BTW - 18th April 2012

This Wednesday I have a bit of a bigger mess to show, lol. After I took the pics I actually decided to clean up the desk and now it looks a bit tidier, lol. I guess a "bead mess" is better then a garbage mess, heh :p well, in my opinion anyway ^^;

I've been starting on another bead embroidery project... Again, lol. I'm planning on making this piece my entry for this month's challenge at "Operation Tackle That Bead Stash!". Hopefully I can complete it before the 30th!
I also, finally found a use for those shiny 11/0 Czech bead mix that I bought a bit more then a year ago now. I've been working on a netted lariat necklace with them, and I think the beads are just perfect for it.

This week I've also been working on some polymer clay projects. I made a total of eight round beads with a pattern I carved by hand (one bead by one... phew... Precision work) and each bead is aprox. 10mm. After that I created a simple patina with black acrylic paint. To get the a nice turquoise color back on the beads (was all darker and messy after the acrylic was added) I decided to buff them with a very fine sandpaper, and it worked out great, just as I wanted 'em :) Then to buff them I rubbed them into some pair of old jeans I was wearing (I can't remember where I got this tip from, but it does the trick).

I also decided that I wanted to play a bit extra with different colors and different shapes.
I know that to achieve a  domed polymer clay bead you kinda need to press them onto a round glass surface. I found a last resolution after having a problem not finding any of those in my home, heh. I actually discovered that one of the milk jugs I have is very round in its center. It work out greatly, lol.
I created four round, domed beads with two hole on each side. I also created a square pendant with the same technique. I have no idea when or if I'll be doing something with them, but there is something in the back of my head that is whispering to me that I have to... Somehow. Just gotta figure out what, lol! Any ideas?

Of course I couldn't resist but to make those cute drop cabochons using the same palette :)

Pendant: Twinlulu

I wanted a little break from my main project and I saw this really adorable pattern yesterday which uses Preciosa Twin Beads on the Facebook fan page of Preciosa. The link lead to a Hungarian blog with the name "EWA's World of Beads" in English. Her blog is partly in English and of course in Hungarian, and she has a lot of different patterns for free on her blog, so for those who want to take a look I recommend you strongly to do so.
About three months ago or so I bought about 20g of four different colors of twin beads to have in my stash for "just-incase-I-will-be-in-the-mood" to play with them and I thought this was an awesome opportunity to play with them a bit more then I already had.
This pendant is called "Twinlulu" and it's really easy to understand; all Ewa's patterns are in diagrams in step by step and nothing is written.
What you'll need are of course twin beads, then you'll also need a 12mm rivoli, 8/0, 11/0 and 15/0 seed beads, 4mm rounds and 4mm bicones.

After I created my first pendant I wanted to try my hands on another, since I had a different color palette in mind that I wanted to try out. The purple one is my first try.
As for the second try... I've been having these gorgeous aqua/gold lined (#284) seed beads from Toho since a while and I wanted to try them out with different colors then the ones I'd tried before.

As for the attachment I decided to make the same for both of them. I gunmetal-plated chain with a magnetic clasp. The same chain looked nice to both of them so ^.^;

Wish List: April

11/0 Toho seed beads (#82 Metallic Nebula) from Perles & Co.

Gorgeous button from Perles & Co.

Drichroic Donut from Perles & Co.

Twin Beads in Crystal Lilac colour lined from GJBeads.

Dichroic Glass Cabochon Mix from GJBeads.

Garnet Gemstone Faceted Teardrop Briolette Beads from Beadaholique.

Lampwork novelty beads red round with a detailed frog from Beadaholique.

Fandango Purple (Dyed) Coin Shaped Cultured Pearls from Beadaholique.

Czech Glass Pressed Dagger Beads (Matt denim peacock) from Robin's Beads.

Toho Aiko seed beads (Salmon lined crystal) from Robin's Beads.

Pink Smooth Square Cat's Eye Cabochon from HobbyPerline.

12mm round Swarovski Jade pearls from HobbyPerline.

BTW - 11th April 2012

This Wednesday, my table is looking a bit messy with some random seed beads (which you can see in the background of the focus point).
In the front I'm working on a bead embroidery pendant yet again. The thing with this one is that I want to make something less feminine and more masculine. I have a problem though. I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to create a masculine jewelry piece with bead embroidery, nor with beads. I suppose this is a problem that every designer, regardless of what media is at least once struggling with sometimes in their journey when it comes to creating something directed to the opposite gender.
In the center of the bead embroidery pendant I've chosen to include a tiger's eye bead, together with some 4mm galvanized cube beads from Miyuki, together with 11/0 and 15/0 seed beads from Matsuno and Miyuki.

I'm still pondering about the chain for it though. I'm thinking about a blue cotton cord with knots on a few areas, or just a thicker chain in either gunmetal or copper. I suppose I'll be done deciding that when the main part of the piece is complete.

In the back, a bit out of focus, I've done another bead embroidery piece. I'm not sure what to make of it yet, a necklace for sure, but I haven't decided completely how to execute it yet.
The focal is a handmade polymer clay cabochon I created. I wanted to make a "lizard" like eye. So yeh, it's a unique piece, no mold used at all what so ever.

Necklace: Solveig

My deadline on this project got a bit messed up as I managed to first end up with a stiff neck - as in stiff as not being able to move it, myeh. Not only that, but on Friday I also managed to get a damn cramp that caused me to throw up and spend the entire day in bed.

Although, I'm happy that I actually managed to complete this piece before the 11th, as it is a birthday gift to my grandma, whom I haven't seen now for almost 3 years.
So I wanted to make her something special this year, as I wasn't able to the other two years due to the facts that I was heavily occupied with studies at that time.

I decided to name this piece after whom it is dedicated to, my grandma, who's name is Solveig. It's a nordic name for those who never probably heard about it. It is a very common name in northern Sweden, Norway and Iceland and the name means power.

The shape of the pendant is pretty much free-form. I sketched out ad doodled a bit on something until I was completely satisfied with it. My goal was not only to make something completely different but I also wanted to make the shape really feminine at the same time.

I wanted to put most focus on the pendant itself, instead of making a beaded chain, so I decided to just use a black string from Beadalon, and add some crimps with two matching Czech square beads that "floats".
The pendant is made with bead embroidery. The main beads I used where one 14mm Swarovski bicone, 3 Swarovski flowers, Czech glass beads, some handmade polymer clay beads, Matsuno and Miyuki seed beads in sizes 11/0 and 15/0 and 11/0 Czech seed beads.
For the bail of the pendant I decided to make something simple that wouldn't take away the focus of the main thing, a.k.a the pendant, so I decided just to string up three lines of seed beads and create a loop of them, paired up next to each other.