Milady Pendant Part 2

Consider the dilemna..too many colors choices! The pearls here are surrounded with gold #471 size 15 seed beads. Might be the way to go since I don't seems to have the more Old World color of gold that would match the Delica Beads in a better way. Those were the 24k gold iris.

And below I have another set of pearls trimmed in a darker marroon seed bead. Why do I have so many pearls finished? The pattern called for eight so I bezelled all eight, repeating the same steps each time so it became faster and faster to bead them...but I later notice it only needs four bezelled...oh well, more for the ring to be made later!

Oh, what a lesson learned here! Notice the Rivoli colors...These have the Mystic finish and I had a thought about the colors of each when I first laid them out...but I didn't really check in differnt light until I started to take photos. I tell my students in class to take a second look at a project if your inner voice is telling you something is not quite right....but in my haste I plowed onward and now will have to remake the fourth stone. No worries about the extra, it will become the center of a cleverly constructed ring...more on that later.

The bezel technique for the 8mm pearl shown front and back. From Sabine Lippert's new book, Beaded Fantasies. A great compliation of most of her most dramatic creations, the patterns are nicely written, however her patterns for sale online are by far the best I have ever seen. Extremely detailed regarding each and every move needed for a complete unit.

A quick setup of several components placed together. We have just finished watching the Three Muskateers of 2012...Milady is portrayed by Mila Jonavich, wickedly good. Great costumes! This piece certainly reminds me of that era.

Now, I really have to get back to work...then I will return to this piece and complete it soon!

Milady Pendant Part 1

The process...steps in the creation of Sabine Lippert's Milady Pendant. From her new Master Lark Series book, Beaded Fantasties. Here with the four pearls needed for the piece.

What would the possibility be if I used all eight pearls? I think a bit too large to actually wear, usless you were Milady, of course!

The bezeling of the 14mm crystal, a nice way to finish the surface and still show alot of the face of the stone. When I approach a new pattern with several seed beads, I find it helps to use as many separate colors as possible. That way you can find the bead as it is referred to in the pattern. Another lessoon learned, wait until daylight to take the photos..or get up and go into the photo lab! just in a hurry...

Bezeling the pearls was easy...A quick tip I could share about this step is to move from pearl to pearl and complete each one before moving on to the next row or step. The repetitive action helps you move through the process faster than if you have done one at a time, production style if you will. Keep several needles tamed by placing into a plump pin cushion. Most moves would be considered peyote stitch and netting technique.

The first layout of beads and Rivolis, a pleasing assortment...just wish I would have caught that one Rivoli that is a slightly different color..is it the coating? the stone itself?

How sweet it is...

It is just so sweet when a plan comes together. A wonderful friend has a very clever beau, he ordered a matching necklace to complement the jewelry she had worn at her daughter's wedding last year. I had also created some of the jewelry for the bridal party. Such a great idea!

This beautiful piece combines the simple crossweave technique with the more complex triangle right angle weave. All created with Fireline and each crystal is buffered with a small silver size 15 seed bead. Some of the Swarovski crystal colors include Light Amethyst, Amethyst, Purple Velvet, Indigo, Tanzanite2XAB, Blue Metallic 2XAB, Cyclamen Opal AB, Cyclamen Satin, Fuchsia2XAB and Vitrail Medium...whew! Over 200 crystals make up this piece, which sits just about the collarbone. It looks gorgeous on her! I may have to make a black and silver version for myself, time permitting, ummmm, would that be sometime in July?

Wire Knitz Cuff

All this prettiness in just a couple of hours! The beauty of Wire Knitz, a new wire knit product, from SilverSilk, is that is can be manipulated in so many ways. Look for a few new versions in the coming days. By adding little tiny "belt loops" at each end I can change the bracelets I wear with the cuff. Small Antique Brass snaps will be added to the outer edges to help hold the wide cuff in place.

This particular focal bracelet was created with a few simple twists of the wrist using wire wrapping techniques to hold the flat glass discs into place. The leaves were attached using headpins with lampwork glass as the heads, awesome eh? A very clever artist, Starr May created these for me...all of her other glass pieces may be seen at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Plam Desert, CA.

Tangerine Dream

Another beautiful piece for a Birthday Gal...This to coordinate with her lucious robe and gorgeous dress. It is comprised of Swarovski Crystals and loads of bicones, rondelles and other sparkly trinkets! Done in a monochromatic warm color theory, like many theories that can be found in Beverly Ash Gilberts Beading Colorways, an awesome display of color info.

The wirework was looped and secured and looped again...painstakingly placing the crystals...a joy in discovering the wonder for aspects of orange. See the little loops??? The wire was pulled as a thin ribbon would be, causing it to curl and wiggle. Fun!

This piece rests gently on the neck and lights up the room.. perhaps the birthday queen will send us a photo? This is perfect for showing off a glowing smile....Happy Birthday, La Terra!

Orange Sunburst Earrings

A classic and yet innovative look at bezeling those beautiful Swarovski Crystals. Led by the influence of Laura McCabe, these sunburst earrings were just the right accessory for a beautiful friend for her Birthday Bash. Adding yet more bling, the row behind all the bicone crystals supports one more row of bling, top drilled bicones in 6mm Hyacinth. The center Rivolis are 16mm Chili Pepper, the crystals for the otuside bursts are Sunflower, FireopalAB and Indian Red. The seed beads used were DB 043, DB603 and gold334. The little picots were created using size 15 seed beads in #471, make sure they are permanent or duracoat.

Notice the backs of the Rivolis are completely closed. The method for this enclosure involves a series of shifts from one stitch to another. The circular peyote moves to the back and after two rows of size 15 seed beads, a repeating stitch of one bead up and one bead down is worked around the circle. This sets up the next stitch which is a three bead netting, which sets up again for either another row of netting, with a skip, and then peyote with one bead to close the tips. I find it rather important to close the back of the Rivolis or coat them to protect them and prolong the life of the crystal. Small tiny nicks in the back (often called flea bites in crystal) actually affect the front of the stone and interfere with the reflection of light. We want our Swarovski's to last as long as they can and keep their brilliance!

For more on these beautiful crystals, check out Laura McCabe's book, creating beautiful Crystal Jewerly with Swarovski. Of course, check out my classes at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Palm Desert, where I show you a quick start with two needles and you can find those tiny, tiny size 15 vintage one-cut seed beads as well as lots of colors and sizes in Crystal Rivolis.

Oh, and I made these to be interchangable as well....look closely at the connection of the two earrings components. The links holding them together can be removed and each piece could be reattached to a new earring finding, making two sets of earrings. Add a bit of bling on the bottom of each and ta-da, a new look for both...one casual, one fancy.

Uniquely designed for Deuce Swimwear

A starfish bracelet commisioned by Dawn Marie for her custom swimsuit line, Deuce Swimwear. A new logo prompted the search for Starfish and of course, once the hunt was on there was no stopping us! The idea for this piece was shared by the owner of Ruby Tuesday in Long Beach (more about her shop in the next post). A clever use of seashell chain...that's hundred's of fragile little seashell charms I didn't have to link together...and Swarovski crystals in Pacific Opal AB rondelle shapes along with Freshwater Pearls and findings from TierraCast. A beautiful bracelet that went together quickly and thrilled the designer!

Look closely at the Starfish, since all of the swimsuits are reversible, the placement of the charms reflect the logo's design of two startfish side by side with one reversed. Many more styles to come in the near future...look for them online at the DeuceSwim site on Facebook.

Granada Blossom

What a fun process this Blossom has been! Following a fabulous pattern by Sabine Lippert of Trytobead.com (Germany) this creation just looks better and better each time I work it in different color schemes. Since we're playing at the beach this week, I've been insipied by all sorts of colors, the base starts with the Coral Swarovski Pearl and then gets embellished with beautiful turquoise, lime and lavender Swarovski 4mm crystals. Some 3.4mm mini drops were also used in part of the accented parts. A delight in color theory, each placement of a new color changes the look of the piece. I created this piece in just about an hour...with ideas forming for a necklace of a different sort and perhaps a bracelet with a similar picot treatment.

Visit her website for an amazing look at a very talented artist. I think she is scheduled to teach at the Bead Fest Philly Show. Pattern and or kits are very reasonable, her detailed instructions are availiable in English and quite understandable.

Look for my Black and Silver version coming later this week!!!

From the deep blue sea...

Here is the lovely necklace I wore as Mother of the Bride, now called Mermaids Delight. Aptly named by the mermaids father (who was also Father of the Bride). This piece was created with our dauther in mind, the lovely Dawn aka the mermaid, on the occasion of her lovely October wedding to the young man of her dreams, Jeffery. Her shoes happened to be tall, beautiful satin heels of this deep oceanic blue...well, it was all the inspriation I needed to begin this creation.

It's elements include fresh water pearls, Swarovski crystals in Peridot, EmeraldAB, IndicoliteAB, Jet2XAB with a few Vintage Margaurites and two-toned 18mm Electra Rivilois. Various seed beads in sizes 15, 11 and delica beads were also used. A right angle weave base supports several clusters of flowers and leaves to form the bouquet style necklace. Each peyote stitched flower took about an hour to complete with several of the large ones taking a few days working on them here and there. Total time to complete estimated at two months. My dear friend and fellow Bead Chick, Jeanette helped me in crunch time and made the sprial rope, so delicate because it's all made with 3mm crystals and size 15 seedbeads.

I actually added a small element on the lower corner, if you look at the photo (of the necklace being worn) there seems to be a space where the point should end. I did mean for it to be asymetrical, however, it was a little off at the point so I added the small flower bit and it is much better now and complete.

So I'm happy to say that John took a photo and we entered it in the BeadStar contest...should know by June if it places in the finals. Hip-hip-hooray. I actually followed through on something and completed the paperwork, that in and of itself makes me happy!

Back of Captured Crystal Earrings

Shown here are the backs of the Captured Method for covering the Rivoli. A basic start of 5 or 6 beads in the center and then circular peyote growing out towards edge it provides a simple method of covering the delicate foiled backs of these crystals.

Two Rivoli Earrings

Another day, another way...to capture and showcase Swarovski Crystal Rivolis. Here displayed as earrings, the Blue/Purple set above are captured with the technique made popular by Nikia Angel. Made with an 18mm Rivoli in Meridian Blue and Sapphire Bicone 5328 crystals using a netting stitch. A quick, rather painless way to wrap up a rivoli surrounded with 4mm Crystal bicones. See Beadwork magazine, Summer 2010, for more details.

The second set of Earrings are competely covered in the back with circular peyote and then points of 3.4mm Mini drop glass beads are set around the perimeter. All created using size 11 Delica cylinder beads and size15 seed beads. This pattern is my original design and is one of many classes I teach at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Palm Desert, CA. As I get more tech savvy I hope to offer this as a downloadable pattern, with more to come.

Bridesmaid Bracelet

Another in the collection of bracelets designed for Ms. Jamy's Wedding. Six colors of 4mm bicone crystals make up the palette for this crossweave technique. I made this 12" long, added 2" simple chain at one end and a lobster clasp at the other. You could make it longer or short as desired, every six or seven inches equals another wrap around the wrist. Swarovski colors used include cyclamen opal, tanzanite, volcano, fuschia, purple velvet and amethyst.

Going to the Chapel...

Here's one of the many bracelets I created for my most recent Bride, Jamy. This one for the MOB, which I call Double Dainty. A triangle Right-angle-weave technique creates a pretty flower, then for grins turn around and duplicate the process on the reverse side. A quick style button snap makes it easy on and off. Colors of Swarovski used; FuschiaAB, Deep Indigo and Amethyst.

A Sunny Look

I just finished a new piece with Right Angle Weave. A fairly standard base, but with the new Sunflower color by Swarovski, then embellished with smaller crystals in Smoked Topaz AB and those cute little Lucite flowers...What could be more fun while waiting for Spring on this dreary SoCal rainy day.