Don't the great tales never ends?

And apparently, neither do some of the not-so-great-ones. Like the story of this favourite pendant of mine.

It started in 2014, when I made the pendant (how and why, you can read it in this post). It was really precious for me because of two reasons: I thought at this time, this was the apex of my beading "career", I 'll never be able to create something more complicated. Plus, it was special for me, because it was inspired by a tale (the story of Lúthien) which was always close to my heart. (well, in a depressed-and-rebellious-teenager period I had preferred the story of the children of Húrin to the Lay of Leithian, but that's only natural, isn't it?)

OK, back to the topic. The story continued in 2017, when I finally made a matching ring to the pendant (introduced in this post). I was really satisfied with the outcome, but then...


...while I was proudly wearing them together for the first time,  snap! the thread in the pendant broke, and it began to fall apart. I had to dismantle the whole thing cautiously in order to not loosing any beads. Seriously, it was a heartbreaking labour.
And even worse, I had to realize that I may not to remake it, because I couldn't recall any more, how it was made originally. The thread-path was so complicated, that while I was ripping it up, I wasn't able to understand and recreate it.
The situation looked rather hopeless.  Was it true, that "for the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may accomplish but once only, and in this deed his heart shall rest"? Was maybe this pendant that once-only-deed in my life (me belonging definitely in the category of the least of the lesser...)?! A very disheartening thought.

But no, it just cannot be! -  thought I almost two years later. After all, it's just a friggin' little beaded pendant, not a magical jewel containing unsullied divine light whatsoever... So I took the beads that were since then respectfully stored in a box, and started to make a second version, which imitated closely the first one in look, but not in technique. The result: a pendant made from the beads of the original that looks almost like the original, although the thread-path is totally different (but who would tell it?)
So my special pendant was reborn, "recalled from the death", so to speak.  A very fitting end, if we consider, whose story inspired it originally :)

Could you tell the difference between the old and the new?

Shiny crystals reloaded

Flashback time again...

The "silver crystal" used as a pendant

Two years ago I made a necklace inspired by the Sailor Moon-series for a design contest. (you can read about it in this post) The necklace was shiny, cute and fitted the theme well (imho), but to tell it frankly, was also way too flamboyant, multicoloured and flashy for everyday wearing (or even for special occasions). So I take it to pieces, and decided to use the compontens for different, more wearable pieces of jewellery. For example the focal piece (the "silver crystal") became a single pendant which I regularly wear since then.

The original version

But somehow, I grew to like the original design (it sat so nicely on my neck... I have no idea, how is this type of necklaces are called - collar? collier? carcanet?), so in this spring I decided to gave it another go. Since the focal was gone, I made another one - one with the same star-shape as the other components, and this time I used gold-coloured seedies for the connections too, so the overall look was more coherent, than in the first version. The silk ribbons were also omitted (I liked them, but they weren't safe enough for a closure), but their silky shine is echoed by the Swarovski imitation pearls I now used for the connections instead of the clear crystals. For the closure I chose a rose-shaped clasp  - so I you wish, now besides the Sailor girls, Tuxedo Mask too is represented here ;) Even if this rose is silver and not red...

Late snowdrops

"Just a bit" late... but unfortunately, I totally forgot to show these earrings.
In every year it is a great joy for me to discover the first little snowdrops in a garden after a long, grey, dreary winter. Sadly, these graceful flowers wither all too quickly to give way for the more colourful celandines, violets, dandelions etc., so I tried to immortalize their shy beauty.
It was actually a looooong project, I started it three years ago, but my first tries were really misshapen and clumsy. In this March, however, came the "Heureka!"-moment: two types of peyote (circular for the core and flat for the petals) shall be combined for a lifelike result.

Rings

Three rings - but no, not that Three. At least not here. Not today. But who knows, what are hiding in my UFO-box... ;) Nevertheless these now aren't without some tolkienian allusions either - well, that's me, it can't be helped... 

But it had started in a totally different way...

I designed this element (a kind of bezelled chaton) originally as a  part of a bigger project, but I thought it would work well as a ring too. Not too big, not too small, just the perfect size :)
And these new "Iridescent Tahitian look" Swarovski imitation pearls combined with "Erinite" and "Pacific opal" crystals are really a match made in heaven - they look so lovely together!

 Of course, I wanted to try the pattern in  different colorways too, and since I've got so many coppery-reddish beads, this ring was born next. The picture doesn't really show it, but the chaton in the middle is "crystal red magma", while the bicones are "garnet". And having already some reddish pendants, this one now became a ring.

 So, here I was with these two rings, while re-reading the last chapters of The Silmarillion... and I realised how their colours, sea-green and lava-red actually mirror the fate of the last two Silmarils. It wasn't deliberate, I swear... it just happened. But after realizing it, I naturally couldn't resist making a third one...

...one in sky-blue with lots of sparkling crystals.

"And thus it came to pass that the Silmarils found their long homes: one in the airs of heaven, and one in the fires of the heart of the world, and one in the deep waters."

(The Silmarillion, Chapter 24. Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath)

Sure enough, these rings are just plain, simply thingies, not really fitting to this topic in style and "grandeur", so to speak. They are just the result of a sudden idea based on a coincidence, that's all. But telling the truth, I already have plans (and purchased beads) for a more elaborate rendition of this theme...

The Sugar-plum Fairy

 When I made a little ballerina as a "partner" for my Nutcracker-doll, I already started to think about to make a new character of that ballet: "la Fée Dragée" aka the Sugar-plum Fairy. Now, here she is!

(Oh well, with this hair she looks a tiny-weeny bit like Kusanagi Motoko from Ghost in the shell - Stand Alone Complex...)

That awkward moment, when you have more earrings than ears...

Mr Fox

 A little fox pin for my fox-adoring sister. Unfortunately, it has a mistake - that's why one should always keep the printed pattern at hand - even it's a self-designed pattern and you think you remember it well enough...

"Grey is her raiment; and rest is her gift"

Last summer I made a matching bracelet to my soft grey pendant (it was one of my experiments with the "Freiheit"-pattern). The elements are basically the miniaturised version of the pendant - well, at least the base is proportionally downscaled (the pendant had a 12 mm focal with 8 mm beads, so I used for the bracelet 6 mm focals with 4 mm beads), but the embellishing row is almost the same in both cases.

Back then I had said, how the ready pendant with its soft grey colour reminded me of Este* the Gentle, "healer of hurts and weariness", one of the Valier.
When I was reading The Silmarillion for the first time, I was  a ten-years-old little bookworm, interested in mythologies and legends, so it's only natural that I was totally fascinated by the Valaquenta. It was for me a new, interesting "pantheon" to learn, after all that Greek, Roman, Norse and whatnot myths. And sure enough, I tried to find paralels, like "So, Manwe is the king, is in charge for air and wind, and has eagles. Than he is basically like Zeus/Iuppiter. But Manwe is at least nice, while Zeus was rather an a**hole..." That's how a little schoolgirl, who has never heard about comparative religion studies, interprets it XD
At this stage I found Este rather uninteresting. Grey dress, slumbering in a garden: how boring is it! - so had thought the naive, impatient young child, who preferred great heroes, beautiful maidens and majestic queens. But now the tired, stressed adult revaluates all her former opinions, and admits she was wrong all along... Aren't Este's gifts the most precious, after all? Worthier than gems and jewels, maybe even than power, valour or knowledge...


*No, I stilll don't know how to write those two dots above the letter "e", which should be used in some Elvish names. It's an awkward situation, since normally I'm a terrible combination of a grammar nazi and a book purist, and can be really fussy about orthography and respecting above all the author's intention... But this case is the only exception, sorry ^.^"

Playing with PRAW

I couldn't stop after making the little cubes (shown in the previous entry). First came a dice...

 PRAW (especially its 6-based version) is just perfect for mimicking the strict but graceful geometry of snowflakes...

Christmas commissions

After seeing my jewellery (which can't be avoided, since I wear them every day), my colleague wished to buy /order some beadwork from me as Christmas presents for her daughters. I showed them some of my stash to choose, but she had own ideas too.

1) Seeing my  bronze necklace, she asked whether I could make a similar one - only in deep green, if possibly (her daughter is blonde with greenish eyes). Sure, I said... But who had been thought that finding deep green beads in the fitting sizes is so difficult a task... I started to think that green is an accursed colour in beading....

 2) My try with Nóra Tóth's "Zinga" pattern , with very simple colour choice. I made it without a special purpose, and it was just lying around in my stash - but now luckily it found a new home.

3) These earrings were a bit challenging, but really fun to make. The problem was that I hadn't remembered clearly my colleague's instructions. The request was a little cube-shaped earring "in yellow, orange or red" - or did she said rather "yellow, orange and red"?  I wasn't sure, so I went for the latter version...

They're are little "unfilled" cubes, all edge consisting of 5 CRAW units made with 15/0 seed beads. (So basically, a cube made from cubes. Cubeception XD)
If you think abut it, CRAW is actually three-dimensional in itself, but earlier I used it mainly for two-dimensional projects like the "celestial" set from the previous entry (OK, except for Maria's little crown). But these now, they're really 3D!

I've got no idea for a fitting title... :)

Well, I really don't know, what to do... Cannot decide, whether I should carry on with this blog, after abandoning it for months.  But until I make up my mind, I'll try to post some projects from last year I have now deemed worth showing (they'll came as pre-prepared timed entries in the following weeks) - will they be the start of a new beginning? Or a farewell? Don't know...

 "Purple haze"

My first and presumably last try with the color "Crystal lilac" from Swarovski. Looks lovely, but these newer colored coatings (Crystal Shiny Lacquer, and DeLite they're called, if I'm not mistaken) are not really my cup of tea. The pattern is a version of my "Freiheit" design, but I used here 6 mm round beads instead of 8 mms, so the result is smaller.

And why "purple haze"? It's not easy to explain in English, but in Hungarian we say "halványlila gőzöm sincs róla" (literally translated: I've got not even pale purple steam about this), when we have absolutely no idea about something. :)

When I made these sun-and-moon earrings, I already thought about making a matching necklace too - with stars, obviously, to complete the concept - but somehow I never had time for it.
But when I had bought this T-shirt last summer, there were no more excuses...