After the darn learning experience which resulted in the gratifying '
Disco Lemonade' necklace, I've gotten very enthusiastic about the dodecahedron beaded bead! It's a LOT easier to make when using beads that have a hole through the center, as opposed to through the top like the teardrops. Far easier to keep track of where you are in the beadwork, how many stitches are left, etc.
Usually when I get all enthusiastic about a beading idea, I make perhaps two more of a similar type, then end up making some other piece in my queue of ideas. But after that first bead, I immediately started the next, this time substituting roundish 4mm orange/pink faceted glass in place of the teardrops, with orange, pink and lavender embellishment beads, stringing the finished bead onto a simpler necklace of lemon-drop glass beads. I still used a core bead. Feeling fantastical, I named it
'Citrus Lips'.
Then I began to stray farther from the pre-designed pattern, fortifying and accenting the many holes in the beaded bead, eliminating the need for a core bead, and strategically using colours to play up the shape of the bead. The first one was in glossy and matte black, accented with hot pink.
The second time I made this type of bead, I used transparent faceted orange glass, accented by clear citron yellow to open up the feel of the bead. I call this my
'Hot Citrus' bead, and it reminds me of all that CSI: Miami I used to watch--the overall quality of the show may be questionable, but it was undeniably one of the top three most beautiful shows on television.
In the third bead, entitled
'Hot Raspberry', I used sparkly black beads and the same hot pink as in the first bead, eliminating the matte black and resulting in a mostly-pink bead with hints of black peeking out.
I left the glass behind for some shiny hematite rounds in the latest iteration of this design. Hematite looks a bit like black silver, or iron cleaned up and decked out for the prom, so I paired it with matte black and shiny silver accenting the holes. It makes me think of supervillains in their ominous but oh-so-cool supersuits which must ALWAYS have something glowing. The finished bead looks like black, but the hematite bridges the gap between the shiny silver and the dark black, giving it a hint of
sophistication.
After the darn learning experience which resulted in the gratifying 'Disco Lemonade' necklace, I've gotten very enthusiastic about the dodecahedron beaded bead! It's a LOT easier to make when using beads that have a hole through the center, as opposed to through the top like the teardrops. Far easier to keep track of where you are in the beadwork, how many stitches are left, etc.
Usually when I get all enthusiastic about a beading idea, I make perhaps two more of a similar type, then end up making some other piece in my queue of ideas. But after that first bead, I immediately started the next, this time substituting roundish 4mm orange/pink faceted glass in place of the teardrops, with orange, pink and lavender embellishment beads, stringing the finished bead onto a simpler necklace of lemon-drop glass beads. I still used a core bead. Feeling fantastical, I named it 'Citrus Lips'.
3 comments:
Just like many bead designs, which beads you use make a huge difference in the feel of the piece. In this instance, it's especially pronounced. It's hard to believe that your Citrus Lemonade is the same design as the Disco Lemonade. Amazing.
Your beads are lovely.
Wow, that looks like a lot of work. They look great.
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