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! ;)

Idylle

Idylle, which is French for 'romance', is my latest beadwoven creation. A romantic, lacy, Olde Worlde necklace in shades of lilac and cream.

This is a great example of how one idea can lead to another. The beaded beads and pendant in my "Vintage Rose" necklace inspired me to push those ideas further to see what I could create. And this is the result, variations on the same theme but a completely different outcome:

Detail of the floral motifs (they are identical front and back, so the reverse side of my necklace is just as pretty as the front):

Detail of the floral clasp. As usual, I wanted it to blend in with the rest of the design:

I hope you explore some variations in your own work. We all need a good dose of 'What if...?' occasionally. You never know what it will lead to! ;)

Sea glass pendant

It has been a long, long three months without my precious beads. How happy my hands were to rediscover beadweaving after such an arduous absence! Life is once again returning to a steady, familiar rhythm, and so I am able to bead. Joy!

My latest humble offering is pendant of sea glass hanging from a simple twisted tubular herringbone necklace.

Have you ever wandered along a beach and collected a piece of tumbled glass which has been washed upon the shore? It has been a favourite ritual of mine since I was a child. There is something enchanting about these remnants of times and places unknown, offered up by the sea and carved by Mother Nature. Not knowing where they have come from, nor how long they have been tumbled by the ocean, is an enticing mystery.

This particular piece of green sea glass had a story to tell and so I had to give her a fitting home in which to tell it.

I added a simple fringe, reminiscent of coral or seaweed.

I purposefully left the back of the pendant open. When backlit, the glass gives off a beautiful green glow.

A simple toggle with three square-stitched rings makes the length of the necklace adjustable.

I encased the sea glass with right angle weave and peyote stitch. The openness of the RAW lets the glass receive light from all angles.

My sea glass necklace is making it's way to a lovely lady who has been a family friend since I was a child. She is one of the most vibrant and generous people I have ever known, and her heart is as big as her smile :) She spent countless hours making a gorgeous cot quilt for my daughter and so I wanted to repay her with a small token of my gratitude. This particular piece of sea glass was found on the beach very near to her home, and so I feel it needs to be with her. I hope she likes it :)

Neglectful

Sometimes I'm convinced that my life exists in a time warp. How else can two weeks vanish in the blink of an eye? Time has never really been on my side, and that seems to be becoming ever more apparent as I grow older.

So what have I been up to in the last few weeks (aside from neglecting my blog)?

A little bit of boating...

Our 17 month old daughter, India, playing Skipper

And a little bit of beading...

An as yet unfinished and unnamed botanical experiment created with RAW (right angle weave)...perhaps "Belindaflora Bigbellyus" would be appropriate?

I finally got my lazy pregnant butt into gear and also started working on my piece for the Dutch Spiral challenge on the Beading Forum. In a moment of beading madness, I decided that it would be a good idea to bead a 3-dimensional tulip.

Have I ever made a 3-dimensional flower before? No.

Have I ever beaded a tulip before? No.

I know the point of a challenge IS to challenge oneself, but sheesh, why do I always set the bar so high?

A tulip is one of those deceptively simple shapes. I thought it was going to be a breeze, but I was kidding myself. Did you ever have to draw a dolphin at school? You think, "A dolphin is a simple shape, how hard can it be to draw?" The answer is HARD! Unless you get the lines and the proportions just so, you end up with a creature which looks more like a hotdog with fins than a dolphin.

I was having the same problem with my beaded tulip. I estimate that I spent more hours unpicking stitches than I did actually stitching them. After a number of prototypes, I think I'm finally on track. My 3D tulip is looking more like a tulip and less like a deflated umbrella having a crisis of identity.

I attempted my first sample of dutch spiral last night and, much to my surprise, I really like it. If it weren't for the challenge, it would no doubt be yet another stitch on my 'must try that one day' list.

In other news, my darling friend Sharon of Mana Moon Studios has bestowed a lovely new award upon me and I haven't had a chance to blog about it yet. I'm sorry Sharon, I haven't forgotten! There is a really nice sentiment behind this award so I will dedicate a whole post to it :)