glass beads

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Decisions….Decisions….

Hello!!
A few weeks ago I was inspired to make a necklace I had seen on the Fusion Beads Inspiration page.  You can find the link here.  They call it “Garden of Love Necklace”.
I have been searching for new techniques, ways to incorporate fiber and fabric into my jewelry and possibly less expensive options for my customers.
This technique uses the Diva Cord Maker, which I love and will be using again and again!
So now I have this awesome cord made for a necklace, but I can’t decide what type of pendant to use.


Since I finished the cord I have had tons of ideas.  Here are a few of them…..(just a few!)


For several days I just kept pulling different pieces to try and help me make a decision.


Above is a bezeled piece of antique pottery off of the beach.


In this above picture is a lavender glass glob that I thought about making into a pendant like the green one to the right.  The green on would be too small for this cord.


There was this bird toggle that I made out of silver which could be a toggle and a pendant, all in one.


Or I could use one of my glass pendants.  I even pulled out my stained glass, from YEARS ago and thought about making a copper foiled heart that was pink on one side and lavender on the other.


Finally, there is this fine silver flower pendant that I made.
And yes, there were more ideas.  I was literally paralyzed with ideas.
I THINK I have made a decision……but what do you think?
I’d love to hear your feedback.
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Sweet Heart Earrings ~ Pay it Forward February

{Have you ever heard about a situation and it just breaks your heart and you feel like you HAVE TO do something about it?A few months back I met a lady, Lovely Reckley, and she told me how she goes to four different schools in Abaco and feeds 85+ children that would have otherwise had no lunch. For some of these kids, this is the only meal of the day.Lovely even takes food to some of them when school is out.That really broke my heart. I mean, I know there are kids all over the world that are starving, but when I realized there were children right under my nose it killed me. I kept wondering what I could do. I thought about offering to help cook, but cooking for so many mouths really overwhelmed me. Then I realized what a COMMITMENT this awesome woman had made to these children…..EVERYDAY!!!At Christmas, instead of giving gifts I gave a donation to her organization (and to our Humane Society) instead of buying things that people really didn’t need.But it kept tugging at my heart. So, I decided for the month of February I would post several heart themed items to my blog. They would be for sale, and I would give 25% of the cost of the item to Lovely, to help with her costs.I may post an item everyday or I may post several items a week…..I am really not sure, but 25% will go to “Feed the Children” in Abaco, Bahamas.I CANNOT imagine going without food, or only having one meal a day that I had to rely on someone else to bring to me, and these children shouldn’t have to deal with this either, so please help!}

Happy Friday!
I am starting to feel a little more human today after this spell of laryngitis. Still coughing and feeling fatigued, but my voice is slowly coming back!
Today’s item for Feed the Children Abaco are these Sweet Heart Earrings.


Textured fine silver discs with a heart cut-out, have whimsical glass fuchsia headpin dangles.  The ear wires are made from fine silver also, and the earrings hang about an inch and a quarter from the ear wires.


You can find these earrings in my Etsy shop….{HERE}.
Or you can go to my Bahama Dawn Facebook page and leave me a message….{HERE}.
They are $40, and 25% goes to Feed the Children Abaco.


Thanks for stopping by!
Do something creative & have a great weekend!
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Woodland Necklace

Hello!
Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!
Remember my post, *Coming Soon*?
I was awaiting the arrival of a copper leaf clasp from Daisy Chain Designs in England. That tiny envelope took almost 2 months to get to me!
Now that the holidays are over and my house is empty again, I had a chance to make a piece using this beautiful clasp.
There were five jewelry designers that participated in the challenge, so be sure to check out their blog posts if you didn’t already, right here.
While I was waiting the arrival of this package my lampworked owl was born, and I thought he would be perfect with this clasp.



This is the first time I have done a necklace completely out of copper wire and chain, and I really like it.



I have had this chain for quite some time and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it.  It works perfect with this necklace.  Heavy enough to add to the design, but not so heavy that it takes away from the oak leaf clasp or the beads.
Mr Owl has a birdie friend accompanying him also.


Hope you like my Woodland Necklace!
I think I am keeping this one for myself 🙂


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Recycled Glass Jewelry

Happy Friday everyone!
Over the last few weeks I have been working on and off with making glass beads out of used bottles, that would have otherwise been trash.
The beads aren’t perfect because I am not working with a rod, the glass isnt perfect, but I think the imperfections add to the uniqueness of the pieces.


Sometimes pieces break or crack, but I am pretty happy with the finished jewelry pieces that have been created as a result of this glass that could have been garbage.

I still have more photos to upload and edit, but wanted to show a couple of the most popular pieces.
Have great weekend!



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Thank You & Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!
Like most people I am trying to figure out where 2011 went!! It was a whirlwind. A fun and exciting one though! Thank you to everyone who reads my blog, buys my creations, supports me at my shows, and encourages me along the way.
You have been with me through my new vegan journey and at my first vegan Christmas dinner last year!  This year was the second!


You cheered me on to finish UFO’s, and there are some that still aren’t done and some new ones for 2012!
I shared recipes with you from my vegan journey and I hope they were helpful to you. You encouraged me when I came up with new ideas and had art shows to attend.
You read my posts in February as I did a Creative Everyday Challenge. That was a great challenge and one I need to do again!


You have listened to my dog stories and looked at my agility trial pictures.


Watched me struggle and enjoy swaps. The last part of 2011 I didn’t do any swaps but will be getting involved again in 2012….i missed some of those gals (and guys!)


In May I thought my life was slowing down, but that wasn’t so, things got really busy around the house, and I really slacked off from my blogging. But during that time my husband and I have been working on a classroom for me to start teaching quilting again, we built a guest cottage and a storage shed and dealt with Hurricane Irene.


You also cheered me on with my Paint Party Fridays, which I also miss and want to start doing again. Bead Table Wednesdays were fun and kept me motivated.
You listened to my stories about my online classes and encouraged me with my new lampworking skills.


So thank you, thank you, thank you!  Thank you for your ear (or your eyes since you are reading!), and I hope you will continue to follow my creative journey into 2012.

In 2012 I want to keep creating and get all these new ideas out of my head!
Of course finish some more UFO’s; do more pottery {i have a potter’s wheel again ~ woohoo!}, continue to improve my lampworking skills, make more jewelry components from ceramic clay and do lots more work with Precious Metal Clay. I just love that stuff and when I work with it I always ask myself why I don’t work with it more!

Here are a few new pieces that I finished today…..

The textured circles on these earrings were made from Precious Metal Clay, and have my glass headpins hanging from them.


Potcake Necklace…….

Potcakes are our local mixed breed and there are many strays.  When I make these pendants I give $20 to help the animals of Abaco.


Have a happy, healthy, exciting and creative 2012!

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The Journey of an Owl

Today has flown by! Probably because I have been on the torch most of the day.  It has been the perfect day for it…..it is 71 here with a brisk breeze, so having the toasty kiln on & sitting by a torch feels good for a change!
(Yes in the Bahamas we consider 71 cool!)
I told you in my last post that I had the pleasure of having Cassie, from Glass Beadle, here to help me with my bead making.
When she came I had a list of beads I wanted to learn how to make. An owl was on that list, but the three days went by so quickly that we never got to it.
I wasn’t worried, since she had taught me some great skills with sculpting so I figured I could figure it out on my own.
That little owl took several tries…..four to be exact….
Just for fun I thought I would share the photos with you.
The very first one broke – after the annealing, while I was cleaning him!! I was devastated!



It took me a few weeks to try again…..so here are Mr Two & Mr Three….
They were better, but still needed some work to get rid of the wonkiness!



And then success today!!! WOOHOO!!
I am pretty proud of this little guy!



Sorry for the terrible photo, but I couldn’t wait to share him with you!
Tomorrow he will become a pendant.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!


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Busy, Busy Christmas


I am not sure where the first two weeks of December went, in fact, I am trying to figure out where 2011 went! I sure have stayed busy!
Wanted to do a quick post to show you some new things I have been working on.
I also, finally, created a Facebook for Bahama Dawn. If you scroll down this page you will see the button on the right. Click on it & *like* it please. Right after Christmas I am going to be running a discount special specifically through that page.
Back in November the awesome Cassie Donlen, from Glass Beadle came to Abaco and spent three days helping me with my glass bead making. I can’t thank her enough! She was awesome and I learned TONS of great tips and tricks. It was my first real class in lampworking! Before that I had fumbled along, taught myself, and made a lot of mistakes.
Thanks again Cassie!!!
So here are some of my new creations……
These are just a few of the beads Cassie and I made together.  Some are hers and some are mine in this photo.



I learned how to make these hearts which have been very popular and I LOVE making them!



I am also having a blast stamping on metal, especially creating little scenes.  Will have lots more pieces with these stamped pieces as I get a chance to put together and finish pieces.



Also having fun making these puppy pendants!! Need to work on a kitty pendant also!  I am selling these for $20, and all the money goes to help the animals of Abaco.



Tree of Life Pendants are another new creation which have been popular also.



My final little show and tell are these sea glassy beads.  I make the bead, then etch it and it looks like sea glass!



Thanks for stopping by to see my new goodies!!
Have a great week!


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BTW ~ Boho Bliss Class

I went missing in action for a while there because of having no internet at home.  It was off for 2 weeks!!!  So glad it is back on, but now I am playing catch-up!
One of the many things I am catching up on are the online classes I am enrolled in.
Boho Bliss is a jewelry class I am taking and loving learning different techniques with metals.
Deryn is the creator and teacher of this class and I love her jewelry style.  She offers a few other classes as well which I am looking forward to taking.
Boho Bliss is all about earrings, and these are my hoops from the first week ~
Made from a plain piece of copper (or silver) wire!
They are meant to be plain hoops, but I am in a frenzy of making those glass headpins so I have also been adorning everything with them!
Here are some plain silver ones that I did some decorative stamping on for texture ~
Over the next few weeks we will be adding more to these hoops as Deryn teaches us more techniques.  I can’t wait to learn more about metal and come back and share my pieces with you!
What is on your bead table this Wednesday?
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What’s Old is New Again

Happy Wednesday!
I am finally getting to the posting of my “What’s Old is New Again” blog challenge from Artbeads.
This set of elements gave me some challenges, which led to a bit of a creative block.
I am finally happy to show you my pieces.
The first piece I made was a necklace using the antique silver plated pewter heart pendant, rolo gunmetal chain, a sterling silver key charm, and resin azalea flowers.
I really love working with rolo chain, it is actually one of my favorite chains. In the past I have used the sterling silver, but this gunmetal one is great also and looks awesome mixed with the sterling silver.
In this piece I also included some white beads from a necklace that was once my grandmothers, some of my pink glass headpins and some silver chain.
The pink flower beads that are attached to the silver chain I doubled on a silver headpins along with the white vintage beads and glass headpins that I made.


The photo in the bezel is of my grandfather with a silver key charm and a Bahamian coat of arms from an old stamp set in resin.
I finished the back of the necklace with some soft pink, silk ribbon.
This necklace needed a pair of earrings to go with it, and this is what I came up with.
They are very light and fun.
I added single pink resin flowers on the rolo chain. There are three strands in different lengths and at the top one of my handmade glass headpins.
Also from Artbeads I got the cutest metal bicycle pendant and made this casual necklace from this piece, also complimented with some of my grandmother’s beads.
I love the mixture of metals in this piece. It is going to be great with jeans and a casual shirt.
Artbeads has a variety of these metal pendants with other themes and they make a quick, cute pendant on a necklace.
So here is where my real challenge came in……
I got some large transparent resin roses from Artbeads as well, and when they arrived there was no hole to string them or attach them. (if I would have read the description properly I would have known this before hand)
I tried to attach them to silver rings with epoxy and they didn’t hold.
Then it hit me …… add it to a mixed media piece!!
What took me so long to come up with that?!?!?!
I love how this turned out and I was sorry I didn’t have anymore resin flowers to add to more mixed media pieces.
Here is a close up of the flowers. The rabbits look like they are feeding amongst the flowers.
After making this piece I thought the flowers would make great additions to an art quilt. So I guess I will have to order some more!
Hope you are all having a wonderful week!



The Artbeads.com products in this post were provided as a promotional gift by Artbeads.com, as part of their Design Partner & Blogging program. I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion – good or bad. My comments and opinions about these products are my honest, personal opinion and I have not been paid for any endorsement.