Tiny chatons 1.

Last summer (or spring, can't remember clearly) my favourite local bead shop added 6 mm Swarovski chatons to its sortiment. I was absolutely fascinated by those tiny shinies, bought quite a lot of them and started to experiment... Here are some of my results:

1. The easiest way - just bezel a few of them with peyote stitch then join them without further embellishing.

The result is simple but nice. It can be used as a modestly sized "alltagstäugliche" pendant perfect for everyday wear or even  - if using fitting colors e.g. grey or black - for an elegant or business look. 

But what looks rather small for a pendant, as a ring may look a bit oversized - but so funny! I really like this ring, even it can be a bit uncomfortable to wear... 

For this set I've chosen the following colors: Blue zircon, Light turquoise, Pacific opal - the shades of water, cool and clear, they are the best choice for beadweaving on a hot Summer day :)

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?

Breaking the silence

Well, that was a long break. So many things happened in the last months (almost a year): personal, local and global crisises, new challenges... But to be honest, not those problems are entirely to blame for this long silence, it was me, who was simply too lazy for blogging. Well, maybe not lazy, rather unsure: does this whole blog-thing make sense anymore...? I still don't have an answer to this question, but since I have now some new projects to show (and hopefully finally some time too), I'll try to post some entries in the meantime.

Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

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...