Saturday Share - Abundance Earrings

Happy Saturday all!  My post today took a completely different turn from what I had planned, but that's okay ;)  I decided to tie this week in with my last post about wrapped loop links and created an earring design to share with you.

Copper, Czech glass, polymer clay charms (by me!) and sterling.

I named these "Abundance", because, well, just look at them! The colors are so rich and the dangles really make them....abundant!

The 3 czech glass beads are connected by wrapped loops, but with a bit of a twist.  I had been playing with a design that I hoped would be a bracelet, and I still am, but it is basically a zig-zag pattern with the loops on the outside, just perfect for adding dangles.

Back to the earrings...you will need:

Copper wire - I used 22g
   2-8 inch lengths for the wrapped loop section
   3-2 inch lengths for your dangles
Sterling wire - 20g, about 2.5 inches (or earwires of your choice)
Assortment of Czech glass beads. I used 3 for the base...2 6mm and 1 8mm, plus flowers and leaves for the dangles.
2 earring charms
round nose pliers
flush cutters
butane torch

Bend 1 of the 8 inch pieces of copper wire about an inch away from one end, connect to one of the charms and start a wrapped loop.

Add one of the 6mm beads and wrap the second side, but don't cut the wire!  Here is how we are going to make the zig-zag.  

Put an 8mm bead on the wire and repeat the wrapped loop process as above...don't cut the wire!  Repeat again, and add the 2nd 6mm bead.  When you finish this loop you can cut.

I don't have photos of the next steps, sorry, I was in a hurry to get done!

With your pliers, straighten your loops so the are nice and flat and everything hangs right.

Using a butane torch, ball 1 end on 2 of the short pieces of copper wire.  These will be to dangle your flowers.  Connect to the earring base on one of the side loops via wrapped loop.

Connect the leaves in the same way...since the hole is horizontal, thread the wire through, and  bend it up and create the wrapped loop much in the same way as wrapping a briolette.

For the little tendril at the top, ball both ends of your remaining 2 pieces of wire with your torch.  Make sure the balls are sized so at least one end will fit through the top wrapped loop.

Fold the wire over and twist once.  Put your round nose pliers just behind the balled end and curl the wire around, repeat.

Use the sterling wire to make your earwires, and attach, or use earwires of your choice.  

Now, repeat for the 2nd earring, but reverse the layout of the dangles.

There you have it!  Fun, colorful, joyful earrings!  The design possibilities with these are pretty much endless...use gemstone briolettes instead of charms...keep the zig-zag going and make shoulder dusters...so many choices!  I hope you will give it a try and I would love to see your creations!

The Return of Mismatched Monday!

After I returned from the bead cruise last month I came away with an amazing amount of inspiration. I ended up creating and writing tutorials for 8 pieces that will debut in various bead magazines over the course of the rest of the year and into early next year.

A few days ago, I sat down thinking I would still be filled with inspiration but then nothing happened.  Apparently, I used it all up....or so I thought!  I decided to start organizing my massive bead collection and in the process I ended up finding lots of beads I forgot I even had!

Among the forgotten were these ceramic leaf pieces that Karen had made.  They were in two separate locations in my office.  Since they had the same glaze and theme I thought they would be perfect for some mismatched earrings!

I then made a whole new mess in my office searching for the perfect pieces to go with them.  I pulled some newly acquired czech glass, brass beads and a brass dragonfly that was in my bead cruise bag.

It was fun to return to the mismatched earrings again and now I feel the urge to make MORE!  Have you been inspired by organizing your bead collection?

Earring Resources:
Ceramic leaf charm & bead-Starry Road Studio
Brass dragonfly, ear wires, jump rings and bronze wire-Fusion Beads
Czech glass-Arte Bella Surplus
Brass beads-Hands of the Hills and Rings & Things

Happy Beading!

Diana P.
Suburban Girl Studio LLC

Go get Sidetracked!

Happy Saturday!  OMG, it is November already!  I can't believe a year has gone by since I first was honored to be a part of this amazing group of artists here at AJE!

Today was supposed to be Inspiration from my Closet, Part 2.  As those of you who "get" me know, I am a total procrastinator...it is my mantra: "why do something today, that you can put off until tomorrow?  or the next day?"  So, while I do have something simmering for that post, today, I wanted to talk to you about jumping on the opportunity to create when it presents itself.

A few weeks ago, I signed up to show my jewelry at my 12 year old son's middle school Fall Bazaar.  I knew I needed to create some things that would be at a different price point than I normally sell at, which meant I had to re-think some of my design strategies.

A little Czech glass earring collection!

I had some ideas, and wanted to get into production mode and was doing pretty good...had a bunch of my Czech glass out and was cranking out some of the earrings pictured. My mind and eye kept wandering to other things on my table, though.  While my hands were wiring together Czech glass beads into colorful, fun combinations, I kept looking at pretty beaded beads that our own Kristen Stevens sent me a while back.

Kristen's amazing beaded beads!

I had been wiring some of my Czech glass bead flowers for another project and saw a bracelet in my head with creamy ivory, butterscotch and deep chocolate brown.  But, Melissa, you are supposed to be working on things for the Bazaar, or your COM piece, or your unfinished Day of the Dead piece, or twenty other unfinished things!!

Yes, I was supposed to be doing that, but I decided I should strike while the proverbial iron was hot! Here is what I came up with...

I really love what happened when I gave myself permission to stop worrying about what I needed to do and let my heart do what it wanted to do.  As luck would have it, I had a few other AJE member artisan beads to add to the mix!  There is Kristen's beaded bead, right next to Sue Kennedy's raku frit lampwork bead, and across the way is a chocolate brown ceramic bead by Karen Totten.  Other beads in the mix are my Czech glass flower, a bronzeite rondelle, faceted agate of some sort, and some other stone beads that I can't identify, but love!  The lampwork leaf was from a set of headpins I got from Karen Leonardo at a beadshow a couple of years ago.

The cool thing?  After finishing this, I had some of Karen's leaves left and thought...hmmm, these would be cute as a charm-type pendant.  I also loved the wire-wrapped circles I made, so I made a couple more of those and they sort of morphed into sweet, simple necklaces that I know I will make more of!

I still had time to crank out some copper swirl rings (which were a big hit!).

So, the moral of this story is, don't be afraid to get sidetracked...sometimes doing what you want to do, instead of what you need to do is a positive thing!

Have fun getting sidetracked!!

Melissa Meman

Melismatic Art Jewelry

Art. Life. Love.