Showing posts with label shimmerstone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shimmerstone. Show all posts

Monday, January 3, 2011

Color challenge finals: The Pink Tablecloth

The Pink Tablecloth was tough in terms of colors--I had almost no colors in peach, light teal or gray, but I managed to scrounge up some materials without buying anything especially for the piece.
I started the design process by thinking about the lines of the painting--clean lines, some curved, some straight. I decided to model the piece after an old necklace design featuring a pendant inside a round wire frame, suspended from ribbons.




I dug out some fibers: light yellow chenille and fuzzy gray yarn, plus a strand of sky blue 11s spaced with 3mm amber glass beads, and a gray silk ribbon. Now for the fun part. I had a silver double-sided pendant bezel into which I glued a tiny round section of bead embroidery, done in blue, cream, charcoal and mustard seed beads, with a few milky yellow teardrops for textural interest.

On the other side, I put in a peach shimmerstone! Instead of a round wire frame, I made it rectangular to balance the flowing curves of the fibers. On the bottom I wrapped some pale pink chalcedony beads, and I connected the frame to the fibers with diamond-shaped links, from which hung sky blue crystal rivoli drops.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Judging is over, voting is closed and the WINNERS ARE IN!

So many beautiful entries to the Beaded Passion contest! It was tough to choose between the entries, but here we are. May I present the winners!


Best Entry: 'Lacy' by JewelryTales' Cynthia Newcomer showcases the artist's talent with manipulating beadwork's form into intricate filigree-like designs, far surpassing my own ability with the technique. One never runs out of new things to learn. Take a bow, Cynthia!

Most Unusual Entry: Fingal Frolics by Karyn. This is definitely a different kind of design! She says "I made all of the glass fused cabochons myself in my microwave kiln and the piece was stitched using a variety of seed beads and Swarovski crystals."


And the People's Choice by a landslide majority vote: Out of Africa by Debger! The patience it requires just to do a pendant with bead embroidery is impressive, and she's done an entire cuff! The variety of finishes give the safari colour scheme nice depth.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Fourth contest entry...


The Butterfly Wing Necklace by DeviantArt user UniquelyYours
What a way to combine the delicacy and sheen of butterfly wings, with the gleam and durability of glass? And then all that metalwork. This necklace is an achievement, to be sure.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

FoundHandmade.com


Ever heard of http://foundhandmade.com? Now you have! The site showcases the finest handmade goods, vintage pieces and exquisite supplies. This morning one of the pieces chosen for this showcase was the purple version of my 'Punk Angel' shimmerstone pendant. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37601921