Lime, Amber and Magenta - On its way!

Here is a little peek of the lime, amber and magenta piece. This will be a pendant for a necklace...

Morning Coffee - Desire to Fly: Samantha Bryan’s Hand-Crafted Sculptures of Whimsical Aviator Fairies

Desire To Fly from R&A Collaborations on Vimeo.

More thrifty booty - a lovely bunch of beaded bracelets!

Here's a great find! Only a couple of these are vintage so the rest will be salvaged and the beads added to my stash... there are some yummy ones here! :)

 

 

 

 

A new bead soup in Amber, Lime and Magenta!

I'm not sure what I'm going to make with this collection of pretty baubles! I'm not even sure why I was drawn to this color palette - probably just had that one thing laying on my desk and that was that!

Again, lots of salvaged components here: an abalone concho belt, faceted amber (Lucite) sections from a bracelet, a necklace full of faceted (also Lucite) beads, a bead chain necklace full of wound glass beads from India and most of the larger beads were salvaged from "junk" jewelry. The seed beads, of course,  are new.

I hope you like this bead soup and will stick around to see what comes of it! :)

 

 

 

"A Night at the Opera" - finished!

Here she (or is it "he"?) is! I hope you like it - please leave a comment, if you do... :)

 

 

Work progresses on "A Night at the Opera"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dontcha just LOVE those days when you find great booty at the thrift store??

I know, kind of a long title for this post but that's how I feel! Went to one of my favorite resale haunts and got a nice little bag of "junk" jewelry for $10. Love that!! Lots of cool stuff and fantastic beads to salvage. Here's a taste of what I found inside... :)

Here's the bag of goodies!

 

These Victorian-era faceted black glass beads will be lovely once I shine them up!

I'm planning on salvaging the seed beads from this bracelet

The plastic "crystal" is broken but the case will make a nice centerpiece!

I know the birdcage charm is new (but still cool!) and you've gotta love Mother Teresa!

These frames were not in my bag of jewelry but they were too cool to pass up!

I can totally see this frame as the focal of a big statement necklace! I even like the photo :)

Some cute holiday bits

These polymer reindeer earrings are kind of kitschy - I wounder what I can do with them?

Morning Coffee - Just a little bit of Spring before the big freeze...

While cleaning out image files on my ol' hard drive, I found these lovely shots of cherry blossoms that I took in April. I love Fall - time to bundle up in wool sweaters and turtlenecks, drink hot chocolate and cuddle on the couch watching chick flicks - but as I look at these pictures, I can almost feel the warm air and sweet fragrance of Spring...

 

 

Preliminary lay-out for "A Night at the Opera"

Hmmm... getting to work on my new necklace... just playing with some lay-out ideas but have no idea what it will actually end up looking like. Inspired by some photos of Chinese opera performers I found online, I decided the heart bracelet pieces would make a super-cool headpiece. Here's what I'm leanin' towards at the moment... :)

 

 

 

 

 

A Night at the Opera - Bead Soup for a New Necklace

In my stash, I found this great pin that looks like a Chinese Opera mask and simply couldn't resist! As some of you know, I love using beads and other materials that I have salvaged from vintage and broken jewelry. Salvaged and reclaimed items here include: the Chinese opera mask pin (of course!), pieces from a silver and red enameled heart bracelet and almost all of the beads except the round stone mosaic ones and the gray pearls. The finished piece will be backed, as always, with reclaimed leather from my friend, Paul, who is a fantabulous custom boot maker! Check his stuff out at www.paulsboots.com and be prepared to drool...

 

 

 

"Red Sun Rising" Necklace

Sorry for keeping you waiting so long! I got a message from one of my readers wanting to know how "Red Sun Rising" turned out and decided I'd better get my poop-in-a-group and get some photos posted!

Here are some shots of the finished piece... I wore it to a big art opening and, somehow, didn't get a single photo of it being worn. It is definitely a statement piece! The pendant measures 4 1/4" across and a full 8" long when measured to the tips of the beady fringe.

Please leave a comment if you like it! :)

RED SUN RISING bead embroidery necklace with matching dangle earrings

 

Backed in reclaimed leather from my custom boot-maker friend, Paul!

Beaded beads... I'd forgotten how looooonnnggg they take to make! :-P