Inspiration Insights

Hello!  I'm Linda Landig and I'm a newbie to the team here at AJE.  My posts will be written from the perspective of one who uses art jewelry elements in most of her designs, but who doesn't actually make art jewelry elements herself.  I'm sure many of you love using handmade elements in your designs, like I do. 

An online friend recently asked me what sources of inspiration drive my designs.  The most important source of inspiration for me is color. When I first started designing jewelry I was afraid of color.  I anguished about which colors would look good together and I made a lot of monochrome jewelry.



To get past the color inhibitions I started a color journal.  Whenever I saw color combinations that appealed to me, I'd cut them out of magazines or catalogs and glue them into my journal.  Although I have a lot of jewelry pictures in my color journal, you can see from this page that there are almost limitless sources of color inspiration; from blankets to dishes to quilts.  I once designed a 2 strand bracelet after seeing a yellow and gray pillow in a home magazine.

Now days we have Pinterest and you can collect colors there as well.  I have a color board on Pinterest, if you want to take a look at it to get started.  But be sure to personalize your color board.  It should be brim full of colors that make your heart sing with joy.  A good online source for colors is the Design Seeds blog.

Another great source of color inspiration is the focal you are planning to use in your design.  This pendant from Yolanda's Clay was one of my first handmade component purchases.  Just look at the great colors in it!

I  selected gemstones inspired by the colors of the pendant, such as pink opal, aventurine and amethyst.  Then I added some coordinating glass beads and Swarvoski crystals. The whole necklace came together from the inspiration of the colors in the pendant.

There are color inspirations all around you!  Can you see the connection between this Native American drum that hangs on the wall in our living room and the necklace I designed for the AJE September Component of the Month Challenge?

With experience you'll begin developing your own favorite color combinations, but you'll also develop a keener eye for all the amazing colors that surround us every day.

~Linda Landig
  Linda Landig Jewelry

And in the beginning there were beads...

Kaz Baildon lampwork beads

Welcome to another inaugural post, this time from me, the AJE United Kingdom Correspondent. Not one of those reserved Brits you hear talk of me...been here 10 minutes and already given myself a fancy shmancy title! In all seriousness though I'm absolutely delighted and more than a little surprised to find myself here at all. I've only been involved with jewellery for a few years and I know there are people out there with heaps more experience than me, but I do love what I do and I hope I can share some of my passion with you. More about me here if you're interested.

Wondering about what to write for this first post got me thinking back to those early days working with hobby store beads and how quickly things changed. Knowing there must surely be something more interesting out there I did a 'quick' Internet search and several hours later had to be surgically removed from both my laptop and my credit card and now I have a serious addiction to art beads and components. These days I buy them from all over the world but back then I shopped much closer to home so it was UK artists that set me on the journey which got me here today. There are of course many, many talented jewellery artisans in the UK but for now I'd just like to introduce a few that first piqued my interest. So, let's get to some eye candy shall we...

Lampwork was my first art bead discovery and with it the work of the Kaz Baildon  of Cheeky Cherub Designs. Kaz has a wonderful eye for combining colour and is an absolute perfectionist in her work. I'm a real sucker for etched beads and earthy, saturated tones which she does brilliantly but her repertoire is immense.

Kaz Baildon lampwork beads

Kaz and I have a synergistic working relationship - I love her beads and she loves my design style so it's not unknown for me to turn her beads into jewellery which then finds it's way back home to Kaz.

Kaz Baildon lampwork beads, necklace by THEA jewellery

Kaz also makes and sells the murrini and frit blends she uses to decorate her beads and even though I can't make beads I had to have some...they look great on enameled copper.

Next up is Anna McDade, the jewellery designer whose work first had me reaching for the sheet metal and saws, not that I have ever come close to imitating  her. She specialises in detailed pierced work and etched metal pieces, often with animal and bird motifs.

Anna McDade jewellery

Anna has also developed a covetable range of etched components and handmade beads in a variety of metals including anodised aluminium.

Anna McDade components

I really only started working with ceramic beads in my designs to any great degree earlier this year but Caroline Dewison of Blueberri Beads was the one ceramic artist whose work I did use early on. Her little sea urchin beads have become almost a signature design but how could anyone not fall in love with a pair of star gazing raku hares? Fairy tale charms and electroformed copper and ceramic beads are also on Caroline's menu and if that's not enough, she's started making lampwork beads too now.

Caroline Dewison ceramic beads

Last but not least is Diane Turton of SowZere Designs (sow's ear) who was responsible for my early introduction to fibre in jewellery with her beautiful hand dyed silk ribbons and strings. Now this will have Jennifer Cameron smiling since we share a love of but mental block in the use of fibre...yes I did pull the loose threads off and iron the sari silk Jen sent me with my bead soup this year! That block doesn't mean I don't have a huge stash of this gorgeous silk though and I'm petty adept with the strings now.

Diane Turton silk ribbons

My fraying issues may also be a thing of the past now as Diane's 'Raggy Ribbons' (centre frame) don't fray any more than they have already when you get them - marvellous!

So there you are - just a few of my compatriots who helped me on my way before I'd even found a niche with metal clay. You can visit their shops using the links below. Oh and a little bird tells me  Kaz is in need of a big new torch to put into practice some techniques she learnt in Australia recently so she's extending her mailing list sale to AJE readers with 30% off in her Etsy shops at the moment - coupon code OCTOBER30.

Kaz Baildon lampwork beads 
Kaz Baildon frit/murrini        

Anna McDade jewellery
Anna McDade components
Caroline Dewison ceramic beads
Diane Turton hand dyed silks

And just in case you haven't had quite enough I've put together an Etsy treasury with lots more British talent - just click on the picture. Enjoy!

Lesley
The Gossiping Goddess

Why do I choose Seed Beads.

Well to be perfectly honest they choose me.  A few years back my mother in law was destashing her craft room and gave me these tiny little beads and I thought "What am I going to do with these?"  I had tried my hand at stringing but you will never see the results of that catastrophe!  Walking through Walmart I spied a Beadwork magazine and there it was.  Like a heavenly light!  I was hooked.  Then through Facebook I met and saw some of the most beautiful work I have ever seen and then the introduction of art beads and Yes there was another Heavenly light moment.

So that is the "Why" of how it began but I really want to show you the where the "Why" has taken me now with something that is currently on my tray.

It starts with inspiration

In this case it is a Marsha Neal pendant square.  Look at the colors and the glazing.  

The fun part about seeds is that there are so many colors and gradients that matching those together is so easy.  You see the pendant.  For me sometimes I am not confident in choosing a random color combination but with an inspiration piece like this there is that "I never would have thought to use peach and terracotta together but look how they totally work.

So now here is where I start choosing beads to match.  I do not have a very substantial stash but I do have a diverse one so here are the beads I decided on.

Next I always like to add a different bead into the mix and the seed bead manufacturers have made that so easy with so many different shapes and sizes. Here is my surprise factor.

These are called either farfalle or peanut beads.  Aren't they fun?  So now I have to decide how best to showcase the beads and how to enhance that gorgeous pendant.  Here is what I have so far.

This rope is called a Russian Spiral.  I like this rope for it's flow and feel but also that I can morph it with beads of all shapes.

So that is the "Why" I continue to love playing with seed beads.  So now tell me your "Why I choose..."

Kristen

Metal Etching - A Newbie Perspective

This is my inaugural post for Art Jewelry Elements, and I am so glad to be here! (You can read more about me and why hammers make me a little weak in the knees here if you're interested.) I am a nut for all things metal, and I recently took a class in metal etching to try and expand my toolbox of techniques a little bit, since I don't own a rolling mill to impress patterns into the metal I use in my studio. (Yet.)

Before we continue, a word about safety: metal etching involves working with chemicals that can do a lot of damage.

This is what a splash of etchant did to concrete. Now imagine what it could do to your skin!

So this isn't a tutorial - I don't want your third degree chemical burns on my conscience! If you're interested in metal etching, I strongly encourage you to take a class from a qualified instructor who can walk you through the safe use of the chemicals and how to troubleshoot when you run into problems, which you inevitably will. (If you're in the San Antonio, Texas area, I highly recommend Wired Designs Studio - they offer classes in all things metal, wire, metal clay, and glass fusing.)

The lovely Gail Stouffer walked us through marking up our metal sheet with resist.

The lovely Gail is not actually teaching in this photo. Use your imagination!

"Resist" can be any waterproof material that will resist the action of the etchant. Basically, the metal will stay unchanged under the resist while the metal around it will be etched away, resulting in a raised pattern. In our case, we used a waterproof stamping ink called Staz-on.

I loved the wood-grain stamp, but couldn't find on at my local stamp store

Once we'd played around with some designs and the ink on our sheets were dry, we headed outside to mix up some chemicals and start the etching process.

Note the gloves and safety glasses!

The etchant started out clear, but as it ate away the copper in the metal sheet, it began to turn green.

Not lime jello!

The first round of etching only took 30 minutes, and we got a nice deep etch with lots of detail.

Before and after

When we cleaned up the panels and started cutting out the designs, it all started to come together. I was particularly fond of these two sections, which really popped when I lightly patina'd them.

Woodgrain etch (left) and music sheet etch (right)

Our second etch wasn't quite so successful. The etchant by this time was a bright green - like lime jello - but it should have had plenty of "oomph" to give us a good etch. After nearly an hour, the etch was still very shallow - more of a polished area. Even cleaned and with a patina on it, the pattern was hard to see and the metal felt nearly completely smooth.

Neutralized but uncleaned sand dollar etch (left); cleaned and patina'd sand dollar etch (right)

If I were doing it over again, I would have left the second batch in the etchant a little longer and put them in face up. But since we were getting to the end of the day and had to clean and close up the studio, we went with what we had. Obviously I need to experiment more!

So while the process is a little involved and I don't love having all those chemicals around, the result is totally worth it. As a matter of process, I think it probably makes sense to mark up a bunch of metal sheet and spend an afternoon once or twice a month just etching it all. Then I'll have lots of custom-patterned metal to make components with when the mood strikes me. This is the first pair of earrings I made with the patterned brass (and also my first attempt at this stirrup-style bail, which kicked my butt).

The stirrup bail/tops on these earrings kicked my butt - I need more practice on that technique!

All in all, if metal is your thing, I highly recommend adding an etching class to your class schedule sometime soon. It's a great, flexible, and customizable technique that will really expand your repertoire.

Until next time!