3 bracelets

Bracelet - Rusty Rose Garden - SOLD!

Art beads: rusty red patinated chain by MissFickleMedia, rose swirl clasp by TheCuriousBeadShop, beaded bead by Malin de Koning

Other beads and components: green jade (semiprecious stone) rounds, rose goldy czech glass faceted coins, dark green waxed linen cord


Bracelet - Samarkand

Art beads: painted polymer clay beads by GracefulWillowBeads

Other beads and components: matte anthracite large seed beads, brass colored large seed beads, turquoise picasso glass cubes, heavily oxidized brass hook and eye clasp, dark turquoise waxed linen cord


Bracelet - Surf's Up

Art beads: hand painted boat shaped wooden beads by GracefulWillowBeads

Other beads and components: cloudy turquoise glass bicones, milky ivory gilt lined seed beads, heavily oxidized brass hook and eye clasp, black waxed linen cord


Please contact me if you are interested in any of these bracelets. 
malindekoning[at]hotmail.com

All my best,
Malin

Earrings

4 new pairs of earrings:

Hammered copper hearts by Joanne Tinley of DaisyChain

Earwires by CuriousBead

All my best,

Malin

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please let me know if you are interested in buying any of my jewelry pieces. 

Write to me:  malindekoning[at]hotmail.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BSBP 7 - Partner and Beads

My partner for the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party is Agi (short for Agatha) Kiss from Hungary. Yes, her surname is Kiss. How cool is that?! I realize that it of course doesn't mean the same thing in Hungarian, but still ...

Her business name in jewelry is MoonSafariBeads. 

Check out her blog here. It's bilingual.

And her Etsy shop here.

We are in the third reveal, on the 13th of April.

Hungary is a central European country, with a long and interesting history, and a very exciting cultural heritage. I am not overly knowledgable about it all at the moment, but my curiosity has been awoken now, so I will definetely look into it a bit more. It might perhaps lend some inspiration to the pieces I will make with what I got from Agi. I certainly hope so anyway.

Agi is a wiz with the polymer clay. Just check out these absolutely beautiful earrings below. I adore them!

She is also a skilled seed beader.

I got an exciting and beautiful soup from Agi. With a colorful mix of her awesome own made beads, and a clasp, in polymer clay, and other beads as well. Do you see the large blue rivoli bead in the bottom left picture? Now I will have to give it a go for the first time in my life to bezel a rivoli/cabochon. And I already have an idea for the polymer clay beads with the metal wire going through them. And check out that large metal pendant ... yum!

I sent Agi a, in my own mind, rather diverse soup, with no special theme to connect it all together. If anything, it would be the three different color themes, red, purple and green. And I did put a lot of art beads in there in materials other than polymer clay, for Agi to play around with. 

All my best,

Malin

I came back yesterday from Savannah, Georgia ...

I came back yesterday from Savannah, Georgia ...

... and look what I found there, and brought back with me. 

A new bracelet:

• Ceramic round star-flower bead by RoundRabbit. 
• Wood, glass, copper and silvery beads knotted on pale blue waxed cotton cord.

But in fact, no, I have never been to Savannah, Georgia for real. This is only how I imagine that it feels to be there. To walk under those very special trees with the spanish moss hanging from them. To pass  the old houses with their front gardens. We are in the south, so lots of sunlight bleaches any strong colors. A general atmosphere of older, past times. A very interesting place that I would love to visit one day. 

Of course my imagination is strongly colored by the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt. The book way much more than the film. Even visually from my inner visions. The book is always so much better than any film in my opinion. I did like the film too. But the book is sooooo much richer. It must be around 15-17 years since I read it. It's about time I do it again. I'd like to listen to it as an audiobook in English, so if anyone knows of a good reading, please let me know. 

It's funny how a design of a bracelet can take you on such a journey. Totally unexpected for me. Very pleasant though. It only came about as I was going to name the piece for the Etsy listing, ($49).

All my best,

Malin

Swedish Lesson #8

Hi,

long longed for ... here is my 8th Swedish Lesson. The 8th! I am sorry I was confused in the making, and call it the 7th.

Lucia in Sweden

On the 13th of December every year we celebrate Lucia here in Sweden. It is a celebration filled with emotional tradition. I myself always get tears in my eyes when I see the procession and hear the songs. It is so beautiful and special. It really puts me in the pre-spirit of Christmas. The film above is filmed at my children's school yesterday morning. It was my daughter's year's turn to do the procession this year.

The rascal bunch with my daughter Arabella, furthest to the left.

Here's some information on Lucia that I have picked from Wikipedia

Saint Lucia's Day is the Church feast day dedicated to St. Lucy and is observed on the 13th of December. Its celebration is generally associated with Sweden and Norway, but is also observed in Denmark, Finland, and sometimes in a few other countries.

In the United States it is celebrated with cookies on the mantel in states with a large number of people of Scandinavian ancestry, often centered around church events.

In traditional celebrations, Saint Lucy comes as a young woman with lights and sweets. It is one of the few saint days observed in Scandinavia.

The current tradition of having a white-dressed woman with candles in her hair appearing on the morning of the Lucia day started in the late 18th century.

The modern tradition of having public processions in the Swedish cities started in 1927 when a newspaper in Stockholm elected an official Lucia for Stockholm that year. The initiative was then followed around the country through the local press. Today most cities in Sweden appoint a Lucia every year.

Schools elect a Lucia and her maids among the students and a national Lucia is elected on national television from regional winners. The regional Lucias will visit shopping malls, old people's homes and churches, singing and handing out pepparkakor (gingerbread).

Boys take part in the procession as well, playing different roles associated with Christmas. Some may be dressed in the same kind of white robe, but with a cone-shaped hat decorated with golden stars, called stjärngossar (star boys); some may be dressed up as tomtenissar (Santa's little helper), carrying lanterns; and some may be dressed up as gingerbread men.

A traditional kind of bun, Lussekatt (St. Lucia Bun), made with saffron, is normally eaten on this day.

Although St. Lucia's Day is not an official holiday in Sweden, it is a very popular occasion in Sweden.

Hope this has helped you to get in the Christmas spirit as much as I am now.

All my best,

Malin

My love affair with Art Bead Scene pt 1

Ooooohhhhh! Look! Another interview with me. This time on Art Bead Scene! I'm excited to say the least. Very honoured indeed. Thank you sooooo much Erin!

Art Bead Scene Blog: Meet the Designer :: Malin de Koning

Art Bead Scene has been an inspirational place for me ever since I first discovered them in early 2010. A leading star! I don't remember how I even came across them. Probably from searching for and about HumbleBeads or Heather Powers who I'd discovered on Etsy about a year earlier. I think it was one of the first times I was actually on Etsy, in late 2008, that I came across one of her Dandelion Beads, in a turquoise color she hasn't done for a while now.

At the time I had no idea of the concept of Art Beads, or of Bead Artists. I was looking for bargin deals and as cheap as possible beads, findings and components. Oh yes, I had not yet figured out some very important things about jewelry making. But I fell helplessly in love with these. I'd never seen anything like it. I mean just look at the picture. So I attempted to make a purchase. My first one ever on Etsy. Imagine that, me who wanted to pay no more than 10p per bead, was suddenly prepared to pay 8 dollars! Don't know why, but something screwed up so it didn't go through. I guess I didn't understand totally how to go about it, being a beginner and all. Then it must have sold to someone else very shortly after, coz I remember keeping coming back to Heathers shop ever so often to look if she put some new ones out for sale. And no, I didn't know of custom orders either yet. Otherwise I would of course have contacted Heather, but ...

Then in the summer of 2009 I went into a magazine shop here in Stockholm. I found a whole section of magazines on beading and jewelry. Bought a bunch. One of them was Beads 2009. And there I saw Heathers Turqoise bird. Ooooohhhhhhh! Instant love again! Same artist! Went to her Etsy shop to buy the bird instead. None there. :-( I kept coming back, but no luck. Then somehow I found out BelloModo was also selling Heathers beads. Voila! I made my purchase from them. And early 2010 or if it was late 2009 I had bough my first Art Bead.

That's what I thought anyway. But actually I had bought some other ones before, without even knowing they were art beads. By Maureen Thomas Designs, in May '09. At the time I had gotten a larger sum of sort of backtracked money, and I went a bit crazy with my bead shopping for a period. Building up quite a bit of my stash. But mostly still looking for cheap deals ... (if I'd only known then what I know now, but I gues you can only live and learn). These ones I couldn't resist though. I still have the necklace I made from them in my drawer. I never wear it, and I don't want to sell it either, so maybe it's time to take it apart and reuse the goodie goodie goodies. YUM!

Anyway, back to Art Bead Scene. In early 2010 I first came across the blog. And their challanges. Oh, there were beads one could win. Oh, there was a possibility to be featured. Oh, Heather Powers was one of the contributors. Oh, and Lorelei Eurto too (I will come back to her later). Oh, I really like what people are doing for the challenges. Oh, there is something called flickr too. Discoveries discoveries discoveries! Art Beads!?! What is that? Artisans!?! Learning, exploring, incorporating, expanding. A whole new universe had opened for me. Inspiration! WOW!

WOW!

So I dared! In March '10 I submitted my first piece to an Art Bead Scene Challenge. I was sooooo nervous. I had to open a flickr account. I had to add to the group. Name the piece and tag it correctly to be accepted. I even named the piece "Take A Chance" after a Magic Numbers song. And I wasn't refused! Happy happy happy!

So with my newly achieved confidence, I submitted a new piece again the next month. This was fuuuuuun! It is so great to interact with others. To get feedback, and to give feedback. But guess what happened?! Lorelei picked my piece for Designer of the Week! I was astounded! That was kind of never on my agenda to happen.

She said:

"That curved focal is what draws my eye into this piece, as well as the curved

lines in the Klee painting. I love the bright and happy colors Malin uses to emulate the painting. Bead placement is so great, and draws your eye around and around, so many interesting things to look at here!

Always a fan of mixed media, Malin throws in some soft silk too, and that

addition makes this divine!!"

(Or check here for the featured article on ABS).

So now I was definitely hooked. I had started my own blog in the beginning of 2010, and more people started to visit it regularly. I was in flow sort of. Art Beads, Art Beads and mooooore Art Beads! I just couldn't get enough. I still can't to be honest. Oh, how they make jewelry making fun and exciting. I am collaborating with people from all over the world when I make my pieces. I LOOOOOOOOOVE IT!

Now, I have so much more to tell you about how I feel about Art Bead Scene, Heather Powers, Lorelei Eurto and more things related. I think I will have to make that into a part two of this story.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Don't miss out on reading the interview with me on Art Bead Scene.

And here's a link to another interview with me on A Jewelry Accord.

Please come back soon!

Swedish Lesson #6

Swedish Lesson #5 - Easter Witches

Swedish Lesson #4 - You are way wrong

A little bit of Swedish history that relates to the USA

During the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century about 1.3 million Swedes emigrated to the USA. Main reasons being poverty, bad crops here in Sweden and just generally the American Dream of the Promised Land.

An excellent source to learn more about this is to read the novel suite The Emigrants by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg, which he wrote between 1949 and 1959. (The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers, The Last Letter Home). These books are considered to be among the best pieces of Swedish literature. And I do recommend them strongly.

In the 1970's two films were made based on the book suite. The Emigrants and The New Land. These films I also highly recommend. They were shown on Swedish TV when I was a child, around 7 to 9 years old, and I still have very vivid memories from them. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman plays the two leading roles.

In the 1990's the two former ABBA members Björn Ulveus and Benny Andersson did a musical based on the story, Kristina from Duvemåla. The music clip from YouTube is from a performance by the female lead singer Helene Sjöholm, singing the main theme, where she is doubting God's existance. I get goose pimps!

My grandmother's older brother Harald Lignell emigrated in the 1920's. And I know I have a whole family of relatives from his descendants living in the US today. My cousin Eva went there and saw them some 20-30 years ago. I remember her showing photos of the amazing house they lived in. As I remember it, it was a round house looking almost like a spaceship that had landed in the desert. There was a small group of these houses built as I remember it on the outskirts of Phoenix Arizona. I think I must contact her soon to get the facts right. It would be very much fun if anyone would happen to know what I am talking about though. Those houses are apparently famous. My maiden name was Nordstrom (or Nordstroem, depending on how you choose to spell it). And isn't there a big and nice ware house called Nordstrom's in Chicago and around that area. I don't know if the founder was a relative of mine, but I can always fantasize, can't I.

Hej då!

Vi ses snart igen!

Malin

Swedish Lesson #3 - a very useful phrase

The story of Alice, Charlie & the Wood Adventure

I went for a walk in the woods behind our house today. And my cats decided to come along, as they often do. It is very cozy to have their company.

We decided to stop by the big rocks and just hang out there for a little while. Listening to the birds tweeting and just enjoying the sites.But then suddenly just after I took this last picture Charlie shot off. Something was going on, but what? I started filming. And you should see the film to find out what happened. I think you will enjoy watching it! It is a three-part film. About 3 1/2 minutes alltogether.The link should take you to a playlist for all three films. In the end I speak Swedish if you wonder. I get so 'excited' that I kind of forget the english ...

Please excuse the bad quality of the film, it is the first time ever I upload something to YouTube.