Winter Enchantment

The good folks at Artbeads.com suggested that I make a piece that represents what I find beautiful or inspirational about the winter season.  I thought of this quote imediately:

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.”

-Stanley Horowitz 

 Doesn't this leaf look like an etching?

Then I ordered a few things from Artbeads.com.  I was really taken with products with the "gunmetal" finish, they are really a beautiful addition to more traditional finishes.  I also fell in love with the feather charm and snowflake charms, and there are so many charms to choose from!
 I made the earrings first, they were so fun to make and I'll be wearing these every day for a month at least!

I love the "fancy link" in this gunmetal finish!

Then I started in on the necklace, beginning with the small bird's nest in the center 

and working out with stylized tree branches.

The strong solid links and cables on the right side are balanced by the more delicate work on the other side.  The crystals add lots of sparkle and the dangles provide lots of movement.

Plus, it will be REALLY FUN to wear!
Necklace: $149, Earrings: $49

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

FTC disclaimer: I received some of the products shown in this blog from Artbeads.com free of charge, I have not been paid for my endorsement of these products and I am reviewing the products honestly.

Grape Cluster Necklace Press #2

This necklace can now be found on the Artbeads.com Facebook fan page as well as their blog.  They've done a beautiful job presenting it.  I'm really amazed at the response this necklace is getting.  Thank you all so much! 

Here is the text that goes with the photo that I wrote for their blog:
"In recent travels I came across a beautiful leaf that really captured my attention, it was from a merlot grapevine. I immediately wanted to make a jewelry design with a flowing grape cluster with a grape leaf or leaves. When I saw the copper maple leaf on the Artbeads.com website, I hoped I could make it look more merlot than maple. When I added copper curls and chain, and round amethyst and jade beads plus hand made lampwork beads from Artbeads.com for grapes. I made some other round beads from polymer clay to bring out the copper along with the greens and hues of purple. It took a while to structure the piece and I worked into the night, but I am very pleased with how it turned out."

 I have entered this necklace in the "What Inspires You" contest and later on in November they will open up the entries to everyone.  Then you can vote for the design you like the best. 

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Colors of Fall

Check out Pantone's Fashion color report for Fall 2010! It's a beautiful combination of colors. I'm always drawn to the purple colors, this time was no exception. "Purple Orchid" and "Chocolate Truffle" are both striking colors, as well as "Woodbine" which is a lovely rich green along with "Endive" which I interpret as a pale jade green. These colors were inspiration for new jewelry! Grape colors if you ask me!

When Artbeads.com contacted me again about making something for their Fall Design Partner's Gallery, I came upon this beautiful maple leaf and these beautiful silver lined round twist beads which I thought would be perfect for a grape cluster design. Grape leaves and maple leaves aren't the same, but close enough.

So I started with a sketch. This is a bit unusual for me, but I had some time to think about this idea until the beads came. 

I also made some polymer clay beads, they are the swirly round ones that are a combination of the "Woodbine" "Purple Orchid" and "Endive" color scheme along with some copper.

I added in some copper wire to the design.

Then I worked late into the night in Studio Nine.  And by morning I had this:

I wanted to try to show the back part also, because I like the copper chain, the different textures and the copper wire twisted into a clasp.
$295 email me at CarmenRose at comcast dot net.

A detail of those glass beads from Artbeads.com plus Amethyst, Jade, Faceted light Amethyst Crystals, Vintage Jade beads, Swarovski Pearls and other great beads from my stash.  I really think the "grape" leaf is the star of the show in this piece. 

It's structured on chain so it has lots of wonderful movement.  These are my colors.  I'm going to enjoy wearing this one! 

It's been years since I've done much by way of jewelry design even though I worked in this media professionally for quite a few years.  And much of this year I was emotionally unable to get in the studio and do the work that is closest to my heart.  I've moved my studios recently and it took considerable time to begin to set up another studio in my new home.  I finally have a jewelry design area.  More than that, I have once again felt the stirring of inspiration and I can't tell you how good that feels.  It's been a long dark season but this is a very good sign.  The creative juices are moving once more and I am grateful.

And that night after I created this piece, I just couldn't stop making jewelry.  It feels so good to be back in the flow again.  And I think I'll enter this piece in the Artbeads.com Inspiration Competition when I get a chance!

May your creative juices surprise you with a blessing this week!

-Carmen Rose

FTC disclaimer: I received some of the products shown in this blog from Artbeads.com free of charge, I have not been paid for my endorsement of these products and I am reviewing the products honestly.

Summer Time Jewelry

Aren't these Venetian glass beads the cutest thing ever? I love that foil lined bead look!  And these are much nicer than some I've worked with.  The shape is nice and round and consistent and the hole is much smaller making a far nicer bead than other hand made beads I've worked with. 

I got nine of these little marvels from Artbeads.com and used seven of them in a summer time bracelet. 

I used two strands of heart shaped chain, added these venetian glass beads and some other accent beads and a few silver charms that say "peace."  The purple swirl beads are hand made polymer clay beads I made ages ago.  I love the color combination, and if you look closely you'll see the alphabet beads also spell out "PEACE."  I really love the  bracelet, but the EARRINGS are my fav:

The earrings use the same glass beads, in the 10 mm size and the 6mm size.  Artbeads.com has a great selection of glass beads in general, and venetian glass beads in particular.  They are so pretty that it's hard to choose!  And they have this style bead in a variety of colors, I also like the peridot and aquamarine!

But my favorite thing about the earrings is the little cluster of tiny little silver flower buds!  The individual bead charms look like this:  They are an adorable little silver flower with a loop on the back. 

And then there is this tiny little bud that goes with them so beautifully:

I played around with them some, unsure of how I was going to use them, but when I saw how cute they were when they were all stacked together... I knew that was how I would use them!  I used four of the tiny flowers plus a bud on each earring, and they are SO fun to wear!

Artbeads.com has tons of charms to choose from, and as I was looking through their selection, these little ones were the ones that jumped out at me.  And since Artbeads.com has so many colors to choose from on these Venetian glass beads, this pair of earrings could be made in a variety of great colors.  Wouldn't they be cute in a combination of aquamarine and peridot?  I think so!  

FTC disclaimer: I received some of the products shown in this blog from Artbeads.com free of charge, I have not been paid for my endorsement of these products and I am reviewing the products honestly.

Happy Beading,

-Carmen Rose

She is... a Jewel

I'm finally getting around to going through some photos here.  I spent some time working on my external hard drive, it had been impossible to find anything on there, now at least I hope things make a little more sense.  Sure seems like I'm missing a chunk of photographs but maybe they are here somewhere.

I wanted to show photos of Rachel, she's a lovely friend and a gifted soprano who specializes in Opera.  Her phrase is: "She is... a Jewel."  And it's absolutely true, she is!

She is wearing a necklace that I designed in two parts.  I think the one section is beautiful in her hair, but it can also be worn on the back like this:  This opens up the front of the piece to cascade all over her shoulders which looked really lovely on her.  It's loaded with all the exotic kinds of freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals with tiny little teardrop earrings.  Each section works beautifully as a necklace in it's own right, I wore one to an event Friday and it was lovely. 

It was a pleasure to work with Rachel again!  She's a vibrant creature, a natural model, and a dear friend!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Santa's Workshop

It is silver and glass month at Artbeads.com, isn't that exciting?  I tried out a number of cool products that were new to me. 

I started out with these Bali silver beads pictured lower middle. 

This is the first pair of earrings I made, I LOVE this big Bali Silver beads, they have such cool details and they are light because they are hollow, so the earrings won't be difficult to wear at all.  This focal bead was the big statement of these earrings so they really don't need much else.  I mixed them up with a variety of Swarovski crystal bicones in four colors for a hint of color and sparkle, plus more sterling silver beads and the findings.  I would wear this pair of earrings with anything from jeans to something dressy.  That's the beauty of artisan silver, it's versatile.  Check out Artbeads.com's selection of Bali Silver.

The second pair of earrings I made have these marvelous little Hill Tribe silver roses which I think are SO amazing!  They are delicate and light enough to be worn in an earring (can you tell I don't like wearing or making heavy earrings?) and they're just really cute.  More Hill Tribe silver from Artbeads.com.

I paired them up with some Swarovski crystal AB teardrops, some silver spacers, a crystal bicone and little sterling rings on ear wires.  I was giving these some thought and decided that they are a self portrait pair of earrings.  With the rose and the teardrops and way these catch the light, I know I'll enjoy wearing these for a long time! 

FTC disclaimer: I received some of the products shown in this blog from Artbeads.com free of charge, I have not been paid for my endorsement of these products and I am reviewing the products honestly.