Studio Saturday with Skye Jewels

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

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This weeks winner is....  SusanM

Congratulations! 

She said...

While I always appreciate creative packaging, I like it when the seller takes time to write a personal thank you. Even a quick hand-written "thanks" on a business card is enough. It's a small thing, but as a buyer, this little extra effort makes me feel like the buyer appreciates my business."
You have won $20 worth of (beautifully packaged!) goodies from The Curious Bead Shop.

 

Please send Rebecca Anderson an email

with your address and she will get it right out to you.

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This week we visit the studio of Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp

of Skye Jewels 

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The studio has been pretty quiet lately. I reserve my energy these days for getting back and forth to the hospital for my radiation treatments. I have them everyday except for weekends. I am almost halfway done so I feel encouraged to finally start working in my studio again! I have done a few things however and I am happy to share these with you today.

First I want to share with you that my wonderful husband is starting to come around to this little business of mine. He bought me a portable light box for taking pictures! I have used it on everything I have made so far! It's great! We don't get much light this time of the year, so it's nice to have a place to take pictures without having to wait!

   So this pendant is a part of my new batch that are now listed in my More Skye Jewels Etsy shop!

I have many more in this series of wonderful images created by my friend Ella of Calico Collage.  

 She also created these wonderful quote images at my request. I wanted these for a few reasons. For you to create with, for me to create with and I am hoping for a local shop to start selling them for me as well, but for scrapbooking. I think they would look great in a shabby chic style page.

I have been working on getting some more new pieces ready, but I am using some new products and the pendants take much longer to make. 

I am starting to do more everyday and hope to be back in full swing very soon!

On a different note I have been starting to make new inventory. Not too much, but it's a start. I am using some of my favorite lampwork art beads in my bookmarks. I used to make bookmarks all the time and stopped for a year or so. I just got bored with them. I did however get a special order for one and it got me going again. I made close to 100 of them in a week. They have a mix of beads and links, but most have lampwork beads.

 

 A few in brass tones with a variety of lampwork beads and crystals

Some in copper tones with more lampwork, crystals and some fun links

And last but not least silver tones with lampwork, crystals and faux sea glass! 

So tell me what you like to make make or purchase with lampwork beads for your chance to win some of my fun and colourful Ephemera Pendants! Leave your comment here and next Saturday we will announce our winner!

Marie is a Canadian jewelry designer and ephemera tile creator living in beautiful Calgary Alberta at the foot of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. You can read more about her work on her Skye Jewels Blog. You can purchase her jewelry in her Skye Jewels Etsy shop and her pendants and a handful of handmade findings in her More Skye Jewels supply shop.

Studio Saturday With Marie of Skye Jewels

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

This week's winner is Kiwiken! Congratulations, Kiwiken! You've won a Fused Glass Donut!

 Send an email to Cindy Gimbrone and she'll send your prize right over to you!

Welcome to Marie's Studio!

I have been working all week on this post. Taking pictures and getting something interesting together to share with you. It's not often we get to look into a specific artists process and see how they work or how they create. I will be sharing some of my process, but not all. If I give it all away you won't have a reason to come shop with me ;)

My studio has somewhat changed since the last time I posted. There have been a lot of changes in my life in general! I gave up the Den so my oldest daughter could have her own room. That was where my studio was and I had a lot of light even in  such a modest space. Emma has been a huge help to me since I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast cancer in May. She deserved a space of her own. So my studio is now in the dining room, a much smaller and darker space. Can't take too many good pics in there, you would not see much for the darkness! Working on figuring something new out, but in the meantime, I work where I can and that includes the kitchen table where these pictures were taken...

I am working on something that has been a customer request for awhile now. Earring pairs tags! I am starting with these in a new shabby chic style! I have a few customers that love the shabby chic style and I have not had much to offer them so I have been trying to come up with something new to satisfy this need. 
The pattern is called Toile. It is from the original style of Printing a story onto fabric that was started by the Irish and adopted and made popular by the french in a place called Jouy, France. Hence the actual name of Toile "Toile de Jouy" These Toile images normally came in complex pastoral scenes and floral arrangements. The long sheets of fabric would be printed and laid out in fields to dry. Imagine the beauty!

These are the charms, all ready for a top coat!

Here they are drying. You can tell from these last two pictures that once I add the top coat they become more vibrant and the colour stands out more. 

Here they are along with the Raven charms I posted the other day. All done and some still drying! You know what that means, I should be taking pics and listing right away! It has taken a little longer than normal to get them completely finished, but that has a lot to do with this week being "meet the teacher" at school! That and my anniversary. Life goes on even in the studio! 

Here is a closeup of the finished Raven tiles! Looking forward to getting these listed and in my shop for you! The Shabby Chic/Toile earring pairs will also be listed...just have to decide how many pairs I will list to start.

So that is what has been going on in my studio this week and a lot of the rest of the time. Creating these takes 3-5 days with proper drying times. I don't want to send you anything that might not have had enough time to cure. They should not stick together if given the proper curing time. No sticky or tacky top coat and especially no streaks! These have a very smooth finish.

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about what I do. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have and I will do the best I can to answer them!

Leave a comment and you win a pair of my new Toile Charms! I'll even let you pick your color!

Hugs,
Marie
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Ravens

Over the last few months I have had more and more request for Ravens! So finally here we are! I have created a series of Ephemera pendants for you to use in your jewelry creations that include these fabulous Ravens! These are in an unfinished stage, I have a lot left to do on these to make them listing ready, but this week is magic week! The week where things happen!

I could not resist these awesome images! I worked with Ella of Calico Collage to get this idea together. She makes about 75% of the images I use to create my charms and pendants. These of course I wanted to have in time for Halloween! I will be listing them in the next couple of days.

I want to remind you of all the wonderful ways you can use these. To start, I sell them un-drilled. This allows you to use your creative imagination to it's full potential! Some of you will choose to use them as they are and just add a magnet to the back or even add them to your scrapbooking pages! Very versatile!

My favorite way to use them is with Vintaj filigree! This adds a certain "je ne sais quois" to the pieces of jewelry I create. It gives a touch of romance and mystery! Perfect for these Ravens! The dark laciness of it...I love it! 

I have even seen some of you wrap them in wire! What a creative use of these small pieces! 

At anytime of course you can have them custom drilled at no extra cost to you. There is the simple top drill. Just look at the image to see if that is where you want the hole. You can also top and bottom drill to add dangles! What about each corner for a bracelet maybe? Or a little lower on the sides... I can even do three strand bracelet drill for some of these! 

One of the most used drilling options is the two top corners and bottom center. This makes the piece a focal with the possibility of endless dangles!

So many ways to use these! So look for them in the Skye Jewels Supply shop this week...

Thanks so much for another fun visit!

Marie

**Speaking of Vintaj, October's challenge just happens to be "Radiant Raven" what a coincidence! Maybe some of you will want to use these in your design?** 

Thinking Outside the Box part II

You should remember my last post about Thinking outside the box. If not, you may want to go HERE and read it first, before you start on this one. 
For part 2 I am honoured to share the designs of two wonderful designers. I challenged them to use my components thinking outside the box, look at them in different ways, and see what they could create that is slightly out of the ordinary. 

Here is what they came up with...
Donna Martin Bradley was the first one I asked.  I asked her to use one of my large 1.5 inch round pendants, in a different way.

She turned it into a fantastic large Bracelet focal, instead of using it in a necklace! Fantastic results! With Spring coming soon, it's a great time to start thinking about making your summer jewelry!

The use of woven ribbon inside the chain is always a wonderful extra touch. You can find Donna on Facebook on her STRANDED BEADS page! Her beautiful designs are also available on Etsy! 


Next I asked Diana Ptaszynski. I thought it would be fun if Diana could make some earrings. 


Here is what she came up with...

Great idea to mix and match different charms and make the earring asymmetrical! I love that she incorporated her own handmade sea shell charm and bead links.

These look fun and beachy! You can find Diana on Facebook on her SUBURBAN GIRL STUDIO page! Her Fun original jewelry is available in her Etsy shop.


It was a complete coincidence that both designers used Ocean inspired pieces. I did not pick the components, so it was fun to see that they went so well together!


To get your own fun, quality Ephemera pieces, please visit my More Skye Jewels shop and shop around or feel free to request something special! For more ideas on how to use them you can also visit my Skye Jewels Blog.


Thanks so much for stopping by!


Marie

Thinking Outside the box!

If you are like me, you love a good challenge to get those creative juices flowing. I have put together a few fun things to help challenge yourself into seeing your Art beads in a new light!

To start here we have one of my own Ephemera pendants. When you see this you think of a necklace, something maybe a little mythical or "Avenging Angel"! lol

Well, what if you had two...

Now this could be interesting... so think outside the box! What would you do with a pair of wings? You could certainly put one on each side in a necklace, or you could...

Make Earrings!!  These are quite large of course, but that is the fun of thinking outside the box!
So here is the next idea...

A beautiful Pendant by Summers Studio! As you can see, the pendant has two holes at the top and one on the bottom. It is made to be hung a certain way, with a dangle at the bottom.
Well, think outside the box!

Turn the pendant sideways and add dangles to two of the holes, in unexpected places! 

What a fun and unique piece it becomes! It hangs beautifully and you would never know it was meant to be done a different way!

What else can you do? How about using a Toggle in a different way?

Love this toggle from Vintaj! Beautiful shape, texture and colour!

Why not change it into...

Earrings! You just add your Art Beads {in this case lampwork by SueBeads} to the combo, sideways with jump rings as an extra out of the box touch! These are really perfect for spring and you know no one else will be wearing them ;)


Keep an eye out for my next post, it will be a continuation of this one, with pieces made by other designers I have challenged to "Think outside the box!"


Marie


All Jewelry pieces and ephemera art beads are made by Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp of Skye Jewels. Ephemera pieces are available at More Skye Jewels on Etsy

Pulling Colours

One of the ways I get inspiration for my jewelry, is the focals I use. Just grabbing my favorite focals will sometimes speak to me and bring inspiration as I lay them out. There are hidden colours and undertones that you may not see at first until you see them in a different light or by some accent beads that you have laying around from another project. I have piles of leftover beads everywhere! They do have a purpose however.

 This is the best example I could find of really pulling colours! This Fresco Painting is truly stunning! It has the warm colours like the red of the feathers and the yellow/gold of the fence. It has the cool colours like the blue of the bird's chest and it has the undertones of green and brown that every artist uses. You can see where I pulled the colours and added a mix of shades of each colour, pulling the different tones from the focal. Using a mix of different beads also added texture and interest to the finished necklace.

 This particular piece is more subtle than the last. The pendant has very simple shades of what seems to be grey and brown behind the Eiffel Tower. Certainly you could make a very simple piece using some black chain or some wood beads, but to really make the focal shine, put it in your tray of beads, see what hidden colours pop out at you, perhaps some unexpected combinations will shine! I found that this piece really pulled me toward using Vintaj brass with it's earthy rich brown patinas. You can see that adding the filigree really pulls out the brown in the lower half of the pendant. 

 The Vintage Style key by Tim Holtz was a nice contrast to the deep browns of the filigree and fleur de Lis. It pulls some of the more subtle Grey/browns of the Eiffel tower. The top of the pendant has very cool blues hidden in it's grey sky. I noticed that the crystal in certain positions, mimicked the sky, but when it sparkled, it sent out an array of other beautiful blues, green and teals! So the crystal was added and was the inspiration for the recycled silk sari wraps at the top of the key. The combination makes for a very unique colourful piece that could have turned out very differently depending on the colours you might have seen.

 Last but not least I wanted to show a variation of the second necklace, with completely different colours. You can see that once again the Artbead Focal had an array of beautiful colours.The warmth of the brass was perfect for the warmth of the corals and peaches of the pendant. This piece is warm where the last one was cool. But looking at the colours in your chosen focal will bring to life any piece.

 You might have seen different colours than I did, you might have seen the Gun Metal grey of the Eiffel Tower, or the soft browns at the base of the pendant. Your version of the necklace would have been completely different. Just imagine the possibilities, when you pull colours!!