The 8 month Blog Hiatus

I've had a break from blogging over the past 8 months!
Life has been busy.
A recent trip to France is partly the reason with many months of planning, researching and information gathering absorbing spare time + I've been busy again in my studio space coming up with new creations as we head towards our summer months.

The red beads have been out again.

Here is today's creation:

2013 - Week 1

Week 1 of 2013 has been very low key so far!

Unfortunately I've had the flu and have spent the past 4 days sleeping (.. a lot), watching TV, reading and doing very little else.  No blogging, no creating, no exercise, no socialising... it has been very quiet indeed. Thankfully I'm starting to feel better and less fatigued... so a bit more energy to tackle other 'stuff'...

...a quick clean up of the desk and a new home for some of my jewellery making tools:

... and some editing of a few photos. This one is of a bracelet I made last weekend:

I've named this coral and sterling silver bracelet 'Rosie'. The charm is silver plated and is reminiscent of an antique coin. I hope to list this one in my Made It store over the weekend.  

Wishing everyone a relaxing weekend and some respite from this Sydney heatwave.

My Creative Space - Working with Red

I've had a busy week but managed to scrape together a few hours in my creative space and the outcome was a eclectic asymmetrical red necklace named 'Rouge'.

The inspiration for this necklace developed entirely from one ceramic red bead ( almost like a ceramic version of a Matryoshka doll) which I used as part of a pendant at the base of the necklace. I then went through my stash of red and pulled together coral, glass, Cinnabar, Jade and Howlite to compliment the pendant and develop the rest of the necklace.

Here is 'Rouge'

My Creative Space - Red Earrings

On my desk today are some more new earrings - made today using coral and shell.

I've named these new earrings 'Moroccan Trail' -

I've used a combination of sterling silver and silver plated wire, different sized small nuggets of coral and round shell beads.

They have a bright ethnic feel and I can see them complimenting a summer dress or jeans with a casual shirt or tank.

My Creative Space - New Earrings

I've been working with silver wire and doing some wire wrapping around semi-precious gemstones and glass beads this week.

Here are a couple of blue wire wrapped earrings with some coral and sterling silver pairs made earlier in the week.

I've now got a stash of finished earrings that need to be photographed and uploaded to either my Made It or Etsy store... a spare few hours would be wonderful - I'm sure everyone can relate to how quickly the time passes when you get into a 'zone' of creativity. I sometimes get so lost in creativity that the day disappears before I realise!

My Creative Space - Working with Red

I've been busy this week working with my stash of red beads - particularly using lovely pieces of coral.
Red is often associated with love, passion, sacrifice or danger.
There as so many shades of red and I often search high and low to find the right shade - strawberry, scarlet, cardinal red, vermilion, rusty red, crimson, electric red, fire engine red, maroon, burgundy or ruby!

Here is the first piece using coral, silver chain and wire -

Another piece - this time made with chunky nuggets of coral and textured cinnabar beads -

The next necklace features ceramic and hexagonal shaped coral beads -

A busy weekend - Lunch + Red Necklaces

This weekend I've been amongst my stash of red beads and made a couple of multi-strand red necklaces. The multi-strand is elegant and timeless in terms of style. This is not the best of photos but shows the 3 strands gently intertwined.

Sunday was enjoyed by Iron Cove Bay lunching with friends.

Another stunning Sydney spring day!

My Creative Space - Working with Coral

My stash of Coral has been out on my desk today. I have been out most of the day but managed a little time to make some earrings using coral and sterling silver. I have named them 'Coral Drops' and they feature organic nuggets of coral on the bottom, smaller rondelles of coral on top along with 3mm sterling silver round beads and wrapped sterling silver wire. They are a nice size and very lightweight.

Coral is such a beautiful substance and always looks great with sterling silver. I plan to make a few more earrings and necklaces this week.