Monday, February 11, 2013

Sue Beads and Kerry Bogert

I like the title of my post today - two artists that I greatly admire in one sentence.  Sue Kennedy makes awesome lampwork beads. AWESOME-PERIOD.  Last year, I donated 75 bracelets to the Rare Organization (Global Genes Project) and I commissioned Sue to create over 50 sets of blue lampwork beads - and she did not let me down!
 
And, Kerry Bogert, while an awesome lampwork artist as well - is also a jewelry designer/wire wizard extraordinaire!  I know I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating! I have taken two classes in person with Kerry - and two online courses as well.  I also own both of her books - Totally Twisted and Rustic Wrappings - I truly love them both!  (I hope that does not make me sound like a stalker.....hmmm...)  The necklace below was inspired by one of Kerry's designs in her first book Totally Twisted - but I had recently ordered two sets of Sue's Blue Denim Sparkle Beads just for this project. (You can find Sue's beads in two place online - her webstore here or Etsy here).
 
(Click on pics for a larger view)
 
Yes - this is a double strand necklace.  BUT - I wired half of one chain of Sue's beads and connected it to a spiral link chain.  (In addition to the necklace design, the spiral link chain was also inspired by Kerry, from her Aspire to Wire class.)  The other side of the necklace is the same - but opposite.
 
 

 
 
 
I made two pair of earrings - as I just could not decide whether I wanted to highlight the spiral in the chain or the beautiful blue of the bead - I did not like the two elements together in an earring.  We need choices, right?


I have a craft show coming up March 9, so I have been making jewelry like crazy.  I have absolutely fallen in love with this handmade spiral chain and have incorporated elements of the spiral into many pieces lately!

In my continuing saga to both photograph and present images, I have also been playing with my pictures in PicMonkey - the edge on these pictures is kinda funky and I think I like it!

That's about it for this past weekened - I hope you had fun creating, too! Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful week!