Bead Table Wednesday: This Little Piggy Went to Market



Ceramic beads, button, and pendant from Gaea



Colorful polymer clay beads from EarthTonesOnline

I love these memes -- thanks to Heather Powers of Humblebeads for starting this one! I feel connected to fellow creatives and, while there is a theme, I can do my own thing. So today I'll show you what's on my "bead table" (right now it's a lap table by my bedside because I'm still kind of in hibernation mode) and write about suppliers. Being snowbound and far from civilization isn't what it used to be thanks to the Internet and e-commerce. Although I do sometimes miss going to bead shops to fondle the gemstones and drool over the lampwork glass and dream about how to use the great variety of beads and findings I see, I can do plenty of drooling and dreaming as I navigate through online shops that may be located anywhere from Albuquerque to Sweden to Hong Kong. I have a few reliable suppliers of basics, but lately I'm turning to Etsy for both unique handmade components and basic findings. Recently I went on a bit of a shopping spree and today decided to show some of the amazing creations I've picked up from fellow Etsy sellers. I much prefer to support the artisans and small entrepreneurs, and now that I have a more defined style and have found some wonderful smaller, more personal suppliers I've all but stopped ordering from places like Fire Mountain (their "handling fee" on top of shipping charges really ticks me off).



Ceramic pendants from Spirited Earth

For general supplies such as glass and crystal beads, findings, and cord I usually order from Fusion Beads (free shipping on all US orders and frequent discount coupons via email and Facebook) or Artbeads.com (free shipping on US orders above $10). If I were doing a higher volume I'd surely be ordering from wholesalers, but for what I do these suppliers offer a good range of products, and they also offer some volume discounting and have more artisan-made pieces for sale than larger suppliers. Recently I've found some great Etsy sellers who offer both basic and unique findings for very reasonable prices, and I've been especially happy to find lots of cool brass and copper findings there because, with silver prices going into the stratosphere, I've needed to adjust the composition and style of my pieces somewhat. From necessity has come a new burst of creativity and a shift towards an earthier style, so of course I had to go shopping for new components to better express this new style....



Handmade ceramic pendants and buttons from Beadfreaky

For the really good stuff -- handmade ceramic, lampwork glass, patinated metals, polymer clay, and other artisan components -- I always check Etsy first and have been bowled over by what I have found there. Hence my recent shopping spree (and the title of this post), both because I have found so many beautiful things and because I had let my supplies dwindle over the past two years (since my last trip to Tucson, sniff!!). I can't say I'm done buying because I'm still low on lampwork glass (especially non-focals; I need some rounds and saucers to go with the gorgeous lampwork hearts below), and geez, these creative people keep making more beautiful stuff! Now to find the time to use it all in new creations... given that it's only early February and gardening is still a few months away here, that shouldn't be a problem, so I hope to have lots of new stuff to show here shortly! 

Lampwork glass heart pendants from Boomwire Glass

A New View: The Fire Within

Mexican green apatite chunk in sterling silver with crystal quartz and peridot

I created and photographed this necklace in April but today decided to re-photograph it with my new DSLR, and WOW what a difference. Spectacular resolution aside, this camera (a Nikon D-3000, just their "entry-level" DSLR but a huge step up for me) grabs the light in a way my old point-and-shoots never could. Notice the flash of rainbow in the stone's center? That is no surface reflection but actually comes from within the stone. I had to do way less Photoshopping on these images than the earlier ones; the colors on the originals of the images here are much truer and the focus and clarity are exactly where *I* want them, not where the camera's "brain" decided they should be.

Now to get busy making more jewelry. And plotting another photo trip... maybe just into my backyard to capture the late-summer fiesta of wildflowers stirred up by the rains.

Smithsonite Necklaces, Part 2: A Kelly Treasure {Sold!}

What to do with that beautiful piece of Smithsonite gifted to me a few months ago by friends Dean and Conne? I wirewrapped it, as reported earlier, and finally decided to put the pendant on a simple necklace of apatite, seed pearls, Swarovski crystals, and Thai silver. That's it -- no multistrand opulence, just a single mixed strand of similar colors and textures, because the Smithsonite itself is the focus, and I seem to be in a minimalist mood lately. I kept trying to add in more, such as a strand of the seed pearls and some larger, fancier Balinese silver beads, but it didn't seem to work. So, although I might try again later, this is it for now, and when my current brain-busting quarter of coursework is over I hope to make a few more of these freeform Smithsonite wirewraps. Kelly Smithsonite is a storied treasure around here, and specimens like this one, with the exquisite quartz crystallization in the center, are pretty rare. I'm fortunate to have a few fascinating pieces to work with and hope I'm doing them some justice in my work.

More Seasonal

This is more like it... a seasonal offering of one of my wirewrapped pendants of that cool nameless jasper from Mama's Minerals, with russet and green rainbow jasper teardrops, faceted Tsavorite garnet rondelles, pearls, and lots of Balinese silver. My "Fire and Rain" necklace sold recently (no, I didn't end up keeping it; my bluebird necklace has supplanted it), so I used the third of these jasper pendants (at right; can you tell I love making this style?) for a similar necklace that I'll post once I get a picture. I pulled out the wire loops at the bottom for a more freeform look and attached drops of wirewrapped crystal quartz briolettes to them... yum. This piece has a nice little pocket of crystallization on the left side that doesn't show up well here but works well with the crystal quartz accents.

I seem to be in necklace mode lately, which generally means my creativity is in full swing... though I've been struggling lately with earrings. How strange, that something so simple can elude me sometimes. I could just copy my current designs or follow some of my bazillion "recipes" in my beading books and magazines, but that's too... pedestrian. Not to sound like a snob; I just like coming up with my own ideas, which are surely derivative but still feel more authentic.

Another Lapidary Day

Wednesday is now lapidary day, I hereby declare, at least until I finish some of the pieces I started last year. Here are six of the seven pieces that I finished today. From left to right: two pieces of Gaspeite (I may have to keep the bottom one; it is SO beautiful and even has some crystal quartz running through it); Nacozari (Mexico) turquoise (top) and No. 8 turquoise (bottom); and Kingman turquoise (top; I may also keep this piece!) and Bacamite (bottom). I also finished a small Lepidolite pendant, but girl child ran away with it... I guess that one stays here, too. Next week I hope to finish two chrysoprase pieces, a green aventurine drop, the fossil coral repair/reshape, and the red Sonora Sunrise pendant. They need a few extra steps and will totally be worth it.

Smithsonite Necklaces (Part 1)

Here's the Smithsonite I mentioned earlier, done up freeform into another woven-bail pendant (28-gauge on 24-gauge sterling wire). Sorry for the less-than-optimal photo; I took it at home in poor lighting because I just had to share this tonight. Dean (of Two Cranes) generously gifted this to me recently, perhaps because my eyes bugged out when I saw the amazing crystallization in the piece's center. These calcite crystals often grow in, on, or around Smithsonite, sometimes forming rosettes such as that in this piece (not very well shown here). I'll put this 1.5-inch pendant (yes, it's small) on a necklace of apatite, seed pearls, and small Thai silver cornerless cubes, perhaps with some multi-strand sections but otherwise fairly simple.

Dean has been bargaining for Smithsonite from Magdalena's old-timers, who now seem inclined to pull out at least a few samples from their "back-room collections" that most people never see. Smithsonite is a source of pride, secrecy, and family lore around here; generations-old specimens from the nearby Kelly mine comprise an important part of the mineralogical collection and are sometimes called "copper smithsonite" because their turquoise-blue coloration comes from, yes, copper. Other forms are purple, yellow, pink, or green depending on the minerals that "contaminate" the zinc carbonate (ZnCO3) base. The piece at right (another gift from Dean) shows this gemstone's globular formation that typically grows as a sort of crust on base rock. On this piece, which makes me think of a rain cloud, I'll do a different kind of freeform wirewrap, perhaps with small crystal quartz briolettes to evoke, what else, rain.

 I've made two more of these nameless-jasper (the "African turquoise" I wrote of a while back) pendants with the sterling silver basket-weave bail and like how they turned out. I kept them simple -- no crystal quartz briolettes this time -- and am thinking of putting them on simple necklaces of mixed-size glass beads with some combination of bronzite, smoky quartz, and jade accents. On the second piece (at left) I might unwrap the bottom swirls a bit to loosen up the look; I like how the first one came out. It's all about experimentation, which is a good bit of the fun in making anything. For these woven bails I used 22-gauge and 28-gauge sterling wire, which is a good combination but does require a fair-sized hole through the focal bead. I'm also trying a spine of 24-gauge wire in a new, entirely different sort of piece and it's working well... more on that one in a few days.

Fire and Rain {sold!}

My latest jewelry creation is often my new favorite, and I may need to spirit this necklace away into my permanent collection. The focal piece is a 20-cm jasper stone that reminds me of a waterfall or rain against a fiery sunset, hence the piece's name. I made a modified basketweave bail using a "spine" of 22-gauge sterling wire wrapped with 28-gauge sterling wire, and on the three ends of the "spine" I then added five wirewrapped crystal quartz briolettes. The necklace is a simple composition of dyed pearls, Thai silver cornerless cubes, and more of the briolettes.

I'd never seen this stone before; after some Googling I learned it is sometimes called "African turquoise", although it is unrelated to turquoise in any way except appearance and is usually found in Australia or North America, not Africa. It's not a common find, unfortunately; two weeks after purchasing a strand of these at Mama's Minerals I returned to find the whole hank gone, with no more on the way. I have maybe a dozen more of these beads (at left is a bracelet I made with [real] Mexican turquoise rounds to enhance the blues) and will probably make several more of these pendants. This one, though, seems most special; although I currently have it for sale in my new gallery, I might need to wear it home one day.

Turquoise and copper, again {all sold!}

This Mexican turquoise bead from Two Cranes has a lovely green-tinged hue and rich brown matrix that work very well with copper. I kept the necklace simple, using more Mexican turquoise along with some rough copper spacers and a copper clasp that I scratched up a bit on purpose so it will darken up more quickly during wear.

I love turquoise with copper (obviously) and have sold several pieces that I've been tempted to keep but, well, when I sell one, I can buy stuff to make more. The piece at left is another Two Cranes Mexican turquoise pendant that I put on an adjustable leather cord finished with copper wire and some handmade copper headpins. This pendant has a more striking green hue which, to be honest, I couldn't figure out how to match, hence the leather rather than beaded necklace. Turquoise with leather and copper seems a quintessentially Southwestern combination, though, and I'm surprised that I don't see it more often. I have one piece made in this style that I've kept for myself (despite the frequent temptation this is actually a rare occurence), and the leather has worn very well for well over a year, darkening along with the copper as I wear it. I use a high-grade Greek leather, which surely makes a difference.

The necklace at right uses a Chinese turquoise pendant (not Two Cranes) with a beautiful "cascading" matrix. Turquoise matrix features so often look like water features, which is apropos given how the stone is created. I set this one on 16-gauge copper with wirewrapped leather and a front clasp that I shaped and hammered myself. I've used this clasp style in several pieces (including the aforementioned piece in my personal collection), but I later found (after conferring with the buyer) that it doesn't work well with a smaller, lighter stone: it pulls it off balance. I re-balanced this necklace for the buyer by adding some small copper-wrapped turquoise "charms" to the other side; she was pleased, especially when I threw in some matching earrings for free.

A little lapidary: "A fragment of the starry firmament" {sold... alas...}

I have very little time for lapidary work or anything else now that I've started school full-time (an MS program in counseling, my answer to the question pondered earlier this year), but I do believe my limited time at Dean and Conne's workshop is well spent. Still in practice mode, I worked this freeform lapis lazuli piece from a scrap left over from a recent batch of beautiful Two Cranes beads. I made it expressly for wirewrapping, and the gold-fill wire was an obvious choice given the beautiful pyrite that emerged as I ground and then polished the stone. I kept the wirework simple (improvising as usual) because, really, the stone is what we all want to see. The pendant measures a little over 1.5 inches (33 mm) and is on a necklace of lapis chips and rounds with vermeil (sterling silver plated with 18-karat gold) spacers and beads.

(BTW, the quote in this entry's title comes from Pliny the Elder, referring, of course, to lapis lazuli. Such an apt description.)

Inspired by...

I have several basketry works in my store by a wonderful artist, Holly Modine, and I'm often awed by her use of natural forms such as deer antlers and cholla cactus skeletons in her pieces. Basket weaving is generally considered a "fiber art," a collection of media recently (and deservedly) elevated from craft to art status among Those Who Know.

Once again, I have found a way bring a seemingly unrequitable obsession to my jewelry and come up with something I love. Eni Oken, a wildly unique and fabulous jewelry designer, has created an essentially new jewelrymaking form by adapting basketry concepts and techniques to wireworking. I made the pendant above using one of her tutorials, adapting it to a front-drilled turquoise slab and using 24-gauge on 20-gauge sterling wire. Eni recommends using 28- or even 30-gauge wire for her intense, fine wirewrapping, and after wrestling with a few pieces I understand why -- but it's hard to find. So I'm on a quest, yet again -- I think I've found it *at a good price* at Artbeads.com, but if anyone knows of other sources, please let me know.