Ribbon Love ♥

You may have already guessed this, but I am a girly girl. I love all things pink. OK, maybe not baby pink but fun berry shades of pink. I love hearts, I love flowers and things that sparkle make my heart flutter. But really, is there anything more girly than ribbons?

Hand Dyed Silk Ribbon by Flame Kissed Art Glass

Photo by Flame Kissed Art Glass

I have been devouring ribbons lately. Particularly beautiful, hand-dyed silk ribbons. With their soft crinkly texture and smooth color gradations these handmade lovelies add a touch of elegance to any design.

Here are a couple of my own designs featuring Flame Kissed Art Glass's captivating hand dyed silk ribbons.

The Garden Path by Lisalu Jewels (SOLD)

This necklace features a gorgeous handcrafted ceramic pendant by Shaterra Clay Studios. I have combined it with freshwater pearls, Vintaj natural brass chain and of course, a beautiful silk ribbon in earthy shades of gold and green.

Black Tie Surprise by Lisalu Jewels

This necklace features a set of stunning handcrafted lampwork beads by IrinaS. These citrusy hued works of glass art came all the way from Croatia! I have combined them with Swarovski pearls, a Thai silver toggle clasp and a sleek black silk ribbon.

Sugar Me Sweet by Lisalu Jewels

You may recognize this necklace from my last blog post. This necklace was my entry for the February, Love My Art Jewelry challenge. It features a polymer clay pendant by Cindy Gimbrone combined with enamel and lampwork beads and finished with a delicious coral and pink silk ribbon.

I have a colorful stash of silk ribbons just waiting to be made into something pretty and oh-so-girly.

Sparkle and shine girly girls!

Tied with a bow,

Designer of the Week, and a Sneak Peek!

Hey, guess what? I'm Designer of the Week over at Love My Art Jewelry! Pretty cool huh? I've been meaning to share my February Challenge entry with you all week but I haven't had a chance until now. It's been a crazy week. I was really inspired by this month's color palette and you may remember my post from last week, Color Me Happy, where I shared my work in progress. Here is the completed piece! This is probably one of the most wild and crazy, over the top pieces I've ever made! I'm thrilled that the gals over at Love My Art Jewelry liked it enough to name me Designer of the Week. I have to say, it kind of makes my day. :-)

Sugar Me Sweet by Lisalu Jewels

I also wanted to share a little sneak peek of my necklace for the Bead Soup Blog Party coming up this Saturday, February 26. You can read more about the blog party and see all the participant's blogs HERE. It took me a little while to find myself on the list but I'm number 140 of 210! Remember all the goodies sent to me by my bead soup partner Nicole Valentine? Here's a slightly distorted (on purpose) sneak peek of my creation using Nicole's gorgeous beads. I can't wait to share the whole thing on Saturday!

Sneak Peek of "Goddess of the Deep" by Lisalu Jewels

This necklace is also a little wild and crazy. Hmmm, it must be the kind of mood I've been in lately. ;-) I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has come up with!

Have a wild and crazy day!

just the way you are...

If you read my blog post from yesterday, you may have noticed that I was complaining about my first glaze fired batch of beads and how they weren't perfect. The glaze was applied more thickly on some than on others and my perfectly matched "pairs" didn't match so perfectly. I had even commented that I probably would never use these beads. After all, they're not perfect.

This morning when I looked at my little pile of beads I decided to look at them separately, not in pairs or groupings the way they were "supposed" to be but each individually. When I did I noticed that they were actually quite cute. I thought to myself "would I ever criticize someone else's work so harshly?" Probably not.

Then why do I do this to myself?

I realized that we are often our own worst critics. Whether it's our hair, our weight, a meal we've cooked or our art it seems easy to dissect ourselves and neatly categorize our flaws.

In honor of this realization I decided to make lemonade out of these self described "lemons". I gathered up a batch of my beads and whipped up a bracelet that's rather cute, if I do say so myself.

Just the Way You Are, by Lisalu Jewels

Now that feels better. :-)

I've decided to give this bracelet as a giveaway. But there's a catch.

First, you must answer this question;

What do you like about yourself today?

It can be anything you'd like, just say something nice about yourself.

Leave a comment and an email address and I'll pick a random winner on Tuesday, February 22.

Be kind to yourself today. :-)

Much love,

Edit: If you don't feel comfortable leaving your email address (I totally understand) just make sure I have a way to contact you if you win. :-) If you follow my facebook page I can contact you there. Thanks again!

And There Was Glaze...

Last night I was able to do my first glaze firing! Sometimes finding a solid block of 4 hours can be tough but I fired the kiln last evening and was able to wake up this morning to a cooled batch of glazed beads! Considering this was my first attempt I think they turned out pretty good! I learned a lot about how the finished product completely depends on how you apply the glaze. I think I need to work on my brush technique and do some test tiles but I couldn't resist glazing some of my first batch of bisque. Thankfully the glaze adhered to the beads, there were no beads stuck together or stuck to the rods, there was no pools of glaze in the bottom of my kiln and I didn't burn my house down.
All in all I'd label this first glaze firing a success! ;-)

Here are the beads before the firing


And after



The beads!

I doubt I will end up using any of these but I have learned a lot and can't wait to fire another batch! The best part though is that my kiln firing jitters seem to have disappeared! I can't wait to do it again!

Smiles,
Lisa

PS: Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Live and Learn

I'm a little bummed to report that the kiln gods were not smiling on me as I fired my first load of bisque last night. This is one of those "live and learn" type situations. I have discovered that the temperature inside my kiln does not match what shows on my pyrometer (this is the temperature gauge on the outside of the kiln). I ended up firing my bisque load about 250 degrees hotter than I should have. They look fine but this could effect how the glaze adheres. But all is not lost. They should be salvageable.

My first bisque load of beads

I would like to thank the kind folks on the Beads of Clay Yahoo Group who talked me through this little mishap. There is nothing like picking the brains of people who've "been there, done that". I really thought this load was toast but hopefully they can still be glazed with a little extra work. Perhaps I will save this task though for when I have a little more experience with beads that have actually been fired correctly. ;-)

Live and learn, live and learn...

Lisa

Color Me Happy!

Today I had some unexpected time in the studio so I'm firing my first bisque load of beads! I'm so excited because after this I can finally glaze them! I've been getting tired of staring at these boring gray beads. It's time for some color!

Speaking of color, I just have to share a link to one of my new favorite blogs. It seems as though many of my jewelry designing friends and followers have already found this site but if you haven't seen it yet check out Love My Art Jewelry. It's hosted by an amazing group of talented and well known jewelry and bead artists and the site's motto is "making handmade with handmade", right up my alley!

They have a monthly challenge for jewelry designers and this months challenge inspiration photo is the cover of the book "Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green". I'm so inspired by this color palette! The colors are just so cheerful and bright, I can't help but smile just looking at them. I've been playing with my beads and putting together a selection of both handmade and commercial beads in this palette.

Love My Art Jewelry, February Challenge

Check out the gorgeous heart pendant by Cindy Gimbrone! When she posted this pendant on her blog a few weeks ago I just had to have it! Like, now! It's a beautiful shade of fuchsia (LOVE) and it's a heart! Two of my favorite things. I know, I'm such a girl. ;-) There are also some beautiful lampwork beads in the mix as well. I'm really not sure what I'm actually going to do with these beads yet but I have a few ideas floating around in my head.

I'll be sure to share some photos of my newly bisqued beads tomorrow!

Happy wednesday everyone!
Lisa

Studio Day!

Today I actually had a full day in my studio! It has been a while. On Tuesdays and Thursdays my son is in daycare and they are supposed to be my days to work on jewelry but lately other errands and obligations have been taking up my time. But today, I had a whole blissful day! I started off by firing my kiln for the first time! I picked it up last Tuesday and have been staring at it for over a week. I wanted to make sure I had a good chunk of time put aside because I didn't know how long it would take to reach temperature. I decided to fire it with only the kiln furniture for the first time just so I'll know how it works before I actually fire any beads. It took about 5 hours to reach temperature (cone 04) and it kept my studio nice and toasty all day. Next week I hope to bisque fire my first load of beads!

While my kiln was doing its thing, I was busy working on some new pendants and earrings. I received a nice little package last week that I had ordered from Lorelei Eurto. She has started selling her handcrafted vintage tin bead caps in her new shop called Tin Snippets. I ordered two sets from her and they are so cute! I love them. They are a nice way to add a little extra color to a simple bead. She doesn't currently have anything in her shop but if you follow her blog she'll let you know when she's having another shop update. Trust me, they will go fast!

Necklaces and Earrings Featuring Lorelei's Tin Snippets

I also made some more clay beads and test tiles that I hope to fire next week! I'll be sure to share some photos as I load my kiln for the first time. :-)

Smiles,
Lisa