Beauty of Spring Necklace

Artbeads declared February and March as their months of ‘The Beauty of Spring‘ for their blogger community. I was asked to design my jewelry or creation with my own individual interpretation of Spring and here is the necklace I created. Leaves always make me think of spring because that is the time that they appear, signalling that summer is on it's way. I found these gorgeous copper plated ivy leaves by searching "leaves" on Artbeads. They inspired me to design this necklace. I received three leaves and each of them is unique and beautiful for a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry. The other two leaves will be finished as earrings to match the necklace.



The small round copper "beads" in the spiral twist neck piece are actually 3mm copper Swarovski crystal faux pearls. I've been working with their pearls for a year now and I absolutely love them for their beautiful sheen, consistent size and colour. I believe that they give my jewelry a "step up" in elegance.



The necklace also features Opaque-Lustered Turquoise Toho seed beads. They were chosen for their colour and the consistency of size. The central core of the spiral is size 11/0 Triangle Toho beads. I like to work with triangle beads where I will need to pass a thread through many times. They also add interesting texture to the piece. These quality are my favourites to work with.

All of the supplies in this necklace were given to me by Artbeads.com in return for a review of the product.

Gold Bling

These gorgeous gold Swarovski pearls were the inspiration for this necklace. The first piece of the set that was completed was the smaller of the two circles in the pendant. My granddaughter told me that it was too large for earrings so I decided that it would be a pendant. Then I added the larger circle of the pendant.



The Russian spiral rope contains pearly seed beads and is closed with a Swarovski button and loop. The sparkle and flash of the pendant were to be dominant so the rope needed to take a back seat to it.



Finally, the matching earrings were added. When I look at the set, I envision it worn with a full length strapless gown.



Oh and in between working this set, I managed to complete two more pairs of baby booties. They are available for sale in my Etsy Store!

Just Done & Sold

I've been working on this necklace for a while and a friend saw it while it was in progress. She said it would be a perfect birthday gift for her daughter. The necklace portion includes fresh water pearls that I picked up while on my road trip this past summer along with the gold charlotte beads. The pendant is different on both sides and can be removed from the necklace giving it lots of versatility for ways to wear it.

Finally Finished Necklace

This necklace was originally mentioned here and I'm very happy to say that it's finally finished. Before today, I had the stone bezeled and had part of the rope done and the finishing touches done today took me all day. I now have a lot more respect for beaders that do a full fringe on their designs. It's very time consuming.





This necklace is available for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Quartz Crystal Necklace

One of the design techniques I seem to use often is Serendipity. This necklace is a result of that technique. The quartz stone had been in my collection of quite a while. I knew that I wanted it as a pendant and prepared it for that role by stitching it into a netted bezel. Then it hit the "projects in progress" pile. The rope it is a Russian spiral and was actually an experiment using a mixed bag of pink beads. When I saw the two pieces in close proximity in my heap of partly completed projects I pulled them out and set them aside to be finished and finally got to it today. The result is even better than I imagined!







This necklace is for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Life, the Universe and Everything...

This is the title in the "trilogy" by Douglas Adams known as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. It's also a good way to describe what's going on with me. I'm moving. From a two bedroom townhouse to a three bedroom house on 1/4 acre lot. Sounds pretty simple but my move entails a 150 mile drive down a two lane highway from the town of 2500 that I'm in (on the ocean - see photos here), to a ferry landing. When I get there, I'll sail across the ocean from Vancouver Island to a somewhat larger community (15,000) on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. The ferry trip takes 1 hour, 35 minutes. Anyway, I'll be scarce online for a few days while I wait for my phone and internet connection to be hooked up.

So these are the last pieces of beadwork I'll be showing for a while. The neck piece on both is Russian Spiral and I made them a while ago. I recently pulled them out of the store they were in, to bring them home and add pendants.

The blue triangle piece below is a version of another two necklaces I'd made previously. Unfortunately I wasn't able to photograph the sparkle of the Swarovski crystal roundells. The piece above is a first try at one way to add a bevel to a stone. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I have more ideas for ways to expand on the design.

Commission Finished

When I completed the black and silver commission and delivered it to my friend, she mentioned a "beaded fairy" that her granddaughter had made that she'd like turned into a necklace. When she got the "fairy" to me, I told her I thought it is a mermaid. Anyway, based on that idea, I wanted a neckpiece for it that felt...waterish. I delivered the piece today and she told me that she may give it back to the granddaughter as a graduation gift this year. Sounds like a great idea to me.



I also made this pair of earrings that I thought she might like to have. She decided not to take them so they may end up on Etsy.

Variation on Scalloped Triangle Pendant on Spiral Rope

I really loved the silver and black version of this but I was thinking that not everyone prefers silver jewelry to gold as I do so I decided to make the necklace again using gold in place of silver. The rope is slightly different as is the triangle. Might just be me, but I still prefer the silver one!

Scalloped Triangle Pendant on Spiral Rope

Because I really enjoy beading the spiral rope stitch, I've made another necklace, this one with a triangle pendant.  The rope has been done for a week or more and I was uninspired about making a pendant for it.  Last night I began to visualize a triangle pendant that I'd intended to embellish.  I had the triangle mostly done before I went to bed last night and got up this morning, ready to complete it and get started on the embellishment.  The first three or four things I tried I pulled out before I finally stumbled upon using the rondelles and creating a scallop to encase them.  I'm very happy with the result.  As always, the pendant can be removed to wear the rope alone.  This piece is listed for sale in my Etsy shop with more views of the piece.

Black and Silver Necklace

This necklace and pendant were created while I was away. The last detail for completion had to wait until I got home so this morning I added the Swarovski crystals to the ends of the toggle closure. The necklace is Russian spiral and the pendant has a netting stitch base that was then embellished with rondelles, bugle beads and seed beads all in black and silver. The technique was shown to me by my friend who has completed several bracelets this way.



The pendant can be removed so that the necklace can be worn alone for added versatility.

More Russian Spirals

The first Russian spiral I made went very well. No hitches at all. Then I tried again about six times, each attempt ended with being unbeaded about five times until I gave up and ripped the whole thing out. Finally, I sat down with the book one more time and closely followed the directions. And...found where I'd been making the error. The stitch starts with loading on 2 size 11 beads and one size 8, three times and forming a circle. From that point, the beads are loaded the reverse, one size 8 followed by two size 11s. The mistake I'd been making was loading the order of the base round!

Anyway, having finally gotten it figured out, I made the following two pieces with beads in my stash. The gold one is actually 8's and 10's.



This one is made with size 11 triangles (the silver beads) and size 11 seed beads in three different shades of blue. The colour goes from dark to light and back to dark again. I love how it turned out.



Now if I could just decide on what the pendant will be for them. In the meantime, I think I'll start another spiral. I have to...I just received another new order of beads!!

Pendant For The Russian Spiral

A while ago I purchased some natural beads that are called mother of pearl blister pearls. They are absolutely beautiful and unique and I've been anxious to find ways to use them. It seemed to me that they'd make a stunning addition to the Russian Spiral necklace I made and I'm so pleased with the result. The piece sits high on the chest, more or less right between and just below the collarbone. And the pendant can be removed so that the neck piece can still be worn alone. It's so much fun to create something like this that's more versatile.

Three Day Pendant Necklace

The three day pendant necklace is so named for obvious reasons.  It's taken me three days to complete it.  It's labour intensive, yes, but certainly not three days worth.  I needed to take it easy on my neck.  Anyway, I was absolutely driven to make it happen.  It was in my head and I had gotten some new beads in and knew I wanted to do something in navy and copper.  And I'd also been wanting to make a pendant size triangle.  

Though the photos are showing the colours pretty accurately, the sparkle is not revealed.  In the evening under lowered light, it catches and reflects the light.  In other words, it sparkles.

Not to be forgotten that today is 9/11 and I would be remiss to not mention that I too remember that day and the shocking events, for I have a son who is a volunteer fire fighter.  I gratefully remember the heroes of 9/11.

Silver & Gold Necklace

This necklace was actually started a while ago but I hadn't come up with a pendant for it. I finally managed to find this gorgeous piece of glass and made a spiral rope loop to hang it from the spiral rope neck piece. It was back here that I first posted it, with the earring.





Right now I'm working on a bracelet to match this necklace which is just a couple of posts down. It sold and the bracelet was requested by the purchaser. Of course, I'm more than happy to make it!

Glass Leaf Pendant Necklace and...

I've gotten over my inspiration block and completed a couple of new pieces. The first one was inspired when I was looking through my supplies. I'd forgotten that I had the glass leaf and when I found it, POOF - inspiration! Taking my cue from the colours in the leaf, I created a princess length spiral rope neck piece in two shades of blue beads and added gold triangle beads to pick up on the gold in the leaf. The leaf pendant can be removed so that the necklace can stand alone.



The second piece was inspired by the turquoise chips. Turquoise is my favourite stone and I thought I'd use them in a bracelet for myself. Again, using the spiral rope stitch, I included the turquoise chips in the center of the bracelet.

It's Time To Vote

This month I'm participating in the Etsy BeadWeavers' August Challenge with the theme "Art Deco". The piece that I've entered is here and is number 17 in the mosaic below.

I'd love it if you voted for me, but no matter who you choose to vote for, please visit the Etsy BeadWeavers' Blog and VOTE!!

Inspiration Piece Finished

The piece that was inspired by the photo (below a couple of posts) is finally finished. It's not exactly what I had in mind but I had "technical" difficulties. The ocean jasper stone I used in the pendant had no hole in it and I wasn't able to manage a way to set it that would leave the stone completely visible though that is what I'd hoped to achieve. The spiral rope is a combination of 10 different coloured Delica seed beads. It was the first time I tried using Delicas for a spiral rope and I AM pleased with how that came out. I still have more beads in these colours and I'm contemplating another project.

The Amazing Vanishing Necklace

I'd been working on this necklace for several days. While I was in Vancouver last, I bought the glass pendant bead and was looking forward to creating something. The necklace is another spiral rope in three different turquoise beads with a clear aurora borealis core bead. The pendant can be removed, so the rope can be worn alone. I contemplated adding a silk rope as well and had taken the necklace with me to show a friend over a coffee in her store. I also wanted her opinion about whether it was "finished". I was wondering if I'd add some fringe to the bottom half of the pendant. Couldn't make up my mind.





While I was there, another friend came in looking for a gift. As she was browsing through my jewelry that was already in the store, I showed her this necklace. She snatched it from my hands and said: "I'll take it!"

So before I'd even decided it was finished, it was sold. It vanished! And it wasn't till I got home that I remembered that I hadn't even photographed it yet! Fortunately, this morning when I dropped in on her, it hadn't gone to it's new home yet, so I was able to get a picture of it!

First the Earrings...and Then..the Rope

It all began with making a triangle. When the triangle was "finished" I wondered what I'd do with it and decided to try extending one side for a different shape. Then it became the earring. At that point, I'd made several triangles in a row and wanted to do something different. Out came the beading magazines and I came across a bracelet that was based on the spiral rope design. I was referred to the back of the magazine to a 2 stage graphic to teach me the basic stitch. I began in the beads that I'd been using in the earring and at first thought I'd make two one inch ropes for a pair of earrings. But I wanted to see more of the pattern so I continued, thinking bracelet, while I stitched. It just kept growing and now it's a 17" piece of spiral rope that I suppose is a necklace. But now it needs a pendant. And I don't feel like it goes with the earring. I'm going to "live with it" a bit before I make a decision. It needs to "season".

Woven Bag

I've been wanting to try out this technique for a while and finally got to it yesterday. It's a little woven bag...3.5" X 6" and I'm happy with how the experiment turned out. I still need to add a beaded neck piece to it. Next one will be bigger I think. So simple and a great way to use up odds and ends of yarn.