Some Brooches and Fire Chakra Colours

Fire Colours Chakra Bracelet with silver trim

So here is the bracelet that Blogger and my images file was playing games with yesterday!

We all need a little fire on these cold winter days, something to warm us up and create a spark.

These beads are all made on a transparent base which brings light to the colours.  Red, orange and yellow represent the first three chakras - the base chakra is red - low and slow, reflecting our base security - home comforts.  The sacral chakra is orange - big and pulsing - that represents our passion and creativity and the the solar plexus (surprise!) is yellow - shining like a shield at our mid section.  This represents our strength of will, our self protection - our adrenal system.

To if you've been feeling a bit lack-lustre and need a shot of energy this may give you a lift!

Oh, and $180 becomes $136 in the website sale!

Large Transparent & Dove Grey & Red Lace Brooch

For something completely different, this transparent gray based bead is overlaid with soft dove gray, then highlighted with bright red in a lace pattern.   

Perfect for your winter coat or jacket. $75 becomes just $60 using the 20% discount via the Website Sale!

 

Medium Black and White Lace Bead Brooch

Black and white is always good in winter - pop this on your favourite cardi and you're dressed!  

$65 becomes $52 this month.

 

Large Dark Ivory & Turquoise Round Dotty Brooch

Add a "pop" of ivory and turquoise to your teal with this organic looking brooch. 

$75 becomes $60!

 

Small Round Light & Dark Pink Flow Brooch

I love a bit of pink - it's so girly and feminine and soft. 

This little brooch reduces from $55 to $44 in the sale!

Small Round True Red Raku Brooch

And finally a shot of Red Raku - just a little one, though!

This style goes on almost anything with its lovely organic colour - there's a little bit of blue, beige, brown, black...and $55 becomes only $44 in the sale.

And let me know if you need any help choosing - perhaps you would like to see another photo or talk it over - I'm happy to help - email me or give me a call.

Juicy New Chakra Lotus Flowers - and the Website Sale

Chakra Lotus Flowers Necklace Whole Chakra Colours with Silver Trim

Do you remember those beads I showed you hanging around my jewellers bench a week or so ago?

I got them finished, took their portraits and here they are.

I had a hankering to make a really strong but transparent set of Chakra Lotus Flowers - the colours are mostly the deeper tones and the base colours and spacers go this way too.  I wanted to anchor this piece with silver rather than crystal to make it really robust looking - a statement of colour.

The bracelet is the same.  The beads in both pieces are not that large - it's really just a good pop of positive colour!

Chakra Lotus Flowers Bracelet Whole Chakra Colours with Silver Trim

The fantastic news for you is that these new works are included in the Website Sale, so if you order them online you can get 20 percent off the price.  That means that you get $70 off the necklace, bringing the price down to $280, and $36 off the bracelet, bringing that down to $146!

Turquoise Chakra Lotus Flowers Bracelet

I've also been toying with the idea of using natural gemstones and was drawn to turquoise.  This bracelet is based on aqua blue glass (blue being the colour representing the fifth chakra), making this a piece based on communications of all kinds.  It still has the chakra colours represented, this time including both heart chakra colours, green (for healing)  and pink (for love).

There is another Fire Colours Chakra Bracelet to come, but I'm struggling with the images today and Blogger is making things difficult!  That leaves me something to show you tomorrow!

This Week 30th June 2012

I'm enjoying this new habit of rounding up the week - looking through it and picking out the best bits, and this week has surely had some high spots!
1.  I'm enjoying finishing some work that's been hanging around waiting for my final design decisions - these chakra lotus flowers are almost there - just the clasps and final sizing adjustments to be made and they will be ready to have their portraits taken and enter the world.

There's a Turquoise based Chakra Lotus Flowers Bracelet here and one entirely in "Fire" colours

2.  There's something very luxurious about being able to tidy up - laying things out, touching them and dreaming of what they might become.  I've always had a love of touchstones and amulets - perhaps that's where this drifting and sifting might take me?  I find the sight of a tray of ordered glass so seductive!

Where are the hot colours?  On the bench being used!

3.  I've really enjoyed going down the Pinterest rabbit hole this week, following this train of thought that's been lurking.  I'm always quite happy with my own company and have enjoyed the clear mind space to play...

Enjoying being a hermit this week

4.  On the other hand, I loved our Matariki/midwinter feast at Ratanui Lodge last Saturday night.  The beautiful group of women I walk with in the mornings and their partners got together for an evening of delicious food, scrummy wines, elegant surroundings, superb service and the very  best of company.  Thanks guys, you do it so well!

The Lodge is full of the most elegant antiques

This was the dessert table - for after we had eaten our rich little Christmas puddings!

 

5.  It's wonderful to have all my walking friends home from their travels and a treat to hear the stories they brought back.

I hope your week has been wonderful too!  Spare five minutes to think about the best bits - it makes the world a happier place.

This Week 6th May 2012

This week...

1.  It's was Queen's Birthday Weekend so we had an extra day off.  I spent the time being a domestic goddess, working in the garden and preserving some lemons.

2.  I'm enjoying wearing my cozy tartan Doc Martens these chilly winter days

3.  It was really great to get together with a group of local business owners at the Pohara Boat Club (gorgeous building) for the AGM of the Golden Bay Promotions Association.  It's a real buzz when a group of enthusiastic people get together to brainstorm on something we're all passionate about.

4. I'm really enjoying wearing heart-warming (heart chakra) green Cherry Blossom beads with my Glowing Sky merino jacket.

5.  And red lipstick!

6.  I loved this YouTube clip - The Best Wedding Proposal Ever!  If you feel like a warm fuzzy take a look...

Have a great weekend!

That Purple Patch

Well, I had a week of finishing things off finally, and it feels so good to have 

1. New work in the cabinets, and

2. A clean(er) and tidy(er) workbench

3. A flash of purple around - I'm not sure why, but it was missing.

So...TaDa! Here are the Purple Tiger Beads in a necklace

and a bead... Large Purple Violet Tiger Heart Pendant

The Amethyst Purple Chakra Lotus Flowers necklace turned out like this

the bracelet and earrings like this...

Purple is one of those colours that is different in everyone's opinion - and it's really hard to achieve a real royal purple in glass. In the Tiger Beads I've achieved it by layering glass, finishing off with a gorgeous thick transparent layer. They're really quite vibrant.

The Amethyst colour is one that the makers of glass call purple, but to me it is much more pink that that. This is the colour of amethyst gemstones with lots of shades which give texture to the pieces.

In the Chakra System purple and violet represent the higher, lighter, faster Sixth and Seventh Chakras of the third eye (intuition) and the crown (connection to the Universe).

Perhaps this is why I have been connected to a website which delivers daily inspiration?

www.tut.com/theclub/

I've just begun to receive a morning message...something positive and encouraging to ponder within for a day.

This was my thought for today...

"An end result, imagined clearly and acted upon with expectation, Lesley, will always force the circumstances necessary to bring about its own manifestation, no matter how unpredictable, unlikely, or even impossible those circumstances may have previously seemed.

Like clockwork,
    The Universe"

Orange

Gorgeous juicy colour! It's one of my favourite colours - to wear and to have around me.
Within the chakra system, it is the colour of the second or sacral chakra and represents passion, creativity and sexuality.
It's also the colour of Tibetan monks and nun's robes.
The first orange dyes for cloth were made from turmeric - there's just nothing not to love about orange!
I've been making Rose beads in orange lately, and have just fallen totally in love with a Transparent Orange which works differently in the flame every time, if I'm careful! I'm sure the Italian masters would prefer that I worked it so it came up the same colour every time, but that would be boring, now, wouldn't it?!
Orange is one of the colours that the Italian glass-makers seem to play with from time to time and I have had several odd batches over the years which have given some exquisite effects.

Transparent Orange & Olive Green Roses Necklace

Transparent Orange & Olive Green Roses Bracelet

Transparent Orange & Olive Green roses Earrings
Another Orange I've been playing with is Orange Sparkle, which is semi-opaque and has a gorgeous subtle sparkle in sunlight - I made the Roses using Olive Green again - I like the combination - what do you think?

Orange Sparkle & Olive Green Roses Necklace

Orange Sparkle & Olive Green Roses Bracelet

Orange Sparkle & Olive Green Roses Earrings
I'd love to know how the colour orange is made is glass - I am pretty sure it involves sulphur, but beyond that I know nothing.

After a Long Silence...

It's been ages since I've posted here - and ages since I have uploaded new work onto the website.
Excuses, excuses...we've been away doing lots of shows and fairs - our last one was to Hunters Garden Marlborough on the 7th November. It was a fabulous day out, but quite chilly with that good old east coast wind blowing through us rather than round us!
I've just been catching up with uploading some of the new pieces I've been making in the little studio time I have had
So here's a little taste...

Light Ivory "Spice" Pearls
I was thinking about pearls when I made these beads, but with a bit more character!

Peach Mango Round Spice Beads
I'm in love with this Peach Mango glass and have just discovered that it was a limited edition - and I only bought a pound! Neeedless to say, I'm squeezing out as much as I can possibly get out of this gorgeous glass.

True Red Small Round Spice Beads
I always love true red - the Italian Reds are wonderful - rich and full.

Earthy Colours on Black CanCans
This is a different one for me - I'm not usually good with "off" colours as they don't suit me, but this set looks wonderful on my friend Helen, who has dark hair and skin.


Chakra Lotus Flowers with Whole Colours and Crystals
I've been meaning to try this out for ages - making Lotus Flower beads in two shades of the same colour. This style has so much meaning for me, and I love the "rhythm" of making them. It's a bit like a meditation in itself.
So, it's back to the studio again for me - I have lots of ideas for Roses in different colours and styles - watch this space.

Ink Blue Flow Beads

I had another play with ink blue yesterday, and have just taken these wee ones out of the kiln.
There are four beads, and I've photographed both sides, because the effect is quite different on each.
I'm really pleased with these because they show the effect that colours have on each other - the pink ones seem much more "violet" to me, while the blue has a "lavender" effect. Isn't colour so subjective and wonderful?
On one of the beads I've created a tiny air bubble at the end of a flow of pink glass - your eyes are not deceiving you!
I am mulling over an article I heard on the radio yesterday about how we see colour differently when we are depressed. Doesn't that make sense to you? I certainly did to me! It adds another layer to the "onion" of my love of colour and chakras. If we feel unhappy and surround ourselves with bright colour, will that lighten our mood?
Instinctively I took a bright orange gerbera wrapped in purple and orange florists wrap to someone I know who is depressed this week. He lives in a world of pastels and restful colours - but I just knew that he needed a shot of vibrancy. I will be interested to visit him again today to see how he is feeling.
I sometimes listen to National Radio in my studio - the only non-commercial station we have available here. It's a habit I picked up from the Toy Boy, and I often find that it's like having an intelligent, if one-sided, conversation!