Friday, April 30, 2010

lantern bouquets!

i have been feeling rather down the last few days; i thought that perhaps a lantern bouquet might make feel better. so i made one. then i made another.

this one i am calling "summer song". it has a beautiful mauve colored center bead.

it is the biggest one of these i have made so far. the petals are made up of five layers that, incidentally, each spin independently of one another.

and the chain is sprinkled with fabulous summer colored beads, peruvian opal, peridot, amethyst, and several coordinating glass beads as well.


i just love how it feels on. it is heavy and delicate at the same time. i know that whoever is wearing it will be unable to keep their fingers from spinning the petals.


this one is "spring rain". it features a beautiful robin's egg blue center bead. there are also two peridot and citrine "leaves" that dangle seductively from the flower.

these petals have lovely texture on them and, like the other, spin.



you can probably can tell from looking at them that they took a very long time to make. each piece of each flower was hand cut, stamped, filed, shaped, assembled, oxidized, and buffed. i think i will be making some more in the next few weeks~ they are very fulfilling!

p.s. i am having my two-year "etsy anniversary" sale next week. to show my appreciation for all of my customers, i am offering a free cd with each purchase over $100. the cd will have songs from the playlist that plays here on the blog. because i love all of you, my dear blog friends, i would like to give you one too. so, the first 15 folks who leave a comment, telling me what your favorite songs are that play here will get a free cd! (you will have to e-mail me your address.) if you would like one too, but did not get here in time, you can still have one! i would just ask that you send $3 via paypal to silversparrowdesigns@gmail.com to cover my materials and shipping. (please include your address in the message box!)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

could you give me some feedback?

i have been working on some "prototype" bracelets to sell at the upcoming moab show. i wanted to develop some bracelets that would enable me to keep the cost down on them, but still have a rustic, organic feel, and fit with my work. i could picture them in my mind, and i wanted to incorporate leather. i've been collecting large-ish, flat-ish beads to use. can you please tell me what you think of them? they are a bit of a departure from my usual work...

i made all of the components, all sterling

prehnite with epidote

peruvian opal

turquoise

and blue chalcedony

i would REALLY appreciate your thoughts on these. brown leather? black leather? no leather? are the toggles too big? the center shapes? are they too jumbled?

on another note, jasper and isobel are starting to connect.






Monday, April 26, 2010

it's here! it's here! it's really here!

spring, that is. after all this time of waiting for it and yearning for it and seeking signs of it, it really is here...

telluride is lovely, even when ski season is over.

talk about lovely.



lovely











the girls get very excited about their "collections" on our walks.


oh, dolores in the springtime!


today we went for a beautiful hike.





we went right up around the left side of this formation. i was so impressed with hazel and june. they were such hikers!


i think it was a ladybug.