Tribal Dance… gone wrong!

This post is not what I was expecting to write today…. in fact, completely the opposite.  I was going to write all about my new soutache necklace and how it took me two and a half weeks to make it… how the design developed… how I felt as though I was giving birth throughout the process… and the excitement of having given birth to this piece… and how happy I was with how it turned out.

Well this morning as the sun came out I took photos of my new piece… worked on them… and was just about to write a description for my listing… when I noticed some of the turquoise beads peeling!?!?  At first I thought it was a bit of fluff… so i tried to wipe them gently with my fingers…. and then the realization that two and a half weeks of intensive labour had just gone down the toilet!!!! Upset???? that would be the understatement of the year!!!! I’m literally fuming!!!!  I guess my only comfort is that they peeled before it was sold and shipped… I would have been mortified to have sold a piece and found out that the colour of the beads had peeled off after the customer had received it!!!

So here is the necklace (prior peeling):

 

I was so, SO pleased with it…. and here is a close up of the part that started to peel (see turquoise rectangular beads, bottom 2 have peeled to white):

I guess what I will do is peel off the rest of the turquoise beads, so that they are all white and keep this piece for myself :-)  at least I’ll get to use the necklace… and it will look great on me this summer :-)  as for those pesky turquoise beads…. the dustbin seems like an appropriate place for them!!!!

as for me…. I’m calling it a day and am going to hide under my duvet!!!

Tudor Splendour

I was looking in my jewellery case today and realized that I forgot to post a necklace and bracelet I made sometimes in April or May. I made it straight after the Purple Rain necklace and had to wait a long time to take photos of it, because the light was really bad… but I did take photos, a few months ago, I just completely forgot to post them!!! Where is my head??? Frying in this incredibly hot and humid weather I guess! :-)

No more procrastinating!!! Here are the necklace and bracelet:

Tudor Splendour – Necklace

Tudor Splendour – Bracelet

Both were beadwoven in Right Angle Weave (RAW) with loads of gorgeous dark brown Swarovski pearls and embellished with bronze and orange Japanese seed beads and orange Swarovski crystals… I love working with Swarovski pearls!!! I really do!!! They just feel and look so good!!!

Time for bed now… the weekend is over here and tomorrow is another day… Sunday is a working day in Israel… I miss having a 2 day weekend!! but to all of you who have Sunday off…. enjoy the rest of your weekend!!! :-)

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! :-)

La primavera - Spring

I was so excited when Artbeads contacted me as part of the blogging program and told me that this time the theme was “Spring” as spring is my favourite time and I could chose anything from their incredibly large selection of products that reflected my own individual interpretation of Spring for their ‘The Beauty of Spring’ theme.

So I chose the following: Light green Swarovski pearls in 4 different sizes and Swarovski XILION Gold-Plated Setting with 2-Holes in Light Amethyst and this is what I made adding some Japanese gold and gilt-line opal lilac seed beads and a few light amethyst Swarovski crystals.

This is what I made!

La Primavera – Necklace

Luckily, I have a new flatmate! :-) I say luckily because I was able to model the necklace on her neck… as this necklace looks so much better on the neck than off! so thank you Jai Lynn for lending me your neck! :-)

I’ve been super-busy beading up a storm this last week and have since made a complimentary bracelet to this necklace, another necklace and 2 more bracelets… need to stop beading and start taking pictures so that I can show you! :-) hopefully in the next few days and soon after that I will post them!

In the meantime… happy beading everyone and I hope your are all enjoying the spring!!! :-) and don’t forget to check out www.artbeads.com

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Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all the components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

Purple Rain

Some of your may know that I belong to the ArtBeads.com blogging program. A while back I received some gorgeous Cubic Zirconia products from them. I’m ashamed to say (and apologise profusely) that it’s taken me this long to create something with the products they sent me. The reason why is… I chose items that were completely out of my comfort zone, both in terms of material, shape and colour. When choosing, I usually try to pick items that I wouldn’t usually chose for myself… to try something new and different and to challenge myself.

This is what I received… way back in December:

From left to right:

1. 9x36mm Light Amethyst CZ Faceted Flat Teardrop Pendant
http://www.artbeads.com/cz-lam-td36.html

2. 12x18mm Light Amethyst CZ Faceted Fan Pendant
http://www.artbeads.com/cz-lam-fn18.html

3. 20x30mm CZ Faceted Oval Drop - Light Amethyst
http://www.artbeads.com/cz-lam-ov30.html

The Teardrop Pendants were a no brainer! They would make perfect earrings!!! And I knew I would use the Oval Drop as a centrepiece for a necklace…. but the Fan Pendant…. that left me really baffled! The shape was quite bulky and a bit awkward… for some reason I was expecting it to be a bit flatter… so rather than dwell on what I didn’t know how to use, I started beadweaving around the Oval Drop. I wanted to show the beauty and transparency of the Cubic Zirconia by bezalelling around it and had this image in my head of creating something very graphic and modern…. but when i finished… I wasn’t so happy with the results, so I put it aside and went on to other thing… finally last week I decided it was time once again to revisit the started piece… well I really hated it, so I unpicked it and decided to treat the pendant as though it was a cabochon (yes, back to my comfort zone!). That was the best decision I made!!! and I was able to realize what I had envisioned… but best of all I even found use for the Fan-shaped pendant that had been the cause of my creative block! :-) and this is what I made:

Purple Rain – OOAK Necklace

I beadembroidered around the pendant with some beautiful silver-lined AB purple Japanese seed beads that I bought a really long time ago, but had no idea what to do with them, and my favourite beads, Swarovski pearls in dark purple. Once the centrepiece was finished, I had no doubt that using the pearls in lots of different sizes in a Right Angle Weave would work perfectly with it!!! Isn’t it great when you finally get it together using materials you had no idea what to do with! I love how this piece turned out!!! It’s pretty, it’s elegant, it’s perfect!!! :-)

The earrings were easy once the necklace was finished:

Purple Rain – Earrings

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on a bracelet to match… well I’ve been sick all week and just didn’t feel like beading… or doing anything else for that matter… so the bracelet is still a work in progress… hopefully I will finish it over the weekend… in the meantime go and check out all the wonderful Cubic Zirconia products that ArtBeads have on offer – they come in so many lovely colours and they are really nice to work with!
http://www.artbeads.com/cubic-zirconia-jewelry-beads.html

Now I’m going back to bed to nurse this stinking cold!!!

Wishing everyone happy beading!!! :-)

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Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all Cubic Zirconia components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

Chanterelle Necklace

Here is the third piece I made… although I have since finished another one, and started a new one… all those months of not much or very little beading, I’m sure making up for it now… I think I have about 4 projects on the go at the moment… but as of tomorrow I really need to concentrate on finishing my sister’s necklace and bracelet!!! :-)

Chanterelle Necklace

The centrepiece was beadembroidered around 2 topaz Swarovski Rivoli crystals and the necklace was beadwoven in embellished Right Angle Weave.

In the next couple of days I will post the next piece I finished and if I have time hopefully a matching necklace… so come back and check them out!!! :-)

Night Sunset Bracelt

Here it is… as promised… my new bracelet! :-)

The first beaweaving technique I ever learnt was Right Angle Weave (RAW). I love this stitch!!!! it’s so versatile! You can use it flat, you can build on it, you can make 3-dimensional shapes out of it… it’s amazing!!! In an effort to try RAW out , I spent huge amounts of time making different designs… this one was one of my first. As you saw yesterday, I cleared up my workspace and in doing so I found one of my first bracelets… covered in dust at the bottom of a box… I had forgotten all about it, and realized that I really like it, so I decided to make another one, using different colours… This is the result:

Night Sunset Bracelet

I haven’t stopped wearing it since I made it! I really love it!!! The pictures don’t do the richness of the colours justice… The orange Swarovski sparkles beautifully in contrast to the black matt firepolished bead and turquoise matt Swarovski crystals!

If you are interested in me making one for you, check out my shop for details! :-)

Indian summer – etsyBeadWeavers September Challenge

Voting has started at the EstyBeadWeaver’s blog!!!! Go and vote for your favourite!!!

Some stunning entries were submitted for the September “Indian Summer” Challenge.

My entry for this challenge is:

Indian Summer Nights, # 1 on the list above

So don’t put it off!!! Go and vote for your favourite!!!
Voting ends 15th September!!!

http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

Black Beauty – All mine!!! :-)

This is the piece I refuse to part with that I wrote about in the last post:

Black Beauty was created by bead-embroidering around a black Swarovski pear-shaped crystal (top) and a black agate pendant (bottom) using gold lined black diamond Japanese seed bead. The chain is beadwoven in RAW and embellished with Czech firepolished black beads.

This piece is so me, so I've decided to keep it for myself and wear it at my nephew's bar mitzvah in November! :-) and it’s not that I prefer this one over the Turquoise Shield (they are both so different) it’s just that I will get much more wear out of this one… As soon as I made it I knew I couldn’t part with it… and I even found a dress for it!!! The other day I was at my local shopping centre and I went into my favourite shop just to browse… and at the back…. in the sales rack…. the perfect dress!!! and in my size!!! and at 50% off!!! I wasn’t looking for an outfit yet, I would have left it till October/November… but how could I resist!!! So now I’m all set. Can’t wait for the bar mitzvah to show it off!!! and to party!!!! :-)

Indian Summer Nights

Second post of the day!!! I’m on a roll!!!… I was going to show a piece that I made a few days ago…. but the photos were abysmal… so I’ll have to take some more another day… and instead I’m posting my next EBW entry… not the one for which voting starts today… but the one for September… am so on top of things, that I managed to finish it even before voting has started on the EBW blog for August!!!

As soon as I saw the theme for September, Indian Summer Dreams, I knew exactly what beads and colours I wanted to use and got on with it!!! am so happy with how this turned out… you could actually say that I have completely and utterly fallen in love with it!!! I spent hours whilst making it just staring at it… I may have lost some marble! :-) and probably should venture into the outside world more often…. but instead I have fallen for an inanimate object! :-) and here is the object of my affection! :-)

Indian Summer Nights

I will post all the EBW August detail tomorrow, as well at the BAO Items of the Week… but in the meantime, if you would like to take a preview look at this month’s entries, please visit http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ voting ends 15th August.

Neptune’s Bride

I finally managed to photograph my new piece and entry for the EtsyBeadWeavers July Challenge “Here Comes the Bride…”

I say photograph, although I’m really not happy with how the photos turned out… they lack the sparkle and colour intensity of the actual piece… but for some reason I found it really difficult to photograph…. strange how some colours and pieces are harder to photograph than others…

I was inspired to create this piece as soon as I read the challenge theme chosen by Cielo Design, winner of the May Challenge and a dear friend!

I don’t think I ever finished a piece for any of the challenges as early as I did this one! But as I’m going on holiday at the end of June for a few weeks, I was worried I wouldn’t get it done in time, and am glad I did! :-)

Neptune’s Bride was inspired by the colours of the sea, I envisioned a mermaid and attempted to design a bridal piece that was classic in its design while at the same time using non-traditional colours. In Roman mythology Neptune was the god of water and the sea. This piece was designed for his bride.

I really love how this piece turned out!!! but what I’m most proud of is the necklace band (see left photo), beadwoven in Right Angle Weave, which is one of the most versatile stitches and the first beadweaving techniques I learnt, and embellished with tiny Japanese cubes. You really need to concentrate on this stitch when using it, as the direction changes continuously and it’s so easy to get lost. So not the quickest of stitches but by far one of my favourites! :-) and once embellished, one of the prettiest!

In the next few days I will post another piece I’ve been working on, but in the meantime…. have a great weekend!!!! :-)

Red.... amongst so much grey....

What a miserable day it turned out to be..... grey, rainy, cold, miserable.... thankfully it started off beautifully, with blue, clear, sunny skies, and was therefore able to take some decent shots of my 3rd and last piece for the Etsy Beadweavers Red Challenge (Go and vote! :-D)

I finished it late last night.... this challenge has really inspired me.... and although this bangle was inspired by a previous bangle I made ("Funky Lifesaver") it is quite different both in design and in execution, yet it is based on the same principle of tubular RAW (Right Angle Weave) and embellishment. They take a bit of concentrating, but I love making these bangles.... very meditative and therapeutical.... you constantly have to think of which way to turn, but at the same time it has its own momentum.... it's not my first stitch of choice when I make a piece, because I know I need to be 100 % mentally there... no distractions, no interruptions... but once I start a project, I get really into it and love doing it!!!...

and here it is:

Royal Flash Bangle

This tubular Right Angle Weave (RAW) bangle is warm, luxurious, rich, elegant and flash, it reminds me of the Queen’s jewels. Stitched using "antique-gold", garnet red and frosted red Czech seed beads, embellished with tiny pearl seed beads and purple, green and blue Swarovsky crystals. Looks amazing with a black evening dress and just as great with jeans.... Funky chic!

I don't think the picture does the actual bangle justice... it's so much more... hmmm... delicious, in real life.... much deeper colours, especially the reds.... but it's the best I could do.... but I am definitely improving! :-)

Photography by Patrizia Tager

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Don't forget, the voting starts soon!!! :-)

Please visit http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ from the 7th January and view all the wonderful entries at the EBW’s blog and vote for your favourite piece from a selection of very talented bead weavers.