She's Gone Hoopy on Me.....

I've been making hoops for a long time now, and wrapping them with all sorts of things like beads, crystals, metal and stones for just as long.  But somehow, I don't get tired of it and when I launch into one of these "hoop fits" I tend to do several, just to see how they will look....

Red coral beads on gold filled hoops, small

 Sometimes, it's just that I've found such cool small beads that I want to try out each type, including recent finds of red coral, tiger eye and natural amber.

Natural Tiger Eye Stone beads on gold filled hoops, small

But recently, I invented a new design that reminds me of a zipper or a zig-zag.  It requires really small beads, 2 mm or smaller, so I don't have a big range of colors and stones available quite yet, but carnelian, garnets and adventurine have given me hoops in scarlet red, deep red and cool green to date.

Tiny Carnelian Stone beads on sterling silver hoops, small

Normally, the base for these hoops is forged of either sterling or gold filled to a size of between 1 and 1 1/4" diameter, and then the beads, etc. are bound to the hoop.  It's a design I like to wear because they are secure and don't fall out easily in winter, when I'm usually wrapped in a scarf (even in the house) or pulling on a coat or jacket (when I dare venture out, given the extreme weather we still endure here, mid February.)  So rather than complain about the new snowstorm due to start again here in the morning, I'll just close with a small collage of recent hoop designs for now.

Click this image to find a whole hoop collection in my Etsy Studio!

Happy "President's Day" to one and all and hope your weather is better than our weather!

New Thoughts and New Pieces

Keishi Pearl Bouquet and Vine Hoops

Despite the crazy distractions of life the past few months, I've been finding studio hours when and where ever possible, but it's only when I finally make some time for photography, together with the detachment that offers, that I can see some patterns and directions in the work.

I'm seeing some ideas evolve and tonight I made some little groupings/collages to see how a few specific forms have changed with time.  I rarely stick with a singular idea and just run through permutations.  Instead, I normally juggle a collection of ideas, and one sort of feeds another.  Very handy if I hit a block in one structure, because then I've got something else ready to work on until I can come back with new solutions.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this very well, but at any rate, the structure above, evolved from the beauty of the center drilled keishi pearl used as a kind of flower,  and these pieces span at least 3 or 4 months of evolution.  I love the tiny, organic details and it's been fun to experiment with different combinations of materials and colors. 

These are surprisingly easy to wear, although they are somewhat heavier than a plain hoop. I've been wrapping and carefully binding stones and beads to hoops for a long time now, and I wonder if this more free spirited, organic approach is a reaction to that tight precision?  What I do know is these literally grow right out of my gardener background and study of plants and vines.

I've got a few posts worth of other new structures and ideas that I've be concurrently exploring with some depth, so will be putting these up over the next week or so!!  I've got a really broad collection of earrings in my studio on Etsy these days, so if you're thinking new earrings might be just the thing for Spring?  Do take a look!

Thanks for stopping by!

Actions Speak Louder....

...so although I've not had too much to say the past few months, thankfully, I've been mostly immersed in my studio. OK, I know that sounds lame, but how to explain my tied tongue? I really cannot.

But the work of making things, this has not failed me these days. The Winter holidays were good for my little shop. And then there's Valentine's day. I don't quite know why I'm so enamored with the iconic "heart" shape, but I am, and have been for years and years. A smattering of more recent earring designs is below and there are many more in my shop. A quick list of links to earlier "heart art" is at the bottom of this posting.


Earrings are all mixed up with everything else, and somehow wound up in 3 different sections in my studio--as gifts, as $30 and under, and as Hoops and more.

I just love the color red so find Valentine's day a great excuse to use a little more than usual. It's also a nice color to work with during the cold, gray days of mid winter--sort of lightens up the visuals! Above is a screen shot of my shop at a recent moment in time. I find that I change it around several times a day as I've learned that the average visit is usually to page one--and I've got around 13 pages these days! So moving things from the back to the front in some wacky rotation is a current strategy. Opening other shops or web sites is another idea I'm thinking about, but that's a huge commitment so I'm not exactly rushing into it!

Meanwhile, I've been trying to design new Pearl Bibs at a rate of a couple new ones per week. I find this structure to be challenging in an engineering sort of way. And since pearls come in so many different colors, shapes and sizes, having a general design in mind is only the beginning as it seems each one comes together a little differently, based on the pearls attributes. Click on the image to see the current listing of pearl bibs in the studio.

I just realized it's too tedious to list past posts about hearts and valentines....but using the blog search over on the right------------------------------->
the word heart give 15 posts and the word valentines gives another 3 posts. So if either of these topics, as explored in an art blog, are interesting to you, please have a peek using the tools right here!!

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by!

Lucky Random Mix

Mixed Metal Hoop Earrings with Peridot Green Glass Leaves

A lucky chance mixture of photos in my "Collage" folder on my computer desktop inspired me today. Earrings current in my Etsy shop and Autumn photo collages from recent walks seem to have color echoes that are surprising and interesting, to my eyes.



Autumn is one of the most colorful seasons here as so many of the different grasses, trees, bushes and other plants take on shades of orange, yellow, red, purple and many subtleties of browns and earth tones, and a full palette of greens. And there are still flowers blooming (especially sedums and there is a huge bed of asters I've been meaning to capture.)

Beaded Hoop Earrings with Pastel Opalized Glass Beads and Sterling Silver

These original earrings are coiled hoop constructions from my studio and each feature a different "bead soup" which is a cute way of describing a mixture of beads that are somehow color coordinated, and then used randomly. The three color schemes in earring designs each echo the autumn collage above.

Beaded Hoop Earrings Bright Colored Trade Beads Original Coiled and Bound Sterling

The mix of antique trade beads above are from Ghana. Their history is they were made in Europe, probably Bohemia or Italy, at least 100 years ago and then made their way to Africa where they were used for trading--a kind of currency. What inspires me is the effect of the joyous color mixtures as there are so many little individually different beads.

Hoop Earrings Tourmaline Colored Vintage Beads Original Coiled and Bound

The vintage bead soup used for this coiled design is labeled "Watermelon Tourmaline" as the color selection is inspired by a semi-precious gemstone by this name. Small faceted transparent glass beads in shades of purples, pinks, teal, light and dark green, clear and light pastels mimic this stone and hold their own as they add a vintage flavor to this mixed color palette.

So it's gray, rainy and much cooler but the weekend, our last open for camping this year at WillOaks, could be lovely typical fall weather. Sending best wishes for a lovely weekend to all!! Thanks for dropping by!

Hoops, Finale (for now)

I had a strand of natural Spinel stones and the range of colors was truly amazing. Too much of a good thing because I fussed and fiddled with these for an awfully long time before I finally, FINALLY committed myself to making something with them. Well, I was also intimidated because I don't usually spend quite that much $$ on 14 inches of stones on a string....

But prior to this, I had worked with a strand of rubies of a similar price tag and I've sold a few of those OOAK earrings, so maybe I'm getting more confidence about taking risks like this? At any rate, examples of my final "hoop form" in the hoop mania I have been covering, and these are examples that are currently available in my Etsy Shop.

Silver Hoop Earrings with Wire Wrapped Spinel Gems OOAK

Pastel Spinel Big Hoop Sterling OOAK Earrings with Latchback, Gold and Silver

Copper Hoop Earrings with Spinel Stones OOAK Hoop Earrings

So this coming Saturday, I'll be setting up a display of a collection of my pieces in the big picture window of the gallery in Barrington, BCAC at the IceHouse Mall, that I've mentioned here earlier. It's a gallery program called "Featured Artist of the Month" and eventually, almost everyone gets a turn. I'm at the stage of making my final selection of pieces to use, themes to follow, etc. I think it will be fun but am very hopeful that my last order of display busts gets here in time.......

Meanwhile, over in the WillOaks Studio on Etsy, I've begun to post a body of work that features tons of pearls....I'll write a little more about this newly revisted direction later this week!!

The weather is crummy, rain rain rain rain.....

Hope your week's going great!

Back track to Hoops

If you check in now and then, perhaps you have noticed that I often work in series. That is, I don't usually just make one version of an idea but often explore many variations on a theme. The past summer, while I was working and not writing much, I became enamored with hoop earrings. In fact, I did about 4 different series featuring different design approaches to this shape.

Below, a few examples from my more simple design with a focus on gemstones wrapped around a nice size of hoop. All sterling hoops and wires and all semiprecious stones in the roundel shape.

Chrysoprase Big Hoop Earrings Wrapped with Silver

Amethyst Hoop Earrings Sterling and Phlox Purple Wrapped with Silver

Tiny Peach Coral Beads Wrapped on Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings

Ruby Big Hoop Earrings Wrapped with Silver

Peridot, carnelian, and crystals in a chakra rainbow are also in my shop with this shape of hoop. Pearls, garnets and other stones are still on my "to do" list. I think of this design as a staple in the sense that monochromatic pieces like these can be easily and frequently used--and do not necessarily need to "match" the color of one's outfit--in fact, as a counterpoint, it can really be a lot of fun!

Later, I'll show other directions that hoops have taken in my recent work, from simple to wild and crazy.

Speaking of wild and crazy, best wishes for a nice weekend--here in the Midwest, we are getting our first taste of sustained cold weather. A bit too early for my tastes.....