Creating Using a Piece of Someone Else's Art

March 03, 2020

Lampwork earrings

Spring into Summer Earrings

 

Many artists use art components from other artists and crafts people, but maybe none more than artisan jewelers.  My raw materials often include lapidary work from artisans in the form of cabochons and beads.  I also have a collection of lampwork beads that I've amassed over 20+ years.  Some I visit just to admire the artist's talent and vision.  Others find their time to inspire a pair of earrings, a bracelet, or a necklace.

 

artisan earrings

Growth

(SOLD)

 

I've been trying to reduce my stash and not be tempted to buy more while creating jewelry that others can enjoy.  One artist I found later in my lampwork buying is Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads.  I wish I'd found her sooner as I am really inspired by her work.  In case you're not familiar with lampwork, here's a definition from Wikipedia:   "Modern lampwork beads are made by using a gas torch to heat a rod of glass and spinning the resulting thread around a metal rod covered in bead release. When the base bead has been formed, other colors of glass can be added to the surface to create many designs."

 It is amazing the variety of shape, color, texture, and design that these true artists of lampwork can create.  They have inspired quite a few of my pieces over the years.  These three pairs of earrings grew from Kimberly's beads as an inspiration.  Each pair is different, but I believe you can see my style and artistry in each.

 

artisan earrings  

Puddles

 

"Everything is the product of one universal creative effort.

There is nothing dead in Nature.

Everything is organic and living, and therefore

the whole world appears to be a living organism."  Lucius Annaeus Seneca