Art Bead Earring Swap - June 2012 Edition

Hi folks! Quick post - a lot on the burner at the moment (flooded basement and 16 ornaments for my daughter's lacrosse team for tomorrow)! Many thanks to Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio for again hosting this lovely swap! My partners for this swap are two VERY talented ladies; ceramic artist Diane Hawkey and jewelry artist Shelby Foxwell.

Shelby sent me a beautiful pair of earrings that are going to go with a LOT! They're sterling silver with lampworked beads by Atlantis Glass & Bead. They're just gorgeous! Thank you so much Shelby!

Diane was again very generous (we were paired for the last swap too!) and sent 2 pairs, both are beautiful! Sterling silver with pearls and stones or glass and her own ceramic charms - love them! Thanks so much Diane!

I am a lucky girl! All 3 pairs will go with so many things. Thank you both so much!

The earrings I made for Diane and Shelby are both made with sterling silver wire and ear wires, ceramic rounds by Keith O'Connor (that I purchased at The Beadin' Path) and decoupaged beads (sealed with ICE Resin) by me.

The pair on the left for Diane has the image decoupaged to blue Chinese "sea glass" beads. Shelby's on the right are decoupaged on red Czech (I think) glass briolette pendants. The floral image that I decoupaged and sealed came from a back issue of Jo Packham's Where Women Create (Jo is also responsible for Where Women Cook, The Creative Connection and a number of books - she's an artist, author and entrepreneur) - spring 2010 issue I think. There was an article about Luana Rubin of www.equilter.com. In the article there was a picture of Luana holding up a beautiful quilt and I thought it would make a wonderful decoupage sheet for some future project.

So, it's time to kick back and take a tour of the other blogs to see what beautiful earrings the other other participants created. Thanks for stopping by and thanks again Diana!

Diana Ptaszynski     http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Jan Onipenco    http://moltenmayhem.typepad.com/

Patti Vanderbloemen        http://myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com/

Mary Harding   http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

Diane Hawkey    http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com/

Lesley Watt        http://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com

Jenny Davies Reazor      http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Melinda Orr      http://www.orrtec.blogspot.com

Cilla Watkins      http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com

Stephanie Haussler       http://www.pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com

Sally Russick     http://www.thestudiosublime.com

Susan Kennedy       http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Amy Freeland  http://www.copperdiem.blogspot.com/

Marla James     http://marlasmudmoments.blogspot.com/

Pam Sears http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Tania Spivey http://www.moobiegracedesigns.blogspot.com/

Kathleen Lange Klick http://www.modernnaturestudio.blogspot.com/

Lori Bowring Michaud  http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com/

Erin Prais-Hintz  http://www.treasures-found.blogspot.com/

Gail Barnett http://www.atlastanewyearsresolution.blogspot.com/

Linda Landig  http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/

Sharleen Newland http://www.shaterraclaystudio.blogspot.com/

Dee Elgie  http://cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk/

Mary Shannon Hicks  http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/

Lisa Johnson  http://whimsyswonders.blogspot.com/

Shelby Foxwell  http://sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com/

Keri Lee Sereika  http://www.pinklemonade.typepad.com/

Cheryl Brown    www.dragonflybeads.ca

Linda Younkman http://www.lindysdesigns.blogspot.com/

Kari Asbury http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com/

Fay Wolfenden http://www.torchfairy.blogspot.com/

Art Bead Earring Swap Reveal!

Good day to you! Today is reveal day for the Art Bead Earring Swap hosted by the lovely and talented Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio! Diana paired me with the very talented ceramic bead artist, Diane Hawkey. Diane was extremely generous and gifted me with two pairs of earrings, thank you so much Diane!

First up is a pair of LOVE hearts with sterling silver earwires. Adorable, and I can't wait to wear them! Diane is very well known in the beading world for her word beads. These beads have a shiny red glaze and the white banner and black words have a matte finish.

Next up is a pair of amber, crackle finish heart beads on brass earwires from Vintaj.

I wore these earrings to work the other day. They coordinate nicely with a necklace I finished over the weekend for Andrew Thornton's September Readers Challenge, which I'll be revealing on Wednesday, October 12 (check back!). This pair has a shiny amber glaze with a slight crackle finish on the beads and I think you can make out a floral and leaf embossing on the beads. Lovely!

Again, I am a very lucky girl! Thank you Diane!

Below is a picture Diane took of the earrings I sent to her (the peril of a daughter taking a photography class this semester is that I don't have my camera available whenever I want it!).

 

For these earrings, I used sterling silver bezel connectors from Rio Grande. I placed sealed scrapbook paper that looks like sand in the back, then teeny tiny pieces of sea glass in shades of brown, green and cobalt and filled them with ICE Resin. I then wired brown seaglass chips, cobalt dyed MOP chips, apatite, peridot and a stone I'm not sure about chips to the bottom connector with sterling ball end headpins and finished them with sterling earwires. I had intended to have all of the dangles be seaglass, however, my Dremel decided to give me fits and only the brown got drilled. This was my first time using resin and I was a wreck (I also made a few other pieces I'll show another day). The ICE Resin is worth every penny, it's FABULOUS! I had NO air bubbles. I can't wait to use it again.

I collected the seaglass at my favorite little hometown beach, Willard Beach. My Uncle Chick (his nickname) was the lifeguard there for 38 years. It's the beach my parents met at and they fell in love there (my dad worked summers for my uncle). I spent many a summer afternoon there with my children when they were growing up. It's a little gem of a beach. Most of the glass I collect there is smallish and usually brown, green or clear, but I love it!

Thanks again Diana for hosting this swap, and thanks for partnering me with Diane! Below are links to the rest of the participants:

Diana Ptaszynski   http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com/ Jenny Davies-Reazor  http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp  http://www.skyejewels.blogspot.com/ Lisa Petrillo  http://www.lucidmoonstudio.com/ Patty Chaban Gasparino  http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com/ Susan Kennedy  http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/ Shannon Iko Chomanczuk  http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/ Cilla Watkins  http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/ Diane Hawkey  http://www.dianehawkey.blogspot.com/ Pam Ferrari http://www.ferrarioriginalsyahoocom.blogspot.com/ Lori Bowring Michaud  http://www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com/ (you are here) Stacey M. Curry  http://www.starhitchedwagon.blogspot.com/ Linda Landig  http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/ Norma Turvey  http://www.moonlitfantaseas.blogspot.com/ Melinda Orr  http://www.orrtec.blogspot.com/ Holly Westfall  http://www.silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com/ Rosemarie Cowit  http://www.gemrosedesigns.blogspot.com/ Staci L. Smith  http://www.stacilouise.blogspot.com/ Sarah Elder  http://www.mysocalledjunkylife.blogspot.com/