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!!!

Leather Cuffs – Special Offer

I’m having a pre-holiday SALE on all my bead embroidered leather cuffs.

From today till the 27th December 2011 I’m offering 20% off all leather cuffs in my shop!

   

  

 

In addition…. exclusive to my blog readers… enter code WORLDFREESHIP at checkout to receive free worldwide shipping on ANY item in my shop!!!

This offer expires on the 27th December 2011!

For the Leather Cuffs SALE, please see: http://www.etsy.com/shop/triz?section_id=7653830

For other SALE items also check out: http://www.etsy.com/shop/triz?section_id=5361311

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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Primeval Forest - Collar

A new piece!!!  I recently bought some gorgeous cabochons from MAKUstudio and as always, spent a rather long time ogling over them before actually doing anything with them.  So a couple of weeks ago, as I already had all my copper beads out on my worktable, I decided to beadembroider one of Maku’s beautiful creations…. and then I got stuck and became very uninspired (not with the cabochon, just in general) … but after a few weeks of no ideas coming into my head,  I got inspired once again and found the perfect necklace for this piece – here it is:

Primeval Forest – Collar

I picked all the colours that I could see in the cabochon and made this lovely herringbone-stitched collar, finished off with a pretty complementary square-stitched toggle and peyote loop.  

 

 

  I love the colours!!!! this looks so good on, especially as I’m quite tanned now! :-)

Go and check out MAKUstudio for some more gorgeous cabochons and jewellery!

BAO Item of the Week

Here are this week's items from the BeadArtOriginals, go and check them out and see what specials are attached to each one!!!

My item this week is:

Black and Pearl Pendant

Purchase and pay for this item between now and 22nd March and receive 10% off + free shipping.

Make sure you visit http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/ to see all the gorgeous items and the offers attached to them!

and now I'm off to bed! wishing everyone a goodnight! :-)

BAO Item of the Week

Here are this week's items from the BAO.

My item this week is:

Black Panther Bracelet

Purchase and pay for this item between now and 22nd February and receive 5% off + free shipping to anywhere in the world! :-)

Please visit the BAO and check out all the amazing bead artists that belong to this group and see what specials are being offered this week:
http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

when things go pear-shaped....

A few days ago I showed a sneak preview of a piece I've been working on.... well... that one was scrapped... and this one is the next version:

but wasn't happy with this one either, so I cut it up and decided to keep Lisa Peters' gorgeous cabochon as a pendant... so cut the sides off.... and started enlarging the centrepiece... finished it... and decided that I didn't like it on its own... so started making some side panels for it!!! Ok, so I'm a bit lost... I think it's because I feel so pressurized to do this piece justice and just can't seem to find my way :-)

so here is the latest development:

I'm relatively happy with the centrepiece! I think the side bits are going ok :-) but still, am not sure where they are going... am not sure if I'm going to fringe, embellish, etc. ... I just hope that I don't cut it up again!!! so much wasted beading time!!! :-)

They say three times' a charm!!! lets hope so!! :-)

Got to take my little monkey to the doctor, he's developed a rash all over his body and face, I'm guessing it's one of those kiddie diseases... so am going to stop beading for the day... but come back in a few days time to see where this piece takes me... and hopefully it will be somewhere :-) blood and sweat I say :-)

New Piece (sneak preview) + BAO Items of the Week

Yesterday I started working on a new bead-embroidered piece using one of Lisa Peters' gorgeous cabochons.  I've had this beautiful piece for a while, but was a bit intimidated using it, for fear of not doing it justice....  it's soooo gorgeous!!! :-)

I figured, if I don't like the piece I can always cut it up and try again... so I brave it and started it, and here is how far I  got.  The cabochon is rather large and was thinking of using it on its own... but why do things simply, so I challenged myself to make a collar with it... obviously inspired by the swirls in the cabochon I started beading swirls around some tiny Swarovski flat-back crystals... so far I'm really happy with the result and can't wait to get back to beading it!!!! let's see how it develops, as right now I have almost no idea! :-)

 

And here are this week's BAO's gorgeous Items of the Week:

Silly me, forgot that I had already featured this item a few weeks ago... but never mind, in case you missed it then, here is your chance to purchase my Turquoise Delight Cuff  between now and the 15th February with 5% off + free shipping to anywhere in the world!!! :-)

 

 

Please visit the BAO and check out all the amazing bead artists that belong to this group and be sure to check out the Items of the Week and see what specials are being offered this week:
http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Come back soon and see how my new bead-embroidered piece develops!!! for now, I'm off to my very first piano lesson!!! should be fun! :-)

BAO Items of the Week

Another great selection from the BeadArtOriginals!!!!

My item this week is: Spring Bride Bracelet

Purchase and pay for this bracelet between now and 8th February and receive 5%off + free shipping!!!

Go and check out the other amazing items and see what special offers are attached to them this week only! http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Tropical Fever

As I mentioned a few days ago I had a few more of those little flowers beaded and I was asked to make a pair of earrings to complement the Tropical Chic Choker. Here they are, the earrings and a new choker:

I actually really enjoy making these little flowers, and with the amazing selection of Delica colours available, the possibilities are endless... will definitely be making more of these!!! :-)

Tropical Chic

My friends and family have been going on at me to make smaller jewellery... this is not and easy thing for me to do... although I'm not tall (5' 5") I have HUGE shoulders (years of swimming + genetics), I've always battled with my weight, so little tiny delicate pieces sort of get lost on me and.... I simply like big jewellery!!!! :-)
But I listened to my friends and decided to attempt creating smaller pieces.... so this weekend... while nursing yet another cold (have I mentioned my dislike for winter) I sat on my bed and made lots of little flowers in lots of different bright colours in an attempt to create something with them that was smaller than my usual.... and here are the results of those efforts :-)

Both necklaces are made with the same flowers. The flowers were brick-stitched using Delica and Czech seed beads around Swarovski crystal pearls. The green/fuchsia flower on the right is a variation of the other flowers, I just added some Swarovski fuchsia crystals on the outside (see, it's so hard for me to just stop, it needs to grow! :-D). ... Both necklaces were made with gold and nickel plated base metal chokers that I bought from my favourite bead supplier Bogal Ltd. These chokers are so cool! you can undo the bobble at the top and bead them, which is exactly what I did... funny thing I didn't know you could do that when I bought them, but am so glad I discovered that to be a possibility! :-)

I have about 4 more flowers that are screaming to be made up into something, I see more variations of this necklace coming up.... stay tuned! :-)

Oh yes, and almost forgot.... the left one with the blue flowers is my entry for the Tropical Holiday January/February EtsyBeadweaver Challenge.... voting starts on the 9th February... I will post more details nearer the time...

In the meantime... let me know what you think... are you a big or small jewellery person?

Happy beading everyone!!! :-)

BAO Item of the Week + Front Page

Feeling a bit better today... but still have a migraine... but not as bad as yesterday :-)

Here are this week's Items of the Week from the BAO - visit the blog and find out what offers are attached to these items for this week only!

My item this week is Picture Framed - Pendant
Purchase and pay for this item between now and the 18th January and receive 5% off + FREE shipping to anywhere in the world!

And.... a few days ago, apparently I made it to the Etsy Front Page!!! yeahhhh! of course I missed it! :-) but I was sent this screen shot:

 

Wall Flower Bracelet

Thank you so much to jibbyandjuna for getting me to the front page!!! Please take the time to visit their shop and check out their beautiful original pieces - see example below:

 

Yellow Blossoms Ring by jibbyandjuna