More Mykonos

I've been waiting for inspiration to hit, so I could get these cool new beads out into the world. Today I was really on a roll!

Mykonos castings and aged picasso seed beads (from Stinky Dog Beads), old padre trade beads, amazonite, fancy jasper, antiqued copper, and soft deerskin leather.

Amazonite, fancy jasper, fire agate, Czech glass, antiqued copper, Mykonos castings, waxed linen

New Earrings for Cultivation

On my last visit to Cultivation, the shop in Wheeler that carries my jewelry, I dropped off a bunch of bracelets and received a new order for earrings. These are the earrings I made recently to replenish the earring rack - metal, glass, and bone.

New Leather Bracelets

Looking through countless pages of leather strips on various sites, I have discovered that with all of the wild colors out there, I am really only drawn to neutrals - tans, towns, and blacks. There are some great shades in these neutrals, though. It's been fun to play with combinations of leather and metal in a variety of finishes - antiqued brass, copper, and pewter. Here are my experiments with Tierrcast leather strips, clasps, and embellishments from artbeads.com.

The color of the leather below is called "taco." Hmmmm....interesting name, beautiful color. Incredibly soft! Love the bamboo embellishment. Z-clasps are so easy to use.

On this saddle brown bracelet (below), I discovered that brass nuts from the hardware store rivet well on this leather. Rock and roll, baby! (The embellishment is "Rock and Roll ID Tag.")

This color (below) is "rust." Looks gorgeous with antiqued copper. So rich. Adding a lobster clasp and chain makes this one adjustable to a variety of sizes.

Cocoa brown leather (below) is classic with silver.

We're All Ears :: May Inspiration Reveal

Shells? Oh, yeah. I can work with that! For this month's challenge, I was instantly inspired to run with the beach theme. After all, I have 50 million shells tucked away in dresser drawers, piled in jars on windowsills, and occupying way too much space in one of my jewelry studio hutches. In fact, I was even pretty sure I had some of these exact shells somewhere. SOMEWHERE. A word I use far too often and a clear indicator that it is time to organize the remaining boxes from our move, wherein reside said shells.

Looking through my jar of agates collected from hikes on various Oregon beaches, I found two carnelian-colored, almost-matching pieces that would represent my beach theme and started shopping through my stash. Copper? Carnelian? Red Creek jasper? Bone?

I knew I wanted to keep the focus on the agates and cage them inside hammered copper hoops, but they sat on my work table forever while I dreamed (literally) about how to accomplish this without obscuring the stones in gobs of wire. 

Here are the finished earrings after a wire wrap, a bath in LOS, and an added shell charm dangle - a beach find with a nod to the reddish color and the spiral shape.

But wait, what about shells? I found two shells with holes in them. (Haven't yet invested in a drill to make my own holes, so naturally occurring holes are a handy convenience.) These took forever to problem solve, but that's what challenges are all about, right?

Still more shells to use! I combined wrapped shells with aquamarine, pearls, larimar, and Peruvian opal. As you can see, I got distracted from the original color palette. I was thinking about beach colors, I guess. *The spiral cage technique was created by Tracy Stanley and was published in the book she co-authored with Janice Berkebile, Making Wire and Bead Jewelry .  

I wasn't yet finished with this inspiration; I was on a roll! Departing from the beach theme, I still had to capture those colors and shapes - the spirals, the red and black, the stripes. I made some silver spiral connectors and added Czech glass drops, striped bone, and black seed beads.

Finally, here are the inspiration photos for this challenge.  Thanks, Erin, for the best inspiration yet. This challenge was near and dear to my heart, representing the natural beauty of my home on the Oregon coast. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Comfortable Design

It's always comforting to return to an old favorite design. These were the first style of wrap bracelets I learned to make, and I still enjoy making them (though it has been a while). I love this button, and the teal linen really adds a unique design element.

 *black 2mm leather, silver ball chain, teal waxed linen, pewter sunflower button, silver beads

Shop Order

I have been fortunate to be doing quite well selling my jewelry in a cute little shop called Cultivation in the small town of Wheeler, Oregon just north of here.

Lina, the owner, just put in an order for more bracelets, so I have been very busy in the studio, ordering new beads and stringing bracelets. I just received an order of handmade Indonesian glass from Happy Mango Beads at 40% off. Great sale! 

Here are some of the new bracelets that will be going in the shop soon. These first pieces can be worn as either 4X wrap beaded bracelets or necklaces. These gorgeous rustic red and crackly white beads are glass trade beads that are 100 years old (Happy Mango, again)! I love beads with a history.

As requested, I made lots of leather bracelets.

These rolo chain and leather bracelets have been big sellers in the shop, so I am sending more. I love that, unlike wrap bracelets, they are so easily adjustable. 

Now Lina is requesting more earrings. Back to work!

A Tin Whirlwind

I had a long date with some tins, my disc cutter, and dapping block.

Custom Order

For my cousin, I made this wrap bracelet/necklace.  I love the color palette and button. It just so happened (unplanned) that the bracelet will arrive on her birthday. Kismet! Happy birthday, Kate!

* Indonesian glass (Happy Mango Beads)

* wood

* glass

* silver