Lukagwa African Art and Jewelers from Kenya.

Lukagwa African Art & Jewelers was started by people who have a youthful passion for art. We embrace the meaning of Lukagwa to be that “Our ideas are heaven sent”. We specialize in the meticulous assemble of beads to form art pieces that are a fusion of contemporary and historical trends. Our jewelry is a unique infusion of different styles, ideas, inspirations and global influences.
Lucille has recently submitted two new pieces to her shop that can be found on etsy.com. Her chosen theme is to display her pieces of jewelry on a black background on some rocks. It's a striking display and really is going to hold her shop together.
 This theme will make the shop memorable, so returning customers will recognise it right away and feel at home.

This is definitely the way to go when showing your work. These pieces of jewelry are striking, innovative and fun!

Pay a visit to Lukagwa and see what else she may have uploaded.

Here's hoping that she will get a lot of support from folks all over the world.

Singing Heart Jewelry Designs from CapeTown, South Africa

Debbie is an enterprising lady living in the Western Cape. Her studio and home are at the foot of the Kogelberg Mountains at the southernmost tip of Africa, set in a nature reserve. Wow isn't she lucky. yeah I know a lot of you prefer the cities and such but I'm a country girl and just love the bush of Africa. There is nothing like it anywhere!
Debbie makes wonderful jewelry and she's pretty hot behind the camera too!  Her Photography shop is called  Nomadh Photography.
Anyway here is her story about a couple of her gorgeous Jewelry pieces:

Creating jewelry for me is like meditating.  It’s difficult to put into words.  When I sit down at my jewelry table in my studio, it’s as if the shells and stones speak to me.  Rather than a thinking process, it’s a feeling process.  There are times when an idea for a piece comes into my mind – finished – and I automatically know how I’ll put it together – I can see the colors, shapes, and all the materials – right down to the clasp I will make.  That will often happen to me in that wonderfully creative time just before falling asleep, or when I wake up, but before I’m fully awake.  Other times I will choose the main part of a piece; a shell, for example, and I will begin it without knowing how it will end up, or what I will put with it.  Yet, there is no hesitation as I create.  I seem to know, without thinking, which stone to add next, which colors to mix.  That’s why I say the materials speak to me and tell me what to do.  I can nearly say it’s not me making the jewelry, it comes through me.

However, for some of the pieces, I start with a feeling.  For instance, with the chunky turquoise anklet, I had the feeling of a beach somewhere in the tropics – perhaps along East Africa’s shores – Mozambique or Zanzibar.  Although turquoise is often associated with the southwest, I imagined this being worn while walking beside a sea, while wearing a colorful wrap-around skirt and no shoes! There is a handmade Ethiopian silver prayer bead in it, which, to me, gives the energy of ancient African rituals and prayers.

The jasper necklace was wonderful to make.  I love the swirly colors and the organic shape of this chunk of jasper – just holding it felt good.  This piece also has some of Africa in it.  The Abo beads are handmade by the Krobo people of Ghana, and are the color of rust, or the soil here.  It’s truly a necklace of the earth – organic and raw. You are welcome to visit my store.

I just thought that you might like to know ... the jasper necklace is sold... BUT if you'd like one just send me a note... go to my store and click on the 'contact' button. :-)

Star Bright Girl from Durban, South Africa

Megan is from Durban. It's a great city to visit and to live in. The beaches are wonderful and the surfing can be flipping brilliant. Anyway I digress :-)


This is from Megan,
I hand make from scratch everything I do (I smelt metal, roll wire, and even my resin colours are hand-mixed!), and use only sterling silver findings :)
I hope to achieve a mix of funky, fun & sweet, but ultimately wearable & comfortable every day jewellery - hope you'll love my work as much as I do!!


Here is some of her work for you to look at:
Butterfly Domed Stud Earrings:

These were part of a series of earrings - I wanted to create a bold design, but to create interest I decided to invert the dome - makes making them a little trickier, but I think it works well!
The delicate designs of the resin also add contrast to the solidity of the studs..
I also love to work with resin - by changing the colour used, you can create completely different tones in    your jewellery..

 Although this butterfly tone is playful, the black resin adds a sombre tone, and makes it a little more grown up :)


Amethyst Chunky Ring:

This ring was really designed around the stone - I wanted a bigger stone, but this leads to limitations with regards to the setting.
I decided on a rub-over or gypsy setting, but this meant that the ring would have to be very thick, to accommodate the stone, so I decided to taper the band towards the base - to make it more comfortable to wear.. (Comfort is highly important to me for my designs)
I also decided not to taper the width of the ring - rather keeping it even all the way around, which keeps it feeling chunky and bold - it's a really fun ring!


Megan has a lot of really lovely items in her shop. If you click on the Titles: Butterfly Domed Stud Earrings and the Amethyst Chunky Ring, there is a link embedded in them and they will take you to her shop to those items. If you'd like to visit her shop as a whole click here.




Keep a look out because we'll be featuring more of Megan's work. I think that it's important for people to realise that there are some stunning creations available in Africa. So spread the word. Tweet this and FB it too!
:-D 

Ba Beads All the way from Africa!

I've decided that I'm going to feature Artists that are living in Africa to get them more well known. After all this blog is called Africa Bursting Out! :-D So I've contacted a few and got them to supply me with some information, which I will impart to you. I plan to do this every month, finding new artists and also talking about new things that the existing artists are producing. So watch out for them!


There is a shop on Etsy.com called BaBeads. Lovely necklaces selling out of Cape Town in South Africa. 
I must say it seems that there is quite an artists colony in the Cape :-)

Bold Red Glass Beaded Necklace.

If you click on the photo's caption you can have a look at it on Etsy.
So beautifully made! I love that clasp.


The owner tells me that when she saw these beads she could see quite clearly the necklace that they would make.
She just had to buy the beads!  :-D The small silver beads are real silver as is the clasp.


If you would like to visit BABEADS click HERE!

Watch this blog for more beautiful work.

Black Star SA... peeking out from Africa

Tracey started her shop on Etsy in August last year. and in her profile you can read the following excerpt:

 " I have been a jeweller for many years now and have been working for the last few years at a popular destination site in Cape Town called the V & A Waterfront. I decided a few months ago to start my own business and this is one of the platforms that I get to showcase my work.

All my pieces are handmade and designed by me. I like create designs that are unique. A lot of time in my work I incorporate ancient techniques with a contemporary design and other times I am just having some fun for example, my marble ring collection. I always like to incorporate stones that have the best fire."

Me again - I've been to the V & A Waterfront! It's lovely there. You'll find Cape Town's Ocean Aquarium there. It's also a great spot to stop and have a bite to eat. I'm sure they are really fussy as to whomever rents their shop space and judging by the photo's of her work I'd say she had no problem getting them to rent to her. :-D
This is one of her pieces :

Sterling Silver Snake Ring.

If you click on the picture's description it will take you to this item in her shop. The following was supplied by Tracey:


Material: Sterling Silver
Stones: Black Spinel = Eyes, 
                     Garnet = Head

Inspiration: I have always been fascinated with snakes due to their way they move. I actually had a few constritors (pythons) when I was younger which inspired the look of this snakes face.

The challenge in this piece was to create the fluid movement of a snake in silver. All the engraving on this snake is done by hand which creates a lovely glittery look to the piece.


Yup I agree.. a stunning piece of work.

Garnet Ring

As previously, click on the photo's caption and you'll be able to go shopping :-D
Here is some info on this lovely ring.


Material: Sterling Silver
Stone: Garnet

I love to use ancient techniques and combine them with a contemporary style.
In this ring I used an ancient technique with cuttle fish. This technique creates the texture on the inner band that is very effective!
I love taking my time to choose the right stones as this will generally bring my piece to life. The stone I chose here has so much fire, I really did it a injustice in my photograph.


Wow! Such lovely work coming directly out of Africa. These items are the tip of the iceberg. You should take a few minutes to check out her shop.. There are lots of great pieces there. 


To get to Black Star SA click HERE!
To get to her Facebook Page click HERE!