Jewelry Collection « Adalea's Designs

Jewelry Collection

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Tue 1 Jun 2010

I Haz Cooties!

Posted by Sarah Allison
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(Oh my god, I used LOLCats speak in a blog post! Someone smack me please.)

Artist’s see the world a bit differently from non-artists. Whatever their medium is, they see inanimate objects as art materials. An artist’s eye is the only way I can explain why I created the Cootie Beauties Collection.

There’s this very adorable, quirky collection of plushes called Giant Microbes that are plush versions of germs – done several hundred times larger then what they’re actual size is. I have several of their normal sized ones and have given several as gifts ’cause I like them so much. I recently discovered that they make another smaller version of them that come in a little plastic petri dish. When I first saw these smaller microbes, I didn’t see a quirky toy, I saw a possible pendant. So, I bought a set of the Mono plushes and got to creating. Took a little trial and error – one of the three in the package sacrificed it’s life in the name of art – but eventually I had two adorable pendants.

The fun part was stringing the actual necklaces. I wanted them to be beautiful yet funky yet quirky at the same time. I think I achieved that goal.

Mono-Classic Necklace

In this necklace, I used black and white fiber optic beads to accent the purple of the mono plush – who I named Molly, by the way. Black and white are a classic color combo and make little Molly really pop.
Length, from end to end is 22 1/2″. Available for $37.

Mono-Chromatic Necklace

In this necklace, I used beads in the same color pallet as Molly – purple. Lots of purple in faceted glass and fiber optics. I really enjoy the monochromatic look of this. Actually, I just enjoy monochromatic as a color scheme.
Lenght, from end of end is 26 1/2″. Available for $37.

Molly Mono was my first but certainly not the last germ I turned into a pendant. I also bought some lovely Pneumonia plushes – that I named Phil – and made three more necklaces.

Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #1

Fiber optic tubes and cubes in cream and orange surround Phil in this crisp necklace.
Length, from end to end is 24″. Available for $37.

Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #2

Bright orange swirled flat glass ovals and clear crackle glass ovals & tubes make up this chunky necklace.
Length, from end to end is 23 1/2″. Available for $37.

Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #3

Orange fiber optics and orange fire polished crystals mix with two different size clear faceted glass double cones. The tiny bit of orange is a great accent with the clear beads. Lovely.
Length from end to end is 27 1/2″. Available for $37.

For Phil’s necklaces, I really liked using oranges/whites/clears because they made him strand out so much. Although I’m sure he’d look just as lovely with black or white or silver. May have to get more of him and see what I can do with other color combos….

I’m in love with the quirkiness of this collection. I can’t wait to get my hands on some more plushes and make tons more pieces for this collection. Keep a look out for more fuzzy germs peaking out from necklaces from me.

Sat 22 May 2010

My Personal Collection – Part 1

Posted by Sarah Allison
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A common tip to beaders, especially those who want to sell their creations, is to wear the jewelry you make so others can see it. This works as a combination conversation starter and advertisement. The odd thing with me is that before I got really serious with beading, I wasn’t a big jewelry wearer. That’s changed now that I know what I can make. However, I still have a problem making pieces just for myself because I’d rather make unique pieces to sell in the hopes that they will some day find their home with someone else. Although I would occasionally take one my “for sell” pieces and wear it. But I don’t like doing that too often because I don’t want to fall in love with a piece that I’m supposed to sell. I’m working on this, though, and slowly creating pieces just for my personal collection.

I’ve got five pieces in my collection so far and I’d like to share them with you.

Crystal Embers Choker

This is the first piece I made for myself. I was going out with friends to Embers in Portland and decided that I needed a special piece of jewelry to wear. I love chokers and crystals and bugle beads so I mixed those and made this lovely black and orange piece. The crystals are a color called Fire Opal. That combined with the fact that this piece was made to be worn to Embers, created the title. This piece also inspired a collection of crystal chokers/necklaces based on the four elements.

Stop Sign Choker

I have these lovely little pendants in the shape of street signs. I decided to use one of the stop sign ones to make another choker for myself. I combined crystals in two shades of red and glass black rounds to accent the pendant.

(I’m a) Gay Fan Necklace

This is one of my favorite designs from my Gay Pride Line because I love the fan effect I’ve created. Plus, the name of this piece came from the fact that I am the world’s biggest gay fan. So, I made an extra one for myself. This is my most often worn piece and the one most often commented on.

Crystal Chaos Triple Strand Necklace

This design was created using my stash of crystal extras. Plus, I wear a lot of black so this piece is perfect to add a burst of color to my wardrobe. I loved the colorful, chaotic effect of this so much that I created a collection based on it.

Classic Love Beads Necklace

This is an extremely long necklace made of randomly strung large seed beads on elastic. It can be wrapped around my neck several times or just once so it’s very versatile. This piece was made from some bead extras that I didn’t want to sort. And it was strung during my first Craft Time in the Basement under the influence of Vodka. But it’s still beautiful.

Thu 13 May 2010

Fab Fans Now With Extra Fabulous

Posted by Sarah Allison
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I work outside the bead box¹ when creating my beaded pretties. The rules that other beaders follow are the ones I enjoy breaking. For example, I bought these lovely 20×5mm silver-plated brass with double-sided epoxy rectangle drops in the standard colors of the rainbow with the intention of making a lovely Gay Pride flag center piece for a necklace. However, this post isn’t about that necklace although it was the inspiration.²

These enamel drops are meant to be made into a charm or pendant by adding a jump ring through the hole in the drop and stringing it so it hangs flat and sort of dangles from the necklace. Following that “rule” just didn’t work for me. It made my Gay Pride Flag too floppy for my taste. So, I decided to string the enamel drops as if they were beads. The result was this lovely “fan” effect.

I fell in love with this effect so it became the center piece of my necklace. It took a bit of trial and error, but I eventually got a finished necklace I loved. It included five fans that were each made of six drops and the rest of the necklace was made of black bugle beads, black glass rounds and delicas in black and the same rainbow colors as the fans. After the success that was the (I’m a) Gay Fan Necklace, I had to buy some more of the lovely enamel drops. I got some of each of the 20 colors available. I figured I should have fan necklaces that would appeal to everyone so I created ten more necklaces following the same pattern as the original but in ten different color combos and each being the same 17″ end to end. The result was the Fab Fan Collection.

Besides being beautiful and unique necklaces, my intention with this collection is for each necklace to represent something someone is a fan of. With so many color combos, there’s got to be one that speaks to you and your inner fan. And if you need some help picking one out as a gift for someone who’s a fan of something or for someone you’re a fan of, let me give you some suggestions:

Red, Yellow and Orange are the same colors as flame or fire so it’s perfect for your favorite little pyro.³
Black and White is perfect for someone who loves classic black and white movies⁴
Lavender, Purple and Rose is a very feminine color combo so it’s a perfect gift for that special girl in your life⁵
Yellow and Green are the colors of the Oregon Ducks team so that’s the only fan you can buy it for, obviously⁶
The only one I’m stumped on is the Burgundy and Blue one. I thought it was the colors of the Boston Red Sox in honor of my hubby who is a big fan, but he tells me no. So, what could these color represent? Anyone?
Pink and Blue combined remind me of babies so it’s a perfect gift for that mommy-to-be⁷
Orange and Green is a lovely fall-esque, outdoorsy color combo and is perfect for that outdoorsy person in your life that likes to hike and/or camp⁸
Teal, Sea Foam and Turquoise is a beautiful, watery color combo and would be a perfect gift for a surfer or lifeguard.⁹
Camel and Peach reminds me of coffee and cream so it’s a perfect gift for your favorite Barista¹⁰
Green and Purple has a special meaning to me – it reminds me of my sis in law and her hubby, my brother, because those colors were their wedding colors and have had other significant meaning in their lives. So, whenever I use these colors together, I think of them and how much they love each other. So, this one’s perfect for giving to your soul mate.

Of course, these are just suggestions. I’m sure there’s all kinds of things people are fans of that one of these beauties could represent. I mean if you could become a fan of “I don’t feel like folding my laundry so I just restart my dryer” on Facebook, then someone can come up with the colors to represent that. These are also not the only color combos possible. If you have another one in mind or want a different length, let me know and I’ll see what the bead muses and I can come up with.

If you click on any the various links in this post, it’ll take you to where you can buy one or ten of these lovely necklaces, each only $27 with free shipping anywhere in the USA and really cheap shipping anywhere else.¹¹

¹And I enjoy messing with cliches.
²But this post is.
³Or Volunteer Fireman, whatever you wanna call it.
⁴Or eating Oreos.
⁵Or that special guy in your life that likes to dress like a girl.
⁶For those who don’t know, the Oregon Ducks are a sports team, water polo, I think.
⁷Or mommy-already.
⁸And would be a good “sorry I don’t like sleeping in dirt with bugs but I still love you” gift.
⁹Or underwater basket weaver.
¹⁰Or favorite coffee addict.
¹¹Except Never Never Land because that’s not real.

Fri 7 May 2010

Items Currently Listed For Sale – May 7th, 2010

Posted by Sarah Allison
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When items get newly listed for sale on one of my shops, I’ll be writing a post with just images and links of these new pretties. To start, I’m going to give you what’s already listed. Since I’m working on upgrading the photos, you’ll only get photos of the items that have had that upgrade done. As I upgrade the photos, I’ll post them in this format. And as I list new things, I’ll also post one of these entries. Just click on the “Just Listed” category link to get to all the posts.

Below you’ll find photos of the items currently listed on ArtFire that have had the photos updated. Below that you’ll find links to each of their shop listings. And below that, you’ll find text links to everything else available for sale on my Artfire and Etsy shops.