July Component Of The Month Reveal

This month’s  Component Of The Month was made by Art Jewelry Elements (AJE) team member Niky Sayers.  Niky, who is from London, England, used 2 old farthing coins to make a very cool bead.  I didn’t know how much a farthing was worth or when it had been in use, so I looked it up.  A farthing was worth a quarter of an old penny and there were also half farthings and 3 quarter farthings.  They were taken out of circulation in 1961.

I knew that I wanted to make a multi-strand bracelet with my farthing bead.  I thought this raku bead, from Odd Designs, would add some color while also tying in with the coppery color of the coin.  At that point I decided to go for blue and coppery brown in the whole bracelet, along with some smaller spots accent colors.

The blue lampwork glass bead (above, right) by Jen Cameron of Glass Addictions was perfect for my third focal bead.

Each of the three strands of smaller beads has a mix of blue and brown glass beads, with some accent colors and some small copper heshe..  Although each strand is different, they all have some blue glass seed beads with a copper sheen and some of the copper heshe.  These common components help  to tie the overall design together. I  finished the bracelet with a handmade ceramic button by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.

Thank you Niky for sharing your awesome metalsmithing skills with us in the form of this uber-cool bead!  In addition to the AJE team members, 3 lucky guest artists also received farthing beads. My Farthing Bracelet is available in the bracelet section of my shop.

Check out the blogs listed below to see what everyone else made with their farthings.

Guest Artists

Rebecca Anderson
Nan Smith

Jess Green

AJE Team 
Niky Sayers

Sue Kennedy

Kristen Stevens

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lindsay Starr

Caroline Dewison

Lesley Watt

Linda Landig
Rebekah Payne

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

Linda Landig Jewelry

We’re All Ears :: June Tide Pools Challenge

Growing up near the Pacific coast, my fascination with tide pools dates back to childhood vacations on the ocean.  There is an entire ecosystem in each little puddle and pool.

Sea stars, anemomes, mussels and barnacles share habitat on Rialto Beach. Photo by Halfcenturyhiker.

Sea stars (aka starfish) usually have 5 arms, but sometimes we’d find sea stars with a many more arms than that.

The many colored sea anemones look like strange plants, but are actually animals that attach themselves to rocks and shells.  They wave their tentacles when the tide is in and close up when the tide is out.  If you accidentally step on one, it will squirt water!

Tide pools are also home to shellfish, such as mussels, limpets and barnacles.  Any kid who has ever clambered around on rocky tide pools in flip flops can tell you how viciously a barnacle can cut your foot, if you slip on some slick seaweed!

I can not imagine living far from the sea.  It’s where I go when I need council, comfort or serenity.

Which it to say that I love this month’s Earrings Everyday Tide Pools theme.  The earrings I made would be great to wear at the beach.  But I know that I’d wear them lots of other times, just to bring a bit of the beach into my everyday life.

The beautiful blue lampwork beads are handmade by Sue Kennedy of Sue Beads.  There is a lovely trailing of fine silver around these beads, which accents the sterling silver starfish that I dangled below them.

The Silver Starfish Earrings are available in my shop: Linda Landig Jewelry.  To see my entire Surf and Sand Collection go here:  Surf and Sand Collection

This is a blog hop.  To see everyone else’s tide pool inspired earrings, head over to Earrings Everyday, to get the links.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Snowflake Earrings

Last Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Its time for the last Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge Reveal.  This Challenge lasted all throughout 2013.  The goal was to make one pair of earrings each week of the year.  I missed a few weeks when life got crazy, but overall I did fairly well.  This challenge really pushed me to produce, and I think it was good for me!

“Let It Snow” Earrings

The “Let It Snow” earrings feature shimmering blue lampwork glass beads by fellow AJE team member Sue Kennedy.  The beads have a silvery sheen that adds a striking lux factor to the earrings.

Let It Snow Earrings

Dangling beneath Sue’s lampwork beads are handmade sterling silver snowflakes by Oakhill Silver Supply.

Let It Snow Earrings

Spiral Fiber Earrings

I blogged about these earrings on the Art Jewelry Elements blog, but I haven’t shared them here.  I made the Spiral Fiber Earrings using wire links that I learned from Cindy Wimmer’s book, “The Missing Link”.

Spiral Fiber Earrings

After I formed the wire links, I wrapped the hoop portion with Wooly Wire and dangled lampwork headpins by Lori Bergman, from the hoops.

Spiral Fiber 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

Dancing Amethyst Earrings

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Its time for another Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge Reveal.  For those of you who are new to this blog, the challenge is to make a pair of earrings, each week, that use at least one artisan component.

Dancing Amethyst Earrings

This pair of earrings would be perfect for a holiday party, perhaps a New Years Eve celebration.  They have a sophisticated elegance about them.  The earrings are 3 inches long, lending a touch of drama.  I wrapped a silver wire in a graceful curve across the face of the lavender bead at the top.

Dancing Amethyst Earrings

Below that, I strung lampwork discs on Irish linen cording and let two faceted amethysts dangle beneath each disc.  I really love the spiral of violet and blue on each handmade glass disc. The colors and texture make them extra special.

Dancing Amethyst Earrings

Savory Sage Earrings

My second pair of earrings have the same graceful wire wrap at the top, but this time, it curves across the face of  shimmering blue-green shell pearls.  I love the color combination of sage green and brass.

Savory Sage Earrings

Speaking of brass, the pretty textured brass dangles were made by Free Individual, on Etsy.  The artist lives a bit north of me in Seattle, WA.

Savory Sage 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

                                             

Little Bow Earrings

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Its time for another Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge Reveal.  For those of you who haven’t been following along, the challenge is to make a pair of earrings, each week, that use at least one artisan component.

I’m a little behind with my earrings because I was sick earlier this week.  I’ll post one pair here and either later today or tomorrow I’ll add another pair.  Catching up step by step. 😉

Little Bow Earrings

This pair of earrings features adorable ceramic heart charms by Mary Harding.  I love Mary’s nature inspired work and her color sense.

Little Bow Earrings

As I sat down to work on these, I knew I wanted to use the brass spiral beads, but I hadn’t decided yet how to attach everything.  That was when I spied a strand of silk that Marsha Neal had given me at Bead Fest last August.  It was a perfect accent for the hearts. I looped the silk through the charms and the beads and then tied pretty little bow in the middle. I added a touch of glue in the back to secure the bows so they won’t come loose. Then I made the earwires and included a little turquoise fire polish bead just above the loop.

Little Bow Earrings

I haven’t added these to my shop yet–that’s my next task today.  Once they are listed, I’ll come back here and add a link.  The Little Bow Earrings have been added to my shop now.

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

                                             

Sister In Law Earrings

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Its time for another Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge Reveal.  Participants have challenged themselves to make a pair of earrings every week.  All of our earrings include art beads or components.  Here are my new creations from the past 2 weeks.

Lilac Link Earrings

My husband’s side of the family gathered to celebrate my nephew’s 27th birthday, recently.  Mmmmm, cake & laughter!

I brought along a new pair of earrings for my sister-in-law.  She makes jewelry too, so we enjoy gifting each other with our creations.

Lilac Link Earrings

The lampwork glass discs are handmade by Out West.  The lilac, blue and black are such a gorgeous color combo.  My sister-in-law loves them!

Lilac Link Earrings

I linked the disks to my handmade ear wires with a ring of matte “peanut beads” in shades of gray, silver and black.  I have another set of Out West disc beads that are very similar to these and I will probably link them up the same way and offer them in my Etsy shop.

Lime Green Earrings

This second pair of earrings are more on the casual, fun side of things.  The little blue polka dots on Jennifer Heynen’s ceramic headpins just say “playtime” to me!

Lime Green Earrings

I placed blue Greek ceramic discs above the headpins, to accent the blue polka dots.  Then I selected these two-tone lampwork glass beads to top things off.  The lime green transparent glass has lighter green, opaque streaks that have glass bubble decorations that echo the polka dots on the ceramic headpins. I love the way they carry on the dotty theme!  Unfortunately, I have had these lampwork beads a long time and I no longer remember the artist who created them.

Lime Green 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

                                             

Coral Blossom and Butterfly Earrings

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Its time for another Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge Reveal.  Participants have challenged themselves to make a pair of earrings every week.  All of our earrings include art beads or components.  Here are my new creations from the past 2 weeks.

I have fallen behind the in past several of weeks,  First my right hip became inflamed from arthritis and I was in severe pain for about a week, then I was away at a metalsmithing retreat and then my computer died!  My hip is much better now, the retreat was awesome and a new computer has been ordered and should be here by Wednesday.  So enough with the excuses and onward to the new earrings!

Butterfly Earrings

I made this pair of earrings just before my hip pain flared up a few weeks ago.  They were sort of a last attempt to hang onto summer!  Though clearly that attempt failed as it has been raining hard here for the past couple of days and leaves are falling all over–including into overflowing rain gutters.

Butterfly Earrings

The pretty scalloped brass butterfly charms are handmade by Lesley Watt of THEA Elements.  The glass beads are baby blue with pretty pink roses and green leaves.  In my mind, I picture the butterflies flitting among the roses in a country garden.

Coral Blossom Earrings

I made the coral blossom earrings last week, with gorgeous, autumn colored lampwork glass beads by Lara Lutrick.

 

The coral colored lampwork beads are accented by tiny pearls.  Handmade copper charms by Kristi Bowman Design dangle below. I love the color of the lampwork glass with the warm tones in the copper.  The copper charms bear the impression of flowers in the middle, which is how I came up with the name “Coral Blossoms”  for this pair of earrings.

Coral Blossoms Earrings

I haven’t added these to my Etsy shop yet, but I hope to be able to do so, before the weekend is over.  I’ll update this post when I have these listed.  Tomorrow is the reveal for the Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month, so please come back and visit again!  See you then!

 

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

                                             

Denim Elegance Earrings

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Its time for another Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge Reveal.  Participants have challenged themselves to make a pair of earrings every week.  All of our earrings include art beads or components.  Here are my new creations from the past 2 weeks.

Denim Elegance Earrings

I’m in a really busy patch of time from now through mid-September.  I have lots of wonderful events and learning opportunities on the horizon, but sometimes its hard to keep the necessary momentum going.

A friend of mine hosts an annual Mother/Daughter weekend.  I just  returned home from that event this afternoon.  We went kayaking, had a fire on the beach, played funny party games, ate, drank, reconnected with one another and laughed.  At one point during the game we were playing, I was laughing so hard that tears were running down my cheeks!

Anyway, with a lot going on, I only got one pair of earrings made since the last earring reveal.  I’d made a similar pair recently, which were purchased from my Facebook page (I love it when that happens, btw).  A friend of mine from a town we lived in 7 years ago spied those earrings and wondered if I could make her a pair also.  The earrings include denim blue lampwork glass beads from Stone Designs.  So I contacted Sheila, the glass artist, and asked if she could replicated the beads.  Once I received the beads from Sheila, I went looking for the distinctive earwires that I had used in the first pair of the Denim Elegance earrings.  Couldn’t find any.  So I made them myself.  My friend told me she is delighted with her new earrings and that makes me very happy!

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

                                             

AJE Earring Challenge Reveal – Week 23 & 24

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Its time for another Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge Reveal.  Participants have challenged themselves to make a pair of earrings every week.  All of our earrings include art beads or components.  Here are my new creations from the past 2 weeks.

Garden Breeze Earrings

I wanted to make some earrings using these fantastic handmade copper headpins by Kristi Bowman Design.  I got out a bunch of lampwork beads to see how they looked with the copper.  Once I laid these lavender, periwinkle and yellow lampwork beads next to the copper, I knew I had a winner. The colors just sing together.  I named them the Garden Breeze earrings because the colors reminded me of the iris we have in our garden.

Garden Breeze Earrings

New Leaf Earrings

For my second pair of earrings, I used lampwork glass from Beads and Botanicals and accented them with yellow-green glass leaves.  The beads are strung on enameled headpins by Sue Beads,  Newly unfurled leaves often have a strong yellow cast to them, especially in the early spring.  I named this pair of earrings “New Leaf Earrings” because of the yellow-green bands on the leaf beads.

New Leaf 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

                                             

AJE Earring Reveal Weeks 20, 21, 22

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge Reveal

Art Jewelry Elements Blog is hosting a year-long Earring Challenge.  Participants agree to create a pair of earrings, every week for a year and their earrings must include art beads.  Every other Sunday we have a blog hop to share what we have made.  Here are my designs for the past 3 weeks.  I was one week behind schedule, but I got caught up this week.

Seafoam Earrings

My earrings, today, are inspired by some of my favorite things.  The Seafoam Earrings were inspired by my love of the sea.  When I need to restore my soul, relax or just get away, I head for the ocean.  These lovely hoops were made by Marsha Neal Studio.  I dangled faceted midnight blue and smooth light blue pearls from the top.

Seafoam Earrings

Garden Idyll Earrings

I love flowers. I love creating floral arrangements and I love walking through our garden and savoring all the magnificent flowers my husband has planted.  With these earring you can even have flowers hanging from your ears!  The ceramic daisies are from Bo Hulley Beads.  I used royal blue artistic wire to accent these earrings and added 5 pretty glass flower beads that look to me like they are climbing up a garden trellis.  At the top I added a little coil of purple artistic wire and then wrapped down the blue wire loop.  I love how playful and happy the Garden Idyll Earrings are.

Garden Idyll Earrings

Evening Merlot Earrings

Um, need I say more?  Love me some wine in the evening.  The Evening Merlot Earrings feature lampwork glass beads by Beads and Botanicals, with glass headpins by Havana Beads.

Evening Merlot 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