Pantone Colors of the Year - 2021

The Very Nice Group on Facebook had a challenge to come up with designs based on the Pantone colors of the year for 2021.  The colors are "illuminating" (yellow) and "ultimate gray".  Here is the inspiration picture we got.

I'm having a LOT of fun with enameling, and crackle enamel is what I've been playing with for many months now, so I decided to start by combining those colors in enameling.  With crackle enamel you layer many different colors layers, heat them up and the crackle enamel causes the colors to separate showing the colors below.  It is part science and part luck what you end up creating.  For these enamel pieces I used 3 colors for all - opaque grey, transparent and opaque yellow.  For some I also used a transparent opalescent white.  Just changing the order of the layers creates very different results. 

Here are the designs I created. The first 2 have enamels in the same colors and order.

Sunshine and Gray Skies - SOLD - Enamel on copper, artisan lampwork, citrine and copper

Relics - enamel on brass, dinosaur bone, citrine and brass

Going Tribal - for these I changed the order of the enamel.  Gray was added at the end and it almost disappeared as the crackle enamel caused the colors to move.  The transparent yellow turned out brown as it reacted with the copper.  The patterns and shape reminded me of sea slugs - LOL!

For this pair I enameled in gray, added some gold highlights and then did feather raku to get those random black patterns.  Feather raku is a challenge.  You want to get some nice random patterns, but don't want a big black smudge.  I also used gold fill/vermeil beads and wire for the yellow rather than a yellow gemstone.

Golden Gray Skies - SOLD - enamel on copper, artisan lampwork, gold vermeil and gold fill

And, finally, I made a pair with just gemstones - though the lemon quartz is AAA quality with fabulous step faceting.

Leaves and Sunshine - Botswana agate carved leaves, AAA lemon quartz and sterling silver

This was a fun challenge and I enjoyed making a variety of designs in yellow and gray and it was a popular color palette for several of my customers as well!

It's National Mutt Day and I love dogs! If you don't already know that, you will if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

We always get rescue dogs and right now we have 2 - Max (our little old man) and Bijou (the youngster). Max (a Westie aka West Highland White) is from Westie Rescue of OC. They do rescue mutts as well, but they focus mainly on Westies.  Bijou (a Schnauzer mix) is from Karmic Rescue.  I share pictures of both of them regularly since they're both so CUTE!

In honor of National Mutt Day I'm doubling my dog donation. Purchase from my Dog Collection before midnight PDT and I'll donate 20% of your purchase to Westie Rescue of OC. I normally donate 10% of Dog Collection purchases but, for all purchases today, I'm doubling that!! Just click on the products to buy. I have many more designs in the Dog Collection and I'll be adding more throughout the day. Buy some cute dog love earrings to help more fur babies find loving parents!

The Love Bone Earrings are customizable! You pick the gemstone or color of glass that you want for the hearts.

The Rescues Rock Necklace is one of a kind so grab it before it's gone!

Here's Bijou	and Max

Rescues Rock Necklace Yes that is a rock that I captured between copper.  It is held together with brass screws.  A one of a kind necklace to show you love rescues!

Love Bone Earrings I create the bones by hand by fusing argentium sterling silver, shaping it, hammering it and then polishing it.  You choose the heart you would like.  I have a variety of gemstones and glass colors to choose from.  You pick the heart that is perfect for you.

I Love ❤ My Person Brass Dog Bone Tag A fun tag you can hang on your dogs collar.  If you want a different message (maybe you want a tag for you?) send me an email and we can figure out a custom tag for you.

 

The Very Nice Group on Facebook had a challenge to come up with designs based on the colors and textures in this inspiration collage:





With this inspiration I had some fun making new designs.  These will be in my shop once the inspiration challenge finishes tomorrow.  In the meantime enjoy!

Earthy Shades - amethyst sage agate, artisan lampwork, freshwater pearls, yarn and sterling silver


Softly Sulfured Waters Earrings - artisan lampwork, Czech glass, crystal rhinestones, citrine and brass



Sunshine, Sunset Earrings - Bumblebee jasper, artisan lampwork, freshwater pearls, carnelian and sterling silver



Whispers of Blue Earrings - blue lace agate, artisan lampwork, freshwater pearls and gold fill

cserpentDesigns Newsletter 01/2020

cserpentDesigns Newsletter

Enjoy!                                                            January 2020                                            Happy New Year! 2020 has begun, my annual Tucson visit is looming and I'm actually getting a newsletter out to start the year! I'm slowly working my way back to playing soccer.  I made it through half a training session this weekend and I'll see how long I can play in a small field game with an over 55 group next weekend.  I'm in the throes of closing the books for 2019 so I'll be ready to add my inventory from Tucson into my database.  I had fun playing with some new enameling techniques so you'll be seeing more designs with my enamel work in them this year.   All my new designs premiere on Facebook since I really like the one-on-one interaction you get with people in the various jewelry groups.  If you want to be the first to see my designs be sure to like cserpentDesigns on Facebook and turn on the notifications.  I update my blog somewhat regularly and I do blog about my new designs there as well.  One big accomplishment last year was to get my own website for my jewelry designs.  cserpentDesigns.com  is open and ready for business.   Since it's January I have to have some garnet designs in my shop.  I'm working on a few more designs with garnet so check back often to see what's new. Ringed Garnet Wisps - Gorgeous artisan lampwork beads, garnet and sterling silver earrings Red Tipped Spikes - Beautiful Sonoran jasper, hollow artisan lampwork beads, garnet and sterling silver If you are on my Facebook page and want to shop just click the Shop Now button. If you're local and are interested in a home jewelry show anytime this year please contact me so we can arrange it. Hostess discounts are available and a hostess gift is always part of the show!   You know I love purple, but I also think kyanite is a gorgeous gemstone.  For this pair I combined the two for a beautiful design.  Available in my studio. Turquoise and Gold Kumi I am doing more Kumihimo weaving with beads, cord and fiber and am adding in larger beads for some designs.  I love turquoise and gold and had fun weaving this beautiful and long necklace. Available in my studio.   Flower Garden Slider I'm designing a new style of bracelet. This is adjustable with a sliding bead so it is easy to put on, adjust and take off. This pretty is available in my studio.   Lime and Purple These earrings use a pair of my enamel drops.  This enameling technique is called crackle enamel.  I layer on multiple colors of glass and a crackle enamel. The crackle enamel causes the upper layers of glass to open up so you can see the lower layers of glass.  I combined the drops with artisan lampwork, Swarovski crystals, Czech glass and copper.  This is available in my studio.

Website: https://www.cserpentDesigns.com

Blog: http://www.cserpentDesigns.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cserpentDesigns

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Art Elements 'white' theme reveal

At the beginning of December Claire from the Art Elements team announced that the themed challenge would be 'white'.  To read the original blog post click HERE

White could have been pure, with accents, in various tones or whatever we decided met the theme.  I designed these earrings specifically for the challenge.  

I saw these gorgeous red creek jasper drops in my bead stash and decided they were a perfect start for the theme.  I combined them with these wonderful lampwork beads with various tones of white and splashes of brick red.  I call these Southwestern Snow and they are available for sale HERE.

But as I look at some of my other new creations I think this theme got a hold of my design muse.  White abounds!

Tutus and Pearls

You can find Tutus and Pearls here.

Goldenrod

You can find Goldenrod here.

Golden Snowflakes

You can find Golden Snowflakes here.

Leaves of Pearl

You can find Leaves of Pearl here.

We don't get snow in San Diego too often but the white theme has been pervasive this month in my designs.

Below are all the guests and Art Elements team members who participated in this challenge. Be sure to click on their links to see what everyone else created!

Guest Artists

Alysen

Anita

Beth

Cat 

Divya

Elaine

Hope

Jill

Karin

Kathy

Laney

Lucy

Rozantia 

Sarajo

Tammy 

Art Elements Team

Caroline

Cathy

Claire

Laney

Lesley

Marsha

Susan

6.5 months after my foot surgery, a hike, an eclipse and new jewelry designs!

It was a long recovery from my foot surgery and I'm not back to 100% yet - but I am back to playing soccer!  And I don't have the achilles pain after playing anymore so the surgery was a success!  Before surgery I was limping after the first half of play.   I even did my first HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) class and Orange Theory class.  In both of those classes the lack of strength in my legs was very obvious- LOL!  So I still have more work to do increasing the strength in my legs and flexibility in my achilles - but my surgery foot isn't keeping me from doing too many things.  About 2 weeks ago I went on a hike with my bro and one of his friends from La Jolla up to Mt. Soledad.  I didn't make it to the top since the last part of the hike was a REAL steep incline on city streets and my achilles told me to head back downhill after it got a serious workout as we hiked through the very steep La Jolla nature park and on the uphill trek to get to the last climb for Mt. Soledad. 

View from the top of the La Jolla nature park

The sun appeared over the ocean as I headed down and turned the water a glorious blue color!

And I didn't even post on the day of the eclipse - but I did get a picture of the eclipse through the leaves of our wisteria - with Max, our Westie, keeping an eye on things.  :)

And, since I know you are just dying to see my new jewelry designs!, here are a few :)

Purple Rose Earrings - Artisan lampwork and sterling silver

Aqua Grass - artisan lampwork, chrysoprase, artisan polymer dangles, crystals, brass and gold filled

In Orbit Earrings - fused argentium sterling silver wings, artisan lampwork

The foot at week 15 and the jewelry

A lot has happened since my last blog post!  I'm walking and, as of today, I can rise up on my toes!  Yep I celebrate the simpler things in life as I'm able to do them now.  I spent 6 weeks without putting any weight on my right foot (scootering around on my knee scooter) and then started to transition from walking in the boot to walking in shoes with lifts and now I'm transitioning to shoes with no lifts and barefeet!  Each transition takes some time for the muscles and tendons to get used to the new position.  Once I can walk with no pain and a decent distance with no lifts I can start gentle jogging for small amounts of time each day.  That's a little way in the distance.  I did want to share a before and after picture.  The bone spur (bulge) was pretty big before surgery!

As my foot has healed I've gotten back to making jewelry.  It is taking me a while to get back in the groove.  My creative stints are not as frequent, yet, as before surgery.  Here are some of my recent creations.  They haven't yet made it into my Etsy shop so if you're interested just go to my cserpentDesigns Facebook page and send me a message.

The Purple and The Green - amethyst, peridot and sterling silver

Purple Rose - Artisan lampwork and sterling silver

Palette on Black - Artisan lampwork, my own enameled on copper drops, aquamarine, Swarovski crystals, Czech glass and sterling silver

I'm working on new designs with some of the Mexican Purple Opal drops I got in Tucson in February!  Can't wait to share those with you!

New things to show!

Yowza! I haven't updated my blog in way to long. It's November already! OK - so I've been making new designs, selling them at online trunk shows and I'm getting ready to take some things up to the Fallbrook Art Museum for their Art of the Holiday show. I love making things for this show! I get to share my designs with a local audience and a portion of everything that sells goes to support the museum! Here are some of my recent creations ....

Blue Linen - Artisan lampwork, blue lace agate and sterling silver

Scarlet Lantern - Artisan lampwork, hematite and black rhodium plated sterling silver

Chocolate Wispies - Artisan lampwork, chocolate quartz and sterling silver

Dino-Mite - Dinosaur bone, etched glass and sterling silver

Vines and Flowers - Artisan lampwork, Swarovski crystals and gold filled

Sea Swirls - Artisan lampwork, Venetian glass, Swarovski crystals and sterling silver

    

Gorgeous color!

I've been having fun with color in my earring designs.  Enjoy!