Love those Earrings!

 

 

Love those Earrings!

 

I love earrings and I know lots of other people do too.  Beaver Island Jewelry sells a lot of earrings so I guess lots of people love buying earrings.  I love making kind of "funky" earrings.  Mismatched colors or shapes, fun colors, added charms.  There are lots of ideas around.  When I think of something I write it down on my "to do" list.   Below are pictures of a sampling of my earrings.  Included are my new Beadhopper earrings which are "hooks" and the attached bead part can be made with the interchangeable system.  Then you can buy the earrings and extra beads to change out. 

 

 

Sometimes you find great pieces parts to use in your earring sets.  Then along with some cool shapes you can make some interesting earrings.

The above earrings are made with the Beadhopper system with the interchangeable beads.  Of course, I need to have the extra beads that people can purchase along with the original earring set.

Love my carrots!

Love these earrings - in fact I have been trying to re-produce something like them.

Love the color of this class - caribean.

 

And then my cupcake earrings!  I also do cupcake bracelets.  Yum, and non-fattening.

 

Take a look in my ETSY shop at BrownDogGlassBeads and now in The Pear Tree shop in Dixboro (Ann Arbor), Michigan.  The Pear Tree is next to Moonwinks Cafe (you can get a latte while shopping).  Great artisan shop!  And lots of my earrings in The Pear Tree.

 

 

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GLASS BEADMAKING AND PANTONE SPRING COLORS

Pantone, Inc. is a company in New Jersey that is best known for its Primary Matching System (PMS).  The idea behind the PMS is to allow designers to "color match" specific colors when a design enters production stage, regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses. The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.  (from Wikipedia)

What does Pantone have to do with glass beadmaking?  Colors!  Every year they put out their Fashion Color Report for the spring and for the fall.  This is published for fashion influencers and designers.  I think us glass beadmakers could be categorized under “fashion influencers.”  Emerald is the Color of the Year.  Below are the Pantone colors for Spring 2013 from pantone.com and emerald as color of the year 2013.

 

 

 

 

 http://www.pantone.com/pages/fcr.aspx?pg=21005&ca=4

 

I always like to check out these colors to help influence what beads I make for my handmade glass bead jewelry. As noted above, each color has a number which is consistent wherever you see it (not with our glass rod color numbers though).    So you may see much of the fashion world using  emerald and the other Pantone colors in their designs. Below are some fabrics using emerald, taken from the pantone.com site.

 

 

 

Glass beadmakers have a glass color palette to choose from for our designs.  I pulled out some Effetre colors that I thought were similar to some of this spring’s colors.

 

Colors:  Medium lemon  591408,  Green Petroleum  591218, Red Light Special 791428,  Bright Acid Yellow  591416,  Earth Cool Color  591688,  Coral 591420, Sandstone  591285,  Laguna  591630,   Messy Grape Ape  511654  The colors don't show as well in my camera as what they are in person, but you get the idea. 

And here’s some of my finished bead jewelry that has some of these colors.

 

Check out the Fiesta Necklace on the sidebar - that has some of the spring colors in it also.  See Fiesta Necklace on sale in my ETSY shop.  Now I am going to see what beads I can make to coordinate some of the colors in the new spring palette.  But first I have to work on business taxes……until next time.  Ciao!

Beaver Island Jewelry

ETSY shop: Brown Dog Glass Beads

 

GO BACK TO: http://www.BeaverIslandJewelry.com HOME PAGE

One Glass Beadmakers' Life

It has been a long time since I posted here on my blog.  With my "two lives" it takes a while to settle back into the Ann Arbor life after spending all summer on Beaver Island (Michigan).  And then the holidays come and go....


Below is a photo taken on Beaver Island with the family:  Cary, me and Niko the dog! And a sunrise photo from Beaver Island. Almost every day I got a sunrise shot from Beaver Island - they just seem to be nicer there.

 

The photo below is taken in my studio on Beaver Island. It shows me making a bead with the gas torch. I have a mandrel in my left hand, then heating Italian glass with my right hand until it is molten. Then the glass is wrapped onto the mandrel, formed into whatever type of bead that you are making. You can add glass frit to decorate the bead, add glass flowers, etc. It all depends on your skill level how it will look! You can see the glass rods around the bench. That is what I melt with the torch. After the bead is formed it goes into a kiln for about 6-8 hours to anneal or harden it. Then you clean the bead and you have one handmade glass bead.

 

 

In Ann Arbor, I am back volunteering at the Humane Society of Huron Valley (www.hshv.org) doing dog customer care which is helping people find a dog they want to adopt.  It is great to see the dogs find a "forever home."  Exercising at my gym is also keeping me occupied and also playing tennis once or twice a week. 

We have seen some good movies this winter - Lincoln was excellent, The Hobbit and Jack Reacher.  We love reading mysteries and Jack Reacher the movie was very good. 


And below are some photos of items that I have on my ETSY site right now.  Check out my shop with the ETSY link above! 

 

Swarovski crystal earrings - love the sparkle!

 

Lightweight bangles.  Easy to wear, fun, colorful.

 

                   Leather skull bracelet.  I love mine!



Vertebra necklace.  Handmade glass bead.

GO BACK TO: http://www.BeaverIslandJewelry.com HOME PAGE

Jewelry & Shopping. (#12)

Of course one of the reasons we come to Venice is to get inspired in our jewelry making and bead making. The colors here and the ideas we get from Venetian glass makers and the way they arrange shop windows help our creations.




This was a small bowl in the miniature glass exhibit.




Handmade leather necklace




Sponge purses at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum.
















Wood carved bag!












Marbled papers.








We went to see our favorite Venetian glassmaker today, Vittorio Constantini. He is the maestro who makes, in glass, natural wonders. Here's his smile!








And as always a lovely canal shot!
Ciao!
Nancy
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Beautiful day in Venice. (#11)

Today no rain until this evening when all of a sudden we had a big thunder boomer, then a downpour and then rain! Even the big turtle in the garden below was running for cover. (we think those people eat them as there were two turtles, now one).




This morning we had some light fog. I like my photo of Salute church in a little fog!




My favorite puppy -- Mia, the Stafordshire Bull Terrier (4 months).




I wanted to show some of the different and unique chimneys here. Those have some spiral thing inside that helps to put out the cinders before they get outside. These were for the times when there were lots of wood houses around.








This chimney is across from our apartment and is practically a work of art!












This one is kind of pretty.




And who lives in this upstairs room??












This looks giant sized!




This is across the canal from our apartment on a nice building.




This is on "our" canal.




Wanted to also show how we do washing. Washing machines are small. Electricity is very expensive in Italy. No dryers so everything either dries outside on the line or inside by the radiators.




Our little washing machine is in the bathroom. We don't use it but wash by hand and hang out.




Our balcony.




When it is rainy it may be better drip drying in the shower!
Ciao!
Nancy
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