Category Archives: Lampwork Beads

News Day – Tuesday, 9/4/12

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New Feature

As the name implies, News Day – Tuesday is a new  weekly feature on Linda’s Bead Blog.  Each Tuesday I will be updating you on new items in my shops, work in progress, shows I’ve done, and random chatter. 

Speaking of random…I can be very random, (not my best quality) and it always takes massive effort on my part to incorporate new routines.  But I’m really going to try to be consistent with my Tuesday posts.  There’s a lot that happened over the summer and I’ve done a pretty lousy job of keeping my blog current. 

Catwalk

As I’m writing this I’m sitting in  a new artists cooperative gallery and boutique in Tacoma, WA.   Named “Catwalk”; our gallery is a temporary pop-up in an empty store, right in the heart of Tacoma’s museum district. 

picture of the front of Catwalk

Catwalk as seen from Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA

Right now there are about a dozen artists showing their work here.  We have everything from paintings, to couture clothing, altered art, books by local writers and of course, jewelry.  Several of the artists take shifts running the gallery.  My work day is Sunday.  By the way, one of the artists took home that plant in the broken pot (in picture above), so the entryway is more inviting now.

The pictures that follow were taken during a recent Tacoma Arts Walk.  Things were slow at first, so I had time to take some pictures.  Later in the evening the gallery was packed and we had pizzas and a raffle!

front entry way at Catwalk Gallery

Front of Catwalk Gallery

If you look just behind the 2 shoppers, you can see a bit of my jewelry display.  I took other pictures of my jewelry, but it was too dark.  Later, I changed the settings on my camera  and remaiings pictures turned out much better.  The desk in the foreground, above, is where purchases are made–would you believe that the Bead Style magazine isn’t mine?  Really!

The Tacoma Weekly printed an article about the gallery this week. If you’d like to read more, check out Catwalk Boutique and Gallery Offers Handcrafted Jewelry, Apparel and Art.

Paintings hanging in Catwalk gallery Tacoma, WA
Back corner in Catwalk
Handcrafted clothing in the gallery

I love art-to-wear!

 

Beauty Berry Bracelet

My ArtFire shop is looking a bit empty at the moment.  I took quite a bit of the jewelry out of it and placed it at Catwalk.  It was time to freshen up my ArtFire offerings, anyway.  So with that, I’m embarking on adding new work.  My first addition is the “Beauty Berry Bracelet”.

Beauty Berry bracelet

Beauty Berry Bracelet

The colors in this bracelet remind me of our Beauty Berry bush that sports bright lavender berries in our garden throughout the winter.

purple berries, with green leaves

Beauty Berries

The Beauty Berry Bracelet is a collection of  handmade glass and ceramic beads, along with some commercial beads.  I wired the beads on black craft wire to bring out the black in the lampwork glass center bead.  I also fashioned a handmade clasp of the same wire and added some pretty dangles along one side.  The colors in this bracelet are just luscious and I love the texture added by the unusual 3 sided, lilac ceramic bead (by Marti’s Buttons and Beads), and the teardrop shaped beads at the back of the bracelet.

Purple Green Bracelet Handmade Ceramic Bead Lampwork Glass Handwired

Beauty Berry Bracelet

Head over to Linda Landig Jewelry to see more pictures of the Beauty Berry Bracelet.

Lampwork Leaf Earrings

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Autumn Favorites

I’ve added two pairs of earrings to my jewelry shop, which are my new autumn favorites.  They both feature lampwork (handmade glass) leaves by Havana Beads.

The “Autumn Leaf Earrings” showcase large (14 mm) fire agate beads.  The color is s-o-o-o-o gorgeous! I framed the fire agate with brass spacers and topped them with cool sage green fire polish glass beads.  The handmade glass leaves at the bottom have flecks of amber, pink and green.

fire agate and lampwork earrings

Autumn Leaf Earrings

The “Dappled Leaf Earrings” are smaller and more subtle, but just as pretty.  This pair of leaves has varying shades of brown and cream with hints of green.  I accented them with gleaming tiger eye (the brown stone), brick-red glass beads and light green beads that have a copper core.  Both pairs of earrings are suspended from handmade brass ear wires.

Dappled Leaf Earrings

Dappled Leaf Earrings

Bead Soup Blog Party – Welcome!

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Bead Soup Blog Party

Welcome to the Bead Soup Blog Party!  Lori Anderson, of Pretty Things is the amazing organizer of an event that now spans five continents and 21 countries!  This is the fourth Bead Soup Blog Party that Lori has organized and the second one in which I have participated.

Here’s how it works:  Lori paired up all the participants.  We all sent our partners a special focal bead or pendant, a pretty clasp and some accompanying beads.  We could add anything to this “bead soup” that we wanted.  We all made one or more pieces of jewelry and today we are sharing what we have created!

My Bead Soup Blog Party Partner

My Bead Soup Blog Party Partner was Lori Dorrington.  Lori is a lampwork artist (handmade glass) and a jewelry designer.  She has a blog called, “Lori’s Adventures in Etsyland” and she has an online shop called, Lori’s Glassworks.  Here is a picture of the wonderful beady goodies that Lori sent me.

Beads from Lori Dorington

Bead Soup from Lori Dorington

Clockwise from the left, we have Lori’s pretty lampwork glass beads, tiger-eye beads and a clasp, some small green pearls and garnets.

My Bead Soup Necklace

I knew right away that I would make one of the lampwork beads into a pendant and that I’d like to have two strands in the front, with the other two lampwork beads serving as a transition from two strands to one strand.

Bead Soup Blog Party Necklace

Focal Bead

I purchased some little bead caps to add importance to the lampwork and I bought this cool leaf chain that I dangled from the end of the lampwork focal. The lower necklace strand is mostly garnet, with some pearl highlights and the upper strand is mostly pearls, with one cream-colored lampwork bead in the middle.

Bead Soup Blog Party Necklace

Bead Soup Blog Party Necklace

I’ve been designing this necklace in my head for several weeks now, but last week I suddenly remembered that I had some hand dyed silk in a deep red.  I found it in my stash and it was a perfect match!
I’d never finished a necklace with textiles before, so I had to push myself into new territory–which is the exact purpose of this exercise.  I added some fine copper chain to give added strength to the ribbon in the back.  I don’t particularly like necklaces where the ribbon just ties in the back, so I finished it with copper cones and the clasp that Lori sent me.

Bead Soup Blog Party Necklace

Bead Soup Blog Party Necklace

The transition (see above) was a little tricky for me.  At first I had larger beads where the two strands come together, beneath the lampwork, but it was too bulky and the strands jutted out awkwardly.  So I re-strung that portion of the necklace using smaller beads.

Bead Soup Blog Party Necklace

Spiced Cranberries Necklace

I named it the “Spiced Cranberries Necklace“, because the deep reds remind me of the cranberries that grow so well here in the Pacific Northwest, along the coast. And here’s a little bonus:  click on the link, if you’d like a yummy recipe for a Hot Spiced Cranberry Cider Drink.

A Giveaway

I also made some earrings with the tiger-eye beads that Lori sent me.  I placed a copper wafer and a green Czech glass bead above the tiger-eye and then I topped the earrings off with a small mookite bead.

These earrings will be given away as a “thank you” for visiting my blog during this blog hop.  All you have to do to be entered to win the earrings is to leave a comment on today’s blog post.  You must include your email address, or your link must lead to a blog or other website where is it easy for me to locate your email address.  If I cannot find your email address, I will choose someone else.  This giveaway will be open until the end of the month.  The winner will be chosen using an online random number generator.

Tiger-eye, glass copper and mookite earrings.

Bead Soup Giveaway Earrings

The Blog Hop

Here is a list of all the Bead Soup Blog Party participants.  Have fun visiting as many people as you can.  I know this list is overwhelming, so I want to thank you for visiting my own little corner of the bead blog world.  I sincerely appreciate it.

These are the partner pairs.
The Hostess with the Mostess (!), Lori Anderson and her partner, Manuela Wutschke
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19. Anna Sabina­­­­ and Erin Siegel
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You are here!     118. Linda Landig and Lori Dorrington
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For a total of 362 people making jewelry!

Bead Table Wednesday – Spring Fever!

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On My Work Table Today

Spring has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest and since I love flowers almost as much as I love beads, I’m one happy person!  Spring fever spilled over into my jewelry design this week too, so  I decided to name this bracelet Spring Fever.

glass, wood, ceramic and copper chain bracelet

 

Spring Fever includes glass, wood and ceramic beads.  The double strand of copper chain finishes with a flirty, little flower dangle.

Spring bracelet with wood, ceramic and glass beads

Look What I Won!

 I entered a giveaway, this week,  that Beads and Botanicals hosted on Facebook and I was the winner!  How cool is that?  I love this new bead.  I can hardly wait to see what kind of necklace it inspires!  They have a beautiful new website that makes me want every single thing on it! Click on The Lampwork Bead to check it out.

Large lentil bead and two coordinating small beads
Lampwork beads from Beads and Botanicals

BTW- and this time it means By The Way & Not Bead Table Wednesday

I want to thank everyone who posted words of comfort and empathy on my blog and Facebook page after a dog ran out in front of my car and was killed on Sunday.  I felt the hugs and care that everyone sent my way.  Thank you for being so wonderful and for lifting me up. ♥✿♥✿♥

I encourage you to check out other people’s bead tables at our Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group.  Just click on the image below.

Bead Table Wednesday

 

Shopping In My Kitchen

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Jewelry Open House

A lot of artists host Open Houses around the holidays, where people come to their homes or studios and can do some artisan-made shopping right at the source.  A variation of this has developed spontaneously for me over the past year or so.  Rather than a formal Open House event,  friends will just give me a call and ask if they can come over to do some jewelry shopping. They usually let me know a few days in advance.   This has occurred over the holidays, but also, it sometimes just goes like this, “Hey Linda, my Mom is in town visiting me, can we come over and look at your jewelry tomorrow?”

jewelry shopping in my kitchen

Jewelry set up in my kitchen

We have a long island in our kitchen.  I lay out all my jewelry there, put on some music and just step back and let my visitors browse.  I answer questions, maybe tell the story behind the piece they are looking at and encourage them to try on pieces of interest.

Jewelry shopping in my kitchen

Jenelle and Daniel of Beads & Botanicals

Recently Jenelle and Daniel of Beads and Botanicals, came over to do some Christmas shopping.  This husband and wife team make the most amazing lampwork glass beads.  If you are familiar with my work, then you know that I often include their beautiful handmade glass beads in my jewelry.  (Here’s a link to an interesting article about how lampwork beads are made.)  My recent Michaels Challenge necklace featured Daniel’s Black Sea Sand Dollar focal bead.  Their kitchen shopping excursion netted them a bracelet, a pair of earrings and two necklaces.

Artisan ewelry open house

Lampwork glass bead by Beads and Botanicals

Black Sea Sand Dollar by Daniel Caracas

If you are an artisan craftsperson perhaps an informal open house would work for you too.  What do you think?

Pretty Pairs

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Holiday Preparations

I’ve been working hard to have a full jewelry shop by Thanksgiving and I’m also working toward the goal of creating enough beaded treasures to offer at the Winter Fine Arts and Crafts Show the first two weekends in December.

Earrings

Earrings make a good holiday gift, it seems to me.  What do you think? One size fits all and they are usually in most people’s comfort zone price-wise.  I’m still curious to get feedback from readers regarding their favorite type of jewelry gifts for the holidays.  Let me know your favorite colors as well.

 

Ceramic earrings with radiant green heart designs

Handmade Green Ceramic Heart Earrings with Sterling Silver Ear Wires

 

I bought these little green ceramic dangles when I was in La Conner last week,  Aren’t they cute!  I knew they’d make sassy little earrings!

 

Green swirl disc earrings

Green Glass Earrings with Circular Patterns and Gold Crystals

 

Staying with the theme of sassy and green….how do you like these?  Believe it or not, I got those two types of green beads at separate occasions, but when I saw them together, I knew it was a marriage made in heaven.  I love how the circular patterns echo each other.  Both the upper and the lower beads are very unusual–which is, of course, why I chose them!

 

Classic silver gray earrings with sterling silver ear wires

Silver Gray Shell Pearl, Mother of Pearl and Sterling Silver Earrings

 

These have been in the shop for about two weeks now.  What I like about this pair is how versatile they are.  They’ll go with everything and can be dressy or casual, depending on what you wear them with.  The silver sheen on the shell pearls is just gorgeous, too.  OK, do you want to see one last pair?

 

Black and Beige Lampwork Earrings with Hematite

Lampwork Earrings with Hematite, Crystals and Sterling Silver

 

I just made this pair last night.  The lampwork glass is by Jenelle Aubade of  Radiant Mind on Etsy.  These beads are so gorgeous, with tracings of onyx black glass over a sand colored slightly speckled surface.  I love these beads so much that I have them in three sizes, so be prepared to see more of them!  I paired them with hematite to make casual, chic earrings.

I hope you enjoy your weekend and don’t let errands eat up all your time.  Find some space for fun.  We’re going to an October Fest at a friend’s house.  Bottoms up!

 

Straight From The Heart

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It started like this:

Lampworked heart by Dan and Jenelle Caracas

Jenelle gave this lovely lampworked heart  to her mother for Mother’s Day, and shortly after we met, about a month ago, her mom asked me to design a necklace to go with it.  When I picked up the heart, yesterday, I knew immediately that it was crying out for amethysts and garnets!  I could hardly wait to get to work.

I found amethyst rounds and pretty faceted garnet tubes in my stash.  I added some small silver rounds and some Swarovski crystals for bling.

Amethysts, Garnets and Swarovski Crystals

Next I wired the pendant to a sterling silver bail and added a pretty little tassel at the end of the heart with more Swarovski crystals and a single garnet.

Pendant with Tassel

I finished the necklace with a sterling silver heart-shaped clasp, to echo the beautiful lampworked heart pendant.

Sterling Silver Clasp

I love doing custom work.  It gives me a chance to make something that is meaningful and special.  The whole time that I am designing, I have a specific person in my mind.  I hold an image of them, as well as of their jewelry.  It’s a deeply gratifying process for me .

Now, here’s the finished design.  I hope she likes it!

Meeting a Facebook Friend Face-To-Face

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I met my new friend, Jenelle Aubade, via Facebook.   Jenelle and her husband, Daniel,  are fantastic lampwork artists and I have enjoyed viewing their work on Facebook and in Jenelle’s Etsy Shop, Radiant Mind.   What surprised me  is that they live right here in my hometown and I didn’t even know it until about a month ago!  I finally got to meet them on Saturday and what a treat it was!  Jenelle greeted me with a big hug, as though we were old friends.  Their beads are even more awesome in “real life”, than online!  How could I choose just a few?

Jenelle helped out, big-time, by giving me the bead set on the left as a gift!  I was giddy!  I also love the cool sand dollar bead set.  I am always happy at the ocean, so these beauties make me smile.  And the turquoise, lentil shaped bead is unlikely to ever make it to my shop .  I think that one just might find a home on my wrist.  My creative juices are flowing now.  Let’s see where it takes me!  What inspires your creativity?