Alexandra

The weekly challenge on the Beading Forum this week is 'Czarina'. Naturally, I had to enter! The word immediately conjured images of Russian royalty, decked out in glorious gold and regal purple.

Here is my interpretation...I have named her 'Alexandra', after the last Tsaritsa of Russia:

The curved components are created with herringbone and peyote stitch, and they are strung between glass pearls and glass teardrops:

I have always been a fan of wire wrapping, but have never ventured into that arena myself...until now! I am determined that 2010 is the year to learn, so I dug out my copy of Rachel Nelson-Smith's 'Seed Bead Fusion' (great book, cool chick) and made my first wire wrapped clasp using her easy-to-follow instructions. And here is the result:

The clasp is made with 20 gauge wire and wrapped with 32 gauge wire. I even made all of my own jumprings! (Funny how you start seeing everything as a possible mandrel when you begin wireworking... LOL) Here is a closer look (don't laugh, it was my first attempt at wire wrapping!):

Thanks for looking, and be well!

Sea Star necklace

When I first began beading (exactly two years ago!), I promised a good friend of mine that if I ever became any good at it, I would make her something. Two years is long enough, don't you think? I think I'm finally ready :)

She loves turquoise and she loves the sea, so I set about reinventing and revamping a starfish design from my Garland of Galatea necklace using delicas and size 15 seed beads.

Here is my offering to her, a Sea Star necklace in turquoise and copper (which, by the way, is my latest colourway obsession...):

I have recently learnt that an extender chain comes in very handy when you don't know a person's exact neck measurement! LOL

Detail of the starfish pendant:

And detail of the twisted herringbone rope...just because it looks pretty :)

I'm hoping to offer a free tutorial for my starfish design sometime this year...if I can convince my wonderful husband to buy me a Macbook and Photoshop *grin* Should I start a petition? *wink*

Thanks for looking and be well!

Earrings galore

I just can't get enough of earrings at the moment. There is something so satisfying in weaving together a handful of beads and creating something wearable within an hour or two. Now that's what I call instant gratification!

I thought these creole hoops were interesting as soon as I saw them. I had lots of fun bringing them to life by weaving my tiny beads around them.

These 'starfish' were supposed to be part of a necklace, but I changed my mind about including them. Too cute to throw in my box of 'naughty bits', I whipped them up into a pair of earrings. Voila!

And finally, some very simple right angle weave and netted earrings in yummy shades of chocolate and cream. Good enough to eat! ;)