Bracelets - 2 new and 2 somewhat older

Bracelet 1 - ClippityClop

• Horse in polymer clay - TreeWingsStudio
• Red Agate Facetted Tube
• Bright red matte surface lucite rounds
• Tiger ebony flat wood circle ring
• Vintaj brass leaf toggle bar
• Newsprint Jaspis Heishi beads
• Clear glass nuggets
• Metallic Galvanized Berry 8/0 seed beads
• Orange-Red waxed linen cord
• Brass wire and head pin

Bracelet 2 - Earth & Fire

• Dotted lampwork glass bead - Gardanne
• Dimpled brown ceramic bead - ChelleV2
• Round beige ceramic bead - Elaine Ray
• Bone bead
• Brass heishi rings
• Red Agate Facetted Rondelle
• Brass magnetic ball clasp
• Red Agate Facetted Tubes, (they are so beautiful, shifting in color and pattern and translucent)
• Natural color waxed linen cord

Bracelet 3 - Over There

• Polymer clay disc in greens, gold, white and black - Pam Wynn
• Green glass rounds
• Matte black vintage facetted lucite beads
• Pyrite facetted small rondelles
• Pointing hand box clasp - Amanda Davie
• Brass chain circular links
• Beading wire
• Brass findings

Bracelet 4 - In Black Luxury

• Polymer clay discs in greens, gold, white and black - Pam Wynn
• Hyperstene AAA coins, (absolutely high class and so beautifully shimmering)
• Black Diamond 6/0 seed beads
• Green lined 6/0 seed beads
• Matte galvanized golden 11/0 seed beads
• Grey mother of pearl shimmering button for clasp 
• Black facetted glass rice beads
• Beading wire
• Brass findings

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All my jewelry pieces are available for purchasing, even though I might not yet have listed them in my Etsy Shop. Please let me know if you are interested in any of them. Contact me at: malindekoning[at]hotmail.com

All my best,

Malin

Echo Creative Club - September

Every month Jeannie K Dukic creates a bunch of beads that she sends out to the participants who have signed up to be in the Echo Creative Club for 2012. Some of us are in every month, some, like myself, are in only a few of the months. We choose that ourselves. We get the beads for free, then we create something of our own choice with those beads, and then we blog about it on the 25th of that month. It's a jolly neat arrangement I think. A sort of win win concept that I am very happy to be a part of :-) .

Below you can see the beads I got for September. They are 13mm in diameter.

Here in Sweden we have a chocolate bar called Fransk Nougat (French Nougat), made by Marabou , the biggest chocolate company in Sweden. These beads immediately made me think of that bar. :-)

My idea was to emphasize the chocolaty feeling of the beads. And hence, here is the necklace I made. Matinee length.

Two tones of seed beads of size 8/0 strung on beading wire. Antiqued copper lobster clasp and findings. Between each polymer clay bead by Jeannie also sits an 11/0 seed bead for a slight spacer effect.

Don't miss out on checking the other participants for this month:

• Jeannie K Dukic - our hostess
• Kristen Stevens
• Cindy Cima Edwards
• Michelle Buettner
• Shannon Chomanczuk
• Malin de Koning - you're already here!
• Charlie Jacka

All my best,

Malin

Barbara Bechtel on Polymer Clay

I just have to share this with you! Today I saw the first lesson/vlog in a coming series by my friend Barbara Bechtel. On the blog Love My Art Jewelry she will be sharing her knowledge and personal tips on good ways to work with polymer clay. Lesson one promises a great great general approach by Barbara. And further more great stuff to come with lots of good hints and advice.

"You have to get inside the head/the mind of the material you work with. Like a psychologist or therapist."

(Quoted freely by me)

I love that. It is so true.

Here's the direct link to the post with Barbara's first lesson.

Besides making great tutorials Barbara makes the most wonderful work in polymer clay. Beads I personally can't resist to buy. And beads that I love to use in my own work. Barbara is a true original artist. She has created many new styles and concepts. Styles I have seen copied by other bead makers at times. But Barbara is the original. And if you are looking for top quality you don't have to look further.

It is a good idea to go check her shop Floridity on Etsy often, because she updates with new beads and new styles kind of irregularly. I was lucky to get my hands on all of these beauties above just the other day. Oh, I am greedy, I know ;-). Now I am impatiently waiting for them to arrive in my mail box. All the way from Florida, over the Atlantic ocean they will travel. And end up in one of my jewelry pieces in a not too far future. And hopefully finally be sitting on some cool person walking the streets of Stockholm. Isn't that a truly beautiful collaboration over boundaries?

And here's another little tip from me to you. I like to look into the section of what's already been sold in a shop on Etsy. Because there you can get an idea of more things that might be available again in the future. It's not always what you see for sale in the shop, at the current time, that will show you the full capability of that particular artist. It's likely that the most unique or awesome pieces of a bead artist will sell quickly, because there is a fair bunch of people out there who are just as obsessive about art beads as I am. ;-)

Finally, here are a few of my own pieces that include beads by Barbara.

All my best,

Malin

Two summery bracelets

Summer has arrived with unusually warm temperatures here in Sweden. It's lovely, and all I wanna wear is clothes that keep me cool. Like white cotton or linen clothes. Long skirts and loose sitting tops. Sandals on my feet and a sunhat on my head. So I think some casual macrame bracelets to go with that outfit are needed. I've made two over the last couple of days. I love the casual feel of this style of jewelry.

No 1.

Thin thin nylon cord in a light kaki color.

Brown/goldy sidedrilled cylindrical bead in polymer clay by myself.

Ceramic beads by Elaine Ray. One fern colored and one light blue.

Czech glass beads in various colors and shapes.

Brass beads.

Howlite flat egg shaped bead.

Bone round bead.

No.2

Light grey waxed cotton string.

A green ceramic rose and a tan round bead by Gaea.

Yellow lampwork spacer bead by Genea. I loooove the color on that one.

Tan macaroni bead by Elaine Ray.

Czech glass.

Brassy round beads with an eye/leaf pattern.

Check out this great tutorial from Ornamentea on a really clever and easy way to do macrame. I would like to call it 'free-hand macramé'. No board is needed, no clips, no pins, no extra things apart from the string and the beads. You can sit anywhere doing this.

Calder Earrings

This is my entry for the Art Bead Scene Challenge for July. Inspired by the beautiful sculpture Blue Feather by Alexander Calder.

I wanted to capture the lightness of the sculpture, and the feeling of the black smaller pieces kind of floating in the air. I don't know if I managed doing that. But I was certainly intrigued by the spaces in between the materia in this sculpture. I would very much like to see it in reality to see it move around slowly. Must be very sort of meditative and calming.

The black and orange beads are handmade by myself in polymer clay. After they were baked I sanded them to sharpen up the shapes. I had planned to make them all smooth. But when I saw them like they are now I decided to leave the surface rough and with traces of the larger grade of sanding paper. I like the rustic feel it creates. I added turqouise Dupioni silk and some black matte Delicas.

Bracelet Paul & Polly

My entry for AprilABS is kind of my own personal/private fun experimental workshop put together in a bracelet. I have spent a lot of time scrutinizing Klee's painting. There are so many forms, colors and details in that painting you will never be finished looking at it. Always something new to experience and so many different ways of looking at it. It has really grown on me. (Although I have always been a fan of Klee.)

I made the curve and one of the beads myself in transparent polymer clay which I colored with Copic markers (that worked really well by the way, they contain alcohol).

Other materials/supplies I have used are black leather cord, recycled sari silk from Objects & Elements, an enamaled bead by Barbara Lewis at PaintingWithFire, various beads of wood, glass and brass, waxed linen cord and bronze wire.

For the "leaf dangle" I used a brass folded leaf from Objects & Elements and added an enameled headpin by Barbara Lewis. I made a spiral shape of the headpin.

Please write a comment! I would be very happy to hear what you think of this.

Links:

ABS - Art Bead Scene Blog

ABS - Art Bead Scene April Challenge

ABS - Art Bead Scene flickr page

Barbara Lewis - PaintingWithFireArtWear Blog

Objects & Elements Blog

Ginnys beautiful beads

Look at these beautiful beads! They are made by Ginny Henley. I just looove them and wish I could make something vaguely similar for the ABS April Challenge inspired by this painting by Paul Klee. Ginny has been very generous and told me the whole process of how to make them. But I am soooo far from that level of skill that she has when it comes to polymer clay bead making. And I don't even have a pasta machine yet. (Ginny told me to go and get one straight away.)

So today I was playing around with transparent polymer clay (which is actually more semi-transparent) and Copic Markers instead of colouring ink. Ginny had mention something about alcohol in the process, so I thought I could try the good old markers which my husband and I still have a bunch of since the days when we went to Art and Design college. And it worked really well! Just a tip for all you Polymer Clay artists out there. I am certainly going to continue experimenting with them and the clay. I played around a lot, which was great fun. And this one here I might use in my design of a bracelet for the challenge. It is a curved link which also follows the form of the wrist. I am very pleased with the form. (But it IS a crappy photo - I know. )

Bracelet - Take a Chance

I have entered my first competition ever with one of my jewelleries - the Art Bead Scene Challenge for March. Inspiration this month is a painting by Vincent van Gogh called Almond Blossom. The other entries can be seen here. (But you might not be able to see ALL of the entries unless you are a member of the Art Bead Scene group on flickr.)

I have made the branch and the flowers myself in Polymer Clay. Other materials are Dupioni Silk from Ornamentea, waxed linen cord, copper chain, 3 seed beads and Fire Line thread. On the picture below you can see how the branch with the flowers is constructed.

The Branch has five holes. It is made of a mixture of brown and golden clay. After being baked it was sanded for a smooth even curve, and then varnished for a shiny surface.

The flowers are made from six "worms" put together and then thinly sliced. I have mixed colors in the worms for a more lively color. After that holes in the middle. Baked. Sanded. Varnished

.

No extra paint has been added.

The Bracelet is named after Magic Number's song "Take a Chance", because that is what I feel I am doing, taking a chance with this entry.

Monday 29th of March in 4 stages & 5 photos

Link to Raceytey - the photographer on Etsy

Bracelet - Blue Rondo a la Turk

I've tried a for me new style. And I was inspired by the ABS Color Challenge. Might participate with this one. Anyway, this is the first piece I am naming after a piece of music. It has been an idea of mine for a while now ... to name all my jewellery after music I like ... and voilá ... this is the premier one. I have also added a link below so you can listen and see for yourself. Enjoy!

Materials:

Handmade goldy-brownish bead in polymer clay - Malin de Koning

Beach stone toggle - made by Kara at IhsBlack on Etsy

Three strands of silk from recycled saris - Objects and Elements

Silvery circular chain - YukiDesigns on Etsy

Waxed linen cord, metal buttons and lilac ceramic bead - Panduro

Check this out: Dave Brubeck Quartet plays Blue Rondo a la Turk live on an American TV show. They are flying on a magic carpet over LA whilst playing. In the end they get a ticket from a police officer ...

Mine and my daughter Arabella's (6) first attempts in Polymer Clay earlier tonight

Just taken out of the oven. Arabella made that really nice set of two-colored ones.

The Polymer Clay I bought on saturday

I also bought some tools. Will try it out now ... and then I will let you know how it went. Primararly I will try to make things for the 2 current challenges that ABS has right now.

Challenge for March at Art Bead Scene Blog

The challenge is to make jewellery inspired by this van Gogh painting, Almond Blossom. It has to include an art bead, read what that is on Art Bead Scene. I feel like I want to try to make an art bead or two myself for this one. Thought I would try polymer clay. I have never worked in that material before, but why not start now. Have already watched some tutorials on YouTube. Might go and purchase some clay at Panduro tomorrow (the swedish equivalent of Michel's in the US). And opposite on that street, Kungsgatan in central Stockholm, is that amazing shop that has about one million ribbons and buttons. I will most likely pop in there too. Lunch at Nalen restaurant perhaps?