Gifts and Wishes at the Coast Collective

Hello everyone!  As promised, I have info about my second Christmas show of the year.  It's out at the Coast Collective, where I also did a couple summer shows and have items in the gift shop.  Unlike the summer shows, Gifts and Wishes is a multi-week show in the main gallery.  It runs from November 26 to December 21st, with the grand opening tomorrow (Saturday the 29th). 

I'll be popping in briefly for the grand opening, and I will be there from noon until 5:00 on Sunday November 30th if you want to chat with me personally, but my pieces will be there for the whole show.  There's also free tea and cookies, with all sorts of extra special goodies for the opening, so you should check that out.  (I will be bringing two types of home-baked cookies over the two days.)

I have a bunch of my sea glass in the show (pendants and earrings) and some of my beaded pearl necklaces and bracelets.  I also have a bunch of the freeform coil earrings I made for this holiday season (though they are beautiful to wear all year long).  I think these earrings go really nicely with the beaded pearl jewellery I make.

The first are made with silver-plated copper wire and white glass pearls.  They are cool and classic with a modern twist.  $20

 The next also use silver-plated copper wire, but they feature glass pearls in white, pale grey, and dark grey for an ombre effect.  They would go very nicely with my harlequin pearl necklace and bracelet combo (necklace now on etsy).  Earrings are $20.

For people who are more keen on gold tones than silver, I also have some freeform coil earrings made with non-tarnish brass wire and glass pearls.  This pair with the classic combination of gold and white pearls is classy, timeless, and sophisticated.  $20

I also have a pair with brass wire and white and caramel glass pearls for a bit of added flair.  The combination is honey-warm and glamorous. $20

And for anyone who would like a bit of colour instead of neutral metal tones, I have a pair made with silver-plated copper wire and icy blue miracle beads.  These beads are hard to capture in photos -- they seem to have an aura around an interior bead, or the shadow of a second bead inside the first.  The earrings are lovely and cool and catch the light beautifully.  $20

For anyone who can't make it out to the Coast Collective but who would like some earrings like these, I have the supplies to make up more pairs like them (except for the ones with miracle beads -- I'd have to go shopping for more beads like that) and post them on my Etsy.  Just send me an email or a comment and I can make them for you.  (Or in any other colour combo you'd care to dream up.)

I also have a pair of donut wrap earrings out at the Coast Collective show.  You've seen them before, but I have a new photo, so here it is.  These are $35.

I made a new donut wrap pendant as well.  This one is fun because instead of doing the wrap and bail separately, I worked them into one asymmetrical design.  It features brass wire on a pale green stone, with E-beads, Swarovski crystal bicones (turquoise and violet), and glass bicones (orange).  This pendant is $35.

 

 

Hope to see some of you at the show!

Gifts for Myself and Others 2014 was Lovely

Hello to anyone I may have seen at Gifts for Myself and Others 2014 last weekend.  It was a completely beautiful show with so many talented artists and so many lovely visitors.  It was delightful to speak to all of you.

I thought I might post a few pictures for those of you who missed the show.  As I mentioned in my last post, I shared a booth with Deb Thurlbeck and her wonderful, whimsical fabric art and photography.  Below are a few pictures of our booth.  I apologize about the quality, but my camera didn't do super well in the low light.

First up a nice side view of the booth in its entirety:

 

You can see several of Deb's beautiful masks, a couple of her sea horse giraffes, and a few of my pieces, including my Treasures of the Deep necklace (closeup of that at the bottom of this post).

Next up is a snot of one of my sections of the table, with my beaded bangles, donut wraps, and some of my fancier pearl necklace pieces:

I'm considering discontinuing the beaded bangles, so they are getting pretty sparse.

The final table shot I have for you is mostly of my sea glass pendants.  I'm rather proud of the little beach I manage to set up for them, with the oceany scarf and drift wood and shells:

A little overexposed, but hopefully you get the idea.

I also figured I'd include some photos of some new earrings I had available at the show.  Neither pair has sold, so they are still available.

The first is a pair I made a couple years ago.  They are delightfully extravagant, with a base made from silver-plated copper wire donut wraps on shell loops, and three dangles featuring freshwater pearls and Swarovski bicones.

The wrap on the donut features various types of beads.  This pair of earrings is $50.

The next set are also silver-plated copper wire donut wraps on shell, but they feature central obsidian beads and a square crystal dangle.  They're in multiple shades of blue, silver, and black, not quite as extravagant as the previous pair, but still quite funky.

The central obsidian beads can rotate freely to show multiple sides.  These earrings are $40.

And that's it for today, but please look forward to my next post with info about my final show of the year and photos of a bunch of new pieces.

Gifts for Myself and Others 2014

I've been quiet lately because I've been prepping for my biggest show of the year.  (I'm also on the committee for it, which has been a wonderful learning experience and has kept me quite busy as well.)  So I am very pleased to inform all of you that for the second year now I will be sharing a table with the wonderful fabric sculpture artist Deb Thurlbeck at Gifts for Myself and Others!

As the image here shows, Gifts for Myself and Others will once again be held at the Leonardo da Vinci Centre at 195 Bay Street (map).  It will be this coming weekend, Friday Nov 21 to Sunday November 23.  The hours will be as follows:

Friday November 21 -- 12:00pm to 8:00pm
Saturday November 22 -- 10:00am to 6:00pm
Sunday November 23 -- 11:00am to 5:00pm

Admission is $4, but you can get $1 off if you bring a food bank donation.  There are hourly door prize draws and a chance for a grand prize of $250 which can be spent with any of the participating artists.  New this year we're adding soap and candles as vendor categories, and we're having a gallery shop with work by Island Artisans Association members who did not want to have a full table.  I am super excited about this show; it'll be fantastic.

As I mentioned, I've been busy making new pieces for this show.  I haven't photographed many of them yet, but I can show you pictures of two new bracelets in my glass pearl and seed bead line.  I'm branching out into brighter colours.

More pictures to come soon!

And just a reminder, if you're planning on ordering something from my exciting new Etsy shop, and you want it in time for Christmas, you may want to make your orders soon.  Canada Post recommends early December for orders within Canada, and earlier if you want it shipped internationally, depending on the country.  That being said, if you're willing to pay extra for shipping, I can courier it to you at a later date, but you'd have to specifically request that.

Only a few days left on Etsy Grand Opening Sale!

Hello all,

There are only a few days left to use the WDGRANDOPEN coupon and save 10% on items in my Etsy shop.  It's only available until October 24th.

I will be adding more items to the shop soon, but for now, here are some pictures of the pieces I currently have up for sale:

Reversible brass wire wrapped sea glass pendant. $20

Reversible copper wire wrapped sea glass pendant.  $20

 

Silver-plated copper wire wrapped sea glass pendant.  $20

 

Silver-plated copper wire wrapped sea glass pendant.  $20

Brass wire wrapped sea glass pendant with shell charm.  $25

Silver-plated copper wire wrapped sea glass earrings with Swarovski crystal bicones and freshwater pearls.  $39

 

Silver seed bead and white glass pearl necklace with toggle clasp.  $39

Icy blue seed bead and white glass pearl necklace with lobster claw clasp.  $39

 

Hematite-finish black seed beads with crimson glass pearl necklace with lobster claw clasp.  $39

Copper core transparent black seed bead with caramel glass pearl necklace with lobster claw clasp.  $39

Silver-plated copper wire donut wrap on rose quartz with glass pearls, Swarovski crystal bicone, and E beads on an iris seed bead and rose-white glass pearl chain with lobster claw clasp.  $59

Are there more pieces from my blog you'd like to see in my Etsy shop?  Just let me know in a comment or shoot me an email.

Etsy Shop Grand Opening

I've been away for a while.  The Clothesline and Basically Birds show out at the Coast Collective was lovely.  I made a pair of earrings in honour of the theme.  They're my first ever feather earrings, and they were fun.  I added a few crystal-y seed beads.

 The Oak Bay Community Artists' Bowker Creek Brush Up was also wonderful, and I look forward to attending both events again next summer.

I have some stuff coming up this fall, but I'll tell you about that later.  The main reason I'm posting today is to announce the grand opening of my Etsy Shop!  I am very excited about this, and because of that, I am offering a coupon for 10% off any purchase over $10 until October 24.  Just enter the code WDGRANDOPEN to receive this discount.

In my shop you'll see several of the designs I've previously posted in this blog, as well as some new beach glass earrings.

These lovelies are made with clear/white sea glass, silver-plated copper wire, Swarovski crystal bicones, and freshwater pearls.  They're $39.

I also made sure to include photos showing the scale of a bunch of my sea glass pendants.  Like so:

 

New pieces to come soon, in my show and in my shop, and I will soon have news about some of the fall events I will be doing.  In the meantime, either click the link in this article or over on my side bar, and check out my new shop.

Events this Weekend! Clothesline at Coast Collective on Saturday and Bowker Creek Brush Up on Sunday!

Hello all!  As you can see in my title, I have a busy and exciting weekend coming up.

On Saturday I'll be heading back out to the Coast Collective for their Clothesline show.  It's going to be another lovely outdoor event on their beautiful grounds.  I had a wonderful time at their Acres of Art show, and I really look forward to being back there.

And then on Sunday I will be out in Bowker Creek Park for the Oak Bay Community Artists Socitey's 10th Annual Bowker Creek Brush Up.  Check out their website and brochure for details about the location and a map of where all the artists will be on site. 

I toured this show as a shopper last year, and it's another absolutely beautiful outdoor location with so much gorgeous work, and I am very excited to be a part of it.  In addition to the many talented artists who will be there, there will be a delicious barbeque set up with handmade burgers to support Woodwynn Farms, and I believe one artist will have a station set up where kids can carve linoleum stamps and try their hands at print-making.

Here's a picture of their brochure.  Make sure to click on it to enlarge it so you can see examples of work by many of the talented artists who will be there.

I will be bringing many of the beach glass pieces I've posted lately, as well as all of my beadwork and some exciting new pieces to these shows, so I look forward to seeing you there.

Acres of Art was Lovely; Also New Beach Glass

Hello everyone!

As mentioned, I went out to the beautiful Coast Collective for their Acres of Art show on July 12.  It was a lovely afternoon, and I got to talk to so many nice people.  If you happened to pick up my business card and are checking my blog now, please comment or send me an email so I know these things are working.

It was exciting to set up my table with all my new jewellery stands.  I think the table ended up looking pretty nice.  (There are closeups of all the pieces displayed in this photo down in my previous blog entries.)

Since I had dropped off all my old beach glass pieces at the Maritime Museum's gift shop, I made a whole new set for this show.  So I figure I'll show off some pictures of it here.

First up, I have a couple new reversible pieces.  The first is non-tarnish brass wire (looks like gold) on white beach glass.  It's $20.

The second reversible piece is copper on white.  It's also $20.

I have another copper pendant for people who really like swirls.  It has two scrolls on its face plus a really swirly top. $20

This next piece features silver-plated copper wire on white beach glass.  It sort of reminds me of a cello.  $20

I have another in silver-plated copper wire on white beach glass.  This one's design is more vertical.  $20.

In case you're beginning to worry that all my new pieces are on white beach glass, I'll show you now that they aren't.  Here's a dainty one in silver-plated copper wire on deep green beach glass.  $20.

I also did one with brass wire on dark green beach glass.  This one is probably my favourite of the new set of beach glass pendants.  The odd shape of the glass actually helped me to do a really nice wrap.  $20

The rest of the pendants all have charms of some sort.  The first is brass wire on white beach glass and features a large scroll and a shell-shaped charm.  $25

The next one is brass wire in a ripply wrap on white beach glass, and for something different I gave it a pink freshwater pearl to add a splash of colour.  $25

Sticking with the notion of some added colour, I put an indigo freshwater pearl on this pendant of silver-plated copper wire on white beach glass.  $25

The final pendant for the day is rather fun.  It's a heart-shaped piece of white beach glass wrapped in silver-plated copper wire with a dolphin charm.  $25

I also made two new pairs of earrings.  The first set could go nicely with the pendant with the indigo pearl, since it also features silver-plated copper wire and indigo pearl dangles, though I added a vibrant pink seed bead for a touch of contrast. $39

Here they are again hanging on a mug.

This next pair of earrings is probably my favourite pair of beach glass earrings so far.  They are copper wire on white beach glass dangling below an indigo pearl, which looks lovely against the copper.  I also feel like the double scroll in the wrap somehow ends up looking a little like a heart.  $39

And hanging from the mug:

And that's it for today, but I will have more news of venues and events for you soon.  Just comment or email to let me know if you'd like to see more of something.

New Pieces Ready for Acres of Art

As promised, I am posting some pictures of new pieces I will have ready for the Coast Collective's  Acres of Art show on July 12th (details in a previous entry).  Many of them are familiar designs in new colours, but there are a couple new designs or new variations on old ones.

Let's start with new colours in familiar designs.  I've done a bunch of new colours in my pearl bracelets.  As you'll see, I've expanded into some brighter colours for the summer months.  These are made with glass pearls and seed beads and have lobster claw clasps so I can add an extender chain and make them adjustable if need be.  They are $20.

The first is a combination that makes me think of August in the Okanagan, of multitudes of grasshoppers singing in the sun baked hills.  It's caramel pearls with gold-core green seed beads.

The next bracelet features the same gold-core green seed beads but has green pearls.  I suppose it's the June or July to the previous bracelet's August.  Or more of an herb garden.

The final piece using these seed beads has violet pearls and is definitely more of a flower garden or summer meadow.  I really love this combination.  I'll almost definitely do a necklace in it at some point.

  

 

And here's the three of them together because I'm considering doing a multi-strand necklace in these colours.  They also happen to be Mardi Gras colours, which is fun.

Sticking to the violet and green theme, I also have a set with green pearls and some lovely oily-finish violet seed beads.  Kind of a reversal of a green "vine" with violet blooms.

I also did one with those same oily-finish violet seed beads with lilac/lavender pearls.  This one is cooler in tone.

And to finish off the range of purples, I have one with the violet pearls and iris seed beads.  The violet pearls really bring out the pink iridescence in the finish on the iris beads.

The next few bracelets all feature navy blue pearls.  The first one is relaxing, deep and cool with silver seed beads.

The next features a bit more contrast -- in fact, its opposite on the colour wheel -- in the form of clear copper-core seed beads.  I feel like the copper makes the blue pop more vibrantly.  And I don't know why, but I feel like copper is the metal of summer.

The final navy blue piece features blue copper-core seed beads which give a more muted version of the previous design while adding extra depth through the second shade of blue.

I'll fess up I did also do a few more neutral pearl bracelets.  I noticed when posting my previous batch of photos that I was out of white with silver, so I made one to go with the necklace I have.

I also decided to try a white with iris.  I was delighted by the result.  It's very delicate and feminine and airy.

I also brought some colour to white pearls with the icy blue seed beads I've come to love.  You've probably already seen them with dark grey or black pearls, but I can't believe I didn't mix them with white before, because it's gorgeous.

Which brings us to necklaces, because I loved this combination so much that I made a necklace in it.  Here it is on my snazzy new bust.  Like my other single-strand pearl necklaces, it's $39.

I also have a couple new multi-strand designs to show you. 

The first is in sun-kissed gold tones.  It's an asymmetrical two-strand design of white pearls with bright gold seed beads and caramel pearls with clear brown seed beads.  I have a few shots so you can get a good sense of it, and a close-up of the filigree box clasp.

The next is a triple-strand center with a single strand chain.  It's a design I came up with to make a triple strand necklace more manageable in terms of time and materials.  The single strand chain is a new design featuring white pearls and grey-silver core seed beads.  This is attached to a lovely silver-coloured three-to-one connector which is in turn connected to light grey, dark grey, and black lines of pearls with iris seed beads.  It's quite long and I need to get a larger bust to display it properly.

That's it for pearls.  I actually have a couple more bracelets to show you.  They are two versions of lace stitches with seed beads.

The first is done with grey silver-core seed beads and is horizontal lace.  Because of the number of beads in each loop, it ends up curling or ruffling, which I'll fess up was by accident but I thought it was pretty fun so I kept it.

The next one is more of a cuff.  It's vertical lace made with pink pearl-finish seed beads and edged with black pearl-finish or hematite-finish seed beads.  It looks really fun emerging from a long sleeve, but I think it could be pretty funky summer-wear too.

Back to necklaces.  I have another familiar design with new colours.  It's a daisy chain with bugle bead leaves in blue.  So it's a forget-me-not chain.  here it is on my new bust and then a bit more of a closeup on my old flat stand.  Like its violet sister, it's $30.

 

And the final piece I want to show you isn't new at all, but I am forever trying to get a good photo of it.  Here's my latest effort, on my new bust: Treasures of the Deep.

And that brings this really long entry to a close.  I am busily at work on new beach glass pieces for the show as well, since everything I've posted photos of before is over at the Maritime Museum.  I may or may not have time to post photos before the show on the 12th, but even if I don't get pictures up, they will be there.