Echoes of Ela

Artistry in metal, stone and glass

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Jewelry trends

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Mixed metal mania

Just fresh off a wonderful jewelry show (do take a moment to check out Mythic Silver) and up to my eyeballs in Christmas orders, I wanted to pop in today to give you a small glimpse of what has occupied my time lately.

If you have read this post, you know that I am veering more and more towards the metal smithing spectrum of jewelry making. More specifically I absolutely adore anything created from mixed metals.
The look that is achieved by combining my three favorite materials, copper, silver and jeweler’s brass, is timeless and yields endless possibilities. My hunch that this might be popular with my customers was confirmed at my last event. Over and over I heard “I love mixed metals”. So do I my friends, so do I.
Why? Well, for one thing, they have been around for a long time. The combination of metals, especially the kind that sports a patina, is one that is equally at home with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, the outfit you wear to the office and your lbd. Speaking of patina, let me show you an example of patina that knocks it out of the park in my eyes.

image of rectangular mixed metal flower pendant on sterling silver neck wire

The effect on this pendant is, well, a cross between an accident and sheer luck. Don’t you just love the way it gives the background a painted effect?

Most recently, I have fallen into a bit of a rabbit hole creating several new pieces in the “married” metals technique. One day it just dawned on me that I should be able to solder two different metals together to create an entire new sheet. And by golly, once I got the hang of that, there was no going back. Here are some examples of what I have cobbled together using this technique so far.

image of patina copper and brass buckeye bracelet in married metal technique

image of patina copper and brass rectangular earrings on a seashell

patina copper and sterling silver rhombus bracelet created in a married metal technique

patina copper and sterling silver post earrings created with married metal technique

Well, I am off to create some more goodies. Love this time of year! There is nothing more exciting to me than the knowledge that many of the creations that come from my heart and were made with my hands will be someone’s special gift come Christmas morning or for Hanukkah. Thank you all for being so incredibly supportive, for putting the wind into my creative sails!

Karin

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Rings and fears

Been hiding away in my shop, I have:) Working on fun stuff!

Up until very recently, if you browsed my shop, there were no rings. Not that I don’t love them. I admire them in other people’s shops and on Pinterest all the time, but and this is a big BUT for me, making them and more specifically making ones that will fit, has been a major hangup for me.

Don’t ask me why, but the thought of angry customers beating down my door, demanding their money back because I am too stupid to make a ring in the size that fits them, gave me the shivers. The fears were real!

Of course I am being overly dramatic and having a terrific imagination doesn’t always work in my favor. They make tools for that. And if used as intended, you will actually wind up with a ring that is the correct size. I know that – now. And since that revelation and a little nudging by the universe, I haven’t been able to stop myself.

So I eased myself into the process by creating these:

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Mixed metal, various textures

Then I was on a roll and moved on to a bigger stack

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Stack of 7 mixed metal rings

I got a lot of nice feedback and an order for these:

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Sterling silver stack, various textures

Naturally I was curious to see what they would look like in a thinner gauge and larger stack, as well as a single texture.

Sterling silver hammered stacking rings
Sterling silver hammered stacking rings

Personalize the stack? Why not…

Personalized dainty stacking ring in mixed metal
Personalized dainty stacking ring in mixed metal

What fun to be able to make something all your own and being able to change it from day to day!

I may have unleashed a monster;) As of this writing, I am eagerly awaiting my order from Rio, which will include thicker gauge sterling silver sheet, so I can create this style ring in all silver. I already own jeweler’s brass sheet and cannot wait to make them in it as well.

So, what do you think? Are you a fan of stacking rings? I can consider myself a convert, that’s for sure.

Which design is your favorite? Do you have a certain kind of project or design you’ve been intimidated by?

I say go for it! Personally speaking, the designs that are the most difficult in your mind are also the most rewarding when they turn out well.

Oh, and yes, they are all available for purchase in my shop right now:)

Have a great day!

Karin

 

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Fall Fashion Forecast

As someone who designs and creates jewelry it behooves me to have at least an inkling of a clue of what is happening in the world of fashion. You know colors, that are “in” textures and finishes of the moment. Then I do my own thing:)

When I wrote about Pantone’s Color of the Year “Marsala” earlier this Spring, I wondered how it would pan out for such a Autumn hue. I had hopes, but to be quite honest, my suspicions were pretty much confirmed. It appears to have been a little bit of a dud.

You can familiarize yourself with the rest of Pantone’s Fall palette here.

Not that it deserves to be, but it just didn’t create the same level of buzz as “Radiant Orchid” did last year, at least not that I could tell. And if I can’t tell, well that means nobody’s heard much of it.

So, I decided to do a little quote-unquote research of my own to learn what lies in this year’s Fall Fashion Forecast, lest I miss out on the latest trend to follow ignore.

Copper jewelry is my wheel house and with its warm hues and feel it just screams Fall, to me anyway. I do not, however, mind if you choose to wear it all year round;) You can check out some of my designs by clicking on the link to my Etsy shop above.

I decided to poke around the web to see what would look exceptionally well worn with it. And here is what I came up with.

For a good, hardy belly laugh I am including this link, because we all know NOBODY ever wears this crap type of fashion. Ridiculously long sleeves? Really? I doubt that is going to be a thing. Just try washing your hands ONE time or grab for a toddler trying to run off. And why do the models always look so angry? I digress…

So, anywhoo. Fall fashion. I picked through the heap and here goes the stuff I could actually see real people wear:

*please be sure to pin from the original source

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Now, just to be sure, I didn’t see boot bling listed anywhere per se and I don’t own a pair of cowboy boots, but this might just get me in the mood! And I do so hope you will take a look at some of the amazing bead jewelry in this shop, because this is the kind of stuff that I think should be shown on the runways!

ForgottenCotton is an Etsy shop that features all kinds of fun accessories, but I thought this scarf fits the Plaid fad bill perfectly! For this and many more just click on the link below the picture!

plaid-scarf

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Another statement that caught my attention was that “bling is back” – when did bling leave? So, if it’s bling they want you to wear, bling you shall have:) This is the amazing creation of one of my instructors and friend Sandra Picciano-Brand of Mythic Silver.

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The next trend kind of caught me by surprise: lady loafers. Hmm, like seriously old lady shoes. That, I thought, would likely not become my thing, until I found these at DSW.com. The best of both worlds don’t you think? It’s a three-fer: plaid, loafers and stylish pumps all in one!

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Next up, another recycled trend: car wash pleats. I found a great way to create your own on this new favorite blog of mine! Pop on over to see some of her other trendy hacks!

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Honorable mention goes to: patterned tights, gray suits of all kinds, skinny scarves, short skirts, flouncy hemlines, long gloves a la Downton Abbey, waaay over the knee boots, higher waistlines…

So, what do you think you will add to your wardrobe this Fall? Do you follow fashion trends or do you blaze your own trail? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Semi-fashionably yours,

Karin

Be sure to *Like* my Facebook page for regular updates!

*disclaimer: this post does not contain any affiliate links. I was not reimbursed in any way for any of the statements made.

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Stamp your little heart out!

Have you seen the cool stamped jewelry that is all the rage lately? I love the look and figured it would be fun to add writing to some of my jewelry. So I figured it would be worth to give it a shot – I am always eager to learn a new technique.

Getting stamping straight and even and equally deep is not for the impatient. Argh. Practice, practice, practice… folks that is the only way – you have to stamp your little heart out!

I had previously bought some inexpensive aluminum and brass stamping blanks at my local craft store to get used to stamping on metal. But I have to admit it was a bit frustrating. And I wasn’t exactly in love with the font on the stamps, pretty plain.

It seemed no matter how meticulously I lined up my stamps, even with the help of tape, the letters still looked wonky. Looking for something to practice on, I spied some copper washers and decided to practice various letters on them. I wrote about my love for copper washers here and here.

Diligently hammering away, stamping the letters in circles, I realized that this would be the perfect way to give the copper washers all kinds of different textures! So I began to experiment with various letters, first the W, then an O, S, V etc.

Here are the very basic tools needed:

  • stamping hammer
  • letter stamp set
  • copper washers
  • not shown here: a bench block or anvil

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Here are some of the designs I created from various letters in this simple upper case stamp set:

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Pretty cool, huh? You can fill in as much space as you like, I decided I liked the entire washer textured the best.

Here are the washers lined up with their respective letters:

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Now, I love my plain hammered textures as much as the next gal, but being able to introduce new textures into my designs just gets the creative gears going!

I decided to use my trusty hole punch tool and turned them into an interesting bracelet.

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The patina really adds a whole new dimension to the textures and gives them a pleasing aged look as well as added depth. And because I want the various textures to “do the talking”, I opted to keep this a pure metal bracelet.

Not that beads don’t add that little something extra!

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The textured surface of the copper washer, the patina and sparkling crystal beads are such a pleasing contrast. Here is a slightly different view of the same bracelet…

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So what do you think? I am a big fan of using tools for more than one specific purpose. I can’t wait do some more experimenting and creating with this technique!

While this technique would be much too tedious to be used on a larger piece, it is absolutely perfect for smaller pieces like these!

Is there a technique or a little trick you have discovered that has opened new possibilities? Or have you bought a piece of jewelry and wondered about the various techniques used to create it?

Share your thoughts! I love hearing your comments and stories!

Karin

Disclaimer: I have not received any form of compensation for statements made in this post and all opinions stated are my own!

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Create what you love

My philosophy is that if you create with what you love in mind, you – and others – will always love what you create. Are you looking for ways to incorporate things you love to do into your jewelry design? I have found that when I create with something that I love in mind, the ideas come freely and make me smile! Recently I told you about my connection with autism and I wrote about the trend to personalize jewelry more and more in recent years. One way to do that is to incorporate what is important to you in your designs. It could be something as simple as your favorite color(s), animals, travel destinations and hobbies. One of my favorite things to do is yoga.

 zenfrog

I came to yoga relatively late. Sure, I had heard for years that it was good for a variety of reasons, like increased flexibility, range of motion, pain reduction and most importantly stress relief. And who couldn’t use all of that?

However, the thought of attending a class with a roomful of hyper-flexible twenty somethings was not appealing AT ALL. And then, by  nothing less than divine intervention, I found Kim’s Gentle Stretch yoga course at the local, ahem, senior center. Cue the rainbows and harp music. Over the past few years this class has become such an important part of my life that I will only miss my Thursday morning session if my household was struck by ebola or I am out of the country or somebody in my family cut an artery;)

Why? The regular practice of Kim’s style of yoga has given me all the benefits promised and then some. It has given me the tools I need to calm and de-stress, to focus when it seems like I am putting out one brush fire after the next and to relieve my aches and pains from sitting at my work bench creating sparkly goodies! Please feel free to check out her website here!

Naturally I wanted to express my love for yoga through my artistic medium, which is jewelry, of course. So I decided to come up with several designs that incorporate the colors of the chakra, better illustrated and explained here.

chakrabracelet

I chose copper washers for this bracelet because copper has a wonderful, warm feel and its patina harmonizes beautifully with those gorgeous rainbow hues.

One day when I was playing around with various wire weaving designs, it dawned on me that I could manipulate them into little yoga people in various poses. And that is how this pendant came about!

lotuspose

I am always tweaking and fiddling to improve upon the original and I have a couple of small changes planned for this design. I have several different pendants of poses in my Etsy shop with earrings coming soon!

The third example is a mixed metal bracelet and earring set in which hammered copper bars are connected by silver jump rings, which in turn serve as anchors for several different silver plated yoga themed charms.

yogaset

So there you have it – one of my many inspirations! What are yours? Do you create with a specific subject in mind? Do you buy jewelry that has a theme? To me it just gives me yet another chance to incorporate things that make me happy into my everyday life!

Karin

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Recycled is the new New – jewelry

You may remember my recent post about artists from around Etsy using recycled materials and turning them into real works of art. The response was so overwhelming, I decided to turn it into a series!  So many talented artists and crafters have made it their mission to choose recycled materials and breathe new life into them. And it never seizes to amaze me what they come up with. Obviously, there is so much to explore, so lets begin today’s tour!

I am going to focus on – what else? Jewelry!

*Please pin images from their original source!

Angela of Arrow Sarah re-purposes watch gears and recycled silver by turning them into these elegant steam punk style pendants:

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Don’t you just love the wood slices she uses as photo props?

Next up is Amber Dragonfire, who also happens to be a practicing witch! Her  response caught my attention, because she incorporates items we would not typically asscociate with jewelry into her creations. Let’s just say, she had me at “road kill”! Ever the inquisitive person I just had to check this out! Here are a couple of examples of her work…

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You can look at many more of her creations in her shop here and read up on the meanings of her finds and why she chose to add them to a particular piece!

If squirrel and raccoon bones aren’t your bag, swing on over to the next shop!

Erica, owner of Misty Mountain Forge is a metalsmith who specializes in crafting nature inspired pieces that reflect an organic and rustic vibe. In her unique shop she offers an array of customizable and a nice selection of unisex jewelry. Stop on over and check out her beautiful shop! Some of her creations include this rustic free form silver ring:

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Dawn from Jewelry Art by Dawn reuses components from old, broken pieces of jewelry as well as found items whenever she can. Aren’t the results just beautiful? I wish I could paint like that…

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I particularly love how she  takes mementos provided to her by buyers and turns them into meaningful and sentimental treasures! What a thoughtful way to keep memories alive and present!

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Heather from P is for Paper creates one of a kind soldered glass pendants by taking miniature pictures from vintage children’s books and turning them into framed, wearable artworks! I might have a thing for adorable narwhals!

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And who can resist this non-smelly version of a skunk?

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I will leave you with that for today! Aren’t you impressed by the way all of these artists breathe new life into items that would either be discarded or forgotten and turn them into treasures for a whole new generation?

Have I inspired you yet to try your hand at creating with recycled materials? Maybe you look at handcrafted artisan jewelry in a new light? Or do you already seek out items that have been up-cycled? Sure would love to hear from you!

Stay tuned for more up-cycled art soon!

Karin

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