Ming Pale Blue To Golden

To celebrate my blog-i-versary, I sent zephyr connector beads to folks who had replied to one of my earlier posts.


I'm always curious and excited to see how folks use the beads, and here's a perfect example of using them in a way I would not have thought up on my own.



Lorelei uses stranded links in her designs, I've seen some beautiful ones she makes with colored strands of seed beads. So I sort of expected she might do that with the two connectors - five-to-two - with maybe some chain.




Well, look how clever she is! She used the connectors on a chain linked bracelet at the clasp! I suppose if you made it longer you could use them the same way on a necklace, too.

I'm AWESTRUCK and AMAZED!

Giving Zephyrs

Spirit of the Season

As a big 'thank you' to all of you who posted ideas on how to use the zephyr connectors I said there would be a giveaway of one of the connectors.

But so many of you had such fantastic ideas, I decided not to choose just one of you to receive just one connector.


What about the rest of you who posted a good idea?


So I thought about what I could to, to show my appreciation. And I decided something.

In the spirit of giving, I decided to give all six of you one matched pair of them!

To get yours on its way to you, go to the shop, pick out your favorite from the Zephyr connector beads, do a regular purchase in Etsy.

BUT don't pay. NO - don't pay.

I'll send them to you! Your choice of a color matched pair of connectors for you to use to try out your ideas. There are 12, one pair for each of the 12 days of Christmas!

So ... if you were among the six who left me a reply on the earlier post with a design idea, go quickly so you get to choose the pair in your most favorite color! With three, four or five holes.

Enjoy! And thanks for all your encouragement and support this year ...

Zephyr Flights

The zephyr beads I made a while back are all gone, and I wanted to do something unique with the design and keep the zephyr flights going.

These little tiles are connector beads with the zephyr patterns and in some lovely colors.

These have four holes, one in each corner, but I also made some with five holes and some with three.

I'm having fun designing around these connectors. I can see them linked with oversized jump rings into a bracelet. Or with loops of seed beads through the holes in a necklace design. They are 3/4" square, a good size for a hanging pendant connector or two-strand pearl necklace focal bead.

The colors are coming out well from my earlier color experiments. I've learned to be consistent with the colors and these little beads are in matched pairs.

The colors are soft and subtle, like ancient mosaic tiles from an excavation, even the colorful versions, using the bird's egg blue, barnwood red and a bright dutch red color.

I'm going to make a necklace design using them, I thought about turning them on an angle so the top hole connects to the necklace and the other three holes have strands of beads or chains hanging from them. Simple, but contemporary.

I have some light chain and and heavy links that will work for this.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
If you have ideas about how to create with these little connectors, give a reply to this post. I'll select one and send you a four-way connector bead to try out your ideas!

Heart Links - On the Cuff

Voting Season Polls and Hearts on the Sleeve

I wanted to thank all of you who have voted in the poll, it really does help me focus my time in the studio - and it makes me grin to see that there's no one thing that's way ahead in the polling. We have so many other polls going on in this season, it's fun to have a jewelry poll where you can vote and have immediate effects.

It also makes me chuckle when I look and see that - you want it all. You want some of everything! Okay, I'm adding as quickly as I can, you all are very inspirational that way ...

What's been going on in Studio A lately - the upstairs space where things get assembled, polished and the finishing touches applied?

Made this little heart link, textured and lined, out of fused fine silver.

Hanging on an oval link, it moves when you wear it, and is fun to fiddle with, if you are a jewelry fiddler and fidgeter like I am. I play with my jewelry, and this one is a great fun to play with.

I can see it as a dangle on a charm bracelet, or groups of them joined with jump links or small fused links to make a chain. If you want to see how it's done and the process, the photos and descriptions on fusing fine silver will show up if you use this link. Or check out the label for 'Fused Silver Links' to see more posts about fine silver chain, it facinates me how silver can be made into such useful little charms and links.

Have been playing around with the two-hole zephyr beads, to make a design. This is the first, it's a zephyr cuff bracelet. I used some of my hand dyed costume pearls and bicone acrylic beads, they matched and coordinated very well. It reminds me of some of the costume jewelry from the 1930's that my grandmother had, stored in a drawer in one of the chests.

It's easy to make and quick, looks very vintage. You can make one with any of the colors of the zephyr beads and it would be beautiful, I have dyed costume pearls to match most of the colors. I used an oval and two square zephyr beads, but you could choose all small squares, or one of the big round zephyrs.

I like the cuff style bracelet because it doesn't go all the way around the wrist, so I can easily write or use the mouse with the bracelet on my right arm. I try to make my jewelry the way I prefer to wear it - comfortable, lightweight and easy to get on and take off.


I know some of you like to make the jewelry, and some just want to buy it made up, so you have both options. I'm thinking of making up a kit with all the things needed for the design, to make it easy.

Made up larger, this would also be a great design for a choker necklace, with a big merlot zerphyr round bead and some of my hand dyed deep costume pearls. Pretty for the holidays for parties, or for gifting.

Just got another idea - could use the zephyr beads to make sets of drink charms, to identify wine glasses during a party.

Can you think of other ways to combine these things to make gift and jewelry ideas? Post them!

So what'll it be - more hearts, more charms, or all of the above?

Leather Lore to the Core Bead Story Contest

These beads are the color of rough deep brown bomber jacket leather, of sweet soft dark Godiva chocolate.

They are small but strong, ready to ride. I hear engines in the background revving, when I look at them. Silently telling their story from history.

They look like ceramic tiles in a deep, deep brown with a scuffed glossy shine.

Like they washed up from a shipwreck off the coast and were found in the sand, half buried.

Or like survivors of an inferno, the tiles found in the ash, from a ceramic tile factory in ancient times, in Italy below Vesuvius.

Like they went down in the wreck of a steamboat on the Mississippi river, and came up in the mud of a farmer's field as he was hoeing his corn, to mull over the crusty beads in his work calloused hand.

What story do you see, when you look at these rough and ready bomber jacket beads? Tell me a tall tale, post a story comment and win them if you are selected, winner announced on Saturday.

Ghostly Pale

Bisque Du Jour

Got a mention today on PolymerClayDaily website, following the legend and the saga of the faux lithophane beads. And about the faux ceramic beads.

And tomorrow it's my day to do Studio Saturday for the Art Bead Scene blog. The theme for August is 'Something to Say' - if you have beaded words or worded beads, be sure to enter them for consideration as the Designer of the Week.

Considering combining the Zephyr Stone beads with Wordiness and having a Talking Zephyr bead. If I get that worked out I'll share it on the Art Bead Scene blog.

Historically ceramic porcelain, litophanes were not colored but were creamy ivory bisque ceramic. The photo on the right of the Zephyr Round Bisque is the first bead lithophane replica that I made, with the creamy color and the deep detail. When I read more background about lithophanes I learned that some of them were hand-colored, like old photograhs, with the pale colors on top of the images, ghostly and faintly pastel.

So I mixed up some colors of deep rose, merlot wine color, chestnut brown and a mossy green, to use and give them that antique vintage color feeling. Next is to mix up some blues, teals and deep turquoise colors.

Lithophane Legerdemain In Vain

Zephyr Stones

In old times, paper was made by hand, and parchment from sheepskins. The ink was made using the galls or bolls on oak trees.

The colors on this replica ceramic bead remind me of the dark, rich colors of ancient ink. The interesting thing about ink made from oak gall is that the color of the writing, instead of fading with time, actually deepened and got darker, as the oak gall oxidized with age.

Ancient maps and historical documents have this sense of antiquity in the color, like the swirls, knots and columns in this chestnut brown zephyr bead.

That's what I decided to call them, in spite of the facinating suggestions in the comments to the previous post. Love the ideas and the rhythmic sounds of some of them - lithophane legerdemain being one of them.

I was walking down a hallway thinking of nothing in particular, when I thought about the word 'zephyr' and wasn't certain of the definition. Zephyr - Something that is airy, insubstantial, or passing [Middle English Zephirus, Zephyrus, from Latin Zephyrus, from Greek Zephuros].

That seemed appropriate for the idea of the image stone that a lithophane is - the image is fleeting, insubstantial, only visible when backlit. Lithophane \Lith`o*phane\, n. [Litho- + Gr. fai`nein to show, reveal.] Porcelain impressed with figures which are made distinct by transmitted light, as when hung in a window, or used as a lamp shade; ceramic piece with intaglio design; a piece of thin translucent porcelain or china with an intaglio design

An insubstantial design, revealed in the depths, enhanced by the color of chestnuts, the color of oak gall ink on parchment. Zephyr Round Chestnut Stone.

Name Stones

I'm trying to come up with a phrase or name to call the lithophane-inspired beads. The word lithophane means 'image in stone' or I have also seen 'vision in stone' - if you have a name suggestion that I choose, I will send you one of them as a thank-you!

A lithograph is a type of printing that uses a lithography stone and drawings with a type of pencil or crayon with grease that the inks cling to.

Also found out that the word 'lithophane' is the name of a genus of moth. So there are some terms there for winged creatures that might be an idea.

A dagguerotype is also a vision in metal, etched into copper or zinc.

Any name ideas for the tiles, squares, ovals and disks?

Coppertones and Mahogany Shades

Yesterday I talked about an historical type of porcelain.

Here are the beads inspired by the lithophane.

Not backlit like the porcelain but with a polished glow.

The light shades glow, after sanding, polishing and buffing.


The dark mahogany reddish browns, the coppertones, ambers and the deep ivory cream tones.

Some with a matte finish, some polished to a bright reflective sheen. Like enameled copper or maroon glassy tints. Interlocking knots, floral swirls and delicate patterns in the beads, highlighted by the color in the depressions.

My interpretation of the lighted lithophane, in circular and oval disks, in large and small square tiles.

Ornamental, decorative, very vintage looking style. Like ceramic porcelain disks and squares.
Looking time-worn and much-handled.

They would be great set into findings, or as an oversized button closure on a knit bag.

Both front and back are patterned and colored, to make them reversible in a design. All of them have double horizontal holes side-to-side for stringing or wire work. Maybe for two strands of dyed costume pearls, or hand dyed bone beads. For two strands of seed beads, or ceramic rondelles. To use as a clasp for a closure, or the focal bead in a design.

Deep brown, amber, ivory and cream. They remind me so much of old leather bound books, the kind with the tooled leather designs on the front. Brown and aged, smooth from handling. The deep toned ones in old libraries.

What do you think?

Light In Stone

Have you ever watched the TV show 'Modern Masters' - it was running for a long time on HGTV channel. I used to watch all the episodes, about potters, woodworkers and all sorts of creative people.

I saw an episode a while back about David Jefferson of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who re-created the art of making porcelain lithophanes (episode MAS-508) and I was enchanted by the images backlit in porcelain.

There's a museum in Toledo, Ohio with a huge collection of them and lots of information on their website about them.

I'm not interested in creating the actual lithophanes, it seems very time consuming and tricky, but I love the look of them. For a while I've been thinking about how I could get that look in beads.

An actual lithophane has to be backlit for the image to show, so it's impractical for beads unless you favor holding your necklace up to the window to see the image. (No, I don't want to do that)

So I've been trying to find a way to capture the spirit of the ornate, light and beautiful lithophane images, without using the actual technique. No wax carving, mixing porcelain slip, plaster molds, firing porcelain.

Something must be in the air, a recent blog post by Caroline ( 'Caroline's Miscellany') just had a post about lithophanes and her cup collection with lithophanes in the bottom. So there are lots of collectors of this art form from history.


So, what's a lithophane? The Greek origin of the word means "light in stone" or to "appear in stone". An article in the Toledo Blade has a lot of background, but here's some basic information.


The two images at left show a lithophane panel of porcelain, the top one is not back lit. It just looks like a lumpy white fired clay panel.

The second one is the same panel with a light behind it. The thickness of the porcelain determines the amount of light that shines through, setting the picture's white, medium and dark areas. A lithophane can be very detailed, almost photographic.


Aren't they warm and lovely, like looking through a magic window into a lost vision of the past. This sconce was made by David Jefferson, the panels are lithophanes.

A lithophane is a three-dimensional porcelain plaque with sweet, romantic, literary or religious themes. They were made into lampshades, sconces, or put into stained glass panels and put into doors or windows. They reveal their image when backlit by sunlight, candles or electric lights, and were popular from 1830 to 1870 all over the world. Collectors have versions from Japan, China, Germany, Switzerland and England.

The image starts with a sheet of beeswax on a backlit glass panel, and an artist uses precision tools to carve the image. Where the wax is thin, more light will shine through. Some are very complex and have images of landscapes, characters, even The Last Supper by Leonardo was reproduced as a lithophane.

From the wax model after carving by the artist, a plaster cast or mold is made for pouring the fine grain liquid porcelain into. Porcelain is made with very fine particles and when fired is almost like glass. The images have a subdued, light night-like quality, like old engravings.

When the dry porcelain is pulled from the plaster cast, it takes up all the fine details from the wax carving made by the artist, to be fired in a kiln up to 2,300 degrees. Only about 40% of those made survived all the steps to final creation, either cracking in the mold, breaking when pulled from the mold or warping and shattering during firing. (Now do you see why I don't want to take up making actual real lithophanes?)

I've been experimenting, and later I'll show some beads that I made this weekend, in the spirit of the old porcelain lithophanes, but wearable and very vintage-looking, now that I've explained - what's a lithophane. I'll show my version, interpretation of the look. They can't require backlighting so they aren't exactly like a real lithophane, but I think they might capture the idea and feeling of them.