Designing a Special Wedding Necklace of Friendship Pearls

I recently received a wonderful email from an Etsy friend.  We were on the same "team" together and have enjoyed a lot group bantering back and forth over time.

In her email, she announced her engagement and also explained that she wasn't able to invite us due to large families, cost, etc.  Of course we understood.  But the part I really loved, was that she asked all of us, her jewelry making friends- to send her just one pearl of any type, color, etc. and that way, she would have a bit of us with her for her special day.

I'm such a girl.  I still get teary eyed thinking about this fantastic idea.  Friendship, jewelry, and an upcoming non-traditional wedding....  I love it all.

So her big day isn't for quite a while. I had my pearls spread out and was trying to figure out, which one to send, until she saw one of my flower beads with bees and said she would like one of those. So now I'm designing one of those to send instead.

Have you seen any great non traditional wedding ideas that you wouldn't mind sharing?  I'd love to hear about them.

Ticked Off Birds vs. Pigs

So, uh, there's a game out there called Angry Birds, heard of it?

I'm kidding.  i think most people have.  And if you're like me, you know someone who adores it.  My dear friend lives in Austin and she puts up with me for looooooong visits.  So I decided to make her a lampwork glass jewelry gift of one of her favorite pastimes...killing funny looking green pigs by catapulting birds.

i had already gifted her with a pendant and earring set of the red  birds, so it was another bird's turn.  Seeing that it's spring, and the king has turquoise in his crown, I went for the blue bird.  I thought it was a good "seasonal" choice along with the green for matching outfits.  Perhaps the yellow bird will be perfect for autumn?

If you are a fan of this game, I hope you get a good chuckle.  And there will be a special edition of the blog tomorrow regarding the bracelet blog hop.  Don't miss it!

Rainbow Colored Rubber Tubing- Fun for Funky Jewelry

There is something about this combination of joyful colors in a necklace that just makes me want to smile. The designer, Yvonne Irwin says it reminds her of a carnival and I had a similar reaction of thinking that it looks like a visual party.

Yvonne is the shop owner of MyElements on Etsy who sells these rubber tubes, colorful O rings and quite a variety of other jewelry making pieces.  I found her through some of my friends and have to admit, am a bit addicted to the tubing.

You see, it works perfectly in some instances for a quick ending to a memory wire style necklace that uses my lampwork.  It keeps it lighter weight and for me, a quick string.  Here is an example of one that I just recently made.  (It is available if you message me, but not up on my StudioMarcy etsy site.

I love this light periwinkle blue color of the tubing.  It goes with a lot of my spring colors.  I have used plenty of other colors.

The O rings work well for accents between some large hole beads strung on the memory wire + tubing made up choker style too.  I'll show that necklace another day.

So pop by and visit Yvonne's shop.  One of the other options with this tubing is to feed wire through it and bend it around.  You can make corkscrews, loops or whatever you like.  Lots of fun and funky options.

If you've made something already with it, please post a link.  We'd all love to see it.

See you tomorrow!

Girl With A Pearl Earring...and Necklace

I love doing interpretations of famous paintings. You might remember that I've done Son of Man, Birth of Venus, The Kiss, and others. Well, I've added Girl With A Pearl Earring to the list. You might have noticed that there isn't a close up of it. Of course there's a reason. I need to make it again. It's close and gives the impression of the painting, but I want to do a better face on it.

I wore it the other night to our Southern Flames chapter meeting. And I was thrilled that folks knew what it was, without me explaining it. (always a good sign) So watch for another rendition at some point of the painting. And I have a long list of others to do as well. Nice break from sculpture and so much fun too.

If you have a favorite painting that you think might be interpreted, please post and let me know. I'd love to add to my list.