From House To Home

With the holidays here, it’s time to bring out the ornaments and eggs.

Yes, eggs.

If you think the colorful oval orbs fit into spring holiday décor, not Christmas, one glimpse at Liz Smith’s brilliant, mosaic-like eggs will change your mind. Hand-crafted of polymer clay, they’re a signature item of her Made in Lowell studio.

As for beads and baubles in your decorating scheme, look no further than Liz Stewart’s luxuriant beaded icicles, snowflakes, garlands, and balls. Like the eggs, each is distinct and entirely handmade in her Lush Beads studio.

Smith and Stewart share initials and ideas as across-the-hall friends and neighbors at Western Avenue Studios, Lowell’s burgeoning enclave of creativity located in an old factory building.

Each lavishes love on her designs.

“I love the range of possibilities and colors with polymer clay. It’s a way for me to work sculpturally in three-dimensions and with two-dimensional surface design at the same time,” says Smith, a fine arts major in college.

Smith’s eggs start with real blown-out eggshells that she covers in slices she’s designed from multihued logs of plastic clay, rolled out with a pasta machine and toy rolling pin. She works in trendy colors, such as black and red, black and white or green. After smoothing the seams, she bakes the eggs to hardness in a 250-degree oven, then sands them to a smooth finish. A hook and ribbon complete the look, ready to adorn a tree.

Stewart is as addicted to beading as Smith is to clay.

“It started as a hobby, but as soon as I started, I was hooked,” says Stewart, who converted to beading eight years ago after burning out as a computer tech specialist.

She loves working with colors and putting beaded designs together.

“Mostly I do jewelry, but I love doing the snowflakes and balls in green and red. I also do beaded garlands with little plastic lights that can hang from a mantel,” she says.

Her snowflakes come in small versions, perfect for tying onto a package or into a small mobile. Larger flakes, some with Swarovski crystals, are perfect to hang as tree ornaments or in a window to catch the light.

Stewart’s ornate balls require more time and patience than the simple icicles.

But that’s a key element in any beaded project, says Stewart.

“Anyone can pick up the basics—it’s really not hard. But it does take time or you won’t enjoy it,” she says.

Stewart teaches beading classes and will put together snowflake and icicle ornament kits for the holidays. She also has trees in her studio, filled with ornaments for customers to take home and hang on their trees.

Visit www.westernavenuestudios.com, http://madeinlowell.etsy.com,  or www.lushbeads.com.