Noël 2024

 Les préparations commencent !!

Noël 2021 : Christmas Decorations!

For a change of pace (and a lot of fun!) this year, I decided to make Christmas decorations using jewelry techniques ... beads were an obvious choice, and working with chain mail in a different context was very satisfying!!

Brin de Magie is back for its seventh season in Locmaria, Quimper ... always a treat to work and exhibit with talented craftspeople and artists ...

Christmas 2020

Our collection for Brin de Magie, our Christmas pop-up shop in Quimper, 

features stones, chain mail, and sautoirs !

 

Christmas Shopping!

We are part of Brin de Magie, a (THE) pop-up Christmas shop in Quimper. We are exhibiting from December 1 to 31 with 27 other craftspersons and artists - you can see what really wonderful creations these talented people have to offer: brindemagie.blogspot.fr

A Fun Bracelet by Any Other Name ...

Lots of creative types name their jewelry (and not just the collection, but each individual piece!). It's an idea I've toyed with, but I'm not yet convinced that it adds much to the jewelry experience, particularly when you are looking at a list of names of pieces and wondering what they might be - there is something to be said for calling a bracelet a bracelet. In this case, "fun" means a not-serious piece of jewelry, something to wear with jeans and a sweatshirt, made of materials that are not precious but are pretty.

Fun bracelet: silver-colored double aluminum chain connected by large-hole Czech glass beads on gold-colored aluminum rings. 7-3/4", large lobster clasp. 15€ + 5€ shipping.

Beaucoup de créateurs donnent des noms à leurs bijoux (et pas juste la collection, mais chaque pièce !). C'est une idée à laquelle j'ai réfléchie, mais je ne suis pas très convaincue que ça rajoute quelque chose utile, surtout quand on regarde une liste de noms de pièces en se demandant de quoi ils s'agissent  - ce n'est pas mal d'appeler un bracelet un bracelet. Ici un bracelet "fun" veut dire un bijou pas trop sérieux, à porter avec un jean et un sweat, fabriqué des matières pas précieuses mais jolies.

Bracelet fantaisie: double chaîne en alu couleur argent, connectée par des perles en verre tchèque aux trous larges sur des anneaux alu couleur dorés. 19,5 cm longueur, grand fermoir mousqueton. 15€ + 5€ frais de port.

Czech Glass Bracelet

Memory wire bracelet: faceted rondelles in jewel tones - one of our favorites!

Bracelet on memory wire (no clasp!) adapts to any wrist, going around two or three times. 

25€ + 5€ shipping.

Bracelet sur fil de mémoire : des rondelles aux facettes dans les tons "pierres précieuses", que nous adorons ! Le fil de mémoire s'adapte à tous les poignets (pas besoin de fermoir ! ), avec deux ou trois tours. 

25€ + 5€ frais de port.

Classic Glass Bead Necklace - Vintage Beads

Classic glass bead necklace:

vintage orange rectangles and clear cubes in different sizes

highlighted by turquoise (not vintage) seed beads;

26 in long, toggle clasp;

27€ + 5€ shipping.

Collier classique en perles de verre : 

rectangles orange "vintage" et cubes transparents en plusieurs dimensions,

avec des rocailles (pas vintage) turquoise pour rehausser les couleurs ;

66 cm longueur, fermoir barre/anneau ; 

27€ + 5€ frais de port

"Statement" Chain Mail Earrings

Pair of chain mail earrings:

Double byzantine weave, rings anodized aluminum - 

on the left, silvered pink and lavender; 

on the right, matte blue, white ice, and gray. 

Round plated hooks for pierced ears.

12€ + 2€ shipping.

Note: many other colors are available, as are other supports, 

including clips - just ask!

Paire boucles d'oreilles en cotte de maille : 

Maillon byzantine double, anneaux aluminium anodisé -

 à gauche, rose et lavande argenté ;

à droite, bleu, glace, et gris en matte.

Crochets arrondis pour les oreilles percées.

12€ + 2€ frais de port.

A noter : il y a beaucoup d'autres couleurs disponibles, 

ainsi que les apprêts (y compris les clips) - il faut juste demander ... 

Byzantine Square Wire Bracelet

Chain mail bracelet:

anodized aluminum square wire color ice, highlighted with 

small anodized aluminum round wire rings; 8-1/4 in long, lobster clasp. 

20€ + 5€ shipping.

Bracelet cotte de maille :

aluminium anodisé, fil carré couleur "glace", avec petits anneaux 

couleurs diverses en fil rond  ; 21 cm longueur, fermoir homard.

20€ + 5€ frais de port.

A "Sautoir" in Vintage Orange

The Pantone color for 2019 is Living Coral, and various oranges are part of the family! This sautoir is made with a variety of vintage orange glass beads, resulting in a necklace that is about 45" long, long enough to wear it in a different ways - the bead dangling from the toggle clasp can be worn front, side, or back!  40€ + 5€ shipping.

The piece presented on January 2 can be found on Instagram : jdbeads29.

 La couleur Pantone 2019 est Corail Vif, et des tons d'orange font partie de la famille ! Ce sautoir est composé des perles "vintages" différentes en verre, couleur orange ; 115 cm de longueur, pour porter dans plusieurs façons - la perle qui pend du fermoir peut être portée devant, derrière ou sur le côté ! 40€ + 5€ frais de port.

Le bijoux du 2 janvier se trouve sur Instagram : jdbeads29.

Happy New Year! Bonne Année !

It's January 1 of 2019, and this year jd beads sells on line! Glass and stone beads, aluminum chain mail, and other interesting materials ...

C'est le 1 janvier 2019, et cette année jd beads vend en ligne ! Perles en verre et en pierres, cotte de mail en aluminium, et d'autres matières intéressantes ...

jdbeads29@gmail.com

Chain mail necklace: 

anodized aluminum with beaten copper center focal bead; 

double byzantine weave in a mixture of bright colors;

17 in long, hook clasp.

40€ + 5€ shipping.

Collier cotte de maille :
aluminium anodisé avec une grande perle centrale en cuivre ;
maillon double byzantine, mélange de couleurs vives ;
44 cm de longueur, fermoir crochet.
40€ + 5€ frais de port.

Noël 2017

This collection of chain mail just left for a Christmas market in Paris!

Happy as a fish ...

The French are "happy as a fish in water" and they are also "April fish" on the first of April. This year, April 1 is on Saturday, so my group of artists and craftspersons is doing a special long weekend exhibit "Happy as an April fish" ("Heureux comme un poisson d'avril"), and the theme is fish and the sea. A new experience for me to create a jewelry collection with this kind of theme - very interesting to work with techniques I know in a new way!

glass fish with flat crystals

earrings in a variety of styles

four different bracelets - the one in the front has charms on a chain that
I dreamed up with aluminum rings and two-holed hematite beads

the two fish are hand-made and came from a gallery in Prague

the chain is a Mobius knot pattern

a more casual look for this necklace

not all fish are blue and silver

a colorful chain that picks up the fish colors

perhaps my favorite necklace in this collection

definitely casual

And to see what the nineteen other creative types are coming up with, click here!

Byzantine in all its colored splendor!

The project: a 60" necklace in Byzantine weave, multi-colored but no black or silver. No problem for the weave ... Byzantine flows smoothly in the making, drapes well, and is generally quite a pleasant weave to work with from the creation point of view.

Multicolored: always an interesting challenge! As I have said more than once, random looks better when it has a little structure to it. The weave works up in pairs of rings, and 12 rings made a unit, so the colors need to be a different number to not fall into a regular pattern. I settled on five bright colors, five slightly pastel, and gold for accents. I set up a pattern to alternate the two sets of colors, and then I tried a random generator tool to place the various colors (which was interesting, but not very successful - however, it did take me back to my high school math days and probability and statistics problems!). The color placement needs to take into account where the colors fall when the necklace is doubled or tripled - that's the tough part! This was my color worksheet:

I was quite taken with the end result ...

... and so was my client!

New Chain Mail Weaves

I'm always interested in trying new weaves. At the same time, I have to pay attention to the size of my rings. Many/most weaves are more or less possible depending on the ratio between the wire gauge and the inner diameter of the ring. I don't have the space or the budget to stock all sizes (let alone all sizes in all colors!), so I try to stick with just a few sizes, which is probably just as well, as it keeps me focused.



I've been looking for new weaves for another project of mixed weaves (more later!), which took me first to this double spiral chain. It has to be done in three colors to see the effect. It's a hard weave to get started,but when it's on its way, it practically weaves itself. It uses bigger rings than I normally use, so it won't work for my project, but it's a nice chain to wear, and I'm planning to get this size ring in other colors. Because the rings are larger and the weave is a bit looser, it takes fewer rings for a completed piece. I'm pondering on how to do a rainbow chain with this one.

This weave, which has several names and I'll stick with inverted round, fits the bill nicely for my project. It uses the ring size I want and it has a round volume, which is to say that it is not a flat weave - it feels rather like a box weave. This particular necklace was also an experiment in overlapping blocks of color. The weave is tighter than many, so it uses more rings, and I had to make up a way to finish the ends, which seems to work.







Time to get to work on my new big project!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just a small show Valentine's Day weekend, but it's an opportunity to play with hearts, one of my favorite shapes!

Frosted pink and white glass beads, old stock from a now-defunct Paris jewelry shop - what could be more Valentine's Day??

 These thick black glass hearts have an AB (aurora borealis) finish on one side - perfect with the silvered tubes in this memory wire bracelet.

Old Czech glass hearts with new Czech clear ovals ...

Foil glass hearts, in shades of black, silver, clear, and purple.

Can't forget the earrings!

And best of all, a few new "épingles de pardon"- after all, they are for sweethearts! (Check out my post about these traditional trinkets from Brittany - click here.) I was pleased to make one with all hearts!