Checker Huggie Earrings, Definitely Ska

While I was on on roll making huggie earrings, I went with a bunch of checker options. Checker is basically a baseline in my own wardrobe so it's nice to have the go-to black and white ones along with some colors depending on what I'm feeling like that day. The original black and white ones I was wear sold over the holidays so I had to start with a new pair of those.

Black and White Checker Huggie Earrings

My obsession with checker melds somewhere within my love of ska or "two-tone" music and love of nice even numbers, particularly multiples of 4. You may notice these are all 8 beads wide, the checkers in 4s. It's just very satisfying for me to work this way. 

Black and Blue Checker Huggie Earrings

I'm getting into whatever colors inspire me. Orange has been on the forefront for the last year: 

Black and Orange Checker Huggie Earrings

Purple is a staple in my life along with checkers: 

Black and Faceted Purple Huggie Earrings

I also made a pair of lime green and black ones, but Bruce has been playing on my table in the studio and I think he must have hid them somewhere on me. I have been digging around for them hoping to get them posted (or make a new pair) but alas, I'll just have to wait for them to turn up in a studio cleaning session. I am on to beading other things to send to the Crooked Tree Arts Center Shop in Traverse City.

Plaid Bangle and Earrings in Blues

Every time I think I'm not beading as much or I'm going to focus more on my weaving and larger projects I feel like beading. I had these blues pulled for another jewelry set and decided to find one of my older designs to use with this color combination that I am still enjoying working with. 

I like coming back to this plaid bangle, fall and winter always bring me back to plaids so it came easy. I have a few different stopping points on this design if I want to make it narrower or I get tired of the colors but I decided to go for the full width of about 2 inches wide.  

Of course, a pair of earrings to match and it's good to go. I don't quite feel like I'm done beading blues. Maybe it's a comfortable color for me, it was the color of hope for me with this election and with the turnout I am seeking comfort, cozy, safety from the things I cannot control.

The Bangle and exact match earrings will all be available at Midnight Madness in Ann Arbor, December 6th 5-11pm.  I'll be set up at Bløm Mead + Cider, 100 S 4th Ave, Ann Arbor, along with other artists and makers for shopping. (The circle earrings went to Angelwood Gallery in Grand Rapids, OH).

You can find my past plaid jewelry sets HERE.

Protest the Hero Concert Bangle Inspiration

We were at the Protest the Hero show at the beginning of August. Sometimes I knit to keep my hands busy at shows but I've noticed the knitting comes out less and less. I've just been totally mesmerized by the music, the crowd, the flashy lights.  At this show in the basement of St. Andrews Hall the headlining band had these light panels that were programmed to go along with the music. They were simple but totally fascinating to me. Sorry I couldn't find any good photos or video of the lights from that show, I didn't have my phone out much.

I hadn't felt like beading for a while, but these very simple patterns along the light strips made me want to get the peyote graph paper out and create some bangle designs. This is the first set. I have some other ideas but admittedly the inspiration from this has faded a bit. I need to grab it, or is floats along. I might tap the well later.

For this design I didn't choose the colors that matched the light panels, I took the design and moved it into the blues and tans I've been wanting to work with lately.  I think hanging out with Sydney at Convergence drew me to blues. She does blues really well in her weavings and she was wearing one of her own pieces in blues a few of the days. Since then I keep going back to blues. It's a bit of a change from my green and purple defaults.

This set will be available to check out and purchase at the Ann Arbor Fiber Arts Guild Holiday Sale this Saturday, November 9th from 10am-4pm at Zal Gaz Grotto.

4 Pod Earrings for Brave New World Reception

Sometimes I miss planning outfits for work and I definitely miss the automatic jewelry design and color inspiration that comes with thinking about what I should wear to dress up for work or something important. Now that my day job has me happily at a "working warehouse" I no longer have to make sure I'm wearing and looking a certain "brand." So I was excited about going through my closet to put together something for this important exhibit reception. I hadn't showed this many pieces in one place in a very long time and I was honored to be invited to show with this noteworthy group of fiber artists.

 The first step for this outfit was the shoes that I had finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase. I had been looking at them for months. I love John Fluevog shoes but I rarely have a reason to get dressed up anymore, still, I needed the Daisy Monster Mash in my collection when they went on sale. These were perfect for the "Brave New World: Fiber Art in the 21st Century" exhibit that I had a number of pieces showing at. The shoes got lots of attention along with the art.

Then do I wear a skirt or pants? The reception was over an hour away and was going to be an all day event so I opted for dress pants leftover from my days at Talbots and a favorite lavender tank with pattern details that went well with the pants from White House Black Market. I always prefer to have a tank or tee on and then I can layer it with a sweater/cardigan/zip hoodie if it gets cold.  The reception was on a warmish day and we had so many people attend that it got hot in the gallery.

So I had about a week to create a "statement" piece of jewelry. Only enough time for earrings, but at the very least big earrings I decided I should be able to put together. Besides, I didn't have a set of triple pod earrings in this color range yet. 

As I started beading pods, I let them talk to me as to how they wanted to be organized. Only three pods didn't seem to be suiting the layout with my chosen beads so a fourth pod was added to create an earring that flares nicely at the bottom half of the design.  These are currently, as of this post, available on my website for sale HERE.

Combining Bangles

Back when I was trying to make lower priced "stuff" to sell I started making "tiny bangles" for $20. Even $20 didn't feel good when I sold them due to the amount of work that I put into these bangles. I had made enough to fill a display and they've been floating around my studio and pop-ups for years now, occasionally 1 or 2 selling. I've gotten really tired of looking at them and they tend to represent the years when I had a desperation to sell something, anything. Now that I'm in a really good place and only make what I feel inspired to make I've been cleaning out my studio and removing anything that I don't like anymore or I'll cut it up to reuse the materials. 

These tiny bangles were initially on the chopping block but I have a hard time cutting up anything I've made, even if it's something I no longer like. I created them to be an option to layer with other bracelets and each other. The issue is that being only 2 or 3 beads wide doesn't allow them to keep a good bangle structure. So they end up a bit floppy and unattractive (in my mind). I'd layer them for a pop of color with other bracelets but now that I barely wear jewelry they just take up space that I'd like to reclaim.

One of my recent studio cleaning days I decided I might be able to put some of them together to make the bigger bangles that I like better. I put the first one together (above) and now I like it! They're actually fun to play with which stripes and solids go well together. It's a fun practice of putting together colors and designs in a direction I wouldn't usually take. 

Creative play has become more important to me than making to sell. I'm seeing more and more artists and makers throwing in the towel because they can't make enough to cover time, supplies, studio, not to mention the amount of work it takes to constantly post on social media, update websites etc. When we have to make to sell instead of play and discover it looses all the fun. I was starting to have days where it was more fun going to work at my day job then hunkering down in the studio. Ok, that still happens too.

This year has started to be a lot more about playing and rediscovering why I love fiber art rather than making any final products. It's more about process, play, design, new techniques and color. 

Mixed Stitches Curve Bangle (Experimental)

This piece started with my desire to get a curved St. Petersburg chain into my bangle design.  In it, not just attached to it. I started sketching and doodling, but at the end of the day I don't have a specific method of integrating these two ideas so I had to start making pieces.

First I didn't know what I wanted the middle accent bead of the curved pieces to be so I started there.  I knew I wanted to use the navy blue 15/0's as the main color and just started stitching rows with the different accent beads I had chosen.

I picked a middle faceted seed bead for the navy St. Petersburg chain and proceeded to start making short strips of it.  I had figured how much arching it could possibly take in this size and about the right length.  I also figured only 4 total would fit within the bangle structure I was planning, 2 on each side. This was way more planning than I usually like to do with my beading but I really really needed this design idea to get out of my head and into an actual form. I didn't know if it would "work" or not.

I tried to keep the bangles designs for the outside parts easy and not too busy. Working a kind-of blended horizontal stripe in the colors of the dress I was matching, I prepared these pieces separately. Eventually it was pieced together and its...ok.  I stopped before I got to filling in the whole piece with beads (which was my original plan). Leaving it open allowed for the St. Petersburg Chain arches to try to hold their own. If I kept beading and filled it in the chain would have gotten lost and there would have been no point putting in all the extra effort to make it in this way. I think. I could be wrong. 

It was as finished as I thought it should be. I let it sit, I wore it to Abigail's wedding layered with some other beaded pieces. It's fine but I'm not in love with it. I thought it had the potential to be a piece I could submit to exhibits but it's not there and the design kind-of fell flat for me. Sometimes our ideas are much more glorious in our minds and the reality isn't as exciting. I'm perfectly fine with not-exciting though. I think it's going to grow on me a bit more and it could be that start to something else in the future. It is time to move on to another project with different colors. I think I've been looking a blends of blues and purples for too long now and they're wearing on me. Onward and upward.

Open Circle Chain Earrings

 

Open Circle Chain Multi Fade Earrings .33in W x 2.5in H x 1in D

Do you ever finish a piece, take a few photos and think "those are even more amazing then I realized"? I have been loving the earrings in the above and below photographs. They go with my entire wardrobe (black, purple, muted greens) and are my current favorite go-to earrings. They are 2.5 inches long and because they are glass seed beads they are very lightweight which is important. I know I need lightweight in my ears these days but I still want to wear statement pieces.  I made this dark and moody multi colored set sometime after the holidays and I am just now getting around to getting photos and posting. 

I was dragging my feet on posting about these Circle Chain earrings because I have been wanting to make more but I keep getting distracted with other projects. Then the inspiration hit me to try out St. Petersburg Chain Stitch side by side with peyote (more to come as this idea brews more). So I set off on the below earrings:

Open Circle Chain St. Petersburg Earrings .33in W x 2.5in H x 1in D

This navy/purple/lavender set has a peyote stitch circle (mini bangle?) with a St. Petersburg chain loop.  The way I stitch St. Petersburg Chain it doesn't have the same kind of structure as its below circle.  I think this adds a nice little change in the shape and swing of this design. 

When I am coming up on teaching specific stitches it makes me think about other ways I can apply them, so these earrings are a little bit prompted by the St. Petersburg Chain Stitch Bracelet class that I am teaching with the Midwest Weaver's Conference in June.  Check out their classes and registration HERE. I still have plenty of room in both of my classes (I'm also teaching the Russian Leaf Stitch)

Then I got back to checkers. 

I made this first checker style earring in a color fade which I wore the NYE that we got engaged. I can't seem to part with that set just yet, I wear the earrings all the time and get tons of compliments. I had been meaning to make more so below is the first set that will be available for purchase.

Open Circle Chain Checker Earrings .5in W x 3in H x 1in D

Speaking of being able to purchase; I will have my jewelry at a 1-day Pop-up show at Gutman Gallery. It's on Saturday, March 18th and my pop-up will be in conjunction with a ceramic artist named Kris Cravens. I look forward to seeing and selling, I haven't done so since December. 

"Open Circle Chain" still feels like a mouthful for the name of these earrings. I had a few responses on my social media about ideas for names of these babies and this variation settled in the best in my mind. I think I'll be able to remember it to reference regularly.

CCFF Bangle in Fall 2022 Color Fade

This bangle design started with the Capital City Film Festival Design for the 2018 year.  The design is on one of my favorite tee shirts from volunteering for CCFF. The dress that I wore to the Opening Night event was a black and white with similar angles and lines so I had created this bangle to go with it in black and white. The first bangle design can be seen HERE.

I don't often revisit designs but I wanted to play with color fades with black and I needed a break from checkers (just a short break) and this was perfect to go back to.

I had pulled a bunch of colors in late summer and these were some of the delicas that I still had set aside. I really love every color blended together in this variation. The individual seed beads are a mix of metallic, matte, cut, color lined...the coolest ones are a clear green glass with a plum color lining the hole of the beads which give them a really unique effect.

Of course I made some earrings to match and the set is ready to go. It made it's debut at Midnight Madness in Ann Arbor last Friday night and got a few Oooos and Ahhhhs. The Pac-Man Bangle was by far the most frequently picked up piece though. 

I'm going to post the earrings and the bangle for sale in my Website Shop soon also. 

 

Color Movement Bracelet and Earrings

I ordered these neon green delicas (I think the color is called kiwi) thanks to Pinkhot_UK using this color Miyuki seed bead in her Instagram posts. I needed to have that color in my stash, but I did not have a plan for it...  So the kiwi delicas sat in a zippy bag with these other colors I had thought might look good with it until a design came to me.  

A design never really came to me.  I just needed to see these colors together so I decided to create a bracelet where the colors moved from one to the next. I realize that I haven't made a 2-drop peyote bracelet in a while and decided to video this one being made because I was pretty sure I could do it in one sitting. Which I did!  I then made the earrings the next two nights.

When I was making the earrings I couldn't decide which direction they should hang. Green top to blue bottom or blue bottom to green top.  So I asked Bryan since he has a good eye for design and he picked for me.  The second night, as I was making the second earring he was pointing out that the colors are representative of a horizon and he liked the way the color moved downward in an earring form where if it was flipped the other way the color would feel like it was moving upward. I work on these while I'm winding down in front of the TV at night, It's nice that he is often able to give more thought into my work than I am capable of after I'm pooped out from working. He's a night person and my brain works better in the mornings. It's jsut lovely having him next to me noting my work as I make it. 

Below is the video of the bracelet being beaded:

I also made this grey mismatched pair of earrings, which I like really like, I just decided they probably didn't need their own blog post: