The Bigger the Better!

For those people who prefer "bigger," "chunkier" jewelry, the aquamarine bracelet above is perfect! Large, hunky transparent aquamarine nuggets and large lampwork beads (from James Derrick Reeves) will make quite a statement on your wrist. Or, if you like bigger, but not necessarily chunky, the chrysoprase bracelet below packs a wallop with three strands of chrysoprase beads in varying shades of green and great borosilicate beads with those shades deep within the encased beads. Both bracelets are accented with sterling silver.
Great news! I have been nominated for the JUNE Collector’s Edition by the Best of Artists website. The two monthly winners will be determined by a combination of the number of viewer comments, types of positive comments, Image views and by BOAA. (so dont forget to comment!) Please stop by their site and see the many works by different artists, including painting and sculpture as well as jewelry.
My fibromyalgia has happily been on the wane the last two weeks or so, allowing me to enjoy the summer weather - and I really am! Even indoors, the air just feels different when its summer - and I believe that my latest creations are reflecting this happy state of affairs. Above is a beaded necklace made of rhodochrosite and amethyst nuggets. I love the large rhodochrosite nuggets - many of them have a subtle banding that makes them even more interesting.
Blue Peruvian Opal Bracelet (above.
Coral Earrings (above) and (below)Amazonite Earrings.Enjoy summer everyone!

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Ooops I did it again

Honestly I think the week is just two days long here - mind you the year is only 4 weeks.... I just can't believe my daughter will be going into the Juniors (Uk we have infants from 4yr-7yrs, then juniors 7- 11) it only seems a year ago I left her in Reception class age 4 - I cried - Elli barely waved!!
As you can see I have been creating - so I'm making the most of these very short weeks ;) I've also had a few commmissions I have been getting on with as well as getting prepared for a brand new website that will be launching very soon - very exciting :)
All these pieces are available on my website or Etsy from today complete with all the other new pieces I have made.

Studio 5. First day

This spring I won 2008 Annual Jury for Torpedo Factory Artist and became a member of this well known in Washington Metropolitan Area (and not only) Artist Association. Since June I have shared Studio 5 at the Torpedo Factory Art Center ( Torpedo Factory ).


Nancy Reinke, an artist and printmaker, has been working in Studio 5 for about 30 years, and it looks like a museum. What a cozy place!


I've got not so much room for my jewelry display, but that is my first public-open place, and I feel comfortable here.


In the studio I can work and sell my jewelry, that is what I need.


I'm so impressed and happy! Seems, I love the whole world!

First day in Studio 5

2008 Bead Dreams. Pictures

People say that the Bead & Button Show is the most popular bead show in the whole world. And they are right! Students and exhibiters from more than 30 countries came this year to the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was a full week of beading, jewelry making, shopping, and talking about beads.

The main event of course was the Bead Dreams exhibit. Works of all finalists were on display in the show’s lobby area. The winners in six categories received award ribbons and the outstanding piece among category winners received a Beast in Show trophy

There were two additional displays this year. One was the Japanese exhibit which presented the top award-winning pieces from the beadwork and jewelry contest held in the Hakone Open-Air Museum. The other one was the Out of the Box exhibit of glass beads.

Bead Dreams 2008 pictures

Rose quartz wire wrapped pendant - SOLD

While listening to Gregorian Chants last night, I made this pendant. It took me about 4-5 hours, but I hardly realised the passing of the time. I was in another world...
I have incorporated at least three different techniques: border wrapping for attaching the stone, basket weaving (used in rainbow wrapping), and wire sculpture (for the finishing effects).
I'm quite happy with this piece, as it's quite beautiful when seeing for real, the pictures really do not do it justice. It was truly a labour of love...

A whole lot of 1mm and 0.4mm sterling silver went in the piece, along with a beautiful tumble polished rose quartz. The pendant measures at the widest points 6x4 cm. It comes with a 45cm sterling silver chain.

Tiger eye pendant - rainbow wrap

Here is an attempt at rainbow wrapping. It takes a lot of silver, even with my minimalistic wrapping approach for this style.
The stone is square tiger eye, wrapped in sterling.

My idol in this style is topnotchwraps on Metalchasers.org. He has such a clean, perfected neat style, I'm really looking up to his wraps.

More animals

I won't bore you with too many more animals from WM Safari and if you scroll down you even may see some earrings ;0)

This rhino looked as if it quite fancied our car! E swiftly moved it but our lovely friends in the next cat thought it was hilarious!!
I love elephants and always thought them to be gentle creatures but apparently they can be a little temperamental!!

I also love giraffes with there long legs and they are beautiful.

And finally I came home and created this with rose quartz, prehnite and peridot.

Coral and a Contest!

Summer is here and with summer comes coral! Of course, I wear coral in the winter also (after all, my favorite colors are peach and coral), but coral just sings summer. I prefer my coral with gold although it is beautiful with silver, especially the lighter peach colours. Above is the newest coral bracelet, and it's made with gold and black onyx. Coral just begs to go with certain other elements - such as pearls - and anything black. Here I've added lampwork beads as well from River Oaks Lampwork.
The coral bracelet below is an example of just how beautiful peachy-pink coloured coral can be with silver. The borosilicate lampwork beads have a gorgeous glow and great depth of colour. The filigree orchid is from the Thai Karen Hill Tribes. The last coral bracelet features red coral, again with gold and just one lentil lampwork bead. It's very simple, but like almost all coral, it really looks great against darker skin.
Also, I'd like to spread the word about a contest that the online jewelry store, JR Dunn , is having. Details are below:

JRDunn.com, the largest designer jewelery store on the web, has announced a chance for bloggers to win a Swiss timepiece for Father's Day. Simply by sharing how great their dad is, bloggers will be able to enter to win a unisex Michele Deco Classic watch ( http://store.jrdunn.com/product-p/mw00mw06a00a0025jrd.htm) with a black leather strap.

HOW TO ENTER:
Bloggers should write a post on their blog about why their dad is the most deserving of this great Swiss watch and either direct message @jrdunn on Twitter.com, or email dsnyder@jrdunn.com with the link to the blog entry. Mashups of video, images, and other media are encouraged as creativity always wins points with one of the most creative jewelry retailers in the world, JR Dunn.

Submissions will be accepted from now until June 11^th at 7:00 pm EST. At that point in time, JRDunn.com will pick the top three entries, and post them at http://founder.jrdunnblog.com. The winner will be decided by Internet users as polling will take place on http://founder.jrdunnblog.com, as well as @jrdunn on Twitter.com. The final votes will be tallied on Friday June 13^th at 3:00 pm EST, and the winner will be announce shortly thereafter, so the winner can announce the gift and share their blog with their Dad on Fathers Day. As an added bonus, any bloggers that enter will receive $25 off of a minimum $250 purchase at JRDunn.com.

Hmmm, and if your father doesn't really need a new watch, ladies notice that that is a Michelle unisex watch!! Sing Dad's praises - and do it now!

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Disappeared!

I haven't disappeared really - my wonderful husband asked me to take a break from the website and work (I really am at it 24/7) and I promised I would but it turns out he was whisking me away for a few days with Elli to visit our lovely friends. So here I am after a relaxing 5 ( should have been 4 except the car broke down!) days filled with laughter, gin and food!!
One of the days we went to West Midlands Safari park - a bit like longleat where you drive in and around animals - of course some are behind fences but as you can see the Lions were not and as my favourite animal (I am a leo myself) I took quite a few pics!!

I won't bore you with it all now (more like spreading it out across the week!) but I wanted you to know I am Back!!

Anodized niobium bracelet and new blog layout

I bought these anodized niobium rings a while ago from Beadsisters in the UK along with a chainmail book, and today I thought of trying them out. Ouch, now I can appreciate sterling silver so much better. The niobium rings are quite hard to work with, and they scratch easily, meaning the colors are leaving fast. However once I finished the bracelet (a simple European 4 in 1) and tried it on, I didn't want to take it off anymore. Very comfy to wear. I will keep this bracelet for myself for different reasons.


- the rings are quite expensive (maybe even more expensive than the equivalent rings in sterling silver)
- I could not justify however the price to a general consumer who doesn't know about niobium. They won't appreciate this metal and will definitely not pay the higher price for it
- I can't tumble it to smoothen out the burs that came with the rings, as the color will leave fast
- I quite like the bracelet, I can wear it with jeans any day :D
Ergo this one stays with me!


On another note, I have completely revamped my blog. It had an old style layout, which I have refreshed with a new template that I quite like. Now I can add all sorts of useful widgets everywhere on the page, including on the top of the page.

This way you have access to all the jewelry you cannot live without, all on one page, reachable from the top of the page (see text in red). As I add more jewelry to the blog, the list will be updated, and as pieces sell, those will be automatically removed.