Blue and Green Beaded Earrings

Just a little pair of earrings to go with Monday's bracelet:

I had 2 of those gorgeous blue and green lampwork glass bicones leftover after making the bracelet, so naturally I had to make some matching earrings!

I tried to get an extreme closeup to show the detail in the lampwork, and I think I got a little too close! It looks like there are 2 beadcaps under the lampwork bead on the left - but there aren't, it's just a photographic artifact. Photographing jewelry is hard!

I hope Santa was good to everyone!

Purple Heart

I got this amazing purple lampwork heart from one of Etsy's talented glass artisans (if it's yours, drop me a comment and I'll credit you - I can't find the original transaction!) - I love purple, love hearts, and knew I wanted to design a spectacular necklace to showcase it.

Coin pearls: another one of my favorite things! These peacock-colored coin pearls are richly iridescent, and go with the heart focal perfectly! I put them with white freshwater button pearls and tanzanite-colored Czech firepolished beads, and a bit of sterling silver, to create this feminine, romantic, double-stranded necklace:

It closes with a sterling silver S-hook and sterling silver chain, so the finished length is adjustable.

And it's available on Etsy!

Beads on a Wire

These earrings were so much fun to make - the trick was to get the wire the right length so that the beads were counterbalanced, so the wire moves like a pendulum!

I started with about a 6 inch length of square sterling silver wire. I twisted it with my pin vise, then bent it (I actually did each step side-by-side, if you will, for each earring, so that they would match as closely as possible). I put the gorgeous, handmade, raku-inspired lampwork beads on one end, and formed a loop to hold them. A Bali-style spacer went on the other end. Initially, I had left this end a little too long, and the earrings didn't hang correctly, so I shortened it, and got lucky the second time.

I love the way they swing when worn!

Turquoise and Chocolate Brown Lampwork Earrings

A friend of mine made these cute turquoise and chocolate brown lampwork cubes - don't you just love the shape, and the dots?

They were perfect for a quick pair of earrings!

These fun, casual earrings are available in my Etsy shop.

Sea Turtle

I discovered this gorgeous electroplated lampwork sea turtle, and wanted to create a necklace that had different elements of the sea, to make him feel at home!

 I did a very random, asymmetrical design, with sea-blue kyanite, teal Czech glass, copper, and big freshwater pearls. A friend of mine made the gorgeous blue and green lampwork toggle, which matches the turtle perfectly. The toggle is so pretty, it had to be brought to the front of the necklace.

A Golden Spiral

This handwoven spiral rope was created with gold freshwater pearls and various sizes of gold-colored seed beads, inspired by the gorgeous golden large-holed lampwork focal bead.

I purchased this bead over 5 years ago, and I wish I knew who made it, because I want more! I have no idea where I got it, and could kick myself - the colors are fabulous, but the shape is what I really love - it's like the artisan twisted the molten glass to get this lovely shape. If you think you recognize this bead, or even better, if you think you can make some, let me know!!

Fresh, Plump, and Delicious

Not me, sillies - these earrings!

Bright, shiny red strawberries - these lampwork glass berries look like they were just picked! They are hung from matching red enamelled copper earwires, for a great summery look!
Available in my Etsy shop!

Holiday Lariat

As I mentioned earlier, despite any evidence here, I have actually been fairly busy designing and creating.

Imagine my delight (and surprise!) when the Photo Fairy, the Download Fairy, and the Editing Fairy paid me a visit yesterday! PF took over 500 photos, and her sisters downloaded and edited all of them. Woohoo! No sign of the Listing Fairy yet, though.

Now I have some projects to share with you - pardon for a few days while these are holiday themed. You're not really tired of the holidays already, are you?

This is a lariat I designed around mid-December. The pretty lampwork peppermints had been for sale in the bead shop for several years, and I started to hope no one would buy them - I love them!

My original plan weave the entire lariat in a red and green spiral stitch, adding the peppermints about 6 inches from each end. But I didn't have anywhere near enough of the beautiful velvet red Czech fire polish beads I was using in the center of the spiral, so I had to come up with plan B.

I found some Czech pressed glass rondelles in green and in clear, some green Czech fire polish beads, and some red Czech pressed glass bicones, and played around with different patterns, and came up with this result. I love it, and am so glad I didn't have enough beads to make a lariat-length spiral, because this was quicker, and more festive, too. In my opinion. Keeping this one! 

4 Treasuries in one day!

I arrived home from work today, logged onto Etsy, and discovered that my designs had been featured in 3 separate treasuries - what an honor!

My Starfish Spiral Necklace is featured in this stunning collection by countryrustic. The colors in this treasury are gorgeous, and it is fun to see all the different ways Etsy artists have worked starfish into their designs.

Makes me want to go scuba diving - now!


My friend and fellow bead-weaver, Carol Dean Sharpe, aka SandFibers, curated this absolutely sublime peach-themed treasury, and included my Just Peachy Earrings, which were designed as a tribute to independent lampwork artisans.

CD always does such a fabulous job with her treasuries, and this one reminds me of peach ice-cream, which would be delicious right now - in this 98 degree weather!

Thanks for including my earrings in this collection, CD!


Sharon, of manamoonstudios, curated this beautiful treasury, and included my wire-wrapped Vintage Crystal Ring. The colors she chose for this fabulous collection are lovely, as always!



Thanks for thinking of me, again, Sharon!




Another beadweaving friend, totallytwisted, included my wire-wrapped Ammonite Pendant in this collection she curated on 7/1/08. Who knew this many fabulous ammonites could be found on Etsy?
What a great theme for a treasury! Thanks, Jean!

This treasury has not expired yet (as of this post), so that makes 4 treasuries at once for me - a new record.

Thank you ladies so much for making my day!

I hope my readers will take a few minutes to visit the shops of these fabulous artists!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

2 Things I did Today

I slumped my very first bracelet in the kiln today. That's me, in the tin-foil sleeves, using the marvers to slump the molten glass over the mandrel in the kiln. I had to leave the bracelet annealing in the kiln overnight, so I won't know how it turned out until tomorrow. It sure was cool, though!

After supper, I watched a new friend make a borosilicate marble. This incredible lampworker is only 21, and has been working with glass for over 5 years already. Her work is absolutely unbelievable. I will put a few of the pics here, and more on my Flickr page later.

The marble has a green imploded flower inside, but it looks red in all these shots because the glass is so hot!

The marble also has to anneal overnight in the kiln, so I won't see it's final form until tomorrow at breakfast.

Great shots, huh?