To Gnome Me Is To Love Me

This month’s challenge, hosted by Art Elements, is “To gnome me is to love me…”  A gnome challenge is just what I needed! I made a ceramic gnome for my daughter last Christmas, but then just before I was ready to fire it, I broke it’s hat off! So I promised my daughter I’d make a replacement, but I’d never gotten around to doing it – until now! I glued the hat back on the broken gnome so you could get an idea of how it was supposed to look.

After I joined the Art Elements challenge, I made 3 new gnomes. However, I glaze and fire my ceramics at a community ceramics studio, which is closed now, due to Covid 19. So I’ll have to show the gnomes as just greenware (unfired clay). The other issue I had was that, other than a fettling knife, (a special knife for use in ceramics), all my tools were at my community studio. So these little guys are literally made by hand – only my hands, without any tools. They are a little rough, but I can clean them up once I can get back into the studio, before I kiln fire them.

Two views of new gnome 1

Two views of new gnome 2

And below is a photo of me smoothing the surface of the second gnome.

These first two gnomes were made about a week ago and have been drying ever since. Then last night I made a third, larger gnome. Here he is in the beginning stages. He has a body and a nose, but nothing else, at that point.

And here he is sort of complete. He needs to dry more and then get the details refined and the surface smoothed.

Two views of new gnome 3

Thank you for visiting my blog and viewing my unfinished gnomes. Can’t wait to get some tools, glaze and fire them. Thanks also to Jenny Daves-Reazor and Art Elements for hosting this challenge.

This is a blog hop. Please visit the artists below to see their interpretations of the gnome challenge.

AE team:
Marsha
Cathy
Jen
Jenny
Lesley
Claire
Niky

Guests:
Tammy
Linda – You Are Here
Hope
Cat
Sarajo

Moving Day!

The big day finally arrived.  Everything in the old house was finally packed up.

We’d labeled all the boxes with which room they should go to. Then we labeled the rooms in the new house, so the movers would know where to place things.  There’s my studio on the right.

And here comes the furniture. The men are moving my beloved printers cabinet into my studio and I am hovering around making sure that they baby it, (They did.  They were awesome).

Carefully putting the cabinet in place.

My studio at the end of the day. Lots of work still to be  done!

If you look at the second picture in this post, you’ll see an empty bookshelf.  We had many of these shelving units in our old living room,  because we’re both avid readers. However our new, much smaller living room will only hold one tall bookshelf and one that is half that tall.  So we donated probably two thirds of our books to the library and then placed all the extra bookshelves in my studio!  I had long dreamed of having a whole wall of shelves to contain all my supplies!

On the second day in the new house we started re-assembling the shelves in my studio. You can see that one tall bookshelf is already in place and one short shelf unit has been assembled.  A screw driver lies atop the shelf, ready for assembling the remaining shelves.  Altogether, I now have 3 tall units and 2 short ones.  A dream come true!

Here’s what the other side of the studio looked like at that point.

More progress has been made over the past week, but I’m not quite ready to show it off yet.  Perhaps I’ll turn the tables on the idea of a house warming gift.  Instead, I think that I’ll have a giveaway with my next blog post. We could have 2 winners.  One person could win a pair of earrings and one person could win a ceramic pendant.  What do you think?  I’ll  mull over this idea (which just now occurred to me!) a bit and see what I can come up with before my next post.  Stay tuned!

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

Linda Landig Jewelry

Puget Sound Bead Festival

It’s Bead Table Wednesday and my bead table is filled with new bounty from the Puget Sound Bead Festival. On Sunday, Kristi Bowman and I met in Tacoma and spent a pleasant afternoon together feeding our bead addiction.

Kristi Bowman and I at the Puget Sound Bead Festival

I didn’t take many photos of the Bead Festival, but here’s what I have.  The tables were all just laden with temptations!  A whole lotta bling going on in this booth.

Puget Sound Bead Festival booth

And here we have lampwork on the table with finished pieces above.

Puget Sound Bead Festival lampwork beads booth

My favorite bead shop in the world, is Wynwoods Bead Studio in Port Townsend, WA.  It’s a couple of hours from my house, but we visit Port Townsend fairly regularly to walk the beach and visit the many art galleries.  Lois Venarchick, the owner, seems to have a particular gift for finding unusual beads and I always visit her shop when I’m in town.  She had a booth at the bead festival, too.  So I had to drop by to say hello.

Wynwoods Bead Studio

So, do you want to see what treasures I brought home with me?  Of course you do!  I was trying to be a bit budget minded, with medium success.  Here’s my haul.

These lampwork beads came from Unicorne Beads.  The lady at the booth was super friendly and helpful.  There was a price break on purchases over $100, so Kristi and I combined our orders.  The savings get passed on in reduced  jewelry prices, so everyone wins!

Unicorne Glass

Most of these stone beads were among my first purchases.  Kristi and I looked at these pumpkin shaped coral beads and loved them, but the price was quite steep.  So we decided to move on and maybe come back later.   At the end of the day, this coral was still calling our names, so we went back and bought one strand to share.

Stone Beads

Who could resist this adorable polymer clay chickadee???  I couldn’t!

Polymer clay beads and patin’ed brass charms.

Of course I also had to pick out a couple of the copper components that Kristi makes!  I chose a pair of her Copper Paisley Leaf  Headpins and a pair of Copper Earring Bails.

Handmade copper headpins and earring bails by Kristi Bowman Designs.

So I’ll leave you now with a couple of pictures of Kristi and I goofing off at the show.  If you’d like to see pictures of Kristi’s bead purchases from the Puget Sound Bead Festival, as well as her pictures from the show itself, hop on over to the Kristi Bowman Designs blog.  Enjoy!

Kristi Bowman showing off some beady eye candy!

Me, acting silly and holding several strands of beads by my ear, as though they were super-beady earrings.

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Ceramic Beads & A Touch Of Lampwork

Bead Table Wednesday

I have been on a crazy ceramic bead buying binge lately!  I confess to being addicted.  So here is what is lying all over my bead table today.  I tried to label everything correctly, but if you see an error, please let me know.  I have a several lampwork beads scattered about as well.

Artisan lampwork and ceramic beads

As you can see, I have a large number of beads by Bo Hulley and I’ve already made a pair of earrings and a bracelet with beads that were part of this ceramic bead bounty.

Someone on Facebook (I can’t remember who it was) suggested I should name these earrings “Tequilla Sunrise”  The name fits perfectly.  The Tequilla Sunrise Earrings are in my signature rusty orange, brown and red colors.   When I saw the sunrise charms on Bo’s Facebook page, I knew I had to have them, but they sold out right away.  Bo was kind enough to make another pair of these delightful charms just for me.    Beads and components in those colors just sing to me, so designing earrings with these charms was a breeze.

Tequila Sunrise Earrings

I also made this happy little bracelet!  We have lots of birds where I live, because our house is surrounded on 3 sides by woods.  The air is always full of bird song here, but in the morning it is especially loud and lovely, so I named this bracelet “Morning Song“.   The beads are strung and knotted on waxed linen cording and I tied a bit of sari silk on one side for an accent.

Morning Song Bracelet

Morning Song Bracelet

The Tequilla Sunrise Earrings are available in my ArtFire shop and the Morning Song Bracelet  is available in my Etsy shop.

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Bead Table Wednesday: Sneak Peek

I am on the Beads Of Clay (BOC) Design Team.  Every month or so, five of the Design Team members are given some beautiful handmade clay beads and asked to design one or two pieces of jewelry with them.  I received a delightful selection of BOC beads with the “assignment” to design two necklaces using these beads and whatever else I wished to add.  I have completed one necklace and I’m currently working on the 2nd one.

I wish I could show you what is on my bead table today, but it is top-secret until the reveal date which is July 15th. In the meantime, I had fun using PicMonkey to alter the picture of my finished necklace.  This is what is on my bead table today!

Come back on July 15th to see my 2 BOC necklaces!

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Bead Table Wednesday: Necklace and Studio Update

Two Wednesdays ago, I said I was starting a studio clean up.  I haven’t made a lot of progress, but there are a few signs of hope.  This was my work table 2 weeks ago.

Close up of cluttered jewelry work table.

It’s not a whole lot better, but if you look at the picture below, you’ll notice that there is a bit of clear space on the left.  And although there are materials out and about, they are mostly related to the current project, and are not just random clutter.

jewelry work table

I am nearly done with this necklace.  I decided I didn’t like the clasp I had made, so I removed it and still need to make a new one.  I’m also going to remove one of the long calcite beads on the right, and instead, extend the chain a bit longer.  Even though it is an asymmetrical design, there still needs to be a sense of balance.  I think it will look more balanced with these revisions. The butterfly pendant and flower bead were made by Yolanda’s Clay.  The 2 little swirly ceramic squares on the bottom right were made by Marsha Neal Studio and they will eventually become earrings.

This white board (see picture below) is no longer propped up on the floor. I put the bulletin boards in the closet, until I can paint them and I put away the other “junk”.

Bulletin boards and white boards that need hanging up.

Whiteboard & Mannequin

Looks better, huh?  I’ve got a running To-Do list up there, the due dates for the Beads Of Clay Challenge (I’m on the design team), a necklace idea and a magnetic calendar.  The drawings above the whiteboard are by my brother, Jeff Kaufman.  To the left you can see a new addition to my studio,  This is Matilda II.  Why the 2?  My mother was quite artistic and she made a torso sculpture that we affectionately called Matilda.  This mannequin is also just a torso and so she is Matilda the Second.  It’s such a pleasure to have the white board hanging and functional now.  As you can see, small things make me happy.

What small things put a smile on your face?

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Bead Table Wednesday: Spring Cleaning

I have had 3 shows in the last month and my studio reflects the chaos that results from show preparations.  I’ve been making as much jewelry as possible, creating hang tags and earrings cards – but not cleaning up after myself.

My computer desk

Now that my shows are over for a while, I need to focus inward a bit.  I’m posting pictures here of how my studio looks today, with the intent of holding myself accountable for showing you better organized results next week.

Clutter on the bookshelves to the right of my computer table.

2 Saturdays ago, I was at the Olympia Artists’ Garage Sale.  I sold not just jewelry, but also surplus supplies.  I filled 2 plastic shoe boxes with beads I no longer wanted.  I had sold about 2/3 of the beads, when a couple approached my booth and asked if I would sell all the remaining beads for $10!  For sure!  So that was the start of my spring cleaning efforts.  I also sold some display items I no longer wanted. The more unneeded stuff I can clear out of this room, the better!

Photo set-up and antique Hamilton printer’s cabinet

Cluttered jewelry work table

I made a number of new earrings, bracelets and necklaces for my shows this month, but I haven’t  listed them online yet.  So along with cleaning up, I intend to list new jewelry.  Be sure to follow my Linda Landig Jewelry Facebook page, as I will post all my shop updates there.

Close up of cluttered jewelry work table.

Bulletin boards and white boards that need hanging up.

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Bead Table Wednesday: Artist’s Garage Sale

The town I live in, Olympia, WA, is a pretty funky, artsy place.  We have a fun, annual event called the Artists’ Garage Sale.  Now this isn’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill spring garage sale.  Oh no!  This is over 70 artists, gathered together and selling excess art supplies (canvas, tools, beads, instruments etc.) and lower priced art works.  The booth fees and $1 entry fee goes to support and promote the arts and area young  artists.  This Saturday will be the third or fourth time I’ve done this sale.

I will be selling some excess beads, (well maybe not some–it’s actually a lot), some booth display items and my handmade jewelry.  I will be offering jewelry in a price range of $14 – $80.  Right now my bead table looks like a wreck, but within that wreckage are efforts to create a large stock of lower priced earrings.

My work table–sigh….. I need an organization intervention!

I’ve made these lower priced earrings so far.  I will be offering them for $15 each or 2 for $28.

Artists’ Garage Sale Earrings

I’ve been making use of Heather Powers’ suggestion to use muffin tins to organize my projects.  Each muffin space has the beads needed to create a pair of earrings.  Whenever I have a bit of time, I can just pull out my muffin tin and set to work, with everything right at my fingertips.  I blogged about this organizational tool here.

Muffin tin bead project organizer

After the Garage Sale, my friend Lee Anne French, and I are going out to dinner together.  I’m really looking forward to getting a chance to visit.  Lee Anne will have a booth at the sale too.  She makes delightful, affordable jewelry, which you can find at Saturday’s Garage Sale or in her shop:  Baubles Handcrafted Jewelry.

If you are local, I hope you will stop by and say “Hello” at the Artists’ Garage Sale on Saturday!

 

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Bead Fest – Stash!

Impulsivity

About a dozen of my online my bead artist and designer friends were all planning on attending Bead Fest in Philadelphia last weekend.  I yearned to meet these women in person because I had enjoyed and cherished our online communication so much.   Once I got the idea of going to Bead Fest, I couldn’t get it out of my thoughts.  Mind you, I live in the completely opposite corner of the United States.  Flying to Pennsylvania for just a day and a half is totally expensive and frivolous.  Etc.,etc.!

I wanted to go anyway!  I’m retired, right?  Time to have some fun.   Well,I thought,  I’ll just take a peek at online ticket prices…no harm in that.  The first time I looked, tickets ranged from $565-$1500.  Yikes!  No way.  But I kept monitoring the airline prices and by Friday night the prices had fallen to $507.  I’m usually not given to impulsivity, but my desire to personally know my beady sisters, out-weighed any judgement or caution.  I booked my tickets at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday night and in less than 24 hours, I was on my way to the Philly Bead Fest!!!

Bead Table Wednesday

So here’s what’s on my bead table today: my great new bead stash from Bead Fest.  I know you’re jealous, but don’t drool on your keyboard, OK?

Hands of the Hill

Kazuri Beads

Dyed howlite & matte finish sodalite

Hand-painted porcelain

etched and matte agate beads

Rustic fire polished beads

Drop beads

Tribal beads and pendants

Delightful rustic glass beads

Lampwork glass flowers

Drilled river stones

Here’s Diana Ptaszynski  demonstrating how we all felt after a day’s worth of bead shopping: exhausted!  We revived ourselves with an excellent dinner at Legal Seafood—but more on that in a future blog post.

Bead exhaustion!!!

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Bead Table Wednesday: Kick It Up A Notch!

Springtime Giveaway

Q – What is better than a springtime earring giveaway?

A – A giveaway that includes earrings, a bracelet and artisan-made embossed copper components!

Melinda Orr Designs and I are collaborating to take this giveaway and kick it up a notch!

As announced on Monday’s blog post, everyone who enters the giveaway has an opportunity to be included in the drawing for the “So Sari Earrings”, featuring amazing handmade patina’ed copper dangles by Melinda Orr Designs, sari silk and lampwork (handmade) glass by Radiant Mind.

So Sari Earrings

And now, each person who shares this giveaway on Facebook, their blog or Google+ will also be entered to win their choice of a pair of handmade copper components by Melinda Orr Designs or a turquoise and green bracelet which I wove on Sunday.  There’s something for everyone–whether you just love wearing artisan jewelry or whether you are an artisan jeweler yourself.

Athena Ancient Patina Copper Charms by Melinda Orr Designs

Hand-woven bracelet by Linda Landig Jewelry

How To Play Along

Click to go to my Facebook page.

• Comment on the Facebook Giveaway post  for 1 entry to win the earrings.
• Click the share button on the Facebook post and get 2 extra entries.
• If you have a business page, click to share it there too and get an another 2 entries.
• Share this Giveaway on your blog and leave a comment on my Facebook Giveaway post letting me know you have done this, for 2 entries.
• Share the Giveaway on Google+ and let me know about it on my Facebook Giveaway post, for 2 more entries.

The basics:

Comment = 1 entry

Shares = 2 entries

I will number all these entries in the order received and then use an online random number generator to determine the earring winner.

Then I will number all the people who shared the giveaway.  I’ll use the random number generator again to determine who gets to choose between the  copper components and the bracelet.  The winners will be posted on my blog and Facebook page on Sat. March 31st.

Best of luck and Happy Springtime!

Hand-woven bracelet by Linda Landig Jewelry

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.