AJE Earring Challenge Reveal 3

I almost forgot to get my earrings done and photographed for the third reveal of the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge.  The challenge is to create at least one pair of earrings per week using art beads. 

My first pair for this reveal is made from hand cut copper discs that I textured in my Sizzix BigKick.  Then I fumed them with ammonia to get the blue patina and sealed them with Protectaclear to keep the patina.  I hung them from some of my hand forged balled copper ear wires.

 

 

The second pair I created just this morning and were inspired by Kristy Abner's Drops of Rain earrings posted on the Earrings Everyday blog.  Mine are annealed steel wire frames accented with  enameled copper headpins to hold turquoise lampwork beads.  The ear wires are wire wrapped directly to the frames.  Wore these to a Stanley (did you know the Stanley Co was still around?) party today, they were lighter than I expected.  Now I'm not sure I can list these because I like them so much.

 

Be sure to visit the AJE Blog to visit other participants in the challenge!



AJE Earring Challenge Second Reveal

Continuing on with the one pair of earrings a week challenge from Art Jewelry Elements.  This time I really only did the one pair a week as I was completing the Lucite and Clay challenge from my previous post.

Here's what I have for you this week.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.  Be sure to go to the AJE site to see the other blogs or the AJE Pinterest board.

This pair is made from a pair of gear hoops by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.  Be sure to check her Etsy shop for lots of drool worthy ceramic pieces.  The center hoops are enameled copper by me and the ear wires are hand made by me as well.  Really need to get these listed on Etsy, but I'm having a hard time parting with them.

The second pair for this reveal is all component made by me other than the Swarovski bicones of course.  This week I learned to make hollow lampwork beads and this is one the pairs of them. Pairs of hollow beads are proving to be a little tricky for me in getting the size to match, this pair is pretty close. The nice thing about the hollow beads, besides the look of them, is they are quite a bit lighter so I can use larger beads for earrings.  On my monitor these are appearing almost the size they are in real life.

50th Post Giveaway

I can't believe I'm up to my 50th post!  I know that's not many for some people but it's a milestone for me.  In honor of the occasion I will be giving away one of the pairs of earrings that I made for the AJE Challenge, you can see the close ups of those in that post.  Here is the collage view of them.

You can skip to the bottom of the page to learn how to enter, or keep reading until you get there :).

Here was a quick lampwork headpin experiment I did on Friday.  I'm working on making different types of  headpins and ways to use them in response to the Love My Art Jewelry Challenge.  I was really pleased with how these turned out.

While I was at the torch I made up a batch of ear wires to continue one with the AJE Challenge.

Some with enamel, some with a fun heat patina and some just bright shiny copper.

Ok, here's how you can win!  There are numerous ways to get extra entries, use as many or as few as you like.  Random drawing will take place on Monday January 28th.

1) Leave a comment below for your first entry, and another for each of the ways below that you share.

2) Follow my blog or indicate that you are already a follower.

3) Share the giveaway on your blog.

4) "Like" Northwoods Creative Studio on facebook.

5) Follow Northwoods Creative Studio on Pinterest

Good luck and spread the word, if we have over 50 comments on this 50th post I will give away a second pair to a second winner.  (If there is a second winner the first one will get first choice of earrings.)