Holydays are coming!

Hi guys!

Long time no see :)
Couple of commission orders, a fair, making competition/exibition pieces that I cannot show yet, getting a gall-bladder surgery - those are couple of excuses for my scilence. I loooooove excuses and usually am pretty good in finding those ;)

However that is not why I am writing this post.
Holydays are coming. Traditionally, Christmas and New Year are the magical times when all our dreams and wishes are supposed to fulfill. Let's help to make a miracle!

I personally know this family, and assure that this is not a scam.

Elena Markovski is a Russia-borne beader who resides in Germany. Her youngest daughter, Ksenia, was born with many health problems. One of them is epilepsia. Ksenia needs a brain surgery that would dramatically improve the quality of her life. We need to help her to collect just 4000 Euro (about 5300 USD) for the surgery.

Every dollar, or euro, or ANYTHING makes a difference.

Here is the PayPal account you can donate to -- elenakryiov@yandex.ru

And this is the bank account:
Landsberg-Ammersee Bank eG
IBAN DE67 7009 1600 0005 1393 84
BIK GENODEF1DSS

Please mark your donations: Spende für Ksenia (German for "Donations for Ksenia").

Here you can see some of Elena's beadwork, and these two are my favorite pieces:

All together we can make it happen!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

First photosession

Never thought my jewelry would get that far, ever...

Couple of days ago, two of my pieces that are exibited at Bröllopssmycken.se got to participate in a photoshoot.

Photograph - Åsa Delau, model - Anna Malmgren


Anna, Åsa, Lina - thanks! :)

PUSS

Swedish beaders are getting together twice a year. There is FACETT in Spring, and PUSS in Autumn. Puss is a Swedish for a kiss, in this case it is the abbreviation for Beads, Challenges, Stimulating and Creativity.

So, I spent last wekend locked in a hotel outside Stockholm with another 119 bead-nerds. It was FUN! Gave four workshops (soutache and freeform brickstitch), learned viking knit with silver wire, laughed & talked so much that my face became painful, etc.
Now I am tired :) But happy.

I made this necklace for one of PUSS challenges, where were supposed to create a posh piece for a dinner at Nobel hall or something like that. We had almost two months to figure it out. I thought, people would make big embroidered pieces with Swarovski and stuff. Thus, I wanted to make something simple this time.

Here's my Anastasiya - pearl necklace with chrysoprase pendant.

Delica beads and Toho 15/0 are 24K plated.

We did not win anything, but one cannot win all the time ;)
I'd still wear it for Nobel dinner!

Sigulda and Colors of Fall

Go to Google, and search for pictures of Sigulda in autumn. Then you'll understand what this necklace is about :)

Every one of us has a favorite place for each season. My favorite Autumn place is Sigulda - a little hilly town in my home country, Latvia.

I made this necklace for several purposes. First, I wanted to have an entry for the monthly challenge at EBW. Conveniently, it was "Autumn falling of leaves". At the same time, I was making it for Artbeads blogging challenge: "Colors of fall".

And here is some real-life inspiration from my porch:


Yeah, laves sort of mask the necklace, but I like this shot anyway. They match well - necklace and leaves. ;)


99% of all beads in this necklace were suppied / bought from Artbeads.com. As a seed beader, I could not make a fall necklace without incorporating the "Russian leaves" into it ;). Gorgeous Toho hybrids (Gold/Pink and Apollo) and Miyuki Delicas were exactly what I needed. You will find those here.

There also are copper pendant and links,

as well as some gorgous Swarovski Crystal Copper.

That's all about my latest, folks! :)


Disclamer: most of the materials used for this necklace were kindly supplied by Artbeads.com free of charge, in frames of Artbeads blogging program.

What about now?

Guys, THANKS A MILLION for all the comments to my post, both here and in EBW e-mail group!

As it was not enough with nasty stones, I'm down with a cold. You know - head full of concrete, fever, big red nose... Yeah... No good to sit in the office, but could push myself to do some coralling, half-lying on the sofa.

What do you think of the necklace now? Kick me, but I like it much more now: there is better balance in composition and it lies better around the neck (more round- than "V"-shaped).


Thanks, u rock!
I think I'll call it "Charity".

To be or not to be?

Exactly as the heading suggests - here's the question: does this necklace have a right to exist, or should I re-do the strap part?

Short pre-history. Have you heard the Saga Of Swedish Election'2010? Sad story, actually. Nationalistic populists got into the parlament. Moreover, they've got quite a strong position. Their main thesis - Sweden needs no more foreigners.

My main thesis is, on the other hand - we are all Children of Earth. Screw nations, races, borders, sexual preferences. This necklace, basically, tells exactly that story.

Here you will find turquoise from China and USA, silver aloy from Tibet, Czech and Japanese seed beads, crystal from Austria, etc. That's the way I like it - all goodies are coming together and create something new.

However, there is one BUT... I am not sure if it should be left as it is? Should I make a large heavy bib-style necklace with lots of free-form elements & netting instead of the simple straps of strung beads? Or?
What do you think?

And look at those gorgeous turquoise Swarovski - trey are opaque, but what a sparkle! :)

Actually, I am quite pleased with bezels of those turquoises - I was playing around with freeform brickstitch.


Thanks for your imput!

Another tutorial!

Finally (!!!) I've managed to produce another tutorial. This time it is all about leatherwork.
I show my own way of making leaves of leather, and hopefully, the person who buyes the tutorial would end up with something like this:

For sale at my Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/56947185/tutorial-leatherwork.

Meanwhile, I have ZERO inspiration for finishing dozens of UFOs lying around in my flat.
Remember "presumably kidney stones" from June? Those are quite confirmed gallstones by now. Completely unnecessary thing, I must say. I am in line for surgery.

On the bright side, I just got my Artbeads blogging order. Now I "just" need to get my ispiration back!

Wish me luck :)

Blackie

Me again! ;)
Finally, I've finished my Blackie!

It is a commission piece. I was gven a task to make something black with bronze, small and elegant, wearable after work to a bar to take a glass of whine with friends. Don't you just love these customers who give you completely free hands and just allow your creativity to flow?

Blackie is a composition of coralls and russian leaves wrapped around a large Czech crystal pendant. It asked for a sturdy rope, which I wanted to form a spiral to match swirls around the focal. Now, listen to me carefully: I HATE SPIRAL BRICKSTITCH ROPE and will never make another one again unless I absolutely have to. Because it takes AGES. And it is incredibly sensitive to the tension of your thread. Making the focal was a great fun, but making that particular sort of rope was a definitely wrong call. However, it looks great together (IMHO, where "H" stands for humble) ;).


This is it for today!

Autumn Swap

Well, I am busy as usually. Making several EPIC things (hopefully to enter some international competitions), preparing for my classes in Swedish PUSS bead show in October, etc.

Recently, I've finished another piece for a swap at biser.info. Turned out I love making presents ;)

This one is for a sweet lady from Russia, her name is Yulia. She wanted to have a free-form set in autumn colors, and here is what i have come up with.

This is the first time I used free-form to make a bezel. That was a cool experiment ;)


See you later!

Back in business

Hi, everyone!

After 6 months of doing other things, I've managed to produce a piece for the monthly challenge of the EBW team: Silver and Gold.

In Prague, I've met one of my favorite bead artists - Angelica Motzkin (here are some exampls of her wonderful work). Angelica is know for mixing different techniques and media in her beadwoven creations. This necklace is definitely inspired by her art.

The pendant on the necklace is made using three different techniques: bead embroidery with soutache, wire-wrap and beadweaving using coralling stitch. Everything is gold, allright!

Since one of the main requirements of the EBW challenges is that the significant part of the entries should be made in any beadweaving techniques, I've added peyote-strap to the silk of the necklace, and made an entirely beadwoven clasp.

No picture can show the true glitter of this necklace ;)

To see all the entries of this month, go to Etsy.com and search for the EBWC tag. You can vote for your favorites between 9th and 15th of August at our blog. Every vote counts!

Black Lotus

Before we got kids, my hubby was playing quite a bit of Magic - The Gathering online (he's actually really good in that stuff). It is sort of a computer game you play with other gamers (darn, almost wrote "nerds" - sorry, guys - no offence!), it involved magic and cards with different abilities.
One of such cards is the Black Lotus - an old and very powerful card. I have not seen the original version of it online, but it has been re-printed into newer sets of Magic cards.
Anyhow, there is a bautiful flower of a black lotus on it.

And I have decided to make one for myself.


It is soutache emboirdery (again). This time, the focal is a gorgeous labradorite, shining in all shades of blue, yellow, purple and pink.

I think it is a keeper ;)

My first tutorial. Ever...

Making tutorials is lots of work, ppl. Now I know that.
Think of a design. Sketch. Make a mock-up. Make the real thing and take pictures of the process. Process the pictures, re-take the bad ones. Write a description. Put the stuff together. Proof-read. Make the .pdf. Try to compress it yourself. Swear, swallow your pride and ask the hubby (aka Mr. Computer Genius) to help out. Watch how he fixes the problem in two minutes. Yeah... 23 hours of non-stop fun, straight up!

Buuuuuut, as a result I got my first tutorial that has already managed to sell thrice! YAY!

Here it is, blue and silver pendant called by name of my great office-mate, Cissi. She does not know yet ;) As fas as I am aware of, this is the first and the only soutache-tutorial available on Etsy.
And here is another pendant, called Hope. Just a little purple thing. I'll list it on Etsy tomorrow, now it is time to go to bed.



Hugs!
Olga

Soutache - again!

I am supposed to give a workshop on soutache embroidery on PUSS beading convention in Stockholm in October. Yesterday, I woke up with a nightmare - dreaming that I have arrived there but have forgotten all the kits and my tutorial was not ready. What a NIGHTMARE indeed ;)

It was a good kick to finish one of old projects in that technique. Voilá - meet my new soutache pendant, Helen.
The cab is Russian Sunstone, with a very nice sparkle in it. All the soutache colors I've used can be found in it.

Soon in my Etsy store - I have not added any new items for ages...

Free-form for Monica

Who is the best client in our business? The on who gives us free hands! :)

This necklace is a commission piece for a person with a great personality - Monica from Uppsala.
Was FUN to make! I got instructions for only what colors to use and what shape it was supposed to be. The rest is free form ;)

In the basis is a simple netted collar, embellished with freeform herringbone and peyote, as well as some coralling. The net is made using 9/0, and the embellishment is 50:50 mix of 11/0 Czech and Japanese seed beads.

Many thanks to Angelica Motzkin for the explanations about the freeform herringbone, and Ludmila Gubinova for the idea with those swirling & dangling peyote stripes that I hung on both sides of the necklace for the ballance ;)

Enjoy your summer!

1st prize in Fashion Colorworks - UN-BE-LI-VA-BLE!

http://www.mylovelybeads.com/contest/2010/winner.php

Pinch me, someone...

FINALIST of Fashion Colorworks!

Un-Be-Li-Va-Ble, the Legends of Lothlórien is in the finals. Out of more than a hundred of AMAZING entries!

To see them all, please follow this link.

Here you can vote for the favorite among finalists.

And here you can see more pictures of my finalist entry.

What a honor....