The Garland of Galatea

She is finally complete! My entry into the Beading Forum's monochromatic 'Rockpool' challenge was a labour of love over many weeks. I'm sad that she is finished, she was such a delight to create :-)

Using tones of teal and turquoise, I set about recreating rockpool creatures in tubular herringbone and peyote stitches, circular peyote stitch, and simple fringing. Each creature is three-dimensional and was created as I stitched, none of my designs were pre-planned. Experimenting and playing brings about unexpected and delightful results!

The finished necklace looked like it would be at home adorning the neck of a sea nymph. Galatea was a sea nymph in Greek mythology and one of the Nereides, 50 nymph-goddesses of the sea. And so "The Garland of Galatea" was born...

Detail photos of various urchins and anemones:

Detail of the toggle clasp, a miniature urchin!

Detail of some of the starfish:

As each creature is dimensional and individually fabricated, I took my time ensuring that the reverse side was as attractive as the front! Here is a photo of the reverse side of the necklace, and detail photos of the reverse sides of some of the urchins and starfish:

If you managed to make it through all of the photos without your computer self-destructing, I applaude you! And I welcome your comments :-)

Now that she is finally complete and I'm 39 weeks pregnant, I guess I should start thinking about giving birth... LOL

Bump, bump, bump

Some bump, eh? Almost large enough to bead off, I reckon ;-)

This photo was taken last Monday. Today I'm 38 and a half weeks pregnant...and even bigger! Amazing how much a baby grows in the last few weeks. I think he's finally running out of room though. If he grows any larger, I'll need to be carted around in a wheelbarrow.

Despite the lack of blog posts this month, I've been madly working away on a necklace for the latest challenge on the Beading Forum. I figure that after *Nemo* arrives, I won't have much time for beading so I'm making the most of it while I can! The theme is 'Rockpool' and the piece must be monochromatic, which is a challenge in itself.

I'm hoping to have my necklace finished by the weekend, or early next week at the latest. And if I'm really lucky, the sun might actually come out long enough for me to take some photos for your viewing pleasure.

I've convinced myself that *Nemo* will stay put until I've finished. My legs will be tightly crossed until then!

On a lovely sidenote, I've been bestowed with a "One Lovely Blog Award" by the lovely Julz ! Thank you Julz, you are such a sweetie for thinking of me ♥

Something for me

I don't wear a whole lot of jewellery. A pair of simple earrings every now and then, if I'm lucky. As a piece of jewellery and a toy are basically one and the same to an inquisitive (read: destructive) 19 month old, my daughter's curiosity prevents me from wearing any of my more elaborate creations. So something simple and wearable was the order of the day.

Following much the same formula as Mum's necklace (see previous post), I whipped up this dainty little number for myself from Czech seedies, pressed glass leaves, glass drops and rondelles, and Czech fire polished beads:

It is very basic, nothing too fancy. But it is wearable. And I'm rather happy with the floral clasp, it holds very well so there is no worry that the necklace will inadvertently fall off.

My love affair with herringbone stitch continues. What a versatile little stitch it is, I can't believe I didn't learn it sooner.

*Again, my apologies for the sub-standard photos...we'll be back home in Sydney next week and I'll have the light studio and digital SLR camera at my disposal once again.