'Tis Officially the Season

Thanksgiving is over and now we are on to Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho!! I am working on getting in to the holiday mood by creating some holiday jewelry and decorations. This year I decided to make some soldered glass ephemera collage ornaments with some beautiful angel and St. Nick images I have been saving for something special. I used scalloped tape around the edges and high quality solder with a touch of real silver in it. I used twisted and plain silver tone wire to hand form the hooks and filigree hangers. Many have genuine chandelier crystals and other beads attached. They were fun to make. I hope people like them. I have started adding them to my store today. More coming in the next couple of days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving with those you love.

Photos copyright Lisa Whipkey, Kamera Kat Studio

Twilight and the Twinkling it Inspires

The Twilight series of books by author Stephenie Meyer is talked about EVERYWHERE these days in case you have not noticed. And now that the movie is coming out, the planet has a bit of vampire mania.

I have always loved vampire stuff and might even be a closet goth somewhere down deep and since the book and movie is set in my home state of Washington, I am really falling under the spell of Stephenie's work myself and I cannot wait to see the movie.

I was "window shopping" around Etsy and noticed that some of my fellow artists have been inspired by to create twilight-ish art. Here's a sample of the stuff I found:

An altered Art Charm Bracelet by poetsummer

Edward quote pendant in a matching tin from shadesong

A set of four scrabble tile pendants from CandyTilesLove this star quote pendant from storytales
And last but not least, check out this Edward dream quote pendant from bluembrownlee

It's always an honor to be featured in someones Treasury on Etsy. Thank you DCHStudio for picking my "Drangonfly Dame" pendant for yours. To see it live, go here before it expires on 11/24/2008.

Wire that Wows!

As any jewelry lovin' artsy craftsy gal knows, there's about a million ways to make jewelry - metal clay, beads, shrink plastic, polymer clay, soldered glass, fused glass, metalsmithing, nuts and bolts & bubble gum. OK. Maybe not the gum, but you get the idea that there's lotsa ways to make bling.

Just about all of the aforementioned methods for making jewelry call for incorporating some form of wire work on occasion, either to enhance the appearance or for function. It may be as simple as making a loopy bail, earring hooks or wrapping a stone, but wire has always been an important element of jewelry making. Wire even stands on it's own as a primary jewelry making medium. Take a look around your local craft store and you will find there are many kinds of wire and tools to make it do something funky.

OK. I do about every craft known to woman so why have I not got in to wire more? Well, because a lot of what I have been exposed to in craft and bead stores, while fun, is also semi gaudy or seems to be geared towards kids or casual looks that's just not me. However, I have stumbled on some truly inspiring wire work from a fellow Etsy artist that is elegant and creative. I just have to share some of this awesome work with you.

Here are some pieces from juliadesigns. Please visit her online store to be wowed further. She even offers tutorials so you can create some pieces for yourself: