Friday, November 30, 2012

The Challenge of Color - Earth as Art

I joined the challenge this year. Erin Pais-Hintz of Treasures Found and Brandi Hussey of BrandiGirlBlog are hosting the 3rd Annual Challenge of Color.

The Earth As Art image gallery is a group of over 120 pictures taken from the Landsat series of Earth observation satellites since 1972. These pictures of the unique features of our beautiful planet are a vital resource for understanding scientific issues related to land use and natural resources. I encourage you to check out these photos. They are beautiful images and so inspiring!

 Each participant was assigned two color palettes from the Earth as Art images. I was given these two color palettes to choose from. 
A little background on the Dardzha Monster:  Looking like a monstrous ogre with something gooey in its mouth, the Dardzha Peninsula in western Turkmenistan lies among the shallow coastal terraces of the Caspian Sea. Strong winds create huge sand dunes near the water, some of which are partly submerged. Further inland, the dunes transition to low sand plains.
Background on the Dasht-E Kevir: The Dasht-e Kevir, or Great Salt Desert, is the largest desert in Iran. It is a primarily uninhabited wasteland, composed of mud and salt marshes covered with crusts of salt that protect the meager moisture from completely evaporating.

I committed to working the Dardzha Monster palette. I found this choice to be my challenge. I thought and thought, how could I design a lampwork bead in this color scheme. I had some ideas and got to the torch.


Round 1 of beads. I was not satisfied with what I was coming up with. The colors were proving to be a real challenge for me to create beads with. I had made a few more of the spacer beads. They seem to have disappeared from my work bench for the moment so they missed the photo shoot.
I know I committed to the Dardzha color scheme but it just wasn't working for me. So I thought I would try the Dasht E Kevir color scheme.



These beads are from the second round at the torch. I was seeing blues and off whites in the Dasht photo. Then I thought earth and nuggets. So I created nugget shaped beads as well as round beads.
It all looked good going into the kiln but once the kiln had cooled I was disappointed. Although I like the beads there is too much blue in these. Again not the look I had in mind.


Round 3 and I nailed it! (if I am allowed to say so myself). Okay, finally, beads I can work with. Immediately the ideas for a finished jewelry design began to  take shape.






 This is a blog hop. I am sure you will want to check out what all the participants  created based on the images they were assigned. We were given some great inspiration photos. I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with!

Ema Kilroy http://emakaye.blogspot.com ***** you are here *****

Thanks for joining me. As always you can visit my Etsy shop to find lampwork beads, metal components and finished jewelry at Ema K Designs.
Posted by Ema Kilroy at 1:00 AM 46 Beautiful comments
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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort Artisan Supported

My friend Lea Avroch, of LAJewelry is from NYC. Her cousin," Mandy Bickerstaff, set up a grassroots fundraising group to help victims almost as soon as the storm hit and she's STILL helping them through her group, UWSLOVES."

 Lea has organized her friends and artisans to donate items which are being auctioned off. You can make a bid on your favorite items, if you are the winner you will receive an artisan made piece and know that 100% of the funds you are donating will go directly toward Hurricane Sandy victims. You will find all the items up for auction here:

These are the earrings I've donated toward the effort. They are valued at $40.00 and the current bid is at $20.00. What a great value! Stop by and place your bid and help to directly support Hurricane victims. This auction will end on November 26th.

You can find more earrings like this in my Etsy shop.
www.emakdesigns.etsy.com
and you can follow me
www.facebook.com/emakdesigns

Visit my Holiday Page to find links to wonderful artisan sales and giveaways! 
Posted by Ema Kilroy at 2:18 PM 0 Beautiful comments

Monday, November 19, 2012

Artisan Whimsy Holiday Sale



                                                                                               

Kumihimo Jewelry designs now 15% OFF


Shop the finest Jewelry Designers For the 2012 Holiday Season
Many of our artists have published work & sell their beautiful pieces nationally and internationally.
See something you like?
Please click on the picture to browse their giveaway and view all their 
Fabulous Handmade Jewelry Pieces.
The largest Artisan shopping event 
for Cyber Week...Ever!! 
It starts this Friday, Nov. 23rd thru Friday Nov 30th.
All participating jewelry designers will be offering a discount on their stores &
will be promoting a giveaway.  
Winners will be chosen individually by the blog owners.
For event wide discount code use: AWHOLIDAY

We will be hiding
Three Exciting Giveaways 
throughout our participants blogs.  
When you find them, follow the directions to be entered! 
AND! Bookmark ArtisanWhimsy.com for Future Artisan Jewelry Shopping Opportunities!


Lampwork beads 15% OFF
Copper Jewelry Components 15% OFF



In my Etsy shop, Ema K designs, I am offering 15% OFF all jewelry and jewelry components when you use coupon code AWHOLIDAY at checkout.

 What am I giving away? I will be giving away a pair of earrings. It is a new design I have just worked up. The design is so new I haven't had a chance to photgraph them. I will snap a photo and add it later.
Leave a comment to enter the giveaway. Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you.
The earring giveaway will be similar to one of these designs.
Drawing will take place on December 1.

Have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

To view a listing of all participating artists visit my blog page, Holiday 2012 Great Deals.
Posted by Ema Kilroy at 2:01 PM 35 Beautiful comments
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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Rolling Along and Painting with Fire

I am just back from a vacation with my Mom, two sisters and my youngest son. My Mom and two sisters have happily finished their radiation and/or chemotherapy treatments and all are doing very well. I saw this trip as a celebration of our lives and our health. I am happy to have those treatments behind us. It is not easy watching your loved ones deal with the side effects but I was also pleased to see that cancer treatments have come such a long way. I encourage you to support your favorite breast cancer research foundation. It is important to all of us.
My sisters and I sitting on top of 4 feet of shells washed ashore by Hurricane Sandy

My sister Pat, myself and my Mom


We, as a family, are lucky to regularly visit the West Coast of sunny Florida; palm trees and beaches, my favorite place to be. This trip had a special side trip in it for me. I was an hour drive from Barbara Lewis' new store Painting with Fire in St. Petersburg. Definitely put that trip on the agenda!

Photo from Painting with Fire website (I forgot to take a photo!)

What a joy it was to meet Barbara. She is definitely a kind hearted soul. (Again I forgot to get a photo with her). She dropped everything she was doing to chat with me, give a demo and even allowed me to enamel a couple of beads (should've had one of my sisters take a photo of this!). I explained to her the trouble I have had in removing the bead from the mandrel after it has been enameled. She gave a mini private lesson so now I should have no trouble making enamel beads. Thank you Barbara, I am looking forward to trying this technique out in my studio.

The two beads on top are from Barbara's demo. The bottom two are from my mini lesson.

Of course I shopped too. Barbara's store is full of goodies. I had to refrain from overspending. There was so much good stuff. The shop has everything you might need without feeling crowded. The shop is very comfortable but not lacking for any supplies. In addition to a great stock of enamels, plenty of beads to enamel there was nice variety of metal working supplies. I picked up some jewelers saw blades, a trivet for enameling metals on a flat surface, metal beads to enamel and some sari silk.

Metal beads to enamel

Sari Silks

Ribbed beads to be enameled

The whole stash! The trivet is in there, buried under the silks.

I didn't waste anytime putting those silks to use. I am trying out some new styles.

The Power of OM necklace by Ema K designs

Sari Earrings by Ema K designs

The Power of OM set

Boho Sari Heart by Ema K designs

I will be listing these pieces in my Etsy shop soon or you can visit Ema K designs on Facebook to find these pieces. What do you think of this new design style? I would love to know your thoughts. I know I had plenty of fun visiting Barbara and her shop. If you get the chance you should definitely stop in to meet Barbara.
Posted by Ema Kilroy at 7:04 PM 7 Beautiful comments
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