Jewelry from the Bones pilot

Here's Bones's Angela flashing her lacy bra at an airport agent to get a quick answer. Oh and look, she's wearing a necklace. Looks like a three-strand pink and red bit, with faceted and dyed stone and glass beads knotted onto thick silk cord. A little on the mainstream side but not bad at all.

 Brennan is wearing what looks like many strands of coral glass held together by brass rings, with a large brass hamsa pendant.

Here's Angela in a romantic gold chain necklace with stone or crystal beads with a lacy-looking centerpiece with fringe coming off the bottom.

Most of what Bones wears I can't imagine ever wanting to wear, but they sure do work on her, like this chunky necklace. Possibly horn or stone nuggets, and not just one strand, but three, with a carved stone pendant off the lowest strand.

Angela's necklace here is a little blurry but it looks like another multistrand affair with a large green Venetian-style foil-lined glass square focal, with faceted glass bead fringe coming off the bottom.

Brennan's taste in jewelry even extends to her earring choice--here a sort of half-shield medallion thingy with a column-shaped dangle in stone, crystal or colored glass.

 Hard to tell exactly what Angela's got on now, but it's definitely a multistrand something, probably a mix of beads on chain, with maybe a carved stone celtic knot of some kind.

 Understated neckwear at a military funeral at Arlington Cemetery, Temperance still picks something with  character. From what I can see, it's a leather cord with maybe a curved silver tube and a small metal, stone or bone pendant.

Here she is looking stubborn and slightly stupid (it's the eyelid position in this particular shot) wearing a beaded Y necklace with plenty of stones--probably agate and carnelian, and look at that strong drop in the center. More carved stone at the bottom, of course.

Wow, they sure do wear a lot of jewelry on this show. I think it also helps communicate the passage of time.

Inspired by 'Adoration of the Magi'

What was I going to do with Marcie's latest Margie & Me challenge? The artwork she posed to us as a challenge was the 'Adoration of the Magi', at left. Lots of golds and oranges with ultramarine and lighers blues, and optional green. She also said to 'think shiny'. So I dug out my metal-lined seed beads, deep blue pearls, and at last--those gold plated fancy beads i bought a  couple years ago, waiting for Project Right.

And what a project it was!
I had just gotten a silverplated 'pendant blank' waiting to be filled with whatever I wanted, so I decided to do a small piece of bead embroidery and set it into the blank. I need the practice, andd working with such a small space (instead of the usual majestic scale of most bead embroidery) frees me AND brings it down into doability at this stage. Setting a small piece of bead embroidery into a metal frame also sets the piece solidly as 'jewelry' rather than a piece of beadwork that the creator has made wearable. I prefer my jewelry to be jewelry first, beadwork second.
I chose to finish the necklace with a simple bead chain, using ornate gold beads and a touch of deep blue glass. The freeform nature (and all the shiny colours) of the bead embroidery conveys the exuberance of the original painting, while the metal setting and gold bead chain reference the time period's preference for fancy adornments. The ultramarine adds another touch of art history--the lapis lazuli stone used to be ground up to make the ultramarine pigments, resulting in the rich blues you see in paintings just like this.

My second challenge piece focused more on the golds. I square-stitched around a shimmerstone glass cabochon with size 6 blue beads, then added gold and frosted burnt orange seed beads, and a line of green just below the orange (you can see a touch of it in the photo). I sewed the cab onto a rubbery hair elastic.

What did you do with your weekend?

I've been working on more art-themed jewelry and beaded objects for a gallery show, and just put the finishing touches on a  necklace inspired by Julie Taymor's Beatles-music film 'Across The Universe'. A wild strawberry shaped centerpiece done in crazy brick stitch on a black bead chain wasn't quite enough--so I added a 'fan' of black beads behind the green leaf part.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at a craft show that's reputed as one of the best on the East Coast. I haven't been to enough craft shows to comment on that reputation, but it WAS pretty nice. I saw floral wall plaques made of enameled metal nails, artisan soaps/bath products, sampled champagne jelly and stopped by the local bead shop, where I picked up some teal frosted teardrop beads, a yellow calcite donut and a pair of white quartz donuts. I already have an idea percolating for the calcite, and the quartz will probably become a bold pair of earrings.

What are you doing with your weekend?

The Final Mystery

The other day, I sat down to finally make a bracelet that my sister had sketched for me, to use the special Sphinx gold bead from Green Girl Studios (I have a bit of a problem designing with Special Beads, which Green Girl beads always are). I dutifully pulled out the bag she'd put together containing all the beads required (gold bead, black lava coins, topaz crystal rondelles), and began to string theprescribed pattern of gold bead on the end, then alternating lava and crystal rondelles paired with tiny silver spacers.

But I found I didn't want to make a simple bracelet. Then inspiration hit me--I strung a topaz/gold Scooplet beaded bead in between the last two lava coins, and the necklace snowballed from there. I went on up the side of what I realized was fast becoming a necklace, stringing my remaining topaz crystal rondelles between silver spacers and gold seed beads, finishing with a flourish--a long loop of gold seed beads back down the strand. The other side would be a single strand, so to balance the lighter but double strand of the first side,  I pulled out some darker topaz/amber pressed and faceted glass, ending again with a loop of seed beads connecting with the first loop. A gold filigree navette clasp near the sphinx bead completed the necklace.

The sphinx bead reads 'the final mystery is oneself'.

I've been reading those fashion magazines again, somebody stop me!

The autumn/winter season is starting, in the fashion world as well as the regular one. With the season come the legendary 'September issues' of the fashion magazines and all the requisite 'update your style' columns. I'm wary of  'fashion' but open to true style, so I'm open to suggestion, and one of my favourite style columns is the 'new spin on old classic'.

The concept of new spin on old classic got me thinking about turquoise. A classic way to wear turquoise is combined with the tried-and-true orange carnelian.

An updated way is in my latest bracelet, featuring alternating chunks of earthy turquoise and upscale 'ruby' moonstone in place of the carnelian. The dyed moonstone beads are about the same intensity and 'color value' as carnelian, but the hot magenta shade provides a shot of freshness.

And I'll stop talking now, before somebody figures out that I'm just making up this fashion stuff as I go. Oops...

P.S. It just occurred to me that were this bracelet in a magazine, it'd be in the jewelry pages with a caption like 'at only $60, this bracelet is a steal!' Fashion editors, consider yourselves notified.

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Fun with collage cuffs!

I've done a fair bit of teaching beading classes at the local bead shop. One of my favourite classes to teach was the 'Wire Collage Cuff'; a simple wire cuff frame containing a wonderful assortment of any beads of your choosing. Making them was always very freeing.

The first one I made was a light-feeling cuff that looked like scarlet threads crisscrossing the wrist, on a zig-zagged frame.

The second used a straight frame and a big focal bead amongst blue tones mixed with dark steel and a touch of orange.

My most recent cuff I call 'Hard Candy'. Using a mix of bright orange and hot pink glass, it's my favourite version so far.

As promised, the tale of the swiss cheese washer!

Sometimes, our treasured possessions really DO go through adventures of their own.

Several months ago, I made a bracelet with rock crystal drops, frosted glass, and a single crystal inside a silver washer with swiss-cheese holes in it. I loved that washer, and it had taken me a while to design something good with it, worthy of it but that I also liked to wear. This seemed the perfect design.

And then I lost it. Upon coming back home one day, I discovered the absence of my favourite bracelet. I was vaguely certain that I must have left it at the art gallery, perhaps in secret repose behind the aloe plant under the window, to be carried off by a mystified attendee and I would never see it again. I sighed and accepted the loss.

A few days ago on a rainy afternoon, I was bringing groceries in from the car. I happened to look down as I opened the passenger door, and saw the unmistakable shape of the silver washer gleaming up from the slightly-muddy gravel of the driveway! I bent down and fished it out, reclaiming a few stray quartz beads lying around the washer as well.

Instead of accidentally leaving it somewhere, the bracelet must have fallen out of the car (or my pocket) at some point after coming home from the art gallery, where it stayed for the next few months. The bracelet had evidently been driven over countless times during the months it laid on the driveway--the thread was long since broken, most of the rock crystal beads gone, and the silver centerpiece warped and scratched. But you know what? I hardly even cared, I was just so happy to have it back.

You know what else? The warping was kind of neat, lending the washer a new, organic feel instead of the slick, space-age look it had before. The scratches were less desirable, but the idea of organic inspired me to reclaim my washer by texturing it with a ball peen hammer! The hammered finish removes any evidence of previous scratches, and transforms the washer into an earthy pendant wonderful for layering or combining with other small flat objects.

Below, I combined it with another, smaller hammered washer in copper, and a sterling silver Maltese Iron Cross charm.

 

I hope to recreate the original bracelet someday, especially now that I know where to get more of these washers. But I'm also glad for having lost and found it, for without that experience, I might not have thought to to hammer it, or brave enough to try.

Inspired by the runway

Sometimes I like to watch a bit of Project Runway, hoping for some inspiration as well as armchair critiquing of the designs themselves (not to mention Tim Gunn's motherly "make it work, designers"). But today my inspiration came, not from the runway fashions, but from the designers themselves. Mila was preparing for her show at Bryant Park, wearing a long necklace of a rectangle with fringe coming off the bottom. I was immediately struck by a desire to make a necklace similar to hers! I had no idea what her necklace was made of or how it was constructed, but I knew just how I'd make mine--in chainmail, with chain fringe. So here it is, my necklace inspired by Mila's, but designed by me.

Trading with sparklingshamrock

The Beaducation booth at the Bead & Button show allowed me to play with their metal stamping supplies, and I went home with not only a new (free) component, but a desire to begin stamping metal of my own!
Last week I started making my desire a reality, trading with Etsy seller SparklingShamrock. She got a green crystal ring and a Dragon King shimmerstone from my shop, and I got some metal stamps, copper washers, hole punching pliers, silver charms and a blank copper dog tag from hers. I made my first stamped pendant as soon as I could, inscribing the word 'BOLD' on the tag. I've been a fearful, cautious person in the past, but this word reminds me to be a person who is bold enough to make mistakes, bold enough to take the risks that lead to success.

The  pendant layers perfectly with other small or flat jewelry. Here, I combined it with the tiny Maltese Iron Cross charm from sparklingshamrock, and a hammered sterling washer with holes from my personal collection. That washer has a story of its own, but that's for tomorrow's entry. Stay tuned!

Even jewelry gets a makeover sometimes!

Sometimes when I make jewelry, I won't be quite satisfied with it, but I'll keep it anyway. My idea of 'not quite there' may be another's idea of 'just right', so I'll put it away. Sometimes I come back to it with a brilliant idea to make over the piece.

'

This simple bracelet started as just turquoise coin beads connected by the big silver rings, but it seemed too plain. When makeover time came, I put blue pearls into the silver rings, added a ceramic blue bead from Kazuri, and a neck strap of mint-coloured silk, plus a removable bow of silk.

The finished necklace bears little resemblance to the original plain bracelet!

I had a hexagonal rose quartz pendant that I treasured, but couldn't quite place in the right design. I thought I found one with the necklace to the right, mixing bits of byzantine chainmail with the softness of braided silk side straps, but something didn't feel right, so I took the whole necklace apart. And it wasn't very painful to do, so that's partly how I knew I was doing the right thing.

The rose quartz pendant ended up inside a hammered wire circle, suspended by wisps of pale pink ribbon and strands of gleaming silver chain--just light enough to not overwhelm the beauty of the pendant, and just substantial enough to unify the necklace.
The silk braids ended up in the asymmetrical necklace below, the pair of them balancing multiple silver chains on the other side. The pink silk helps to bring together all the different shades and finishes of pink and peach dangling from the handmade links of the larger chain and front toggle clasp. This is a prime example of all the elements coming together perfectly in a necklace!

Creative solutions in beading

Sometimes I get set in my thinking, imprisoned by expectations about how a piece of jewelry 'should' look. I'm working on a necklace or bracelet or something, and I realize that it needs something that I inevitably, don't have, like a big fancy clasp or a certain kind of bead. And since we're all trying to spend less these days, I don't just go out and buy it. But occasionally, my creative process manages to muscle its way past the 'gag reflex' of preconceived notions of what's 'supposed to happen', and that's when magic can happen.

I once made an asymmetrical necklace design using multiple strands of quartz crystal connecting to a single strand of larger crystal beads, by what was a large round clasp as a focal point in the original design.  Well, I didn't have a large round clasp, and the clasp I substituted wasn't working as the focal. Then I realized, the necklace doesn't need a large round CLASP, just a large round ELEMENT to be the focal point! So I pulled out a frosted black glass ring to contrast with all that icy quartz.

Another time, I had some leftover beads strung, but it wasn't long enough to be a whole bracelet. Instead of letting it sit in my 'unfinished jewelry' drawer for months or years, waiting for inspiration to strike, I had inspiration just then: I attached a large double spiral in wire to each end, with a matching clasp end hooking to one side!

A few nights ago, I pulled out some beads that had slightly broken tops. I'd been intending to stitch some beaded bead caps to cover the broken bits and make them usable. They'd been sitting in my drawer for a while because I don't LIKE beaded caps; they're much more bother than they should be, and I'm rarely quite happy with the result. Suddenly inspiration hit: instead of gluing a tiresome beaded cap onto the bead, I could glue on bits of chain wrapped around the top! Much more elegant and far simpler than messing around with bead pattern decreases.

Mark your calendars!

 
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Ladykiller Lava

A while ago I had a dream about a vague design involving black lava spears, ruby red glass and chainmail. (It also involved Iron Man hanging naked from a helicopter doing something heroic, but let's not get distracted, shall we? Besides, it was from really far away so you can't really see anything in terms of nudity.) When I woke up I set to work figuring out the exact design, and this is what turned out. Slinky silver chainmail 'flames' set off by red glass drops and showcasing the inverted teardrop shape of the black lava beads. I love these beads, and have only a few of them left. Got two strands of them at a bead shop a few years ago, and haven't been able to find them since. Someday...

Southwestern Werewolf

Take your gaze off the alert-eyed bartender, look past the unkempt long-haired man-boy--you needn’t fear the shotgun he so casually carries. See the woman in the back of the bar, lazily drinking Jack Daniels in her charcoal jeans and silk top? Yeah, that’s her. She scans the place for two specific people, absentmindedly fingers the beads in her necklace given to her by friends. Turquoise to signify the land to which she is uniquely tied, pearls for transformation, and a mother-of-pearl disk that quietly proclaim to anyone in the know, that she is a werewolf.
Settling back, she awaits the arrival of the two hunters with whom she will meet…

Background drawing used with permission from Indigo Tallcake of Frackin' Hackeysack blog.

Ivory Diamond and Calibrated Cabs

I've recently made several 30mm premium shimmerstone cabochon. One of them was this ivory-sparkle cabochon. I surrounded it with a copper-lined AB Czech seed bead bezel and finished it with a right-angle weave bail.
I LOVE the premium shimmerstones! They're so easy to bead with, having a more shallow dome than the regular shimmerstones, and being uniform in size and shape I can glue them into findings instead of having to search for just the right size/shape. In fact, I'm seriously considering switching over entirely to the calibrated shimmerstones in my ParadoxMoxie supply shop, eventually phasing out the uncalibrated kind except by special request.

In fact, if I were to switch entirely to premium shimmerstones, that would mean a wider selection of sizes and shapes--ovals, rounds, teardrops, sometimes even fancier shapes such as diamonds, squares and hearts!
Ok, I've convinced myself. I'm going to do it!