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.

New Photos of Earrings

As mentioned in my previous post, I will be at Coast Collective's Acres of Art show on Saturday, so this week I'll be posting pictures of some of the pieces I will be selling there. 

I'm going to start off with some earrings that you've seen before if you're a longtime reader.  I'm much happier with these photos though.  As always, you can click on the images to enlarge them.

First up are some of my tassel earrings.  These are made with silver-plate ear wires, bright silver-plate tulip-shaped caps, iris seed beads, silver bugle beads, and blue E-beads.  They're $20.

I have another pair of tassel earrings in cool tones.  These are made with silver-plate ear wires, dark silver coloured tulip-shaped caps, turquoise seed beads, silver bugle beads, and blue E-beads.  They're $20.

The final pair of tassel earrings I have are in gold tones.  These have gold toned ear wires, gold toned tulip-shaped caps, green seed beads, brown silver-core seed beads, and gold bugle beads.  They're $20.

Next up are a set of fun freeform coil earrings.  The first pair are done with copper wire and pale green beads with a lovely inner banded shine.  They're $20.

I have another pair made with copper wire and the same green beads, but these ones feature a scroll or spiral on the bottom.  These are $25.

I have a freeform coil pair designed to go with my harlequin necklace and bracelet designs.  They're made with silver-plated copper wire and glass pearls in white, grey, and black.  They are $20.

I also have some freeform coil earrings that use miracle beads.  Miracle beads are those really snazzy ones that have a sort of layered look as though there's an inner bead beneath a shimmery transparent outer layer (and unfortunately, photos never seem to do them justice).  This first pair is fantastic for summer, featuring silver-plated copper wire and a refreshing cool blue set of miracle beads.  These earrings are $25.

The next pair features gold-plated wire and cherry-red miracle beads.  They're $25.

These final earrings are a pair of donut wraps done on shell hoops.  They feature silver-plated copper wire, blue and purple E-beads, and some interesting pink rectangular beads.  They're $35.

And here's another picture of them because I thought that they made my glass look like an owl and that amused me.  (See, they're like the owl's big eyes?)

And I think that's enough for today.  Tomorrow I'll post pictures of some of the new necklaces and bracelets I've been working on.

Acres of Art at the Coast Collective on July 12

Hello all, exciting news today!  Next weekend, on Saturday, July 12, I will be out on the rambling grounds of the gorgeous Coast Collective property for their Acres of Art show from 12:00-5:00pm. 

The Coast Collective is out on Esquimalt Lagoon, and if you have never been there, I highly suggest you visit, even if you can't make it for this show.  They have gorgeous galleries as well as a multi-room shop selling handcrafted pieces of art in many many mediums from oil paintings to sculpture to jewellery to textiles to hand-blended loose leaf teas.

Tomorrow or Monday I will post some pictures of the pieces you can expect me to sell at the Acres of Art show.  For now, just mark it in your calendar, and if you didn't already, scroll down to check out my posts about my beach glass in the Maritime Museum of BC, and especially to view the photos of earrings I posted today.

Beach Glass Earrings for the Maritime Museum

As promised in my previous post, today I will share pictures of the new beach glass earrings I am selling at the Maritime Museum of BC.

First up are a new pair made from white glass with silver-plated copper wire and a dangle made from a freshwater pearl and a pale blue Swarovski bicone.  These earrings are $39.

The next pair are made with brass wire (which looks gold and will match gold jewellery quite nicely) on white beach glass and feature freshwater pearls on a separate headpin swinging freely.  They are also $39.

Now Selling at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia

Exciting news today!  I am now selling my beach glass baubles (pendants and earrings) in the gift shop at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in Bastion Square in downtown Victoria.

This is doubly exciting because in addition to having a venue to sell my jewellery, part of the money from the sales will go to a really amazing museum.  For those who haven't visited, it's a multi-storey museum with several exhibits in the former courthouse where Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie once presided and, according to some, where his ghost still lingers.  It also has the oldest continuously operating open cage elevator in North America, and you can ride in it if you ask nicely. (The emergency breaks are fully modern and well-maintained.)

Here's a somewhat blurry shot of my jewellery there in the gift shop.  I forgot my actual camera, and apparently my phone had a horrible time with the lighting there.

The eagle-eyed among you may note that there are three pairs of earrings hanging from my snazzy new black stand.  I will post photos of those new earrings some time soon.  The rest are the pendants hung on adjustable cords, and then my business cards sitting inside one of the enormous shells I picked up on Sidney Spit.

In addition to more jewellery photos, I will also have more info on sales venues in the days to come, so keep your eyes peeled.

More Beach Glass

I have several more pieces of beach glass to show you today.  I explained beach glass a little in my Beach Glass Baubles post, where you can also see more beach glass pieces (though my beach glass earrings are in this post).  I have since learned that beach glass can also be called sea glass, if you've heard of it by that name.  All of these pieces range from $20 to $25.

I'm actually going to start off with one you've seen before.  I'll be putting most of these on adjustable waxed black cotton cords, which you can sort of see here:

This next one is about 3cm, or just over an inch, long including the bail.  It's silver-plated copper wire over white-frosted beach glass.

I have a similar design made with brass wire if you're more into gold tones.  It's slightly larger at 3.5 cm.

I have a larger (4cm or 1.5 inches), opal-shaped pendant in warm brown glass with a very minimalistic wrap in silver-plated copper wire.

An interesting thing happened while I was working on some of these free-form wraps.  I realized, as I was finishing them up, that the back looked just as nice as the front, so I have a set of reversible pendants.

The first is done with copper wire on some lovely bright green glass and is 3.75cm or just under 1.5 inches long.

The next is made with brass wire over brown beach glass and is just over 2.5cm or an inch long.  The side shown in the right hand picture makes me think of bars of music for some reason.

This next reversible pendant is brass wire on fairly young, clear green glass and is about 3cm, or just over an inch long, including the large bail.

The final reversible piece is made with copper wire and white/clear beach glass.  It's 3cm or just over an inch long, and the one side is mostly bare to showcase the frosted glass while the other has more complex criss-crossing of wire.

Speaking of more complex, I'll show you one of my favourite pieces next.  This one is done as a cage with a triple scroll embellishment.  It's brass wire on white beach glass and is 3.5cm or 1.25 inches long, including the bail.

And because I like it so much, here it is again from another angle:

The rest of the pieces have charms attached. 

The first is a nice rectangular piece of white beach glass with brass wire and a fish cut-out charm.  It is 4cm or 1.5 inches long.

The next is also done with brass wire on a lovely rounded chunk of white beach glass and features a small starfish charm.  It is 3.5cm or 1.25 inches long.

The final brass wire on white glass piece is a dainty little piece featuring a sand dollar charm.  It Is only 2cm long, just under 3cm with the bail (just over an inch).

I also did a new silver-plated copper wire on white beach glass piece with a lovely textured star fish charm.  This piece is just under 4cm or 1.5 inches with the bail included.

The final piece I'm going to show you today also has silver-plated copper wire, but is on dark brown beach glass, which really sets off the silver fish cut out charm.  I like to think the little scroll (spiral) floating above him was a big hiccup from the little fish.  This pendant is 4cm or 1.5 inches long including the large bail.

And that's it for this set.  Next time I'll post some non-beach-glass pieces.

Some Odds and Ends

It's been a while since my last entry, so I figured I should share some new photos with you.

I'll start off with what could be considered a continuation of my last post -- some beach glass earrings.

These first ones are not available as I gave them away as a gift, but I'll post them so you have an idea of the kind of design I'm working on.  These feature smallish pieces of white/clear beach glass, fresh water pearls, icy blue seed beads, and silver-plated copper wire.

As you can see, I kept the wrap simple so as to showcase the beach glass.

This next pair is $39.  It makes use of the same materials, minus the seed beads, but the design is very different.  I used a lighter gauge of wire and made the wrap a bit more complex.

That's it for beach glass.  Next up are a pair of earrings I made for my mom for Mother's Day.  Obviously, these particular ones are not for sale, but if people like them I can make similar ones using the same or different stones.  These are made with faceted tiger's eye beads.  One nice thing about these earrings is they are super light weight.

My next two pieces are not actually jewellery.  I had a request to make some wine glass identifiers/personalizers, so I made a couple prototypes for the person who made the request to test out.  Currently they are in the testing phase to see how they hold up to use.

The first type is a clip type.  You just "snap" it around the stem of your wine glass (or in the case of my quick photos, my super cheap made-in-China plastic martini glass) and then if needed pinch it closed a little again so it won't slip right off.  The goal was to get the wire so it is sort of springy and "closes" on its own again.  We'll see how it holds up after use, but here's the general design.

The next type is a spiral type.  I made this with a heavier gauge of wire.  For this one you feed the stem of the wine glass through the spiral until it gets to the center.

I have quite a few ideas for charms for these (though I was pleasantly surprised at how nice these little plastic tulip ones looked), so I hope at least one type holds up pretty well and I can make a few sets.

That's it for today.  More photos to come soon.