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!!!

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!!! :-)

Retro Drop Necklace

Here is the last of the Retro series… I say last but I mean last for now, as I absolutely love this colour combination and an sure I will make some more pieces… but these are the last I made up to now :-)

This necklace, or rather the pendant I used to make this necklace, was actually the inspiration for all of the Retro pieces. I bought some gorgeous pendants and beads from Golem Design Studio, which I fell in love with and this is the first piece I made using one of their ceramics.

Retro Drop - Necklace

I also made this cuff as part of the series, but ended up giving it to my mum… my parents are visiting from London and she really liked the Retro Flower – Cuff but unfortunately for her (and fortunately for me) the cuff sold the day after she saw it, so I gave her this one instead… I think she like it, she was wearing it today at lunch :-)

In case you missed the previous posts of the Retro pieces, here are the links:
Retro Flowers
Retro Chic

As I said, I really like the colour combination, so I’m sure I’ll be making some more eventually, especially as I just received some more pendants from Golem Design Studio! :-) Check them out, they do really beautiful stoneware beads and I can promise you the quality is superb!!!

and just a reminder, today is the last day for voting at the BAO September Challenge, so visit the post and leave a comment saying which piece is your favourite and enter your chance to win a fabulous prize!!!

Retro Flowers

It’s been a strange day today… I spent most of the day feeling incredibly lethargic and spent most of the day sleeping… something I rarely do… I usually have the opposite problem and I average about 4 hours of sleep per night… I guess today was my catch-up day! :-) so I woke up in the late afternoon feeling extremely rested and energized and managed to work on two more pieces from my “Retro” Collection… and here they are:

Retro Flower – Necklace

and

Retro Flower – Cuff

If you missed my earlier pieces from the “Retro” Collection you can find them here, and as I’m feeling completely awake now… I think I may work on the last two pieces…. hopefully I will post them in the next couple of days… in the meantime…. let me know what you think! :-)

Happy beading everyone!!! :-)

Retro Chic – New Collection!

It all started with me buying some new beads from 2 new artists (new to me) who make up the team of Golem Design Studio. I became aware of these artist through their FaceBook page and I “had” to go and check out their website! and I “had” to buy some pieces to try out! :-)

So I received my package from them and it contained some gorgeous black and cream (ivory) and red ceramic beads and a black and ivory pear-shaped ceramic pendant… so I took all my cram, black and red beads and started beading! :-)

The beads are gorgeous, rustic yet modern, retro and chic so I wanted to create a piece that reflected those qualities and this is what I came up with:

Retro Chic – Necklace

and

Retro Chic – Cuff

These were my first 2 pieces and as you can see they don’t use any of the beads… funny that, how I got so inspired by some beads, yet I didn’t use them… I did use the black and ivory pendant for a necklace, but you’ll have to wait till next time to see it… I still have to work on the photos and it’s time for bed now! :-)

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

Bead Art Originals Items of the Week

 

I haven't been able to post all week, mainly because I've been working on my Frozen Waters Neckpiece and as of this morning, even though the neckpiece isn't finished, I started a pair of earrings... I hope by the end of the week I'll have both posted, but in the meantime.... Here are this week's items from the Bead Art Originals - http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

My item this week is:
Wall Flower Choker

Purchase and pay for this gorgeous choker between now and 14th December and receive 5% off + free shipping to anywhere in the world! :-)

Midsummer Night's Dream

 

Midsummer Night's Dream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been working on this piece on and off for a while now... well, since EBW announced the July Challenge "A Midsummer Night's Dream".... and since then all I could envision was these flowers in these exact colours.... so it had to be made! :-)  and I'm really pleased with the result!!! :-D

I used these colours because they remind me of my teenage summer nights on holiday, where the grass looked really green and the skies were so dark they looked purple illuminated by bright lights from the stars in the sky. And because of the darkness the flowers change colour into a strange but wonderful world of greens and purples and lights.... My interpretation of an idyllic memory of how it was....

Six beautiful brick stitched flowers bead woven with freshwater pearls, purple and green fire polished Czech glass beads and Czech seed beads, and pale yellow Swarovski crystals appear to grow out from an ivory/cream brick stitched curved band and joined on the other side by 6 strands of seed beads leading to the bead woven complementary toggle and loop closure.

The largest flower measures 1 ½” (c. 4 cm) in diameter and the smallest 1” (2.54 cm). The band of flowers from the top of the first flower to the bottom of the last one measures 4 ¾” (12 cm). The neckline (inside) measures c. 19” (c. 48 cm).

One Of A Kind - OOAK

************************************************************

Please go and visit the EtsyBeadweavers’ blog from the 7th of July and vote for your favourite piece from a selection of incredible beadwork.

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

Voting only lasts 7 days, so don’t put it off! :-)