Artfully Meandering: Exploring Design

Howdy, y'all! I seem to have lost some steam! But, I have a new camera that has motivated me to take loads of pictures of my pile of goodies.

This necklace is a good metaphor for the twists and turns my life has been taking. And I believe the twists are not over. We shall see.

This is a very random long necklace. I have a few small spools of colored wire. I love twisting wire together and did twists of two and three colors together. After I twisted the wire, I then wrapped it around a mandrel, cut it into 1 - 1.5" pieces and slid it over a thick piece of silver. I hammered the loops.

In between, I've included polymer beads that I've tried to "age". I still don't think I have the right materials, but I did achieve some of what I wanted. With the turquoise beads, I scratched them up, painted them with brown acrylic and wiped it off to leave the brown in the scratches.

I added a twist bead at the bottom, then some copper chain mail. It's a randomly interesting piece.

I have lost momentum as I still think and dream in glass. Polymer is now becoming a staple, but I do simple beads. What I'm finding my customer base likes is simple and elegant. A little chain maille, some wire-wrapped beads and we're good. I'm thinking about simple designs that will go a long way in addition to my "artsy" pieces like the one above.

I have more to say and want to get writing again, but I'll save that for another day. Just wanted to throw some eye candy out there and say hi to y'all!!! Thanks for stopping by.

Studio Time: Sedona Lariat

The part of Southwest style that really appeals to me is the organic, uncluttered, clean look and feel it has. As I meander along this journey of making glass beads and jewelry, I feel like I started with crazy, vibrant, and...ahem...cluttered jewelry. I'm trying to learn the lesson that "less is more."

Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.

My last home in Texas was decorated in southwest style and I went through a year-long process of getting rid of things. When my house was finally ready for showing, I had a really limited set of furniture and I learned how to make it look to advantage...it must have worked. My house sold in a month. In a bad economy. But, the point of this story is that at beginning, I had a lot of "stuff" and was more cluttered than I realized.

I've brought that lesson with me to Hong Kong where everything is shrunken in scale (especially relative to Texas). 700 sq feet is HUGE here. There are apartments, 500 sq feet in size, where they fit 3 (yes, that's three) bedrooms in that space. Don't ask me how. My mind still can't wrap itself around that concept. People asked if I was going to bring my furniture to Hong Kong. I checked into shipping, but decided against it (even though the cost would have been equivalent of buying new furniture here), because the furniture in the US doesn't fit the scale of the HK apartment. I notice homes that are furnished with western style and size furniture here in HK feel more cluttered. I've furnished with furniture built locally (or in China) and it fits and makes my smaller apartment feel more roomy. I've really tried hard not to buy too much stuff. I still probably can get rid of some things. (After all, I moved with 2 suitcases.)

Anyway, the whole point of all that blathering about clutter is that sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. And Southwest style is sometimes clean and uncluttered, sometimes not. And sometimes in between. That's what this piece Sedona Lariat, feels like to me...somewhere in between cluttered and clean...but interesting, nevertheless. Just like the woman who should wear this necklace.

The Sedona Lariat fits a woman who is a study in contrasts.

She's urban and refined.

She's a cowgirl at heart who happens to love and live in the city.

Sometimes she's classic.

Sometimes she's western and earthy.

Sometimes dressed up.

Sometimes casual.

The girl who can go hiking in the mountains for 3 days.

The girl who can wear heels and a little black dress to a wedding.

comprised of

Twisted silver rings in varying sizes on one side of the neck

A stout leather cord on the other side

Finished off in a cluster of Sedona glass beads in vibrant reds and light and dark turquoise

As I've matured, I've turned into a person that likes options. I'm starting to create necklaces that give options, like this one. The lariat style gives you many wearing options which lets you wear it with different styles of shirts with varying necklines. This can be worn at a conventional length by connecting the clasp to the bottom loop. It can be worn as a choker by clasping it around the neck. Then it makes the remaining length a daring waterfall of a drop.



I could see this being worn with a gray, classic suit, with a plain turquoise, light blue or red top underneath the jacket. Then, swap the suit for a jean jacket and khakis or a leather jacket and jeans and you're ready for a casual evening.

Studio Time: Sedona Ranch Necklace

This piece has been waiting in the wings for over a month. It's adorable. I love it for the connection it makes me feel to the Southwest U.S. And yet, as I offer it here, I realize I've grown in my skill. I see little bits and pieces that I've already learned to do better. But, I think it's a beginning of a foundation of my style that is evolving and growing and it makes me quite excited.

For a saucy cowgirl...laid back at Sedona Ranch...swirls of light and dark turquoise mixed with deep Sangre reds, evoking the southwest...rich, colorful hues in a swirled floral disk on twisted sterling silver wire hanging from a stout cord of leather.

The leather is unfinished and meant to be tied off at the back to vary the wearing length according to whim. All glass beads are hand-made by me and properly annealed in a digitally controlled kiln.

A Marketing Lesson: I recently had some of my friends stay with me. They saw my pile of jewelry and I started talking about glass, jewelry, and silver. Simply explaining the process of how to make glass beads was actually fun. I have a bunch of jewelry I had made before I was able to get my lampwork station setup. However, when I offered each one a gift, they wanted the one with the glass beads I made. Here in HK, beads and findings are common...you can pick up jewelry very cheaply...but the lampwork and handmade glass is less common, and therefore, more special. The marketing lesson: art becomes important when it has a very personal connection to the artist. Jewelry is common. You can buy that at a store. A connection to the heart and the ideas of a piece gives meaning and connection. It moves beyond a piece of jewelry. When you create that personal connection, it becomes a piece of art with personal meaning...whether it's with the artist who created it, or because it evokes a sense of feeling and being that the art wearer wants to feel with that piece.

Urban Primrose got tweaked and sent off as a gift to one of my old roommates...in fact, she's the roommate who inspired my "urban" theme. She had requested silver with clear beads. It took me awhile to finally do some clear beads...I did faceted beads and a tiny floral. Photos can't capture the light refraction, but it is very dreamy. I like it better than the original...

I wish I could afford to give all of my jewelry away...but I can't...

Note: I'm on a lampwork hiatus due to the untimely demise of my kiln. May it rest in peace. (I put that little machine to work! I think it got tired.) So, I need to order a new kiln. I had all the glass laid out for the Designer's Inspiration Challenge for this month, but I'll have to keep you posted on when that will actually happen. So sorry! I finally had energy, but my kiln didn't.

Lastly but not leastly...do you like the new backgrounds, blog banner, poster at the beginning of this post? Yes? I can thank Marina H. for all this work. She achieved my vision I had in mind for my Southwest theme. I have much more in mind for her in the long run. Thank you, Marina!

Studio Time: Striking Sapphire

The glass beads are these unbelievably gorgeous Sapphire blue by Creation is Messy. Even though these were simple spacers, they are strikingly gorgeous. I've been planning to do a simple pairing with silver. I had done 12 inches of the spacers and wire-wrapped eye-loops. Then I got distracted with the new barrel weave from Urban Maille. I did 24 inches of the barrel weave and they landed next to sapphire beads... hmmmm... rather than finish either off as separate necklaces, I finished them off as a spectacular 36 inch opera-length necklace.




Complementary earrings.

Studio Time: Urban Primrose Lariat - 18-inch necklace

City = gray

Primrose = deep pink

I imagine this lariat gracing the throat of a woman who is urban and defined, fabulous and fine. A woman who recognizes the value of intricate handwork and doesn't mind stepping off the well traveled path. A woman who knows her tastes.

This piece is the pinnacle of my Urban Primrose design theme. When my mind settled on the Urban Primrose theme over two months ago, I started looking at my beads and mentally sorting through the catalog of skills I have (versus the skills I would like to learn) and settled on a simple pairing of brightly colored beads in a small cluster with a lot of silver. In a lot of ways, this was a labor of love. I've been working on this necklace for two months and it represents hours and hours (I've lost track of how many) of work.


The labor-intensive part of this project as the super-fine chain maille in 22-guage Argentium silver in Byzantine weave. To give you an idea of how fine, there are nearly three Byzantine links in one inch of this necklace. The width of the necklace is a mere 3mm wide. This is super fine, delicate handwork and the result is a stunningly beautiful chain. There are 38 Byzantine links in 14 inches of chain. That's 532 jump rings woven, with care and closed with precision in butted chain maille. (Side note: in butted maille, strength depends on the design and I depend on Urban Maille to help me create a strong weave.)



Another component I have had in mind was this toggle loop. You have to wiggle the pearls through the toggle, but the end result gives you some wearing options...a choker with a dangle or a regular necklace. I did four versions of this toggle loop before I settled on one that matched the picture in my head and the design of the neklace. Kristin at KS Jewelry Design had a tutorial on wire-wrapped and hammered loops that helped me refine the design.

As I was finishing this piece off and looking at the toggle loop, I realized I didn't want to finish the design entirely in chain maille. I broke up the expanse of chain maille with three wire-wrapped hammered eye-links, linked with sets of hammered jump rings.

Available in my Artfire shop.

Studio Time: Cotton Candy Bubble Necklace

Happy sigh...it's really fun to start with nothing but wire and rods of glass and end up with this. There is nothing purchased in this necklace except these base materials. The chain is coiled figure-eight chain, there are double-coiled eyepins, connectors, and my own lampwork beads.

I knew these colors were tickling my memory, but I couldn't figure out why. Then I showed a co-worker and she said, "Cotton Candy Bubbles." This design that is so un-"me"--it's a pink, girly, frothy confection of colors. But, it's fun to push boundaries and see where you go. And despite the fact that it's not me, I love it! Mixed in with the Bubbly part of the necklace are my first beads using Sarah Hornik's Think Pink! tutorial. I'm really happy with the designs. I didn't quite achieve Laura's precision, but I'm pretty happy with the result.

I've done a test-drive to check it for comfort and it wears nicely. This is my first time attempting these techniques. I used a lot of Sharilyn Millers wire wrap and chain ideas from her book, Bead on a Wire. I had intentions of finishing this into a clustered charm bracelet. But, this was 2 torch sessions, 20 lampwork beads, and reduced access to the torch. Instead, I played with wirework to finish this off. I've developed some alternative methods for the wire wrapping and want to perfect those for the next "real" necklace.

Studio Time: Wire Wrapping Class

One of my lampwork beads didn't hang correctly. So I was to save it by sticking it in this wire wrap from my class. I think I learned some cool things, but I need to let it settle in.