Saturday, June 27, 2009

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

19 comments:

  1. Wow, B!!
    What an amazing amount of work that has gone into this piece of art! It's absolutely beautiful, but I wouldn't expect anything less! Beautiful colours, texture, balance. Its all there. GORGEOUS!!!♥♥♥

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  2. Oh what a beautiful piece!! It´s so wonderful!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. You are so funny! Your new piece is simply beautiful.
    I hope you have an easy time at delivery. Babies and beads a great combination.

    Nicole/Beadwright
    http://beadwright.blogspot.com

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  4. Totally beautiful piece ... I'm speechless now. :)

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  5. Stunning work! Each element is amazing all by itself and whole piece is amazing!!!

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  6. This is truly incredible! Absolutely gorgeous and a sure winner.

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  7. Thanks Margie! It was many hours in the making, but I loved every minute :)

    Thank you Nicole! I agree that babies and beads are a good combination ;) hehe

    Ginja Girl, each creature is basically a variation of herringbone and peyote stitches...nothing too difficult! Lots of fun to play around with though, endless combinations are possible ;)

    Thank you for the lovely comments Eveline, Maryanne and Janie!

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  8. Belinda,
    I waited ages to see the pics in the forum, but my connection is super slow tonight. I'm glad you said the pics were also in your blog. So worth checking out. I love the 3d shapes. The colours are so soothing and beautiful. I love this one so much. Great effort, especially as you're expecting. Bravo. ;-)

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  9. è incredibile!!!!!!!!!!!!

    bella bella bella e tu sei brava brava brava brava brava

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  10. ola
    que peça linda !
    nao me lembro de ver uma bijuteria tao bonita e tao criativa a tanto tempo!!
    simplesmente fantastica linda linda!!
    beijos

    Béa

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  11. Thank you so much, Heather! Sorry the photos took so long to load, I tried to make them as small as possible without losing all of the detail :)

    Thank you Rosalba!

    Thank you for the lovely comments, Bea! :)

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  12. Oh my word!! This has to be the most exquisite work I have ever seen!!! Seriously!! You're just amazing and constantly out do your previous creations, WOW!!

    So when are you opening that Etsy shop?? ;-D

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  13. Just stopping by to check on your progress. I hope you're doing well and hopefully too busy enjoying your new son to blog. ;-) Hugs♥

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  14. Amazing piece! JUST amazing! Yesterday one of my Russian friends ask me - to ask you - how you created such an outstanding piece of jewelry! So, how? Your advice? :)

    I think, that's to early for you to have a rest, it's enough time to design and make a couple more pieces like that! :)

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  15. Simply beautiful, will enjoy following your blog and seeing what else you create!

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  16. Wow, Girl. This is just absolutely stunning.

    I dunno if you ever make Tutorials, but i would ABSOLUTELY adore, love, beg of you please please please to do a tutorial for each of your little creature-types. I would just be crazy insane excited if you would do that. I want to learn how to make your little sea-creature peoples, they are so adorable. I have really really been wanting to do a starfish or sea creature themed peice so this was just so fun to see.

    I really wanna know how you dod the big starfish, so cute, gaaah! So lovely. It makes me crazy. Seriously.

    Please please please make a tutorial. My email is sachiaiko@gmail.com if you ever do.

    Thanks, and congrats on the little one :)~

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  17. Wow this is very impressive!
    Nice nice work!

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  18. Gorgeous necklace, in my favorite colors! Congrats on the new Imac, I have the same computer and I love it! :)

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment!

B.
-xo-