Jewelry for Mom

My parents stayed with us this weekend, and my mom reminded me that I hadn't made anything out of the pendant she'd bought from Nawbin earlier this year. It was made of Tiffany Stone set in sterling silver, and it's been sitting on my desk for months.

I always like consulting with the person the jewelry is for, so it was great to have her opinion and incorporate the beads she wanted. Here's the final piece:

Even more fun, I got to repair a vintage piece! My mom loves this bracelet, which she got from her mother, and wore to prom:

I've always loved it, too. The band is so clever; it's incredibly comfortable to wear, doesn't pinch at all, and opens and closes so beautifully and smoothly. Plus, it's incredibly flashy and fun.

Sadly, I didn't have the exact vintage crystals to match, but I did have other vintage crystals that were the same size. They aren't AB coated, and they're a slightly different cut, but I think they still had enough light and facets to do the job.

Interestingly enough, it turns out the band was made in Japan:

The original beads are Swarovski, of course, that divine bicone/round hybrid that I adore. It was marvelous fun to make the bracelet whole again; it was missing nearly twenty of its sparkling baubles, but tonight it looks great again.

Mermaid jewelry ahoy!

I've been working on new jewelry for the past week. It's been so nice to sit at my very clean jewelry desk and work with my friendly pliers. I've been listening to Pandora Internet Radio again for the first time in ages. I signed up with an account years ago and then didn't use it until just a few days ago. Now that I have a good internet connection again, I can tune in and create Tori Amos and Kate Bush stations. Awesome!

Since my Green Girl Studios order came in, I've been having lots of fun working with new mythic elements. I've been making mermaid jewelry, owl jewelry, and tree jewelry.

Mermaid necklace at the Laurel Moon Etsy shop

Owl necklace at the Laurel Moon Etsy shop

Tree of Wisdom necklace at the Laurel Moon Etsy shop

I'll just be at my desk, grooving to Tori and Kate while I string more mythic jewelry. Keep watching my Laurel Moon Etsy jewelry shop for more!

The Very Vintage Challenge Reveal!

I've never participated in a beading challenge before, but when I saw the name Very Vintage Challenge I was immediately hooked! You all know how I like vintage, so this was a win-win situation. The challenge is hosted by Michelle Mach and I ordered my kit from her, thinking that this might be a lot of fun.



When I received the kit, I was intrigued. I've never used lucite before, and I've only used Vintaj components once or twice, so I knew this would be a true challenge for me.

I knew I didn't have a lot in my stash that would match, so I bought a smattering of Vintaj and antiqued brass components and chain. I went through my stash and began to pull out semiprecious stone that I thought might coordinate, like fossil coral and carnelian.

I laid things out and began trying to put things together. The first thing I decided was that I liked the Vintaj branch. A lot. I contemplated how to use it in the necklace, and realized that it could be a great centerpiece if I punched holes in it. I pulled out my two-hole punch and went to work.

After I'd modified the Vintaj component, I remembered the ceramic owl beads I just bought, and I thought that it would be a perfect focal bead. I also found some large fossilized wood cylinders, and when I put the beadcap from the kit on top, it looked like an acorn, so I incorporated that as well.

After that, I experimented with different links and textures, and here's the final result:

Hope you have time to stop by the other blogs and see what everyone did with their kits!

Andrew: The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton

Cat: Boo Beads

Chris: beadjewelry.net

Cilla: Tell Your Girlfriends

Cyndi: Beading Arts

Cynthia: Cynth's Blog

Dawn: Morning Glory Beading

Donetta: Simply Gorgeous

Heather: As I Bead It

Holly: SilverRose Designs

Kate: We Can Make That at Home

Kristina: Wild Roses and Blackberries

Linda: Lutka & Co

Lisa: Lucid Mood Studio

Lola: Bead Lola Bead

Mary: MLH Jewelry

Melinda: Melinda Orr Metal & Clay Jewelry Designs

Michelle : Beads & Books

Michelle H.: Firefly Visions

Salla: Blog by Salla

Shannon: Falling into the Sky

Shay: Shaiha's Ramblings

Shel: MiShel Designs

Shirley: Beads and Bread

Stephanie: Pixybug Designs

Tari: Pearl and Pebbles

Terry: Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry

Tracy: The Bead Junkie

A glimpse of scale

A while ago, I ordered one of Andrew Thornton's amazing new porcelain/metal clay pendants. Andrew, being the kindhearted soul that he is, included a few extra pendants for me to use in my designs.

Unfortunately, my internet connection has been awful for the past two weeks, and I haven't been able to do much besides struggle with Etsy and eBay listings. However, I think I've managed a workaround for the moment, and now I'm finally able to update the blog. Hooray!

Yesterday I was thinking about Andrew's pendants, and which one I wanted to work with first. My natural inclination was to design around the Day of the Dead pendant. For some reason, though, it just wasn't happening.

I went outside with my husband to look at our gardens, and my husband pointed out that there was a garter snake hanging out in the clematis trellis, winding her way through the vines, four feet from the ground. I was mesmerized, watching her coil and slither.

I couldn't stop thinking about her, and when I went inside and remembered that one of Andrew's pendants featured a snake, I couldn't resist!

I started putting together beads that evoked snakes for me. Anything green, beads with texture, beads with a bit of inner flash.



I especially liked the grossular garnet; it was a really great shade of green, with a high polish look that I really loved. However, the piece I chose turned out to be drilled a little wonky, as they sometimes are, and then I went through nearly two strands of beads trying to find one that would work with 20 gauge. In the end, though, it worked out even better than I had imagined; the piece that fit seemed to resemble the head of a snake.



I had originally picked out several different beads, but in the end, I included only a few. I love the result; minimalist, but still evocative of the serpent, the focus of the piece.





You can find more of Andrew Thornton's amazing pendants in his Big Cartel shop.

*FTC compliance disclosure: the serpent pendant mentioned in this post were provided as a promotional gift for review or design purposes from Andrew Thornton

A necklace for myself

I often buy beads and put them aside for myself, thinking I'll make some righteous jewelry for myself later. And then later somehow never materializes. Have I mentioned that I bought a bead from Anne Choi in 2006, picked out kunzite to go with it, put it on a tray on my jewelry desk...and it's still there, even now?

Yeah. I don't have the best track record for getting around to my own jewelry. I know, I know, it's great advertising, and it is, but I just never remember to actually make more. Each year before the Bead & Button Show I think, oh, I'll make some jewelry to wear at the show! And then...I don't.

So when I saw that Andrew Thornton was making a new line of pendants, and that one of the pendants was a raven holding a skeleton key in its beak, I was transfixed. I emailed him immediately and bought one. And then I fully expected it to end up in the hoarding bins.

Last night while I was working on steampunk jewelry, I happened to notice one of my hoarded treasures, a graduated strand of rutilated quartz. It sparkled. It caught my eye, and suddenly I thought of the raven pendant.

Yes, they were perfect for each other.





And now it is mine. MINE MINE MINE! I can't wait to wear it!

And now, steampunk jewelry

I'm not always aware of the trends in beaded jewelry; while I do read several trade publications, and I attend a few shows, sometimes I miss smaller trends entirely.

Not so with steampunk! One of my good friends, Melanie from Earthenwood Studio, has been creating amazing steampunk components and jewelry for some time now. Strangely enough, I'd heard of the steampunk concept years ago, through a Neil Gaiman-inspired graphic novel about a steam-powered robot. I never read it, but I was intrigued by the concept, and when Melanie began exploring steampunk, I remembered it.

My own style has always been beads, wire, flexible beading wire, and sterling silver or goldfill components, so when I started to notice steampunk jewelry appearing in Etsy shops and blogs, I didn't see how I could adapt it to my own style. The use of found objects and copper and brass was a bit daunting.

After some thought about it, and some encouragement from a couple of designer friends, I decided to take a trip down the steampunk path. I picked up an assortment of jump rings, headpins, French hooks, and gear stampings in brass and copper while I was in WI for the Bead & Button Show. I've been so busy that I didn't have time to experiment...until yesterday.



At first, I assembled the basic components for several different earrings. French hooks, a gear or two, and jump rings. Fortunately, I've done chain maille before, so working with jump rings was familiar.



After I had the basic components put together, I began to embellish them. This was the fun part; I could match different stones to the look of the metal and bring together different, larger jump rings. I changed things around as I was making them, adding elements and subtracting elements, exchanging colors of jump rings, until I had a fun set of earrings.



It was a very fun experiment, and I look forward to creating more steampunk jewelry!

It was supposed to be a simple necklace.

So simple, in fact, that I decided to sit down and make it last week, even though it was late at night. I figured it would only take a few minutes and then I'd photograph it the next day.

After all, I only needed five beads, some wire, some chain, and a key.

First, I went through my beads (no small feat) and isolated the size I wanted to use, and the color. Then I went through my chain and found the style I wanted to use. The perfect size was too small for a hook clasp to fit through, so it was either use a toggle or use a separate piece of larger link chain for the hook clasp.

With a necklace this short, sometimes it's nice to have the versatility of an extendible clasp, so I decided to go with the chain and hook clasp method.

With that all figured out, I went to work.

I cut the chain the wrong length. No problem, right? I just figured out the length of one side and compensated by cutting a new piece of chain for the other side.

Then I put the beads on, and realized that the chain was still the wrong length. Only it was an entirely new wrong length.

So I cut the key and bead pendant off, and began to redo the chain. Again.

And then I had to cut the key off the bead pendant, and I cut the top of the key and ruined it.

At that point I had to sit still and decide whether to a) continue in what was turning into a completely fruitless endeavor, b) stop for the night and try tomorrow, or c) hit the chocolate stash and never look back.

Amazing how much trouble a wee little necklace can cause, isn't it?

I decided to forge ahead (fortunately, I have several keys), which was probably a really bad idea at the time, but overall it did come out nearly as I'd pictured it:



I think I might change it around a little for the next one. I'd rather have the beads closer together, for one. But really, what I'd pictured was a small, unobtrusive necklace, the kind you can wear every day with any kind of clothing or colors. I like it so much I think I might make one for myself.

An amber challenge

Recently a friend gave me a bag of amber beads and asked me to make jewelry from the beads for her four daughters.

I immediately thought that earrings would be the best use of the beads. There were different sizes, colors and textures, which would make it a little tricky, but I knew that there were enough similar beads to make some nearly-matched pairs.

The challenge was on! Today I sat down and designed four pairs of earrings.



Hopefully each daughter will like her pair of earrings! I think there are enough different styles to make a pair for everyone.

Designing for friends

Most of the time when I design jewelry, I am simply designing around a pendant or focal point. I pull together the colors from the piece, or I bring in a new color, and I focus on complementing the central element in the way I think best suits it. There is no "audience" for the piece, so to speak; other than general thoughts of how one would wear it, durability, ease of use, etc., there is only a faceless person on the other end from me that represents the owner-to-be.

Sometimes, though, I make jewelry for someone specific.



I found these paper beads in a store, and immediately thought of a friend of mine who loves Boston Terriers. And I bought the piece and decided to keep it very simple. She is an active person, someone who does not like a lot of fuss in her clothes or jewelry, and so I kept it streamlined and put a toggle clasp on the end so it would be easy to put on and take off.

You know, I've made some complicated pieces of jewelry for family and friends before, pieces with a lot of movement or wirework, and then often I see them wearing the simpler pieces much more often--pieces I would never have imagined they'd like more than the other, more complicated necklaces. It's intriguing to see which jewelry becomes a standard part of the wardrobe and which jewelry is only an occasional addition.

Part of the fun of designing for a specific audience is that I can picture the person wearing it, and that influences the design process.

Dragon necklace

I bought a small handful of beautifully carved shell pendants years ago. There were dragon designs, birds, flowers...all with an Asian style. I put them away and would occasionally look at them.

There is a small cautionary tale involved in this story. Some of the pendants were made of white shell and featured dragons. And I was so tempted to use them, because it would be so easy to pair them with white pearls. So one night I started to pull out pearls, and it was then that I noticed that the "hole" at the top of each pendant was actually not a hole at all; it was just a small divot.

Sigh.

So I learned to always look very closely at my purchases before it's too late.

Fortunately, the other pendants had holes:



Here's my first attempt at a necklace. I like the grey hawkseye stone beads and the purple pearls, and the simplicity of the necklace and earrings. I might try to make something a little more complicated with the next one.

My 100th item is up at my Etsy jewelry shop!

I've just uploaded a new necklace to my Etsy shop, bringing my total to 100 items! To celebrate this occasion, I've activated a coupon code good for 15% off, good for this week only. The code is ETSY100.



I've hoarded a small collection of stamp pendants for years now. They're really nicely made, with sterling silver frames, lovely smooth backs, and glass set in front of the stamp to protect it. I have several from many different countries, but some of my favorites are the stamp pendants from China. I love the beautiful clothes and the long white expanse of negative space around the figure. I'm so glad to celebrate my 100th item with such a great pendant!

Click here to see the Chinese stamp pendant necklace in my Laurel Moon Jewelry Etsy shop

Changes in the office

It isn't Bead Table Wednesday, but I do have a picture of my desk.

Why? Because I went temporarily insane on Saturday. I was goofing around, you see, and all of a sudden I was struck by the most intense desire to rearrange all of the furniture in my office. It was like lightning. I got goosebumps, and then I jumped up and started just--doing it.

There were two main reasons. 1) My rack of beads is in front of a window, and I don't want anything to fade. 2) I need more space to bead.

So I have relegated the desk I've used since I was thirteen to be the new printer desk. (Three printers, a scanner, and paper and speakers and bill racks...yes, I need an entire desk just for printers.) And now I'm using a higher desk with a bit more storage space for stuff.



I'm still getting used to having alllll this space. It's kind of luxurious. I can spread out a little more, and there's a teensy lip at the edge so beads don't roll off.

Even better? I'm using the keyboard drawer as my wire/tool stash! This, more than anything, has been a dream come true. I have waaaay too many pliers, and they took up so much room on top of the desk. Having them in the keyboard tray is fantabulous.



I think the most momentous part of this rearranging is the decision to let the biggest desk be the jewelry desk. It's a renewed commitment of sorts.

I need to clean out my beads and get into the habit of making jewelry every day again. I think this is a good first step!

I wish there were more hours in the day

I sent my sterling silver and goldfill scrap into Rio Grande recently, and used the credit to order a passel o' chain. And it's arrived!



This is just the tip of the iceberg!

This photo doesn't do the chain justice--it's all so delicious and teeming with possibilities. My mind is awhirl with things to create. Tiny key necklaces with a few beads for a splash of color. Tree of Life necklaces with rhyolite and faceted pearls. Decadent chain-dripping bejeweled earrings.

I also picked up more ball headpins, new earwires, and a teensy pinch of hook clasps.

Now if I could only order some free time!

Beading and hot chocolate

Sounds messy, but really it's a natural combination. This morning, the snow was falling, and now, even though the sun has come out, I am craving a nice cup of hot chocolate and some quality time with my pliers.

My sister, who knows me oh so well (and hopefully will not reveal what really happened in the Shoebox Incident so many years ago), gave me a lovely gift this Christmas:



An assortment of yummy hot chocolate flavors!

Today's choice: tiramisu. I am looking forward to designing while sipping yummy hot chocolate and looking out over the glittering snow.

Fossil coral love

One of my favorite semi-precious stones is fossilized coral. I love the way it looks like chrysanthemum blooms, all crowded together. Such a beautiful set of patterns!

I've bought fossil coral beads for years. I've seen dyed versions hit the market recently, but you can still find a lot of the natural colors. Beige and grey are the most common.

A few nights ago, I was making a necklace, and got inspired to use some of my favorite beads.



I love the way it turned out! And now I have an excuse to find more of my favorite beads...

If you were wondering...

...what the Cosmo Jet Swarovski necklace looked like when it was finished...wonder no longer!



Not the world's best photo, sadly. This was a fun piece to make!

Work in progress

I've been putting together a Swarovski Cosmo Jet necklace. I started it yesterday, but ended up working on eBay listings instead, so it's been sitting on my workbench, half-finished.



I have just about always worked on this desk. I've never used a towel or mat to keep the beads from rolling; I usually put each kind of bead in its own tin lid. I have a big collection of tin lids at this point in all shapes and sizes.

I put down this piece of white postcard just to make sure I'm getting the colors right. I used to use Lindstrom pliers, but now I use the red and black handle high-end Eurotool pliers; they're terrific and they're a great price. The Lindstroms were great, too, but the insert often popped out, and they're very fine-tipped. I only need that fine a tip for one project in a hundred, so I would much rather use the shorter-tipped Eurotool pliers.

I really like Swarovski's Cosmo Jet beads. They have such a cool look because they're half clear, half jet. I can't wait to see what this necklace looks like when it's finished.

Stretching my design muscles

When I first began making beaded jewelry, the Y necklace was the most popular design. I was "hired" by a local bead/jewelry store to make links for these necklaces. Sadly for them, my first loops were like any other beginner's; a bit on the misshapen side. After a couple thousand, though, I was much better, and, more importantly, I was completely addicted to making jewelry.

My first designs were variations on jewelry I had made in classes. Eventually I started making my own pieces, which were mostly seed beads on Soft-Flex wire. Most of them were ugly. My sister delights in wearing a few of my first pieces, and I cringe every time she does, though she claims that it's "vintage Laurel Moon" and I should be proud of it. I always tell her to say someone else made it.

Anyway, up until this point I had been using base metal, and after a while I realized that "base metal" was considered synonymous with "cheap" by a good portion of the jewelry design community, and I started to buy silver instead. Headpins, earring hooks, beads...I replaced my whole inventory of base metal, except for the charms. I invested in lots of Bali silver and obsessed about the price per ounce.

When I started selling at shows, I understood even better why some designers used only sterling silver and goldfill metals. Customers came up constantly and asked, "Is this silver?" To be able to answer "Yes" is a very good thing, let me tell you. Sadly, I am a Full Disclosure person and I would often get bogged down in the telling of it by listing all of the parts that were sterling silver, which does tend to make some eyes glaze over. But I digress. Sterling silver became the big Selling Point for a lot of jewelry, and it was definitely what was selling.

Fast forward to a few years ago. At this point, I had started designing less. I went into a local bead store, and there was a tray of these very old-fashioned looking components on the counter. I asked what they were, and the owner said, "They're from a company called Vintaj." To my sterling silver eyes, they looked...well, I hate to say this, honestly, but they looked a little cheap, and I couldn't imagine that they'd sell in such a sterling-silver-obsessed market.

But they did sell. And I noticed design after design pouring into the magazines with darkened brass, copper, and bronze. The market was turning. Sterling silver had become so expensive that people were looking for alternatives. I went online and noticed Etsy shops like Lorelei Eurto's amazing jewelry shop, and I realized that it was here to stay, and worse, I had no idea what to do with these new trends.

So I decided to experiment. I bought a small assortment of Vintaj pieces, along with some beads and chain in copper from a different source, and I started playing. Here's one of my first pieces:



I made this for a friend for the holidays. The tourmaline was really yummy and I only had a little handful, so this was perfect. And she likes a minimalist look, so I did a less-is-more design.

I'm still trying to understand things about brass and copper; I don't know if I'm ready to sell it at a show yet, for example. But I'm enjoying breaking out of the sterling silver mold.

More new sets in my Etsy shop!

I've been having a great time stringing new necklaces and making new earrings. The latest:



Unicorn! I've had this pendant for ages. It's another wonderful Green Girl design, and I think I'll pop this into the shop tomorrow.

I'm done for tonight. I'm looking forward to the weekend, which will be chock-full of listing and photography and beading and, of course, hot chocolate.

Snow, snow, snow

Yesterday it snowed all day.

I actually like snow, as long as I don't have to drive in it. It's pretty, and I do like the winter season. So I was happy to watch the snow fall yesterday, and while it did, my husband and I put up our tree and decorated it.

Our tree is my family tree that is at least thirty years old at this point. It's pretty much your average Charlie Brown tree, if his tree had been plastic. It's skinny and it lists, and the upper part of the tree doesn't fit very well into its socket, which has to be wrapped in napkins. The branches are a bit strange-looking, and the whole effect isn't as much "tree" as it is "vaguely cone-shaped green thing." Still, I love it to bits.

Amusingly enough, when I was little and asked why we had to have a plastic tree, my mom told me it was because my dad was allergic to real trees, and my dad told me it was because my mom was allergic to real trees. That was a little confusing.

After the tree was done, I sat at my jewelry desk and worked on some jewelry. I made a few necklace/earring sets:







I also made a triplet of earrings. No, not a pair, a triplet. I made a left earring, a right earring, and an earring for the furnace duct under my jewelry-making desk. Hope it enjoys looking stylish.

The snow fell, and I kept beading, watching a couple Miami Vice episodes and eating chocolate-covered almonds. Husband made a fantastic dinner and also took care of the driveway, and fixed the generator, so when the power began flickering, I didn't have to panic about how we would keep the house warm.

And this morning, the backyard looks like this:



I think I'm going to bead a little more today. I've really been enjoying it. And I hope that today is just as nice as yesterday was. I could use more days like that, as could we all, I think!