A New Shelly

Some more Lisa New beads...mixing these cool glass beads up with some puka shells, some agate and a few seed beads resulted in this funky pendant. I love the green translucent glass mixed with the blues and oranges. Plus, having some random salmon-toned leather on hand turned out to be a bonus.


I love how all the materials for this piece just sort of jumped out when I looked around my work table. I think I was looking for more Spring influences with the green tones and the shells bring out some Hawaii sand-on-the-feet feelings.


I have to go find a low-cut shirt for this one...shouldn't be a challenge! Ha ha!

~*~ Bouquet Verde ~*~

This bracelet is my take on spring on an evening when it's freezing outside...the greens, yellow, and oranges of these Lisa New beads called out to me with their funky flowers while the freezing draft made its way over my kitty-slippered feet.

These are actually some of her "orphan" beads, but I gathered them together with some Czech glass discs, bright green seed beads, and cherry agate nuggets and they come together in a perfect bouquet!

Hot Malasadas!!

While I was in Hawaii, every time we drove down the highway from Kapolei, we passed Leonard's Hot Malasada stand. Finally, we stopped for some of the yummy cinnamon treats and now I'd like to start every day the malasada way!

Instead of fried dough, though, I'm going to go with warm cinnamon jewelry! These chunky free-form bits of quartz and yellow jade are hanging with various mixes of jade, citrine, and mookaite combined with some sterling silver and wood. Just as I couldn't eat just one, I couldn't make just one.

The short one is a choker--about 15 inches long with a toggle clasp. The long one is "nutty" because of the extra nut I added to the bunch in the front.

Thanks to Lauren & Marc for the malasada adventures!

AquaPurpleSwirley Pendant...

I tend to spend too much time on eBay browsing for random things! There are some fantastic independent artists that sell their creations via online auctions--handmade lampwork beads just happen to be my weakness. I could spend hours wandering through the listings and seeing the amazing work of artisans from around the world.

Anyway, a few months ago, while doing my usual browsing for unique beads, I came across the work of Lisa New, a artist who makes glass beads and designs cool jewelry. I immediately fell in love with her cool color combinations...then looked further into the types of glass and the variety of funky shapes and went a little nuts with my bidding. I have a few dozen beads of her beads in my stash, waiting for the perfect project. (Look to the left for a link to her site.)

This afternoon I was working at my table, ogling all my cool things, and wanted to make something quick to wear on a date tonight. I picked out this great one that features blue & purple in funky dots and swirls. I immediately thought of some great aquamarine beads that would bring out the green in the glass. I twisted them all together on some sterling silver wire to create a fun pendant that looks great on a cute purple leather choker. I love it.

Now, I have to get to work with more of her beads. While I was in Hawaii, I picked up some awesome vintage glass beads to mix with them that will make for some really fun pieces!

Aloha!

How lucky can I be? Here I am in a Hawaiian paradise and I found a beader's dream shop! You can see the link to The Bead Gallery to the left, but here are a couple of pics of some of my favorites. Lauren and I were there for a few hours giggling over all the variety.

This bunch of flower beads grabbed me with the natural textures of bone, shell, and silver that are going to end up being gorgeous all together!

And, this honu (that'd be the turtle) is showing off some very cool Czech glass beads that were personally designed by the shop's owner, Jamie. The color combinations and the patterns on the glass are fun and soothing all at the same time.

The Green Lauren

It's not exactly a superhero necklace, but I love this greenie!! I love doing the freeform with silver wire and these rough green garnet nuggets were crying out to me...they wanted to be a gift for my friend, Lauren! So, used the green as my driver and added some ocean jasper & quartz along with some wood and leather to bring it all to life. Then, when I finished hers, I made one for myself! haaaaaaaaa