Back home from Facett!

I have been at my first beading fair ever, Facett'09 in Stockholm.
80 glad beaders from every corner of Sweden got together in Lidingö to chat, learn, bead, chat and bead again ;) And buy beads for reduced prices, of course.
It surely was fun to meet old friends and to make new ones, as well as to put faces onto aliases from the Swedish beading forums. Pictures of my Facett-creation will come a bit later, when I'll be done with it.

Now I'd just like to blog about my last addition to my Etsy shop: One Million Years B.C.
Soutache again... And some gorgeous picture jasper.




First I thought that I would enter the EBW March-April challenge with it, the "Time Machine". But actually, the necklace is not beadwoven. ;) I'll skip it this month.

Progress rapport

I have been overloaded last weeks...
I am writing several research grant proposals at work (wish me all luck in the world!), and my boys keep me busy when I am at home. So, when they go to bed at nights, I will just bead to relax my brain. However, nowadays it is only 1-2 hours per day - the head should be fresh to be able to get back to writing next morning.

I have discovered a great gemstone shop in Russia, Kaboshon. Last time it took me three weeks to get my order, which is totally fine. The quality of the gems they sell is outstanding, and the service is extremely friendly. Highly recommended!

Last weeks I have been making some embroideries using those gorgeous cabochons.
Let's start with the first one - Seraphinite. Relatively rare outside Russia, it is mined in Eastern Sibria by Baikal lake, one of the most beautiful places on this planet.

This cab asked for teal. First, I wanted to make a massive embroidered collar, but the stone got upset and stopped talking to me. I do not like upsetting anything, including minerals (which, by the way are living creatures according to uncle Carl Linné aka the Father Of Modern Systematics).

So, I've made the setting in Dori Csengeri's technique of embroidery with a braided cord, teal and silver. It looks a bit cold, like a Siberian spring. That's why I called it Taiga.





A colleague of mine said it looks elvish ;) Guess if I was pleased to hear that!!!

Take care & stay tuned, there are more posts and pictures to come! ;)

My first item ever

Tomorrow is a big day.
One year ago I have made my very first piece of jewelry.

Today I took it out from the closet and took pictures. With the very same camera as I tried to use last autumn when I started my blog. The only difference - I did not know anything about macro. Or day-light. Or background. Or photoshop/picnik.com. You name it ;)

One year ago, I was sitting in the lab and chatting with Jonas and Su-lin. We were talking about art, Jonas had finished his last picture and came to show it to us. The spring sun was shining through the window. The baby in my belly was practicing kick-boxing. And I was thinking that I wanted to buy some new jewelry for the spring, but there was nothing in the shops that I'd like. Hey... What if I tried to make my own? :lightbulb on:

I went to the hobby shop, bought pliers and a green-gold kit of acrylic beads. That evening I've made my first item, a bangle. I still like it and wear now and then.


Yes, I did not have crimping pliers and was not exactly sure how to secure the wire ;)

Happy beading! :)

Two "old" pieces that I have forgotten to blog about :(

Well, not exactly forgotten... They have been etnries to two of local Swedish beading competitions.

This is one (Trubute to Coco) was made for the BraPärlor's competition. The entry would have to be made in any technique, but most of the beads in it had to be freshwater pearls. The winner piece was totally stunning, you got to check it out!

I made the pendant using a technique that was totally new for me. It is very similar to Quilling, you just use a braided cord instead for a strip of seed beads. Please have a look here for the description, and make sure to visit the site of Dori Csengeri, the creator of this exciting technique!

A very short disclamer - I could not get the color of those blue 3-cuts right, no matter what I tried! In reality, they are of the same shade of navy-blue as the cord wraped around the cabs.

The second piece is en experiment, inspired by spectacular embellished netted collars by Zoya Gutina. It took the second prize in Zionesse contest #2. The entry had to be made with 80% Miyuki and Jablonex exclusive seed beads and the topic was "New Year". It is called Winter Solstice. As the matter of fact, I was going to bead champagne. That is why I made that 3D freeform embellishment with 15/0 that was supposed to look like the bubbles in the sparkling wine. But when I started making pictures, the necklace started to resemble the sun, I thought. I usually listen to my pieces ;). It has been named "Winter Solstice".




The spring is coming, I can feel it in the water... ;)

The voting will start on 9th of March, as usually. And as usually, it will be impossible (at least for me) to pick just one favorite!
Please cast your vote on EBW-homepage!

Rebellion Monkey

Why monkey? Dunno. It's brown. Many monkeys are brown. See the trend?
Logics is some pretty cool stuff! Glad I am good at it ;)

Last three months I have been doing mainly contest and challenge pieces, as well as some commissions. Excluding perhaps just the Blooming mosses. Know what? I am tired of beading under pressure and/or constraints. Hence - the Monkey the Rebellion.

It is done against all laws of symmetry. I have introduced its focal element here. It has been lying on the shelf next to my beading table staring at me ever since. Until a day before yesterday, when it became talkative. It has coincided with a fever-top, interestingly enough :) And than I knew exactly what to do with it!