I love it when things all  fall into place, as though they were just meant to be!

Want to see more gorgeous earrings?  Head on over to Art Jewelry Elements  for links to the other Earring Reveal blog posts!  We  also have an AJE Earring Challenge Board on Pinterest.

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy

Once a month Art Jewelry Elements hosts a component giveaway and reveal.  March’s component was made by the talented Jennifer Cameron of Jen Cameron Designs.  Members of the Art Jewelry Elements team, plus three other artists were given 2 gorgeous glass head pins that Jen made for us.

These are basically a long thin copper wire with a ball of handmade glass at the end.  I was so excited to be able to use these with a gorgeous floral pendant that I’d been hoarding for a couple of years.  My idea was to thread the head pins through the holes at the top of the pendant and make wrapped loops above the pendant, so it could be attached to a necklace.  The first head pin turned out just like I had imagined it!

I was so excited about this that I decided to show the whole process step by step, when I wired on the 2nd head pin.

So far, so good…..

I was going strong up to this point, but you see that wire that is sticking straight up?  The next step was to wrap it around the area just below the loop.  But it just wouldn’t wrap tightly or lay smoothly, no matter what I did.  So I carefully unwound it and tried again…and again…and again……..until:

Wreckage!  I just about cried.  I loved this pendant.  What followed were a few choice words that I’m not going to print here!

Here are the mangled bits of the trouble-maker head pin..  I carefully unwrapped it, but most of the wire was damaged beyond use and just broke off.  I was left with about an inch or so of useable wire; enough to make a small wrapped loop.

My next step was to cut off the nicely wrapped head pin, but I wasn’t careful enough about where I clipped the wire and I ended up accidentally clipping it in a way that cut off almost the whole head pin!  More choice words……

This is all I had left, in the end.  Sigh.  The head pin on the left had to be tossed.  I trimmed and tweaked the wire a bit on the other one and decided I could still use it as an accent dangle.  So I started over and here’s what I came up with.

Periwinkle Surprise

I named the necklace Periwinkle Surprise, because the result was not what I had planned at first.

Periwinkle Surprise

I must say that Jen’s head pin looks very pretty with this ceramic pendant by White Clover Kiln.

Periwinkle Surprise

I finished the necklace with a gorgeous Czech glass button and loop closure.

Periwinkle Surprise

The moral of the story?  I used to have a friend who told me:  ”If at first you don’t succeed….you’re about average!”

P.S.  When I told Jen about my head pin disaster, she sent me this picture, via Facebook!  Just had to share it!

Winebulance!

Want to see more gorgeous head pin jewelry?  Head on over to Art Jewelry Elements  for links to the other Component of the Month blog posts!  

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy  

Love earrings?  I do.  So I joined the Art Jewelry Elements 2013 Earring Challenge.  To meet the challenge, participants must create a pair of earrings every week for a year.  The earrings must contain at least one art bead.  Every other Sunday we have a blog hop to share what we have made.  Here are my designs for the past two weeks.

April Bloom Earrings

Next weekend I am going to help  Kristi Bowman with her booth at the Whole Bead Show in Lynnwood, WA.  Naturally, I’ll want to wear jewelry that features Kristi’s awesome metal clay components.  On Friday I wrote a post for the Art Jewelry Elements blog about a necklace I designed with a bronze clay butterfly pendant that Kristi made.  So yesterday I made a pair of coordinating earrings.

April Bloom Earrings

The April Bloom Earrings feature textured bronze clay flowers by Kristi Bowman Design. I paired Kristi’s bronze flowers with Czech glass, Swarovski crystals, seed beads and brass.

April Bloom Earrings

Here are the earrings with the coordinating necklace.

April Bloom Earring, with the Fly Away Necklace

Diamond Delight Earrings

My second pair of earrings also feature bronze flowers by Kristi, but in a little bit different style.

Diamond Delight Earrings

The glass triangle-shaped glass beads are highlighted with crosshatching bronze/brass colored metallic stripes.  The intersecting lines create a diamond in the middle, which inspired me to call these the Diamond Delight earrings.  I topped the glass beads with 4 mm serpentine rounds.

Diamond Delight Earrings

Want to see more gorgeous earrings?  Head on over to Art Jewelry Elements  for links to the other Earring Reveal blog posts!  We  also have an AJE Earring Challenge Board on Pinterest.

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy

Welcome to News Day Tuesday -  the day for jewelry updates and snippets of life.

I’ve gotten so far behind on blogging!  My apologies.  Today’s blog post is a compilation of  items and events from the past month.  I have more catching up to do beyond this, but at least this is a start!

Happy Mango Beads

On Easter, Happy Mango Beads published a blog post featuring one of my necklaces and a handful of other handmade jewelry that is ideal for springtime wear.  My “Monet’s Garden Necklace” was their first featured piece.  This necklace’s focal piece is a beautiful watercolor-style ceramic pendant by Yolanda’s Clay, accented by Swarovski crystals, pink Peruvian opal, rose quartz and aventurine.

Monet’s Garden Necklace

Historic Mexican Jewelry

In March, I wrote an Art Jewelry Element blog post about a museum I visited during my stay in Oaxaca, Mexico last fall.   The Belber Jimenez Museum has a nice collection of historic Mexican jewelry, from pre-Columbian time through the 1940′s. If you enjoy seeing historic jewelry, you might want to check it out.

Gull Harbor Arts and Crafts Show

I did my first show of the spring season on March 16th and 17th.  It was a smallish community show, with a nice  collection of locally handcrafted fine art and crafts, including watercolors, ceramic arts, jewelry, fiber arts, photography, garden art, handcrafted soap and wearable art.  It also supported a good cause.  10% of  proceeds were  donated to a local organization fighting childhood cancer.

I am always delighted to read your comments!  Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy

Once a month Art Jewelry Elements hosts a component giveaway and reveal.  March’s components were made by the talented Jo Tinley of Daisy Chain Extra.  Each member of the Art Jewelry Elements team, plus five other artists were given a copper lentil bead that Jo had made for us.  To read more about how Jo made these copper beads, go to Making Hollow Beads.

The beads had different surface textures, as you can see from the pictures.  The bead I received had a textured surface created by the rounded end of a ball peen hammer.

I love the copper beads, but I ran into a couple of challenges while creating my bracelet.  Although challenges can be a bit frustrating, I kind of like the way the problem solving process makes me think more creatively.  I knew I wanted to pair Jo’s copper lentil bead with other flat or lentil shaped beads, but it took a bit of searching to find beads that would not over-power Jo’s bead in terms of color or size.  I finally found a Kazuri bead that was a perfect fit.

Forest Lodge Bracelet

The greater challenge was that I wanted to have multiple strands of glass seed beads in the back of the bracelet.  My plan was to use 5 strands of beading wire.  I wanted the wires to be separated when they ran through the seed beads, but to be strung all together when running through the larger beads.  Nice idea, but it didn’t work.

Forest Lodge Bracelet

It turned out that the copper lentil would only accept one strand of beading wire.  So I needed to figure out a way to taper the number of threads going through the lentil, without letting the mechanics of the transition be visible.  I worked this out by crimping all 5 strands and then  trimming the strands down to one  and hiding the crimps under the solid turquoise beads.  I finished the bracelet with a spiral brass hook I made. I’m  pleased with how it all turned out.

Forest Lodge Bracelet

I named this piece the “Forest Lodge Bracelet” because last week my husband and I took a day trip to the magnificent Lake Quinault Lodge.  Nestled in the woods on the shores of Lake Quinault, this traditional lodge was built in 1926.  Everything about it exudes tranquility and relaxation.  It seemed like the perfect way to name the bracelet!

Lake Quinault Lodge

Lake Quinault Lodge

I really enjoyed designing with Jo’s handmade copper bead and I’d encourage you to check out both her component shop, Daisychain Extra, as well as her jewelry shop, Daisychain Jewellery.  Now go have fun discovering what the other jewelry designers have created with these copper lentil beads!  Just click on the picture below to get links to the other participating blogs.

I am always delighted to read your comments!  Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy

Love earrings?  I do.  So I joined the Art Jewelry Elements 2013 Earring Challenge.  To meet the challenge, participants must create a pair of earrings every week for a year.  The earrings must contain at least one art bead.  Every other Sunday we have a blog hop to share what we have made.  Here are my designs for the past two weeks.

Copper Heart Earrings

When Art Jewelry Elements team member, Jo Tinley, sent me her Component of the Month bead, she included a bonus gift of two cute copper heart charms she made.  It is amazing to me that she can saw such tiny shapes out of copper, with such precision.  Having done that, she textured them, punched the holes and patina’ed them in a rich reddish/brown color.  I wired her hearts onto lampwork glass triangles by Unicorne Beads.  The tappering shapes of the hearts, echos the tappering shapes of the triangles.  Somehow that repeating line element is very pleasing to me.

Copper Heart Earrings

Copper Heart Earrings

Copper Heart Earrings

The Copper Heart Earrings are available in my Etsy shop.

Where Are Earrings #12?

Um, Earrings #12 are designed in my head, but I haven’t actually made them yet.  If I can get them done on Sunday, I will add them here.  I just ran out of time!  This is Spring Break week for the student teachers that I supervise for the University of Washington, so I’m hoping to use my extra free time to catch up on some jewelry projects and take a couple of day trips with Mr. L.

Wishing each of you a Happy Easter and a lovely springtime!

(This is an old pottery bunny that we saw in a museum in Oaxaca, Mexico, last November).

Happy Easter!

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Welcome to News Day Tuesday -  the day for jewelry updates and snippets of life

On Broadway

The Broadway Center For The Performing Arts is hosting a fundraising auction, in support of providing performing arts opportunities for young people, in Tacoma, WA.  The person in charge of the auction visited Catwalk Gallery, saw my work there and asked if I could contribute an item to the auction.

All proceeds from Star Chefs on Broadway support a stellar cause: The largest arts in education program in Washington State, serving 35,000 students and teachers per year. For most of these kids, the Broadway Center is their only arts experience of any kind. Many face a tough mix of economic need, cultural barriers, geographic and social isolation. No child is ever turned away because of the inability to pay. This year, with your help, we’ll raise more than $300,000 through silent and live auctions to help these kids access vital arts education programs, from school matinée performances to youth violence prevention programs, and from original touring shows celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to year round classes and workshops.

Here’s the necklace that I designed for the Broadway Center’s auction.  The necklace features lampwork glass by Beads and Botanicals and Genea Beads, plus ceramic beads from Gaea.

Sea Love Necklace

Bunny Love

I was lucky enough to snag a bunny pendant from Nancy Schindler of  Round Rabbit Extra!  Nancy’s work is so sought after that the moment she posts something new, it sells out.  I just happened to be at the right place at the right time!

I love bunnies – not just at Easter –  but all year round.  Who can resist their so-soft fur, wiggly noses, and bunny ears?  Melt.  I had a German professor in college that had a pet bunny that was trained to use a kitty litter box.  So therefore the bunny didn’t need to be caged.  She just hopped all around his house.  I thought it was so cool!

Bunny Love Necklace

I am always delighted to read your comments!  Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy

Love earrings?  I do.  So I joined the Art Jewelry Elements 2013 Earring Challenge.  To meet the challenge, participants must create a pair of earrings every week for a year.  The earrings must contain at least one art bead.  Every other Sunday we have a blog hop to share what we have made.  Here are my designs for the past two weeks.

Hibiscus Earrings

Kristi Bowman, who is well-known for her awesome copper components, is branching out to include polymer clay components as well.  A couple of AJE team members snagged some of her first creations.  I was so excited to receive these gorgeous hibiscus flowers!  Aren’t they awesome?  I can’t wait to see what else Kristi comes up with!

Hibiscus Earrings

Squiggle Earrings

This pair of earrings features ceramic oblong dangles by Marla’s Mud.  I love the layers of color that she infused these components with.  I wanted to pull out the blue tones, so I topped the ceramic with some etched sodalite stones.  Then I created a pair of textured, brass wire squiggles to hang down the front of the ceramic pieces.

Now I suggest that you click here to go to the AJE blog, where you’ll find links to all the other Art Jewelry Earring participants.  So much beauty and inspiration to enjoy there today!  Have fun!

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Love earrings?  I do.  So I joined the Art Jewelry Elements 2013 Earring Challenge.  To meet this challenge, participants create a pair of earrings, every week, that features artisan beads or components.  Every other Sunday we join up at Art Jewelry Elements for a blog hop featuring everyone’s earrings.

Emerald Paisley Earrings – Week 7

Copper and emerald-green are such a gorgeous color combination!  For this pair of earrings I started copper paisley headpins by Kristi Bowman Designs.  I love the deep, swirling texture on these headpins and the graceful leaf shape!

Emerald Paisley Earrings

I topped the headpins with amazing lampwork beads by Beads and Botanicals.  Check out the layers of colors in these beauties.  A few little accents of Greek ceramic, fire polish glass and copper were all that was needed to complete these earrings.  They are already across the country in a new home.

close up view

Spring Heather Earrings – Week 8

I love the rich depth of color in the Spring Heather Earrings.     The distinctive disc beads (by Beads and Botanicals)  give these earrings a great artistic flair.  The violet centers are domed and glassy and the black that is near the center is also shiny.  However the outer edge of black is etched and the contrast is really cool.

Spring Heather Earrings

I decided to try out some new wire-working ideas with these earrings.  Each earring is strung on one 6 inch piece of patin’ed brass wire.  I looped on the disc first, then brought a decorative swirl of brass up across the face of the round bead.  The other end of the wire extends straight up from the top bead and forms the ear wire.  Usually ear wires are added on to the dangle at the end, but in this pair of earrings, it is integral to the whole design.  I had fun making these.  The Spring Heather Earrings are available in my Etsy shop.

Spring Heather Earrings

Want to see more gorgeous earrings?  Head on over to the Art Jewelry Elements blog for links to the other Earring Challenge participants!  We  also have an AJE Earring Challenge Board on Pinterest.

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry