Bracelet: Dalia 2

I decided to make a different version of the bracelet Dalia that I did last year since I really liked the design of it. The original is in black, red and gold. So this time I decided to step out of my comfort zone of working with dark colors and went completely bright.
Those crystal/silver lined twisted bugle beads have been whispering to me of lately that I need to do something with them. I just didn't know what until now.
So I went with the "baby-princess" theme on this one and decided to incorporate those gorgeous light pink alabaster seed beads by Miyuki that I bought 100g of from GJBeads the beginning of this year. As for the center in the flowers in the rows between the bugles I decided to add crystal/lined gold seed beads by Matsuno since it gave some more contrast to the piece. The rest of the white seed beads are also by Matsuno in a white color with AB finish. All of the seed beads I used, besides the bugles, are 11/0's.

I actually like how it turned out a lot, not that I think I could wear these colors myself, since... It doesn't fit with my style, lol :P

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New Projects

So the other day, I promised I'd post some pictures of the projects I have in the works.  I really meant to post sooner, but the camera I prefer to use to take pictures of my jewelry some how made its way to Washington D.C. with my parents.  Not one to be deterred however, I dug out my old, clunky digital camera and snapped a few photos.  Actually I took a lot of pictures, but I really only ended up with a handful worth saving, and none that I feel like are good enough to use in my shop.

I usually only use this camera for taking pictures of landscapes and oceans and nature-y like stuff.  It has a fairly low pixel count and I've yet to take an up close picture that didn't come out all blurry.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good solid camera, but, if I'm remembering right, it's about 8 years old.  Practically ancient by technology standards.  But I have a hard time letting it go.  It's been pretty faithful all these years, captured some great memories.  And it has a lithium ion rechargeable battery, which I'm pretty sure has saved me a fortune in battery costs over the years.  It has lots of great setting and it works wonderfully outdoors, just not so much when it comes to taking pictures of fine detail.

So dear readers, a promise is a promise, and I said I'd share some pictures by week's end.  Well here it is Friday night, so I suppose I best post a few pictures.  Please forgive the quality.

These are a pair of earrings I made for the woman who won one of my gradient pendants in the contest I ran over on Facebook.  I sent her a coupon for my Etsy shop along with her prize, and she wrote to tell me she was very much interested in a coordinating pair of earrings.  These are one of the options I've come up with.

And these are another pair of earrings kind of along the same lines that could be paired with the black gradient pendant 

Now, neither of these earrings are outside of my design comfort zone.  Despite my photo taking difficulties, these earrings were relatively easy to make and came together quickly.  They aren't the exciting new projects I've been talking about.  The pendant to the left and below are however examples of my latest adventures in designing.

It consists of some hammered copper wire bits, with a fresh water pearl attached to the wrap wires, and it all hangs from a length of brown satin cord.

I really like this pendant.  It reminds me a little of coral and the beach and by default, summer time.  I like th earthy look of the copper contrasted by the pale delicacy of the pearl.  I've got a few similar pendants in the works, one in sterling silver and the other in a combination of sterling silver and 12K gold.  I think I'll be hanging both of those on black satin cord.  I'll be making earrings to match, and as soon as i can, I'll be picking up some soldering supplies to I can make some rings.  And all of these things should be available in my shop by mid-June.

Of course, if I don't make a sale in my shop before then, I might skip listing them and take them to the craft fair instead.  I don't know, it's something I'll have to think about.

I'm working on a few other projects too, one involving some wire work, another mostly bead weaving.  I get on these bead weaving kicks and get super enthralled with one specific weave.  Last month it was right angle weave, and led to the creation of my gradient pendants.  This month, it seems to be the herringbone stitch.  It's been a lot of fun learning and exploring.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Until next time, thanks for reading :)

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Earrings: Astrid

I spent part of my afternoon (after doing some shores around the house) to again, play with this really cute beaded bead, which is made with using peanut beads (or farfalle) and some Miyuki fringe beads.
The pattern for the beaded bead (popcorn bead) is created by "The Beading Butterfly" and can be accessed for free here.

 After making a matching pair I tried one of them out together with some other beads on a head-pin, to see if I could get some simple earring design out of it.
I thought they looked just lovely together with some acrylic/plastic oval beads that I've been having in my stash since a while. At first, when I made the wrapped-loop I first attached the head-pin directly to the ear-hook but I didn't like how it looked like, so I decided to play around with some chain and experimented how it looked like with different amounts of chain links and found out that three looked the best.

I actually liked the somewhat classic/retro look of the earrings so I decided to make another pair with the remaining acrylic/plastic beads I had. Well, I had five but I have no idea at the moment what to do with the last - that will teach me to buy uneven amounts when they are sold per piece, lol.

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Hair Clip: Freya

Starting off this post with saying that I haven't been able to either blog or make anything jewelry related at all of the facts that I've been having a rather serious disease. 
My hands and feet have been completely swollen up like balloons and I've had a very annoying rash pretty much all over. I went to the doctor last week on Friday and he took a sample of my blood and also gave me some medicine against the rash and the swelling, which didn't help a bit.
On Monday (darn weekend) I got the result, and it turned out to be a rather serious infection in my blood stream. 
I got some really strong antibiotics and they're helping. 
Again I'm able to sit at the computer and to play around with beads, which I've missed loads! :)

So, enough about that, heh.

I managed to finally finish up this bead embroidery hair clip that I was working on for the April's Challenge at "Operation Tackle That Bead Stash!". I didn't manage to finish it on time though, before the deadline, but it was something different then what I've done so far, so I'm happy anyway.
The cabochons are handmade with polymer clay (by me as always). Then we have some mother-of-pearl buttons and a crystal flower from Swarovski.
The seed beads I used were in sizes 11/0 and 15/0, from Matsuno, Miyuki and Preciosa, and some 1.5mm Miyuki cube beads.

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Coatings on Glass Beads

Our new complete range of coatings is shown on fire-polished beads but can also be made on MC beads (bicones) and pressed beads. Pls ask for details.

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The London Riots : A diamond rises from the ashes

A Glasgow artist - Teresa Margolles - asked us if it was possible to make a Blue diamond from the detritus of the 'London Riots' (using carbon extracted from various bits of wood, sweepings and other debris).
After extensive processing, we are proud to show the actual diamond featured in the exhibition.
The diamond is a 0.79 carat Brilliant cut Blue/White which is very clean, sparkly and without visible inclusions.
This diamond joins are 'world firsts' [The Jessica Diamond, The Promessa Diamonds]

TERESA MARGOLLES

Exhibition & Offsite Projects

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Next Steps in Social Networking

Just a really quick post, I promise. 

I've finally taken the next step in my social networking to promote my jewelry and Etsy shop.  I have officially just joined Twitter.  I now tweet.  I keep hearing great stories about how Twitter has brought a lot of attention to other Etsians so I went ahead and signed up.  I avoided it for a long time, cuz it seemed kind of like an exercise in narcissism.  But now I'm on board.  I've been doing the Facebook thing for awhile, I figured it couldn't hurt to branch out.  If you'd care to follow me, please do.  I'll return the favor, naturally.  To find me, I suppose you can just follow this link or type www.twitter.com/jewelry_gal25 into your address bar.

Oh oh and before I forget!  If you haven't already gone over and "Liked" my Facebook page, you should.  I just posted a special Mother's Day coupon for my Etsy shop, available to all my fans on Facebook

That's all for now.  Hope everyone had a great first day of May!!

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