Fun with Beads! Danielle Walker's "Queen Bee Jewel Gallery"

I had the pleasure of recently meeting Danielle Walker via facebook...a very friendly creative gal whom I am happy to be a colleague of. She's the proud owner of not only Queen Bee Nail Gallery but an online jewelry shop called none other then.. The Queen Bee Jewel Gallery. As I browsed her jewelry shop on Etsy it's easy to see that she is over flowing with ideas. I'm always a bit jealous of those who can really get their hands in there and be creative with all sorts of medium.


Like this super cute and crafty multi-coloured button bracelet, she's given vintage plastic buttons new life.


And this very interesting ring..being a pearl gal I noticed this right away..as well as my love for sci fi..this ring called the "Orbit Ring" looks like so much fun!



Here is a recent piece Danielle was most proud of..and I would be too with all that bead work!

Keep up the creativity Danielle and continue to grow..it's an inspiration to everyone in the craft world!

Etsy Treasury - The Aloha Way of Life

Thats me down in the bottom right corner. you can visit the the actual treasury here Thanks so much SurfhoundSoapCompany

Double Strand Bracelet - New! Just added!

Taxes are finally done and I am on the jewelry path once again! Right now I am mostly trying to go through my 3 shops and organize..however I did make a few pieces right before I started working on my taxes and this is one of them:

Turtle Rainforest - Double Strand Asymmetrical Beaded Bracelet

A whimsical mix of dyed stabilized turquoise in different shades, lime chalk turquoise, lime dyed howlite, spring green dyed jade, dyed freshwater pearls, glass seed beads in bright turquoise and lime green, peridot and paua abalone shell with accents of sterling silver and cute charms..one a Hill Tribe silver turtle and the other a silverized pewter leaf.

available here

NEW! Sandy Beach Bracelet!

Hot off the workbench....



Ocean blue amazonite and puruvian blue opal w/ both blue and brown contrasts along w/ sandy beach colored jaspers and Hill Tribe silver sea life creatures



Available here: Sandy Beach - Beaded Bracelet

Beach Bride Jewelry Video

Violet Butterfly - Now Available

Violet Butterfly - Beaded Bracelet now available at Jonara Blu Maui

A whimsical mix of ebony wood, amethyst, purple dyed crazy lace agate, purpurite, dyed sugilite, carved dyed bone, freshwater pearl, Hill Tribe silver accent spacers, Hill Tribe silver flower charm and a Hill Tribe silver butterfly charm.

Green and Purple Island Inspired Whimsy!

Soon to be added to my shop Jonara Blu Maui





feel free to
email me if you have any questions

Sparkling Beachy and Pink

New in the shop today...



Sparkling Beachy Pink Shell Bracelet
available now at
Jonara Blu Maui

No recent posts..but I promise I haven't been lazy...

Last blog post was Determined not to get lazy... so I just wanted to make clear that even though I haven't been here for a bit again..I have not fallen into lazy mode. Granted this cold weather really makes me want to do nothing but curl up in my jammies and read or watch TV...I have been actually keeping a list of things to do each day for a little over a week and getting most done on it each day..except for my blog lately lol! But it's been great help w/ focusing. (a BIG problem for me)

I will admit though that Cameron and I finally did a walk today for the first time in a couple of weeks. So I have been slacking in that department as well.

Picture: a cute little lawn gnome we caught wandering around a neighbors front yard during one of our walks last fall ;-)


What have I been up to? Well...lots of spring cleaning! I was stuck doing taxes for a couple of months so did minimal cleaning. Taxes are so boring that even cleaning feels good! Cameron's room really needed to be gutted out and have all it's nooks and cranny's vacuumed because of his allergies. We are finding all sorts of things we want to get rid of so will do a garage sale here in a couple of weeks.

Things are starting to pick up a little in the jewelry shop...I recently sold these fun pieces:






Also I'm currently working on a wedding commission for a bride in New York having a Hawaiian themed wedding. Once that is completed I will post pictures.

Hope you are all doing well! I've been trying to visit everyone's blogs..some I have gotten too and some I haven't. It's always fun to read your blogs more then it is to make my own though ;-)

A Sneek Peek at some New Summer Fun Bracelet Additions

Coming soon to Jonara Blu Maui

Tahitian Black Pearl Jewelry: Wear a Piece of Paradise

It has been my pleasure to make friends through Twitter with Tahitian Pearl Jewels. They have some of the most scrumptious jewelry! There is no middleman. They farm their own pearls in Tahiti and send the pearls to their other base in Oahu, Hawaii where they assemble the jewelry. Because of this they are able to have very competitive pricing.



This bracelet caught my eye right away. I'm a big fan of organic looking pearls..so keshi pearls are a definite favorite of mine. I've never seen Tahitian keshi pearls before so I was really excited about this. It goes so well with the nugget shaped 14k gold spacer beads. This beauty is called "Cora" from the Ariitea Collection

Here is a little bit from their 'about' page:

Our journey in the Tahitian pearl business started in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia, specifically in the island of Ahe.

We come from a family rooted in the tradition and craft of Tahitian pearl farming, and our experience comes from generations of collective knowledge mixed with new technologies and techniques.

The color of Tahitian pearls are mesmerizing. I love the teal color this one named “Pehe” picks up. It looks amazing w/ the white gold and diamonds.



If you are in the market for some Tahitian pearl jewelry I suggest you check out Tahitian Pearl Jewels. You can even follow them tahitipearls on Twitter..they are often there hanging out with the rest of us and are available for questions and friendly service :)

New Tropical Bracelet w/ Hand Painted Ceramic Leaf Beads

This is the latest I've just made w/ my ceramic beads. Some of the ones I saved aside for myself as I've pulled out the last bits of my ceramic stash to sell off. I'm not making them anymore...so I put up a few for sale on Etsy and slashed the price just to give them new homes.

I've got a customer in the UK who has held aside some sets and is looking through my bead box of orphan leftovers..yes I took a picture of it for her :)



So hopefully some more will get some love soon because lots of love goes into making them!

New Hand Painted Ceramic Tropical Flowers Bracelet

so I used to work w/ an artist here on Maui making these ceramic beads..litterally making them from the raw clay..rolling them as perfectly round as you can get them, letting them dry just a little..then poking a hole in the very center. Then we dry them the rest of the way and bake in a low fire kiln, paint w/ low fire glazes that enabled us to control the design unlike high fire glazes...3 coats of clear glaze over the design, fire in the kiln again and finally you've got yourself some gorgeous beads!



I have not worked with this artist friend in years and frankly I was very tired of painting these beads. I am trying to sell some of them off for a very good price if you are interested..they are in my etsy shop here. While I was going over them though and reducing the prices..these spoke to me and I decided to give them new life. I'll be putting them up in my shop soon.

Also below are some matching earrings I made for the beach wedding necklace I just posted yesterday.

Bracelet Repair for a Friend

I recently received a request from a friend to fix her husbands magnetic hematite bracelet..the clasp, also magnetic, was rusted beyond recognition..yucky!



It's hard to see in the picture...but in between each bead was old crusted on dirt and maybe rust..I'm not sure. I don't really understand what magnetic hematite beads are made out of as I never use them. I'm wondering if they are actually hematite that has been made magnetic or if they are a magnet with a coating that looks like hematite. These beads were worn dull on all the outer parts that would rub against things as well near the holes. And on the dull part the dirt..some rust colored was stuck really hard..so that made me think they are made of something else with a coating and that the something else was rusting a little.



It was a LOT of work to get the very much stuck on crud off in between each bead, I don't even think soaking them in water would have worked. I didn't try it though because I looked up caring for magnetic hematite jewelry and it said to not get it wet..and if you did to dry it off. Well it's hard to dry off the inside of the holes..so I didn't want to take a chance of any left over moisture with this already rusty bracelet. I used a 400 grit polishing paper on parts that would not come off at all..all near the holes..it worked pretty good. Then I polished up with a polishing cloth. Not sure it was the best choice..the bracelet was already in sad shape.




I did not want to redo it with an magnetic clasp because in my research I found out that this rust problem can happen in places where it's more humid...well we are in Hawaii..so it's definitely humid here. I opted for a slider clasp..but did not think that bright silver would help it to keep it's 'manly' appearance..so I tried my hand at blackening the silver. Sadly my liver of sulpher is about 6 years old..I've never ever used it..and I guess it looses it's potency after time because this did not work like it was supposed to. It took hours rather then seconds and did not color the silver evenly.



Previously it was strung with some kind of monofilament..very thick and held its shape. I have no idea what it was...it worked well though to keep the magnetic beads all behaving. I used Soft Flex brand Soft Touch...21 strand micro stainless steel strands with a nylon coating. The strands stay pretty good..the bracelet lays nicer when it's on the wrist. Before it looked like it was a cuff...like a hard wired bracelet...now it's a little more floppy..but not a whole lot.

More Blue Jewelry

Here are a couple more pieces I made to match Turquoise Sky



Turquoise Sky - Maui Beaded Earrings



Paua Palm Tree Bracelet

Purple Shell Bracelet

Here is the the last of the bracelets I made last week. A Hill Tribe silver shell bead with purple pearls, labradorite, Swarovski crystals and Hill Tribe silver spacer beads. Look for this in my shop Jonara Blu Maui very soon

Fun new carved wood beads

I picked these up at the last bead show I attended here. I say attended because I totally spaced on the last one and didn't make it. What a bummer..I needed stuff at it too.

These were such a cool find though..the beads are wood...carved and hollow..very different then any wood beads I've ever come across. I've put them with green/brown turquoise, some desert jasper and Hill Tribe silver spacers. It's a larger sized bracelet measuring at 7 1/2" to 8 1/4" with it's adjustable chain and clasp. The charm is a little Hill Tribe silver spotted turtle. It will be uploaded to my shop soon.

Pretty little fishies swimming in the bright blue ocean...

I thought I had all these guys lined up..swimming in a circle..but one got away from me (fish are slippery you know) and flipped around. I supposed fish don't normally swim in a circle. So maybe it doesn't matter...what do you think? It doesn't bother me...I don't need everything symmetrical...I just need balance in shape and color. I do think however, that I will restring it and turn the little guy around. Go figure I didn't notice until editing the picture!



Tropical Fish Beaded Bracelet

I hope everyone is well. I do miss all the blog fun I was having...It was a blast! Update on my son...they are thinking he's got an an autoimmune situation going on in the stomache and colon. The white blood cells present are the kind that come because of parasites or food allergies and all that has turned out negative. So he's started a high dose burst of steroids..that lasts 3 days..then taper down the dose for a week..then we see the doc again. Hopefully it will calm his digestive system down so he can eat better. We are very hopeful that between that and a nutritional support program we have him on that we will get him well again :)

I've started creating a little again. It feels really good. I've 3 more bracelets sitting here that I need to make a couple of changes to and then finish off with a clasp. My shop is near empty! I usually have 5 to 6 pages of product and I've only got 3 up..but the last page is all sold. Which is good! I'm not complaining..but I really need to make jewelry and get it in there for the busy shopping season. Now if this heat would just chill out so I could actually breathe in my beading room..I might actually be able to accomplish something.

Hope you are doing well..I will be checking up on your blogs as time allows ;)

xoxo

Jonara Blu Maui

Jonara Blu Maui - Video

I just put this video together this morning...hoping to make a little introduction type of thing. I get so tongue tied and could not manage to say everything even just once with out a mistake..but oh well..thats just me lol!

Aloha Flower Beaded Bracelet

Wow..it's been almost a week! Sorry I've been away from posting..I was a bit under the weather this week as well as working on a wholesale order for B-Side the Sea. Most of my newly made items have gone to her, however, here is a new item she hasn't snagged quite yet..



I was so excited to get the little Hill Tribe silver flower beads you see here..I thought they would look so happy with all the brightly colored stones.

And here are some earrings to match..