Iris Elm Jewelry Newest Additions: June 18 - 24

Hello jewelry enthusiasts! Another week's gone by with three new additions to the shop:

These fun dangle earrings feature three tiered lengths of delicate sterling chain with beautiful fiery sunstone gemstone beads wire wrapped to the ends. With the sunstone, I paired super sparkly pyramid-cut sterling silver rondelle beads.

 

Beaded with round multi-colored Indian agate gemstones, this versatile design is one of my favorites and I have them available in black onyx as well. These earrings are unique and because of the small gemstones and tiny-ness of the seed beads they have the added bonus of being lightweight.

 

Last summer I decided to try my hand at resin jewelry and it has proved to be a fun diversion when I need an occasional break from beading (though usually by the following day I am back to my beadwork. I am addicted.)

I love flowers, and for this necklace I picked these mauvish-purple ones from my front yard and the tiny sprig of prairie grass from a nearby Minnesota park. The purple flowers are very delicate and small and are set in a vintage style antiqued bronze setting.

 

And finally a bit of excitement for my new-ish blog as it was named one of the 50 best handmade jewelry blogs by Feedspot!

 

Iris Inspiration

Purple and White Bearded Iris 'Batik'

Purple and White Bearded Iris 'Batik'

If you hadn't yet guessed, iris is my favorite flower. And like the gorgeous iris photographed above, I have several different varieties planted in my backyard garden.

People have been cultivating the iris for thousands of years. The beautiful showy flowers are available in every color of the rainbow. In fact their name comes from the Greek word for rainbow. The flowers have three upward facing petals as well as three downward sepals. Usually the iris' blooms last for a short three days.

In past cultures, symbolism was assigned to many things and each flower had a meaning. Though it is not something we think of nowadays it is still a lovely thought. The iris symbolized eloquence. And each color had its own meaning with purple irises symbolizing wisdom, white symbolizing purity, yellow symbolizing passion, and the blue iris symbolizing faith and hope.

I designed these iris seed beaded earrings and bracelet based on the purple iris that grows in my backyard:

Iris Elm Jewelry Newest Additions: June 11 - 17

Another week of June has gone quickly by here in Minnesota, and with it the three newest additions to the shop:

Intricately beaded with cobalt blue, light blue, black, and white glass seed beads, this woven cuff makes an original boho accessory. The work-in-progress of it was shown on my April 28 blog post.

 

Agate is one of my favorite gemstones. I remember as a kid when I went camping at my family's land up north, finding striped Lake Superior agate rocks in the dirt road that ran along our property. Once back home, I would use my mom's lapidary rock polisher that she had once used for her own jewelry business, to smooth away the roughness and bring out their hidden beauty. I still have these treasures, displayed along with the rest of my mineral collection.

These agate earrings were handwoven with beautiful small brown agate beads as well as the tiniest glass seed beads into a triangular beadwork design.

 

These small boho earrings with handcrafted sterling silver ear wires are perfect for everyday wear. Handwoven with silver and gunmetal grey glass seed beads, they are so lightweight you might forget you are even wearing earrings.  The double triangle design is modern and minimalist.