Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tootage

Yeah, I gots more horn-tooting to do. I'm still riding high from seeing my stuff in "Stringing" and wanted to share some more of the publication giddiness.

I got a lot of mileage out of those beach inspiration pictures from last year and I discovered a lot of amazing new artists on Etsy around the same time - particularly ceramic artists!



After seeing this barnacle pendant on Summer's Studio's Etsy site, I had to grab it up (in fact, I grabbed more than one) and it quickly became a favorite shopping site for me.





I just love this pendant - it's gorgeous!





I didn't want to do to much else to the rest of the necklace so the pendant could remain the star of this piece. I also wanted to keep the feeling of picking up random treasures on the beach and having them all tangled together in your pocket on the way home.




Purple always makes a great contrast with aqua so I grabbed a frosted lavender "sea glass" style bead, some purple Czech firepolish rondelles and a couple of tiny amethyst beads. I'd also been hoarding a strand of Peruvian blue opal oval beads and I thought the aqua color streaked with the brown matrix not only reflected the pendant, but also the idea of sea and shoreline. A white shell disk bead, a couple of Swarovski crystals, and a brass starfish completed the look.





I had to work with brass chain, of course. This was one of my earliest attempts at using "base" metal rather than silver or gold. I'd always liked the look of it, but because of my own experiences with metal allergies, I'd been nervous about using it in my designs. I never wanted to have a customer come back to me complaining about a reaction.

Not much else to talk about today. I had planned to do some resin work last night, but I was just too tired when I got home. Tomorrow is my big Bead Soup reveal, though, so stay tuned for that!

KJ

9 comments:

Lorelei Eurto said...

Can't wait to see your soup!!
I love that you added purple into the necklace, and it looks lovely with the teal of the pendant. I love this necklace, it's got such good energy and your eye is drawn up and around the whole piece easily. Love that thought that little treasures from the beach get tangled in your pocket on the way home. You're so clever!

EmandaJ said...

I love your beach necklace -- the best of the seashore without the oppressive heat. Ican't wait for your reveal.

Emanda

Barbara Bechtel said...

WOO HOO! I totally drooled all over it at Barnes and Noble, then put it back, since it's not in le budget right now. (why is it i don't have a subscription?) hope all the other people who picked it up after didn't mind the drool and coffee stains. ;)

I was totally fist-pumping for you! Go KJ!

Cynthia said...

I was just thumbing through my Stringing magazine last night, and did notice this necklace. I actually like your photos here better than the one in the magazine. It looks so cool on the gray wood (looks like driftwood).
Congratulations for getting so many pieces in the magazine!!

Mermaid Glass said...

This is so gorgeous! If I had any jingle right now, I'd totally commission a piece just like this one. Love it!!!

Unknown said...

Awesome piece! I would so wear this!

SummersStudio said...

Aww,this is so beautiful! I haven't seen stringing yet as we are a little slow here. I love the way you incorporated all of the simple elements into one great design!

Kristen said...

What a perfect summer necklace!! I love the colors in there! Can't wait to see your Bead Soup reveal! :)

Nicki said...

This is in fact lovely. You should only use brass / gunmetal etc if everything that is coming out looks like this. Beautiful.