Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A leap forward in colour theory and execution!


These earrings represent a leap forward in both color theory AND designing on the fly. Usually I wouldn't think to pair hot red-orange, aqua, lavender, and orange (never mind how much of each to use), but I noticed how well my hyacinth AB2X bicones harminized with a tube of lavender-lined 15s that happend to be lying next to each other, and that's what got me started. Peering closely at the surface effect of the AB finish, I noticed that in addition to lavender, it had a bit of aqua in the color play. So, rejecting a stronger shade which might compete with the crystal, I dug out my single pair of dyed light aqua quartz rondelles, which had been waiting for months for the right project. Then I pulled a juicy pink-lined seed bead shade as a supporting player, and at the last minute, frosted silver-lined orange seed beads. At that point I had little idea what I'd do with them--usually a bad sign that I'll spend an hour or two rearranging my bead selection, and after attempting a prototype with a few stitches, decide it's 'not right' and put the beads away. But this time, the elements came together! I started with two units of right-angle weave, modified in places to fit the aqua rondelle in the center. Maybe effects of that last Jimi Hendrix cd were lingering, because I knew what to do then--I pulled out my orange seeds and added them to the top corners for just a glint of brightness. I put a single pink-lined seed in the center of each long side, then remembered a design element I'd never done before--the cross-RAW-unit line of seed beads. It was time for more lavender! Exiting a top bicone, I strung a line of tiny lavender beads, and went through the hole of the aqua rondelle, on the side facing away from the bicone hole I'd exited. Then I repeated the process in reverse for the bottom half of the beadwork, exiting the rondelle and entering the opposite hole of the bottom bicone. To finish the beadwork, I put small jumprings into the top orange seed beads and attached a short length of chain. They're attached to small silver clip-on hoops.

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