Art Bead Scene November Challenge - Reveal 2

This is the continuation of the Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge for November inspired by a painting by Marguerite Zorach called Autumn Flowers

You can read all about the first piece I created for this challenge here: http://earth-shinedesigns.blogspot.com/2015/11/art-bead-scene-november-challenge.html

You may remember I was a bit stumped by the first two designs I tried, well I went back to the drawing board and had another go.

I had made these glass leaf headpins using various shades of amber glass.

There's just a hint of veining which I achieved using a pair of leaf mashers I purchased from Devardi Glass .com

I wanted the leaves to lay nicely so came up with the idea of threading seed beads onto the wire and cutting the wire different lengths. I then threaded them onto Fireline with seed beads spacing them out. I continued with the seed beads and added some Czech glass crystals to complete the necklace.

This piece is now available for sale in my webstore: Falling Leaves Necklace

Don't forget to pop and have a look at the other entries.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking.

Linda x

Art Bead Scene November Challenge - Reveal 1

This months (November) Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge is an inspiring painting by Marguerite Zorach called Autumn Flowers

First off I had this fern leaf necklace that I had made for last years Bead Soup Blog Party which couldn't have been a better match for this painting. The antique copper focal made by Sam Waghorn has the ferns depicted in the painting and the copper colour is a perfect match.

 But.... that would be cheating. This is a challenge and so I needed to make something new.

I had this leaf beautiful ceramic leaf pendant made by Bo Hulley Beads. I selected some matching beads and sari silk but no inspiration came to me. I wanted to create something in a different style to my usual designs.

Then I made a lot of glass leaf headpins in shades of amber, and wire wrapped them, I had in my mind a necklace full of cascading leaves but again I couldn't get it to work.

I think the main problem was I had run out of antique brass chain which I wanted to use in both designs so I will return to these when I have restocked.

Then I pulled out this necklace that I had made way back in 2011 when I first started making jewellery. I liked the design but it stretched quite easily and I never did anything with it, then I had this inspiration to add some amber leaf headpins to give it some structure. I set about making some headpins but I didn't make them on the end of a piece of wire as I didn't want it to show. I made the leaves off mandrel and then attached the wire afterwards using a blob of glass, this way the wire is hidden under the leaf.

The necklace base is made by threading beads onto wire and then winding them together and scrunching them up. I then threaded the wire of the headpins into the base.

This is the finished necklace.

I don't think it is cheating using the existing necklace as I always thought of it as unfinished - now it is.

Don't forget to have a look at what the other designers have been up to.

Thanks for looking.

Linda x 

Featured on Art Bead Scene Blog - Amuse the Muse

When I visited the Art Bead Scene Blog on Monday (I know it's a little bit late to be blogging about it now) I got really excited because my work was featured not once but twice!

Rebecca Anderson of Songbead (who makes the most fabulous jewellery) writes a regular post called Amuse the Muse where she chooses beads and components that inspire her and hopefully the readers.

Monday's post was all about handmade findings. Rebecca found this lovely bracelet by Kate Floate of Floating Vintage Designs

Kate used one of my yellow daisy toggle clasps and paired it with a lovely dotty bead from Sally Sutherland of Soul Silver. Keeping the theme of the bracelet as purple and yellow with lots of Czech glass paired with antique brass - A lovely combination.

The other of my items to be shown was this toggle clasp still available for sale in my Etsy store along with a few other colour combinations. Toggle clasps

This particular toggle clasp makes a  lovely focal for a bracelet. I have a similar one I made here

This bracelet is also available for sale in my Etsy store: Purple and orange bracelet

I love strong colour combinations. I was looking at the Runway colour trends for Fall/Winter of 2015 and found these images on Nidhi Saxena's blog about Patterns, Colors and Designs

all beautiful jewel tones which go lovely with purple, one of my go to colours. What is your favourite purple colour combination?

Thanks for looking.

Linda x

I'm a winner! Art Bead Scene October Monthly Challenge

Yesterday was the recap for the October Monthly Challenge over on the Art Bead Scene Blog.

Here is the gallery created by Erin Prais-Hintz of all the entries for the challenge.


Art Bead Scene October 2015 by Slidely Photo Gallery

and today the winners were announced

http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/october-monthly-challenge-winners.html

Guess who won! that's right - ME! A little bit gobsmacked to say the least and very excited to have won some goodies from Diane Hawkey.

I can't wait to see what I receive.

Thanks for looking.

Linda x

Playing with my camera - depth of field

I have a Canon D500 camera. Although I already had a good camera, I wanted to be able to shoot my photos in RAW. Without getting too complicated, RAW photographs can be adjusted without losing any of the quality, which is a big bonus when taking imaged of my work.

One of the types of images I like best is depth of field. This is when the foreground is in focus but the background is out of focus which can be very handy. My Canon has a handy setting for this so I don't have to worry about changing the aperture settings and forgetting what they were before!

I was looking for a way to take some photos of the recent Raven Wing Headpins that I made and had the idea of them coming out of the edge of a book - so I did and here it is, a bit of photographic art for you.

I love the way the metallic sheen shows through the blurred wings in the background.

I hope you like it.

Thanks for looking.

Linda x

Raven inspired Etsy Treasury

Yesterday I received an email from Etsy with October's Hottest Trends. Now I don't usually bother reading these but with my renewed interest in making jewellery I decided to have a browse to see if there was any inspiration.

I saw this collection of photos for fashion trends and it reminded me of the Raven challenge I had just completed.

So I was inspired to make a treasury with Raven inspired items and of course included some of my Raven Wing Headpins.

'Ravens - Myth and Fantasy' by Earthshinebeads

A Raven themes treasury inspired by the Art Jewellery Elements October Monthly theme challenge.

Latex Lace Black Corset Dres... ElissaPoppy $400	Black bird Fascinator- Crow ... doramarra $48	Black lace Elven dress, scot... camelotcostume... $242	Taxidermy crow attached to t... Birdtaxidermy $199.99
FOREST MOON, Blackbirds, Dig... rubyclover $5	3 Raven wing metallic black ... Earthshinebead... $9	HALF PRICE One blue raven wi... PaganTreasureC... $0.35	Black and White Print Set, H... RockyTopPrintS... $60
Raven and Red Rose Goth Edga... 2SmartCats $39	NEW Dark Fallen Angel Feathe... Flywithbrookly... $23.28	Alexander Henry After Dark f... VintageHighSt $13.95	RAVEN WING SOAP, Edgar Allan... thecharmingfro... $6
Black Iridescent Raven Wing ... GriffinForge $86	Black Raven Wings Childrens ... sparrowandbcos... $85	SUPER Sale. Quill Pen Raven&... SaberShores $15	Raven wing metallic black he... Earthshinebead... $3.5

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Each of the photos is clickable and will take you to the item for sale.

Can't you just see my Raven Wing Necklace sitting on the neck of the lady wearing the Elevn Dress?

If you would like to know how to add am Etsy treasury to your blog you can use the Etsy Treasury Tool.

I hope you like the treasury and the items I found.

Thanks for looking.

Linda x