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! :)

Forget-Me-Not bracelet

Ok, now that I've gotten the crud out of the way, we can get to the good stuff.

Forget-Me-Not was my first real attempt at creating a piece using seed beads...and my very first original design! And just quietly, I'm still rather chuffed with this little number which I whipped up over a couple of late nights with next-to-no experience under my belt *wink* Hell, I had NO idea what I was making until it was made! That seems to be a common theme in my work these days...hmmmm...

It evolved from a $2 packet of lime and teal (ok, blue and green) el-cheapo seed and bugle beads. I was up late one night and wanted to 'play' so I began to ladder stitch some of the bugles together (not even knowing what ladder stitch was at that point), and thought, "Hmmm, this would make a nice bracelet"...so I made a strip long enough to fit around my wrist. The fringing came next, differing lengths with a teal (ok, BLUE!) picot on every tip. I made a peyote circle for one half of the toggle, and used an el-cheapo plastic flower bead for the other half. The bracelet was complete but looked rather dull, so I decided some blue daisies would brighten it up and add the right amount of 'cute'. And voila, my first ever seed bead design was born!

My inspiration was a challenge which was titled "Bead Me A Garden" on the Beading Forum (my regular online haunt and a fabulous place for like-minded beady people...see link thatta way ------------>). God knows why I thought my little bracelet was worthy of a challenge (I must have still been on a high from designing and creating my first seedy piece...or I was just delusional from lack of sleep - a newborn baby will do that to you).

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that I actually received votes!!! FOUR WHOLE VOTES!!! Complete and utter strangers actually LIKED my bracelet!!!

That was all the encouragement I needed. With my head full of ideas, my heart full of pride and my ego full of beads, I haven't looked back since. It was the beginning of a love affair...

Oh yeah, here are the pics:






Tried some fancy photography here...a half-burnt piece of firewood never looked so good...