Saturday Share - Fun with Lampwork Disks

A  week or so ago, friend, colleague, and fellow AJE contributor, Sue Kennedy posted a few pairs of lampwork disks on her blog.  These weren't your basic disks, these had frit around the edges...they reminded me of candy sprinkles!  After clicking on her Etsy site and not finding them there, I left her a comment saying "Where are they? I want!".  Sue emailed me and sent me photos of what I could choose from.  Uh, oh!  I want them all!

Here is the photo I took after I received them...

As I am in production mode for a couple of upcoming Holiday shows in the next 2 weeks, I  totally justified getting them to create earrings for my inventory. At least, I figured I would be making earrings from all of them, after all, they are pairs, but once I starting working with them a few other ideas filled my head.

I thought it would be fun to blog about the designs I came up with, and after getting checking in with Sue, here we go!

 This is a group shot of all my works in progress...nothing is finished yet, but wanted to show you some of the possibilities of these gorgeous beads.

This quirky pair has mixed metals and will eventually have dangles on the bottom as well.  I plan to hammer the silver and add patina.

These have been connected to texturized copper disks and embellished with Czech glass leaves.  You can barely tell where the lampork ends and the copper begins!

Embossed copper squares hung on the diagonal - pardon the firescale!

More texturized copper...these have sterling disks and headpins.

More sterling...these reminded me of sea glass, so I decided they needed pearls as well!

Not quite so far along on these, but I know the green Czech glass leaves will be dangled underneath!

This is another unfinished project...with the addition of a few disks I had hoarded from Karen Leonardo, I decided these are going to be a charm bracelet...haven't decided if it will be one with just disks, or 2 with some Czech glass added.

I hope these have given you a few ideas about how to use these yummy colorful wheels.  This was just a drop in the bucket!  I think singles would make great button-style clasps. 

What about you?  Do you have any innovative or unique ways to use these gorgeous beads?  We would love to hear about them!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love