Tribal Dance – take 2

Remember my post not long ago about a soutache piece, Tribal Dance, where after I had finished it and taken photos the beads peeled?  Well, I was so upset about it (and still am) and I wanted to make another piece using the same colours… and this is what came out:

Tribal Dance – OOAK Soutache necklace

Although it didn’t come out anything like the first one… I love this one just as much if not even more!!! Really happy with how it turned out and how it looks on!!!

I’m really loving this soutache technique!!! Still learning… and trying out different things with it…. but am definitely loving it!!!

And now… back to the beading table!!! have a wonderful weekend!!!

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!!!

Arearea - Joyousness

I finally finished my new bead embroidered bag Arearea – Joyousness. I honestly never thought it would get finished!!! :-) but each and every single stitch and bead was put there with so much love and enthusiasm, because I absolutely LOVE this bag and LOVE how it turned out!!!!

I created this bag for the Bead Art Originals (BAO) Team’s December challenge. The challenge was to create a piece inspired by one of our favourite famous works of art; a famous painting, sculpture, photograph, etc...

The painting I chose is Paul Gauguin’s Arearea – Joyousness (1892)

This is one of my all-time favourite paintings and I have a postcard of it (that I purchase in some museum about 15-18 years ago) pinned to my note board next to my computer.

I love this painting for so many reasons, the composition, the exotic feel to it and the colours. Both the exoticism and the colours are what inspired me to create this bag.

The bag is made entirely by hand (hand stitched) in chocolate brown genuine suede, and is lined in bright purple Ultrasuede, beadembroidered around three gorgeous MAKUstudio One-of-a-Kind ceramic cabochons (1 heart and 2 discs), beautiful Swarovski crystals in Montana Sapphire, burn orange and Golden Shadow, Swarovski Crystal Copper elongated bicones and loads of multicoloured fresh-water pearls all beadembroidered with Japanese seed beads in light bronze, dark copper, Swarovski Montana Sapphire crystals and Czech copper bugles.

The strap is a gorgeous and sturdy beadwoven spiral rope encrusted with the Swarovski Montana Sapphire crystals and the multicoloured fresh-water pearls.

I have fallen heads over heel in love with this bag!!!! I must make a similar one for myself, as soon as I can find the time!!! :-)

Let me know what you think & wishing all who celebrate it a very happy Hanukkah!!!

Please visit the BAO team blog, http://www.beadartoriginals.blogspot.com between the 16th and 20th of December and vote for your favourite entry by leaving a comment on the blog post.

It Only Took 5 Years….

Around 5 years ago, I went past my local bead shop (which no longer exists), and saw that they were offering beadweaving classes… I enrolled… and the reason I did so was because I wanted to make bags and incorporate some beaded elements on the bags…  that was 5 years ago!!! :-) My beadweaving repertoire has definitely grown since those early days and finally I designed (and made) my first bead-embroidered bag!!!!

It isn’t perfect… and there is definitely room for improvement, especially in the finishing and edging (which I’m not 100% happy with – yes, I’m a perfectionist! :-D)… but it’s good enough for me and I have been using it everyday!!! :-) I do love it!!! it’s the perfect size for walking around with enough room to fit my mobile phone, my keys, a small wallet, some tissues… you know, all the essentials! :-)

It wasn’t easy, and it took me way too long to complete… I think partly due to the fact that I was really worried about screwing up the suede (which isn’t cheap).. it took me about 4 1/2 days to complete, which is way too long, and am hoping that the next one will take about half the time…

I used one of Lisa Peters Art’s gorgeous large cabochons/tiles that I've had in my collection for a while and thought this would be the perfect project for it, and some lovely Swarovski crystals that complemented the colours depicted in the cab.

The beadembroidery was done directly onto the suede, which I’m not so sure I will do again, because when I wanted to unpick, it left holes in the suede (in this case it didn’t matter as the piece grew larger and covered the bits I unpicked, but in the future it might be a problem… I think next time I will bead onto beadbacking and then add it to the suede/leather.

I’m dying to make another one… although am a bit apprehensive about how long it took… well I’m a bit apprehensive as I’m not completely comfortable with how to finish it, so I guess the next one will be experiment number 2! :-)

Let me know what you think… .and if you have any ideas for the edging I would be very grateful to hear them! :-)

Happy beading everyone!!! :-)

Waiting for Autumn

It’s been an incredibly long and hot summer here!!!! Temperatures have rarely gone below the 30 degrees centigrade since around May!!! We had 2 glorious days (10 minutes each day) of rain and a drop of about 5 degrees… making us all think that autumn had finally arrived…. well after the second heat wave this week and temperatures back up to 32+… we are still waiting!!!! The only difference, thankfully is that the humidity is down and the evening are a bit cooler…. but it’s almost the end of October… even I, who hates rain, is hoping for some relief soon!!!

Ethan is back in school and I’m back in my studio (bedroom) beading my little heart out!!!! I made 5 cuffs and am 3/4 of the way through finishing a beadebroidered bag!!!

This is the first of those cuffs – as soon as I saw the gorgeous MAKUstudio raku cab I thought of the autumn that isn’t quite here… the colours are just so gorgeous – gold, bronze, green with flashes of red, and with that bright green leaf in the middle it really depicts the colours of our so-called autumn!

Waiting for Autumn – OOAK Cuff

The MAKUstudio raku cab is surrounded by bronze and green Japanese seed beads and dark brown Swarovski pearls. The cuff is covered with genuine leather on top and chocolate brown Ultrasuede on the inside – I love how this cuff turned out!!! Let me know what you think… in the meantime I’m going to go and have a nice refreshing shower trying to escape the sweltering heat!!!

The Next Generation + BAO Item of the Week

I spent the last 2 months together with Ethan! We’ve had a ball!!! We spent most of our time at my parent’s pool which overlooks the sea… it’s a hard life! ;-)

Ethan has mastered his front crawl… and I’m so proud of him!!! I love swimming and the fact that we can now swim together, rather than me following around the pool having mini heart attacks every time he goes underwater, has been an incredible pleasure!!!

He started showing an interest in photography… another of my hobbies…. so I gave him my old digital camera and he takes it with him everywhere!!! The pool, walking the dogs, the supermarket…. everywhere!!!

Then one day… out of the blue… after I received my loom in the mail… he said: “mummy I want to learn how to bead too! I want to make bracelets and then you can sell them on the intranet (internet ;-D) for me and give me the money so I can buy lots of toys!” :-) my heart melted… the next day we went out looking for a kiddie bead loom… it took me a few days to find it… but we eventually did!

here he is, hard at work making his first bracelet which will be a birthday present for his cousin Shani who just turned 4! :-)

How precious is that!!!!! I couldn’t be prouder!!!! :-)

As for me… I’m busy making the next EBW Challenge “Bollywood”….

and last, but not least… here is my BAO Item of the Week:

Cleopatra – Necklace

Purchase and pay for this necklace between now and the 26th August and receive 5% off + free worldwide shipping!

Visit the BAO blog to see all the specials our talented member are offering this week: http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!!! :-)

Beadembroidered Bag – Work in Progress I

Some of you may have heard me say this before… one of the reasons I was attracted to beadweaving in the first place is because I wanted to make bags and use beadwoven components on the bags…. we are now talking about 5 years ago, and apart from one previous attempt at making one, I’ve kind of put it on my “have-to-get-to-it-one-day” list… and I can promise you one thing… that list is really, REALLY long!!! :-)

About 3 weeks ago I order a beadembroidery bag kit from Ann Benson at BeadsEast.com… This is the first time I ordered a kit! and the reason I ordered it was because I have no idea how to construct a beadembroidered bag… and as I’m unable to attend any of Sherry Serafini’s classes, which is something I would LOVE to do, due to the fact that I don’t live in the US…. :-( I thought getting this kit would hopefully start me off!!! Sadly, the kit still hasn’t arrived and I’ve become extremely impatient so I decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt to make one… No idea how I’m going to put it all together… but I’ll improvise! :-)

Here are some photos (please excuse the quality, they were taken on my new mobile phone) of my work in progress, I had no clear idea of the design, only of the shape of the bag and the fact that I wanted to use some of my Lisa Peters Art’s cabs that I bought in the last couple of years.

Some of the mess as I’m trying to decide on a colour scheme and design (ceramic cabs from Lisa Peters Art):

Paper template of shape + Lisa Peters Art button:

More mess, more beads as I’m slowly picking out complimentary bead for the LPA cabs:

Finally started and glued main cabs (more may be added later, I’m not sure) – There are some German glass cabs, a couple of Swarovski navettes, one LPA heart shaped cab and one LPA button all glued on my favourite beadbacking purchased from Nicole Campanella of Beadwright:

and finally some beading:

I’ve added some textured fabric for contrast:

 

This is as far as I got… it’s a slow process…. I think mainly due to not having a clear idea of what I want to do with it and how to finish it… hopefully I won’t give up!!! Something I’ve been known to do when I’m not 100% happy with something! :-)

I’m hoping that my kit arrives soon, maybe that will inspire me and take away some of this irrational fear… coincidentally, this morning I was browsing Facebook and found the most gorgeous beadembroidered bag… I LOVE it, so I’m going to share it with you!

Bead Embroidered Tapestry Pouch by Susan A. Pierle of beadedartjewelry

I really love this bag, and love all of Susan’s beautiful jewellery… I love her designs, her style and her use of colour… if you are not already familiar with her work, go and check her out:  http://www.beadedartjewelry.blogspot.com/

I don’t think my first beadembroidered bag will come anywhere near as close to this beautiful piece… but it’s my prototype for future bags…  hopefully they will get better! :-) I will post more work in progress as I move along with it… so stay tuned!

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!!! :-)

1001 Nights – EBWC Challenge

The March theme for the EtsyBeadWeavers’ Challenge is Fairy Tales. My entry for this challenge was inspired by a favourite childhood book of collections of fairy tales titled 1001 Nights – also known as Arabian Nights. This book captivated me with its beautiful and exotic stories of faraway lands and its gorgeous illustrations of bejewelled princesses and treasures. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor where some of the stories in this book. This beautiful sparkly necklace was inspired by both those stories and those beautiful illustrations and was created with loads and loads of gorgeous Swarovski crystals and Czech firepolished multicuts glass beads.

1001 Nights – Necklace

Please visit the EBW blog between the 9th and 15th March and vote for your favourite piece!!! http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

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and of course by joining my Followers list on my blog (mid-right hand column) and/or subscribing to the post (bottom right hand column). I apologise for any inconvenience – happy beading everyone!!! :-)

Abstract Fusion

Remember my post a couple of weeks ago about my new adventures in glass fusing?

Well, here is the first beadwork creations made around my first successful fused glass cabochon!!!!

Abstract Fusion – Cuff

I’m so proud of myself!!!! especially as I managed to make it without blowing up my whole kitchen!!! :-)

You have to come back and see the next 2 cabs I made which I used for a necklace and bracelet set! They turned out pretty cool!!!Hopefully I’ll be able to upload them by Sunday….

I also wanted to share a link I was sent today by Cynthia of Beady Girl. She wrote to me a couple of weeks ago asking for permission to use my design idea for these leather/ultrasuede cuffs to teach in one of her classes… of course I said yes :-) so check out her blog and see the beautiful cuff she made!!!
http://beadygirl.blogspot.com/2010/02/inspiration-from-triz-designs.html

Cuffs, cuffs and More Cuffs!!!

Ok… so I really love making these leather cuffs!!!! and I just can’t seem to stop! :-) but why should I? I absolutely love them!

Once again, I hid from the world and beaded up a storm!!!

I made 4 cuffs, 2 necklaces (including the next entry for the EBW March challenge) and a pair of earrings!!!! 2 of the cuffs and 1 necklace using my first reasonably-turned out fused glass cabochons (see previous post)

I’m still working on most of the photos… but here are the first 2 cuffs:

Coral Lagoon – Cuff

Brown and Turquoise Cuff

I absolutely LOVE both of them… and am actually thinking whether or not I should keep the brown one for myself! :-) I’ve got too much jewellery already!!! (if that is even possible) :-)

As soon as I get a chance I’ll start posting the rest of the pieces… but for today…. I’m afraid the day has already gone, and in another half hour I have to go pick up my little monkey from school…. so till the next time… happy beading! :-)

Hiding… beading…

Still hiding in my bedroom from the world…. and of course beading… I hide to bead… and my bedroom had become my favourite place to bead… so yesterday I came to the realization that I’m really comfortable and happy in there and rather than have boxes and boxed of beads all over my bedroom floor I should find a solution… and I did… I got one of those metal trolleys (I used to keep my TV and video tapes on it), and I proceeded to fill all 3 shelves with all my beads and equipment that was spread all over my floors… this way I don’t have to feel guilty if I like beading in my bedroom, because now the beads have found their own place in there without driving me nuts! :-)

So another week locked up in my bedroom… and the result is lots and lots of new pieces… I got so into the beading that I couldn’t even tear myself away for a few minutes to take photos nor to list and blog about the 2 pieces I did mange to photograph…. but I finally had to take a breather so decided to start posting some of the pieces, and here are 2:

Bronze Vines on Turquoise – OOAK Pendant

Flower Power – OOAK Cuff


Both were created around Lisa Peters Art gorgeous ceramic cabochons… I just absolutely love using these… each one is different, unique and beautiful and I love combining them with the leather. Stay tuned, I have one more piece I created with Lisa’s cab as well as another leather cuff using turquoise stone and in a very bright leather… will post hopefully in the next few days… wishing everyone happy beading! :-)

I’m on a Roll….

Exited at the prospect of using another gorgeous art focal bead created by the talented Helen Breil, I set off to work on another cuff…. Here is what I made:

Tigress – Cuff

I was very lucky that the sun came out for a few hours this morning…. the weather report predicted storms and rain for the next 3-4 days… so I was extremely happy to see the sun this morning… also it allowed me to go on my morning walk, which I missed yesterday… walking makes me feel really good and I hate missing my morning walk to the beach.

If you haven’t already done so, go check out her website and see her stunning work! http://www.helenbreil.com

I have one more of these gorgeous Helen Breil focal art beads…. will have to find time to use it! :-) Stay tuned! :-)

First piece for 2010!

I finally finished a whole project!!!! Lately, I’ve been starting a lot of pieces but am finding it really hard to finish them…. sometimes it happens…. but as soon as I saw the gorgeous Helen Breil One-of-a-Kind Focal Art Bead that I ordered about a month ago, I knew I had to start and finish it!!!!… and whilst on the phone to my dear friend Miriam (our daily catching up, bitching and exchanging ideas), she encouraged me to make a cuff out of it…. and it clicked… all of a sudden I could see the finished piece in my mind, and so I set out to bead and not stop till it was finished! :-)

Here it is, my first piece for 2010 and my entry for the EtsyBeadWeavers February “The Ocean” Challenge – it’s been a while since I managed to make anything for one of the challenges, so I’m extremely happy!!! :-)

Sea Urchin – Cuff

Voting for the EBW challenge starts on the 9th February – go vote for your favourite piece! :-)

And check out Helen Breil’s amazing polymer focal art beads, you won’t be disappointed they are stunning! http://www.helenbreil.com

Cleopatra - Necklace

The sun came out!!! The sun came out!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Although I wasn’t happy that my son woke me up at 7 am this morning (last night I begged him to let me sleep), seeing the blue skies and the sun shining definitely made me a bit less angry! :-)

So I got my camera out, fearing that the weather might not hold up, and I took pictures of my latest two necklaces.

Here is the first of those two:

Cleopatra – Necklace

This necklace was inspired by the Cleopatra – Cuff I posted previously. It took me a while ( a few days) to work out what necklace to make for the centrepiece… in fact, I almost gave up on it… well… I’m now glad I didn’t, as I’m pretty pleased with how this piece turned out! The netted soft wavy necklace contrasts with the stiffness of the beadembroidered centrepiece, and I really like the contrast! Let me know what you think?

Now I have to go back and work on the photos and descriptions of the second necklace…. come back tomorrow and check it out! :-)

Picture Framed Take 2

Well the sun has gone!!! Horrible, cold, grey and wet weather has taken it’s place!! Winter makes me miserable, especially when I have to take photos of my beadwork!!! but I had to take these pictures… and seeing that they predict (miserable) rain for the next 2-3 days, I figured I would just get on with it… I have to say the photo didn’t come out as bad as I was expecting… it’s a bit (a lot) yellow… a bit dark… a bit grainy… but as I don’t have any indoor photo equipment I had to do with my ceiling lamp for light… and the result is not too terrible… I think…

Picture Framed 2

I was asked to make another of my original Picture Framed pendant (see photo below) – The beadembroidery is almost identical, the stone is different…both are Picture Jasper but the one below looks more like trees reflected in water, the one above more like trees along a long road… I love these Picture Jasper beads, each one has its own marking… each one telling a different story…. I actually like both of them equally, however in the photo below, the colours are more accurate, in the one above, it’s a bit too yellow (due to the ceiling light) and the jasper is a bit washed out… but it’s the best I could do under the circumstances :-)

Well…. all I want to do is get back into bed and hide under my duvet!!… but I have too many things to do… so the duvet will have to wait till tonight! :-) For now… back to beading! :-)

Truffle Delight

Ok, so my trilogy is no longer a trilogy, as this is already number 4 in the series and am in the middle of a few others…. I obviously had low expectations of how many pieces I could make in this series… but love all of them so will carry on till I burn out! :-)

Here is the latest cuff:

Truffle Delight

and…. as I’m writing this post…. I just received the most wonderful e-mail any etsyan can ever receive…. yes!!! it sold!!! that must be an all time record!!!! I think it only had 4 views before it sold!!!! how exiting is that!!!! well look out for this style in other colours in the near future… I’m now off to pack up the cuff and prepare to post it to its new owner!!!

I’m going to sleep tonight with a HUGE smile on my face!!! till the next time…. :-D

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!!! :-)

Truffle Trilogy - Cuff

I promised you the second piece I made… and here it is!

Truffle Trinity – Cuff

This was definitely inspired by the piece I posted yesterday, as far as the colours go, however design-wise, not so much… and I have quite a few ideas for some variations… am very exited!!! :-) especially as during the last few months I felt so uninspired…

Obviously I’m in a chocolate-kind-of-mood lately! :-)
I beadembroidered the centrepiece for this cuff using exactly the same beads I used for Truffle Temptation but this time I used the Jet Nut Swarovski Rivoli buttons I received from artbeads.com as my focals.

Instead of beading the whole cuff, as I usually do, I decided to use the Ultrasuede as a design feature rather than just to line the inside of the cuff, and I absolutely love the contrast between the dark chocolate Ultrasuede and the shiny beads!! Am very pleased with this piece and as I said have plans to make more in different variations and colour combinations… so stay tuned!!!

Tomorrow I will post the last of the 3 pieces, come back and check it out! :-)

Truffle Temptation

Remember I said, I’ve been quite busy beading three new pieces?…. well here is the first one!!! :-)

I received these amazing Swarovski components from artbeads.com at the beginning of September and I am so ashamed to say that it’s taken me this long to finally create something with them… but finally I did! 

Whilst I laid in bed with the flu this weekend, I had this overwhelming need to use these luscious Swarovski crystal components! I ordered an Octagonal Fancy,  a Fancy Pear and some Rivoli buttons, all in Jet Nut, a colour that I was not familiar with, but I thought would be nice to try…. well, the colour is just so gorgeous!!!! A deep, rich dark chocolate brown almost verging on black… just yummy!!! probably why I wanted to use these when I was sick, as chocolate is by far my favourite comfort food and I guess beading with this beautiful colour was what I needed! (I was too sick to go out and get chocolate ;-D)

Truffle Temptation Necklace

So I bead-embroidered around the Octagonal and the Pear shape Swarovski using these beautiful bronze-lined crystal Toho seed beads, and some yummy,  luscious  deep brown Swarovski pearls.  That was the easy part… the hardest part was trying to find the right necklace for this piece… that took me about two days of going through every magazine and book I have on beadwork before I decided to go with a lovely chevron stitch using the same Swarovski pearls but in a tiny 3mm… and I’m happy to say those two days of research surely paid off, as I’m really happy with how this piece turned out!!!

For the clasp I used one of the Rivoli buttons and then made a peyote stitched loop to accommodate the button.

As I said I’m really pleased with how this piece turned out, but let me know what you think! :-)

And if you are looking for Swarovski products, check out the extensive range  artbeads.com has.  Not only do they provide a great selection at great prices but they also offer amazing customer service, they are a pleasure to do business with!!!! Here are some links to their Swarovski products:

Swarovski crystal beads: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-crystal-beads.html

Swarovski rhinestones: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-flatbacks-rhinestones.html

Swarovski pendants: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-crystal-pendants.html

Yesterday, I received this lovely letter from them which included a card offering 10% discount.  They informed me that I could share this discount code with friends, family and of course my blog readers! :-) Did I not say they are great?!?! :-)

So here is the discount code: SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424
There is no minimum order and it is valid until 31st December 2009
Free shipping to the U.S. and only $1 to Canada!
Check them out!!! I know I will be definitely placing an order very soon!!! :-)

To see what I made with the rest of the Rivoli buttons, come back tomorrow!!!

Wishing everyone a great beady day!!!! :-)