Earring Challenge Reveal 12, Weeks 25/26...the Half-way Mark!!

Here we are...half-way through our challenge.  How time flies! How have you done?  A pair a week doesn't sound like a huge undertaking, but obviously when you have family, job, and other obligations, time can get tight!  I know for me, sometimes you have to make choices...unfortunately, I am a bit behind ;)

Let's take a look at some of the beautiful, unique work that has happened the past 2 weeks!



I was drawn to these lovely ones by Earthshine Jewellery...the stormy gray colors really spoke to me, with as many cloudy, rainy days we have been having here on the East Coast! 

These lovelies by SJDesigns also caught my attention!  Love the sand dollars!

The positive/negative effect on these bronze clay charms by Pam Sotheran really adds a unique element to these.


Our own team members, Sue Kennedy, Linda Landig, and Kristi Bowman pinned some gorgeous work as well...









Be sure to use the Linky Tool to show us what you created! If you haven't joined us yet, it is not too late! Jump in! You have 26 more weeks to participate...that is 26 more pairs of earrings! You can never have too many earrings, right?

Spectacular Spirals

I've had spirals on my mind, ever since I received Jenny Davies-Reazor's June Component of the Month charms.  The pair of charms I received had spiral impressions on them.  I designed earrings to emphasize the spiral motif, by echoing it in antiqued brass wire. This got me to thinking about the meaning and history of spirals.

Green Spiral Earrings

Once I began looking around, I started seeing spirals everywhere.

They are found in nature; in animals, plants, weather patterns and who knows what else. This dahlia from our front yard is unfurling in a spiral pattern.

Big Horn Sheep -  Pinterest.

Weather Patterns - Pinterest

Spirals also show up in many cultures, religions, traditions, art and architecture.

Pinterest

Spiral Petroglyph - Pinterest

Buddhist Temple in China - Pinterest

So what about spirals in jewelry both ancient and contemporary?  Here's a very quick sampling of what I found.

Greek gold ring from the 7th -6th century BC - Pinterest

Then skipping blithely through many centuries, I photographed these early colonial filigree earrings in a museum in Oaxaca, Mexico.

And still later, Art Nouveau jewelry was awash in spirals and swirls.

René Lalique - Pinterest.

Which made me wonder about contemporary jewelry. So I decided to make an Etsy Treasury of spiral art beads and components, as well as finished jewelry.  I quickly found that just on Etsy, there were enough spiral pendants and jewelry designs to make a dozen treasuries. I was amazed!

AJE team member, Karen Totten loves spirals.  In fact, here's a peek into her studio earlier this week.  She's a spiral maniac!  These pendants and charms are all works in progress for Bead Fest, August 23-25.  In fact, many of our members' studios are filled with work for Bead Fest, including Susan Kennedy, Jen Cameron, Jenny Davies-Reazor and Diana Ptaszynski.  

Here's a finished piece from Karen.

Hot Coral Hollow Bead

And Diana has spiral ammonites.

Ammonite Pendant 

Kristi has lots of ammonite spirals, too.

Ammonite Bracelet Component

Here's a pretty flower with a spiralling stem from Rebekah.

Rustic Flower Pendant

And I have a necklace with a spiral pendant.

Brown Spiral Pendant Necklace

And if that's not enough, you can check out all these amazing spiral components and jewelry designs in the Spectacular Spiral Treasury that I put together on Etsy.  Enjoy!

'Spectacular Spirals - Part 1' by beadmarie

Spirals are a universal motif in nature, architecture, science, art, religion and mathematics. I found so many handmade art beads and finished jewelry with spirals, that I'll be doing two treasuries with this theme. Enjoy!

Yellow Swirl Porcelain Flowe... suburbangirlbe... $10	Swirl cuff bracelet 316clay $23.9	Round Porcelain Bead Mix Wit... JeraLunaDesign... $20
Handmade Polymer Clay Chubby... KristiBowmanDe... $10	Ceramic charm pair spiral or... jdaviesreazor $10	Little Gecko Lizard bead - S... TreeWingsStudi... $8
Pink and Copper Scoops Neckl... BeadworkbyKAS $95	Copper Swirl Fibula MelismaticArtJ... $38	Lampwork Beads - SueBeads - ... suebeads $30
Porcelain Clay Spiral Textur... MarshaNealStud... $10	Spiral Earth Stone- Black La... Genea $32	Large Copper Swirl Pendant R... SLArtisanAccen... $10
Golden Acorn Glass Lampwork ... LoriBergmann $18	Large Handmade Ceramic Porce... WhiteCloverKil... $9.5	Bronze Age Spiral Toggle Cla... ktotten $18
Earrings Wire Wrapped Bronze... GraceElements $30

Sponsored by send bulk email from excel.

Linda
Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 
Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy 

Happy 4th... and My Evil Eye...

Beaded 4th of July Wreath

First up - Happy 4th of July to all our American readers - Ironic that as the only Brit on the team I'm the one posting today but I'm happy to hold the fort while the rest of the team celebrate. I hope you all have a lovely day.

The inspiration for today's post comes from a rather unusual source - my own face or, to be precise the image that greeted me when I looked in the mirror on Monday morning (apologies in advance to anyone of a squeamish disposition)...

This is a subconjunctival haemorrhage, or burst blood vessel, it's very common and is not painful but as you can see, it's not particularly attractive and immediately brought on references to the 'Evil Eye'.

The concept if the evil eye - the ability to cause bad luck or harm to a person with an ill-wishing look spans many cultures  and as we all know,  eye charms are popular as a way of warding them off. Well I don't know if my ailment is the result of someone casting me a 'look' but I thought I'd have a little scout around for art beads or jewellery that might act as charms and I wasn't disappointed...

Jane Dudley Beads

 This leather bracelet  looks very much like my eye...

Leas Boutique

Jeans Beads

Glass Enamel By Julie

Bead Up A Storm

This last one is a necklace I made myself with silver clay and a handmade Cabachon by Julie Fountain  of Lush Lampwork which I didn't intent to represent an eye but the first reaction of many people was that it did. I think maybe I'll wear it for a while just in case...

Hopefully, none of you are in need of protective charms but it's good to know there are some beautifully creative handmade examples out there if you do and, if you've created any evil eye pieces yourself do share with us - we'd love to see them.

Lesley
The Gossiping Goddess

Lampwork and the flaky white stuff

Have you ever read the description for lampwork beads and wondered why it says "holes have been cleaned using a dremel" or something similar to that?

Have you ever bought lampwork beads at a local craft shop like Michaels or Joann's and wondered why they have white stuff in the holes that flakes and falls out?

In order to make glass beads, a lampworker winds the glass onto a stainless steel rod (mandrel). However, before they get to that step, they must dip the mandrel in bead release. Otherwise the glass will be permanently fused to the mandrel.

There are many types of bead release. The one I'm currently using is called Dip N Go Sludge.

What I like about this particular type of bead release is that it's strong and I can flame dry the release on the mandrel rather than having to let it sit to air dry. I often forget to dip them in advance.

There are various techniques for dipping mandrels to get a thick or thin coating, but the real goal is for the release to be smooth. The consistency of the release should be about pancake batter, maybe a bit thicker. I often have to add water to thin it out as it gets thicker over time.

After the beads have annealed in the kiln and cooled to room temperature, the first thing is to soak the beaded mandrels in water. Why? For a couple reasons.

#1: once the bead release has been exposed to the flame, then baked in the kiln, it can be like trying to remove concrete. The water helps to loosen it up a bit into something closer to caked on baked on mud.

#2: airborne particles of bead release dust are probably not the best thing for the respiratory system. The water keeps the amount of airborne particles down to a minimum.

Once the beaded mandrels have soaked in water for a bit, it's time to remove the beads from the mandrels. Keeping in mind that bead release is REALLY REALLY bad for the home pipes, I use paper towels to get the majority of the bead release off before the beads are even removed from the mandrel. Any extra is dumped with the water outside.

However, sometimes pliers aren't enough. Other options include putting the beaded mandrel in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. A second option involves using a riveter by threading the mandrel through the riveter until the nose rests against the bead then gently squeezing the handles.

I often leave my beads languishing in water for a long long time because I hate the next step...cleaning the bead release out of the bead holes. To do this, I use a small sour cream container filled with water, a Dremel Minimite cordless rotary tool 

and diamond drill bits. 

Selling lampwork beads that still have the bead release in the holes is not cool at all, and if you buy them at local craft shops, you will get beads with bead release still caked to the inside. 

Have a great holiday week and see you soon!

-Jen Cameron

Glass Addictions