Focus on Life Week 5/52 - Capture a Heart

This year I am taking part in a photo journal challenge set up by the lovely Sally Russick of Studio Sublime who, in addition to creating beautiful jewellery is a talented photographer. Each week Sally sends participants a word prompt and the following Saturday we all post our photo interpretations on our blogs, Flickr or Instagram.

This week our task was to capture an image of one of the many heart motifs that pervade our daily lives but perhaps go unnoticed much of the time. I was hoping to get out and about for this one and find some natural formation to fit the bill but it has been cold, wet and windy here all week, the most miserable of conditions for walking and taking photos. However, while pondering what to do I was looking out at my garden (as I often do when in thoughtful mode) and spotted a solution right under my nose. Not only does this plant provide mounds of pretty blue flowers all summer long, it also manages to survive the most inclement weather and always has an abundance of fresh green leaves in the shape of a sweet little frilled heart. I definitely love my Campanula Carpatica...

And in case you're wondering, this is what it looks like in bloom...

So having braved the weather briefly to get my photo I sat down on the sofa to edit it and Cleo, my feline design assistant decided to come and join me. She got bored very quickly though, curled up for a nap and promptly gave me an unexpected bonus shot...

How cool is that...?!

If you'd like to see where everyone else found their hearts pop over to Sally's blog now.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Lesley.

Art Jewelry Elements - First Post...

Good morning lovely people...

 

Beads by Kaz Baildon

Today sees the publication of my first article on the Art Jewelry elements blog so I do hope you'll come over and check it out. As I'm the first person from the UK to join the team, I've used the opportunity to showcase some of the home grown talent that excited and inspired me (and still does) when I first took up jewellery design .

I'll be posting on AJE at least once every two weeks on Thursdays so do join up to follow if you want to be among the first to read about  what I and my talented colleagues have been up to. There's also an AJE Facebook page you can follow where you can interact and tell us what you've been up to and what you'd like to see on the blog

Have a great day all.

Lesley

Brit Pack Beaders - First Challenge Reveal...

So here we are at last, the first ever reveal for a Brit Pack Beaders challenge. Apologies for this being a week late - some of the team found themselves with plates that were a little too full last week but everyone is ready now so lets's crack on.

Just to refresh you the aim of the challenge is to create a jewellery design(s) using this image as inspiration...

With these components as supplied by the various members of the team (each team member received different components)...

Considering I set the theme for this challenge I actually found it quite hard to come up with my design. To get the most out of the challenge I wanted to create one piece that would feature an element supplied by each of the contributing members. I spent a long time getting things to a certain point only to find something didn't fit and having to start again, I hate those days - so frustrating!

My components included quite a lot of rings, including the toggle clasp I'd allocated myself so I took that as a starting point and after a couple of false starts with bracelets, I decided a necklace was a better option. Eventually I did come up with something I was happy with... 

Because the toggle was heavier in appearance than the other rings I decided to combine it with the focal bead Rebecca sent me to get a better balance along with some chain tassles for a little added flourish.

I've hung these from sections of heavy Vintaj chain interspersed with Claire's cotton (hand!) wrapped and silver rings, together with one of my own bronze rings. I made pretty little dangles from Bo's accent beads and added these to the lower sections of the chain together with a bronze shell charm.

The rest of the chain is woven with the rust and aqua silk strings that Jo sent me.

So I did manage to get something from everyone in there - it's quite busy for me but hopefully not too much so and I think it has a certain charm. I didn't have to much left to work with after that and although I really wanted to use the wire mesh that Claire had sent me, sadly I spent so long playing with it to try and work out what to do that by the time I'd finished it was unusable - sorry Claire! But at least now I'll know what to do with it next time! I did however make a couple of pairs of earrings using some additional beads from my own stash.

The organic silver slice beads from Claire I've teamed up with some Greek ceramic discs and some gorgeous rustic beads from Marsha Neal, wrapped with bronze to maintain the mixed metal effect.

I really like the effect of the silver and bronze together in these pieces so for these earrings I've mixed Claire's hammered silver discs with a pair of my own bronze rings and added a couple of gorgeous fat rustic pearls which also happen to come from Claire's shop.

There you have my interpretation of Carolyn's lovely photograph then and I'd like to say a big thank you to the rest of the team for taking part and for sending me such great things to work with. I have no idea what they've come up for their own designs so I hope you'll join me and visit their blogs (links below) and facebook pages to find out. And don't forget, this is a bi-monthly challenge so the next one will be some time in October so lookout for that.

Lesley Watt - THEA jewellery you are here

Rebecca Anderson - Songbeads

Claire Braunbarth - Smitten Beads

Bo Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads

Jo Tinley - Daisy Chain Designs (not participating in the design element this time)

Thanks for visiting.

Lesley

Shop update and a bit of a rest...

The last six months have been so busy what with my components shop taking off so quickly and keeping me busy along with all the other work on the jewellery side of things. I'm so pleased with the way things have gone and incredibly grateful to my customers and friends for all the support they've given me but I have made myself a promise to work a little less during August. I'll still be around but won't be doing any major updates to my components shop although it will remain open and orders will be dispatched as normal. Instead I'll be concentrating on some new jewellery designs and getting to grips with a few things around the house and garden.

But it's not August yet and I will be having a shop update tomorrow evening at around 7pm BST which will include all these pieces amongst others:

You can still contact me regarding special requests and there may be some small updates over the next month...I doubt I'll be able to resist the call of the clay completely!

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful summer.

Lesley

Bead Soup Blog Party 6 - Today's the Day!

So here we are then, today is the first reveal of three in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party 6 and of the pieces I've created with the soup sent to me by my lovely partner Jenny Cameron. When I first opened my parcel from Jenny I found so much and such variety that I had all sorts of ideas racing around in my head for all the things I wanted to do. Inevitably though, life and lack of time intervened and when I look at this picture now I realise I've barely scratched the surface. No matter though, the unused soup will stay on my work table and when I have a little free time (something I've promised to give myself in August) I will while it away some happy hours creating more and I'll post it here at a future date.

Now let's get back to what I did do. Although there were several pieces I would class as a focal I knew straight away that it would be the big red lampwork bead I'd choose - so tactile that I kept picking it up and rolling it in my hands. I love the organic nature of this bead and the way it looks like hot lava is slowly enveloping it. I felt it had a slightly futuristic, urban feel to it and I decided pretty quickly I wanted to use metal with it in some way eventually settling on sterling silver wire and, as far as planning goes that was it. I just sat down, cut three pieces of wire, threaded them through the bead and started bending and twisting. I've tried this before and more often that not I've ended up with a complete mess but happily, this time the muse was with me and I liked the results. So time for a picture I think - I've called this piece 'Red Nebula'...

I've used the first of those three wires to create a yoke to support the bead and the second has been wrapped loosely around the yoke. I had it in my mind to create tendrils with the third wire but it had other ideas and became a kind of frame for the bead. Jenny also sent me some glorious red silk which I've wire wrapped and suspended the yoke from using hand forged hook clasps. I felt it needed a little something extra at this point to add a final flourish and I picked some lovely dark pearls from my soup mix threaded onto silver pins - I think that little bit of asymmetry sets it off quite nicely, what do you think?

I don't find silk easy to work with and I'm fully aware that it's not very 'bohemian' of me to have ironed it, but I like it and although I wasn't sure at first, this piece has grown on me over the last few days.

So that was the focal sorted - now I had to come up with a design for my clasp, a vintage rhinestone piece that was really going to challenge me. I've never, ever created a piece of jewellery that could in anyway be said to have a vintage influence. Not that I have anything against the style, I just tend to see it as pretty and sparkly whereas I'm more rustic and earthy and consequently, I had very little in my bead stash that was an obvious choice to complement the clasp. I did think about going contemporary  with the steampunk pieces Jenny sent but these are so new to me me I realised I would need a lot of time to work something through and time was running out. Then I thought maybe rhinestone and black leather (who knows why) but I really wanted to have a go at doing something that at least nodded towards vintage and, after rummaging around in my own jewellery box I found an old pewter brooch that I hadn't worn for about 20 years and an idea began to form.

Because pewter is soft I was able to cut the pin off the brooch and drill through the mounting blocks so I could attach some jump rings without having to drill into the brooch itself. I was making this piece very late in the day which turned out to be quite fortuitous as a parcel of gorgeous rustic pearls arrived the previous day and they definitely had a look of bygone days about them. I was planning for this to be a bracelet when I started but the balance didn't feel right so this is what I turned it in to...

In addition to the pearls I've used lovely champagne Czech glass Rivoli beads and sections of antique style chain. I really like the mix of the brass and silver coloured metals here and I think it adds to the aged feel. The clasp is too pretty to be hidden away so I've offset it to one side...

I fiddled around with this quite a bit adding dangles and embellishments but in the end decided less is more - it may not be true vintage style but it's my style and even though I think it's pretty I'd wear it myself for an occasion!

To me this is the type of necklace that benefits from matching earrings so I made a pair. Jenny's soup included some lovely little brass beads and some creamy potato pearls which matched perfectly with the Rivoli beads and the chain links to make a very elegant set.

I did also manage to make two extra bracelets in a design that my regular blog readers will have seen a lot of lately (checkout the tutorial page for details); one using another of Jenny's own lampwork beads and one using the cute little bus token she sent, instead of a button. These will be going to the 'Global Genes Project, 7000 Bracelets Appeal' along with some other bracelets I've made recently.

So I hope you like what I've done with my bead soup even though there is so much I didn't use. Just keep your  eyes peeled for future posts because there will be with second helpings of bead soup. In the meantime I'd like to thank Jenny for her warmth and generosity as my partner and Lori for another amazing feat of organisation. please hop over and visit Jenny to see what she's done with the soup I sent her and enjoy the rest of the party visiting the blogs in the list below.

Lesley Watt, The Gossiping Goddess

Jennifer Cameron, Glass Addictions

Hostess, Lori Anderson, PrettyThingsBlog.com

Alice Craddick,  Alice's Beads and Baubles

Alicia Marinache,  All The Pretty Things

Amanda Tibbetts,  Amanda Made

Amber Dawn Goldish, Inventive Soul

Annita Wilson,  AW Jewelry

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool

Birgitta Lejonklou,  Create With Spirit   

Candida Castleberry,    Spinning Spun Sugar

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Cassie Donlen, Glass Beadle

Cheri Reed,  Creative Designs by Cheri

Cheryl McCloud,  One Thing Leads to Another

Cheryl Roe, BeadRoe

Christina Hickman, Vintage Treasures Jewelry

Christine Hendrickson,  Clamworks

Cilla Watkins, Tell Your Girlfriends

Cindy Wilson, Mommy's Dream

Cindy Wimmer, Sweet Bead Studio

Cory Celaya, Art With Moxie

Cory Tompkins, Tealwater Designs

Cris Peacock, Cris' Page

Cynthia Deis, Shiny Little Things

Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers

Cynthia Wainscott, Exotic Peru

Dana Hickey, Magpie Approved

Dana James, Dana's Jewelry Designs

Dana Lang, Tumblestone Handmakery

Debbie Price, Green Shoot Jewellery Designs

Denielle Hagerman, Some Beads and Other Things

Diane Valasek, Dragonfly Close

Doris Stumpf, Glaszwerg

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell, Dee-Liteful Jewelry Creations

Elaine Robitaille, Too Aquarius

Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

Enikö Fabian, Perl-eni

Erin Prais-Hintz, Treasures Found

Heather Davis, Blissful Garden Beads

Heidi Post, Ex Post Facto Jewelry

Hilary Frye, FryeStyle

Ilenia Ruzza, Ilenia's Unique Beaded and Painted Jewelry

Inge von Roos, Inge's Blog

Jami Shipp, Celebrating Life

Jayne Capps, Mama's Got to Doodle

Jean A. Well, Jean A. Wells Handcrafted Artisan Jewelry

Jean Yates, Snap Out of It Jean! There's Beading to Do!

Jennifer Pottner, Rock Candy Beads

Jennifer VanBenschoten,  Jewelry, Art and Life

Jenny Davies-Reazor, Jenny Davies-Reazor

Jenny Vidberg, Shyme Design

Jessica Dickens, My Jewelry, My Life, Me

Jessica Klaaren, Beadful-Things by Jessica

JJ Jacobs, Coming Abstractions

Joan Williams, Lilruby Jewelry

Judith Johnston, Judith Johnston

Judy Riggs, Rigglettes

Judy Turner, Silver Rains

Julie Anne Leggett, The Peaceful Bead

K Hutchinson, Jumbled Hutch

Karen Meador, Dreamcatcher Ranch

Karyn Bonfiglio, Plus Size Bangles

Katherine Gale, Terra Beadworks
Kathleen Lange Klik, Modern Nature Studio

Katja Benevol Gabrijelcic, Slovonske Technobe

Kelli Jacobson, Creative Moon

Kelly Ramstack, Adventures with Kelly

Keri Lee Sereika, Pink Lemonade

Kim Ballor, Vitamin C... A Daily Dose of Creativity

Kim Bender-Hora, KimmyKat

Kirsi Luostarinen, Kirsi Luo Korut

Kitty Bozzini, Kitty Lampwork

Laura Demoya, The Bead Therapist

Laurie Hanna, Laurie's Jewelbox

Leah Curtis, Beady Eyed Bunny

Linda Inhelder, Must-Haves Jewelry

Linda Landig, Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings

Lisa Liddy, Metal Me This

Lori Dorrington, Lori's Adventures in Etsy Land

Lori Poppe, Adventures in Creativity with Lorillijean

Mallory Hoffman, For the Love of Beads

Marge Beebe, Rock Creek Creations

Marianna Boylan, Pretty Shiny Things

Marion Simmons, Shade Tree Studio

Marla Gibson, Spice Box Design

Marta Weaver, Marta Weaver Jewelry

Marti Conrad, Marti C's Clay Blog

Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens, GlassBeadArt, Lampwork Beads

Melanie Brooks, Earthenwood Studio

Michelle Hardy, Firefly Visions

Mikala Coates, Maybe Just Perhaps

Mowse Doyle, HoCArt

Nan Emmett, Spirit Rattles - Spirited Earth

Nancy Boylan, Snazzy Doodle Designs

Nancy Peterson, Beading From the Heart

Nicole Rennell, Nicole Rennell Designs

Niki Meiners, 365 Days of Craft

Niky Sayers, Silver Nik Nats

Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas
Paige Maxim, Paige Maxim Designs
Pamela Gangler, She Always Loved Pink

Patricia Johnson, Patricia L. Johnson Glass Art

Patti Vanderbloemen, My Addictions ... Handcrafted Jewelry by Patti

Perri Jackson, Shaktipaj Designs

Raida Disbrow, Havana Beads

Renetha Stanziano, Lamplight Crafts

Shannon Hicks, Falling Into the Sky

Shannon LeVart, Miss Fickle Media

Sharon Driscoll, Right Turn Art Werks

Shelby Foxwell, Sundown Bead Designs Rhetoric

Shelley Graham Turner, Fabric of My Life

Sherri Stokey, Knot Just Macrame

Shirley Moore, Beads and Bread

Skylar Bre'z, Brising Beads

Stacie Florer, Soul to Substance

Stacie Stamper, Park Avenue

Stacy Alderson, Iridal's Attic

Stephanie Haussler, Pixybug Designs

Stephanie Stamper, Rainy Day Designs

Sue Hamel, The Bottle Cork and Crystal

Suzette Bentley, Ellie's Bijoux

Szarka, Magpie Gemstones

Tammy Jones, Jewelry Making Daily

Tania Tebbit, Glass, Craft, & Artful Goodness

Tanty Sri Hartanti, TJewellicious by Tanti

Terry Matuszyk, Pink Chapeau

Tina Bosh, Every Good and Perfect Gift

Tracy Bell, Copper, Glass and Recycled Trash

Vonna Maslanka, Just Vonna

Brit Pack Beaders Challenge - Component Reveal

Welcome (back) to the Brit Pack Beaders Challenge. In my last post I introduced you to the Brit Pack Beaders - Rebecca Anderson, Claire Braunbarth, Bo Hulley, Jo Tinley and myself and explained how our team challenges would work. Well, today is the day we reveal the components that our 'pack' mates sent us to create create a piece of jewellery for our very first challenge inspired by 'Tangle' by Carolyn Saxby.

Remember, this will be just as much a surprise for us as for you since everyone of us has been sent slightly different components by the other four  members so we have know idea what anyone else has, apart from the piece we sent. I'm not going to keep you waiting any longer other than to say that as far as what I have to work with goes, I love it and I think everyone has done a fantastic job in drawing from the image. Here it is then...

Pretty tasty ingredients don't you think...

My photo doesn't really do justice to the lampwork focal Rebecca sent me, It has lovely blue/green swirls on a sandy base which not only picks out the colours from the picture, but is also very evocative of a beach or shoreline. She also sent me a large metal ring which perfectly picks up the colour and texture of the rusty chain.

In Bo's accent bead pack I found some of her lovely hand made textured ceramic beads which pick out the brighter more vibrant tones along with some pretty, neutral pearls (very apropos), tiny seed beads and Czech glass beads. So far so good, these are working well together for me....

Claire was responsible for embellishments and she sent me lovely and unusual things including aqua knitted wire mesh and some pretty cotton wrapped rings that she made herself. I've never used either of these and plan to have some fun with them. She also sent hammered silver rings, charms and organic washers with two cute shell charms and a length of natural hemp. I love the way Claire's pieces reflect the shapes and textures of the photo.

Up next are the stringing materials courtesy of Jo and who could fail to love those gorgeous aqua and rust silk strings from, if I'm not mistaken, Marsha Neal. She also added some blue cotton cord for variation and texture. Jo won't actually be creating this time around as she is spending the summer on distant shores but she wanted to be involved from the get go so very kindly sent her contribution anyway - thanks Jo.

I should perhaps point out that we agreed not to open our packages before we'd  posted our own so that  our offerings wouldn't be influenced by what we'd already received. I was responsible for sending clasps and it probably won't come as any surprise to you or the recipients to know that I made bronze clasps for everyone! I tried to take the textural elements from the image as my inspiration and on the clasp I got I used rope to create the pattern. I won't spoil the surprise on the other clasps, you can see those when you visit the rest of the pack's blogs.

So there you go...what do you think? I am extremely happy with the items everyone sent me and when you look at these two pictures together you can see just what a great job they've done. This could easily have been a selection put together by one person for their own use and considering there were five pairs of hands in this I'm actually quite amazed at just how well everything gels - thank you ladies

Now, I'm going to dash off and check out what everyone else has got in their bead pots and I hope you'll join me using the links below. Oh and don't forget - the final reveal will be on Wednesday 8th of August so make a note to come back and see what we've all done with our goodies.

Lesley Watt - THEA jewellery you are here

Rebecca Anderson - Songbeads

Claire Braunbarth - Smitten Beads

Bo Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads

Jo Tinley - Daisy Chain Designs

Lesley

Full of Flavour and Nicely Spiced...Soup's here!

I don't usually do two posts in one day but my bead soup arrived today and I just can't wait until tomorrow to share it with you. Just look at all those gorgeous little packages - I actually made myself a cup of tea and sat and looked at them for a while...and then I ripped into them!

If you don't know Jen Cameron, she is a glass artist who makes amazing lampwork beads and uses them in her own jewellery designs. She's also a very clever lady because she's put together a soup that combines items that are right up my street, with things I've never used (and in some cases don't know how to use) and are going to challenge me big time. That really excites me and I can't wait to dive into the unknown.

Unsurprisingly there was too much in those little packages to get into one shot and anyway, you'll want more than one spoon of this tasty soup - so how's this for starters...

Not one, not two, but four gorgeous lampwork focal beads and one of Jen's 'lampworkified' keys. I love earthy organic beads and these are no exception and that key, well that's a fun challenge I'm really looking forward to. Then we have a good handful of colourful enamelled beads, again by Jen, Czech glass beads, Vintaj chain and yes, some Sari silk. From our e mail exchanges, Jen and I discovered that we had quite a lot in common one of which was finding Sari silk hard to work with. We both love it in other peoples work but always think it looks awful in our own. So she's set me another challenge here and since I noticed that she used it very successfully herself in a challenge piece last weekend, I guess I'm just going to have to rise to that!

Here's a better look at those lush focals...

I somehow managed to miss these lovely little pearls when I took that first picture.

And now we come to the unknown element, the materials I've never worked with and design styles I have never attempted - Steam Punk, found objects and vintage...where these are concerned I know nothing but I'm so looking forward to changing that.

So here we have my lovely vintage crystal clasp, some big wooden buttons, a glass vial, Steam Punk gears in wood and metal, vintage Swarovski flowers, Mica sheets and washer beads, some cute little brass star beads, a Washington DC bus token and a vintage fabric measuring tape. I am a little nervous when I look at these...the only thing I've ever done with a Mica sheet is slump glass on it but as I said, there is a certain frisson of excitement at the thought of working with materials I have no preconceptions of and the freedom that entails.

So there you have my bead soup with all it's depth of flavour. This will be sitting on my worktable for the rest of the week and hopefully sparking my imagination until next week when the fun will begin.

This parcel got to me in the UK from Indiana in just 4 days and hopefully Jen's soup will arrive with her soon too. If she likes it half as much as I do this - I'll be very happy.

Lesley

Bead Soup Is On It's Way....

Well, I finally bit the bullet to make my final decision and yesterday my parcel of Bead Soup ingredients began their long journey to Jenny Cameron in Indiana. As Jenny and I are in the first reveal I'm hoping they get there quickly so she has plenty of time to play and find some inspiration.

All I can do now is sit and wait and chew my nails until they arrive safely and hope that Jenny likes them - this is the worst time for me as doubts creep in and I worry that I've got my selection totally wrong. But there's nothing I can do about it now so I'll just have to keep everything crossed for a week or so.

So do you want to see what I've sent Jenny...yes?...of course you do but you know the rules - no pictures until partners have their parcels. Oh alright then, maybe just one very heavily disguised little pic and it is heavily disguised - even I don't recognise what I've sent!

Now you'll just have to wait until Jenny gets her soup mix to find out what this really is. Oh and Jenny if you're looking at this, that bit on the left really isn't the "baby poop green/brown" it looks!

Have a great weekend all!

Lesley