Last Minute Earrings for Illuxcon...

"Golden Fox"

(Earrings)   Price: $40.00  SOLD 

The night before we left on our roadtrip to Illuxcon nearly two weeks ago, I realized when packing things up that I didn't have any new earrings for my display, there. So I made a cup of tea and started my usual rummaging of the beads and bits to find some inspiration. I'd gotten a new shipment of tiny 14k gold elements to play with a few weeks before that came with some coveted Kitsune fox masks. They paired beautifully with autumnal brown Czech pressed glass leaves from my stash. Simple but lush.

 

"Black Dragon Jade"

(Earrings)  Price: $40.00  SOLD 

I had a lot of gold findings splayed about my tiny workplace and of course, that always calls to my stash of Serpentine jade beads. I've been hoarding a short string of larger carved beads among them and I decided to showcase two of them as earrings. Layered decorative posts with engraved gold spacer beads at the bottom, and then the aforementioned Serpentine Jade in all of their glory, topped by my fave engraved cube gold spacers. The black beads are Black Onyx incised with 14k gold Chinese dragons, topped with 14k gold tube spacers. I'm not sure if I'd class them as 'perfume bottle shapes' or 'temple lanterns', but the choice is an evocative one. 

 

 

 "Golden Moon Jade"

(Earrings)  Price: $ 30.00 

Well, working to a cosmic theme, these are a simple moon motif. Gold tone metals and Serpentine Jade beads. Crescent Moon and Stars in gold, and a glowy Serpentine Jade 'shining' full Moon below. 

 

Received lots of love on these beauties. Hope to get back to creating pretty things real soon. 
Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Marianne 

 

Ocean Dark...

 "Midnight Sea"

(Necklace)  Price: $70.00  SOLD 

Sometime earlier this year, I bought a bunch of silver-toned metal findings that I could use to build  'focals' for necklaces around. One of them was the silver circle in this necklace that has a seahorse, stars and shells around its rim. This circlet, along with its companions bearing other shapes and decorations, was not originally intended for use in the way I employed it. They are meant to be used with fancy poured resin. I wanted to find out how they looked against semi-precious stone 'donut' beads and also the large round, drilled 'coin' beads. The backdrop to the silver circle in this case is a large, flat Lapis Lazuli of a striking midnight blue. It made a perfect dark ocean background. It took me a little while of fiddling around with the elements and comparing them till I settled on a lone 'star' drop suspended in the middle. The star is of filled 14k gold and bears an inset crystal. Once I finished the focal to my satisfaction, I was undecided about how to suspend it. Cue digging through all of my boxes of beads and findings, sorting this way and that for inspiration. I finally came back to the engraved silver-toned metal 'dunce cap' style beads that bookend the large Black Tourmaline beads on each shoulder above the focal. That was a start. Not wanting it to look too dour and 'uncosmic' I thought about adding some other color element. After more rummaging around, I kept coming back to some of the pressed Czech glass beads I had. The swirls and shimmering colors reminded me of nebulae, so I experimented with them for a bit, eventually liking them in the antiqued silver metal bead frames sandwiched between smaller Black Tourmaline beads. Because it 'looked' heavier, the chain I chose to hang it all from is of twisted silver-toned metal, adding to the antiqued ornate look. Overall, Midnight Sea looks cosmic, and maybe, just maybe...a little bit magical. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers,

Marianne 

 

More purple...

"Amethyst Swan"

(Necklace)   Price: $70.00 

Some time ago, I purchased these elegantly beautiful 'swan' shaped bails...the attachment holding a bead or pierced stone. They are not truly precious, but contain inset Egyptian glass 'rhinestones' that flash light rather well. I'd been at a loss to how to use them until I spotted a few things on sale at my fave online bead dealer in Oregon. That was the carved amethyst 'wing'. Suddenly, ideas started popping up. Into my basket it went, and the two I received proved perfect to use. How to suspend it in a meaningful way once the 'swan' torso was attached was the next puzzle. Silver wire and my little curling pliers worked wonders. Eventually. Next puzzle was what create 'wings' from. I found teardrop amethysts and oval shaped ones during my rummaging and spent a happy hour 'arranging' them in various set ups with possible connectors. I snuck in my usual gold elements as tiny spacer beads in the middle and top of each wing, and topped them with the ornate silver-toned metal connectors, and then another silver-framed amethyst bead just for the heck of it. Again, it looks almost Victorian in its completed glory, but I am rather pleased with how this experiment turned out. 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers,

Marianne 

 

Red Moon Rising...Eclipse

"Lunar Eclipse"

(Necklace)   Price: $70.00 SOLD 

I have a bunch of largish Black Onyx drilled beads with openings in them that I've been toying with ideas what to do with them for awhile now. Inserting a bead or other focal element into the opening sounded intriguing and I wondered what ideas or story it would carry if I did. I'd been mooching through my beads on a break from tax stuff and paperwork and thought, ooh, I wonder if one of my Leopard Skin Jasper beads would fit. None of the regular moon-colored beads from that stash fitted, so I turned to the darker red and the almost black ones instead. The reddish-rust colored one went hand in glove into the opening like it was made for it. And I realized later that when the Moon is eclipsed, that a lot of the time it just changes to an earthy red. It became the eclipsed Moon in the blackness of space. Smaller, below that, was the Earth, portrayed here by my fave Italian handworked blue and copper toned glass. At the top, framed in gold is The Sun. I'm not exactly sure what this bead is, since I fished it out of a mixed box of beads. I shimmers, so it could either by plain old glass or Selenite, or even Moonstone. Either-wise, it fits the role. The small black space beads are also Black Onyx. Overall, the metallic gold elements give it an antique feel in an understated magical way. I am rather proud of the simple elegance this necklace conveys, and so proud of the celestial line up of Sun, Moon, Earth. Surprisingly, I completed this vision around the 28 August, 2026...at the peak of REAL lunar eclipse happening in actual real time. Rather tickled about that.

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers,

Marianne