Brin de Magie !

Brin de Magie ! A Bit of Magic!

I'm doing a Christmas market at the end of this week, and you can see what it's all about by clicking here. 

 
Of course, that means that I have been busy working ...

Looks vintage but it's new glass.

Czech glass disks.

A variety of colored stones with adjustable length clasp.

These little colored beads are called squarelets - their hole is off-center.

Black, bronze, and yellow byzantine chain with glass pendant.

A redo - little turquoise seed beads to highlight the orange!

Calsilicate and wood fossil - I might have to keep this one!

These are very interesting: cat's eye glass in barbell (or peanut) shape.

Purple Czech glass with mini square crystals.

And these are flat square beads with spectra glass cubes in bright colors.

Hematite donuts with glass crystals.

Blueberry quartz, which is actually a synthetic stone.

What's new!

Chinoiserie

Chunky but not heavy

Cylinder polka dot beads on memory wire

A rainbow of chevron beads

Millefiori beads are so colorful!

Corn kernels?

Just in time for holiday parties!

These photos are my first tries with a light box ... clearly a learning curve here! However, I have an upcoming show for the Christmas season, so I'll have lots of opportunity to practice.

And a couple of bracelets :

A bientôt !

Back in the Swing of Things!!

I'm back at work, and happy to be there!! My goal this year is to do two art fairs or shows, and of course I like to add to my own collection from time to time. So here's what's new since 2012 began ...

VINTAGE

 These shimmery cat's heads were a gift, and I like accenting them with different colors to highlight a charm bracelet (this may be the year of the bracelets!).

 Mauves and pinks (this may also be the year of the light box - I need to be able to take better photos!).

One of my favorite kinds of necklaces: pick a color and round up all the odds and ends beads in that color, which in my stash are almost always vintage beads, and make a sautoir - it's been a while since I've had a blue one!

COLORFUL - Not much commentary needed here ...

 CHAIN MAIL - Still loving every minute of it!

 These two are a variation of the Byzantine weave. I learned the bottom bracelet, but I wanted something more filled in, so I adapted how the units were connected, which gave me the top bracelet.

 This is an orbital weave, and I'm currently working on a rainbow necklace in this weave to show off a pendant that I received as a gift ... stay tuned.

And this weave evolved out of a special order; it can't possibly be original with me, but I arrived at it under my own steam!!

King's Scale

It's been a very busy year in my life, without much time to make jewelry (that will be changing in 2012!!), but I have learned a new chain mail weave that is very disciplined and creates a flat and substantial chain. Shown here are two necklaces and a bracelet: one necklace is silvered aluminum with multi-colors, one is black with golden and silvered links, and the bracelet is purple, green, and golden. And the next one is going to be the reverse of multi-color: the big rings in all sorts of colors with silvered aluminum on the inside!

Having Fun!

A number of years ago, Marcel gave me a bracelet for Christmas that was made up of sterling silver curved tubes and assorted sterling beads. The stringing material was not optimum for the tubes, and by the third time it broke, I was tired of going back to the jeweler. So I put the beads in a box and there they sat for quite a while. Well, I saw a piece of junk jewelry in a flea market last month, and it gave me some ideas, so I took out the tubes to play with. Using memory wire and an assortment of odd lampworked and cane beads that I only have one or two of, I came up with something that has been so much fun to wear!

It was fun to make, too, so I've ordered a couple of sizes of curved tubes, and I'm planning on a colorful assortment for Christmas sales.

Next week, I'll be heading for the States for an annual conference. Now, I'm a big believer in name tags - one of the things that makes me nuts about group activities in France is that it can be very difficult to identify the people you are with - but I don't love lanyards. However, I'm in the minority on this one, and the lanyard is the nametag holder of choice for this conference. Beading Daily (an on-line newsletter that every beader should subscribe to) talked about lanyards a while back, in the context those worn by people whose badges are part of their business dress (like airport security people), but I thought it would be fun to adopt the idea for this conference. This one practically made itself, and I did the loops on the end precisely so that later the lanyard could become a necklace.

I thought my mother would like one for the same meeting, so I asked her what colors ... she said blue and gray. I played with that one for a while, but what I ended up with I would never have let anyone wear, so when she changed her mind to clear and silver, I was happy (especially since I have boxes of all kinds of clear pressed glass beads!). It didn't photograph nearly as well as the above one, so you'll have to imagine it!

And finally, here's the latest in chain mail ... Byzantine weave. What is interesting is that the bracelet is a random mixture of colors (made to go with a necklace in another weave) that are in the same range (pink, orange, golden, bronze), whereas the necklace is composed of very strong colors (red, blue, purple, silver) that I think would not have been harmonious if they had been used randomly.

And when I get back from the States, I'll have just a bit over a month to get ready for Christmas sales ... more fun!

Working with Stones

Working with stones is like working with miniature sculptures! Interesting forms in different colors and shapes - stone beads add another dimension to the creative process. When I'm working with stones, I think there is nothing better - of course, I think that when I'm working with glass, too. But many forms that are available in stones would be difficult to create in glass, and each substance has its own qualities. One thing everyone should know about stone beads: almost all stones are treated to enhance or add color.

This is moakite in several different forms, including a big wavy coin as a centerpiece, round pillows, and nuggets, with red jasper chips to set off moakite beads.

 The big disks are called green web agate, for obvious reasons, and they are interspersed with free-form chunks of carnelian. Quartz rondelles separate the beads. Very autumn!

 I don't often mix stones and glass, but these vintage blue pressed glass beads looked good with the dark blue sodalite. This necklace uses little copper round beads as separators. Dress up or dress down - a good match for a suit or a pair of jeans.
 

And here is a multi-stone necklace, with V-form beads in rose quartz, red aventurine, amazonite, and dumortierite. This one looks really good with a turtleneck sweater in any  number of soft colors!!

All that Glitters!

Crystals have been hot for quite a while now - kudos to Swarovski for fabulous marketing! I have been very late in getting into the crystal mode, but I do like certain kinds of shiny beads!!

This necklace is winter personified! Foil-lined hexagonal beads in pale blue, silvered bugles, and different blue shades of E beads - these all contribute to an icy, shimmery piece of jewelry!! Foil-lined glass beads are enormously versatile - it's one of the reasons that I like working with them.

 

This looks vintage (but it isn't) ... shades of pinks, violets, and mauves in different faceted forms, strung on pink thread - very ladylike! This one is an adjustable choker - I don't usually do necklaces this short, but it looks elegant right at the base of the throat.

And this one is vintage: blue faceted beads, pear-shape frosty ones, and ruffles (one of my favorite shapes in beads,  and I haven't seen them in years) ...

I got a bit carried away here ... I was poking around in my bead boxes, and I found myself with a handful of lampworked glass beads in various colors, each with gold or silver glitter. So I started playing with them, and I found a box of copper-lined E beads to set them off. But the necklace wasn't long enough, so I started adding vintage crystals of various shapes and coatings, and by the time I was done, I found myself with a long rope of lots of glitter - all it needs is something dressy in just about any color!!