Friday Night Fever

Just another Friday night.
Making skull earrings...

...and watching Mothra on Netflix.

Leaf and Berry Earrings

Hey ladies!
I whipped up a few new pairs of spring earrings.

I call this style 'leaf and berry' and I make loads of them.
They're simple to make and easy to wear.
Pawing through my bead stash for a perfect pairing of leaves and berries is great fun.

I like to wear this handmade style of sterling ear wire.
Other people prefer leverbacks, so I always make them both ways.

Sometimes I add in some extra bits, like these little tribal brass bells that look like seeds.

A New Garden Bracelet - From Beginning to End

This bracelet started with a scrappity clipping from a magazine.
I think it was a Martha Stewart living that I picked up at a garage sale last summer.

Then came figuring out how I was going to shape off mandrel rose petals.
These are Cim's 'desert pink' with 104 white frit. 

I really like this single bead. 
It has petals of transparent gray over a core bead of Effetre 'pastel violet' with Val Cox 'purple rose' frit.

Above are all the glassy bits ready to assemble.
The little off mandrel leaves are transparent gray with Val Cox 'hi ho silver' frit.
The round ones are plain old Effetre 'white.'

I laid it out several different way before starting to cut and hammer the sterling.
Lately, I like things that are no where near symmetrical.

Besides my glass beads and lots of sterling silver, this bracelet has big juicy chunks of rough cut amethyst, faceted labradorite rondelles and some tiny green freshwater pearls.

Here's a good look at the pink petal end of the bracelet...

...and the amethyst end of the bracelet.

I love making my own clasps.
Commercial ones were never quite right for these big garden bracelets.

Clowning Around or Cheap Cheep

One of our local public art spaces is called the 'Rochester Contemporary' or RoCo for short.

Each year their main fundraiser is an event called 6x6.

Artists from all over the world donate thousands of 6" x 6" works that are sold for $20 a piece.
It's insane fun.

So this very well turned out woman sashays into my studio during a public event and asks if I am going to make more birds for 6x6. She tells me loudly, to impress the room, that she got one a few years ago on opening night and would like to get another one "on the cheap."

I knew instantly I would NOT be making more birds for RoCo this year.

Here are my 6x6 paintings for this year - come and get 'em lady.

Springtime Bracelet

Start with all of this.
Blue ribbed donuts, translucent yellow headpins and a mess transparent green leaves.

End up with this.

I am now making tags for all my big necklaces and bracelets.
It's like signing a painting.

The blue beads are Effetre 'intense blue transparent' with Val Cox 'African Violet' frit.

The yellow headpins are Vetrofond 'yellow transparent odd.' One of my most favorite colors.

And the leaves are all three shades Effetre of 'grass green transparent' (light, medium and dark).

The clasp components are sterling silver and the rest of the links and headpins are brass.

It really catches the light and moves nicely on the wrist.

Hello Spring! So glad you are finally here.

Egg-stravaganza

Can't stop making eggs!
So much frit, so little time...

Oops, there's one lone 'full moon' in there.