Two Bracelets

Macrame bracelet - Art Beads:

2 Wing Ding glass beads by Genea

1 Ceramic disc by Golem Beads

1 Lime green ceramic round by Gaea

Seagull bracelet - Art Beads:
1 Polymer clay Seagull bird by SomethingToDoBeads
1 Blue Erudite facetted polymer clay bead by Second Surf

All my best,

Malin de Koning

Love, passion and thrill (and a necklace and a bracelet)

It feels to me like I haven't been all that productive with my jewelry making over the last couple of months. That is not all true, I know, because I HAVE made pieces here and there, but I haven't been at all as productive as I would have been if I hadn't had a few distractions going on around me in my life. I have missed my jewelry making. Big time actually. I have still had my hands occupied with making beaded beads, tons of them actually ... but more about that in another post coming up soon(-ish).

I have missed my beads, I have missed to just be looking at them, fondling them, combining them and so on. Communicating with them, and via them. You know what I mean, don't you. I realize what an extraordinary strong love affair I have with my beads. Serious serious love. And an addiction. Now again I feel so content, so stimulated and so lustful. Passionate. And still lusting for more.

Over the last few days I have been finding myself spending more and more time in my beading studio again. I mean not just popping in there every now and then, but sessions going on for many hours. I made a smaller clean up of my messy work area, and I sorted a lot of the beads just laying around in different piles previously created as a result of how my ideas processes work.

I have so many wonderful wonderful beads in my stash. And I guess it in a way sometimes might be good to not hang with them for a while, because when you meet up again, you sort of re-discover them with a clean mind. That is how I feel now at least.

Look at those large shell beads in the necklace below! They are about 22 mm across, but not heavy at all. I bought them about 6 months ago. From HappyMangoBeads. I thought they were a bit on the expensive side for me to be honest, I mean for what you get. And I hesitated for more than a week before I finally made up my mind. Oh, how glad I am that they ended up with me. They are simply absolutely gorgeous, worth every penny. My idea at the time was that they would end up in a chunky and summery bracelet. But look at that necklace I made the other day instead. It was one of those you know, that sort of designs itself and your hands seem to be simply just a tool for some higher power. May I say myself that I adore it? It looks absolutely fantastic on (sorry I don't have a good picture of that yet.) And it is also packed with a bunch of art beads and components from some of my favorite bead artisans. I think it has a strong wintery holiday feel to it. What do you think?

It will be for sale in my Etsy shop in a not too far future. (Or you are very welcome to contact me already now if you are interested in buying it.)

• Verdigris Loop 'T' Loop by Staci Louise of SLArtisanAccents
• Kiwi green ceramic round by Elaine Ray
• Dark green erudite facetted polymer clay nuggets by Barbara Bechtel of SecondSurf
• White cylindrical ceramic bead from EarthButterStudio
• Aqua blue green crackle glaze large ceramic round from EarthButterStudio
• Green ceramic wheel disc by Round Rabbit
• Shell beads from Happy Mango Beads
• Round rosey copper link by E2SSupplies
• Orange waxed linen cord
• Chocolate brown silk ribbon

And a humble(-ish) bracelet with facetted oval glass beads with some sort of coating that make them sparkle a bit more and look a little milky too, and a copper leaf link by Joanne Tinley of DaisyChains. It also has a winter holiday feel to it, don't you think. This one will also turn up in my Etsy shop very soon.

• Oxidized copper leaf link from DaisyChainExtra
• Facetted oval glass bead crystal clear with a coating
• Round pearl coated white bead
• Green enameled bead caps
• Red round small glass bead
• Copper hook
• Pale cellery green waxed linen cord

All my best,Malin de Koning

Two new Earrings

Pearls, glass trade beads, Vintaj brass links, silk cord. Vintaj brass ear hooks.




Polymer clay faceted chunky beads by Barbara Bechtel of Floridity or Second Surf. Oxidized copper wire. Oxidized copper ear hooks.


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

Floridity Give Away on Pretty Thing's Blog

Can you believe it! Just the other day I was looking at these beads in Floridity's shop on Etsy. I marked them as favourites, to hopefully be able to purchase when I get in to some money. And now Lori Andersson of Pretty Things has a give away for these beauties. Go to Lori's blog and find out what you should do to have a chance to win. Floridity is Barbara Bechtel, and her blog is called Second Surf.