Beadwork is a Wonderful Art

As you know, I’m a jewelry designer (among several other arts) and this past year I’ve been learning beadworking.  It is amazing how relaxing it can be.  I love doing all of the stitches and watching how each piece turns out.  It is time consuming, but worth all that you put into it.

For those who want to start beadworking, I suggest getting a subscription to the magazines “Beadwork” and “Bead and Button.”  These publications are a font of beadworking knowledge.  You can learn the stitches and create the projects.

The bracelet shown is my bracelet that I made for the Lake Shore Artists group annual May Exhibit.  It won second place to my surprise.

Since I’m learning beadworking, I will add it to my list of creative things to do.  I will post my projects as I go along.

Thanks for stopping by  🙂

Red Crystal Earrings….loving these fire polished beads….

These are my newest creation, listed on etsy http://www.etsy.com/listing/89765821/earrings-red-creamy-faceted-ab-fire .

They are made on a sterling silver headpin and are wire wrapped on handmade sterling silver spiraled earwires.  I especially liked the new fire-polished crystal beads that I ordered and used.  I’ve never tried them before and I have to say that they are lovely colored and faceted nicely….sparkling lovely colors when you hold them to any light.  For an added finish, I added sterling silver bali-style daisy spacers and a couple of tiny seed beads.

To see these and other artisan crafted jewelry, visit my Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/BohemianIce

 

Want to know more about God and how He can work in your life?  http://www.settledinheaven.wordpress.com  and

http://www.youtube.com/settledinheaven

On Fire for Handmade

I belong to this great team of artisans.      “On Fire for Handmade” is the name of our team and we are artisans of all different kinds of media.  Our mission is to love, promote, cross-promote, share, and care for handmade and the talented people who create handmade items.  We are all artisans who sell our handmade items on Etsy and Artfire.

Anne Hopfer, our fearless leader and curator is a great part of the heart and soul behind this group.  Check out her Made for Me by Oaklie Etsy &  Made for Me by Oaklie Artfire for great crocheted items.  I love her handbags and scarves.

Anne recently put together a place where “On Fire for Handmade” members have their treasuries featured.  One of my treasuries “Shades of Sunny” is featured along with many other great treasuries of members.  You just got to see the beautiful handmade items for sale featured in these treasuries.  Take a look at “On Fire for Handmade Treasuries.” There is also other fellow teams featured with great handmade items for sale.

Check out our great group/team on facebook  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114453101935100

New Line of Hammered Metal Earrings and Pendants

I recently listed these new copper earrings on my BohemianIce etsy.  I am starting a new line of hammered metal earrings and pendants in copper, sterling silver and brass.  I really enjoy working with metal…the bending, twisting, hammering, wrapping….to me, it’s all fun.  This pair is made in a zigzag shape….these and most of my earwires are handmade (I have a few manufactured ones left, but I like making my own).  I wire wrapped Swarovski Crystal Rivoli’s on this pair and hammered the copper for texture and sparkle.

To get a better view of these earrings, click here  http://www.etsy.com/listing/70853479/contemporary-styled-copper-earrings-with

Anyone interested in special ordering or wholesale for shops, contact me at bohemianice@gmail.com

Green….like Spring!

I don’t know about you, but I have had enough of winter….the white stuff still covers the ground outside.  I can’t wait to see those pretty little flowers showing up.  I need Spring and everything green.  Here’s a little bit of green for you all.  I recently made this green bracelet and listed it in my etsy shop BohemianIce here’ the link http://www.etsy.com/listing/67795227/green-multi-gemstone-and-pearl-bracelet

Well, I figure that I can share with you, who may be newbies to jewelry making, how to make a bracelet like this.  First, I used what’s called memory wire….it’s hard, coiled wire that can be used for making jewelry.  I like to get the good quality kind.  Snip off the amount that you want (how big a bracelet) with a, and this is very important, a not so good pair of heavy duty wire cutters…(DO NOT USE YOUR GOOD SNIPPERS OR WIRE CUTTERS…YOU’LL RUIN THEM).  Then file smooth both ends of the wire.  Next, take your round nose pliers and turn back the first end…you can add a charm here if you like.  Next, just add all of your desired beads, gemstones, pearls, etc.  Finally, finish off the finished end the same way that you did the first end. 

Happy jewelry designing!

Bohemian Ice Jewelry…Gold Spiral Wirewrapped Bracelet…please VOTE for my bracelet :D

Hey, all my peeps….I need a favor….I belong to a great group called “On Fire for Handmade.”  This group has a poll each week on a website called, “Made For Me By Oaklie.”  My  Gold Spiral Bracelet,  pictured here,  has been featured in this poll this week and I would LOVE to win.   The winner gets free advertising.  I can use the promotion.

The name of the poll is “Midas Touch.”  Please go to this page, madeformebyoaklie.com/greatfinds.html, scroll way down until you see my bracelet on the left titled “Bohemian Ice,” and you will see to the left of the picture a list of the participants.  Go to “Bohemian Ice,” I think it’s 6th from the bottom of the list, and click on the little dot to the left of the name….then go to the bottom of the list and click on “submit vote.”

I really appreciate your votes everyone!  You’re all the BEST! 😀

You can see more information on this bracelet and more of my jewelry at Bohemian Ice Jewelry Shop on Etsy. 

Here’s a shout out for my peeps and the sites:

Made For Me By Oaklie FB page  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Made-for-Me-by-Oaklie/102558979013?__a=1

Etsy Promo Love http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128270993863622

Madeformebyoaklie etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/madeformebyoaklie

Feb. 4, 2011 UPDATE   Thank you everyone for voting for me.  I did win. YAY.  I appreciate your votes  😀

Valentine’s Day on it’s way

If you have a loved one, you probably love Valentine’s Day.  What a nice day to put all of that hustle bustle on hold and bring out the romance.  Everyone has their own ideas about what romance should be.  To me, it doesn’t have to be a big fancy thing, like dinner or some special event.  I just love having my sweet husband look into my eyes and tell me he loves me and just snuggling up together and spending some special time with each other.  Although, not necessary, flowers are always wonderful to me….I just love flowers.  I’m one of those sweet, sappy romantics. 

For those who like to show their love through getting a gift for their woman, the love of their life, jewelry is always something most women love to receive.  That special sparkle, the thing that a woman can wear that makes her think of her sweetheart. 

I as an artist, enjoy creating jewelry that may be that special piece.  I love working with pearls, crystal, gemstones, wire….the materials used to make that one special piece. 

Please take a minute and look at the special pieces that I picked for Valentine’s Day.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BohemianIce?section_id=7692497

If you’re interested in the sterling silver vintage upcycled heart in the picture, here is the link.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66450687/beautifully-romantic-sterling-silver

Photography on Sale at AliveWithColor Etsy

It’s time for a sale at AliveWithColor Etsy….all photos are BUY ONE GET ONE Free for a limited time.  For example, when you purchase one photo, you get any other one of the same size free.  Just enter the info of the free photo in your note to seller upon checkout.  I can also mat and frame the photos if you wish (framing is not a BOGO)   If you do want to purchase matting and framing, please leave a note to seller….contact me for any info.  As always, there’s free shipping. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AliveWithColor

Completed Watermedia Painting – Coneflowers

Sorry it took me long to post the completion of this painting. 

Well, here it is completed….at least for now…I’ve been known to take “finished” paintings out of the frame and do more to them….I’m obsessed with my arts…don’t know if that makes me a perfectionist or not 😀

As stated in the previous post, this is a water media painting…watercolors, watercolor pencils, on Arches professional coldpressed cotton rag paper…I swear by this paper…pricey, but excellent if you want your painting to turn out professional looking…you can usually find it on sale online quite often. 

So, in the previous post I started out with the first flower with no plans of adding much….just started as a practice….but then I got a few ideas that I found in “Birds and Blooms,” an excellent reference magazine for those who love to paint florals and birds.  I highly recommend it…but, always remember to only use magazines and other printed sources as a REFERENCE ONLY…do not copy other people’s photos, you always should do your  interpretation only and switch up your references….this is a very important rule if you want to paint professionally…it’s not nice to copy other artists, photographers, media, etc….you can get into serious copyright problems…just FYI.

So, I added the extra conflowers…and I added another floral element in the top of the painting…a lavendar element (not sure what flower that is)……a little moth was added to the one flower for a touch of whimsy 🙂  I like to whimsy things.

My background, which should have been really done in the beginning, before adding the floral subjects….doing it first, would have made it easier.  But, I have to do it the hard way 😀  Well, here’s how I did it…..I like to wet a small area at a time…..making sure that I don’t touch the already painted areas…..then I slowly add colors here and there, letting the wetness run slightly to create mottled colored areas….this is something that you have to practice at….I suggest, just trying it on a blank sheet of paper….you have to work with what amount of wetness you want and the amount of color to run to create the kind of background that you want….be careful not to over wet the paper…and here’s where you really need a good paper to experiment on because there are art papers that won’t take all of the wetness and working with a brush…cheaper papers may create a balling up of fibers when you over work it with a brush and lots of water usage….good papers can hold up to this kind of method and other methods that an artist may need to use to create their painting.

If you have any questions, I’ll be glad to answer them.

After I completed this painting, I did get to exhibit in the Geneva Ohio Grape Jamboree Art Exhibit in late September, as I mentioned in the previous post.  It did not take a prize for there where lots of beautiful paintings entered.  I did win the Gold Star Award for one of my mixed media paintings in the exhibit and it was sold, which was a blessing.  I may have to post some of my mixed media painting soon…mixed media is fun…lots of experimentation, which I love.

Well, that’s all for now.  Thanks for reading….please leave comments 🙂

Check me out at AliveWithColor.

The Beginning of a Painting….

Well, it all started when I went to my Wednesday morning art workshop where we, local artists do our art and catch up on all the usual artist stuff.  I didn’t have a new picture started, like I usually like to do ahead of time.  So I shuffled through my canvas art bag to find some birding and gardening magazines to get some ideas.

This coneflower is what developed out of a few reference photos that I used.  This was the beginning of a larger painting that I finished for an upcoming exhibit.  Here’s a “shout out” for our Geneva, Ohio Grape Jamboree Festival, which has an art exhibit as one of it’s events on the last full weekend of September every year.

So, first I started out with Arches 140 lb. cotton rag watercolor paper, which I swear by…..I like the cold-pressed version.

Next, I took a combination of watercolor pencils and watercolor paints to create the flower that you see here…..basically, penciling in the flower shapes and some of the shadows….then adding some water lightly (and I mean lightly…dip brush…dab on tissue….this was taught to me by an artist friend)…and carefully applying the wet brush to the penciled areas….also, adding watercolor paints where needed.

So, this is the beginning of my painting, which I will continue with the rest of the instruction in my next post……

Check back for further instruction and to see the final results   🙂

Also, check out my website www.alivewithcolor.com  where you can find links to my Etsy stores and an “about the artist” page.