Fall Necklaces

These antique lucite maple leaves bring me back to my childhood in New England.

How I miss those maple leaves!

I used simple knotted wire lace that can be puckered  and shaped to highlight my beads on these necklaces. It's so light and delicate.

It's a bit harder to see in this pic but the crystal shape lampworked beads have gold leaf shimmering in the transparent beads. The wonderful think about the wire lace is that you can string beads directly onto the tube  before puckering it.

I made these mussel shell-like whorls to be reminiscent of the shells on the beach from our camp in Maine.

Somehow I've with all of my excitement over the image transfer class and playing with collage elements I seem to have neglected the glass studio. Now that the weather is suitably rainy and dismal out I find myself back in the mode to sit at a torch again. With my winter shows coming up I wanted to make some simple necklaces.  I sometimes forget that fall is an entire season in some places while we have a three or four week taste of it here in the Alaskan north.  

Inspired by Shells

The actual shells that inspired me. I picked them up at Bahia Kino Mexico recently.

Lampwork Glass Beads made at a torch.

They'll probably be used in a design something like this.

I was worried that the bead in the foreground looked a bit too much like chewed gum

but now I think I was being too critical.

Mussel shell lampwork beads made into bracelets with aquamarine chips and freshwater pearls

This is actually two bracelets end to end.

I gave them a matte finish with an etching solution.

Still working on my photography.

One of my goals for my remaining time in Arizona before I head back to the great northland is my project for a little shop in Seal Harbor, Maine called The Naturalist's Notebook.

The focus of the shop is the relation between nature and art and science and it's not just an art gallery but more of a learning center. These pieces are part of my works that I hope to be displaying there this coming summer.