Inspiration: My garden flowers, Part 2

Despite a late icy Spring, too much snow and rain, heavy summer thunderstorms with hail in July, followed by weeks of dry, scorching temperatures, these perennials put on a good show again this year!  They can't help but inspire! 

 

Daylilies in yellow & orange.

Earrings:  Glass beads in yellow & orange 
with scrolled wire.

Necklace:  Yellow swirled glass 
with yellow & clear crystal beads.

 

Pink-violet Spirea & flowering bush. 

Necklace: Varying shades of simulated purple pearls 
with clear glass and crystal beads.

  

 

Several variety of Hosta.  

Earrings: Shimmering glass beads 

with rose & green crystals.  

Necklace: Wavy green stone wrapped in wire.

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Thanks again to my aunts for their generous gifts of plants to my own garden!  


See more nature-inspired items at Sharyl's Jewelry!

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Store owners--Summer blooms are fading, so I'm having a double-sale!  Please contact Sharyl via website "Business Contact Form" for details about the "Summer Sale" and "Fall Preview Sale!"  Both last until Aug. 31, 2011.

Greetings, Robin!

I want to introduce and welcome Robin, our newest follower!  Robin has a blog I learned about though another follower, and it's just delightful!   Not limited to jewelry, it's called "The Handmade Revolution."


It covers everything from the values of handmade items to the goodness of fresh food grown and sold close to home.   I think any of us who make handmade jewelry can be grateful to have someone out there reminding the world of the good reasons to buy handmade products!    If this blog doesn't do the job, I'm not sure what will! 
  
Robin, I love the feel-good viewer appreciation statement on your page:   "If you are here, you are awesome."   And the design is so appealing too.    So in addition to thanking you for joining our small gathering, I'd like to thank you for raising awareness for what we do!     Robin also sells jewelry, scarves, and other items at www.bellaandbean.etsy.com.


As with all our followers and drop-in readers/visitors, I hope you'll feel free to comment on postings, ask questions, and join the conversation!    Welcome to you, and thanks again to all Followers!
--Sharyl


 Sharyl's Jewelry

Inspiration: Glass

I've been mesmerized by glass for years. The colors. The shapes into which it is formed. The way light reflects from its surface.  Its cool, smooth, shiny texture when touched.




Several years ago, two colleagues and I sat in a restaurant trying to find a metaphor to pull together a presentation we were planning for a conference.   We had struggled, and brainstormed, were hungry, and near frustration, when one of us leaned back, and looking upward, caught a glimpse of a stained glass window in the ceiling above us.  Suddenly, we had our metaphor and our inspiration--it was glass, wonderful glass, in its many forms!*


Since then, I've collected glass bottles in various colors, taken photographs of glass, and designed jewelry with glass beads.   What a beautiful, fragile (yet strong) piece of art glass can be!


Below are just a few of the glass bottles and other items I've collected, paired with glass bead jewelry of similar shades.

The pale green/blue of ocean water

The "Pink Stuff"

 

Dark Blue--My Favorite

  

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*A few words from the above-mentioned conference program summary:

To create glass, you must heat a mixture of raw materials to such an extreme that their molecular bonds break and then quickly cool the newly created substance in order to lock the atoms into a random state before they can form into a perfect crystal arrangement. In other words, glass, the very substance that makes our high-speed digital networks possible through fiber optics, is a type of frozen chaos. The potential for glass, like the potential of digital resources, is limited only by our imaginations....

Internet Librarian 2005, "Session D106 — Glassworks: The Public Library as the Center of a Digital World"  

--This page dedicated to my friends and former colleagues, E.R. and T.R.

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For more jewelry designed with glass beads, visit Sharyl's Jewelry.

Inspiration: My garden flowers

I've always enjoyed taking photographs of nature, whether a formal flower garden, a wild flower or stream, fall leaves, green plants, the ocean, pebbles or mountains.   In addition to enjoying the beauty of nature for itself, and the pleasure of capturing an image for a moment in time, lately I've been reflecting on the connections between those nature images and the jewelry I create.   

From time to time, among our other topics of discussion, I'd like to share with you some sources of inspiration to me--in this case, some favorite flowers from my home garden and a few pieces of jewelry.  I can't say that in any of these cases, I looked at the flower and immediately went into the house and created the piece of jewelry.   However, I do see connections between the them.  And certainly, when I look at these images now, I realize why I enjoy jewelry-making, gardening, and photographing flowers so much!   Hopefully you will find something pleasing here as well.   

Peony in bloom. 

 These bushes have been passed down 

from generation-to-generation on my mother's side of the family.  

I feel honored to have them in my gardens at home.

Wire-wrapped smooth rose quartz crystal pendant.

               

Purple iris, a gift from a dear aunt's garden to mine.   

Pendant with 2 layers of rectangular glass beads, 

one purple, one silver, 

fastened with wire in zagged pattern.

We have hydrangeas in several colors, but this blue one is my favorite.

Glass, crystal, and metal beads, freshwater pearls, 

with lots and lots of wound wire in various gauges 

create a lacy blue and silver bangle bracelet 

that's soft-looking yet 

shines and sparkles.

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Please visit Sharyl's Jewelry to see more jewelry designs.

All jewelry and photographs by Sharyl McMillian-Nelson © July 2011.

Inspiration: Lied Lodge, Arbor Day Farm, trees & berries

We took a weekend trip last month, as we do many years, to the Lied Lodge & Conference Center in Nebraska City.   If you live in the Midwest, it makes for a great weekend get-away!  We often meet up with relatives there, and find that it's become a destination spot in recent years for weddings, so we can watch one or so of those on the lawn from the balcony!   Next to the Lodge is Arbor Day Farm, with hiking, gift shops, free trees to take home, and more!

But the true joy for me, in addition to the Lodge and tree farm, is the beauty of the outdoors and the surrounding areas.   While I was there, I couldn't resist doing what I always do when I get a camera in my hands, and that was taking photos of every tree, bush, flower, leaf, and pebble I saw!    

I was particularly drawn to this tree and the colors of its berries, and it inspired my jewelry-making  for weeks!
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I started with the necklaces below, trying to capture the color of the pink, red, and light green berries against the darker green leaves.    I used wooden lime green beads for the "stems," various stone beads in shades of red and green for the "berries," and ended with wire "leaves."        
                                                             

 

Next came "red berry" earrings in "leaf maze."  (below)

  

Finally, here is the bracelet I just finished....

..."branches" twisted and tangled 

in a criss-cross pattern, 

red and green "berries" of various shades and sizes.

These were a joy to make and remind me of a charming weekend surrounded by the trees of this historic, environmentally important, and beautiful area!    

Please share with us,... what inspires YOU?!

Sharyl 

P.S. If you like these color combinations, you can view a few more items in these colors on   Sharyl's Jewelry -- Earring page.

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Credits:

• All photos and jewelry by Sharyl © July 2011
• All nature shots this page taken on the Lied Lodge & Conference Center grounds.

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Welcome, Followers!

I noticed July 1st, I was no longer just talking to myself...someone else was "out there!"   So I want to welcome our first official "Follower!"   I'm thrilled to have you here, and to see you've come so far to join the conversation! 


I took a look at your blog too...who could resist!   What beautiful and unique jewelry.   You obviously have talent and knowledge I could learn from, so I hope you'll share comments!   Your photography is wonderful too, so tips on taking interesting photos of jewelry would certainly be welcome also! Greetings and thank you for joining!  --Sharyl

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Before I got this posted, we gained a second follower, another gifted jewelry artist and photographer!   I'm so excited to have such talented people with us!   To anyone else following, please check out their blogs as well!   


Thank you for the comment found at the bottom of the July 2 entry! Great ideas for photo backgrounds for jewelry!   --Sharyl  

Jewelry for July 4th...and other days

   From my house to yours,... 

Happy Independence Day!

We're not celebrating the July 4th holiday weekend in a big way at our house this year.   My other job is one where I work most holidays.   If we go "all out," we'll garden a bit and my husband will grill some burgers, (make mine a veggie burger, please)!     

But in honor of the holiday, I thought I'd bring out a few designs that remind me of this holiday, just to put us in the spirit of things!   Everyone is different about this, but when I design things (or purchase things) for holidays, I prefer it if they can be worn (or used) on more than one occasion.   I like to be "festive," but not have to store something all year to bring out only once.

Because of this, I tend to go for color schemes rather than patterns that scream out a particular holiday, or I layer on bracelets in colors that work together for that particular holiday.   Instead of wearing a red, white, and blue beaded bracelet, I'm more likely to put on a bracelet that's blue paired with one with predominantly red colors.   Sometimes I wear one, sometimes I pile on 5 or 6!                                                                                                To the left are earrings, each made of 3 off-white hoops linked together by wire.  The wire "joints" between sections make the earrings dangle loosely rather than remain one stiff piece.  The color makes them easy to pair with red and/or blue for the 4th, but good for every other day of the year too!  

Below are a few items from my collection one might want to wear for July 4th...or other occasions too!  Hope you enjoy!  

Twisted wire bangle bracelet in shades of blue, clear crystal, and 

white freshwater pearls.

All-red beaded bracelet with hand-crafted wire clasp

            

     Pendants in shades of navy, blue, and red, with scrolled wire designs.

                       

 Earrings featuring glass beads in red, yellow, and navy (left) and navy blown-glass beads with red accent beads and wire scroll work (right).

   

Whether you are making, wearing, or reading about jewelry this weekend, I wish you, your families, friends, and communities, a happy and peaceful Independence Day 2011!

--Sharyl

Sharyl's Jewelry