March Component of the Month & Giveaway

We’re not quite in March, but as it’s a Thursday, the day I usually post, I’m going to share my Component of the month for March. 

Please excuse the phone pic… I was battling against the light and my battery died!

You will have probably noticed that much of my work is inspired by nature, especially creatures that fly. Luna moths are my favourite subject at the moment, and these have been hand carved in porcelain, glazed, fired and re-fired with precious metal lustres. 

In real life, they’re beautiful insects, and quite cute looking. We’re not lucky enough to have them in the UK, but they’re common in North America, and can have a wingspan up to 115mm making them one of the largest. Mine aren’t quite that big, their wingspans are roughly 70mm.

This little guy’s wings are still folded as he has just emerged from his chrysalis so you can get a good look at his fuzzy legs and body. Cute!

And here he is with his wings fully spread... beautiful!

The Giveaway…

If you’d like to join in with the AJE team component of the month challenge and receive a (randomly chosen by me) Luna Moth pendant to use in one of your designs, it’s simple, 

Agree to the points below and comment on this post and 2 lucky winners will have moths sent out to them.

• I will give away 1 component to each of 2 winners selected randomly from those who leave comments below this post. The design sent will be a surprise for the winners.
• Please include your EMAIL address in your comment so that I can contact you ASAP should you win.
• Please - only leave a comment if you can commit to creating a finished piece and blogging about it within the time given.
• The names of the two winners will be announced on Sunday March 2nd 2014
• This giveaway is open to US, Canadian, UK and European countries, but please be aware, US, Canadian & European addresses will have longer postage times (sometimes up to 3 weeks) 
• The blog reveal will take place on Monday 31st March 2014

Good luck!

Caroline

http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk 

Earring Challenge reveal 22 - Weeks 45 & 46/52

Welcome to weeks 45/46 of the Earring challenge.

Hopefully you're not up too early for a Sunday morning. It's going to be a busy week with Thanksgiving and the run up to black Friday. So I think a lazy day of browsing through Pinterest is in order.

We've had some beautiful designs added to the board over the last couple of weeks, here are some of my favourites...

I thought I'd start with this pretty blue set by Kathy Lindemer of Bay Moon Design, featuring ceramics by Marsha Neal. They're ideal for winter with the cool tones of blue.

Next, I've chosen this pair from Kimmy Sayers of Silver NikNats. The lampwork is by Naos Glass and the copper shields are by Kimmy herself. Perfect for this seasons trends of armour inspired jewellery.

And Finally, this gorgeous pair from Kiersten Giles of Lune Designs. You may remember them from Keirsten's guest post where she shared how she created the copper buds, but I don't see any harm in having another look!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who's posted their designs for this fortnight's reveal.

The next reveal will be on December 8th. If you'd like to join in for the blog hop, use the linky tool below to link up your blogs.

And don't forget to keep pinning! There are just 3 more challenges before the year is over, so lets finish this off with a bang!

Eye Candy-Preparing for Holiday Art Shows

I am in full blown bead and jewelry making for shows and gift giving. People, there are only 50 days until Christmas!!! Let that sink in for a minute....

My Paypal account has been smoking as I restock depleted supplies, add some new goodies, and find really cool components in my online travels.

Here's some cool stuff I found in some of the AJE team members' shops that would be perfect for gift giving or designing for those upcoming shows. It only takes one art component to make a piece extra special and unique.

Enameled components by Melissa Meman

Little Sleepy Jackalope(!) Bead by Rebekah Payne

Snowflake charms by Lesley Watt

Talisman by Karen Totten

Labyrinth Pendant by Jenny Davies-Reazor

Miniature Christmas tree by Caroline Dewison

Earrings by Linda Landig (using gears by Karen Totten)

Scales large oval bracelet component by Kristi Bowman

Candy Striped Beads by Diana P. 

Are you stocking up for holiday shows and gifts? What kind of goodies have you been buying/making?

Have a fab week!

-Jen Cameron

Glass Addictions

September Component of the Month Reveal

Just when did there get to be only two weeks in a month... here we are seeing another one out and running headlong to the end of the year. Someone put the brakes on please!

On the up-side it does mean it's time for another AJE Component of the month reveal and we all get to see what the team and our guest designers have created with my bursting seed pods...

You can use the links below to hop around the blogs and see everyone's creations - I can't wait!

Guest designers:
Erin Prais-Hintz - Tesori Trovati
Cate - Fulgorine
Claire Lockwood - Something To Do With Your Hands

AJE team

Jennifer Cameron

Kristen Stevens

Jenny Davies-Reazor
Francesca Watson
Melissa Meman
Linda Landig
Susan Kennedy
Rebekah Payne
Caroline Dewison
Lesley Watt         


Kristi has also asked me to announce the winners of the October COM so the lucky readers who will get to work with Kristi's components are:

Michelle Buettner of MiShel Designs
Kym Hunter of Kym Hunter Designs

Enjoy!

Lesley
The Gossiping Goddess

Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?

If you are of a "certain age", you may remember playing "Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?".  In the jewelry world it appears that many of us have the button or buttons.

Bronze Saucer Buttons by Lesley Watt

About 15 years ago I spent many weekends at my parents' house, lending a hand, when my mom had cancer.  Sometimes I'd take a break and head out to a bead store near their home. This shop had a vast collection of new and vintage buttons.  The owner told me that they had recently bought out the entire stock of a glass button manufacturer in Germany that had gone out of business.  All the buttons were 30 years old or older.  Some of the buttons were on special displays in this shop, but a vast quantity of them filled a large oak barrel. At the time, you could get 4 buttons for a dollar from that barrel!  That's hard to believe now, with even the simplest glass buttons now costing a couple of bucks.

German Vintage Glass Buttons

 I would sit next to that barrel and just run my hand through all the buttons! They felt so silky as they gently spilled over my fingers.  As I'd dig through the barrel, I would set aside my favorites.  This little ritual gave me some peaceful, quiet moments and was quite therapeutic at a time of high stress.  The result was that I grew to love buttons and I acquired a really nice collection of vintage glass buttons.

Bracelet with German Vintage Glass Button Closure

One time as I was on my weekend commute to my parents' house, I stopped at a different bead shop that specialized in beads and small items from Asia and Africa. There I found these exquisite Thai metal and cloisonne-style buttons.  So amazing!  I bought handfuls of them. The next time I visited that shop, the Thai buttons were gone.  I was sooo glad I'd stocked up on them!

Bracelet with Thai Metal Button Closure

Recently, an artist at the co-op art gallery I belonged to, brought in 2 boxes filled to the brim with mother of pearl buttons that she no longer wanted.  I was able to score a big handful of them.

Buttons make unique and easily fastened bracelet closures.

Button Closure Bracelet by Something To Do

They also add a unique touch when used as a closure in a necklace.

Button Closure Necklace by Linda Landig, with lampwork disc by Sue Beads

Buttons can also be used as you would use beads, in the main part of the necklace, bracelet or earrings.

via Pinterest

Bracelet by Antique Button Jewelry

Earrings by Pobble Toes using  handmade buttons by Kristi Bowman

Here are a few of my favorite resources for handmade buttons:

Thea Elements-

Shank Button with added hook and eye

Elements Pottery

Raku Buttons

White Clover Kiln

Kristi Bowman Design

Bo Hulley Beads

And for those of you attending Bead Fest, Susan Kennedy of Sue Beads, will have some brand new buttons at her booth there, so be sure to stop by, if you are attending.

If you'd like some more inspiration for using buttons in jewelry, take a look at my Button Jewelry Board on Pinterest.

Do you use buttons in your jewelry creations or would you like to?  Do you make your own buttons?  Tell us more!

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy 

Jewelry Inspiration In Bloom

Last Sunday was our 40th anniversary, so my husband and I decided to take a little road trip down the Oregon coast to celebrate.  A vendor, at a recent show, told me about a state park, in Newport, Oregon, called Shore Acres.  He said it had gorgeous gardens that were well worth seeing.  So we made Shore Acres our end-point destination.

Shore Acres - Newport, Oregon

The entire trip was so much fun. The gardens were amazing and I love the beach, the sand between my toes and the sound of waves crashing.  But today I just want to share some flowers at Shore Acres that inspired some new jewelry.

I noticed a number of flowers with pink and yellow petals. They were so striking and beautiful. The pink and yellow dahlias, pictured below, especially captured my attention.

I couldn't get these flowers out of my mind, so I decided to challenge myself to create a piece of jewelry in pink and yellow.  This was a big challenge for me, because I rarely use pink and I almost never use yellow in my designs.  Now I was challenging myself to use both colors in one piece!

Trying to work outside my comfortable color zone, must have tapped into a different area of my brain, because the necklace that emerged is quite unlike most of my recent work.

I don't even have many yellow beads, but fortunately I'd recently acquired a yellow ceramic pendant from Joan Tucker of Off Center Productions. I managed to find one strand of yellow pearls in my stash and some golden-yellow glass tubes.

I found some yellow and pink glass cubes in my somewhat larger collection of pink beads.  I added  gold colored metal accents and this is what I came up with.  It looks very summery, but I'm a little surprised at how unlike me it is. LOL!  I honestly can't decide if I like it or not.  What do you think?  Be honest!

In any case, it was fun to push myself to experiment with some different colors.  I feel that pushing myself to experiment builds creativity in the same way that exercise builds muscle.  I can feel my "creativity muscle" growing!

If this has inspired your creativity, you might want to check out the great pink and yellow components and jewelry below.  Have fun!

Lampwork Glass by Beads & Botanicals

Ceramic components by Suburban Girl Studio

New polymer clay components from Kristi Bowman Design.

Bronze Flower from THEAElements

Ceramic cab in a creamy yellow glaze with pink highlights

by Starry Road Studio

Polymer Clay by Tree Wings Studio

Enameled Earrings by Melismatic Art Jewelry

What have you done lately to strengthen your "creativity muscle"?  

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy 

Sunny Day Ahead

I have been feeling very "blah" and uninspired this week. Part of it is post show blah, part is doing taxes, and part is the spring storms and dark gray skies we've been having. So I walked through my studio hoping to spark some kind of brilliant blog post idea, but I've got nothing. That's when I decided to shop my teammates shops for inspiration.

When I came across Karen Totten's  "Sun Celebration Talisman," I had my idea...because I need some sun right about now. 

While these links by Diana P are technically daisies, the sunny yellow color and radiating petals totally remind me of the sun

Kristi Bowman's copper ammonite rectangles look very much like rays of light from the sun. 

This sun by Jenny Davies-Reazor is just all kinds of mood brightening on these gray rainy days

Melissa has sunny yellow enameled ceramic beads. 

Rebekah's little gecko has soaked up the color and heat of the sun. 

And where better to enjoy the sun than a beach house? Lesley makes the most darling beach houses

And that beach house needs a beach like the one by Sue.

Have a bright sunny day and pretend you're on vacation at the beach.

-Jen Cameron

Glass Addictions