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....

Summertime for Artbeads.com

Summer... What is Summer for you? Well, if you live in Sweden, it is rain. And strawberries ;) But say, if you lived in Spain? Blistering sun, siesta & sangria. Instead of buying expensive plane tickets, I decided to bead Spain in summer. It is ruby-red & passionate. With golds, brass ad bronzes.



Who are the main players in this necklace? The GORGEOUS brass filigree focal, not the cheapest bead but totally worth every cent. Then, there are stunning Swarovski beads and more brass. Finally, there are Czech firepolished beauties for accents. And, of course, seed beads: Toho and Jablonex.


Peter Sewel said couple of days ago something about the beads being the main players in our beadwork, we just put them together. So true, dear Beadsage!

Just look at those gorgeous beads!

Swarovski know how to make those crystals to sparkle!




The color of the bicones is Garnet and Red Magma, they are in fact a bit darker in real life, then on pictures.




Well, I wrote once that I lost some weight (50 lbs/25 kg at the moment)... It feels great, but now there is a problem: the collar brass blank seems to be too big for me! I have two options: to invent a clasp or to sell the necklace ;) Will think about it... So far - that's how it looks on a humble model ;) The picture is taken by my loving hubby just couple of hours ago.

Thanks for the beads, dear sponsors!

This necklace featured in this post is partly made of beads supplied by Artbeads.com free of charge. The opinion stated in this blog post is my own & my precioussssss.

My Last Meditation: Legends of Lothlórien

Last night spent at ER with "presumably kidney stones". Yeah... Well, after giving couple of births that was not biggie, really... Something tells me it was not the end of it either...

Well, enough complaining ;)
This is the last necklace made for Fashion Colorworks 2010.


This is my favorite color combination of the three one could choose from: Dried Herb - Eucalyptus - Aurora.
The cabs are Russian - Serpentines and a gorgeous rich-yellow simbircite. Simbircite is really difficult to get if you do not know any Russian lapidarists, thus use the opportunity to get it from Rosita & Bernie Pisarchick on Etsy - they've got some really good stuff in their shop, I give my word for it.

Some close-ups, and a comment - it was very difficult to capture the colors in this one. The lucite flowers are yellow in reality, but appear almost olive-green when put next to the necklace ;) Even under the daylight.

And the clasp:

As was planned, the first necklace was embroidered, inspired by Tibet, buddhism, spiritualism, etc. The second is a result of my passion for sci-fi, made using classical beadweaving techniques. The third shows my passion for nature and fantasy, it is a story told in free-form.

I will take all three with me to Prague. This is the first time I am going to an international beading convention. I would really like to come to the Bead Dreams one of the next years, just to see it ;)

After completing these three pieces, I would like to make another one, outside the contest. It would be a Christian meditation, with whites, light blues and golds. Not sure which technique yet, perhaps mixed.

Right now on my plate there are:
- necklace for Artbeads blogging program - due 21st of June;
- commission order (large freeform colar) - due 10th of July;
- bridal order (hair jewelry and dress embellishment) - due 1st of August.
;o)

Take care, All!

Meditations for Fashion Colorworks, part two

It is called "Alien Worlds". This color combination, Tomato puree - Fusion Coral - Violet, was the least favorite of mine and the most difficult to work with. I find it just too aggressive... Well, it was a good challenge to make it work, in my opinion.

I thought about glass-stone-silica flowers with fleshy coral-pink and red leaves and vines (or tentacles?) of lilac and violet. I've ordered violet seed beads of the same color, but different finishes. It gave quite an interesting effect.

Made using netting embellishment and several different beadweaving techniques. Just wanted it to be purely beadwoven, and just a part of the clasp is ebroidered.





Speaking of the clasp... Well, on e-bay I've found stones marked as "genuine natural Argentina rhodochrosite" for $2.99 and free shipping. Felt fishy - rhodochrosites are rare, I've read! Well, a mineral collectioner in Stockholm said those were not even close to real rhodochrosites. Most likely, it is onyx-type of stone, presumably from India, and it has been definitely dyed.
After talking to her, I've made some research and have managed to find the genuine natural Argentina rhodochrosite. It is in the clasp. I felt that the natural banding pattern of the "fake" stone were very much in line with the colors we were given to work with. Here are the close-ups of the imposter:
and of the real thing:

Watch out when bidding on E-bay!

And have a nice day, of course! :)

Summer Swap @ Biser.info

I'm back from Germany. What a lovely country! If you have not been there yet, I'd highly reommend to visit it. This time I spent couple of days in Munich and then went for a conference in a small city of Freising (hometown to the world's oldest brewery). Yes, it was great ;)

While I'm pationately waiting for the Swedish Summer to give me some good light to re-take the pictures for the Fashion Colorworks, I'll blog about the Summer Swap at biser.info.

There is a lovely girl - SweetJane, or Genya (who likes freeform jewelry) and I got to make a necklace for her.

Here is is:


Unfortunately, it has been damaged during the transportation all the way to Moscow - one of the amethyst beads broke in two. Luckely, Genya's husband has managed to mend it.

Couple of close-ups:


(love the focal, it's a colored & facetted druzy "dragon vein" quartz, quite bulky to be honest)


And here it is on its new owner:


Looks like it fits! ;o)

Fashion Colorworks 2010, part one

Somewhere between trips-conferences-seminars and other professional insanities, I've managed to finish my submissions for Zoya's contest.

Working with two of the color combinations (that is 1st and 2nd) were quit challenging, especially the 2nd one. It took me some time to understand what I wanted to make and how to make it ;) It was a bit of a meditation, hence the name of this mini-series - "Meditations".

The first in the series is a necklace in color combination #1: Amparo Blue - Turquoise - Pink Champagne. It is called "Skies Above Potala".


It is inspired by Tibet and Lobsang Rampa's books. The cloud pattern is quite typical for that part of the world (to be honest, I was sketching those clouds during an extremely boring seminar about scientific ethics, khm...). The focal is a natural turquoise cab.


While figuring out the secrets of layered bead embroidery and exploring different types of bead embroidery stitches, I came across the work of the fellow Etsy Beadweavers member - Joanne of Thistle Dew. I am particularly in love with her Bead Dreams entry this year: this necklace. Thanks for the inspiration, Joanne!

Tomorrow I'll fly to Germany for a conference. Stay tuned, there are more contest entries to see!