Glow Frogs!

Colorful in the daytime, glowing at night!

One of my greatest passions in life is writing, thus I cannot resist a good pun! It’s very hot here in New Orleans, Louisiana in the summer and because of that my dogs spend the least amount of time outside from July to September. Yes, I know that the phrase isn’t literal haha! I can’t help but notice that every year one of the pleasant things that appear with the height of summer are the frogs. Come to think of it, when I was growing up in Oklahoma several kinds of tree frogs would seem to appear as if by magic once it was unbearably hot outside.

That’s probably why I will always associate frogs with the depth of summer. As I write this there is one extremely loud tree frog in the small cypress tree outside of my apartment singing away!

So I decided that for this summer’s first jewelry line that frogs were in order, giving us the “Frog Days of Summer!”

These colorful frogs were purchased in 2010 and have anxiously awaited coming to life, but I simply was not satisfied with any of the myriad materials I had. Over the last two years I have collected bits here and there, just waiting until they could all be completed, together, in a way that embodied both the summer and their whimsical charm. It finally happened, obviously!

The red “Volcanic Frog”

There are few new pieces in this series of necklaces, only the red frog was completed using entirely new materials. That fiery frog was the easiest since it brought to mind Hawaiian Leis and volcanoes…yes, I do seriously have an imagination! Still, it took me a while to find light weight volcanic rock made into beads that were still reminiscent of their natural appearance.  They were paired with red Millefiori beads with white flowers (Millefiori means “many flowers, by the way).

The orange “Quirky Frog”

The orange frog was also constructed with Millefiori glass beads and chips, but finished with vintage like, genuine (as in they hit me), Mardi Gras beads like those thrown in the earlier days of Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. You may be saying to yourself that if they were gotten from a parade, how are they not new? Good question! The answer is that Mardi Gras crews often have to purchase their own throws (beads, stuffed animals, etc.) and frequently recycle items. That means it’s not uncommon to catch things made ten years ago or more that have been caught, resold, and re-thrown repeatedly. The new beads I caught all had tags, which were fairly difficult to remove honestly, whereas this strange and one other were tag-less, had chipped beads, and…well, seriously, they looked like they’d been through some serious life before I cleaned them! They are very reminiscent of the “old school” style glass beads once regularly thrown before the era of plastic. The major difference isn’t in the shape, color, or country of origin usually, but in the size. I used these for the orange frog because orange reminds me of stand out, quirky, people and this combination really made this frog stand out!

The yellow “Traveling Frog”

The yellow frog was used with the help of glass Mardi Gras beads as well as some very nice vintage, blue glass beads to set it off. The blue beads came all the way from a tiny store in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma with loads of awesome vintage jewelry…so this frog might be the best if you want a fun traveling companion! Parts of him or her have been in the world’s largest free party and in the boonies!

The light blue “Sky Frog”

It’s tempting for me to keep either of the blue frogs, since I love blue, but I’d hate to cheat someone out of a lovely blue frog. The light blue frog’s most stand out feature (aside from the frog of course) are the awesome “cat’s eye” glass beads. There are a lot of nifty glass beads out there honestly, I know a lot of people don’t like to use them as they’ve too often become a cheap way of getting around using more expensive semi-precious stones, but there are some that really need appreciation. Before other countries got in on the market, most glass beads came from the Czech Republic (actually, then it was Czechoslovakia, but never mind my history lessons) and it’s usually obvious when you’ve got glass originating there: it’s just better! These silky, shiny glass beads almost certainly originated there. It was only right that extra interest be added with new Czech beads in darker blue, and vintage clear beads to keep the theme going. Have you guessed the theme? A summer sky, of course!

The dark blue “Ocean Frog”

The dark blue frog was paired with vintage glass beads of great color and quality as well. The darkest match the blue of the frog and are spaced with lighter blue and a pale, nearly transparent blue to make it really stand out. This frog reminded me of the ocean and the pieces of glass you can occasionally find on the beach that have been rounded and polished by their time in the ocean.

The frog group glowing after sunbathing.

All of these frogs are literally glowing with personality! They absorb light very quickly and hold a glow for quite a while; when exposed to daylight they will begin glowing almost immediately while still in the light. Though the pictures I took of them glowing refused to turn out the correct color, they are the bright green of your typical glow stick.

They’ll “glow” on you 😉

Don’t ask me how, I’m not a glass blowing expert, but they were sold as being handblown. Since they were purchased from a trusted source, I’m sure that’s true. What’s also true is that they’re very expressive! Look at the red one in the group picture…looks like it’s surprised!

I love these guys, and I hope you all will too. All of the pictures have been linked back to my Etsy shop for easy purchase. If you didn’t click already, see them and the rest of the jewelry currently available at www.etsy.com/shop/fenrisfiasco and be sure to like us on Facebook or follow on Twitter for the newest products, sales, and more!

I’m going to leave this post with a picture of the very first frog created back in 2010 when they first arrived. This frog was special, it arrived damaged, missing one eye. The frog was loved anyway and given as a gift to its admirer. The style of this frog is entirely different from the rest, it put me in mind of swamp in the spring time. Swamps don’t tend to evoke beauty unless you’ve spent time in them. What you see in movies do them no justice at any time of year, but in the spring the swamp bursts into colorful life with flowers upon flowers. The Mother of Pearl sticks are meant to imply the pale color of gently swaying Spanish Moss, while the dyed green portions of Mother of Pearl hold the color of the greenery and the bright, purple, Czech glass flower spacers give it the same surprising burst of color found in a spring time swamp.

The one-eyed green “Swamp Frog”