Faux copper earrings from polymer clay.
The inspiration for the February “We’re All Ears” earring design challenge was a photo of a statue on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The statue is an 18th century standing Buddha.
The Buddha statue is copper alloy with gilding. It has a rich assortment of textures, shapes, and symbolism to inspire earring designs. Continue reading
This is a slightly out of date photo of my art bead collection. I have since filled every compartment in these four boxes, and moved into a fifth and six boxes.
It seems I am not the only one who has an easier time collecting art beads than using them. Why are they such a challenge to use? Continue reading
A midwinter sunset in Pantone’s “rose quartz” and “serenity.” I took this picture on my way home from work a few days before the reveal date for this challenge.
The inspiration for this month’s We’re All Ears earring design challenge was the Pantone 2016 color forecast. This year Pantone announced a pair of “colors of the year” rather than a single color. That pair is a pastel pink called “Rose Quartz” and a pastel blue called “Serenity.” Our hostess challenged us to design earrings inspired by these colors or the rest of the spring palette. Continue reading
The theme for the winter design challenge on Art Jewelry Elements was the rebirth of the sun, including mythology about the winter solstice.
The Winter Solstice, which marks the longest night and shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere, is something I learned to celebrate while living in Fairbanks, Alaska. There’s nothing like having just short of four hours of daylight per day for months to make you appreciate the mid-winter event that marks the gradual lengthening of days. Continue reading
As I prepare to flip the cover on a new calendar, I wanted to look back at what I’ve done this year. Luckily, I have my blog posts to remind me of the design challenges, blog hops, and creative adventures that took place in 2015. Continue reading
When my acupuncturist asked if I could make some fish ornaments to decorate her treatment rooms, I said I’d give it a try. She wasn’t specific about how the fish should look, other than that they be colorful. And I had an approximate size reference.
With that much creative freedom, I headed into the studio with no idea where to start. That’s not a bad thing. I tend to get the artistic equivalent of writer’s block when someone custom-orders something overly specific. My muse needs a little inspiration, and a lot of space to play. In this case, I had all the play space I needed. And no deadline. Perfect working conditions. Continue reading
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have much need or space for lords-a-leaping, maids-a-milking (not to mention the cows!), drummers, pipers, dancers, geese, swans, calling birds, French hens, turtle doves, or a pear tree with a partridge. I mean, can you imagine the noise and the mess all of that would make?
The gold rings? Okay, maybe I could find a spot for those. But wouldn’t this be a more practical and modern version of that extravagant gift for us jewelry designers. Continue reading
Chainmaille jewelry is one of those things I’ve often looked at and thought “that must take forever to make.” I could just imagine the hours of opening and closing all those jump rings.
I admired the skill and the patience I assumed it must require to create the intricate patterns but didn’t feel compelled to try it myself. I know me. And patience is not one of my virtues. Continue reading
I signed up for a jewelry design challenge with the theme “Welcome to Faery.” I had visions of making delicate shimmery translucent earrings in the shape of wings. I was going to do a “light” fairy version and a “dark” fairy. Or maybe I was going to make fairy wings for each of the four seasons. Yep. Grand plans, I had.
Because all these diaphanous winged earrings looked so spectacular in my head, I didn’t worry about getting off to a late start with the actual making of said wings. I didn’t wait until the very last minute. Neither did I allow enough time for the “error” part of the trial-and-error process of designing something I’ve never done before. Nor for a plan B when things went pear-shaped. Continue reading
Polymer clay seed pod beads.
The theme for the November We’re All Ears earring design challenge was seed pods. Our hostess, Erin Prais-Hintz, shared botanical prints as inspiration.
The prints were mainly in black and white, which Erin hoped would lead us to be inspired by the form of the pods and use our imagination for the rest. My imagination got a little carried away. Not so much in a “whoa, what the heck is that” way. But in a “I ended up with a bumper crop of seed pod-inspired earrings” kind of way. Continue reading