Metalwork and Diamond & Pearls Ribbed Bracelet

Lately…. I want to spend less and less time on the computer (hence my sporadic blogging) and more and more time in my studio… I’ve become addicted to metalwork!!! and LOVE spending the day in my studio sawing, soldering and filing!!! who would have thought?!?!?

I showed you my first pieces in my last post… but I’m happy to see improvement since then! :-)

Here is one of my favourites I made that I’m keeping for myself and LOVE to death!!!!

I’m so proud of this piece and wear it almost every day!!! :-)

So I started making loads of pendants… some didn’t come out so well but went to good use anyway… some have found new homes… and some are waiting to be photographed….

Here are some that aren’t quite right… the bezel was too high for the stone… I now worked out the right sizes :-)

These didn’t go to waste, I wear the left one and my friend the right one :-)

  

This is a piece that went to my lovely neighbour Ella who looks after my doggies when I go away overnight :-)

I really love how these pendants are turning out… I love filing them into shape… and love how the sharp metal turns into soft curves… I’m really enjoying this medium… a big step away from beadwork but I have actually made two pieces incorporating both metal sheet and beadwork… unfortunately my camera’s batteries died just as I was about to take the photos this morning… so will have to take them tomorrow… and post them at a later time :-)  I’m really happy with how these turned out so make sure you come back and check them out in a few days….

I’ve done very little beadwork this year… partly because I felt uninspired and partly because my metalwork is occupying most of my time…. but I did make this bracelet a few months ago… I just forgot to post it :-)

Diamond & Pearl – Ribbed Bracelet

 

This bracelet is bead-woven into a rib texture.  Made with over 350 Swarovski pearls, the bracelet was designed around a gorgeous gold-plated clasp that I got from The Beadsmith and the bracelet ended up in one of their adverts!!!!

Hopefully, I’ll take more photos tomorrow and then show you some more pieces… till then… happy beading! :-)

Sinai Glitz

Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE turquoise and love ancient Egypt art & jewellery… a while back I bought two lovely turquoise vintage glass cabs depicting an ancient Egypt figure… so I had to use them… and this is what I made:

Sinai Glitz – OOAK Cuff

The colours remind me of the landscape in Sinai… turquoise skies, copper/red mountains, scorching hot sun (gold) and the cuff of course inspired me to create these earrings (which I absolutely adore!!!) 

Sinai Glitz – Earrings

I started working on the second cab… supposedly to make a matching necklace… but no ideas have come to fruition yet…. we’ll see… and a week ago I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow BAO member, Janice Abarbanel of Naftali who is visiting Israel and who makes the most beautiful polymer cabs and jewellery… we met in Tel Aviv  and we went bead shopping of course!!! I got some beautiful coral and turquoise beads as well as some gorgeous dark blue and copper Cryscholla cabochons (which I'm yet to decide if to use with my metalwork or with my beadwork)… I had so much fun!!! it was so lovely meeting Janice!!! and look what she gave me from her own jewellery line…

This pendant is soooo beautiful… my photo really doesn’t do it any justice… and it looks even better on!!! So very sweet of her!!!  My only regret is that I didn’t take pictures of our meeting… I forgot I have a camera on my mobile… Janice however did, and I hope it comes out, as I would love to have a memento of our meeting in Tel Aviv.  If you are not familiar with Janice's work, I would definitely recommend heading over to her website http://janiceabarbanel.com/ and her etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/Naftali (although at the moment her etsy shop will look empty as she’s on holiday and her shop is on vacation mode till 14th July).

Ok… now lets see what I can do with that second cab…

Till the next time :-)

Bloody Mary!

I was introduced to a Bloody Mary on a plane journey on the way to Las Vegas with friends who described it as the best drink to have for breakfast! :-) I wasn’t convinced, as I really don't like tomato juice… but I took one sip and I was hooked!!! My first a.m. drink… and now every time I fly it’s the drink I ask for! :-)

The richness of the reds used in my new cuff reminded me of that drink and a great time in Las Vegas! :-)

Bloody Mary – Red Leather Cuff

I will be teaching this cuff at the workshop tomorrow… so excited!!! and will be making kits for this as soon as my order of Swarovski crystals and pearls arrives… so stay tuned!:-)

Happy beading!!! :-)

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!!! :-)

Bollywood Nights Earrings – Remade!

Remember the Bollywood Nights post a few weeks ago, where I showed you my EBW Challenge entry and a pair of matching earrings that I was really unhappy about?  Well I remade the earrings! cut the top bit off and remade them using smaller Swarovski crystals and reattached it to the bottom part but in a different configuration…. and this is how they came out! :-)

I’m so much happier with how they turned out this time and am really glad I took the first ones apart!!! What do you think? do you prefer these or the originals?

These earrings bring me to the EtsyBeadWeavers September “Bollywood” Challenge  which is currently open for voting and will be open till 15th September,

My entry for this challenge is the matching cuff of these earrings, # 6 on the list of entries.

So hurry, go and visit the EBW blog and vote for your favourite piece! http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com

And last but not least…. let me wish everyone a happy new Jewish year! may it be the best one ever!!!! :-)

EtsyBeadWeavers Challenge – Time to vote!

The August EtsyBeadWeavers challenge is currently open for votes!

My entry is Golden Galaxy (entry # 25)

Please visit the EBW blog from now till the 15th August and vote for your favourite piece! http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

Golden Galaxy – EBW August Entry

It’s been a while since I entered one of the EtsyBeadWeavers challenges, months in fact!… and that’s not like me, I usually try and enter each month but between being busy and uninspired, I failed to do so! Shameful!!! The last time I entered was in March with 1001 Nights for the Fairy Tale Challenge… so I really wanted to make sure that I made something for the “Silver & Gold” August Challenge… and this is what I made:

Golden Galaxy – OOAK Necklace

I wanted to create something that evoked the style and glamour of Hollywood, something that I could see being worn on the Red Carpet and at the same time could see myself wearing at an evening function or even at a day function, with a white summer dress, reminiscent of ancient Greek style of dress where the women wore white dresses with bright gold jewellery. Golden Galaxy was created with the images of the style of ancient Greece in my mind.

Voting will begin on the EtsyBeadWeavers blog on 9th August and will end on the 15th. Make sure you visit the blog during that time and vote for your favourite!!!

http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com

La primavera - Spring

I was so excited when Artbeads contacted me as part of the blogging program and told me that this time the theme was “Spring” as spring is my favourite time and I could chose anything from their incredibly large selection of products that reflected my own individual interpretation of Spring for their ‘The Beauty of Spring’ theme.

So I chose the following: Light green Swarovski pearls in 4 different sizes and Swarovski XILION Gold-Plated Setting with 2-Holes in Light Amethyst and this is what I made adding some Japanese gold and gilt-line opal lilac seed beads and a few light amethyst Swarovski crystals.

This is what I made!

La Primavera – Necklace

Luckily, I have a new flatmate! :-) I say luckily because I was able to model the necklace on her neck… as this necklace looks so much better on the neck than off! so thank you Jai Lynn for lending me your neck! :-)

I’ve been super-busy beading up a storm this last week and have since made a complimentary bracelet to this necklace, another necklace and 2 more bracelets… need to stop beading and start taking pictures so that I can show you! :-) hopefully in the next few days and soon after that I will post them!

In the meantime… happy beading everyone and I hope your are all enjoying the spring!!! :-) and don’t forget to check out www.artbeads.com

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Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all the components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

Black Chic Flowers + BAO Items of the Week

After over 10 years of not being in touch, I was reunited with an old and dear friend of mine and yesterday she came over to my place to pick up the necklace and earrings I made for her to wear to her son’s bar-mitzvah. It was so nice to see her!!!! We spent years together, when we first arrived in Israel and both of us were single and carefree (she has 5 kids now!!!)… we partied in Tel Aviv a LOT! I remember her dancing on tables at this crazy bar! We had so much fun!!! and it was just such a pleasure to see her again!

She asked me to make a variation of the Black Chic Choker and matching earrings and here they are:

Judging from the huge smile, I think she was happy with them :-) and I asked her whether I could take a picture of her wearing them. Most of my pieces end up being shipped abroad, so I rarely get to see the person who bought them wearing them. She promised to send me photos of her wearing them at the bar mitzvah all dolled up! and I can’t wait to see them!!!

Here are this weeks BAO Items of the Week:

My item this week is: Triple Twist Bracelet

Purchase and pay for this bracelet between now and 22nd October and receive 20% off!!!

Visit the BAO blog to see all the other items on special this week: http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!!!

For Sofia - Choker

Inspiration came this weekend, when I suddenly remembered how little time I had left to enter the August EBW Challenge - First Ladies of Style. So I locked myself in my room and beaded my little heart out! :-) This is one of the 3 pieces I made over the week end – For Sofia - Choker

This wonderful piece of wearable art was created for the EtsyBeadWeavers August Challenge “First Ladies of Style". When I think of a First Lady of Style, I think of Sofia Loren. In my eyes she is the epitome of woman, beauty and style. Through decades we have watched her develop from a beautiful young woman into a beautiful mature woman, and even at 75, the one aspect of Sofia Loren which remains constant is her beauty and her style.

I wanted to create something that would exemplify her style. Sofia Loren has the most beautiful long neck and she is often seen wearing gorgeous chokers.

Not long ago I received the most gorgeous rectangular Russian hand-painted pendant depicting a design based on the Gustav Klimt painting, Judith, from artbeads.com.

In 1901, Judith was considered the incarnation of the femme fatale. She exudes a dangerous form of sexuality, confidence and fearlessness; hence it is the perfect centre piece for a Sofia Loren-inspired choker.

For this pendant/bead and for similar one, please check out - Russian Pendants and if you are a fan of Klimt also check out - Venetian Beads.

I will post details of the August EBW challenge sometimes next week. Back to the beading board :-) to finish off one of the pieces I started this week end… stay tuned :-)

Elizabethan Cuff Revisited

I originally made the Elizabethan cuff in black, a really long time ago…  A couple of weeks ago I was asked to make a similar one using silver wire and gold beads… I forgot how hard it is to crochet with wire…. and after a few false starts and a lot of blisters :-) here is what I came up with:

Elizabethan Cuff – Silver and Gold

I did make some modifications from the original one, because from wearing the black one (a lot) I found that the crochet wire stretched quite a bit, so I made this one in a tighter knit to counter-act that stretch. Let me know what you think….

Also, I wanted to thank all of you who have left comments on my blog and apologize for not replying to these comments and for not always being able to comment back, and it’s not from lack of trying!!! but every time I go into my blog and a lot of others I get an “operation aborted” error message…. which makes it impossible for me to leave a comment on here and on some of the other blogs – apparently blogger is dealing with it… at least I’m still able to post (via Windows Live Writer) – so again…. sorry!!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead!!!

Amazon Warrior - Bracelet

Sometimes I get the inspiration, the time and the absolute need to bead! Lately it’s been one of those times! :-)

Half-way through making the Amazon Warrior Choker (see previous post and bottom photo) I already had a complete design worked out in my mind for a matching bracelet…. and here it is:

Amazon Warrior - Bracelet

 

I love both pieces so much that I am truly reluctant to part with either!!!!  I have to try and see if I can find more of these mother-of-pearl shell beads… I thought I bought them about 2-3 years ago, but I just realized that it must have been more like 4 years ago… the shop I bought them from closed down around two years ago and I have no idea how I'm going to find them again :-(  That will be my mission this weekend!!! because I really want a set for myself!!! :-)

Here is a reminder of the necklace I blogged about in a previous post:

Wishing all of you who celebrate Shavuot a very hag sameach!!! Eat lots of cheesecake for me… I’m (trying to be) on a diet, so none for me! :-)

My son is off kindergarten for the holiday so we will be spending most of it by the pool… I wish I could take my beadwork there! :-) maybe when he’s a bit older :-)

Wishing everyone an early wonderful weekend!!! :-)

Green and St. Petersburg Chain Stitch

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m new to and am loving the St. Petersburg Chain Stitch, I’m in the midst of a turquoise/green obsession and I was going to make a bracelet in this stitch – here it is:

Amazon Forrest

The main part of the bracelet didn’t take too long to make but i got stuck at the closure… and whilst looking for the right one, I found myself making lots of elements…. one was too big, one didn’t look right…. so I cut it off and started again… till I finally came to a simple toggle in complementary colours…. and I love it! I’ve been wearing it all day!!!! It’s soft, light, I almost forgot I had it on! :-)

Back to those elements… whilst I couldn’t work out how to finish off the bracelet, I got derailed and started making a necklace… totally unexpected… but I’ve fallen in love with it!!!

Amazon Warrior – Choker

I used these amazing mother of pearl shell beads, that no joke, I’ve had in one of my boxes for at least 2 years if not more…. and I have about 10 of them left… I already have an idea for a bracelet that I’m dying to go and make…

I love it when a design develops itself from discarded elements from other designs!!! especially when I don’t make myself use them rather they find their own harmony…. and that is how this necklace came about and was in fact finished long before the bracelet was even close to completion.. now back to beading, that bracelet is calling me to be made! :-) Happy beading everyone!!! :-)

Emerald Queen – St. Petersburg Chain Stitch

A couple of days ago I showed my first attempt at the St. Petersburg Chain Stitch, and I got really inspired…. Learning something new is sometimes exactly what the doctor ordered when I’m stuck and uninspired :-)… I had to unpick a row of what I had already beadwoven… I was originally making a triple St. Petersburg chain stitch, but once I made the centrepiece for the necklace, it just didn’t seem to work with it…. so I unpicked one of the rows leaving me with a double chain stitch, which works much better.

I bead-embroidered, bead-weaved and embellished the vintage emerald square Swarovski cabochons with lot and lots of Swarovski crystals in shades of turquoise/green and emerald. I used 3 different sizes to create a more 3-dimensional piece, in comparison to my usual more flat bead-embroidery and am so, so happy with how it came out!!!! :-) I love the colours, the sparkle, the shape, the feel but most of all I love how it looks on the body!!!

The St.Petersburg stitch was such a pleasure to learn and to execute that I’m sure I will be using a lot more of it in the near future… my next design will probably be a bracelet made using this technique… simply fun!!!! :-) In the meantime… here is what I created with my first St. Petersburg Chain Stitch – Emerald Queen:

Golden Pool

One of my favourite things about having joined Etsy is the discovery of so many talented and wonderful artists. One of those talented artists is Lisa Peters from LisaPetersArt. She makes the most beautiful OOAK beads, buttons and cabochons using different types of clays, glazes and firing methods. In the last year or so I have bought quite a few of her cabochons and some buttons. They are all so beautiful that I sometimes find it difficult to part with them and use them in my beadwork. I just love looking at them and fondling them! :-) However that is why I buy them… to use in my beadwork… so last week I did just that! I picked one of her cabochons and decided to make something out of it…. and this is what I made:

Golden Pool

I love her pieces so much that I didn’t want to detract too much from the beauty of the cabochon so I decided to keep it simple, at the same time I wanted to somehow depict and incorporate into the beading the movement of the golden swirls, so I bead-embroidered round the cabochon and tried to mimic the movement by adding a twisted edge to the bead-embroidery. This was the first time I had tried using this technique and I have to say I’m really pleased with how it turned out…. I’m sure I will be using this twisted edge again! :-) I wanted to make the necklace along the same idea, so I simply strung two strands of beads and twisted them together, and I think it works well.

If you’ve been following my blog recently, you may have noticed my current obsession with using turquoise/green together with gold. Well this obsession has not even come close to running its course! :-) I’m currently working on a green and gold St. Petersburg stitched necklace. I decided yesterday to overcome my (unfounded) fears and try and see if I could manage to do it… and manage I did, it's actually relatively easy and am finding it extremely relaxing to work with… I have no idea what I’m going to do with it… but will be working on it later today and hopefully something wearable will have emerged from it in the next few days… come back and see! :-) In the meantime this is what I’ve managed to do so far:

For more of Lisa’s beautiful work, please visit her links below:

Shop: http://www.LisaPetersArt.etsy.com
Blog: http://www.lisa-petersart.blogspot.com
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisapetersart

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!!! :-)

Miriam's Jewel - Choker

This is going to be a really quick post, as I'm struggling to concentrate on anything at all.... I've been sick with the flu for the last few days, and today, although my cough has gone and my nose has stopped running, my head is absolutely exploding!!!!!

As the sun finally came out, I thought I would take the opportunity to photograph my latest (and probably favourite) piece... I absolutely LOVE this piece, am so happy with how it came out!!!!!

Miriam's Jewel - Choker

 

For more information on materials, techniques and to see more pictures, please visit my shop or click on this link.

Ok.... going to back to bed now, before I pass out!!! :-)

Blue Lagoon Choker

Here is the Blue Lagoon Choker that I spoke about a couple of days ago... I had it all ready for posting, but I got distracted by a new piece, which I love even more than this one, and I love this one a lot!!!  the perfect complement to the Blue Lagoon Cuff!

The pendant is bead-embroidered with my current favourite colour teal....  I tend to go through colour stages... and at the moment, strangely enough for me, I'm on a gold roll... I say strangely for me, as I've never really been a gold person... I have always worn silver, and when I did buy or receive something in gold it's usually white gold... but all of a sudden, all I can see in my mind is these wonderful bright colours combined with gold... does it mean I'm getting old? ;-) are my skull-and-crossbones-silver-jewellery-hanging-from-a-piece-of-leather-days completely over???? well, ok, the skull and crossbones days have been over for a while, I just hadn't paid attention to it... :-)  however the silver pendant on a leather choker pretty much still exists, although since starting to bead, my pendants tend to be beaded and larger, but still hanging off leather :-) it's the repressed hippy in me! :-)

So in this crazed gold and bright colour roll I've almost finished a bead-embroidered cuff, all that is missing is the right clasp/closure for it (I will be checking the net today for just the right one).... and for the last 3 days I've been working on another bead-embroidered choker, also in gold, but with amethyst cabochons and ruby red Swarovski crystals.... I love this colour combination, it's so rich and majestic... and that's what I will be doing for the rest of the day... if my son can entertain himself (he's home from kindergarten with yet another ear infection, but he's ok... his ear is leaking which is why I'm keeping him home... a couple of days of eardrops and he will be back to normal and he's already expressed an interest in playing on the computer today, so my beading time looks pretty much un-threatened )

And one last thing.... my heart, thoughts, prayers go out to all the brave soldiers out there and their incredibly brave and strong families.... to all the mothers of these boys, I have no words.... praying that they all come home safe and sound, that this conflict will be over soon so the south can go back to normal living and in an idyllic world that there will be final lasting peace in the region with ALL our neighbours.... wishing everyone a safe, quiet shabbat shalom!!!!

Celeste Earrings

As the craziness of December is finally over, or is at least winding down... I find myself able to go back to all those projects that I didn't have time or energy to finish... and here is one of those project.

Believe it or not the earrings were almost finished a long time ago, all I had to do is attach the top part to the bottom.... would you believe it if I told you that it took me over 3 weeks to actually sit down and do it?!?! talk about procrastinating... I'm almost ashamed! :-)  I don't know why but there are times when the design is so close to completion and nothing on this earth would actually make me sit down to finish it! why??? I'm not lazy... there are just so many distractions... mainly in my head, with ideas for new pieces... and I just have to move on to the next piece.... it's all very well, until I find myself confronted by tons of pieces that are in the almost-finished-stage... with still more stuff cluttering my little brain! :-)

Anyway, here they are: Celeste Earrings - Bead-embroidered around white Quartz and Jade cabochons in gold glass beads and greeny-blues Swarovski crystals - I just LOVE them!!!! I wish I had learnt how to bead while I was out and about partying in my 20s and 30s... I would have worn these to death!!! :-) now my idea of partying, is cuddling up under the duvet in front of the telly and hoping for 6 hours of sleep! :-) not much need for ear decorations :-)

Tomorrow I will post the Blue Lagoon necklace.... I'm still working on the photos... till then... happy beading!!! :-)