AJE October Component of the Month Reveal

The components for our regular monthly challenge at AJE (Art Jewelry Elelments) this month were these lovely copper clay Ammonite cuffs by Kristi Bowman - Gruel...

 

This is the piece I got to work with - so beautifully detailed...

Because the cuffs are quite large and fairly weighty I felt the bracelet element needed some heft to it for balance so lampwork beads seemd the way to go. While rummaging for the right beads I came across some chunky sections of chain mail which I'd taken off another piece with a patina that was a perfect match for the focal.

 I wanted to use earthy tones to complement the ancient theme of the ammonites so picked out some gorgeous disc beads by Kaz Baildon with a stone coloured base with flashes of purples, teals and blues.

The structure of the bracelet is fairly simple with the beads wire wrapped to attach them to the chain and focal. To finish of I added one of my own bronze ammonites and some pretty Czech glass charms which pick out the colours in the lampwork beads perfectly.

And here you have the finished piece - quite subtle with Kristi's lovely focal as the very striking centrepiece.

 

To see what the rest of the team and out guest designers did with their components just click on the links below....

Guests

Kym Hunter Designs
MiShel Designs

AJE Team Members

Jennifer Cameron Glass Addictions
Lesley Watt Gossiping Goddess
Kristen Stevens My Bead Journey
Caroline Dewison Blueberri Beads
Jenny Davies-Reazor 
Melissa Meman
Rebekah Payne Tree Wing Studio
Francesca Watson
Kristi Bowman Design

 
Lesley

AJE Earring Challenge - Reveal 17, Weeks 35 & 36

Shockingly it's September 15th, this is my first post of the month and I don't know which is worse - the fact that I've not posted anything or the fact that two weeks seem to have slipped without me noticing...time must have sped up surely?

Blogging is not the only thing I've be remiss with and I'm way behind on the AJE Earring Challenge which has it's latest reveal today. I have however managed to make three new pairs to at least plug the gap a little...

I've been feeling the urge to play with sheet metal of late and this autumnal pair feature leaves from my first attempt at fold forming - heat and hammer is a very satisfying combination I must say. The lampwork beads are by Caroline Rhodes.

I love red and black together as the contrast is always very striking so for this pair I teamed the lovely ceramic flowers from Karen Totten with 'Fallen Angel' black brass and some tiny Czech glass beads. The name was inspired by the lyrics of the song 'Red and Black' from Les Miserables.

This final pair are just full of fun with the lovely polka dot etched lampwork beads by Kaz Baildon dressed up with some handmade twisted bronze  rings and bead caps by Lisa Quinn and my own bronze ear wires.

All earrings will be listed in my Etsy shop shortly but feel free to contact me if interested.

You can check out what the other challenge participants have been making by visiting the AJE Earring Challenge Pinterest page and you can also see who is blogging about there designs on today's AJE Blog post.


Lesley

Bead Giveaway Blog Hop ...

Hello and welcome to the 'Kaz Baildon Bead Giveaway Blog Hop'. Way back in October a group of designers where randomly selected receive a free bead or beads from a huge stash very kindly gifted to me by the super talented glass artist Kaz Baildon. Since then the recipients have been working on designs for jewellery, accessories or ornaments using those beads and today's the day they reveal what they've made. I don't know which beads went where so I'm really looking forward to seeing the results.

This is the bead I kept to use for myself and yes, I forgot to photograph it before I made my piece! I thought the tartan like design was rather fun and the shape was something different to work with. Unfortunately things didn't quite go to plan for me...

As always I left everything until this last week having decided that being a last minute Mary is part of my genetic make up and there's no point trying to change now. But since late last week I've been somewhat under the weather and for the last few days have been confined to bed dosing myself on antibiotics and painkillers. So when I did get around to starting on my design on Monday I had to limit myself to simple ideas and tools that I could use from bed - no sharp objects or heat involved here then.

Anyway, all that aside I had already decided I wanted to make something fun and as the focal is quite detailed I thought a simple treatment was suitable. I also happen to have a rather large jar of odds and ends of lampwork spacers so I had a good sort through those and came up with some in co-ordinating colours. I've got a bit of a thing for stringing and knotting with cotton and linen at the moment - I think it's because after working with metals so much when making my components it makes a change to use something different in my jewellery designs. I used a Double strand of waxed linen and strung the spacers so that the 'ring' side was featured rather than the edge of the bead. Kaz's focal was strung onto the linen as a pendant and I left tails beneath it which I finished with little Czech glass beads and the necklace is finished with a simple brass lobster clasp. As I've said - quite simple but I hope you like it none-the-less.

Now, I don't usually make holiday themed jewellery but when I was clearing up the beads there were a pair that had a definite seasonal feel to them so I thought I'd make a little extra item. I knew I had just the right beads to turn these 'cool' lampies into a pair of seasonal earrings which I thought would be a nice tribute to Kaz who I happen to know is besotted with earrings and has a huge collection of them. So here we have a pair of icy, alternative Christmas trees complete with red Czech glass 'tubs' and Hematite stars...cute huh?

Just before before you dash off to see what everyone else did with their beads, you might recall that in addition to the beads I gave away for this blog hop, I also promised a grab bag of beads for one lucky person from the original list of commentators. Well this is what's in that grab bag...

And I'm delighted to announce that this will shortly be winging it's way to...

Leigh Thow of JewellrLeigh

Congratulations Leigh, I hope you enjoy creating with your early Christmas present.

So let's get back to the bog hop then...I hope you'll join me and come and check out all the other participants designs using the links below - now that I can do from bed! Many thanks to Kaz for her very generous gift of the beads that made this event possible and of course, to everyone who has taken part in the hop - I hope you had fun designing with your surprise beads and who knows...maybe we can do it again next year...

Lesley Watt - www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com
Cory Tompkins - http://tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.com
Rebecca Anderson - http://songbeads.blogspot.com
Marie Cramp -   Marie is unwell and has had to withdraw
Claire Braunbarth - http://smittenbeads.blogspot.com
Heidi Post - http://http://expostfactojewelry.blogspot.com
Tiffany Smith - http://southerngalsdesign.blogspot.com
Sharyl Macmillan-Nelson - http://sharylsjewelry.blogspot.com
Ailsa Cordner - http://www.bramalfiebeadsetc.co.uk/
Linda Landig -  http://lindalandig.wordpress.com
Caroline Dewison - http://blueberribeads.com
Renetha - http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com
Kari Asbury - http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com
Niky Sayers - http://silverniknats.blogspot.com
Purple Cobwebs - http://www.purplecobwebs.blogspot.com
Cilla Watkins - http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/
Therese Frank - www.theresestreasures59.blogspot.com
 Claire Ennis - http://clairescrystalclassics.blogspot.com
 Emma - http://apolymerpenchant.blogspot.com
Kathy Lindemer - http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com 
Alicia - http://www.allprettythings.ca
Sandy Huntress - http://keepsakecrafts.net/blog/
Lori Bowring Michaud - http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com
Amy - http://copperdiem.blogspot.com
Katherine Gale - http://terrabeadworks.blogspot.com

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