Sweet Child of Mine

I wrote the other day about the challenge of necklaces. My own personal challenge it seems - many designers I know seem to think necklace first and bracelet very much later. My brain is funny like that. 

I also promised that I would share my other necklaces from that particular necklace-making session. Those sessions tend to only happen when I have stern words with myself, and epic events on the horizon....! It began with my wheeling myself off to a cafe (my travelling beads have reached such proportions that I use a mini wheelie suitcase right now - not my usual but it does tend to happen with a big event around the corner....I am *not* one for travelling light, it seems), ordering some tea, resisting cake with the mental promise of hot chocolate further down the line, and pawing through my bead boxes. 

And this is what happened:

In all honesty, I'm not totally sure how it did. These designs usually come about because I am drawn to a particular art bead in my stash - something that gets up and shouts 'pick me, pick me!'. I've had the gorgeous puffed ceramic heart from the hands of Nancy Schindler-Adams for a while now, over a year in fact, but somehow (although I love it), it never quite made itself heard. Something about that particular shade of yellow - I'm never too good with the greener yellows. And then the grey-black wash over it too....I just wasn't sure how to use it in a way that was both the heart, but also 'me', if you know what I mean. 

I think it actually began with the pressed glass - the grungy, rough-cut black/bronze faceted rounds, and the bonnie turquoise poppies. And then it sort of fell together and flowed from there....

Sometimes it's like that. You get to the end of something and are never quite sure how it happened, even though you are rather glad it did!

Some more grungy, rough-cut frosted grey/black faceted glass beads - these are 'English Cuts' although I'm never quite sure what makes them English - one of my favourite pewter Green Girl Studio keys (my stash is very, very low of these, I must remedy that as soon as I have the pennies!) and a couple of my 'end-of-day' handwoven glass {song}beads. Somehow, it balanced itself out, all by itself. 

Black and green-yellow - two colours (yes, I know that's technically incorrect, but never mind!) I rarely work with. Yet here, they both leapt to the forefront of my designer/maker brain. I'm glad they did. 

And, for those children of the eighties like me, here's a bit of nostalgia that (of course) inspired the title. I couldn't quite bring myself to drop the F from of, but Guns n' Roses had no issues there. A real classic - when size truly mattered in a man - hair size, that is. And also, I feel in the shoulder department - check out Axel's from 0.26"! Worthy of Dallas, I'm sure. 

Summer Lovin', and the challenge of necklaces

Us jewellery designers, we all have our comfort spots. Things that flow easily from our hands and minds, pieces that we can make almost in our sleep. Pieces that almost feel like they design themselves. 

For me, it's bracelets that tend to fall into that category. Somehow, when I get new art beads, they often tend to become bracelets in my mind before anything else. I can see how they would sit, what could sit around them; bracelet composition seems to be what my mind first leaps to. (Of course, now I've said that, there will be no bracelets coming from here this week...!). 

But not everyone wants to wear just bracelets. They want earrings, and necklaces too. And sometimes even rings (more about those in a later post). Earrings, generally, are fine and enjoyable. Sometimes I struggle to create more elaborate earrings (ironic, as those are the ones I'm drawn to wear) but generally, I can whip up a bunch of earrings easily in one sitting. 

But necklaces.....oh necklaces, sometimes you feel like my nemesis! I really have to steel myself for them, 92% of the time. The other 8%, something random happens in my mind and I thank all the stars for that, but the rest of the time, they do feel more of a challenge. I guess perhaps because there's so much of them, and because they frame the face, and because I don't really like to wear them myself, and, and and....just *because*. They are my nemesis, and they always have been, since I began this jewellery designer/maker business.

However, sometimes a bead lands on your doormat that really demands to be a necklace. Nothing else will do. Size and heft have a lot to do with that, but sometimes it's not even that - they just have a necklace *quality* to them. All of these things were true with this glorious handmade lampwork glass heart that arrived at the beginning of this week:

From the outrageously talented hands of Sally Soul Silver, it flew across to me from the other side of Scotland, Renfrewshire to Edinburgh, and it was mega-love at first touch. Of course, I'd bought the thing, so you'd hope I'd love it(!) but it really is something special to behold. 

And of course, I knew it would have to be part of a necklace. Sometimes that can make me a little sad, because I know of my tendency to shy away from necklaces at times, and I think that the beautiful bead which I am holding won't be able to fulfil its true destiny for a good while. 

(Yes, I know - I'm a bit odd.)

But with this one, I just knew that it had to become something wonderful, or as wonderful as I could muster, sooner rather than later. Might have something to do with the rather epic craft fair just around the corner, and (as you'd imagine from someone who has tendencies to avoid necklaces when possible) the lack of necklaces in my current stock load. 

Anyway, I sat down the day after this glorious hunk of glass arrived (all 26mm of it) and thought: NECKLACE. In fact, I thought NECKLACES, and I'll share the other two pieces I created that day in another post. 

And here's what happened:

Handmade lampwork glass, Czech pressed glass, Indonesian lampwork glass, recycled glass, handwoven glass....it's a whole lot of glassy loveliness. 

I made my own antiqued copper rose bail for Sally's heart.

I've been working on a new pattern for 15mm handwoven glass {song}beads, and so the violet opal one here is one of those new chunky monkeys, alongside another gorgeous piece of handmade lampwork glass from Sally.

Oh, and those tiny purple spacers? They're dyed nut beads. Pretty cool! They have a lovely, organic look and feel to them. 

It's a lovely, long, easy-to-wear, perfectly summery, Scottish sea and heather glassy fest, and I'm pretty pleased with it.

You can find Summer Lovin' in my etsy shop.