Sometimes you have to make a cut

The labradorite stones that I had or have are usually blue, grey and green, but labradorite can have so many more colors with the rarest being purple.
Months ago, I went through my cab drawer and noticed that one of my carved cabs which looked grey and green actually had a beautiful pinkish shimmer in a certain angle of light. That I haven't been able to catch well (yet?) in my pictures, but it's there, really.
And I knew just the beads to use with that.

For the bezel I chose my beloved "magic apple" coated seed beads. It will be a very sad day when they are all gone, I even love just looking at them in the tube. For the connection with the pinkish hue I chose a transparent dark red - another favorite of mine - and some pinkish 15s.

The bezel is the easy part. It's not so easy to decide what should come next, and this time I made the wrong decision.
I was looking forward to doing another freeform focal. I love freeform (and sometimes wonder how much Gary Larson's amoebas - google them if you don't know them - are to blame for that because I always think of them when I do it). I wanted to make it a mix of reds and pinks in different bead sizes, maybe with a touch of gold here and there.
When I do freeform, I like to cut the felt around the cab into shape first and then follow that with the beads. Usually I'm quite happy with that although I may have to trim the edges a bit here and there. In this case, though ... oh my, I hated it after the first three rows, I think, but kept going anyhow.
It's hard to explain my feelings when I continue working on something like that. It's like a drop of hope swimming in a sea of doubt,- there's still a tiny chance I'll manage thanks to a creative miracle - or more often a molecule of hope in a sea of anger (at myself), loss of motivation, and the voice of my muse yelling at me to give it up already.

That's the hard part. Sometimes you need to push on, sometimes you need to make smaller or bigger changes if possible - and sometimes you just have to cut.
The way I had cut the felt meant I wouldn't be able to use it for a regular design, but I liked the bezel and didn't want to do it over. Why should I, though? I just cut along the edges of the bezel and glued it all to a second piece of felt. Duh. Not that difficult, is it? So the cab sat higher than usual now because I like using thicker felt, but that was fine with me.

To hide the extra edge, I used beautiful large dark red/purple beads, then a row of gold for contrast and two rows of edging in a raspberry and the magic apple.

After that I was stuck. I have always had that problem with the drop shape, from the very first labradorite drop I ever used (remember I asked your opinion the other day - well, no answer, so I had to deal with it myself).
Do I want the tip up or do I follow my muse who always wants the tip down? As you can see, Mabel has won.
I added a large beaded peyote tube in the back for the twisted Herringbone rope I had woven in magic apple and dark red/purple. It makes the pendant sit at a slight angle instead of flat.

And if that wasn't enough, I had to give in to my asymmetric side. It had taken so long to develop, but it's here to stay now.
My first plan had been little brown glass flowers which I had used before and love a lot, but alas, I couldn't find them quickly.

I did find these leftover pearls, though, and liked the contrast they add to the pendant. Bold, maybe, but I felt the necklace could use some boldness to make it a bit less classic (and boring).

I cheated a little, by the way. At the moment that I'm writing this, the necklace doesn't have a clasp yet. I don't have a golden lobster clasp that is big enough, but I didn't want to wait taking pictures because I'm so happy this WIP that has been waiting in the workbox for a few months now is almost finished!

Waiting for pizza

They could hatch anytime now and they would definitely be hungry. Where was that guy with the pizza??
Merlinde congratulated herself on her choice of the little swing basket up in the tree as a nest. From here, you had a really good view over to the driveway and the soft swinging in the breeze calmed down the eggs.

I sure hope the pizza will turn up soon before Merlinde falls out of her nest! But wait, chicken can fly a short distance ... I almost forgot ;-)

Under the mistletoe - The third door

When I had the idea to bead a mistletoe ornament, I had no clue how long it would take me to finish this although it's by no means as big as the real mistletoe that I showed you some years ago when I told about the different stories and tales behind this plant in my 2014 advent calendar.

The most difficult part was probably that the finished twigs kept getting in the way. No, wait, I think the most difficult part was when der Dekan stole the project and ran with it after I had put it down for a short break. He's such a thief and he knows exactly what he wants to steal - everything I don't want him to have!
I refused to let him have something I had already spent hours on, though, and confronted him at the box from my last grocery store delivery behind which he hid quite cleverly. Not clever enough for me, though. He gave me quite the look when I took his new toy from him again!

The twigs are beaded in Herringbone stitch, the leaves are brick stitch.
The pearls are actually a little too big, but they have a personal meaning to me which is why I used them.
I beaded the mistletoe in a way that would make it look good from both sides as I don't know yet where it will hang.
And now excuse me while I'll be dragging my cats under it and smooch them mercilessly! ;-)

The Boho mermaid

Some years ago, I fell in love with the tiny Miyuki cubes. I got a whole bunch of colors and used some in wire crochet, some in bead looming and peyote rings.
When I put some bead tubes back into my stash drawers, I noticed tubes with cubes in a silver lined light blue and a matte green with AB finish which vaguely made me think of ocean (possibly having the Moana movie run for background noise influenced that). The green had been around for a long time and the blue was from one of my surprise bead orders.

At first, I didn't think there would be enough beads for earrings and I tried a pendant that I kind of half liked which was not sufficient to keep it, though. I ripped it up again and thought that if I made the folded peyote one bead slimmer than the last pieces, I would have more beads to get to a length which I could bend comfortably for earrings. That was important because the cubes made the strips a bit less flexible than if I had made them with Delicas.

Next I thought about a pattern - one layer or side green, one blue ... checkered ... striped ... but in the end I opted for a random mix for the "ocean waves", waves because the folded and twisted peyote results in a wave shape if you look at it from the side. Also I had less green than blue, so mixing them would help to get long enough peyote strips. In the end I had three blue beads left!
I actually like the contrast between the very shiny blue and the matte green, the effect in light is so pretty, but I wanted more, so I randomly added metallic silver seed beads.

A mermaid - and I just can't help thinking mermaid when thinking of ocean, probably because Andersen's fairy tale has been a (sad) favorite of mine since childhood - could well wear long earrings in her flowing hair.
If that wasn't an excuse to add pearls, I didn't know what would be, and now I feel the earrings have turned boho.

Therefore my question, can a mermaid have a boho style?

Tackle that stash - Bead embroidered "Elizabethan" lady

In early November, I have told you why I have been missing from my blog for a while. One of the reasons was der Dekan, my kitten. He has grown to be a little less demonic, but of course still needs a lot of attention, so the only way to get creative is to shut him out or wait until he is very tired and then be prepared for that moment.
If I'm working on something, it can take me a few hours, and at this point, I would really feel bad about locking myself in for that long leaving the little demon outside waiting, especially since Gundel has demanded alone time of her own for some hours of undisturbed sleep. So I tried for the sleep mode time instead. It turned out that I'm never prepared because, well, I never know what I'm going to need when going on a creative adventure. Standing up, however, means that der Dekan is going from sleep mode to "let's play, throw that ball, can I attack you, no, don't pet me, here's the ball back, look what I found, can we play some more" mode.
Of course it's not just a matter of attention. Der Dekan is obsessed with my beads and thread and wire, just as any kitten would be, and he's so fast that I don't trust him around my stuff unless I can tell he's too tired to move. This is a matter of safety, that of the beads, but much more his own.

Yesterday, though, the unthinkable happened. Not only did der Dekan decide to give me hours to play by passing out cold next to me in a way only cats can do it, but I had everything I needed.
It was great. I hadn't even known how much I had missed my beads and the calming effect that playing with them has on me. I have been quite stressed out lately and while beading doesn't make the stress appear, it gave me a much needed timeout.
Not knowing at all where a design will be going can mess things up if you get stuck, but seeing something finished and not having the slightest idea where that design has come from is what I love most about being creative.

This lady started out with a carved face glued to a piece of Lacy's Stiff Stuff and a peyote bezel. This particular transparent dark red with AB finish has become a huge favorite of mine, especially in a combination with the metallic bronze.
I think my first idea was to give her hair, but with the red bezel all around her face it turned into some kind of embellished headdress instead that reminded me of an Elizabethan hairstyle which probably inspired the collar like part which led to the sequins - in a different color in order to add a bit more depth to the design - and pearls in the end.
Is she a little over the top? She sure is, but I guess she - and I ;-) - needed that!

The beach is calling

Our bi-monthly challenge mistress at the Jewelry Artisans Community has been messing with our minds. The challenge is bi-monthly, by the way, not the mistress. See how my mind is already messed up?? ;-)
Let me try this again. Every two months we have a theme challenge at JAC and the good lady chose matching earrings. Great. We all know that matching earrings can be very hit and miss for me. Nevertheless I made some, only to find that she had changed the theme to beach to make it easier for us busy people. Serves me right for skipping that one post.

Beach, beach, beach, there was the beach in Wales we never found despite the signs (I still think they were fake and just meant to lure me into a field full of cows). The only beach I really remember was the one near Bodega Bay. Such a long time ago that I was there the last time, more than 20 years!
Seagulls, weird stuff on the sand - probably algae and remains of jellyfish - sand dollars, other birds and shells ... I knew it would be shells.
Shells are so easy to use in jewelry and I had a bunch of bigger ones that I had been gifted by a co-worker. I have netted shells and crocheted around them with wire, I made them from polymer clay, but you may have noticed, I'm having a lot of fun with bead embroidery lately. Sorry if it gets boring, guys.

The hardest part was to choose one of the shells, and once I had glued it onto the backing, the next hardest part was to decide what to do with it now. Actually I thought it was pretty without adding too much to it, and as luck had it, I happened to have the perfect beads to make a bezel in the colors of the shell itself. For a moment I was tempted to just leave it like that, but then added one single row of bronze metallic beads for contrast.
Now it needed a few pearls. I know, I know, that's not original at all, but shells just scream for pearls.
My first idea was to add one row, but then my dangle addiction raised its omnipresent head and I couldn't stop myself from making a little fringe in the center.

The last decision to make was the chain. I thought about a bail, hidden or not, two bails, chain, cord, everything I didn't have, so I ordered beads for a simple beaded rope.
Voilà, here we go!
Do you think it will please the challenge mistress?

Oldies but Goodies - June Moon

I'm a June child which I usually blame for loving the moon so much.
June birthstones are the moonstone, the alexandrite and the pearl. I remember being very disappointed as a teenager because for me a pearl wasn't a stone. I would have preferred something sparkly and not so "old". The moonstone was okay, but not really exciting, either. I never even knew about the alexandrite then.
People grow older and learn things, and sometimes the tastes changes with the years, too. I can now appreciate the shimmer of a pearl and a moonstone. I don't know when I found out that moonstones can come in different colors, but I admit that my personal favorite is still the white one because it has such a magic look to me.

For this week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge the topic was June moon which left the door wide open for different pieces as we are rather generous about the rules. No one had a June beetle to offer, though ;-)
Instead I present to you a variety of moon inspired pieces of jewelry. Are you game for a trip to the moon with us?

1 and 7 Cat's Wire
2 and 4 Jewelry Art by Dawn
3 and 6 RioRita
5 and 8 My Bijou Life

Headband or tiara?

I think I mentioned it before, when I was a child, we had those plastic disks in several colors which reminded of flowers and which you could connect to each other and build all kinds of things. The most easiest thing to make was a tiara because the different colors were different gems for us.

When I found a metal headband blank in my stash, I didn't think of that, though. I thought of bead embroidery because I had just found another dichroic glass cab. It was a dark blue with green and I had all those bugles in ocean colors lying around and seed beads to go with them and I could add pearls (coins and Biwa) and crystals, oh and those two opalite cabs, too!
Once I had a few bugles on there, however, I didn't like the stripey look together with the rounded shapes of the cabs and beads, so I ripped all of them back out and picked different seed beads instead.

Embroidering took its time, but like bead looming it has a meditative effect on me, so that was okay.
Lately I have been trying to get away from strict symmetry, so this piece isn't symmetrical either as you can tell if you look closely.

Now came the hard part. How to get this piece onto the metal blank? I had a vague idea, but I wasn't sure. The ending of this video tutorial by Lidia Sapronova helped me confirm what I had to do.
First I glued a piece of thicker paper to the bead embroidery strip to strengthen it as the blank itself is very slim. Then I took my ultrasuede, measured and cut two little slits, one on each side a few centimeters from the edge through which I put the ends of the blank. Now I could glue the ultrasuede to the blank which sounds much easier than it was for someone who is as glue challenged as me and then the bead embroidery to the blank and ultrasuede which resulted in some minor cursing.
I just wasn't sure if the glue could really hold all of this together, so when it had dried, I decided that for safety I'd sew all those layers together not just at the edges, but also along the edges of the blank, so that it wouldn't be able to move around in there. Somehow I hadn't expected it to take so long, but I'm still glad I did it.
The last step was of course the edging for which I chose pearly white seed beads to enhance the ocean feeling, sea foam and all that, you know.

There are examples in which both the embroidery and the ultrasuede go all around the metal blank. In my case that means there would have been hair over it and would definitely get tangled in it, so I didn't chose that variation. Also I would have had to add a piece of ultrasuede as the pieces I have wouldn't have been long enough.
In other pieces in there was an extra piece of ultrasuede all around the metal ends, but I admit that I didn't think myself capable of sewing that on and make it look good, too. Don't forget, this was my first attempt at something like this in the first place.

There's no doubt about it, this is no lightweight.
That's not my personal problem with it, however. I have never been that good with those kinds of headbands because I don't like the feeling behind my ears. Also with my straight hair they always slipped down when I looked down. A friend said I should try to attach some combs. I'll have to look into that, but actually I think it looks much better worn as a tiara ...
I deserve a tiara, don't I? And funnily enough worn like that it doesn't slip down even if I curtsy before Mylady Gundel ;-) Seriously, I can look down and it will still stay in my hair.
Now my wardrobe is not exactly very regal, but we'll see. It was another challenge and I did it and am proud of it.

So this is what the finished tiara is looking like from all sides and worn by my model Jacqueline.

Oldies but Goodies - Non-white pearls

When did you last have a dinner Cleopatra style? I'm not talking about nightingale tongues or whatever extravagant meals we think were served there. I'm talking big money.
You remember the story? According to Pliny the Elder Cleopatra bets Mark Antony she could serve the most expensive single meal - 10,000,000 sesterces worth. Mark Antony can't imagine that that is possible, but Cleopatra just drops one of her enormous pearls in a glass of vinegar and drinks it.
Do pearls dissolve in vinegar? Obviously they do, scientists, pearl dealers and ordinary people have tried it out in various combinations. They don't do it quickly, though. I'll leave it to you if you want to believe the story of the Queen's extravagancy, look up articles or videos about it or even try it yourself.
The first time I read about this was in a Scrooge McDuck story. Scrooge put 1,000 pearls into 1,000 cans of pickles for a giveaway to raise interest in his pickles, those cans never made into the stores, though. When he opened them up to get his pearls back out, they had all gone, a just punishment for trying such a dirty trick.

That's not the only story about Scrooge and pearls. I remember his search for rare black pearls, for example. This is a nice bridge to this week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge which is all about pearls that are not white.
Although there are natural pearls that aren't white, most of the colored pearls are dyed or glass pearls in the first place, and there are huge differences in luster and quality.

Here's a selection of jewelry with pearls from our JAC artisans. Be prepared for color!

1 Ganison Atelier
2 RioRita
3 Bijou Bead Boutique
4 CymberRain
5 MC Stoneworks
6 Cat's Wire
7 Jewelry Art by Dawn
8 The Crafty Chimp

Tackle that stash - The mysterious stone

I was decluttering drawers when I found the stone. Jasper maybe? Fossilized coral? I have no idea, just like I have no idea where that stone came from in the first place. It was in a little tin box with bits and pieces of costume jewelry that I recognized, but the stone didn't look familiar to me at all.
Had it been a gift? I very rarely get drilled stones, and the ones I have usually were a gift to me. Or did I buy it myself? If yes, it must have been way before my jewelry making days because all the other pieces were so old, I got an 80s flashback. Maybe I bought it as a gift for someone?

Whatever the story is, the stone was pretty and asked for some wire weaving. So I wove ... and took it off ... tried another idea ... and ripped it apart ... the first time was not symmetrical enough for my taste, the second time I kind of liked the idea, but started it wrong and then decided I'd have to work on that idea a little longer.

Third time worked like a charm, though. Less weaving not to hide too much of the stone, a bigger bail with a pearl for accent, and three pearl dangles for movement.
A simple chain seemed to be not enough, so I crocheted a rope for the pendant and then oxidized all the copper.

And now I am happy with it. Maybe I'll have to declutter more drawers, so I can find more treasure ;-)

Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Tide Pools

This challenge is not to be confused with the Oldies but Goodies one which usually turns up here on Thursdays. When my friend Laney posted about the May challenge on the Art Elements site, I spontaneously decided to jump in as a guest, to inspire me and to give my blog a little kick, too.

The theme was Tidepools, and Lesley from the Art Elements team showed some beautiful inspirations to us in this post.

Now for the first surprise - I'm not really a beach girl. I don't live anywhere near the sea and I am not the sort of person that goes ooh and aah when they see a sandy beach with palms.

It's not as if I have never been on a beach, though. An absolutely obligatory part of each trip to the Bay Area for example was one day on a particular beach. We are not talking beautiful sand and deep blue ocean here. We are talking the kind that overwhelmed me because all you could see was water and all I could think about all the fascinating and terrible creatures that may be out there. I can always blame "Jaws" for that feeling (even though it's an old favorite of mine, "Jaws", not the feeling). While I wouldn't have readily jumped into the ocean for that very reason, I really enjoyed the rest - looking for nice shells, walking in the shallow water, trying to defend our picnic from the seagulls.

Of course there were other beaches, too.

And there was the beach in Wales we never found. I still think they put that sign up to lure us into that field with the big herd of cows to get trampled. No, seriously, we just didn't find the way after trying this path and that road and finally we headed back and ended up in a tea room instead. Not the worst alternative if you ask me. It was so hot that day, I couldn't have walked another step, not for the most beautiful beach in the world!

I can't even say if I have ever seen a tide pool with my own eyes although I had a very clear idea of it. I immediately knew I wanted to put something on a bead loomed bracelet base in one of my favorite colors, gunmetal AB. Of course there's only so much space on a bracelet and I had to decide what to put on it.

This is the result.

The green seaglass comes from a Danish beach. A friend brought it home for me. The little snail shells and the sea shell are from Italian and Greek beaches and were a gift from a co-worker. And of course there had to be pearls to kind of tie all of those elements together and a mix of grey lined and metallic ice blue seed beads to hold them down.

There are so many talented people who are a part of this blog hop, I hope you'll take the chance to see what they created. I'll do my best to catch up this weekend.

And a big thank you to Art Elements for letting me participate as a guest!

Guests

Raven - Kelly - Kathy - Tammy - Alyson - Elaine - Mischelle - Deborah - Anita - Jill - Shirlee - Sarajo - Melissa - Jenny

AE Team Members

Caroline - Cathy - Claire - Jen - Laney - Lesley - Marsha - Niky - Sue  - Lindsay - Jenny

Tackle that stash - Fine silver, glass, and pearls

I love Art Nouveau. The patterns in this glass cabochon (made by Deronda O'Neill) always reminded me of Art Nouveau flowers with their beautiful flow on the matte black background.

I felt the cab called for something more organic looking, not symmetrical, with a little flow of its own.
First I crocheted a bezel from fine silver wire, widened the stitches here and there and then filled the whole top up with randomly placed freshwater pearls - pearl by pearl individually attached.
Shimmering in different colors, those small pearls match the pattern in the cabochon so well and are so beautiful. I tend to sit on them like a dragon on his hoard, but pearls need light, not a shut drawer.
Last I added a wrapped bail, very small this time, so it wouldn't distract too much from the pearl clusters.
And here's the pendant now ...

Don't miss the new episode of the stash tackler series next week! ;-)

Tackle that stash - Patience and pearls

Do you remember my Bead Eaters? Long wire knit bead scarves with glass beads?
Today's stash tackler is not quite as long, though, because it is meant to be wrapped around your wrist instead of your neck. Pearls, pearls, pearls. So luscious ....

Tackle that stash - Necklace with Biggs jasper and freshwater pearls

Welcome back to "Tackle that stash"! *insert merry jingle here*
I know it has been a while. Don't think that I haven't made anything during the time. I started a personal project, the "fan wall", so far with one bead loomed portrait of a favorite actor, I played around with new beading techniques and with patterns. Somehow none of them made it onto the blog, though.

Now I am back with an announcement.
I love jasper. Yeah, ok, so I said it before, but I really can't imagine why there was a time when I thought it was boring just because it didn't sparkle.
Whenever my muse Mabel is out of town and takes my beading mojo with her, I grab a cab. Not always does that actually make something happen, but sometimes it does.
This great Biggs jasper cabochon had been in my stash far too long because I wasn't able to decide on a color combination.
Picking it up for the umpteenth time I finally decided to go for the earthy look, use some copper wire and see where it would take us, that's the Biggs and me. Wire knit bezels are fun for me. They leave so much options to play with them, add another layer, connect those layers, add beads on the inside or outside. With a wire knit bezel I hardly ever know what it will look like in the end.

In this case I ended up with chocolate brown pearls which look good enough to eat and a brown rope to pick up the colors of the jasper. Aren't they perfect together?
Now tell me again - why didn't I use to like jasper?

Tackle that stash - Mini wire crochet pendants with pearls

There was this pearl necklace. Big, bold, with a huge crystal. From the first time I laid my eyes upon it, I was determined to rip it up and make something else with the pearls.
You know how these things go. From the first time to now meant a few years in which I picked it up, put it down, picked it up again ... until I finally felt I tried to push this into the wrong direction. Why did I think the result had to be another big pearl necklace? Why not use the pearls individually?

Sometimes we need color and it doesn't even have to be much. So I ended up with little affordable pendants, just one freshwater pearl in a colorful wire crochet setting on a ball chain. No silver, no gold, but pink tones, purple, orange, green, light blue ... and who knows, there may be more to follow.
Which color do you like best?

Available in my Zibbet shop

Oldies but goodies - Pearls

Pearls are timeless. Nowadays they come in different colors, they can have different shapes, they can be tiny or big, they can be natural or from glass. There are so many ways to incorporate them in jewelry.
This time the JAC Oldies but Goodies Challenge was all about pearls, and the pictures just flowed! You can see all of them here, and as always I bring you a selection.
If you are a jewelry artisan yourself, we would love you to come by and play!

1 Galadryl Design
2 RioRita
3 Cat's Wire
4 MC Stoneworks
5 The Crafty Chimp
6 Jewelry Art by Dawn
7 Violetmoon's Corner

A mermaid's braid

The other day Gwen Fisher from beAd Infinitum posted this on her page. Usually when I see the word "math", I run in the opposite direction. This time I watched the video and of course I had to try this.




First I loomed three strips in white lined AB beads, emerald green, teal and capri blue for an ocean look.

After reweaving the warp threads into the strips, I started braiding using the instructions from the video (thank you, James Tanton).

Ocean colors - I'm even reminded of waves here - request pearls. So I added one white button freshwater pearl on each of the crossings. That way they also keep the braid from slipping.
I'm really happy with the outcome, what do you think?

Mermaid's braid in my Zibbet shop

Old to new

How do I wish I could do the "Old to new" thing with myself. A new ankle, a new shoulder ... I'm even going so far to nag my "alien" friend about new parts, but she keeps telling me there's a long line for that on her planet ;-)

So I have to stick to fields where I don't need alien help. It was not the first time I told myself to take new pictures for some pieces, but this time I'm doing better although I am far from done. What I also do is take one or the other piece that I'm not so sure about anymore and change it to make it better.
Today I worked on two pieces that have been waiting for their turn quite a long time, and as always when doing something like that, I am feeling so relieved afterwards. You keep looking at something, and it suddenly doesn't talk to you anymore or all it says is "Help me" ... ;-)

Both of these pendants had been made after a little summer trip to the Blautopf where I got the rocks. I had shown you pictures of the Blautopf before, but it's so beautiful, one more picture won't do any harm.

For this orthoceras - an extinct nautiloid cephalopod - I had crocheted a simple bezel from fine silver. That was not the problem, but I really wasn't happy with the bail. It looked as if I had stuck it on instead of integrating it into the design.
Today I added two rows of crochet to make sure the orthoceras really wouldn't escape, then I cut the bail off and put a new one on it which is partly hidden in the back, so it won't take attention off the stone.
Sometimes it's a bit difficult with slightly irregular shaped rocks. You never want to cover too much, and you think the setting is absolutely safe and maybe it is, but then you feel as if that one side pushes a bit too much. Better safe than sorry, right?

Orthoceras in fine silver wire

So that's what I did for the tourmalinated quartz, too. I added two rows of crochet in the back and cut the bail off which in this case looked a bit too messy for my taste.
I had more in mind for this rock, though. I figured a tree would look nice on the matte grey and black background. What do you think, did it work?

Pearl tree pendant

Both pendants are in my Zibbet shop, if you want to see more pictures, just click the links!

A Happy New Year!

I don't know what the new year will bring for me and also for all of you. I am crossing my fingers and the cats' paws for 2014 to be a good year for all of us. Healthy, peaceful, creative ... let's be helpful to others, open-minded and don't forget to be good to yourselves.

I'm quite sure there will be headdesks, though. I practically ended the year with them, and I'll tell you why.
Earrings. I like them. A lot. Dangly ones mostly. I like to wear them and I like to make them. That's not completely true. There have been many times when I loved earring #1 and went crazy over #2, and not crazy in a good way, from excitement how wonderful it was. Because sometimes #2 just doesn't want to be wonderful, but does everything to make me hit my head on my desk.

Cabs can only be so small to be used if you crochet or knit with wire. They need to be safe in their bezel which means you can't make it too loose, but you don't want to cover all of them with wire, either.
Sometimes I challenge myself to see what I can do. I grab out the 1.4 mm crochet hook (I broke the 1.3 mm one, shame on me or rather the wire) and go to work. For smaller or narrower cabs I found wire knitting to work better than crochet as the structure is more open, so the wire doesn't take over, also it is easier because your wire "mesh" is more flexible.
I started knitting a bezel for this aventurine. The hard part is to knit high enough, but not too high, and then to hold your small cab in that bezel while closing it up with the last row. More than once a cab decided on a last second jump to freedom. This one was quite cooperative. Being on a wire and pearl path at the moment I added some pearls all around, and I was really happy with it.
Then came #2. It didn't like me from the start. First it refused to sit still in its bezel. Maybe it felt hurt because I was "watching" a documentary about the Hope diamond at the same time. There's not much that a little aventurine can hold against a diamond of that kind. We finally came to terms with each other regarding the bezel, but when it was time for the pearls to appear on the scene, suddenly the wire didn't want to play along anymore. Can you believe it broke three times until I decided we all needed a break until the next day? The (not so) funny thing is that I don't like to add wire in a piece like that which meant the cab spent its night in a bag with the other cabs, but in relative freedom after I took the bezel off again ... which was probably what it had planned all along.

A new day, a new attempt. This time we were all playing nicely, and so here the earrings are now, in my DaWanda shop. Phew! Maybe not a bad way after all to end the old year.

Whimpering and rambling

Seriously, I can't handle a new addiction. I feel torn between one technique and the other, I fall in love with one kind of design and want to make it in a thousand different colors, and then there are still those ideas from the list I made two years ago, one year ago, four months ago.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Ok, that helped. Not. You know I'm very unsocial at the moment. I'm happiest with two or three cats fighting for the best place on or near me, with a DVD playing, in my little fort whose walls are built from a loom, a bead mat, bead cups, wire, findings, beads, cabs, crochet hooks in different sizes and two remote controls. I don't need to talk and I am much too lazy - although I prefer to call it happily relaxed - to go outside and buy food. The selection at home is not that great at the moment, but as long as I still have milk, I don't really mind. Don't worry, I had spaghetti with veggie bolognese last night, I won't starve. And if there's danger of starving (if you know me, you'll find this as funny as I do), there's still nice Indian food waiting for me across the street. Very tempting.

I should take pictures and edit them before they take my Picnik away. I have played with other photo editing programs, downloads and online, but so far none of them has been IT for me.

Let's get to my latest addiction now however. I better write fast, the cats are in a strange mood today, and I have no idea when they'll get up and try to scream each other down again, crazy bunch.

A while ago I got myself some gold and silver Kumihimo cord. It lay around waiting forever, but suddenly its time had come.

Would you have thought that cord, tiny glass cubes and other beads might look good together? Well, I did, thanks to Erin the Evil Enabler. You might remember her.

Inspired by one of my favorite quotes I now want to say "I'm gonna need a bigger cube stash." As in Miyuki cube. You saw what I did with the bigger ones, I'll show you what I do with the tiny ones.

Those pearls (from Crysallis Gems, another enabler ;-)) look good enough to lick. I bet they would taste like chocolate. They sure look like it.

Unfortunately I found that I didn't have the right clasp for this cuff, so it's not listed yet.

Oh darn. I knew I wasn't fast enough. The "food patrol" is here demanding food for starving cats. To avoid more screaming and hissing, I'll obey.

I'll turn some music on for you and be right back.

I just hope 6 minutes will be enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amazing. I'm a real speed feeder.

On with the story. As I had so much fun with doing this cuff, I decided to go through my beads and see what else I had and I found tiger eye.

Then I had some more fun ;-)

Bead loomed cuff with tiger eye

THEN I ordered some more cord in different colors and now I need to decide what color cubes I want .... *sigh*

If you came that far, I can only admire you. Thanks!