Making The Oak Leaf & Acorn Pendants

I started forming the idea for this month's COM pendant way back in March, while we were still in Oaxaca, Mexico. 

I'd attended a garage sale/art show where I saw this cool necklace made of drilled acorns.  I thought that if I cut the necklace apart, the acorns would make cute earrings and could be accents in other jewelry. The necklace was only three dollars so I snapped it right up!  The necklace led to thoughts about incorporating a dimensional acorn shape into a ceramic oak leaf pendant.

I tried impressing a real oak leaf into the clay, but it didn't leave a deep enough impression for what I had in mind.  So I drew an oak leaf on scratch foam (Kristi wrote about scratch foam here, if you'd like to learn more).  I cut the foam out in the shape I wanted the pendants to be and then glued a cork on the back to use as a handle to press into the clay.

After making the oak leaf impressions, I cut them out, using a fettling knife. 

I made a silicone mold of one of the Oaxacan acorns. Then I attached the molded clay acorns to the leaf pendants and added the little wire loops. The wire is made of a special metal that won't melt in the extreme heat of the kiln.

I let the clay dry for about 24 hours and then used a damp sponge to smooth any rough spots and to round the edges. The pendants were then fired in the kiln to about 1915 F (1046 C).

After the pendants were fired, I glazed them in rich autumn colors.  I wanted deeply saturated fall colors, so sometimes I mixed 2-3 commercial colors together in order to arrive at the exact palette I was looking for.  All the pendants received 2-3 coats of glaze; front and back. 

 The colors always look so pale and chalky before they are fired.  The heat transforms them and it is always a thrill to see what they look like after the second firing!

Once the glaze was dry, the pendants were carefully hung from rods in the kiln.  If any of the glazed pieces are touching, they will fuse together during  firing.  

The kiln was then reassembled, enclosing the pendants and they were again fired; this time to 2185 F (1196 C).

The result?  Take a look!  Two of these pendants are available in my shop now, with more coming later this month.

~Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Make Your Own ~ Country Goldenrod Earrings

It's earring making time again! Seems these days, I only ever make jewelry for tutorials… but I do like the break from beadmaking once in a while!

The stars of these new earrings are a pair of lovely beaded beads from our very own Kristen Stevens—I love her beaded beads!

Come see how to make your own earrings…

Supplies you'll need:

- 22 bronze gauge wire

- 2 silver earwires

- 2 beaded beads

- 2 8mm silver beads

- 2 8mm round beads (I used turquoise howlite)

- 2 5mm round beads (turquoise howlite for these too)

- about 16 inches of ribbon or fabric

Tools you'll need:

- scissors

- tape measure

- wire cutters

- round-nose pliers

- flat-nose pliers

- bent-nose pliers

1. Cut two 16 inch lengths of 22 gauge wire. Put a silver bead on each wire and wrap the wire once around, leaving a 3 inch tail.

2. Place the beaded beads just above the wrapped wire.

3. Cut the fabric or ribbon into pairs of three lengths. I did two pairs 3 inches long and one pair 2 inches long. You can do these whatever length you want—just keep in mind that the longer they are, the more bulk you'll have on your finished earring and you made need a longer wire for the wire wrapping.

4. Take the long end of the wire and thread it through the fabric, folding as you go. Place the 8mm howlite bead just above the folded fabric.

5. Thread the other 3 inch length of fabric, add the 5mm beads, and the last length of fabric.

6. Scrunch everything down on top of the beaded beads and form a small wrapped loop.

7. Wrap the tail of the wrapped loop down over the top of the fabric and howlite beads to the beaded bead. Wrap tightly, adjusting the folds of the fabric as you wrap and trim any unruly fabric with scissors. Lastly, wrap that first tail of wire above the silver bead. Repeat with the other earring… add your earwires and you're done!! Enjoy!

Happy earring making!!

Rebekah Payne

Tree Wings Studio

Autumn Girl

I

I am an autumn girl through and through. My birthday is even on the first day of autumn! I love autumn colors best of all, and my hair, eye and skin coloring are such that autumn colors are most flattering on me. What could be better? Designing jewelry with autumn colors, of course!  

 Cinnamon Spice Collection

Clockwise: Classic Bead, Classic Elements, Humble Beads

If you are in the throes of autumn designing, I have some inspiration boards for you. I gathered up some of of my favorite autumn focals and paired them with beads, chains, textiles and leather. Links to the shops are provided in the caption area beneath each picture. 

Branch With A Squirrel Collection

Clockwise:  Suburban Girl Studio, Green Girl Studios, Classic Elements, Glass Addictions

Flaming Leaf Collection

Clockwise: Thea Elements, Shipwreck Beads, Marsha Neal Studio, Shipwreck Beads

  Oak Leaf  Collection

Clockwise:  Humble Beads, Suburban Girl Studio, White Clover Kiln, Kristi Bowman Design

Leaf Impression Collection

Clockwise: Slate Studios, Starry Road Studio, Shipwreck Beads, Stinky Dog Beads

Just putting these collections together has really motivated me to spend some quality time with my autumn beads! I hope they have the same effect on you!  

  
-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry