Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" Necklace Finished!

Well here she is! Finished at last. I really put a lot of time into this one, but I adore the outcome. The art bead is strung with freshwater pearls, rose quartz, a glass art bead from Greece, Greek ceramic beads, white coral, pink coral, Czech glass beads, and some glass turquoise seed beads. Make sure to check out the Art Bead Scene to see all the other beautiful pieces entered for this month's challenge.

Here is a detail. Who did the shell better... me or Botticelli? Ha ha, yea, don't answer that :) Even though I can't compare to great Renaissance masters, I'm very happy with the outcome of my copper patina finish!

Boticelli Art Bead Finished

So I soldered the art bead together and I must admit...I really love it! This piece is really special so far. The floating flowers are a perfect match :)

Now 100% lead free solder has posed a problem for me in the past. It doesnt take on copper patina well! And I LOVE the look of the copper patina. So its time to turn lemons into lemonade!!! Since I am such a lover of antiquity I give the soldered seams a look of aged copper!

I use three acylic paints to achieve the effect. A dark green/teal, a light green/teal, and a copper color. The finished product gives the look of aged metal and I like it better this way! I seal the seams with clear nail polish so there is no clothing color transfer :)

Interested in entering a piece? Do it!!!! Click here to visit the Art Bead Scene :)

Art Bead Scene - Monthly Challenge

Well I've decided to add to the suspense of the new Goddess and not "release" her until tomorrow...hehe.

In the meantime the Art Bead Scene's Monthly challenge for April is Botticelli Birth of Venus. I absolutely adore this painting for two reasons. First off - - Its a mythology painting! Venus was said to have been born sprung from the foam of the ocean. Other myths say she was born from a seashell. Either way, Botticelli has done a fine job of representing Venus (Aphrodite to the Greeks). This image is probably one of the most recognized paintings in the history of Art. The other reason I love this painting, is because when I was an art history major in college I was able to see this piece when I was studying in Florence. It is a very large painting (over five feet tall) and you can see all the beautiful detail Botticelli includes in his rendering of fabrics and foliage. This painting truly combines my love of art and mythology. Though I must admit, his Primavera is what really gets me weak in the knees.


Since it brought back so many wonderful memories, I got right on it. I decided to sketch the shell till I came up with a form that I liked. I then set about to make a stained glass pendant. Here are the glass pieces after they were cut and grinded. As you can see two "panels" of the shell are clear glass so that I could collage something inside the glass.


After fooling around with some dried flowers and lavender (too big, too messy) I decided to paint my own pattern. I took some simple collage paper and very lightly and loosely drew pretty little pink flowers, much like the ones that float magically in the painting.


Well that's as far as I got today. I will have to solder tomorrow... I also have some plans for Zephyr (God of the Wind), Aura (Goddess of Breezes), and Horae (Goddess of the Seasons) who are also in the painting. They will play lesser roles in the necklace but are not forgotten :)

Hope its not raining where you are! :(

Use the Muse Entries and Winners!

Hello Friends! Sorry I have not been blogging as much as usual. A wonderful friend of mine's father passed away this past week. It was a heartbreaking couple of days. I'm sure all of our prayers are with her during this very difficult time.


On a brighter note, the Use the Muse Contest has been revealed and judged. You can click here to see all the FANTASTIC entries and the winners. My piece did not receive a prize this time around, but its no wonder! These women created some beautiful and stunning pieces. I really enjoyed participating in this contest and would do it again for sure!!!

So this is my piece! I named it Flora and Zephyr :)

When I first received my “Use the Muse” contest kit, I couldn't help but think of romance! In Greek mythology, Zephyr was the God of the winds and Flora was a Goddess of flowers and all things that grow. I wanted the piece to look both windswept and vine-like. The vintage watch face hold a small image of the lovers from an Italian painting by Jacopo Amigoni. The stained glass focal point (which holds the lovely muse) is made of two colors of stained glass and 100% lead free solder which I covered with gold leaf to make it match the muse and the rest of the piece. I must admit that wearing it would make anybody feel swept up in a whirlwind romance!

Have a good one! I'm off to troll though all of your blogs now to see what you've been up to this week! :)

Winter, Winter Go Away!

I don't know about you but I am tired, tired of this Winter nonsense! When I heard it was going to snow today it just put me over the edge. I decided to use all my jewelry making powers to evoke the Godesses of Spring. Demeter, Demeter where are you? When will Persephone return? If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is a quick lesson in Greek Mythology.

Demeter was the Goddess of the Harvest and agriculture. She was the patron of farmers, and the goddess of everything green; trees, grass, gardens, and crops alike. She had given man the gift of wheat and showed them how to sow their fields.

Demeter had a daughter named Persephone who was kidnapped by Hades, the God of the underworld. While Demeter roamed the earth searching for her daughter she became so depressed that she let nothing grow for six months and man was introduced to Winter. When her daughter returned Demeter rejoiced and the earth began to grow again. This is why Demeter is also the Goddess of the Seasons.

Anyway, I found these great glass beads at the craft store today and decided I must have them. They reminded me of seaglass, summer, margaritas,...and everything else wonderful that comes with sunshine! So I began digging through my rather extensive seashell collection and started creating.

I have SO MANY SEASHELLS and I love them all...big, small, and broken. Anytime I am at the beach you can find me pouring over the sand looking for little treasures of the sea. Many of these seashells were collected in Long Beach Island, NJ. I spent all my summers as a kid there and still go back every year.


These pendants came out great...I actually found these shells on Sanibel Island Florida...over 10 years ago! (Just to give you an idea of what kind of packrat I am) But here they are...I knew all along they had a greater purpose in life. Im thinking about just hanging these on sterling silver chains since they showcase the shells so perfectly. I want them to be the star of the show!


I'm visiting my sister in Hawaii in just nine days! I'm planning on bringing lots of jewelry with me so we can have a little cocktail jewelry party. I can just picture Alexis in these while sipping Mai Tais at Duke's Canoe Club!

These were fun to make. The sand dollars were very delicate but by gluing two of them back to back they are pretty substantial. The green glass beads remind me of seaglass too.

Here are a few more pendants I made today. Again, can you tell I'm over Winter? These came out great and I cant wait to play around with the rest of the necklace. These pieces have a little bit of everything. The one with the dried starfish has even been dipped in a little LBI sand!

Think warm thoughts!

Stained Glass Jewelry

I've been playing around with making stained glass jewelry lately... and I must admit that I love it. When I saw this glass I bought it for the purpose of making jewelry...no stained glass window in mind :) I made several pendant shapes and some simple triangles for earrings... nothing too heavy of course.

After soldering the pieces I used a copper patina on them. I think the copper looks great with the colors in the glass. I also soldered on some copper coils to the earrings.

Then I added some red swarovski crystals and some gold filled findings.

Here is a picture of the necklace pendant I did as well. Again with the swarovski crystals... I do admit they a great punch of sparkle and thats why I'm loving them so much right now.

And the set! The necklace back has been finished off with leather to protect clothing/skin from any wire ends and solder bumps. I use 100% lead free solder. . . but still it doesnt feel great next to the skin ;) I will get better pictures and up and get these on my website later tonight. :)