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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Take Flight (Featuring the JCUIN Guild)

Copper Bracelet with Ceramic Beads in Tan Orange Brown Bird Charm
Copper Bracelet With Ceramic Beads by Pink Sunset Jewelry Designs
Dragonfly and Fern Hand Made  Light Switch Plate Cover
Dragonfly and Fern Light Switch Plate by Wyvern Designs
Dichroic Glass Pendant, Flying Geese Etched, Blue and Purple, Handmade
Flying Geese Pendant by Shanghai Tai
Recently I did a collection on Artfire called "Take Flight!", featuring jewelry from JCUIN guild members that had wings or things that fly.  There were so many choices that I couldn't include them all in my collection, so I have decided to include a few more here.

First is a bracelet by Pink Sunset Jewelry Designs.  I just really like the look of this one.  The colors in the beads look good enough to eat.  And they go great with the copper.  I would have guessed, because of the swirls, that these beads are polymer clay, but they are actually ceramic.  Of course, the reason I included it here was because of the copper-tone swallow charm



Winter Birds Fused Glass Dichroic Pendant Necklace
Winter Birds Pendant by M2BC






Now this light switch cover is made out of polymer clay.  I love the deep dark green with the ferns.  You can imagine the dragonflies in a shaft of light breaking through the deep green forest.  This was made by Wyvern Designs.  You can see why I had to include this one!
IMJ Flight Turquoise and Copper Textured Earrings
Turquoise & Copper Earrings by Iron Mountain Jewelry

Larimar and Sterling Silver Pendant plarg1930
Larimar & Sterling Pendant by Lunaar Skies














Next are a couple of pendants that are very appropriate for the season.  The geese are flying south for the winter; I heard them just yesterday.  So this pendant is very timely.  This is an etched dichroic pendant, with the geese etched into the dichroic layer.  Three geese flying against a dark blue and purple sky.  This one is by me, Roxanne, of Shanghai Tai.












This fused pendant, by Meant 2B Cherished, is more a reflection of things to come.  Called "Winter Birds", it features white birds silhouetted against shades of blues and greys.  This technique is the opposite of the previous pendant.  Instead of being taken away, these birds and trees are added by fusing on an enamel design.  Enamel is another form of glass, so the design becomes part of the glass.

















So far all these pieces have had realistic flyers.  But they can also be abstract.  These earrings feature an abstract wing design.  I love the combination of the turquoise with the copper, and also the texture around the wings.  These were made by Iron Mountain Jewelry.






















Last, but certainly not least, is an abstract bird design.  The winged design is obvious to the viewer, but I think it must take a lot of creativity to create a design like this.  This larimar and sterling silver pendant is made by Quentin of Lunar Skies.








I hope you enjoyed this virtual flight.  Thanks to the talented artists of the Jewelry Creators Unite In Numbers guild on Artfire for the inspiration!

Friday, September 6, 2013

ShyMousee's Fall Blog Hop

Shy Mousee is hosting a fall blog hop of handmade items, so I just had to enter a few.

Fused Glass Pendant, Burnt Orange, Copper Wire Wrapped, Handmade
Copper wrapped fused glass pendant

When I think of fall, I think of Thanksgiving and Indian corn.  When I was a kid I was always fascinated by Indian corn, and how people would hang up dried ears of Indian corn as a decoration.  My mother was always too practical for any kind of decorating like that.  I don't really know if it's good for anything else or not.

The glass in this pendant at the right reminds me of corn kernels, and of course, Indian corn.  I wire wrapped it in copper because it is the perfect compliment to the autumn burnt orange color.  Every time I see this pendant, I think of Thanksgiving!




Leaf Earring With Handmade Copper Charm, Niobium Earwires, Brown

I have been meaning to list these earrings for awhile now, so the blog hop was exactly what I needed to give me a little push.  I got them photographed and listed just this afternoon.

I make the copper charms by hand from copper metal clay.  (They are 100% copper.)  I have attached them to niobium earwires.  These are annodized to give them a nice copper color so they go great with the little diamond shaped leaf charms.  Also niobium is extremely hypoallergenic, so just about anyone can wear them with no sensitivity problems.  Just in time for fall!



Falling Leaves Fused Glass Necklace Handmade Green Yellow Brown Rust
Falling Leaves fused glass necklace

Now, this one is an oldie but a goody!  The photos weren't too good, so a took a couple of new ones before I entered it in the blog hop.

It's hard to see here, but I fused the three leaves between a sparkly green background and a clear layer of glass.  Can you see the tiny sparkles?  I also left a space to run a cord or ribbon through it to make a necklace.  The organza ribbon makes a nice addition, because it looks good under the glass.  I call this the "falling leaves" pendant.  I wanted it to reflect all the different colors that the leaves turn in autumn, and I wanted it to look like they were falling from the tree.  Did I succeed?

If you would like to enter Shymousee's blog hop, you can enter it here:

Monday, September 2, 2013

Fall Earrings for the Earring Challenge Blog Hop

Candy Corn Earrings, Fused Glass, Handmade Sterling Silver Ear Wires,
Candy Corn Earrings

I stumbled across another blog hop, this one is called Earring Challenge.  It has some great fall earrings.  So I hope it was ok that I decided to join the blog hop and add some of my own.

First I added the most recent pair of earrings that I listed in my artfire shop.

These candy corn earrings I make myself from fused glass.  It was a little work trying to make the kernels, but I think I have it down now.  You will notice they are not identical.  Just like snowflakes, no two candy corn kernels are the same!  The argentium sterling ear wires are hand forged (by me, of course.)


Clip On Earrings, Dichroic Glass, Handmade Textured Multicolored OOAK
Dichroic glass clip on earrings





For my next pair, I thought, clip on earrings would be really different.  Hardly anyone makes clip-ons.  I don't have too many pairs at the moment, but these seem to have a lot of fall colors in them.  I made these from fused dichroic glass.  In addition to the gorgeous colors, they also have a very nice texture to them.  The lines you see going across are actually raised ridges.



Lastly, here is what I will be making today.  I make these copper heart charms from copper metal clay.  This particular pair features a heart with a swirl on a diamond shaped charm.  I add niobium ear wires that have been annodized to make them look like aged copper.  These earrings are perfect for fall!  As a matter of fact, the reason I need to make these today is because I think I have sold out of every single style of copper metal clay earring that I have listed in my store.  So I guess I better get busy!

I hope you enjoyed these, and I hope it was ok to enter the blog hop because I crashed the party!  If you would llike to crash the party too, you will find the link below.