Roses

When I order beads, I sometimes throw something into the cart spontaneously, not even because I think it's drop dead gorgeous or because it immediately gave me an idea although that happens as well of course.
Actually it's meant to be a challenge for myself, and as I never know if I'll be up to the challenge, those are often sale items or small baggies.
A while ago I added four red resin roses to my cart. Four sounded like a small enough number for me to manage.

What I don't like much about bead embroidery is just glueing a cab on without giving it an extra bezel to keep it there safely. Blame that on my complicated relationship with glue. If I use a bead, I like to sew through the bead holes and immediately feel better about it.
Obviously a bezel didn't work for the roses and there were no holes, either, so I just have to trust the glue to be as sticky for them as it is for my hands.

Red always makes me think of black, and black and red together always make me think vampires and gothic vibes, so it wasn't a surprise that I chose black seed beads and matte black firepolished crystals along with the roses.
I tried around for a while, but finally found that I liked the flat background best. I couldn't resist adding skulls. I picked the grey instead of the black ones that I have because they sparkle a little more.
Voilà, my "Gothic Roses"!

A few days later, I thought about making another pair right away, not dark this time, but light and sparkly. I would have liked to make the exact same design, but the only other firepolished crystals that I had in the right size were purple/blue which definitely didn't work with red.
What I found instead were some crystal rondelles that I had bought at the craft department of a local shop for their sparkle - magpie alarm! ;-) They were in my drawer for years, but now their time had come.
Luckily I also still have some of the crystal AB skulls and don't they fit perfectly for my "Ice Roses"?

If you want to see the sparkle even better, you can check out my very small YouTube channel which I only have because I seem to be unable to convert the videos from my old camera, so not just the sound will upload on my Instagram.
I'm such a technology freak sometimes ;-)

Zibbet finds of the week "Ice" - The twenty-ninth door

Do you know how to ice skate? I can and I can't. I learned it when I was a child. We had a playground right at the corner which had swings and stuff like that and a court where you could play tennis or roller skate if you didn't mind it being very bumpy. If it was cold enough in winter, they would just get the hose out and spray the court with water to make it into an ice rink.
That's where I learned ice skating. I can't say I was very good at it, I just went round and round, that was pretty much it. Every year I had to re-learn it.
Now let me tell you about the time I was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a friend and her family when I was about 10 or 11. We went to the Olympic ice rink there. I had to borrow skates. They were blue plastic and they hurt my ankles like %$§//%. The rink had a cord running through the middle. On the other side tiny girls were practising their pirouettes and tiny jumps while I was struggling to stand on my feet. That ice wasn't bumpy, but it seems I needed my bumps. To cut the story short, in the end I hung on to that cord for dear life and wondered if I would have to stay here forever.
When the groundkeeper/janitor/whatever started yelling at me, I yelled back that I didn't hold on to that cord for fun and that I wanted nothing more than to get out of here. After I finally managed it, I remember pulling those torture skates off my feet and throwing them to the ground.
I can only remember being ice skating twice again after that, once with school when I had no chance to get out of it and once with ... well, that's another embarrassing story, maybe next year.

Now it's time for some ice related items from Zibbet!

Ice/Snow Queen costume by Frock Tarts

Crystal tree pendant by LOC Design Studio

Vintage inspired figure skate tags with holly by Indelible Impressions

Ice blue quartz earrings by Bella & Otis

Oldies but Goodies "Ice" - The third door

Today the JAC Oldies but Goodies Challenge is about ice.
According to Wikipedia ice is "water frozen into a solid state. Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color".
Although it would be great to work with icicles - I mean, have you seen some of those beauties - it might be a little difficult in jewelry, but quartz, rock crystal and clear glass crystals have almost the same effect as you can see in all the items in this thread.

Of course I do have a sneak peek for you again.

1 The Crafty Chimp
2 Cat's Wire
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 Violetmoon's Corner
5 MC Stoneworks
6 2 Fab Fristers

Strange galaxies or The twelfth door

Any idea what you see in the following pictures?

Actually it's simply ice on my skylight. I had hoped for some nice icicles to take pictures of, but all the good icicles hang from the roof of the house in the back, and I would hate for them to think I'm trying to stalk them.
This looks kind of cool as well, however, don't you think?

For someone who dislikes winter as much as I do I do like the look of ice really a lot. If I don't have to walk around in it too much, that is. Now I feel the urge to make something with rock crystal!

Office chairs, a pillow, cucumber and icicles

Yesterday was ... well, interesting.

I left early from work, took a little break sitting in my favorite spot on the bench on the way home to read in the sun and then ...

... who would leave two fine office chairs at a street corner? And in the street, too. They just stood there and waited. Maybe it was an offer to sit down? Or maybe they waited to be used in some kind of street chair race? It would have had to go uphill, though, it's a one-way street in that direction.

While I still wondered about that, I stumbled on the slice of cucumber. A little dried around the edges it lay there in the street. Had it just fallen off a sandwich? Just one lonely cucumber slice? It may seem weird to you, but in my mind I try to think of possible stories around something like that, and I see somebody eating a cheese sandwich without that bit of vitamin. Isn't that sad?

If you think you've heard the best already, you are wrong. Because that was when I came round the corner and saw the pillow. A not so small colorful pillow lying in the middle of the pavement, still wrapped up in plastic. Was this Candid Camera or something?? I picked it up and found an address on the plastic. It wasn't far from where I was, so I decided to take it there.

Don't you love corner houses? No matter what I do, I always go to the wrong side first and then have to go all the way back to find the door. I rang the bell, but there was no answer. Luckily a neighbor just pulled up with her car full of groceries and looked a little confused first at me, then at the pillow. I told her I had found it and wanted to drop it off and she told me "she's probably sleeping". Shoot, I really thought this time I'd find out the story. Had she picked it up from the post office and lost it while riding her bike? Why didn't she trace her way back, it wasn't that far? Or did the parcel guy lose it on the way? Why was she sleeping at 2 pm? Working a night shift or just taking a nap?

Questions, questions, questions!

I finally made it home, ready to confront the next question in my brain - what to make for the Starving Artist Team's May challenge? The challenge was to be inspired by a picture.

Suddenly it came to me. It was so hot ... cold ... winter ... ice ... icicles ... dingdingding!

A least one question was answered today.

This is the picture that inspired me.

And this is what I made from this inspiration. It's an icicle pendant with lots of clear sparkly Swarovski crystals.

Mission accomplished!

P.S. I still wonder about the cucumber ....

The twenty-seventh door

Wikipedia says:

"Ice may be any one of the 15 known crystalline phases of water. Usually ice is the phase known as ice I_h, which is the most abundant of these solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions. The addition of other materials such as soil may further alter the appearance."

Ooookay.

I say: Ice is beautiful and I am totally fascinated.

Nuff said.

Cocoon set - fire and ice

Do you remember the wire teardrop with the lampwork beads from the last post? I think it started this.
I asked myself "Why not using beads with this?" At first I thought about an icycle, inspired by the weather outside, but suddenly blue wire and tiny beads turned into a sparkly cocoon.
Ice led to fire and here comes a sneak preview at a set of two pairs of cocoon earrings that will hopefully be listed in my shop soon!

Murphy's law, paragraph 113

I feel a little sick today. Headache since yesterday, nose starts running and overall weird. Do you know this feeling that it hurts when someone or something touches your hair (that I got on the arms in abundance)?
So I decided to go home early today after making the mistake to go to work in the first place.
Happily I trotted off to the train, but when I came from the S-Bahn (kind of suburban train) to the regular one I saw mine was cancelled. "Police investigations in one of the stations" - that usually means someone has jumped in front of a train. Another train was waiting, but as the track had been blocked, of course it didn't run, either. At least it would be warm in there, outside it was freezing cold and I sure didn't feel like that.
Soon a lady joined me and (remember the sign on my forehead that says "Talk to me!"?) started asking me what was the matter, telling me about her train experiences and sighing heavily in between questions and stories. Then a group of students entered the wagon and started talking very loud. I could have handled either one easily, but not together. Because of the noise the lady couldn't hear the announcements from outside which she told me a few times. Then one of the students said "At least they could announce something!" Uh-oh.
The lady started telling them nobody could hear the speaker because of them and the students asked back if they were supposed to remain silent or WHAT. I shrinked into my seat because what I needed least in this moment was a heated discussion. Luckily one of the students took over and calmed everybody down by apologizing to the lady and winking at his friends.
Over one hour late we could leave the station. Slowly because of course the long-distance trains were allowed to pass us by on the way. I made it home anyway and now I am more than ready for a nap.

Still I wanted to share with you what keeps me sane through rides like this one ;-)

Ice nest - frosted nest with a shimmering piece of ice inside


I'll never go anywhere without hooks and wire! :-D