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...

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...

Sailor Saturn jewelry (sort of)

I have already beaded a sun, moons and stars, and I was pondering what other celestial objects could be made. Planets were an evident choice, but I wanted something more spectacular. Well then, planets with rings? Saturn? Oh, that's right, Sailor Saturn has some cute earrings, doesn't she? So the idea was born. (After all, I quite liked her, although my absolute favourite senshi is Pluto. But since I don't have dark red beads, her jewelry isn't included in my short-term plans).

The planets themselves were not that tricky - a small peyote beaded bead plus the ring made with square stitch. The problem was the dangling part - it should have been a 3-dimensional, longish object, but I couldn't bead something similar, so at the end simply added big glass beads.

Then I decided to make a matching necklace too - but somehow I was convinced that the pendant on her choker is an eight-pointed star (similar to her brooch), so I made it that way. Only after finishing it came to my mind to check some reference pictures... Well, in the new anime it has indeed eight rays (but longer ones), while in the original anime only six, so my version is rather a mixture of the two...

Just an other senseless project by me... Somewhere deep inside I know that spending so much money on beads for unwearable, useless, weird-looking jewelry is stupid irresponsibility :( But it's so hard to resist the temptation of a challenge...

As mentioned earlier, I've been watching Sailor Moon, which naturally had an inspirational effect on me from the aspect of beading. Y'know, seeing jewelry and crystals of every sort can really inspire one for beading something shiny or cute...

For example while I was watching the first season, where pratically everybody was searching for the Silver Crystal, I obviously felt urged to buy some "crystal silver shade" Swarovskis and make a pendant. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. Actually finding beads in this colour was almost as difficult as finding that crystal itself in the story - I tell you, at the end I could totally sympathise with Beryl & Co... And being obstinate enough, after running around in the city for hours, visiting at least seven shops,  then browsing in different webshops (which I normally don't do), I finally have gathered the desired materials.
Creating the pendant wasn't either an easy task, I had to tear it down three-four times in order to find the best solution - but I'm now pretty satisfied with the result :)






The problem was that I couldn't stop at this point... When I saw the May Design Challenge by Facet Jewelry, I... well, I failed miserably. Few years ago I already vowed not to enter any contests again (because why should I waste beads, time and energy, when I've no chance at all?), but now my conceited, competitive, childish self proved stronger.
I decided to enter the challenge, but well, for a contest one must create something spectacular and extravagant... a simple pendant weren't enough.
I thought that Sailor Moon could actually fit the theme "heroes & villains" - maybe I was mistaken, dunno... Of course they must rather meant Western superheroes, but I'm cosmopolitan ;)
After a lot of musing and planning I decided to make a piece of jewelry inspired by not only Sailor Moon herself, but by her friends and comrades too. So the each smaller element of the necklace represents a Sailor Senshi (inner or outer), made in the signature colours of her outfit (skirt, bow, tiara gem), while the focal piece symbolises the Silver Crystal, thus representing Sailor Moon. I used silk ribbons for the ends - frankly I was just too lazy to make the collar long enough, but I think ribbons really fit the concept, don't you think?
Finding Swarovskis in matching colours was fun, but sometimes challenging - the result isn't perfect, but I sincerely hope not too bad, either...

Some closer pics:

Neptune & Uranus

Mars, Mercury

Venus, Jupiter

Saturn, Pluto

 Sailor Moon & Sailor Chibi Moon

And now? What shall I do with an uncomfortable (heavy and  edgy thanks to the bicones), almost untastefully multi-coloured, flashy necklace?
Sure, tearing apart and re-use it is the only sensible (if heart-wrenching) choice - I just wanted to show you in whole...

Még mindig nem unom... / Not yet tired of...

Nem, nem feledkeztem meg a múltkor mutatott gyöngyökről, csak éppen más projektek kötöttek le az utóbbi időben...

Mivel végre volt megfelelő színű delicám,  gondoltam, kipróbálom, milyen azzal megfűzve Eren kulcsa. (na meg mert végre itt az új évad, és awww, az az opening... *.*), Delicával tényleg jobb lett, mint anno 15/0 kásával, bár az is igaz, hogy a tökéletes megoldás a két gyöngyfajta kombinálása lenne (a négyzetes rész vékonyabb, legalábbis az általam használt referenciakép tanúsága szerint). Majd egyszer, talán... bár már két másik kulcs is szerepel a to-do-listámon ;)

No, I've not entirely forgotten about the lately shown crystal beads, only I was busy with other projects...

Because I've finally got delicas in the right colour (and because yay, season two is finally here!), I made a new version of Eren's key. It really looks better with delicas than with 15/0 seedies, but I guess combining the two bead types would give the perfect result. Well, maybe later... but I've already two other keys on my to-do-list ;)

Egy bizonyos pincekulcs végre elkészült / ein gewisser Kellerschlüssel ist endlich fertig :)

"...mein Freund, jetzt hier ist ein Sieg..." még ha pocsék is a kép :D

Érdekes, hogy mostanában a fangirl-énem már a gyöngyfűzésben is egyre jobban megmutatkozik :) Persze, korábban is inspiráltak az épp olvasott/nézett történetek, de inkább csak indirekt módon, pl. a színválasztás terén (például ez vagy ez)  Az elmúlt pár hónapban viszont egyre több konkrét tárgy, figura is született - a minionok, TIE-fighterek és BB-8 után ezúttal Eren kulcsa a Shingeki no kyojin c. animéből (itt egy kép róla) Na de miért is mondtam múltkor, hogy óriási kihívás, hiszen kb. mérethű, vagyis nem különösebben nagy darab? Hát éppen ezért, ugyanis a megfelelő méret érdekében 15/0 kásából készült... Ez már önmagában is nehezíti a dolgot, de ráadásul ez az arany gyöngy az átlagosnál kisebb lyukú, nekem viszont pont csak vastagabb damilom volt - szóval képzelhető, mennyit kellett küszködni vele... De véresre szurkált ujjakkal sem adtam fel  - végül is, Eren története pont arról szól, hogy mindig küzdjünk tovább ;) 

De amikor végre kész vagy magával a fűzéssel, és örülsz, milyen ügyes és menő vagy - aztán amint eldolgoznád a szálat, egy fontos ponton hopp, eltörik egy gyöngy és nincs nálad több abból a színből a pótláshoz... hát, az kb. ilyen  "eztnemhiszemelterohadékmiértpontvelemtörténikez" érzés volt... :)

Az enyéééém...

Eredetileg a húgomnak terveztem adni névnapjára (aki már évek óta mondogatta, milyen jó az AoT, csak eddig nem tudott rávenni, hogy nézzem meg), de amennyit küzdöttem vele, úgy döntöttem, ez bizony az enyém, nem adom senkinek (meg különben is, hibás lett...) 

...és a húgomé

De a húgom véletlenül meglátta, és teljesen odáig volt érte - szóval jó testvér módjára fűztem neki is egyet. Ezúttal másféle gyöngyöt használtam (ugyanúgy 15/0, de gondolom, másféle bevonatú, ezért nagyobb lyukú), amellyel meglepően könnyebben ment a munka, sőt, a korábbi kínlódás helyett kifejezetten élvezetes volt :D

Auf Deutsch unten... 

Sok kékeszöld és némi lila / Lots of sea-green and a bit of purple

Kipróbáltam, milyen lesz, ha peyote helyett square stitchcsel foglalom be a chatont - jól néz ki :)
I was testing how to bezel a chaton with square stitch instead of peyote - looks good, I like it :)

Egy ideje már nem hagyott nyugodni ez a lila-kékeszöld párosítás, most végre kipróbáltam egy jól bevált mintával - de új nyakláncmegoldással. Sajnos, így utólag kissé szerencsétlen ötletnek tűnik...  mármint túl élénk ahhoz, hogy igazán elegáns legyen, de hétköznapra meg talán túlzás a kristálygyöngyökkel és az organzaszalaggal :/ Legalábbis nekem így tűnik, lehet, hogy túl pesszimista vagyok...

This purple-green combination was tempting me for a long time - finally I tried it with a well-proved pattern. Alas, the result is not the best - I mean, because of the strong, contrasting colours it's not decent enough for an elegant occasion, but on the other hand it's too flashy and glamourous for average days :/ At least so it seems to me, maybe I look things too gloomy...

 

Próbálkozások makraméval / Macrame attempts

nyakpántok / chokers

 



Tutorial: Macrame School

Kellett egy passzoló fülbevaló ehhez a cuki baglyos ruhácskához. Azt inkább hagyjuk, hogy hugicám a magyar néphagyomány mely ominózus baglyára asszociált róla :P Pedig ő még csak nem is olvasott Gaura Ágnes-regényeket...

 

 

 

Morning grace

Emlékszem, a Princess Tutu c. anime openingjét (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEd4QS1PNKs) hallgattam közben, onnan a cím :) És végre nem bedugós fülbevalónak fűztem meg ezeket a pici virágocskákat...
I remember, I was listening to the opening song of the anime Princess Tutu, while working on this necklace, hence the name :) And finally, I used this little flowers not as stud earrings...