Thursday, August 27, 2009

Desert Reptile - Sedona Series - clay pendant with lizard, wooden beads


Desert Reptile - Sedona Series - clay pendant with lizard, multi-colored wooden beads
Another featured beads purchased at Tlaquepaque. This one is clay and features a desert lizard. I used orange and green wooden sphere beads, eggshell wooden mini pony beads, yellow and orange mini pony beads, circle brown wooden beads and small rectangle wooden beads along with clear-silver bugle beads. I may or may not be giving this to Chrissy, but only if she swears she'll wear it and it won't just disappear in the Vortex of her bedroom.

Birdie's Party Dress


Birdie's Party Dress is another Mad Men creation. Betty wears a white party dress with green, blue, yellow and brown polka dots when she (& Don, sorta) host a dinner party for Sterling Cooper fellas and their chicks (except Duck, who doesn't have a date...) She sorta has a Betty Friedan-ish Feminine Mystique ennui freak out and stays in her dress swilling wine for a few days. It doesn't make the dress any less cute, though...

Costume tessalated brown bead, green wooden, blue plastic, yellow glass sphere beads, white mini pony beads, clear-silver bugle beads.

Orange Turquoise Canyon Necklace


Orange Turquoise Canyon Necklace - orange turquoise from Arizona
The center bead is orange turquoise that I purchased at a trading post on the way to the Grand Canyon. I used clear glass and copper pony beads, one inch silver bugle beads, silver sheen acrylic. I used gold crimping beads in the center and up the top, silver in the middle and 18 nylon wrapped wire. I was pretty sure, and guessed right, that Mom would want this one. So, it is hers. Sorry, fans of this one!

Chunks of Color - mixed colors and materials


Chunks of Color - mixed materials and colors
I was watching Mad Men while I made this one, just like I did with "Secretary Jane" and "Birdie's Party Dress". This one isn't as directly inspired as those two, but I just was thinking of the dramatic colors and glamour of the ladies' early 60s dresses when I made this.
Materials: golden glass, orange wood, turquoise glass, purple patterned clay, Oriental sea green clay, mini pony beads in copper, clear mini pony beads, black sheen bugle beads.

Canyon Oranges and Blues - Turquoise Weave Ceramic Bead Necklace - Sedona Series

Canyon Oranges and Blues - Turquoise Weave Ceramic Bead Necklace - Sedona Series - turquoise, orange, navy

The "Sedona Series" includes feature beads from the bead store I went to in Tlaquepaque of Sedona. The turquoise colored center bead is ceramic. I also used mini pony beads, glass navy beads and 1 inch long clear bugle beads.

Rene's Sedona Necklace - Abalone, Silver & Sea Green


I think my roommate's a good necklace-making muse, since she loves necklaces and I know she'll wear them. She also likes them funky and chunky, so it's fun to make ones for her. I purchased this Abalone shell at a bead store in Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts village in Sedona. I used tiny white pearlized snail shells and pearlized green mini pony beads. I used 18 nylon wrapped wire and crimping beads to suspend the tiny beads on the necklace.

DFG's Cape Necklace - emerald green beads

I was flipping through this month's "Bazaar" magazine and saw a brilliant emerald and platinum necklace for a bigillion dollars from some posh place. While I haven't the means or the know-how when it comes to precious stones and metals, I do have quite a few gorgeous emerald green glass beads. I used those to make this necklace, along with some clear mini lime green pony beads and clear-silver bugle beads. This one is for DFG.

Aleesh's Cape Necklace - shell, mauve & orange


Aleesh's Cape Necklace - mauve wooden beads, clear orange, purple and taupe acrylic mini pony beads, tiny snail shells, clear-silver bugle beads.
A asked for something "shell-y" but "not too shell-y." I had to remake this one three times because I was unsatisfied with my first two configurations. The first center was a shell but it looked all wrong. The second time I used white mini ponies but didn't like that. Finally figured it out - 3rd time's a charm and I quite like this piece, if I do say so myself! I hope a likes it, too.

DTC cape necklace - taupe and purple


My girlfriends and I went down to Cape Cod for the weekend and I made everyone necklaces. This one's "DTC's Cape Necklace - taupe and purple." I let everyone see my collection of beads and asked colors and types they liked. Then I went about putting them together.
This one is glass, stone, rose shaped and tiny circle acrylic, along with silver-clear bugle beads. (The whole "Cape" series uses silver-clear bugle beads for spacing. It's their connection.)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

secretary jane


SECRETARY JANE - orange, green, and yellow costume beads, clear spacer beads, long silver tubes, nylon wrapped wire, 10 inches.
Before Jane became Mrs Sterling-take-two, she was Don's secretary. And one episode, she wore a dress with orange, yellow and green squares on a white dress. I watched that episode on-demand while making necklaces and got inspired. So, there you go.

painting plus oranges


PAINTING PLUS ORANGES - snail shells, blue wood beads, grey iridescent, white pearlizes, blue glass, orange tiny pony beads and medium thick wire, 9 inches long.
While home with a visit from the Tummy Trolls, I watched a lot of TV and made necklaces. This one was inspired while watching Simon Schama's Power of Art documentary on Mark Rothko. View the painting that inspired this necklace here. I also added my own spattering of oranges because that's what I was supposed to do, according to the necklace making muses.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Back at it! New Necklaces for 2009

It's been a while since I posted any new necklaces, but now that baseball season is in full swing, I'll be watching games and making necklaces, as usual.

Person admiring a necklace: Oh that's pretty! How long did that take you to make?
Me: [shrug] Couple innings.

Go Sox!

I've done some fun stuff with sets of three/mix and match/wear singly necklaces that I'll be posting soon. I've collected or received a ton of new beads, including lots of pretty or funky or dazzling pendants made from all sorts of paterilas, in the last few months and can't wait to start putting them out there for all to see.

Stay tuned!

yours,
Bridge

Friday, August 8, 2008

The Speckled Stone Hemp Necklace


Speckled Stone Pendant hemp jewelry - This is a heart shaped, wire wrapped, brown speckled stone with a hemp chain.

Princess in Baby Blue - Baby Blue and Gold Necklace



Baby Blue and Gold costume jewelry - bugle beads in gold and baby blue along with baby blue costume beads and glass gold beads. Medium length.

$12.50

NB-BLMD-PRBG

Grape Lollipop Pendant Necklace - multi colored costume jewelry


Grape Lollipop Violet Glass Pendant - I need better photos! But my own computer is in the shop. For now, please admire the pretty colors in this necklace. It's one of my personal favorites. Colors: tangerine, green, shades of turquoise, violet.

Blue Glass Ellipsis Pendant Necklace - with purple and silver beads


Blue Glass Ellipsis Pendant Necklace - with purple and silver beads: a blue, diamond-shaped glass pendant with speckled purple square beads, smaller purple glass beads and silver beads. It's a really pretty one; one of the most admired ones that I show to people. I got the Blue Glass Pendant from a most unusual place, too! I had a very nice, fancy wine bottle opener from my brother and sister in law for Christmas but one of the glass beads broke, so then I took the whole thing apart and used the reast of the glass for necklaces! That's how some of these jewelry pieces could be considered eco-friendly, in the eays I find to recycle materials. It's worth noting if you are interested in making jewelry because it shows how materials can come from anywhere!

$15.00

NB-BLMD-BGEP

Amethyst Pendant


This pendant was once from a set of earing my awesome Nana bought for me during one of her trips to somewhere around the country a way way way long time ago. I seriously think it was 1989. Anyway, I held on to the earring knowing it would make a pretty pendant some day. Because of it's sentimental value, I do not plan on selling this one. Sorry! It's a simple black and purple circle beads with the pendant in the middle. I think I may change the design, though, to bring out more of the purple and have less black. Stay tuned for an update, if you're interested. I'll link to the before and after.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Cheap Pendants for Necklaces-and you're friends will appreciate the effort

If you like making necklaces and you have lots of missing earrings, or your friends do, then, do what I've been doing lately: make them cheap pendants for necklaces.

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but I have been very busy creating. I'll be posting the new necklaces soon. I have found inspiration for making necklaces and have been busy implementing this inspiration.

I have been making a lot of pendant necklaces from pair-less earrings.

My roommate lent her earrings to a friend one night. The friend lost one and I took the other. I'll be posting the necklace I made from it soon. I also took and amethyst earring from my Nana and made that an amethyst pendant necklace.

My favorites are the glass pendant necklaces I made. Those actually came from a fancy wine bottle opener that my brother and my sister and law gave me for Christmas a while ago. It broke, and after, I kept the chunk glass beads from it and have now made each one a glass pendant for a necklace.

As you'll see in the coming blogs, with a little gentle wire twisting you can even make gemstone pendants from pair less earrings. But this is a delicate process, so unless you feel confident about your skills or don't care much about unfortunate outcomes, I wouldn't take the risk.

More soon!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

How to Make Costume Jewelry - Getting Started

**Making costume jewelry from beads of all materials, wire, metals, stone, string, elastic and hemp is something I have been doing on and off for the last 12 years. I learned by watching other people make them and asking questions. Mostly, I am self taught when it comes to this hobby, so if there are experts out therew who disagree, please leave your comments below. But from one hobbiest to another, here's some beginner's tips:

**My first suggestion would be to find a local bead store where you can make your own necklace. You get to look at what's out there for types and price and let your imagination go. Also, watch the workers as they help the customers complete a necklace. They will show you how to make a loop with your wire using a crimping bead so that you can attach your fastener. Ask questions if you have any and observe for a few times.

**After that, it's time to get materials. Craft stores & hardware stores plus the unconventional places I mentioned, like home goods stores, are where I've found all my materials.

-I bought a bead board, crimping beads, fasteners and plain spacer beads at the craft store. They also often have sales on the more expensive fashion beads and I try to look out for those.

-But beads and "beading" and bead stores are a thriving, lucrative business. There's even conventions. (Honestly! Google "jewelry bead convention" and you'll get hits for expos, shows and conventions galore).

-You also need wire cutters and pliers. I bought a combo at Ace hardware and I love the thing. But I also have little pliers and wire cutters, purchased at the bead store, for the wire wrap jewelry and for the more delicate necklaces.

-The bead board is very useful. I have the baseball game on in the background as I sit on the couch and arrange the possible patterns. This is my favorite part.

-I have my beads arranged in four sorting boxes, again purchased from the craft store. They're sorted by size, material and color. I have neutral color spacer beads-gold, silver, black, white, clear, etc- in one box. The more high end, chunky beads in another. The high end small beads in the a third and the plastic ones are in the forth.

I love mixing the materials, too. Glass with wood with stone with plastic.

**I will use another blog most to get into the particulars of the general things I blogged about in this entry. Look for future posts with pictures, showing how to do the particulars.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Au and Spheres - Glass and Gold beads


Au and Spheres

Gold glass squares, round purple wooden beads, round periwinkle costume beads, and some pink and clear ones on black elastic. This is a pretty one to wear with blues, purple and pinks or neutrals like white and brown.

$12.50

NB-GDMD-AUSP