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

Bump, bump, bump

Some bump, eh? Almost large enough to bead off, I reckon ;-)

This photo was taken last Monday. Today I'm 38 and a half weeks pregnant...and even bigger! Amazing how much a baby grows in the last few weeks. I think he's finally running out of room though. If he grows any larger, I'll need to be carted around in a wheelbarrow.

Despite the lack of blog posts this month, I've been madly working away on a necklace for the latest challenge on the Beading Forum. I figure that after *Nemo* arrives, I won't have much time for beading so I'm making the most of it while I can! The theme is 'Rockpool' and the piece must be monochromatic, which is a challenge in itself.

I'm hoping to have my necklace finished by the weekend, or early next week at the latest. And if I'm really lucky, the sun might actually come out long enough for me to take some photos for your viewing pleasure.

I've convinced myself that *Nemo* will stay put until I've finished. My legs will be tightly crossed until then!

On a lovely sidenote, I've been bestowed with a "One Lovely Blog Award" by the lovely Julz ! Thank you Julz, you are such a sweetie for thinking of me ♥

Something for me

I don't wear a whole lot of jewellery. A pair of simple earrings every now and then, if I'm lucky. As a piece of jewellery and a toy are basically one and the same to an inquisitive (read: destructive) 19 month old, my daughter's curiosity prevents me from wearing any of my more elaborate creations. So something simple and wearable was the order of the day.

Following much the same formula as Mum's necklace (see previous post), I whipped up this dainty little number for myself from Czech seedies, pressed glass leaves, glass drops and rondelles, and Czech fire polished beads:

It is very basic, nothing too fancy. But it is wearable. And I'm rather happy with the floral clasp, it holds very well so there is no worry that the necklace will inadvertently fall off.

My love affair with herringbone stitch continues. What a versatile little stitch it is, I can't believe I didn't learn it sooner.

*Again, my apologies for the sub-standard photos...we'll be back home in Sydney next week and I'll have the light studio and digital SLR camera at my disposal once again.

Mother, Mother...

Here's a little something I whipped up for my lovely Mum as a gift for Mothers Day. Nothing says 'I love you' like some shiny new beads, thoughtfully and lovingly woven together! ;-)

I seem to have developed a new lust for herringbone stitch lately. As such, Mum's necklace is made almost entirely of tubular herringbone (and its variations) and simple fringing. Nothing too fancy, nor difficult, but it was a satisfying piece to put together.

And most importantly (and very much out of character for me!), it is actually WEARABLE! *gasp* I seem to have a penchant for making over-the-top, completely unwearable pieces...so I'm rather chuffed that I managed to muster enough self-restraint to make something Mum can wear often. Yay me :-)

It is made of Czech and Japanese seedies (sizes 11 and 15) in muted tones of cream and pastel blue and hematite, Czech pressed leaves and rondelles, and some gorgeous Czech fire polished beads.

Here she is:


Detail of the floral centrepiece:


The floral clasp (I was rather pleased with how this turned out):


More detail of the clasp (can you tell I like it?):

My apologies for the el-crappo photos, but I'm without my usual light studio and digital SLR whiz-bang camera...and have to make do with our el-crappo happy-snap camera until we're home again *sigh* The photos don't do justice to the gorgeous Czech fire-polished beads, etc.

This necklace doesn't have a name as yet, and I'm stumped...any suggestions?

Sunshine, relaxation...and beading

Almost a month between posts?! Eep. Must be that darn time warp again...

The title of this post pretty much sums up my life for the next four weeks. How lucky am I!

Our little family has made the trek north to Queensland (the self-proclaimed 'Sunshine State') for the next four weeks while my husband completes his endorsement on a new jet for work. Not able to bear the thought of being away from our man for the whole time, India and I decided to tag along and treat ourselves to a mini holiday. After all, life will be once again very hectic in, oooh, about seven weeks time when the house will be once again resounding with the noises of a newborn babe.

I managed to find some self-restraint and only pack one shoebox full of beads for the four weeks. Yeah, laugh it up. You and I both know I'll never use that many beads in four weeks! But I girl can never be too prepared, right?

And of course, I may just happen to run out of a particular type/colour of bead whilst we're here. And that would warrant a visit to the bead shop, no? ;-)

So whilst I'm not to game to head to the beach in my bikini (the sight of my bare, 33 week pregnant belly is enough to scare young children and the elderly folk...not to mention bowl them over), I'm enjoying relaxing in the sunshine, putting up my weary feet (cankles, anyone?), and beading whenever I get a spare moment.

I whipped up a little somethin' for my Mum for Mothers Day...stay tuned, photos will be posted soon!

Happy days

It has been one of those happy, happy days today...

I was delighted to receive the news that my 'Symphonie de Tulipes' won the popular vote in the Dutch Spiral challenge on the Beading Forum.

*chuffed*

This doesn't mean it is the best creation (how can there be a 'best' when each piece is beautiful and unique in it's own right?), nor the most technically challenging or well-crafted, nor the best suited to the theme. It just means that my peers like my work. One of those feel-good moments, to be sure.

Also, I passed my Boat Licence test this morning. So you can now address me as 'Skipper'. Heh ;-)

A typical sunset over the bay near home

Now, if only there were a way to combine beading and boating...

Symphonie de Tulipes

My Dutch Spiral Challenge piece is finally complete. Six weeks of learning, experimenting, hair-pulling, frustration, elation...phew!

I had never 'engineered' a piece as complex as this before, so it was a challenge on many levels but I thoroughly enjoyed (almost) every stitch. During the construction of this necklace, it became apparent how little I really knew about beadweaving. The learning curve has been steep, but satisfying. And the end result is a piece I can be proud of:

Symphonie de Tulipes

(Symphony of Tulips)

My 'Symphony' contains no less than six different beadweaving techniques...four of which I had never tried, and had to learn for this challenge:

*Brick stitch
*Odd-count peyote
*Tubular peyote
*Two-drop herringbone
*Tubular herringbone
*Dutch spiral

The necklace can be worn a number of different ways, thanks to a tubular peyote loop which slides up and down the tubular herringbone 'stems'. As above, or like this:

Or like this:

The entire piece laid out:

I spent many hours working on the design of my tulips. The jury is still out on whether they actually resemble tulips, but I'm fairly pleased with the end result as it was my first attempt creating dimensional flowers. I had fun experimenting with colour graduation, each tulip contains three different shades of seed beads. No two tulips are the same...each petal is different!

A close-up of the tubular peyote loop:

And the herringbone 'bell':

I was planning on making a beadwoven clasp, but simply ran out of time. Instead, I tapered off the dutch spiral ends using peyote stitch, and used a simple silver clasp. Voila!

If you managed to make it through all of those photos, you deserve a gold medal! Thanks for looking :)