Bead Porn Revival

You can all thank Barbara Lewis for reminding me that it had been a while since I'd done a really good bead porn post. I definitely intended to cut back this year, but four months between posts is probably a little more "cutting" than I really should have done.

So, without further ado, here's your porn:





Sumptuous chocolate brown deerskin lace from Jocalatte.





Slightly thinner cinnabar-colored deerskin lace from Jocalatte. I used this on a project that will be printed in the upcoming issue of "Creative Jewelry."





Antique copper bias-cut silk dupioni ribbon from T and Z Supplies.





Same ribbon in peacock.





Hand-dyed silk strings from T and Z Supplies.





Slightly thicker hand-dyed silk cord also from T and Z.





This also came from T and Z - such a great color combination!





Tiny, glistening Czech glass in shades of aqua and lavender from Bead and Ribbon.





These turquoise and green picasso glass disks also came from Bead and Ribbon. You might recognize them from the earrings and necklace I blogged about in a recent entry.





More from Bead and Ribbon. I honestly have to say that one of the things that's surprised me the most in beads is how far Czech glass has come since I first started beading 15 years ago. The variety of sizes, shapes, colors and - most importantly - finishes is just truly amazing.





This fun and fresh dyed "candy" jade is from Excellent Gem.





I've been really into this dagger or "buffalo tooth" shape in stones for the last year or so. These are blue tiger-eye and have just a fantastic color and sheen to them. They are also from Excellent Gem.





These howlite teardrops have been dyed an unusual combination of turquoise, lavender and purple. I really enjoy finding stones or beads that I haven't seen anywhere else either due to a new color treatment, new material or whatever. These came from Excellent Gem and certainly fit the bill.





And now I get to discuss one of my favorite vendors of all time - Shannon from Miss Fickle Media. Seems like she's always pushing the boundaries and bringing something new to her shop. Just when I get used to all the wonderful colored metals she's come up with, here are these cute flowers out of silver and copper.





Which doesn't mean I don't still love my colored metals from her as well. This finish is called Easter Sunday.





And of course I need the chain to match. I may have cut back on the bead porn, but I am still all about the matchy-matchy.





I've amassed quite the collection of Lynn Davis's lovely pewter components. Can't seem to bring myself to part with any of them, though. This is a wonderfully romantic piece I bought with Valentine's Day designs in mind. Ummm...maybe next year?





This lovely hand-made clasp is from Amanda Davie.





Some cute polymer clay charms from Humblebeads. I like the bright purpley-pink color on these.





But then she had the same ones in this turquoise color and well, you know how I feel about turquoise!





Multi-colored Greek ceramic cheerios from T and Z Supplies.





And their more grown-up, donut-shaped cousins.





These darling pink and white birds are from Sandhra Lee.





As is this matching charm.





And this larger pendant. Again, I was thinking Valentine's Day. I don't remember what happened around that time, but obviously I got majorly sidetracked and never got anything done with these. I know I keep repeating myself on that and it's just so frustrating to not have the time to create that I really wish I had. I guess it's a good thing that V-day comes around again every year so I can just hold onto these for 6 more months or so.





I've gotten a couple of these ribbon and watercolor ceramic pieces from Yolanda's Clay and I really think they are unusual. I love the background colors and the contrast with the white "ribbon" sections.





Then I moved on to stocking up for Easter...and didn't have any more luck getting designs made for that time frame than I had with Valentine's Day. The beads are still pretty, though. I love pixie dust finish on lampwork.





Okay, this copper finish isn't really Easter-related, but it was on sale at the same time as the other sets and I thought it would look great in an as yet-to-be-made design.





This set is channeling a 9-year-old girl's birthday party complete with fluffy pink and white unicorns, white frosted cupcakes and a pink ballerina tutu.

I wish I was 9 again!





Did I mention there was a sale on these?





'Cuz there was. They are all from Fire and Fibers.





These...were not on sale. But I bought them anyway because of the gorgeousness. They are from Beeboo.





Great color combination in these Fairy Flower lampwork disks from Mermaid Glass. Looking at these makes me want a margarita and some chips and fresh guacamole.

Okay, that's it for this batch of porn. Hope it was a nice mid-summer surprise. I'll have to do another batch in the fall (or sooner...you never know...I am mysterious that way).

Have a great weekend!

KJ

California Coast Bracelet

In case I needed any further evidence of how much my environment influences my jewelry designs, here's a picture of what the beach looked like every day in Carpinteria:





And here are some photos of the one and only piece of jewelry I had time to create while I was there:





Yeah...no connection whatsoever LOL!





I do think I'm going to change out the clasp - that just happened to be all I had with me in my "travel kit" of bead projects. The cute little charm is from Mamacita on Etsy.





I used 20 gauge sterling silver wire to wrap everything together.





The disk beads and the large faceted aqua bead are polymer clay from Floridity.





Accent beads are freshwater pearls, drilled sea glass, drilled beach stone, Thai silver scallop shell and a mother-of-pearl donut.

It sure felt good to get a chance to actually make something - I really am trying to get my groove back.

Check back tomorrow for bead porn!

KJ

The Return of Resin

It seems like it's been forever since I had a chance to get out all my artwork and bezels and all the inclusions (charms, glitter, crystals, etc.) and play with resin. Finally, over the July 4th holiday weekend, I had enough free time in a large enough block that I got to have some fun. I knew it might be a long time before I get another chance like this so I tried to do a wide variety of designs.

Here are the results:





This silver plated square bezel features a reproduction of a vintage floral image. I think the flowers are sweet peas, but I'm not sure. At least the color scheme was appropriate for 4th of July!





These are tiger ebony wood disks that I covered with some pretty scrapbook paper and a copper rose charm.





This bayong wood bead has a reproduction of a vintage cosmetic add. I added a dark pewter pansy charm.





More bayong wood with a reproduction of vintage French travel poster art.





More travel poster art - this one is an advertisement for the Hotel Guy in Severgne.





I love fleur-de-lis images and I found some great artwork on Etsy that featured them.





These antique copper bezels from Rings 'N Things make a perfect pairing with the artwork.





I love the diamond checkerboard pattern in the background on this one.





One more from the same series - that vibrant purple fleur-de-lis just seems to float right off the background on this design.





I switched over to a completely different type of artwork. These prints are various views of the Northern Lights.





And when I think Northern Lights, I think glitter, too, for some reason.





This is my favorite one from this series. It's probably a little bit early to start planning winter designs, but when the time comes...this will just be perfect.

The gold-plated bezels on this group all came from Rings 'N Things as well.





Then I moved on to butterflies. The colors in this set of artwork are just gorgeous! This particulare one is a link (loops on both ends) rather than just a pendant.





Another butterfly link.





This rainbow butterfly looked so good with the copper that I switched bezels.





This is probably my favorite...I never can resist anything in shades of turquoise or aqua.





I've used reproductions of vintage flower seed packets in the past so why not some vintage fruit labels?





Or some Jamaica Ginger Ale? Great colors in this one.





This particular piece of artwork offers so many design options - you can go with the parrots (my favorite, of course) or the boat or the tropical island scene. It's perfect for a summer vacation necklace.





Hula apples, anyone?





I'm not sure why this particular image was included with the vintage fruit labels, but I think the colors are great and I'm crazy about the Veronica Lake-style girl with the big rose in her hair (I so totally want that hair, btw.)





Okay, I'll be honest, I have mixed feelings about this image. I love the seashell and I like that it is in color against the b&w image of the little girl, but...isn't the expression on the little girl's face kinda creepy? Or is it just me? I added some glitter to make myself feel better about it because what could possibly be less creepy than glitter?





This image is much better. Awesome starfish with some old letters and documents in the background. I can just see all this stuff being on the captain's desk on some old ship. Even though it was good as is, I added glitter anyway. Because I felt like it.





I kept expecting to see a bottle of Coppertone in the background of this artwork. Doesn't it remind you of the old Coppertone ad with the little girl and the dog? I think it's the color scheme or something. Anyway, it being summertime and me being a surfer girl at heart...this one is just perfect!





In the past, all my mermaid designs have sold really well so I figured it would be a good idea to throw some in when I did this resin pour. However, I always kinda wonder about the vintage artwork with naked or semi-naked girls in it...will someone actually wear a necklace made with naked chicks as the focal piece? Or maybe it's a good conversation starter? Like I said...I just always wonder, but if naked chicks in a pendant is your thing...then I've got just the piece for you!





These girls are less naked so I decided they needed some glitter in order to stay competitive.





This mermaid is naked, and has glitter AND she's on the moon. I mean, really, how can you top that?





I guess you could be the blonde Kim Kardashian of mermaids? With glitter.

That's it for this time. If you saw anything you liked, I'll be listing these on Etsy in the Be Resinable shop as time allows (hopefully sometime around this weekend).

And if you read this far, you deserve a bonus so I'll let you in on a little secret. I got a comment this week requesting some Bead Porn and I looked and realized that I haven't posted any since March so it really is about time for at least one porn post. I mean I know we've all been in porn addiction rehab, but really...will one little taste hurt us? I think not.

So watch this space...

KJ