A Million Little Dangles...

I go through phases in jewelry making. A particular style or technique will just speak to me and I'll create several pieces in a row in this style. I have always worked that way. I guess many artists consider this to be working on a "series" but my mind doesn't really work that way. It just kind of happens. My technique de jour has been tons of little dangles. I have always been a fan of this technique. I think it comes from years of making bridal jewelry. There just seems to be something special about a piece that jingle, jangles when you move. Perhaps it's the fact that it's very time consuming to create all of those little wrapped loops. There are days when the thought of such things makes me cringe but on other days I find myself in a Zen like state wrapping loop after tiny little loop. Such was the case over the last few days.

The first of my little dangle pieces started with a set of polymer clay beads from Humble Beads. I received this set just after Christmas and I couldn't wait to play with them. I would love to say that I was inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night but the truth is I was inspired by Humble Bead's Starry Night bead set!

Starry Night Necklace

When I saw this bead set I just knew my necklace had to be made of GOLD! Well, gold-fill anyway. I linked them together with antique gold daisy spacers and got to work attaching the many little dangles I had envisioned for this piece. The dangles consist of Swarovski crystals and pearls along with Czech glass melon beads and beautiful little lampwork beads by Pinocean. I think this might just be one of the coolest necklaces I've ever made. I just love it! I've been admiring Humble Beads "Kiss in the Garden" beads to create another in the "series".

The next piece in my little dangle phase is this lovely bracelet I've named Desert Rose. Since my gold wire was already on my desk I began looking through all of my Bead Soups for something that worked with gold. I had been building on this soup for a couple of weeks and it was ready to go!

Desert Rose

As usual, this design began with some art beads. This beautiful set by Radiant Mind is so pretty in shades of hot pink, copper and gold. I linked them up with some copper Swarovski crystals and added dangles in copper and pink as well as some pretty glass flowers. This piece feels very romantic to me. I hope someone buys it for their Valentine. :-)

My third little dangle design began with a set of lampwork beads that came all the way from the Netherlands! Anne's Glass Jewels has some really unique and beautiful beads and they arrived surprisingly fast considering how far they had to travel.

Passion Flower

Purple is my favorite color and although I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with these beads, I knew they were going to become a bracelet. I think I made and tore apart this bracelet at least 3 times before I came up with the finished design. And lo and behold, more dangles! These little dangles are made up of Swarovski pearls, amethyst rounds and purple glass flowers. What I think I love most about this design though is the extender chain with even more dangles!

I think I'm going to have to restock my headpins after all this!

I would love to know if other designers work this way too.

Do you create one style at a time or a series of one particular style?

Do you plan ahead or does it just happen like it does for me?

Much love and happy creating!
Lisa