Shape and suggestion...

 "White Copper Perfume Bottle"

(Earrings)  Price: $ 30.00 SOLD 

 

 

I have a love of glass, whether it be art glass sitting on my window sill or gorgeous glass beads, no matter how humble, that fascinate me. There was a small baggie of mixed glass beads in the stash I bought from Lisa last year that turned out to be actual vintage Murano. The roses and gold/rose gold tones called to me and I tossed them in with the pile I eventually purchased. Those beads kind of reminded me of painted porcelain bottles from the Victorian, or French Rococo or Baroque eras. That got me to thinking, and seeing if I could make the beads look like antique perfume bottles using bead shapes. Bottle = Murano glass bead; Bottle stopper = metal bead shape/s, topped by a glass bead. I think they kind of work. I have more planned in different shapes, I just haven't gotten around to exploring the theme or my beads towards that end, yet.

 

"Copper Black Perfume Bottle" 

(Earrings)  Price: $ 35.00 SOLD

 Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,

Marianne 

Back to Spring...

 "Aqua Butterfly"

(Necklace)  Price: $50.00 SOLD 

 

This is one of those creations where I fell in love with the color of the beads and just wanted to fiddle around with making a focal using them and some new silver elements I just got in. My friend Erica had a table full of 'discards' all bagged up to sell like a mini marketplace. I had a blast just sifting through them and picking out what spoke to me on a creative level. There were oddities, broken bits, many, many glass beads of various vintages, and findings and old metal focals from the 1960s/1970s that looked odd and handmade. I paid for my six pound bag of bits and spent a blissful couple of hours back home just going through them, sorting and putting them away in my brand new plastic bin...I have five of those big bad boys, now. LOL Michaels craft store has the occasional sale where plastic storage cases are heavily discounted. The one I initially purchased was $14.99, down from it's 'retail' price of $41.99. Anyway, it's designed to hold photographs. Suitcase-like clear plastic with 16 small cases mounted inside. Perfect for individual bead types, or finding types, oddities sorted by metal, color, and/or type or style of setting. Storing things since then has gotten...creative. Anyway, back to the necklace above. the blue 'lobe' at the bottom of the focal is dyed shell, and the blue/teal beads on it are Fresh Water Pearls. The white/cream beads are glass and are contemporary along with the silver findings and chain. It's a pretty piece and I rather like how it came together, exploring and trying different things to reach a satisfying result.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers,

Marianne 

A different season...

 "Winter Solstice"

(Necklace)   Price: $60.00 

 When I started creating this necklace, it was all about the 'engineering' following an 'I wonder if I can make that work?' moment. Do you recognize the top of the focal? Right. It's the same base branch that has become one of my favourite building blocks...only in aged bronze. The engineering bit I was contemplating was the curved side pieces with all of the loops. Layering them and wrangling them into position was very fiddly and produced soft cussing and searches for dropped tiny jump rings, beads, findings and tools. Sigh. My worktop is tiny and not ideal, and the whatever I'm working on tends to drift off the table and into my lap while I'm wrestling with two tiny pairs of pliers...one not necessarily designed for that type of work. I have yet to make getting better tools a priority. Anyway, the bronze was very dull on its own, so I chose a gold element for the central focal and drops to wake it up a bit and add brighter supports for the stones. Vintage red Venetian glass coin beads for 'pow' and the green of the pure Malachite for contrast. I found the singular Malachite triangle bead in the stash I bought from Lisa in February of 2025 and it fit the balance perfectly, along with the Venetian glass bead below it. Satisfied that I had achieved my 'engineering' dreams, I sat the completed piece on my show stand so I could look at it for awhile. However, it took me a full 24 hours to figure out why it reminded me of Christmas. I was still in a building frame of mind rather than a 'oh, isn't that pretty?' one. Once my perspective shifted, I finally saw the green tree shape and 'ornaments' dangling from a 'Victorian' frame chandelier. I had a good laugh, and now I can't unsee any of that, so I deemed it 'Winter Solstice'. 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. 

Cheers,

Marianne 

New greens in the Springtime...

 "Silver Sunburst Malachite"

(Necklace)  Price: $60.00 

I'm not sure that the centre bead was meant to be used like I did with this necklace, but it sure turned out well. Again, I like the tiny gold accents giving the silver elements a boost. All the green is pure Malachite, and the black beads are Onyx. Like all of my necklaces, this one also hovers at the 18" length and sits just on the collarbone of the wearer. I had a lot of fun experimenting with the gorgeous green stones, as you will see below.

"Gold Malachite"

(Necklace)   Price: $65.00  SOLD 

This creation gives off a faint Ancient Egyptian vibe with the almost mechanical gold 'stacked squares' connectors and lowest dangle, and the color choices. However it leans more towards Art Deco of the early 20th century, I think. I love this piece. It gave me a chance to use a specific type of vintage decorative chain with the diamond shaped links in it that I would usually find difficult to use. But it blended beautifully with the Art Deco pseudo Egyptian vibe I was going for, as you can see from the photo below. I do love that lush green Malachite and the black Onyx combination. The vintage gold tones make it that more lux.

"Gold Wrapped Malachite"

(Earrings)  Price: $ 35.00 

In amongst Lisa's hoard of stuff were a lot of oddities like these gold ribbon bead 'frames'. I'm not sure what the were originally intended for, but with a bit of wrestling with them, I manage to squeeze four Malachite beads apiece into their odd loops. I like them, but they might not be everyone's cup of tea. And unfortunately, whenever I've tried to photograph them, it hasn't been good. This is the best pic I could get. They are actually richer and darker than pictured here. 

Anyway, I'm still catching up with posting all I've done so far in the bling making efforts. There are still more to come, and I'm also still making things. 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers,

Marianne