The first Dandelions have made their appearance in front of my home – the warmer weather has arrived here in Chicago!

 

Painting by Otto Diderich Ottensen

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I know not everyone is a fan of these little guys, but for me, the feelings are all warm and fuzzy!  Memories of spending time in the summer at my Grandparent’s home in the country and collecting bouquets of them!

Here are a lovely pair of charms by Mari Carmen Rodriquez Martinez of Majoyoal.  I’ve added some amazing blue/grey vintage glass pearls and brass bead caps, which to me, look like the sepal of the flower holding another bud waiting to open.

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Some lovely hand patinated pewter connectors by Kelly Luttrell of Vesuvius Arts and warm vintage pearl dangles.

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Fabulous leafy patterned enameled crescent charms by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare .  I wanted to keep them light and airy, so I decided to go with wire and bring out the hints of green that are in the enamel, with seed beads.

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Well, these are some of my favorites; Foxpaw floral ceramic beads!  I know, I took creative license here calling them dandelions, but they have that lovely feeling of a flower going to seed and ready to just let loose in the wind.  I added two bone flower buds up-top and again, used some vintage brass findings to create the sepal of the flower holding the new bud ready to open.  Below vintage glass mellow pearl dangles.

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Never enough time!  Here are some more Dandelion inspired beads in my stash.

We have various artists and materials here:  The enamel pair on the bottom left are by Gaea Handmade; ceramic dandelion lentil by Natalie Fletcher-Jones; center is a polymer sgraffito that I did experimenting; glass discs by Silverfish Designs; glass urchin beads by Tom Gronwall; etched glass green beads by Kimberly Rogers;  large black sgraffito bead with a dandelion seed by Blueberribeads.

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As I wrote – I spent many summer vacation days staying at my Grandparent’s home in the country.  My Grandfather was a train enthusiast and built, with his own hands, a small running railroad on his property.  Here is a photo of my cousins and I (far left). We had gathered dandelions and decorated the caboose of the train!

Taking a ride with my Grandfather.

Last known photo of me in a two-piece…lol

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! Until next time!

   Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~artful in beads