'Acorns & Ravens' or Autumn Harvest is awash with the lampwork of several top-flight studio artists, almost like an art glass harvest itself!  This is a design I have been putting together in my mind for weeks, centered around the stunning handcrafted grape harvest sterling toggle.  The uber talented, published metal artist uses the old wax technique to create one-of-a-kind, edgy, elegant & interesting sterling toggles and charms.  As it was, I was planning to start my Autumn design line sometime in September, when the colder mornings and evenings starting whispering 'Autumn.'  However, we have had a fantastically mild summer in Northern California and already, in mid-August, I can feel the Autumn in the air.  My first inclination was to find the lampwork beads in my design from my enormous library and set to work.  Needless to say, I have spent days on this piece, luxuriating in the Fall and thinking of the fabulous Napa valley nearby, the smells of Autumn and later the winds and chill of the coming winter, after Halloween.

 

I consider Catherine Steele's grape harvest lentils the focal beads of this piece, considering the theme. Catherine is known and regarded for her stunning sculptural lampwork beads and these are among my many favorites of her work.  Pristine is the only word to describe the detail and care she puts into every bead.  Secondary to her lentils are the stunning tubular beads by Jennifer Powers.

 

In composing 'Acorns & Ravens,' I created my design in colors around the lampwork beads using semi-precious gemstones,  sterling Bali beads and other  beads. You will find:

 

* Luminous, AAA faceted ice-blue aquamarine rondelles

* Light Baltic amber chips, couched with Hilltribe sterling droplets

* Gorgeous, chunky Amethyst rondelles

* Light green faceted Chalcedony briolettes

* Violet faceted quartz heart briolettes

* Forest green faceted quartz heart briolettes

*Swarovski in a variety of shapes colors & sizes

* Faceted Swarovski cubes in vintage pink

* Lampwork spacers in lilac

* Amber lampwork leaves by artist, Heather of her studio Bead Intrigue

*  Bali silver daisy spacers & tube beads

* A sterling raven, oak leaf and grape bunch charm

'Acorns & Ravens' is a piece meant to celebrate the bounty and good fortune of our plentiful earth and locally grown produce.  It celebrates fine wines from Italy, France to South Africa and New Zealand to say nothing of California.  It is a piece to wear while revelling in the dramatic beauty of the Fall and the changing colors, leaves ablaze with color.  'Autumn Harvest' measures 8.5 inches and can be resized at no additional charge.

 

 

I have been so enchanted by the  heritage & history of the traditional Nantucket Lightship baskets and have taken great joy in composing bracelets to match the impression I have of the baskets and their native Nantucket. Like the others I designed (all one-of-a-kind) with this muse, this one is *the* sentimental charm bracelet for summers spent, like annual winds, on the island. It is a cornucopia of some of the most talented lampwork bead artists with whom I have had the pleasure to work. 

 

'Nantucket Lightship Basket, VI' is comprised of several lampwork artists' beads.  The two, large round knobby pillow beads are done by renowned Australian artist, Nellie Mae.  When she entered the US market, she was little known and her bead prices were pricey, but nowhere near what she is able to fetch for them today.  I was very fortunate to collect 5 or 6 sets of her work.  Also, after a year or so of creating lampwork sets of beads, she has all but abandoned that style and is now almost exclusively making  Pandora lampwork beads, fetching up to $40 or more for one bead. It is no mistake, however, since her work is so original and mesmerizing.  You won't find lampwork beads like the ones she creates.  As I used to say of Nellie Mae's work, you start to work with them and soon the beads are telling the story and not the other way around.  These two lampwork beads by her are the rolling sea, the generous curl of waves and the color of sea in the afternoon on a clear, summer's day, when the sun casts silver on the ocean.  She uses shades of blue, turquoise with curls of silver sparkles and then sensual whisps of white encased under clear glass.  The very depth of the colors beneath the glass is intriguing.  You can look on forever and deeper and deeper.

 

Companion lampwork are done by a top-flight American glass artist.  Her work is at once edgy and complex done in a tubular shape and colored in transparent blues, teal, turquoise & purple (rather like a Monet) and peppered with silver flecks, clear bumpies and on the center bead, generous scrolls of 24K gold swaths of embedded metal. I absolutely love the ensemble of the two sets - at once rich, textured and very sophisticated. 

 

Other lampwork beads in the piece include:  3D flowers by artists Heather (Bead Intrigue) and Serena Smith.  Heather also makes the small, transparent green leaves and whimsical polka dot lampwork discs.  Serena is the artist of the royal purple tulips, looking glossy and wet petaled.

In composing 'Nantucket Lightship Basket,' I created my design in colors around the lampwork beads using semi-precious gemstones,  sterling Bali beads and other  beads. You will find:

 

* Luminous, AAA faceted ice-blue aquamarine rondelles

* Faceted large teal teardrop quartz beads

*Swarovski bicones in a variety of colors & sizes

* Faceted Swarovski cubes in two colors

* Thai Hilltribe bright silver coil beads, hammered oval rings

* Bali silver daisy spacers & twisted rope rings & pins

* Quality cane/furnace beads by the esteemed glass artist, Penrose

Accenting the entire piece are the most glorious sterling charms I could imagine ~ a large vermeil gold (24K gold over .999 sterling silver), a woven basket, a catamaran, an anchor & rope and a tiny seashorse.  Although I don't haunt the isle of Nantucket, I do go north to my own island most summers - Savary - in British Columbia and have done so, since I was 4 years old. So, I understand island life and have always thought of myself as an island girl, even when I am 1000 miles south in the suburbs of California.  And I am very fortunate to have been asked by an esteemed Martha's Vineyard art gallery, Carlin Eliot Fine Arts, to showcase my work in her gallery. I am her only jewelry designer and my work is displayed in a gorgeous French antique Provencal standing case purchased just for my collection.

 

'Nantucket Lightship Basket' is completed with a square Bali silver toggle clasp made by the Bali silver artisans and measures just over 8.5 inches, suitable for a size 7 inch wrist.  Resizing is possible at no additional charge.

 

I'm back to beading-on-a-tangent again, pulling out my more avant gard lampwork beads & going to town.  Once again, it w as a package arriving from abroad which had me swooning at my bead table, spending hours going through my bead library, free-associating with other artists' beads & pulling together ideas until a muse hit me like a too, too beautiful comet. These are truly some of the most intriguing and elegant lampwork beads I have owned.  Splashed in 24K gold, the focal bead is as if from another century.

 

So often it is the work of the lampwork artists with whom I collaborate which serve as my muse. Some beads really send me...and I am driven, as if by a powerful, poetic wind, to sit down at the bead table and bring all the forces to bear on a bracelet design that is simply meant to be.  The focal of 'Penelope' is one of those beads and pulled me back to the time of the ancient Greece. It was a photo I saw online of a few days back in Athens, Greece, during a thunder & lightening shower and a gorgeous, blazing white bolt of lightening hitting the ancient Parthenon. The sky was a deep, dark blue and the white lightening bolt was so perfect in shape and form that one believed for at least a second, that Zeus was at the helm of his firey chariot, casting down thunderous light to shake some sense into the mere mortals of Greece. So...I started to think of Homer's 'Odyssey' and the long, enduring story I read while at university. I remember so clearly Odysseus' wife, Penelope, pining away for him for the decades he was 'lost' on his mariner's voyage.  While many considered her a widow, her love and faith in her husband endured and to soothe herself, she sat at her loom weaving and weaving the years away while many suitors tried to win her favor. Meanwhile, at sea, her husband was fending off sirens and sea monsters and trying to find his way and complete his journey. The story ends well and Penelope is as refined and gentle as a heroine can be...so this design honors that classic, gentle feminine and is, 'Penelope.'

 

I have used some of my favorite lampwork artist's beads in 'Penelope' - including Melanie Carey of her studio Glass Valley. I have used her gorgeous taupe beads with pink rosebuds, green leaves and gentle pink dots. Two of her beads are encased which means clear glass encases a taupe core which makes these beads stand-outs and especially fetching with an antique look.  Two others of her taupe rosebud designs are without the encasing.

 

Catherine Steele's fetching, cosmic looking 'orb' beads are absolute wonders.  I have photographed them up close so that you can see the complexity of color and design beneath the glass. They are drizzled with sterling silver on the surface, making them modern & edgy and creating such depth.  

 

Heather Davis' two magnificent & detailed pink lampwork tulips punctuate the rosebuds of Melanie's work.  Two pink & green rosebuds by Serena in a dainty size hang on each side of the regal focal bead, which in and of itself, is a marvel in glasswork. All four flower beads are used as dangling charms in the design.

 

Long and tubular, the amazing focal bead of "Penelope"  is done in shades of transparent light amber with pink & violet bumps, olive green swirled together with splashes of 24K gold.  It is an absolutely breathtaking piece of art!  I have capped this bead in stunning ornate Bali vermeil beadcaps (22K over .999 sterling).  Two, smaller deep pink matching lampwork rounds done in an organic style (uneven glass surface, freckled with gold) finish the lineup of top-flight lampwork in this design.

Other beads & stones used in 'Penelope' include:

* Freshwater pearls in light pink

* Smokey pink chalcedony faceted briolettes

* AAA quality faceted cubic zirconia in pink, lavender and apricot

* Faceted clear quartz rondelles

* Swarovski crystals in a variety of shapes, sizes & colors

* Small pink filigree lampwork rounds/spacers

* Two large, puffy vermeil heart charms by the Hilltribe artisans

* One small, vermeil heart charm

'Penelope' is completed with an ornate Bali vermeil  toggle clasp and measures @ 8.5  inches in length. This style of bracelet in size 8.5" would usually fit an actual wrist measurement of 6.5"-7".  The bracelet can be resized without an additional fee and without compromising the overall design.

 

As Penelope in her calm & faith in her mate was an enduring  force in the epic, Greek tale of 'Homer's' work, 'The Odyssey,'  so too is this design, a rare jewel, thanks to the magnificent talent of so many gifted glass artists living in the 21st century.