Having Fun with Beads and Crystals - Sami Lapland Bracelets

I enjoy working with beads and crystals in my bracelets, they add another dimension and texture to the pewter wire braids.   The magpie attraction to sparkle and glitter is not strange in Sweden.  Living in darkness and cold for many months of the year anything that attracts and reflects the light is appreciated.  Crystal beads are truely magical in the way they catch the light and reflect a multitude of rainbow colors

The black bracelet is made with Swarovski crystals and silver beads.  A glamorous and sophisticated look, even in the  forest we have occasions to dress up and have fun!

This bracelet has amethyst colored crystals added.  The great thing about using crystals in jewelry is that it is an affordable way to add glitter and sparkle.  The hard thing is choosing the colors.  When I order from my supplier I want to buy every color!  I guess I am attracted to amethyst because it is my birthstone - February birthday.

 Pale ice blue and steely silver beads, very cool. very Swedish.

 The sterling silver beads in these bracelets are fun to work with.  They have a wonderful feel and heaviness, it reminds me of playing with ball-bearings when i was little.

One thing I love about my work is the input from customers. The bracelet above without beads is in my shop. A customer asked me to custom make this bracelet with silver beads with special instructions on the placing and weave.

 The result is much more interesting and lively than my original!  The customer really knows best!

This bracelet is made with pretty seed beads. I like the opaque pearl like finish to these beads.  The pale pink leather contrasts and compliments the beads nicely.

Swedish Lapland Bracelets Made With Spun Copper Wire

This braid was meant to be sewn onto black leather.  This barbie pink caught my eye.  I love the pink and copper together, an unusual and uncoventional combination.
Copper wire is fun to work with, it adds another dimension and so many artistic possibilites to this craft form.

I couldn´t resist this wonderful green enameled copper wire, so fresh and bright.  It reminds me of the pine and spruce during the winter and the age old Christmas tradition of decorating the house with evergreens.

Less is more, the single strand of gold wire in this braid gives a sophisticated and elegant look.

Turquoise and brown is a lovely combination, the tiny beads give the bracelet another texture.

Winter Landscape - Reindeer Lapland Bracelet - A Haiku

I kept this rather clumsy watercolor sketch of winter birch trees as a reference for future work using this pallete.  There is something very calming and restfull  in the contrast of the cool greys and blues (paynes grey, neutral tint) and the warmer earthy colors raw sienna, burnt sienna, sepia and burnt umber.

Winter landscapes provide a remarkable variety of color - subtle, shifting and almost elusive during the darker days.  In this dormant but nonetheless beautiful time of year there is a stillness which leads to inner contemplation and a restfullness after the hectic activity of the previous months.

 I was delighted when I ordered some white reindeer leather from my supplier.  I had expected it to be really white and brash but instead it is a natural white color with a grey/blue tinge like the reflection of the winter sky on snow.  I was reminded of an episode in one of the Clan of the Cave Bear books where Ayla tans some leather to make for her wedding dress. She bleached the leather white by soaking it in urine - nowadays I suspect the principle is the same but probably with a refined form of ammonia rather than raw urine. I had this leather for months not quite knowing what  would do with it until now,  the icy Northern winter has set in and given me inspiration for this piece of jewelry.  I combined sepia colored leather to represent the color of the bare trees on a dark blizzardy day. The pewter wire shines bright like a frosty morning.

Just as I´m writing this a snow blizzard is blowing. This haiku by the master Matsuo Basho  is in essence what I´m seeing from my studio window at this moment..

Winter solitude-- in a world of one color the sound of wind.

Making Lapland Jewelry

I started making these bracelets a few years ago. Although I love painting sometimes I need a break to refresh - artists need a hobby too.  These days the hobby has taken over and there is not so much time left over for painting projects.

The craft of pewter embroidery was developed by the Sami people who live in mostly in Northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Penninsula in Russia.  Traditionaly the Sami people live by reindeer herding, fishing and hunting.

Hundreds of years ago the Sami people travelled to Norway to trade at the markets there.  Here they bought pewter which came from Cornwall and Ireland.  The Sami developed a method of spinning the pewter into a thread which could be used to decorate clothes, jewelry and other objects such as knife sheathes.

The problem with pewter is that when the temperature reaches under 15C, the pewter crystalises forming a grey powder.  Nowadays 4% silver is added to the pewter which prevents this process.  When the wire is new the metal is a wonderful frosty white color.  With use and wearing the wire takes on a lovely silvery patina.

The pewter tread is a fine material to work with.  It lends itself to plaiting or braiding and amazing designs can be made by combining different braid patterns.