Featured Artist. Ellen Ikemoto of streetnoodles on Etsy.

I’m so very pleased to share with you the designs of Ellen Ikemoto of streetnoodles on Etsy.

Ellen makes beautiful jewelry designs, many of which feature vintage components, including vintage glass pearls from Bumbershoot Supplies. Since vintage glass pearls are some of my personal favorites, I am drawn to see how customers use them, and that is how I learned of Ellen’s shop streetnoodles.

Ellen offers many beautiful designs, so it was hard to decide what to share in this post, but I decided to focus on 2 of her collections, her embellished hair combs and her bird designs.

The combs are glorious confections of flowers, pearls, baubles, some with rhinestones, that are so lovely, I found myself wishing I could see them in person, so I could turn them in my hands to see them from all angles and make them sparkle.  Because I like so many different types of vintage components, I love this type of design that collects so many diverse elements together in one place for me to enjoy all at once.  

The second collection of Ellen’s designs that I hope you will enjoy are her designs featuring birds and inspired by her father.

Ellen says… “this whole series of birds is INSPIRED by my dad...we were never as close as my mom & me...he was a quiet intellectual scholar caught in wartime situation that left him not valuing what he had loved as a child...art, literature, poetry…”

“…years later, when the wounds had healed, dad had passed on... i bought my dad's house. i found in his garage, several boxes of his; one filled with his poetry, one of his calligraphy...and one filled with wonderful wood carvings of birds...so many birds...i found out later that when he had been sent to the internment camps during WWII, he was taught how to carve wood...he chose birds..they reminded him of "home"...but more importantly of his "freedom" lost. when he returned home...he never carved another bird again.”

I am so honored to be able to share Ellen’s designs and this part of Ellen and her father’s story with you. I hope you are as inspired and moved by it as I am and that you will enjoy a visit to streetnoodles to enjoy Ellen’s beautiful designs first hand.