Bead Soup Blog Party - 2011

After a good bit of internal debate, I decided to "just do it" and signed up for Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party.  This will be the 3rd party Lori has hosted and I will have participated in all 3.  I had initially intended to take a break and just watch this one from the sidelines, but I was starting to feel sad and lonely over there, so I joined in the fun at the very last minute.  If you are not familiar with the concept, Lori pairs up the participants and we exchange beads...a focal and clasp are required elements, and complementary beads as the sender chooses.  Each of us then creates a piece of jewelry using the elements we received...again, the focal and clasp are required, but it is up to the designer to use the complementary beads sent or add from their existing stash.  Then on reveal day, we hop around to each other's blogs "ooh-ing" and "ah-ing" and all sorts of fun is had by all.  Seriously :)

My soup partner this year is LeAnn Weih from Summers Studio, and I couldn't be more excited!  LeAnn creates absolutely gorgeous and unique porcelain pendants, charms, beads and much more!  Here is a little sampling of what I have fallen in love with...

So, stay tuned to hear and see progress reports.  I'll let you know when the big day arrives and post links to other participant's blogs so you can see lots and lots of gorgeous jewelry creations!

Notes from the Universe

I signed up to get inspirational emails from this site called "Notes from the Universe".  I really love it, you personalize it, so it is like a pep talk from an old friend!  This is what I got yesterday...

"Little is more impressive, inspirational, or sexy, Melissa, than watching someone in the throes of action, driven by purpose, oblivious to all but their aim.  Today has your name all over it - The Universe"

Cool, huh?
And in keeping with that...here's my Arts Market Count Down Post - Day 2

Last night was yard cleanup...trash days in our neighborhood on the 1st and 3rd weeks of the month include yard waste pickup, so Ben and I worked hard outside until dusk.

I was able to work on a new piece for a bit...can't wait to show it to you, but alas, it is not ready yet :)

But keeping my pact to post new work, here is more Swarovski!  First is a necklace and earrings in sterling, featuring fuschia briolettes and tiny bicones...

Next is an antiqued brass necklace with emerald green opal. I love the "opal" Swarovski crystals, they have such a nice depth and almost chatoyancy - somewhere in between transparent and opaque!  I thought this worked really well with the big rhyolite bead.  I am going to have to go back and try to oxidize the wire I used on the necklace, as it is just too bright.

Purple Crazy Lace Agate for my future daughter in law...Not!

I've been working on this one for a while, but here it is finally done.  I started out with the agate and the needle-lace bezel, then it evolved from there.

My almost-8 year old asked me if he could give it to his wife!  I told him I would create one especially for her when the time came :)

Moonstone and Pearl...

Another coiled and woven sterling wire necklace featuring a faceted peach moonstone briolette and some creamy freshwater pearls.  This is my first attempt at doing the curly, 'vine-y' loops.  Not as hard as I thought, and they pack a big design punch, I think :)  I will be adding it to my shops tonight or tomorrow (I am so behind in listing items!)

Amethyst, Peridot and nightmares of coiled wire...

I've been working on increasing inventory, and trying to design more simple pieces that don't take too long to complete, thereby keeping the price point lower.  Unfortunately, I keep being drawn to more ornate, complicated designs that go round and round in my head, get started, put down, picked back up (rinse, repeat), until finally they get finished.  It's my normal work cycle...I should just come to grips with it :)

Here is the latest piece that was started back around Christmas...it originally was going to be a circle with the little coiled components inside.  I did the inside first, got the circle hammered and coiled...it didn't fit.  Okay, I uncoiled some and tried again...nope.  I ended up completely redoing the inner part and opening the circle up...by then it was almost Easter :)  I finally finished it off at about 2 am, the morning of my last show.

May Flowers...

almost June flowers!  I've had a bunch of Czech glass dagger beads sitting around for a while... I had purchased several colors and was planning to make some spiky bracelets.  That hasn't happened yet, but while working last weekend to get ready for a show, came up with these fun, colorful, wire-woven flower earrings.  I'm really happy with them and will be making more!  Will be listing these on all my sites tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Featured in....

Melissa Meman Designs has been featured in Stylebakery's Spring/Summer 2009 Designers on the Rise.  I'm honored to have been invited and included with such great company!

 

Psst...get a 15% discount on any purchases from any of my shops during this 6 month feature...just enter codeword "Stylebakery" at checkout!

Some new work from the weekend...

My new self-imposed rule with jewelry making is that I am not allowed to start any new project until all my previously-started ones are complete. Harder than it seems :)  I did quite a bit of catching up over the weekend, though!

Here are 2 new pocket rosaries...both in bronze.  The 1st is rhyolite with a lovely peach moonstone oval.

 

The next one is comprised of a cool stone I found called "amulet" agate with lots of pretty blues, which really complement the sky blue topaz nugget I used for the Pater.

Next are 3 new pairs of earrings...

Coiled sterling wire, a Thai Hill Tribe silver "croissant" bead, faceted amethyst marquis briolettes, embellished with tiny faceted yellow tourmalines, more Hill Tribe silver, and lots more coiled sterling wire.

These are hammered and stamped sterling ovals, embellished with faceted pale blue chalcedony beads.

 

Faceted black onyx has been herringbone-wrapped in sterling and embellished with carved mother of pearl flowers and tiny faceted labradorite.

   

Last, but not least, lapis coins have been wrapped in herringbone style with gold-filled wire, them embellished with gold vermeil daisy spacers and faceted peridot.  I redid these several times before I was happy with them.

 

Whew, I'm tired!

Will wonders never cease?!

I just love that phrase!  It is so corny and kind of sarcastic :) 

I am posting new work today, after almost 2 months dry spell (insert title phrase here).  It's definitely not the quantity I should be producing, but I like the quality, with the exception of having to redo one of the pearl earrings.

So, what do we have here...

2 new rosary bracelets:  1 with sodalite rondells, balinese silver, and a big freshwater pearl; and 1 with 8mm labradorite and more balinese silver...both triple-wire wrapped, of course!

 

Pearl, ocean jasper, mother-of-pearl, and garnet earrings...(this picture is before redoing the one earring - something happened to 1 pearl during my los/tumbling stage).

"Joysticks" - hammered and stamped sterling, embellished with wire and brecciated jasper.

Both pairs of earrings include handmade earwires - yay me!

I have some more stuff in the "almost finished" category that I hope to post this week!  Well, will wonders never cease?! (snort)

Holiday Sale at Melissa Meman Designs - December 10 - 20!

Run, don't walk to my shop, Melissa Meman Designs, and save 20% off everything!  Enter the coupon codeword "Santa" at check out and the discount will be applied.   This includes gift certificates!!!

     

New Jewelry...

Since I haven't posted any photos yet, I thought I would remedy that by showing  this new cross pendant/necklace I created a couple weeks ago.  It is definitely a new style for me and was a bit of a challenge. 

The base structure of the cross is hand-wrought 18g sterling wire, which was connected by coiling fine-gauge sterling wire (I think this was 28g) and attaching little Celtic spirals within the arms.  My coiling is definitely improving, although still not as neat as it could be.  I then added the gray-striated agate disk and surrounded it with tiny faceted rock crystal quartz.  To make the cross a bit more ornate, I added more crystal quartz and Thai Hill Tribe silver beads to the ends of each arm.

The cross was done completely and I was just going to offer it as a pendant, but since I had more of the agate and crystal quartz, I made the decision to create a necklace for it.  Finished with a sterling lobster clasp and an extension chain, the necklace is adjustable between 16 and 18 inches.

Another first for me...I oxidized it with liver of sulfur!  I have been so scared of doing it in the past, but it really was easy and I think brings the design to a whole different dimension.  I wish I had taken before photos.