My creative space...

It is well and truly Winter here.

There is a chill and a crispness in the air.  The trees everywhere are bare, the ground covered in sepia-toned leaves.  My two year old daughter likes to dance over and around the leaves, fluttering like a fairy...I can't help but stomp on them to hear that wonderful *crunch* when we go for our walks around the neighbourhood.

Whilst I enjoy the little treasures that this season has to offer,  I desperately miss the days of endless sunshine!  I have been craving warmth and sunshine and flowers...

Alas, my beaded flowers will have to suffice until Spring blooms again...

I have been working on some petite lilac blossoms...

...which will soon find their way into a petite necklace...

...with some petite gemstones...

They measure 3cm from petal tip to petal tip, and whilst I hate repetition, these little blooms are just begging to be clustered together en masse.

See what other creative people are up to today at Kirsty's blog.


Thanks for looking, and be well!

Ophelia earrings

I love creating earrings.  

They are a small enough project to provide almost instant gratification.

They give me the opportunity to test colourways, metals and materials on a small scale before commiting to a larger and more time-consuming project.

Oh, and I love wearing them too :-)

My 'Ophelia' earrings are one of my latest designs...

In shades of olive and sage, with antiqued brass findings and chain, they have a decidedly vintage look to them...just the look I was aiming for!

Ophelia was a character in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', and the subject of a number of paintings by John William Waterhouse...the name seemed just right for my romantic, vintage-look earrings...

There is a matching 'Ophelia' bracelet and necklace to come.  And the set will form part of a future collection that I have planned.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for looking, and be well!

Daffodil bracelet

When I looked at the date that I had begun this bracelet, I was horrified to see that it was waaaaay back in March.  Really?  Surely not!  How on earth could this have been sitting on my desk for the last few months, untouched and unfinished?  


I'll tell you how...


I procrastinate!  In fact, I procrastinate so much that I have procrastination down to a fine art!


But anyway, I digress.  I'm good at that too.


So here *finally* is my completed Daffodil bracelet.  

It's not everything that I had hoped for.  My creative vision didn't manifest into the beautiful bracelet I had envisaged... 

My stitching looks a little wonky in places, mostly due to the memory wire I used as a base for the bracelet.  It was not the best choice of armature...it is so darn springy that it holds its shape which in turn scrunches up my beadwork (but can I plead ignorance because it was my first time using memory wire?!)

But you know what...it doesn't have to be perfect.  It is only a first prototype.


I realise that creativity is a process, and that it may take me many prototypes to perfect a design and create something that I am really happy with.  


And although this design turned out to be a dud, I'm very happy with the daffodil itself.  So Daffodil Mk. II is already underway in a lighter, softer colourway (see here for a sneak peek).  And Daffodil Mk. II will not be a bracelet, but a necklace.


And this time I'm skipping the memory wire.


Thanks for looking, and be well!

My creative space...

It has been a busy and productive week, with a few new projects to show...but more of that later.


Here is my creative space today...I'm working on a variation of a daffodil bracelet which I showed a little while ago and have only just completed...(I just checked the date of that post...eek, it was back in March! *ashamed*)

To give you an idea of scale, I've thrown a five cent piece into the photo (of course, this will only make sense to my Australian readers! LOL)

The aforementioned *completed* daffodil bracelet will be making an appearance here soon.  Stay tuned!


Head on over to Kirsty's blog to see what other goodies are being created today.


Thanks for looking, and be well!

My creative space...

Thursday comes around so quickly!


Time to take a peek at what is going on in my creative space today...


I'm working on a variation of my Idylle necklace in shades of olive and cream...

Unlike my first effort which utilised glass beads in a gorgeous shade of lilac, this variation is being created with luscious Swarovski crystal pearls in light green.  

The double St Petersberg chain (which I am yet to make!) will feature tiny 3mm Swarovski crystal pearls in cream.  


This is my first time using Swarovski crystal pearls and I am so impressed with the quality, they have a really nice weight to them.  And they look ultra-luxxe!


Pop on over to Kirsty's blog to see what other goodies are being created today.


Thanks for looking, and be well!

Morocco Blue

Inspiration is everywhere.  And nothing inspires me more than colour!  Combine colour with architecture though, and my mind goes into overdrive!

Aptly named the 'Morocco Blue' pendant, my latest creation was inspired by the famed city of Chefchaouen in Morocco, where the buildings are all painted in the most vibrant blue tones.  An inspiring sight!

Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pejmanphotos/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I wanted this pendant to tell a story of Morocco, of blue-washed buildings, of intricate mosaics.  I love jewellery that transports you to another time and place...

Although cobalt seems to be my favourite colour of the moment, next I am imagining this pendant in shades of saffron, terracotta, olive, tangerine...a tale of spice merchants in a busy marketplace!

Thanks for looking, and be well!

My creative space...

Wow, Thursday again...already?!


Last Thursday's creative space necklace and earrings set is finished and winging its way to its new owner as we speak.  But more of that in another post. 


Time to peek inside my studio to see what I'm working on today...


This custom order began with bead soups I mixed together in shades of white, emerald, aquamarine and sapphire (to represent the birthstone colours for the months of March, May, June and September...a sweet sentiment, don't you think!)...

The aforementioned bead soups are being woven into a beautiful freeform bracelet:

I love these colours...so serene, tranquil...

To see what other artisans are creating today, head on over to Kirsty's blog.


Thanks for looking, and be well!

Solaris necklace...and another starfish

My latest custom orders have been shipped off to their new owners, and I'm still waiting with baited breath to find out whether they are happy with them.  The suspense is killing me!  I need to know that they love what I have created for them.  I need to know that I have read their minds correctly and have brought their vision to beaded fruition.


So whilst I'm waiting impatiently, I will show them here and ask what you think.


The client wanted a necklace to wear to the office.  She liked my 'Angelus' necklace but didn't want the large angel-like pendant hanging from the centre, and she wanted it in beige tones, not silver.  The result is a VERY simple necklace...so simple, in fact, that I had to ask my husband to tie my hands behind my back so I wouldn't embellish it anymore.  


Less is more, less is more, less is more...  


The Czech fire-polished beads in copper lustre add a little sparkle without being too over-the-top.  The finished necklace reminded me of rays of sunlight (ok, so you might need to squint your eyes...and use your imagination a little...), and so I have named her 'Solaris':

A sweet little seven year old is the recipient of the following necklace.  She loves the ocean and all its creatures, and turquoise is her favourite colour (well it is this week, but she reserves the right to change her mind...she is seven, after all).  So a starfish was in order.  But this starfish is different to my other starfish...because it has a backside!  It hangs from a looooong tubular herringbone rope so that the little darling can slip the necklace straight over her pretty head.  What seven year old wants to be fiddling with a clasp!  

I am still planning on offering a free tutorial for my starfish, particularly now that I have my swanky new 21.5 inch iMac complete with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and the works.  So I will try to squeeze it in somewhere between designing my website, fulfilling custom orders, creating new designs, entering competitions, looking after my two babies, loving my husband, cleaning the house, brushing my teeth... 


Did I mention that I've given up sleep?


Be well!

From Bead Soup to Bracelet

I'm constantly amazed by the versatility of beads.  They can be manipulated into any look that your mind can devise and your hands can create.  They can be uniform, or they can be organic...they can be precise, or they can be natural.

I find the natural, organic look of freeform beadweaving so appealing, but it is not something which comes naturally to me.  In fact, it makes me feel rather uneasy.  My brain seems to skip the 'free' and instead focus on the 'form'.  How can something that looks so natural, feel so UNnatural?

Having recently acquired the informative, inspiring and visually stunning 'Beaded Colorways' by Beverly Ash Gilbert, I set off on a journey of free-spirited discovery.  I enjoy pushing my creative buttons whenever possible, and this exercise pushed them unmercilessly!  My orderly brain fought the randomness every step of the way, but I got there in the end.  

I began with a pile of warm, earthy bead soup:

And ended up with a bracelet...'Whisper of Autumn':

Hmmm...

Thanks for looking, and be well!

Cerulean Sunset

Colour...it is something I have obsessed about from an early age. And it is often where I draw inspiration when beading.

The dynamic and clashy combination of cobalt and orange has been haunting me for a few weeks now. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I started other projects, but my mind kept wandering back to cobalt and orange. I had to create something. And 'Cerulean Sunset' was it.

We are treated to the most beautiful sunsets here in Western Australia. I never tire of watching the sun set over the water, Mother Nature always puts on the most glorious show. I wanted to capture a little of that magic in this necklace...the last arc of tangerine sun gleaming on the horizon, and the cerulean sky above fading into twilight...

I knew that getting the colour proportions just right was the key to the success of this piece. I hope I've nailed it.

It is a weighty necklace...the large cobalt fire-polished beads are 10mm across. Almost a whole strand went into this necklace!

For me, this piece was also as much about the negative space as the positive. The space between, as they say...

This is a detail photo of the reverse side of the necklace...it can be worn either way, depending on whether you like your orange BRIGHT or BRIGHTER ;-)

The clasp, in my usual style, is a continuation of the rest of the design:

There is so much fun in colour. I admire beadweavers such as Margie Deeb, Marcia DeCoster and Rachel Nelson-Smith for their fearless approach to using colour. When I grow up, I want to be just like them ;-)

Inject a little colour into your own designs...be bold, be brave! And don't forget to have FUN :-)

Thanks for looking, and be well!

Angelus

Tis the season...for making beaded gifts!

This necklace is winging it's way to its new owner as we speak, just in time for Christmas. I have named her 'Angelus' which is Latin for 'angel'...the central motif looked angel-like to me:

It was frustratingly difficult to take a decent photo of this piece. The twisted hematite bugle beads are so sparkly in real life, as are the crystal AB rondelles. Anyway, you get the idea:


Detail of the central 'angel-like' motif:

I wanted the double-sided toggle clasp to reflect the rest of the necklace design. And this is what I came up with. What do you think, does it work?:


The whole design came together so quickly, starting with the central motif, as if by magic. Don't you love it when pieces work that way! :)