Sinai Glitz

Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE turquoise and love ancient Egypt art & jewellery… a while back I bought two lovely turquoise vintage glass cabs depicting an ancient Egypt figure… so I had to use them… and this is what I made:

Sinai Glitz – OOAK Cuff

The colours remind me of the landscape in Sinai… turquoise skies, copper/red mountains, scorching hot sun (gold) and the cuff of course inspired me to create these earrings (which I absolutely adore!!!) 

Sinai Glitz – Earrings

I started working on the second cab… supposedly to make a matching necklace… but no ideas have come to fruition yet…. we’ll see… and a week ago I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow BAO member, Janice Abarbanel of Naftali who is visiting Israel and who makes the most beautiful polymer cabs and jewellery… we met in Tel Aviv  and we went bead shopping of course!!! I got some beautiful coral and turquoise beads as well as some gorgeous dark blue and copper Cryscholla cabochons (which I'm yet to decide if to use with my metalwork or with my beadwork)… I had so much fun!!! it was so lovely meeting Janice!!! and look what she gave me from her own jewellery line…

This pendant is soooo beautiful… my photo really doesn’t do it any justice… and it looks even better on!!! So very sweet of her!!!  My only regret is that I didn’t take pictures of our meeting… I forgot I have a camera on my mobile… Janice however did, and I hope it comes out, as I would love to have a memento of our meeting in Tel Aviv.  If you are not familiar with Janice's work, I would definitely recommend heading over to her website http://janiceabarbanel.com/ and her etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/Naftali (although at the moment her etsy shop will look empty as she’s on holiday and her shop is on vacation mode till 14th July).

Ok… now lets see what I can do with that second cab…

Till the next time :-)

Leather Cuff Making Frenzy! Part 2

So the madness continues…. I just cannot stop making these cuffs!!! I really love making them and I really love how they turn out!!! 

I even started on a new bead-embroidered bag, when one quarter of the way through, I found myself back on the leather cuffs… and the next thing I know four more were made!!!

Here are those four + the previous ones that I didn’t get a chance to post yet (cos I was busy making leather cuffs :-D).

As there are so many, I’m just going to post the photos, if you are interested in finding out more about them, please click on the photos for detailed information.

 

 

 

Top two, 2nd row right, 3rd row: cabs by Golem Design Studio

2nd row left: heart cab by MAKUstudio

4th row: striped cab by Naftali

I hope I haven’t overdosed you on leather cuffs!!! I promise I will do my upmost to stay away from them for a while…. or at least till I finish making the bag!!! :-)

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead!!! :-)

Sea urchins + JL - Necklace

I’ve been nursing a stinking cold! Unbelievable!!! 30 degrees centigrade outside (and inside, come to think of it, as I try not to use the air conditioner too often) and I’m as sick as a dog!!! :-)

The only thing that could have possibly cheered me up was the arrival of notification that a package was waiting for me at the post office… so I quickly went to see what could be waiting for me! :-)

It was a package from Janice Abarbanel of Naftali!

Remember my post at the end of May about a new necklace I created with Naftali’s gorgeous polymer clay cabochons for her stand at the Bead and Button Show…. well Janice sent it back to me after the show was over… but that is not all…. she enclosed inside the package one of her  gorgeous…… and I mean GORGEOUS… Sea Urchin Cabochon!!!!!!!!! How exiting is that?!?!?! I’ve been ogling at these beautiful cabs since she posted them in her shop!!!! and now I’m the lucky owner of one of them!!!!! thank you sooooo much Janice!!!!!

I was too eager to post about this, but as it’s the end of the day here I was unable to take photos of my urchin (a gorgeous silver-grey one, similar to the one in the top left picture) so instead I will show you some of the Sea Urchins she has available in her shop!

 

Click on the photos above to be taken to the listings and to see more details - These are only some of them! there are more in red, green, lilac and other colours.

and… as the necklace has now returned, I have listed it in my shop:

JL – OOAK Necklace

 
As soon as I get past this stinking cold I will start to create something with my gorgeous sea urchin!!! don’t know what… but something for sure!!! :-)

happy beading everyone!!! :-)

The best laid plans….

Remember how in the last post I wrote about Janice Abarbanel of Naftali’s gorgeous cabochons that she sent me…. and how I was going to make something out of them for the Bead & Button Show…. and how I was going to “have to” ship them by Tuesday or Wednesday at the very latest!!!…. well… the best laid plans… Tuesday and Wednesday I had to deal with some unpleasant legal stuff, which I won’t bore you with… but I had to deal with it!…. and I thought never mind, I’ll finish the necklace off Thursday morning and send it by 4 pm on the same day…. what I hadn’t taken into consideration was my little boy getting really sick yesterday and having to spend all day trying to nurse him back to health…

he’s a bit better today, still has a bit of a fever but he is on the mend…. So the necklace was finally finished yesterday night… after having made 3 other chokers for it till I finally made this one which I liked the best! (hopefully I will use at least one of the other chokers for something else). Here is the finished piece:

I’m really, really happy with how it turned out…. and hope that Janice likes it too! :-) and…. really, really hope that it gets to the US in time before Janice leaves for the Bead & Button Show! I’m going to send it express first thing Sunday Morning (should take 4-5 days)… this is cutting it so short, but unfortunately sometimes life happens and it interferes with our best laid plans! If all goes well, and you are one of the lucky ones going to the Bead & Button Show, go and check out Janice Abarbanel of Naftali’s booth (#1244) and you should be able to see this piece in the flesh! :-)

Wishing everyone a very happy weekend! happy beading! :-)

Polymer Art of Naftali

About 3 weeks ago I was contacted by one of my favourite polymer clay bead artist and a fellow member of Bead Art Originals (BAO), who asked me whether I would I be interested in creating a piece using some of her cabochons to be displayed at her booth for the Bead & Button Show… would I??? of course I would!!!! Janice Abarbanel of Naftali is one of my all time favourite bead artists!!! I’m the proud owner of two of her pieces which I wear often (see 2 photos below, back and front of one of the beads I own) and a few cabochons which I’m yet to do anything with…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I was extremely honoured to be asked!!!! Her work is incredible!!! and last week I received my little package with the following cabochons:

Please note, the pictures do not do justice to these beautiful cabs! Although I was sent photos of a few cabs to chose from, and chose these two… once I opened the package and saw them in real life I was amazed by their beauty and richness!!! I specifically chose these because even though I love this colour combination, yellow and grey, yellow is a colour that I tend to avoid using… not sure why… but I like challenging myself, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do so!

I started rummaging my bead stash for complimentary beads so that I could start working on these… I found the perfect seed beads, dark metallic grey, that I had purchased a while back without having any notions of what I would do with them… and they are a perfect match for the cabs… plus I found some yellow beads, bought because I wanted to get over my fear of using yellow and never used them… and started working on the first cab:

I do have to get on with these as the show starts on the 6th June, and I have to send them to the US before that date!!! I hope to finish it by Monday the latest so I can ship them (express) by Tuesday or Wednesday at the very latest!!! Guess what I’ll be doing all weekend? :-)

Please take the time to go and check out Janice's websites, you will not be disappointed!!! and, if unlike me, you are lucky enough to be attending the Bead & Button Show, go and check out her booth and hopefully see this finished piece in real life, as well as Janice's amazing polymer art beads!

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Naftali
Website: http://janiceabarbanel.com/
Blog: http://janiceabarbanel.blogspot.com/

Here are some of my favourite pieces from her Etsy Shop:

I’ll be posting more pictures of my progress with these gorgeous cabochons as I go along, so come back and check out how it will develop!

Happy beading everyone! :-)