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Tuesday 30 October 2012

Two new pairs of earrings


Cute tin snippets flower patterned bead caps by Lorelei Eurto.
Rosey copper ear hooks by E2SSupplies.

Green jade melon round beads.
Copper head pins.




Oxidized Sterling Silver Rose ear hooks by Metal Fuze.
Verdigris patinated LoopTLoop's by SLArtisanAccents.

Antique silver plated chain.


Both are for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Saturday 27 October 2012

2 New Bracelets & 1 "Older"

Howdy friends,
Lately I haven't been all that active in the online beading community as some of you might have noticed. I get like that sometimes, just need to keep to my self for a little while. However I do feel I have been in a very productive and creative period, even if I don't post here so very regularly. And I am keeping busy with jewelry making and making my beaded beads (I have quite a few more of them now to still list in my Etsy shop :-)). Today I'll show you two bracelets I made recently, and one bracelet I made back in April, which was published on a spread with instructions in the August issue of the great British beading magazine Beads & Beyond (my first spread with instructions ever, so I am mighty proud of that). 

I'd be very happy to read your opinions on all three of them, or just any.

1.

Lovely rustic indonesian glass beads made from recycled glass. Knotted on waxed cotton cord. Vintaj brass lobster clasp and etched jump ring for closure. I really like how it turned out with the three rings with the same colored beads sitting in the middle. This bracelet is super easy to wear.


2.

The clasp made by Amanda Davies I've had for ages, it was actually one of the first art bead components I ever bought. I have always loved it, but not been able to find a  suitable enough way of using it in a jewelry piece. The black large glass nugget beads I have also had for a long time without knowing how to do them justice. Knotted on teal waxed linen cord. I am very pleased with this combo. The bracelet looks so great on, I think.


3.


Lastly but not leastly a bracelet I made some time ago, which was one of the projects in Beads & Beyond August issue. It is packed with art beads, and it was the flower clasp in oxidized silver from DaisyChainExtra that sparked off the idea in the first place. I wanted to really enhance the flower aspect of it all, to get the feeling of walking around with my own pretty front garden as it looks in mid summer on my wrist. Remember it was April so I was longing with all my heart :-). 


I made a little flower group and combined the clasp with the two pink flowers I already had in my stash. I remember I was very happy to come up with that idea in the first place, because it felt quite different from what I normally do. Three flowers in three different materials, by three different artists. The ceramic flower bead cap from ChelleV2, and the polymer clay blossom from MissFickleMedia. Enameled head pin by PaintingWithFire, and all the larger ceramic beads by Gaea. Opal pale pink glass rounds, smaller blue green ceramic round beads, copper chain and findings, and one Swarovski bicone bead.




These three bracelets will be listed in my Etsy shop within the nearest few days.


All my best,
Malin


Saturday 13 October 2012

New beaded beads listed on Etsy

I've just listed a few new beaded beads in my Etsy shop


You know what, I am so happy I have started making these beaded beads. And that I am continuing to. It is a kind of slightly meditative experience. Not so much in the now as I am doing them, but more on a long term perspective over time. 


Each one is just that one, that particular little bead of it's own, that gives me a short term possibility to play around and experiment in a very contained frame so to speak.


It is nothing major, or anything special at all. But still, just because of that, and that I keep making them over time makes the whole of it an interesting journey that I am very glad to be on. And I love the fact that I haven't got a clue where I will end up. In fact I think it is just a kind of side track, a teeny tiny tangent,  that I can pop off to every here and there. An important side track.


Doing, just keep doing ...

Sincerely,
Malin de Koning

Wednesday 10 October 2012

A few new pieces

Two earrings and two bracelets. All available in my Etsy Shop, where you can also see more pictures of them if you want to.


Absolutely stunning Lapis Lazuli stones in these earrings.




Cute flowers by J-Lynn, and enameled head pins by Painting with Fire.




Flower charm made from ceramic bead cap by ChelleV2 and an enameled head pin by Painting with Fire. Seed beads and such strung on memory wire.


Green heart charm by Jeannie Ducik. Lots of yellow seed beads strung on memory wire.


All my best,
Malin

Tuesday 9 October 2012

The winner ...


... of the India bracelet is ...

Wacky
(Rene Jouaquin?)
of
from the Philippines!!!!!!

How exciting for me :-).


Congratulations!

Please let me know your address so I can send it to you as soon as possible.

All my best,
Malin

Monday 8 October 2012

Winner will be presented tomorrow Tuesday

I will present the winner of my bracelet for the Bead Soup Book Blog Tour give-away tomorrow evening Swedish time (6 hours before EST time).

Saturday 6 October 2012

Premier for my Beaded Beads on Etsy.

Hi,
today I am starting to sell my beaded beads in my shop on Etsy. I have listed 16 of them so far. More will be following the coming week. And I keep making new ones all the time, coming up with new and unique designs for each and every one of them.

I sure hope that people will like them and be interested in buying them from me. It is kind of a test right now to see how it goes. :-)

Please check into my Etsy shop and see if you find anything you like there. Below I am just showing you a random handful of them.








All my best,
Malin

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Bead Soup Book

It is out now! I got my own copy in the mail last Friday :-). It was so exciting to open and look through it. I must say it is a great book, with many different projects, in many different styles and by many different artists. Comprehensive instructions, and just tons of inspiration to get.


And, oh yes, I am one of the contributors with a jewelry piece. It's the stone soup one. I am not allowed to show you the necklace here, but this teaser picture I am allowed to show. :-)


I am also allowed to show you the soup I used. I got it from Lori Anderson herself. Isn't it just plain irresistible!!??!! And I tell you, apart from being just beautiful and very inspiring, this soup had a very special effect on me.


The first time I saw the soup I made an instant and unexpected inner "journey". In my mind I was taken back in time, to the late summer of 1982, when I was 17. And my father and I went on a week's holiday to Fårö, a smaller island just north of the island of Gotland in Sweden. In the middle of the Baltic Sea.


The stone focal with the wild flower motif ressembles the raukar and the sandy colors. The turquoise color reminds me of the sky on Gotland/Fårö, where the sky is big and always present. And most often also the sea. Nature, wind, sunshine, fresh air, rocks, raukar, sparse nature, sand, sand stone, wild flowers, sheep walking freely ... It truly is a magical place.

Lori's soup, with its color scheme, components, and the focal - together they took me there in an instanse. I was very moved by the whole experience, as it was so immidiate and really took me somewhere else in space and time. 

My father and I stayed in a hostel where we had our breakfasts and evening meals, and in the days we explored the unique and beautiful landscape and the pictoresque sceneries of Fårö. Here and there we settled in a special spot for a couple of hours. I was painting, and my father took photographs. I cherish my memory of this trip so much, even more since my father passed away a couple of years ago. It was a beautiful gift to be able to go there via Lori's bead soup. Thank you so much for everything Lori

I wish you all to be able to go there one day. Both Ingmar Bergman and Olof Palme had holiday houses there. Or why don't you watch the film Persona by Ingmar Bergman, partially filmed on Fårö.

The collage of pictures above I made for myself just after I got the soup. (I don't think I ever have done anything like that, but this time it felt necessary.) I made it to illustrate for myself my inspiration during the process of designing and making of the piece I made. (I took all the images from different places on the internet, but I am pretty sure none of them are copyrighted.) 


An now to my GIVE-AWAY!!!!
Because this book came about as an off-spring of Lori's famous Bead Soup Blog Parties in the first place, I thought I'd for my give-away offer you one of the pieces I made in the last party.



It is a bracelet I call "India", and I have used only beads and components from the soup that my partner Marsha Neal sent me. We had decided on a theme, the film "The Party" with Peter Sellers from 1969. Hence the Indian theme ;-). Read more about it here.



If you are interested in owning this bracelet, please leave a comment on this post. Make sure I will be able to get in contact with you IF you are the winner. I'll pull the winner randomly by using a random generator on the 8th or 9th. Check Lori's blog PrettyThings for more details on how the drawings works.

Please also make sure to check all the other post in this week long blog tour. There are so many things you can win. You'll find all the info on Lori's blog.

All my best,
Malin


Monday 1 October 2012

Bead Soup Book Blog Hop Week ...

To celebrate the release of the Bead Soup Book by Lori Anderson there is a Blog Hop party going on for a whole week. With chances to win special things, like for instance beads, bead soups, books, shop discounts and possibly other things too!!!!!!


Every day there will be personal blog posts about the book from the participants listed below. And, in each and every one of the blog posts there will be a give-away that you can enter. As you do that you will also automatically enter the Grand Prize give-away on the last Monday on Lori's blog.

And, oh yes, I am one of the contributors. On Wednesday I will tell you a little bit more, about my part in the book, and a very special "journey" I took as a result of this project. Please welcome back to me on Wednesday!


Now, off you go! Check'em all out! :-)


Monday, October 1st
Lori Anderson - http://www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Barbara Bechtel - http://secondsurf.com/wordpress

Tuesday, October 2nd

Lori Anderson - www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Kerry Bogert - http://kabsconcepts.com/wp

Wednesday, October 3rd
Lori Anderson - www.PrettyThingsBlog.com

Thursday, October 4th 
Lori Anderson - www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Nan Emmett - http://www.spiritrattles.blogspot.com
Lyn Foley - http://lynfoleyblog.com

Friday, October 5th
Lori Anderson - www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Brandi Hussey - http://www.brandigirlblog.com
Cindy Wimmer - www.SweetBeadStudio.com
Barbara Lewis - http://www.paintingwithfireartwear.blogspot.com

Saturday, October 6th
Lori Anderson - www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Melissa Meman - http://www.melissameman.blogspot.com
Stefanie Teufel - http://stefaniessammelsurium.blogspot.com

Sunday, October 7th
Erin Prais-Hintz - http://treasures-found.blogspot.com  

Monday, October 8th
A grand prize with a TON of goodies to enjoy:
Lori Anderson - www.PrettyThingsBlog.com


All my best,
Malin