Where It Starts

Also find me at www.llrodenjewelry.artfire.com

Welcome to my world.  I make jewelry to sell.  Other than my screened back porch or time with my grandchildren, my basement is my favorite place to be.  Since I work full time away from home my basement time is way too short for my taste.  Friends and family know that if I'm not at my day job I'll usually be in my basement working on another piece of jewelry.

Other than starting in my mind the actual hands on work starts in my basement, or as my friends and husband like to call it my CAVE.  In my cave I have my bead stash, stones that have been tumbled or are ready to cut, my torch for metal work, my other torch for flame working glass, sewing machines (as needed), reference books, and so much more.

I can easily lose myself and track of time.  There are so many jewelry ideas running around in my head I sometimes don't know where to start and will have several projects going at the same time.

In addition to the bead work I enjoy working with metal, glass, stones, clay and found objects.  What I do depends on my mood and that day's dexterity of my hands.

With this blog I hope to take you through my projects as I work on them.  Below I've added some pictures from  recent completed projects just to get your interest.  Soon you will be able to watch the progress of individual jewelry pieces, hopefully without showing the rest of the mess in my basement.  To see what I actually have for sale please click on the ArtFire link.

This is a bead embroidered bracelet with 3 polymer clay faces.  This bracelet was sold before I even managed to get it listed on my web site.

A lot of beads and a lot of time went into this necklace.  The side sections are black and pearl white seed beads stitched in a twisting rope and accented with various size and styles of larger black and white beads.

I have a thing for turquoise, coral and silver.  This necklace has all of that.

Ready for Halloween?  Carved bone skeletons are featured on this necklace but if you look close there are also small carved wood skulls.  That big rock hanging from the bottom is a polished chunk of Carnelian.

This pretty face is a porcelain sugar skull.  Only one face on this bracelet but it's a dandy.  The  rest of the bracelet is made up of seed beads stitched to a nylon web backing and closes with Velcro.

These happy hoops I've made in green, purple and clear crystal.  I don't often make multiples of my jewelry but I couldn't decide on which color to use so I made a pair in each color.

I hope this catches your interest because I have so much more.  I like a challenge when I'm making jewelry so keep watching for the next installment.

Linda