Flower Art Challenge

This month’s challenge theme from the Art Elements blog is Flowers. Nothing inspires me more than flowers do. I love their many colors, shapes and textures. I have always been deeply moved, healed and inspired by the beauty in nature. We once had a home that had over 1,000 daffodils in the back field – my husband planted them over the years because he saw how much joy they brought me! 🙂

I make greeting cards with pressed, dried flowers. I photograph flowers. I design flowered jewelry and ceramic items and I love to arrange flowers. I adore flowers!

I have a number of different entries for this month’s Challenge, but several things are still works in progress. I was sick for a couple of weeks in July and didn’t get everything finished up. However, early in July, I made this bowl, with a floral motif in it.  It has now had its first kiln firing, but I haven’t had time to glaze and re-fire it. I am still pondering which glazes to use.

I have set myself a goal of having a booth at a large Art To Wear show next April. Judging will take place in January 2020  My goal (besides being juried in) is to have all my own ceramic jewelry in the show. This is a lofty goal, because I have tons of jewelry with art beads from other makers, but I haven’t done a lot of designing with my own ceramic components. Mostly I have just offered them for sale to jewelry designers. So I have my work cut out for me and I used this Art Elements challenge to jump start my efforts.

I made these yellow earrings early this month. They include my ceramic roses which I accented with lampwork glass by Third Eye Gypsys.

After making these earrings, I decided to make a bunch more roses to use for simple post earrings and necklaces. I haven’t had time to glaze them yet, but I plan to make them happy and colorful! These are the earring pairs.

These are larger and will be used in necklaces.

Next I made some daisy post earring pairs.

These also have a larger version for necklaces.

Here’s another floral earring pair, in a more rustic style.

And a last minute necklace addition… I made this simple necklace this afternoon with a new pendant I made last week.

Last of all, I want to share a floral “event” that took me by surprise this month. I posted some flower photographs on Instagram and Facebook. Shelly Turner, the owner of the OOAK Artisan Showcase gallery, in Rome, NY saw my photos and asked me to submit two of them to an upcoming show. The show is titled “Summer Afternoon” and it runs through August 4th. She sent me a photo of one of my pictures in the gallery.

And here’s the other flower photo I submitted; a stunning purple poppy.

I would like to thank Art Elements for hosting this challenge, with special thanks to Marsha Neal Minutella who arranged it all. This is a blog hop so please take some time and look at the wonderful things people are creating for this theme. I invite you to visit the artists’ blogs and leave a friendly comment, (if you are having issues leaving comments, try using google chrome as your browser).
You can also see and participate yourself via social media by using the hashtags: #AEThemeChallenge and #AEFlowers

Here is a list of the Visiting Artists:
Alysen
Cat
Divya
Evie and Beth
Jill
Hope
Kathy
Linda
Louise
Martha
Melissa
Michelle
Rozantia
Sarah
Sarajo
Tammy

And the Art Elements Blog Contributors:
Caroline
Cathy
Claire
Jenny
Laney
Lesley
Marsha
Susan

Linda Landig Jewelry

 

 

June 2017 Component Challenge

Today is the reveal for the June 2017 Component Challenge, hosted by Janice Everett in her Facebook group Artisan Create Together.  Mari Carmen of Majoyoal  donated 12 pairs of her beautiful ceramic components for this Challenge. I received one of the violet pairs from the picture below.

I  really admire Mari Carmen’s way with glazes.  Her color combinations and the way she swirls the glaze colors together, without them ever looking muddy, just fills me with awe. 

For some reason the larger Czech glass flowers in my photos look like they are blue.  In reality they are lavender and purple with hints of gold. The Swarovski crystals are a pale, translucent green which echos the green at the top of Mari Carmen’s ceramic components.

Mari Carmen lives in Spain and I speak a little very basic Spanish. Whenever she comments on my Facebook page in Spanish, I try to read it without hitting the translate button, although she frequently comments in English too.  If I am able, I like to comment on her posts in Spanish.  You may remember that we lived in Oaxaca, MX for 3 months, two or three years ago. So I like to use my tiny bit of Spanish when I can.

I just want to thank Janice for all the work she puts into Artisan Create Together and I’d like to thank Mari Carmen for generously sharing her beautiful ceramic components with us.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Ceramic Heart Pendants And Charms

Dark Brick Red Heart Pendant with Black Dots

I’ve been adding some heart shaped pendants to my shop, because Valentines Day is quickly approaching.  I’m not much into the traditional pink and bright red, but I did make one pink heart because I know that many of you are fans of that color.  The heart is lightly textured and the pink glaze has faint flecks of blue in it.  One of Pantone’s 2016 Spring Colors  is Rose Quartz Pink.  This heart fits the bill nicely!

Pink Heart Pendant

Rose Quartz Pink Ceramic Heart

Sticking with the Pantone theme a bit longer, I’ve created a heart that is half Rose Quartz Pink and half Serenity Blue, (another Pantone color for 2016).  I rather like this one and hope to have time to make other “half ‘n half” hearts.

Blue and Pink Heart Pendant

Serenity Blue and Rose Quartz Pink heart pendant

I’m not a big fan of the bright, fire engine red that often shows up in heart designs, but I do love brick red.  In fact, as I am writing this, I realize that I’m wearing a brick red shirt layered over a navy blue tee, today.  I think I’ll need a heart to go with it!  The heart at the top of today’s post would work, or the one below.

Dark Brick Red Heart Pendant with Checkered Pattern

I also made a dark green heart pendant. It has two related, but different patterns on it.

Teal Green Ceramic Heart Pendant

Just for fun, (well all of this is fun, truth be told), I made some little heart charms, that would be sweet hanging off a bracelet or as a component dangling below a larger focal bead.

Three Little Heart Charms

Keep a watch on my shop and on my Facebook page, because I’ll soon be adding a pair of heart earring charms, flower pendants, charms and cabs as well as other bits and bobs.

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

Linda Landig Jewelry

Raven Theme – Work In Progress

October’s AJE Component of the Month challenge centered on a raven theme, rather than on a specific component.  Participants were invited to create raven  jewelry or jewelry components.

On the Art Jewelry Elements blog, Karen shared some Native American origin stories and Jenny wrote about Celtic and Norse raven mythology.

I have had very little time to focus on jewelry this month, as we’ve been busy getting our house ready to put on the market. However, I thought I could at least show you some preliminary drawings.

Unlike some of my AJE teammates, I have no background in drawing or painting and I’ve only recently begun making a few tentative sketches.  My 1st idea was to keep things simple and just draw a raven feather that I could translate into a pendant.  Even though you’d think a feather would be easy to draw, it took me quite a long time to get the shape and proportions to my liking.  I think this will transfer well into clay.  I have some ideas for patterns to go inside the feather outline.  Can’t wait to carve out some time, so I can get my hands back into clay.

I got to see one of Caroline’s initial raven drawings and Jennifer has been privately sharing some of her drawings from a college class she has been taking this semester.  They inspired me to try drawing a raven head.  Three labored attempts landed in the trash before the drawing you see below.  And I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I erased portions of this picture, because I couldn’t get the proportions right.  This was several hours of work.  Obviously this does not come naturally to me.  But I’m all about stretching beyond your comfort zone.  Karen helped me see that this guy needs a bit more structure at the top of the head, especially at the juncture with the beak.  But overall I’m pretty happy with him – I surprised myself!  I have no plans to make this raven head into a pendant.  I just challenged myself to try drawing this for the fun of it.  I do plan to make use of the feather, though.

Although I have a raven pendant from Jenny Davies-Reazor, I ran out of time to design a necklace with it.  I will, however, share a finished necklace that is already in my shop and just waiting to fly home with someone.

Blue Raven Necklace

This is a blog hop!  So head on over to Art Jewelry Elements to get links to all the other participants.  I can’t wait to see what everyone has made!

And by the way-

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

Linda Landig Jewelry

Oak Leaf And Acorn Necklace

AJE Component Of The Month Reveal

I hosted the September Component of the Month on the Art Jewelry Elements blog. Each of the participants received one of the pendants below.

After distributing the pendants, I got the idea to make some with 3 loops, rather than two.  My design features one of the new three loop pendants.

Using Irish waxed linen I dangled a pewter squirrel, by Green Girl Studio from the bottom loop.  At the front of the necklace,  I knotted mossy green glass, wood, recycled glass and trade beads, on orange leather cording.  The back is a simple pattern of seed beads.

I have one 2-loop oak leaf pendant in my shop now and will be adding a few more 2 and 3 loop pendants later this afternoon or early evening.

I want to thank everyone who participated in this month’s COM.  To see everyone’s creations, follow these links!

Guests
Carolyn Lawson
Alice Peterson
Diana Ptaszynski

AJE Team

Susan Kennedy
Niky Sayers
Caroline Dewison
Jenny Davies-Reazor

Linda Landig – You are here
Lindsay Starr
Kristen Stevens

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

Linda Landig Jewelry

Autumn Pendant Giveway

Ready to move into designing jewelry for autumn?  I’m hosting a giveaway over on the Art Jewelry Elements blog that might help you get started.  2 lucky people will each win one of my ceramic Oak Leaf & Acorn pendants.

To find out to enter the giveaway, go to Art Jewelry Elements and read the directions carefully.  Then throw your name in the hat and cross your fingers!

Good luck!

Linda Landig Jewelry

 

Good luck!

Snowflake Necklace

AJE Component of the Month Reveal

Once a month Art Jewelry Elements (AJE) hosts a component giveaway and jewelry reveal.  December’s component was made by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio.  Members of the Art Jewelry Elements team, plus a few  lucky guest artists were given one of these awesome ceramic snowflake pendants to design with.  Today we get to see what everyone created!

Ceramic Snowflake Pendants by Suburban Girl Studio

I received one of the turquoise snowflakes to work with.  I decided to highlight the triangular shaped points of the snowflakes, by using some bicone shaped beads and by creating a triangular shaped clasp.

The triangular link is based on a link from Cindy Wimmer‘s book The Missing Link.  I used a bit lighter gauge wire and made it a bit smaller, so it wouldn’t overwhelm Diana’s pendant.  Then I used the same basic idea, but created a hook on one end, so I could use it as a clasp.

The beads are strung on walnut colored Irish waxed linen.  The beautiful batiked ribbon wrapped a bead order I got from Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.  It has some turquoise in it, along with shades of blue, black and green.  So pretty and it was a perfect finishing touch for my necklace.

Thank you Diana for sharing your pendants with us! Visit Suburban Girl Studio to see more of Diana’s work!

Want to see more gorgeous  jewelry with Diana’s snowflake pendants?  Click on the links below to see what the other participants created.   Have fun!

Guest Artists

Dana Hickey

 

AJE Blog Team

Lindsay M Starr

Linda Landig

Lesley Watt

Caroline Dewison

Susan Kennedy

Jen Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Melissa Meman

Kristen Stevens

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

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

2014 Holiday Ornament Swap & Blog Hop

In October I, and many others, received invitations to participate in Sally Russick’s annual Holiday Ornament Swap/Hop.  I’d never participated before, but it sounded like fun.  Sally said one of the reasons she enjoys hosting the ornament swap each year is that it offers an opportunity to connect with a old bead friends or make new connections.

I was given the opportunity to make a new connection with Sandi Volpe.  I was certainly familiar with her name in the bead community, but I’d never connected with her.  I enjoyed getting to know her a little bit.

Ornament from Sandi Volpe

I’m not sure how Sandi made this.  The back of the star is copper.  I’m guessing that the front was either made with molten solder or molten pewter.  In any case it is really cool looking.Did you notice that there is a crystal embedded on the left side of the star?  It twinkles in the lights on the Christmas tree!

Sandi’s ornament on our Christmas tree.

She also very generously sent along some beady goodness!  Of course I love receiving new beadies!

Bead and component gifts from Sandi Volpe.

I made a stoneware snowflake ornament for Sandi and topped it with a beautiful lampwork bead by Stone Designs. Did this whet your appetite to see more handmade ornaments?  Check out the other blogs links below to see what everyone made!

1.  Sally Russick  and Tanya Goodwin
2.  Veralynne Malone  and Sally Russick 

3.  Melissa Trudinger  and Elisabeth Auld

4.  Erin Prais-Hintz  and Lesley Watt 

5.  Jenny Davies-Reazor and Patti Vanderbloemen 

6.  Kim Bender-Hora and Beth and Evie McCord

7.  Becky Pancake and Lynne Bowland 

8.  Therese Frank  and Karen Williams

9.   Melissa Meman  and Linda Hanes 

10.  Sandi Volpe  and Linda Landig 

11. Alicia Marinache  and Susan Kennedy  

Thank you Sandi for the beautiful ornament and the extra beads!  And thank you Sally for hosting the swap and blog hop!   Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a New Year that brings you new opportunities and joy.

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

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Blue Raven Necklace

AJE Component Of The Month Reveal – November 2014

Our November component comes to us from Kristen Stevens of Beadwork By KAS. Kristen does amazing things with tiny beads, including these wonderful beaded links.

Beaded Links by Kristen Stevens

Here is the pair I chose for this month’s challenge:

Terra Pearl Blue Beaded Links

This is actually the second time I have used Kristen links in this color, but I was delighted to give it a go another time!  I made these earrings a couple of months ago and they are available in my shop.

Montana Blues Earrings

.I purposely picked the same color this month, because I really love it!  However, I didn’t want to make earrings again.  I had this necklace started on my work table.  I liked the front part of it, that you can see below, but I was dissatisfied with the back of the necklace. The blue raven pendant is by Oh! Sullivan Studio, the handmade ceramic beads are from Gaea and White Clover Kiln.  There are also some recycled glass beads and various other goodies that are all knotted on Irish waxed linen.

When I saw the unfinished Blue Raven Necklace sitting on my table this week, I realized that Kristen’s beaded links would make a perfect transitional point from a beaded section of the necklace to chain in the back, and the colors were perfect.  I love serendipity like that!  So here’s my transformed necklace.  I love it now!

Due to Thanksgiving busyness and holiday jewelry show preparations, I haven’t had time to add the Blue Raven Necklace to my shop yet.  But just leave a comment below or message me if you think you might be interested and I’ll fill you in on the details.

This is a blog hop, so I encourage you to check out what all the participants did with Kristen’s awesome beaded links.

Guest Artists

Cindy Martin Shaw
Shai Williams
Karen Martinez

AJE Team Members

Susan Kennedy 
Linda Landig
LesleyWatt
MelissaMeman
Caroline Dewison
Francesca Watson
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Lindsay Starr
Jennifer Cameron

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

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry