Leaving the comfort zone

As you might have noticed, my colour palettes are not very creative: most of my beadworks are rather monochromatic, made in different shades of the same colour + an accent metallic colour. They aren't too creatively chosen either: to blue, violet, rose, burgundy, white, black and grey I always added silver;  reddish shades or topaz were paired with gold; and bronze accompanied cream, brown, purple or teal. Green was maybe the only colour that I've paired with all three metallics named above.

Well, that was a long introduction, but slowly I'm getting closer to the actual topic...

It started with a 8 mm "Crystal copper" rivoli, which I wanted to bezel with bicones and 15/0 seed beads (like here). I have already used bicones in this colour together with a "Crystal red magma" rivoli, and the result (the second pic there) was quite good, so I thought this pairing should also work well the other way around - that is, the copper rivoli with red magma bicones. Well, I was wrong: the effect was rather awful. 

So I tried to find bicones in my stash that look good with the copper rivoli: the solution was maybe obvious, but for my stubbornly monochromatic taste a bit unusual: the rivoli had an interesting greenish sheen from a certain view, so dark green bicones matched it really well. (They're called "Turmaline", as far as I know they're already discontinued, but years ago I was fortunate enough to find some) 

The next challenge was to find seed beads which harmonize with both colours. My first idea was gold, but they looked somehow lame together; bronze definitely didn't worked with the rivoli, copper could have been good, but I haven't had any of it... Silver or nickel, maybe? That seemed a weird idea at first, but then I saw a beautiful painting which proved that steel grey and red can look wonderful together, and that helped with the final decision. (Yes, it was again a painting by Jenny Dolfen. And yes, about a certain red-headed character... I'm hopeless ^.^")

Can you see the green sheen of the rivoli?

Winter

It has come at least, so after the fire here is some ice too ;)
The pattern is the same I've shown in december, but what a difference the colors can make...

Well, I'm sooo late again - this pendant was made actually around Christmas, I just hadn't time to show it :( 

Winter is the season for warm, comfy clothes too. And when you finally find them in the depths of the wardrobe, but realise that you haven't got matching jewelry - yet ;)

 I wanted a simple little pendant to my warm, burgundy-colored tunic, but I was then carried away... these burgundy beads were so beautiful, they needed more spectacular "companions" - the velvet ribbon and imitation pearls were just a perfect match! The result is maybe a bit too baroque, and certainly doesn't fit the style of the tunic, but at least it'll go well with laces and frilly blouses too :) 

Hm... "incroyable" fashion, and a little star-shaped flower... I've got an idea, where are my scarlet chatons? ;)

Some more fiery colours...

 This pendant is not a new one, it was made more than a year ago, but I had no idea, how should it be finished, so laid aside, and at the end I totally forgot about it. I found it now, and was really surprised, how nice it looks - it has such an interesting, three-dimensional shape, but unfortunately I couldn't recall, how it was achieved :( (The only thing I remember that I was watching Murdoch Mysteries while beading...). Neither have I an idea, why on earth had I chosen this colour back then. It's "Fireopal", a gorgeous, but definitely not a modest one.

Since I found the shape of the fire-pendant so interesting, tried to make something similar - I guess, the technique now used is quite different from the original, but the final result looks not bad... I think, I will make it in silver-white too, but now I was rather in the mood for these coppery reds (which are normally not really my colours). Apparently I've spent too many time  fangirling about Jenny Dolfen's pictures of Maedhros again... XD

From the ashes...

Well, that was a long pause - but I'm alive, and I'm back :) Actually I wasn't that idle in the last weeks (regarding beading and other crafts, I mean), I was just too lazy for blogging about them.
And as for the title: fitting for this re-awakening, flames will spring indeed in this post ;) Well, not actual ones, but sort of...

The colours of fire... glowing, passionate reds, bright oranges and yellows, noble golden and copper - they are undoubtedly beautiful, but somehow not really my colours, in most cases I prefer cold hues.
But sometimes I can't resist, because there are so many gorgeous beads in this shades...

...like for example the new "Scarlet" colour by Swarovski. For me "Light Siam" was a bit too bright, and "Siam" althogh lovely, but for some projects already too dark . But this "Scarlet", it's just a perfect shade of red!
I bought more chatons and rivolis in this colour in order to try them in different combinations.

This was the first try (because I couldn't choose between gold and silver, so black became the "tertius gaudens"). I know, the picture is terrible, but I was in a hurry...
The only problem is (and that's my problem with every reddish jewelry): what shall I do with it? I can't wear it, doesn't fit my style... I could imagine this little cutie for example on the neck of a Spanish senorita, a tango-dancer or something... but definitely not on me :)

 And the next one... if somebody had said a few months ago, that I would use orange in a beaded project, i would have laughed about it. It was totally-absolutely never-ever my colour... But the "Tangerine" Swarovski crystals (maybe it too is a new shade, I don't know) looked so gorgeous in the bead shop, I had to give them a try. And well, if in for a penny, in for a pound... the tangerine rivoli needed some matching bicones too.
The result was this "Blossom of fire", a variation of my "Silver Cristal"-pendant, using bicones in the following shades: sunflower, tangerine, scarlet and garnet (now thinking about it, dark siam would have been better...)

To be continued in the next post... ;)

2. "Maboroshi no ginzuishou" (the legendary silver crystal)

I've already shown this little cutie (it was the central piece of my necklace inspired by the Sailor Senshi), but here are some more pictures...

As you can see, it's not life-sized and the number of petals isn't correct either... but all in all, i'm pretty satisfied with it :)
Using these "crystal silver shade" Swarovskis was a good choice, they look somehow more... oh well... magical and noble than simple clear crystal beads. So the long and tiresome search wasn't in vain :)

Yeah, I've finally taken the necklace to pieces... I think I'll use the single elements for individual pieces of jewelry. It will be a fun and interesting challenge, creating jewelry matching to the characters :)

What do you think of it? Shall I start a series of posts about this project?













PS: I was asked how the pendant is attached to the ribbon - it has a loop on its back side, so it can be worn either on the ribbon (choker-style), or hanging from a chain.

 

Noch ein Set - diesmal in Grün

Schon langweilig? Vielleicht. Aber ich mag diese Muster :)

Recycling

A múltkor említett diadémot természetesen lebontottam azóta, hiszen semmi értelme nem lett volna megtartani egy ilyen hordhatatlan darabot - a központi elemet viszont nagyjából megmentettem, és átraktam egy sima nyakláncalapra, a "visszanyert" gyöngyökből pedig készült hozzá egy karkötő (amúgy is kellett egy fekete kari a rövidujjú blúzomhoz...). Sőőőőőt, a maradékból még egy kis gyűrűre is futotta.

I've torn apart the headband (mentioned in the previous post), but saved the central piece, putting it as a simple pendant on a rope. From the rest of the beads a bracelet and a little ring were created. So  a smart, practical little set has arisen from the remnants of a totally unwearable, weird piece :)