News Day – Tuesday: Blue Rose Necklace and More

 Welcome to News Day – Tuesday;  the day for updates on my shops and other relevant or irrelevant  news.

Shop Updates:

I almost forgot about News Day – Tuesday.  Almost, but not quite!  So here it comes, just a bitty-bit late!

“Blue Rose” Necklace:

The Blue Rose Necklace was made during some no-customer-traffic times while I was doing my Sunday shifts at  Catwalk Gallery.  I think it will be super cute with a tee and jeans, but it would also work well with casual work attire.  The ceramic rose and accent bead were made by Yoli Miramontes of Yolanda’s Clay.  I knotted the beads on blue cotton cording and added brass chain at the back.  The chain makes it easy for me to adjust the length, if a customer prefers a shorter length.  I also just happen to like the warm look of antiqued brass.  I’ll be adding this necklace to my Etsy shop later today.  The Blue Rose Necklace has now been listed in my Etsy shop!

Blue Rose Necklace

Blue Rose Necklace

Other News:

I am honored and delighted to announce that I am now part of a team of  11 regular contributors to the Art Jewelry Elements  blog.  All the other members of this team create their own amazing art beads and/or components. We have team members that are lampwork glass artists, ceramic artists and metal smiths.   Many of them also design jewelry.  I will be writing from the point of view of someone who almost always designs with art jewelry elements, but who does not actually make her own beads and components .  My topics will include how to design jewelry that features art beads and components,  eye candy from some of my favorite jewelry component artists, tips for selling, shows etc.

Art Jewelry Elements Blog

My first article for Art Jewelry Elements will be posted on Oct. 12th. After that you can look for my posts every other Friday.  I hope you’ll consider following AJE.  It’s a great source of information and inspiration!

We also have a Facebook page where you’ll find more inspiration, links to interesting articles, info about sales that we or other jewelry artists are having and photos of the most current work by the members of the AJE team.  If you want to find the Art Jewelry Elements blog, you can always click the AJE button on my sidebar to get to the site.  I’m looking forward to this new adventure in my creative journey.

Do Over Blog Hop

The Beauty Make-Over

Jeannie Dukic of Jeannie’s Blog has been making jewelry for a very long time.  Looking back at some of her beginning efforts made her realize how far she had come.  It also made her realize that she no longer wanted those initial pieces of jewelry because they didn’t live up to her current standards of design or craftsmanship.  She had the brainstorm to send the old jewelry out to interested designers, who would photograph the original piece, then take it apart and breathe new life into it.

Before

Here is what Jeannie sent me..  I think this pendant was a project in Bead Style magazine.  The rest is all black, with little visual interest.  Hey, ‘ya gotta start somewhere.  My early attempts were not this pretty at all.

After

So I cut it all apart and put it with a very cool, slightly edgy ceramic pendant by Yolanda’s Clay.

I scattered Jeannie’s black beads throughout the multi-strand section of the necklace.  The beads in the single strand portion came from an old necklace of my aunt’s, that she no longer wanted.  So I cut it apart, too.  It was also all plain black and just begging for a make-over.

I chose the sterling silver clasp because it so beautifully echos the spirals on the heart.

What do you think?  Did I give this a second lease on life?

This necklace is now available in my shop.

Blog Hop

Now comes the fun part.  Click on the links below and you’ll find other jewelry designers who received old jewelry from Jeannie and reworked those oldies into beautiful new pieces of jewelry that anyone would be proud to wear.

Jeannie

Sally

Dagi
Lisa
Christine
Erin
Leslie
Shannon
Niky
Diane
Barbe
Elisabeth
Lori
Linda
Pam
Patty
Nancy
Kim
Marci
Charlene

Bead Table Wednesday – New Ceramic Pendants

A Busy Week

My Studio

Just stay calm.  Now back away quietly.  Don’t let it sense that you are afraid…    Quick, slam the door and run!

That’s how I feel about this mess in my studio.  But it is good mess, too.  I’m preparing for two upcoming shows.  I’m making lots of new jewelry and having fun with it, too.

New Ceramic Pendants From Yolanda’s Clay

I received a large order of pendants  from Yolanda’s Clay, this week.  There is so much to love in her shop, that I had a hard time narrowing down my choices.  This heart pendant turned out to be larger than I had imagined it when I saw it online — and it is cooler, too!  I’ve already got some idea’s simmering in my little brain for this.  You can see that I am trying out different beads with it on my bead mat.

These water-color effect pendants are really unique to Yolanda.  I feel so inspired by both the colors and the painterly effect.  If you want to read more about her process for making these pendants, you can  click on this link to her blog, then scroll down just a little bit.  The purple flower is different, again, and has a cool lace-like texture.

I love how the little heart, below, looks like it was painted and then scraped off (maybe that’s how she does it?).  It’s just a very unusual effect that I really like.  Birds are a hot trend right now, so I scooped up this bird silhouette.  He’ll have company in my ceramics drawer, with a bird pendant I bought from Nan Emmett a couple of months ago. I need to make both birdies into necklaces so they can fly away to new homes!

I encourage you to hop over to  the BTW Flickr group and  see what is happening on other bead tables.