Wow..it's been a while!

by Patti Vanderbloemen

Cannot believe I have not blogged since November 2015 - and here it is, 2016!!

I basically took most of December "off".  But, I eased back into jewelry making and managed to make a few things, and listed them in my shop.

I truly love these earrings. Hand case, lead free pewter tear drop charms from Inviciti.  I have seen some beautiful creations on "the web" made with Vincent's charm - really colorful creations.  After several attempts, I decided to keep it simple.

A pair of earrings and a bracelet made with gorgeous beads by Judith Billig.  She named the beads "Delphi Relics" and her technique in acquiring that "just found in an archaeological dig" look is spot on!

These beads - also from Judith - remind me of the desert sky.  Beautiful color combination!

The last pair of earrings with Judith's beads - I swear, the photo of the Grand Canyon truly captures the beautiful colors in these beads!

The bracelet below was made with gorgeous translucent beads by Susan Kennedy - I cannot capture the swirl of amethyst in my photos - but they are truly beautiful!  I added some handmade beads caps, a handmade toggle and hollow bead, and two recycled silver beads - sandwiched together to make a single link in the chain.

Things kicked up a bit in late December.  I am currently enrolled in an on-line class with Leslie Kail Villareal (link here).  I blogged about this at Love My Art Jewelry.  If you are interested in seeing my progress, just click here.   The picture below Leslie's example of the sterling silver cuff that I am attempting to complete. 

Source: Leslie Kail Villareal

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

xo

Patti

Where have I been???

Oh my, but it has been a while since I have blogged!  Shame on me!

Well, my niece, her husband, baby and their precious pup Griffin moved out of my house and into their new home last week.  Their home is absolutely gorgeous, and I wish them many, many years of happiness in their new digs!

While my blogging has been sparse, I have managed to make a few new things, though, including a few new spinner rings.

The brushed sterling silver, below, is a new favorite texture!

The bracelet below was tough! I was feeling brave and wanted to try and make a sterling silver bangle from 6 gauge wire - the thickest wire I had ever used in the past (silver) was 8 gauge.  Oh my - it was touch and go there for a while - lol!  Lots of annealing was involved in forming this baby.  I thought the hard part was going to be torching - wasn't sure the heat was hot enough with my torch - but the soldering was the easy part!

I wrote a blog post today on the Love My Art Jewelry blog, where I discussed working with copper tubing.  A hollow bangle!  But, the walls of the tubing are not thin nor weak- I had a lot of fun wrangling this into a bangle!

The necklace in the next two photos features a focal made with copper tubing, and a new-to-me technique involving sterling silver cross-pins.  Truth be told, the first few attempts were a complete fail, but I was determined!

I wanted to use that focal piece in a bracelet with wire - but with the cross pins, you cannot put wire through the focal!  So, I had to dig (and I mean DIG) out my beading wire and crimps - a technique I have not used in a long, long, time.  That necklace was 4 different bracelets before it ended up in its final state!

The earrings below are my favorite!  Since the "copper tubes" are not curved and only an inch long, I was able to maneuver the sterling wire around the cross-pins. I also soldered little jump rings to the ends - love this mixed metal look! These remind me of bullet casings.

A few weeks ago, I made a few hollow sterling silver beads - waiting for the "next perfect match" to make a necklace.  Well, they went into this bracelet instead.  Gorgeous purple-hued Ammonite lampwork beads by Sue Kennedy (her shop is here).  My love of "no bead the same in a set" continues! The hollows remind me of clam shells, so I think this is a perfect "Beach" bracelet.

Lastly, one of my favorite new necklaces, featuring lapis, sodalite, sunset dumorlierite, some more hollow beads, and an incredible pewter cross by Vincent Cav (his shop is here). 

I am sure that I have made more jewelry since my last posting, but I don't want to bore you with all those pictures!

Since I usually end my posts discussing the weather (why do I do that??), let's just say it is Summer - Hot, Humid, Sticky...yuck!  We have had an inordinate amount of rain here in Northern Virginia, usually in the form of nasty thunderstorms.  Sarge DOES NOT appreciate this!  Wish I could send this rain to California!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

xo

Patti

Evolution

We had a wonderful week last week - my niece and her twins, Ollie and Evie (now 14+ months) and my other niece and her son (Gavin - now 10 weeks) came to visit me and their Great Grandma ON THE SAME DAY!  Since I have been taking jewelry pictures, in MACRO MODE, I have lost almost all abilities to take a picture of anything else.  I apologize in advance for these crummy photos!

Mom and I invaded Babies R Us to have a stash of toys around whenever little ones visit.  Books were number 1 on the list, as Evie, below with my Mom, LOVES her books!

Don't you just love Ollie's bow tie??!!  My goodness, he is adorable!

I also purchased, appropriately colored toy bins - they had just as much fun in the bins as they did with the toys!  Never mind that Ollie is in the pink one and Evie is in the blue one....so cute!

Even Gavin had fun!

I managed to make a few new pieces of jewelry as well.  I titled this Blog Post Evolution, because I am finally using some beads that I have been hoarding admiring for quite some time!

 First up - I swear, I have had these lampwork beads from Susan Kennedy of Sue Beads forever.  They are large holed beads - I never use large holed beads, as I stay away from leather or fibers.  But, I just loved the jewel-toned colors!

I just added a tiny piece of sterling silver coiled wire inside the bead to hold it in place, and flanked the ends with larger, pewter nuggets to "hide" the holes.  

Speaking of Sue Kennedy, I also had this glass cabochon that I wanted to use as a focal.  So, I bezel set it in silver.  

I did not want to distract from this beautiful Ammonite focal - so a simple sterling chain was the initial vision.  I did add one additional bead - a handmade hollow bead - this time I crafted the bead in sterling silver.  I wanted the hollow bead to evoke the feeling of a closed clam shell - not sure if it does or not, but I still like the bead!

I added riveted chain and a gorgeous sterling silver shell charm that I commissioned from Lesley Watt  of  THEAElements at least 2 years ago (2 years!!)  I have a couple more of those charms in my stash, too!

The focal sits nicely on the wrist when worn.

I posted a picture about a month or so ago of these gorgeous beads by Donna Millard

I normally keep all of her beads in one gorgeous pile in a handmade ceramic bowl smack dab in the middle of my bench, sometimes for an entire year or so  (inspiration??)  What can I say, it makes me happy just to look at them!  I shocked myself yesterday when I actually plucked them from the bowl before their normal "expiration date" and  used them in this necklace.

I am not sure what I love the most about these beads - the dark, rosy red, the light pink, the flecks of gold, or that nugget shape!

The link above, by Cindy Wimmer, has to be my favorite as it is so versatile.  It makes an awesome  link, bail - or toggle clasp for that matter!  I have used it often.  I forged the heart from copper sheet and handmade rivets - a technique I learned last year from an e-course by Kerry Bogert.

All in all, last week was pretty good!  Back to the grind stone!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I hope you all have a lovely week!

xo

Patti

Thanks to Susan Kennedy, I have the Blues...

Blue beads, that is!  Remember these gorgeous blue beads I ordered from Sue Kennedy of SueBeads?

I finished making my bracelets to be donated to Global Genes/7000 Bracelets for Hope.

The bracelet above features gorgeous beads with an ombre effect - I really love this look!

All of the bracelets are adjustable, with either a lobster clasp, or handmade chain and a toggle.

Ombre again - swoon! :)

The mottled blue in the beads above is so romantic!

Sue made two sets of beads (above and below) with the same gorgeous hues of blue, but one set had round beads, and one set had square beads.  I simply split them up.

The bracelet above was made with heavy gauge, square copper wire that I first twisted.  I try to put a little charm on each bracelet, i.e., hope, believe, etc.  I did not have any copper charms, so I made a tiny disc of copper and stamped it with the word HOPE, then slightly domed the disc.

Several bracelets have mixed metals - a look that I have grown to absolutely adore.

In addition to my favorite blue beads in the bunch (gorgeous swirls of blue and white that remind me of the sky), I added my handmade copper hollow bead to the bracelet above.

The last bracelet, above, was made with red brass.  It takes a liver of sulfur patina quite nicely, unlike "regular" yellow brass.

Thank you again to Sue Kennedy - who made magic with the words "please make me 10 sets of blue beads and use your imagination"!  Never fails!  You can visit Sue's shop on Etsy here .  She also has a website with a HUGE portfolio of gorgeous beads that she will custom make just for YOU - visit her website here.

I noticed that the Global Genes/7000 Bracelets for Hope Blog has not been updated in over a year.  So, I wrote them and asked if they were still taking donations - and they are!  If you would like to send a bracelet or two to be worn by a patient or Mom of a child who has been stricken with a rare disease, they can be sent to the following at any time:

Amy Grover

Global Genes

28 Argonaut, Suite 150

Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

Lastly, I am having a little sale in my shop - no coupon required!

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Labor Day weekend - it was hotter than you-know-what yesterday, and today is not much better - gonna stay in my basement studio until the sun sets!  

Thank you for stopping by!!

xo

Patti