Foxan's beading blog

Introducing BeadCrafty.com

2012-01-26T20:15:00.012+01:00

Hi guys!

How are you today?

Today I wanted to tell you about BeadCrafty.com, a lovely web-shop located in the UK. As many of you know, having a beading blog pays back. Now and then many of us are getting requests from different companies/shops to review their products, test their service, etc. And we do so, gladly.

This time was no different. BeadCrafty has contacted me already before the Christmas, asking to write about them in exchange for their materials. Surely, I said yes! It was exactly at the time when I was writing a makramé tutorial for my beading class. So, naturally, I have immediately imagined a macramé project and picked beads and cords for it.

The webshop of BeadCrafty is easy to navigate. It is quite funky, refreshingly colorful and straight to the point. All beads are offered in small packs, which is perfect for people like myslef who is using tonns of different kinds of beads in the projects. Sometimes I find it expensive and unnecessary to buy a string of beads when you need just 5 or 10. If you are like me - this shop is for you! The package came just couple of days after ordering, safely and beautifully wrapped.

There were beads for two projects in my order. Both inspired by tropics: one was fuschsia-pink, and the other was aqua-teal. First was supposed to have this cool polymer bead as the focal, and the second would evolve around this paua-cab.

I got to work as soon as the beads have arrived, but blimey... The cord that I ordered did not fit the holes of the beads that I have ordered. This happens, right? It would only fit 8 mm agates and Swarovski crystals! Back to the drawing board. I thought I'd make a strung necklace. Soon I've realised that it was going to be boring. And not me. Then exhibition came, then Christmas orderes, then an "urgent" cooperation with the BeadSmith (which I will blog about a bit later), my camera went on strike... And the project was left behind. Until two days ago, when I got a very kind e-mail from BeadCrafty asking if I was still going to write the review.
OUPS! SORRY GUYS!!! :blushing:

So, I picked up the beads yesterday.
And from now on there will be just a very few words and many pictures.

I cut the necklace embryo and put it onto the foundation. Mind though - colour of the focal is WRONG in this light.

Totally unglamourously fixed it with scotch while stitching it to the foundation. Then scotch got removed.

After that, I added larger beads: agates, faux pearls, shell pearls and Swarovski, 3-12 mm in diameter (95% of beads are still from BeadCrafty!). At this point, I had to stop and go get kids from the daycare.

Now, these are fresh pictures of today's progress:

Yes, I cannot really live without seed beads. These are from my own stash (Jablonex).

Filling gaps between large beads with freeform peyote.

Adding texture and 3D-feel.

Well, there is circa 1/3 of the necklace left to be finished. Hope to get back to it next week - my weekend is going to be quite hectic.

All pictures were taken with my iPhone. MUCH better picks are promised: upon finishing the necklace will be taken for a real photo-session at my sister-in-law's.

Thank you BeadCrafty for patience. And wonderful beads. And this cool opportunity.

Disclamer: yes, I got beads in exchange for writing this review. No, I am not lying - their webshop IS good, at least in my humble opinion.

January back-log

2012-01-22T18:45:00.007+01:00

Without too much talking, here are close-ups for some of my exhibition pieces.
Most of the pictures made by my sister in law, Margarita Judina.

First, the two with polymer clay focals:

And here the beaded ones:

Freshwater pearls, Swarovski, two different kind of agates and an Indian ruby (chunky, non-transparent, full of inclusions, but still a corundum ;) ). And 24K plated beads. Called this one Patricia.

"... I went down to the nut garden to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine had blossomed, the pomegranates were in bloom." ("Song of Songs")

HUGS, everyone!

My first exhibition!

2011-12-18T19:40:00.002+01:00

Finally, I have matured for an exhibition. Since I am a complete noob in this branch, a friend of the family, calligraphy artist Marie Györi has kindly offered her helping hand. We made a common collection "Letters and Pearls" and exhibited it in the Gallery T in the Old City of Stockholm.
Gallery T has just one room: 32 square meters, three windows, white-washed walls and a wooden floor made of wood that used to be in the deck of an old sailing boat. It is situated in the Dragon House on Österlånggatan 3, just 100 meters from the Royal Castle. It is a very warm, peaceful and harmonic place.

The theme of our exhibition was love and nature. Marie used texts of ancient poets, Holy Bible, Shakespeare, modern authors and song writers in English, Swedish and Hungarian (as the latter is her mothertongue). And I made jewelry that was expired by the text of colors that she was using. Or vice versa, Marie chose the text and colors based on a piece that I made. We had a year to prepare the exposition.

This is one of examples, Divine Love.

I used white agate cab, polymer clay, seeds and Swarovski.

Here is a bit more:

The exhibition was a success! I sold three pieces, Marie - two. Both of us got many new contacts, commissions, etc.

And I would like to thank all my beady friends and blog readers for all the support you gave me during the past three years.
THANK YOU!!!

Chocolate passion

2011-12-05T15:57:00.008+01:00

Today's piece of useless knowledge: did you know that the taste of chocolate partly depends on what sort of microbes were fermenting the beans before roasting? ;)

Anyhow, everybody knows that chocolate is the best remedy for depression. I looooove chocolate in all its expressions and forms. And with a cup of good, strong coffee.
Here is a Chocolate Passion - the necklace that came to life one beautiful sunny afternoon when I just had to make something chocolaty.

It's leaterwork with bead embroidery. Leather of four colors of chocolate + bronze seed beads and some picture jasper cabs and rounds. I backed with soft leather of reindeer.

It's made to fit a lady with a long neck and a perfect posture.

I sold it on the Bead fair in Hamburg in August, to a lovely girl from Sweden :) She looked totally fabulous in it and I am sure my necklace has found a loving home.

Chocolate, anyone? ;)

Brooches

2011-12-01T20:06:00.002+01:00

Hi!

See, so far - so good, I am almost at the old speed of one post a week ;)
Wanted to show you some pics of the brooches I've made this summer for my beading class.

I get quite frequently asked if I make any brooches. And the honest answer is "yes, if you ask me to". I just almost never use them myself. But yes, I do make brooches and enjoy making them as well.

I thought I'd make a mini-collection, with one brooch for each Zodiak sign. Here are the first three, the rest is still on the paper :)

Black Lotus - Scorpio:
Martian - Aries:

Dreamy Cluster - Pisces:

Tutorials for Aries and Scorpio are available in Swedish (so far) via Beadmonsters.se. The English versions will appear in my Etsy store after the Christmas.

So long!

Echo of collaboration with Mona

2011-11-25T08:45:00.006+01:00

This post will be about a necklace that I made for Mona Baroody, a glass artist from the U.S. who makes some really cool beads. To see some of her work, please visit her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/monaraebeads. Do not forget to browse the "sold" section as well!
Anyhow, Mona and I have collaborated for the Fashion Colorworks contest this year. Neither of our two collaborative pieces came to finals, but nevertheless it was a great fun to work with her beads! We have decided to swap - I got some gorgeous lampwork beads, and promised to make a necklace to Mona in return.

While working on our project, Mona created a very unusual bead (by mistake, as she claims) :)

First, we planned to include it in the contest design, but then I realised that the aggressive mandatory colors of the contest would kill its beauty. And I made a separate piece, just around it.
Guess it's quite clear that it is one of my typical "ocean" pieces. :) All lampwork in this one are by Mona.

That jellyfish bead is awesome!

Just look at the color blend that Mona gave this focal!

Is it water or what? :)

It was fun and a great pleasure working with you, darling! Big Hug!

Visit Monas shop, buy her beads, you will not regret it.

Disclamer: I did not get any money/beads/commodities/royalty for writing this post. It is my own honest opinion.

The story of Black Magic

2011-11-14T10:51:00.005+01:00

Here is a story of one of my favorite commissioned orders, the Black Magic necklace.
To cut a long story short, it was first supposed to be an alternative wedding necklace. But then it was decided that it would "just" be a necklace for a special occasion.

I was given a task to make something big and beautiful, burlesque, vampiric, with black focals and brass ornaments. No problem, I thought.

It took me a bit more than a week. I used onyx cabs, lots of Swarovski (pearls, rivolis, stones, crystals), lucite flowers, ornate brass stampings, lots of different kinds of seed beads and yards and yards of Fireline. The cabs are bezelled with right angle weave. Everything is put together with freeform peyote. This time it is 100% bead weaving, no embroidery at all.

I took this picture at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the day before it was supposed to be posted. Then I played around with a clasp and earrings. When I was finished, the daylight was gone and I took all the pictures under a lamp. The result was sort of cool: the pictures got a vintage look. :) What the heck, I thought, and left them as they were.

Couple of close-ups:

The necklace can be worn as a choker, or as a colliér. I have added a small detail to regulate its length:

and this is just the clasp in the choker-version (sorry for the blurry picture):

Finally, earrings to match:

And the whole thing:

The client is satisfied. That is the main thing, to know that my necklace is going to be loved and taken care of.

Nice week to all of you!

Caught a new bug ;)

2011-11-11T11:11:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

All over the sudden I have decided to test a new medium, polymer clay. World-wide-web offers a wide selection of inspirational pictures and mastec classes on hw to condition clay, blend colors, etc. And I went wild with it.

These are beads that one could call "Children of Ctulhu" (Wikipedia).
That's how they looked like at 01:20 a.m., fresh from the oven:

And here they are under the daylight.

Presenting Shoggoth:

Orchidopus:

ImpUCelyn:

And here are some less scary things, just a necklace with no name so far:

Well, maybe I've enjoyed playing with the clay a bit too much ;) We'll see...

That's it for today, thanks for looking!
Have a nice day, everyone!

Dealing with a back-log

2011-10-31T16:05:00.003+01:00

Hi-hi!

Time to take care of a huge back-log. :)
This is a small and elegant piece, which I made while resting from my usual GiGanToMania.
Usually I do not like plastic beads. But there was something in those acrylic roses that made me to fall in love with them. I love the ivory color, and the detail, too.

I have recently discovered the beauty of cyanoacrylate glue, which I now use more often than E-6000. It does not stink nearly as much, and works equally well (so far). This time I used it to glue to a point-end rhinestone to my beadwork. It sits there like a rock!

Also, I used some really nice freshwater pearls for this necklace. You pay some extra bucks, but the effect is stunning. Do not think I'd ever be able to go back to B- ;(

I called it Lada. It is a very-very old Russian female name, a synonym of purity and natural beauty.
That's all for today, folks! And have a very nice week everyone!

Hi again, what's up?!

2011-10-26T12:30:00.007+02:00

LOOOOONG time no see!
I'm still around, still beading. This year turned out to be busy. But what a great year it is!
Here is a short summary over the things that happened since my last "serious" post here.

* May - my husband and I went to France for a short break

(Mats and I inside St. Michel cathedral)

(in front of me - Mont St. Michel)

* June - I was working like crazy, learning Linux & genome sequencing. And finishing entries for the Fashion Colorworks (still have to make decent pictures of those!)

(I got to make better pictures, it's a promise!)

* July - all family went for holidays in Latvia. Kids had a blast! And I met Svetlana Sametis (middle), an amazing bead artist!

(picture courtesy Svetlana Sametis, Svetlana and her associate are modelling my necklaces, and I return the favor) :)
* August was busy:
- finished one of the best pieces so far, an alternative wedding design for a really nice gal
(Black Magic, burlesque bridal piece)

- went to Hamburg, had a table at 1st Beader's Best Show (and met some of my readers, and Birgit Bergman, Kerrie Slade, Zoya Gutina, Liudmila Gubinova, and some other great beaders)

(picture courtesy Svetlana Sametis; standing left to right - Verene Grene-Christ, I, Liudmila Gubinova, Nadya Gerber, Birgit Bergman; sitting left to right - Galina Bär, Zoya Gutina, Svetlana Sametis)

- hosted Zoya and George Gutin for several days at our house, it was a great pleasure to finally meet them in person!

(here they are in central Uppsala, accompanied by my mom)

* September - went for a conference in Sapporo, Japan. LOVE that country, must come back.

(canal at Otaru, Hokkaido)

* October - teaching at PUSS Beadshow in Stockholm, sold one really exclusive design to an extraordinary lady. Working my @$$ off with genomics and trying to finish the collection for the Stockholm exhibition later this year.
More pictures to come!

I'll do my best to keep this blog going!

Hugs, everyone :)

Fashion Colorworks 2011

2011-06-22T09:25:00.005+02:00

Hi guys!

Now I can finally tell what I've been doing lately... That is making four pieces for the Fashion Colorworks contest. Among all online beading contest I do appreciate it the most. Why?
- There is a great competition from the Russian beaders who otherwise are shy to enter interenational contests.
- Pieces are more wearable than the ones made for the Bead Dreams.
- Organizers are very friendly and supporting.
- Three international jurors are scoring the pool of entries.
- Popular vote is allowed, but it is a separate nomination.

So, this year I made four pieces. Two in collaboration with Mona Baroody, a great lampwork artist from the U.S. (blog, Etsy store). Together we came up with an idea to make something phylosophically feminine -> life started in the ocean, than came to earth... water ... origin of life... meaning of life... ribbons of life... Yes, the collection is called Ribbons of Life. And there are four pieces in it, all called by names of ancient female deities: Gaia, Thetys, Demeter and Artemis. All four are made in totally different techniques, but united by the theme of ribbons and femininity (no, we do not do weeds; we just got the artistic sort of mind).

Well, three of the pieces did not make it to the final :((( But Gaia did (I know it deserves better pictures, but so far this is the only one I got).

Gaia was made almost from the scratch during the three-day FACETT beading convention in Stockholm. I was sitting in a huge room filled with female beaders, we all were sitting and creating something of our own. And talking.

I knew that I am making the piece for the Fashion Colorworks that should incorporate three colors: Russet, Coral Rose and Blue Curacao. I bought the focal on e-bay just for this piece, since that turquoise cab got all three colors in it.

And then I went to the bead shops that participated in the convention and picked up the beads that matched best to the stuff I was making at a particular moment.

And then, during the same convention I took a lampwork class from Tove Egholt and made an ugly orange bead. It is in that necklace too!

As well as couple of Tove's, looking a bit more professionally ;)

So, there I am sitting and making my necklace. And looking around. What an amazing group of people it was! Only women. Many with chronical ilnesses, different sorts of cancers, broken bodies, bleeding souls, but SURVIVORS. Strong personalities that have transformed their problems into the creative energy. Gathered in the same room and making amazingly beautiful things. This necklace is inspired by them, beaders of FACETT'2011.

(Gaia in progress, FACETT'2011. Picture by Lina Bingmert)

Also, it got signatures of Carin Riese, Misan, Charina-Pitepärlan and Maria, who directed my hand when I could not decide where the next bead should go. Huge thanks to them for the company! And to Kerstin, KEO, Lena, Mina and Marja-Liisa, my bead-friends from Uppsala for their support.

Now Gaia is amongst the finalists of the Fashion Colorworks ´2011. Here you can cast the vote for the People's Choice Award: http://www.mylovelybeads.com/contest/displayFinalListRu_new.php. This year's entries are A M A Z I N G. It is a great honor to be among the finalists.

Hugs,
Olga

Symbiosis or the Love Story

2011-05-16T14:33:00.011+02:00

Hi ppl!

My computer is compiling and I got some time to spare for blogging.

Introduction
Today we will talk about the Love Story. And the story of making the Symbiosis.

On one hand, it is about the love story of a friend and and an office-mate of mine - Su-lin, who got recently married (applause here, thx). On the other hand, since I already am happily married, it is about the love story between myself and my beautiful new iPhone 4 (looooove).

Su-lin was kind enough to allow me to make her bridal necklace. She's a sci-fi fan, and a microbiologist (otherwise she would not survive me as an office-mate). I had approximately one week time.

After having a brainstorm, we decided that the necklace should be very simple in front, but get gradually crazy on the back. The wedding gown left the back open, and, as everybody knows, the couple's back is the part that all the spectators are usually looking at during the entire ceremony.

The aim of the project was to make a necklace that was: i) assymmetrical; ii) sci-fi, and iii) look like mold. I called it phylosophically: Symbiosis.

Materials and Methods
Swarovski 4439 20mm Square Ring Crystal CAL V SI
Swarovski 5310 simplicity cut beads 6 mm White Opal and White Alabaster
Swarovski 5328 Xilion bicones 3 and 4 mm Crystal, Crystal AB, Moon Shadow, White Opal, White Alabaster
Miyuki Delicas 11/0 and 15/0 Metallic Dk White Gold 24 Karat Plated
Miyuki Delica 11/0 Transparent Crystal
Seed bead soup 11/0 whites - opals - transparents (Toho and Miyuki)
Czech charlottes 13/0 and 15/0 Transparent Crystal plane & AB
Fireline 4 lb test
Needles Pony # 12 and John James #13
Lighter
Scissors

Photography
Due to the camera malfunction, all pictures were taken by iPhone 4 (loooove) (Figs 1 and 2).

Figure 1. Working table in the process...

Figure 2. By touching the screen you can accidently take a picture of yourself instead of the other thing you have intended to take picture of. (NOTE: the earphones, connected to iPhone 4 (loooove). What a sound!!!)

Front and Back
The base of the collar was woven using the netting stitch. Swarovski square ring mount onto the base using the freeform peyote and white gold plated Delicas (Fig 3).
The back-part was made separately using free-form peyote stitch (Figs 4-6).

Figure 3. Does it look like T-3 for you, or what? ;)

Figure 4: A - Here is how we start growing a mold.

Figure 5: ... and it gets bigger.

Figure 6: Look, professor, I think it is a girl!

Assembly
The front and back parts were pinned onto the velvetine necklace display prior to assembly (Fig 7). The integrity and the exact placement of the back-part was secured by adding bridges of free-form peyote (Fig 8). The clasp was woven using the white gold plated Delica 11/0 and incerted into the mock-up. Free-form was used to link it to the necklace (Fig 9).

Figure 7 (A-D): this is how we make a mock-up. It was not at all that trivial to make it lie, instead of just hanging (the final score was 1:0; after a long battle I won).

Figure 8 A-B: Connecting the front and the back with free-form. The left side was supposed to be taken over by the crystal-white mold.

Figure 9: The clasp is in. The right side is taken over the mutated metallic mold. Note: the white mold is starting to take over the clasp!

Results and dicsussion
Ta-daaaaa!

Figure-too-lazy-to-check-which: taken 1:52 in the morning, hence the blurr. Less than 12 hours to the ceremony ;)
And here is the happy couple - Su-lin and Isak (note the location of the necklace before hugging with the croud)

And this is the back, after the hugging ;)

And once again - CONGRATULATIONS, guys!

Despite a slight occasional migration to the left, the necklace held through the entire ceremony + hugging + dinner. As far as I understand, it was not too uncomfortable.

Conclusions
- iPhone4 (loooove) is an acceptable replacement to an ordinary camera in case of emergency.
- One week is a crazy timeframe for a necklace like this, especially if you are 100% employed and a mother of two. Beaders advised to use it as The Last Reserve for best friends only.
- Note to the croud: be cautions when hugging a bride! The necklace can easily get misplaced.
- Mental note to myself: next time, check all necklaces in a hug-test. I always try to make both sides of the assymetrical necklaces of the same weight, but they sometimes try to get a life of their own.

Acknowledgements:
Su-lin, thank you for your boldness and allowing me to be a part of your Big Day!
Isak, thank you for the opportunity to be at Su-lins wedding ;) Best of luck, guys!
Mats and mum, thanks for taking care of the Rascals while I was making the necklace!

Disclamer:
I was not paid by Apple to blogg about the iPhone. However, I would not mind ;)

What’s Old is New Again!

2011-05-10T15:05:00.009+02:00

No Bead Dreams for me this year. But I am in a good company of some really cool rejects. :)

Still busy. Make it too busy. But beading eventually.
This is one of my latest - a piece for the Artbeads Blogging: Eternity Spirals

The challenge this time was "What’s Old is New Again!". Here is a part of the information that the bloggers got: 'For this theme we would like you to seek inspiration from the past by incorporating old, vintage or antique items into your designs and combine them with modern elements such as Swarovski crystals, Glass, Resin, etc. The only requirement for your creations is for each piece to have at least one ‘old’ element. It can be a family heirloom, vintage cameo, an interesting bead, pendant or item you found in an antique shop, an old key, photo or any unique element of the past. You can even re-use an old jewelry piece and ‘borrow’ items from it if you like'.

I though of what people do usually use in such a context... Filigree, vintage stampings, steam-punk findings, pieces of old china, fossils... Just for the sake of originality, I picked an old celtic wooden ornament from this shop section. This pendant has started the theme of the Eternity Spirals that flows through the necklace.

Then, I picked my medium. I learned how to make macramé when I was five or six - my mother could not find a babysitter and I got to follow her on a course (Thanks mom!!!). Last year I made couple of bracelets, earrings and pendants using micromacramé with beads, but nothing fancy. All over the sudden, I just had to knot some thread! So, I went for the Super-lon cord, which can be found here. I really liked this big pack of well-picked colors!

Wood + green cord. What else? Swarovski! Here I picked my favorite Vitrail Mediums.

Those were the basics that I got from the Artbeads. However, something was missing. I badly wanted to get my hands on some raku ceramics. And I found a wonderful Etsy shop of Wondrous Strange Design that got EXACTLY what I needed!
IMHO, all that looks quite well together ;)

This celtic cross ROCKS!

So does the button that I used as a clasp.

This is one of the round raku beads:

And, last but not least, the focal raku pendant, Pale Moon Rising as artist has called it (do not forget that all pictures are clickable for enlargement).

But what about including something REALLY old? Here is one of the wooden beads, all coming from my old broken earrings made of cherry wood:

This is what is left from the project: two wooden connectors and a raku button. I will make another neck piece of those, but later.

Disclamer: Artbeads.com were kind enough to supply me with the Crystals, cord and the wooden components free of charge. However, they did not pay me to write this review. I do genuinely like their products and ENJOY working with that shop.
All other materials have been purchased by the author of the post.
If I see any of my pictures running around in the Would Wide Web without any permission, I will get upset. And you will get bad karma. Why don't you just ask? I do not bite!

Bead Dreams - what the heck...

2011-04-04T21:25:00.003+02:00

I figured - what do I have to lose? 30 bucks for two entries? So what, I just sold couple of kits and can afford it!

So, I have entered the Bead Dreams for the first time. Have low ambitions and no expectations, but why not to try, really?

Here is my Laplandia, the first of the Land of the Midnight Sun.

I am seriously addicted to labradorites and all its family - larvikite, spectrolite, etc. Being a scientist, it is difficult to start believing in stone-healing-mumbo-jumbo, but this particular stone is certainly a magic one. At least for me. It makes me calmer, more pieceful and stronger inside. That's why I did not want to embroider those cabs: they are open from behind and are touching the skin.

I wanted to bead the Nordic nature: mosses that reindeer are grazing on, aurora borealis, colors of small lakes among marshes, mist covering the ground and the ever changing skies.

This necklace is very special to me. It took four months to complete, and three of those I was gathering the material. Stones are coming from India, Canada, Finland, Norway and Madagaskar. They were lovingly carved by Russian, Chinese, Indian and Hong Kong lapidarists.
Tiny Swarovki crystalls are shining like small droplets of dew. Even if I will never make it to the finals, I will always love it.

The pictures have been kindly taken by a professional photographer, Dan Pettersson (not a relative of mine) ;). He managed to show the true color of the stones. Please look at the series of four pictures below, and follow the color changes depending on the position of the light source. Note though - we share a copyright, please respect that and do not reproduce the pictures without our permission.

And, finally - this is how it looks like in real life. The neck is borrowed from a fellow beader :)

Wishing BEST OF LUCK to everyone who has entered this year!

Another teaser

2011-03-15T15:35:00.003+01:00

Wanna know what's on my working table right now? Oups, I cannot really show it to you - it is an exhibition piece ;)

But I can tease you with couple of small previews!

Have a nice & productive week!

Winter Enchantment

2011-03-12T18:50:00.005+01:00

While working on my Song of Songs collection for December, I managed to make couple of new pieces. This is the story of the Artbeads.com-sponsored Winter Enchantment challenge for bloggers.

For me, winter means snow and ice. I spent couple of winters at grandma's in Russia (up to -40°C). This piece is inspired by those winters. And here is the link to visualize my inspiration.
At the same time, I was thinking of Hans Christian Andersen's saga about the Snow Queen. Guess, if ever got married, she'd wear something like this.

The idea of the necklace was simple: to make a choker with almost invisible netted strap, with an ice-flower in the middle and a cascade of frosty branches hanging from it.

Every long branch ends with a rod of natural ice-clear quartz, and every branchlet ends with Swarovski - crystal or pearl. The focal is Swarovski fancy oval 4127. I think I start to develop addiction to this particular type of bead. It is very easy to bezel and it gives amazing effect to the finished piece. The cut of the crystal is perfect. After working just with these large Swarovski elements, I've learned to easily tell them apart from "Chinarovski" and other imitations of Austrian crystal.

I blended severl types of seed beads in it, both Japanese and Czech. Miyuki Delica and Toho as well as most of the Swarovski beads have been supplied by the Artbeads.com.

Thank You goes not just to Artbeads.com, but also to my sister in law, Karin, who has generously allowed to use her as a model ;)

You know, perhaps, how much pain in the back it is to take pictures of completely white beaded jewelry. With another words, it is close to the mission impossible. However, at daylight and under strong sun it turnes out quite Ok.

Disclamer: part of the materials used in this project have been supplied by Artbeads.com free of charge.

Long time no see :)

2011-02-23T10:24:00.005+01:00

First of all, MANY THANKS FOR ALL THE DONATIONS to Elena Markovski and her daughter! Now they have got enough money for the trip, surgery and aftertreatment. You are fantastic, thank you for your contribution! It will happen in mid-May, I will keep you updated!

What's up here in Uppsala? Quite a lot. I'm preparing a large collection of jewelry for a exhibition in Stockholm. Cannot show you anything yet, ufortunately... But will come up with a small preview-spoiler a bit later in season.

Finished a large piece, will try my luck in Bead Dreams this year. It is featuring some really gorgeous labradorites and spectrolites and called Laplandia. Making that piece inspired me into making a mini-collection, "The Land of Midnight Sun" (Midnattssolens land in Swedish). This is, basically, how you call the North of Europe. Here is a teaser of Laplandia:

And here is its little sister, Karelia. First, I thought to enter a local competition with it, but misread the rules. Oah well, I like it anyway ;)

Materials: labradorites, Swarovski, leather, wire lace, seed beads, traditional tin clasp.

Karelia is the land of blue lakes, it is a beautiful region shared by Finland and Russia (one can long argue who was there first, but it is BEAUTIFUL despite political issues).

It is -18°C and sunny outside. I just could not resist making the last shot in the show!

So long!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T15:27:00.004+01:00

Here it is - all brand new year 2011. May it bring you love, happiness, health and wealth!

THANK YOU EVERYONE who has responded to my last post about Elena Markovski and her daughter. They have booked time for treatment, it will most likely happen in May.

Now I'd just like to share some pictures. This necklace was a commission order, a birthday present to mother of my customer. It was supposed to be rather simple and wearable, and incorporate 7 turquoise stones, symbolysing 7 grandchildren. The gorgeous natural turguoise cab in the middle is the Matriarch of the family herself.

I've embroidered it with vintage 17/0 Czech beads, and 13/0 and 15/0 Charlottes. The largest seed beads in this necklace are Miyuki 11/0 that look like elephants in comparison to their Czech cousins. Thanks to those tiny beads it turned out to be a very petite and elegant necklace. Length is adjustable.

Turquoise in the middle is from Hubei mines in China, the larger stones and drops are Nacozari and Kingman turquoise from the U.S.

I called this one Nike, since the pattern reminds me wings of the goddess of Victory.

This necklace was a tremendous fun to make. The only problem I had was posting it. The deadline was exactly one week after my surgery and I was quite stressed. First, I could not find a good box to put it in, and then the Post Office did not have any paper to wrap the box... Finally, it ended up wrapped in a hideous gift wrap with deers and stuff. But it has arrived safely!

New Year resolution - always make sure to have appropriate wrapping at home when taking in a large custom order!

Holydays are coming!

2010-12-22T12:01:00.003+01:00

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

2010-10-23T23:34:00.002+02:00

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

2010-10-12T09:52:00.007+02:00

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

2010-10-06T15:09:00.007+02:00

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?

2010-09-27T14:56:00.002+02:00

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?

2010-09-26T17:28:00.003+02:00

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!

2010-09-22T15:32:00.003+02:00

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

2010-09-11T12:37:00.005+02:00

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

2010-09-07T14:30:00.004+02:00

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

2010-07-27T16:09:00.003+02:00

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

2010-07-18T14:58:00.005+02:00

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...

2010-07-13T22:25:00.005+02:00

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!

2010-07-11T08:48:00.003+02:00

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

2010-07-07T19:00:00.006+02:00

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!

2010-07-01T09:40:00.000+02:00

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

Pinch me, someone...

FINALIST of Fashion Colorworks!

2010-06-20T10:56:00.002+02:00

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

2010-06-15T22:27:00.006+02:00

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

2010-06-14T10:54:00.004+02:00

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

2010-06-12T19:35:00.007+02:00

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

2010-06-11T15:04:00.002+02:00

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

2010-06-03T07:31:00.004+02:00

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!

The Beauty of FRIENDSHIP

2010-05-24T08:05:00.006+02:00

Long time no see, heh? Still busy ;)

I wanted to share some things with you today. Couple of days ago, I've finished taking a teacher's course in pedagogics at university level. In one of the excercises we had to rank different things and then discuss them in groups (just to demonstrate how group work functions). There were many personal things on that list, like power, wealth, parenting, self-realisation, etc. One of them was friendship. Makes one think, right?

I just wanted to tell that I've met many friends by beading, both in the EBW team and in Russian and Swedish beading forums. We have swapped our beadwork with some of them, and I bought some of the things to have a memory from particular persons. Today I'd just like to show you the things that my friends did. I cherish them, and wear them often. With pride.

These two are the wonderful things that I've got from Naan Pocen, a talented EBW member from Italy. They were made for the EBW spring swap. Got them long ago, but it took ages to take pictures! Sorry Naan...

This is the barette (my first beaded barette ever!). Love the colors and all those crystals!

And this wonderful bracelet is another present from Naan. It can be ordered from her shop on Etsy, but sorry folks - I've got the original! ;)

I've got this lovely chainmaile necklace from Natalia from Malmö, we met at biser.info.

And this one is from another Natalia from biser.info, she lives in the U.S. Just check out those earthly colors!

About a week ago, I've received a polymer clay pendant made by Lorraine of TrinityDJ.

I will just put it on a strap and wear around my neck as it is.

Just as a reminder, earlier I've blogged about the beadwork mady by Rachele and Esther - the curious reader will find it here.

And this gorgeous bracelet was dropped into my mailbox today! Maria, you rock!

Guys, I really appreciate your time and energy put it these pieces. THANK YOU!

Ode to Czech seed beads

2010-04-27T13:05:00.003+02:00

Thought I'd treat you with another creation of mine (modest? moi?) ;)

Seriously though, this is one of my favorite pieces, made almost entirely of Jablonex seed beads. On Facett, we had several hours to complete a piece that was made only with seed beads and beads of max. 3mm in size. No books, no internet, just beads we've got with us or that could be found in shops on the show (selection of just seed beads was quite restricted).

BUT, there was one shop that I loved. Here is the link: Beaded Jewelry. The owner had an amazing selection of 13/0 and 15/0 true cuts, as well as Jablonex 11/0, and I just went for it.

I wanted to make a carnation, and it was challenging to make it look different from the gorgeous hibiscus flowers of Kerrie Slade - an artist whom I respect a lot.
That flower is made with 11/0 garnet and some Matsuno 15/0 ruby red AB. It is the largest in this bouquet, masuring 1 inch (2.5 cm).

The crocus on the left is made of the charlottes 15/0 (so beautiful in real life!). The stamens are made of 15/0 charlottes, plated with 24K gold, and their heads are made of 1.5-2 mm Swarovski crystals.

The entire composition is 7 cm long (a bit over 2.5 inches).

First prize in "Small bead jewelry" competition. I won a big pack of marvelous Czech beads!

Back from FACETT-2010!

2010-04-26T15:29:00.004+02:00

Sweden is smaller than Russia or U.S.A., and there are less beaders living here. This weekend, MANY of us, Swedish beaders, have gathered for annual Facett beading convention in Stockholm.
That was so well needed beading vacation! I met many old friends and made many new ones, gave two workshops in freeform and took one myself (polymer clay). It was just SO MUCH FUN, you cannot imagine! Organizers, you rock!

I spent fortune on beads ;) However, I've managed also to win some... After three days of non-stop beading, I came home with six new additions to my Etsy store - those will be added gradually.

One of the beading competitions that I have entered was named "Maffigt!", that could be translated as "Bib". The stuff made for it was supposed to be just that - bib. Earlier that day, I've bought some sparkly dichroic cabs, Czech charlottes 8/0, round 6/0 mix and Bali-style beads that were somewhere inbetween bronze and gold. The idea struck me like a lightening. The huge glass cross came into the picture a bit later that night, it was necessary for ballancing the composition.

I called it "Gothic Magpie". It feels a bit vampirish-gothica-something, but not that dark. The cabs remind me of the european magpie (Pica pica). Had to link to a picture, because the Australian magpies look totally different :)

Will be on display in my Etsy shop as soon as I find a measuring tape ;)

P.S. Oups, forgot to mention - my Magpie won first prize!

Flowers for Patricia - EBW Spring Swap

2010-04-22T16:04:00.004+02:00

It is always fun to stretch ones comfort zone just a bit.
To be honest, I am not so fond of beaded flowers (actually any man-made flowers that is). However, sometimes, beaded flowers can be pretty, and what is much more interesting - they can be challenging to make.

Another thing that I am not comfortable with, is a combination of green and pink. Once again, when put in the context of "challenge" it is becoming a really fun thing to try!

This necklace was made for Patricia Vener, a talented beader from the U.S., a fellow member of Etsy Beadweavers Team. I am trying myself in ndebele stitch, making beaded flowers, and mixing greens and pinks ;)

To see more of absolutely wonderful creations that my team members made for the Spring Swap, please visit the blogpage of Christine's Beadwork.

I am patiently waiting for my swap piece by our dear Naan... It was sent from Italy couple of days ago, but, together with most of the European airmail, has been delayed by the volcano in Iceland. No comments ;) Just hope it arrives safely! I adore Naan's spirit and the beadwork that she does. It is going to be a nice surprize, I am more than sure about it.

Dreams of Pandora: The Dragon Rider

2010-04-15T16:07:00.006+02:00

This is the next necklace of the "Dreams of Pandora" series (see Avatar The Movie for details). At the same time, it is the latest of "my own, my precioussssssss" series as well: it was intended for display in my Etsy store, but I just do not want to part from it.

I just wanted to make my version of Toruk Makto: the Dragon Rider of Pandora. It is a bit like ancient people were recording stories in their dress embellishments - I was telling my story about Avatar ;)

Here is toruk, and an ikran flying besides it:

Here are the eyes of Jake and Neytiri:

There also are the braid of Na'vi and the holy tree of Eiwa:

And here is myself, exhausted by writing FREAKING scientific grant applications...

Two more weeks of this madness and the last application must be turned in. Wish me luck, ppl!

The Beauty of The Spring

2010-04-08T13:06:00.005+02:00

Spring has finally arrived even to Scandinavia!
The snow is gone, but it will take a while before everything will get green. First flowers start to pop up here and there.

So, what have we got here? A combination of spring, longing after flowers and a generous offer of the blogging program of Artbeads.com. I have chosen to work with several types of glass beads this time: a HUGE Swarovski cabochon, my favorite Toho seed beads, Czech firepolished (4 beads, to be exact) and some tiny-winy 2 & 3 mm Swarovski bicones.

The rope is made in 3D RAW. It certainly looks best with even beads, and Toho has a great shape for this sort of work. I've picked some transparent seed beads to mimic the gentleness of first flowers of spring: bluebells and liverwort. Sparkly Swarovsky bicones draw a bit extra attention to those.

The focal Fancy Oval is just the quintescence of SPRING, as I see it. It is sparkly, but does not overwhelm the composition (IMHO). I've captured it with RAW.

The necklace will appear in my Etsy store soon.
Sorry guys, I gotta brag a bit about my own little spring oasis!

DISCLAIMER: the beads used to make the necklace were kindly provided by Artbeads.com free of charge, within the Artbeads Blogging Program.

Fashion Colorworks contest @ MyLovelyBeads.com

2010-03-14T14:08:00.005+01:00

I never have time to enter any competitions, but I've just found out that Zoya and George Gutin have changed the deadline for their Fashion Colorworks contest. The time for submissions is between the 1st of April and 15th of June! Which would theoretically mean that I can manage to make something. Guess, it will be colorcombo 1: something embroidered; 2: something entirely beadwoven and 3 - crazy freeform. No promises to fullfill any of these ideas, but I will give it a try.

Otherwise I am probably going to keep a relatively low profile under the coming month or two - writing grant applications at work, it takes all my mental energy. There is also a blogging challenge from Artbeads that I've just barely started. And EBW spring swap... Hope I'll survive in one piece ;)

Malachite and March EBW challenge

2010-03-02T22:13:00.004+01:00

Malachite is one of my most favorite gems. I found out about its existance when I was five, when my grandma and grandpa were reading Pavel Bazhov's Fairy Tales to me.

Recently, I browsed e-bay in search for some malachite beads... PEOPLE, I wanted to SCREAM!!! Most of those "genuine natural malachite","rare beauty", "we guarantee that our stones are 100% natural", "limited quantity available" etc, etc, etc - ARE MAN-CREATED! Assembled, pressed and stabilized from malachite dust in the very best case, and glossy plastic multi-colored monsters in the very worst. By understandable reasons, I will not paste any pictures here. But I can barely hold myself... Very, very upsetting indeed.

Wanna see a real malachite? Here it comes:

I used this lovely cab in my latest piece, made for the EBW March Challenge, "Fairy Tale".

It is called Хозяйка Медной Горы, or Lady Of The Copper Mine. To cut a long story short, the Lady was mighty but slightly arrogant, cold but extremely beautiful. She fell in love with a young miner and (among other things) asked him to make her a vase, shaped as a stone flower. The poor guy was a perfectionist and after several trials has delivered a stone flower that was as good as alive. There are lots of gems, copper and malachite in that fairy tale!

The shape of the pendant is a crescent, and this is my interpretation of a traditional female protective amulet that was common in Russia (and not only!).

Actually, I was amazed to find out that Swedish miners also have stories about Lady of The Mine. And their stories are quite similar to what I heard as a child. How very interesting...

Oah well, you know what you will have to do somewhere between the 9th and 15th of March: go to our blog and vote for your favorites! Otherwise, you can always search for the "ebwc" tag on Etsy!

Be well! :)
And please, if somebody is trying to tell you that there is such a thing as "red", "purple", "multicolor" or "rainbow" malachite - please do not believe those people... Or at least do not pay more than a buck or two...

Dreams of Pandora series

2010-02-07T23:54:00.005+01:00

And here comes another finished UFO!

Have you seen Avatar the movie? If not - you should. Even if you are not into sci-fi, just go for the colors. It is such a treat for the eyes! Even if the scope is slightly primitive, the movie was spectacular. I mean SPECTACULAR. Be sure, it will be an endless source for your inspiration.

Honestly, I'v made drawings for this one even prior to the movie. But I just did not have inspiration to finish this piece. After seing the Avatar, I got a kick in my back.

I called this one Ancient Ritual. Still not sure if it should be fringed or not... Do not think so, actually.

Yes, one more thing... Guys making jewelry for sci-fi movies, I do envy you big time!

Deep Blue Sea - EBW

2010-02-03T23:50:00.002+01:00

Pfew, it was a close shave this month, but I've finished the Challenge piece two days before the deadline.

The theme is "Ocean". Here are my waves. The original plan was to feature a large kyanite cabochon in the middle of the choker, and to make a wavy pattern on entire length of the necklace. It looked too busy and I had to cut it. The kyanite got replaced by a large Swarovski pendant, because the stone just did not want to play along with other crystals that I used to assemble the 3D RAW wave. It took a while to find a suitable ribbon... Then it was a long hunt for a clasp that I wanted to be sterling silver ribbon holder. Guess if I was glad to find it in France for couple of weeks ago. Did I get within three to five working days as was promised by the shop? Not really... So, I had to invent a wheal, in this case: clasp. Seen something similar once (work of Kristina Kristianson) and just borrowed the idea due to lack of time and inspiration.

Well, enough complaining - it actually does not look all too bad.

Voting will start as usually, on 9th of February at etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com and will continue until February the 15th. Everybody is welcome to vote and leave a comment!

UFO rapport update - one more down, MANY more to go!

2010-01-27T14:07:00.005+01:00

In August 2008 I was sitting at home with two months old son, browsing internet while he was asleep. That month, I have discovered the Firemountain Gems galery of designs and learned my first name in beading - Tatiana van Iten. I loved her work, but could not figure out how it was made. Googled the name and came across her tutorial for the Russian leaves at mylovelybeads.com. That is how I learned my second name in beading- Zoya Gutina.

Why do I love their work? It is beautiful, it is crazy, it is ornate, it is different from anything else, and it is so... Russian.... in a way....

I really wanted to figure out how to make those things. Guess, I did it. Not sure if I would ever try to make another one of this kind again, though - we are talking straight 60 hours of coralling! Mind I'm a Gemini!

It is heavy. It is over the top. It is something I'd wear once in a year (at most). But I did it ;)

And the close-ups of the gorgeous stones of picture jasper:

Zoya and Tatiana - thank you so much for the inspiration!

Pictures from Esther :)

2010-01-25T17:17:00.003+01:00

Another of my "new year resolutions" is to take pictures of my jewelry more often - in the process of work, as well as to take pictures of my jewelry in general. Very often I am too quick to send the item to a customer, or to give it away to a friend or relative. So, my jewelry often finds a new home living very few memories behind. And with my current state of mind, my memory is good as the one of a goldfish.

Esther was kind enough to take pictures of the pendant that I made for our swap in November (here is what I got from her in return) .

Cheers, Es!

New Year resolutions? No thanks!

2010-01-23T12:27:00.006+01:00

I never promise anything to anyone. Or, rather, doing my best not to... The reason for that - there is always a chance that a promise can be broken: lack of inspiration, something urgent can come up, one can get sick, etc. And then you are standing there, bound by your promise, feeling stressed and guilty. No Thanks.

New Year resolution is also a promise. We can put it this way: just before the New Year I thought that it could be a good idea to finish at least some of the UFOs lying around in my studio.
At the moment, I am fighting total lack of inspiration. There are three semi-finished embroidered collars just lying and looking at me. And I have no idea how to finish them...
Oah well...

Last week I was trying to be a good girl and finished two of the UFOs.

Pink bracelet (hate pink, but this is a nice shade of it):

The central part for it was done last may (shame on me!), when I was taking an online course (read here). I've just added flat spiral on both sides of it. You cannot go wring with Swarovski! ;)

La Seine de nuit: another attempt to do bead embroidery with soutache.

I've captures the round larvikite bead already in august last year, while preparing for a beading contest (read here). Still got a box of gray and black Swarovski and firepolished left after that contest, and it was a good way to utilize some of those beauties.

Finally: the bracelet called Lila. It was not really UFO, because I've made it to show on my bead embroidery class. I just never got time to take pictures of the final "product" ;)

Well, that's all for today! ;)
Have a nice weekend, All!

WARNING for a virus - Leatherwork!

2010-01-09T12:55:00.008+01:00

When time allows, I am hanging in Russian beading forum at biser.info. Many of those ladies seem to have beading in their blood, and it is an extremely inspiring environment. Now and then, new trends are popping out and resulting in outbreaks of creativity among the forum users. Work with soutache was one of them. I was lucky not to catch the "triangular" virus (the entire population was making triangles in peyote). Another, more recent and way more dangerous bug is called leatherwork.

It all started with this brooch description. And then girls have shown some of their creations (just look at this one, or that one!). I am easily infected by those "creativity bugs", so I caught this infection in no time.

In the very beginning of my beading life, I bought one kilo pack of leather scraps. The only leather that is thin and soft enough for this sort of work is black, giving sort of a gothic feel about the jewelry. Also, this technique is perfect to hide uneven edges of hand-cut stones, as well as any other "problems" in the cabs that otherwise are difficult to mask.

Proserpina is listed in my Etsy-store.

More pictures of Pluto's Garden are here.

I also made this bracelet, using suede scraps. The surface looks extremely rough on the pictures, my camera just does not want to show the way it is in real life. :( Here are some more photos.

Next step is to continue experimenting and mixing beadweaving and leatherwork.

When on Earth will I have time to finish my Ocean entry? ;)

My preciousssssssssssss!

2010-01-05T13:35:00.003+01:00

The most important part of this story, The Beginning, you can read in Rachele's blog.

I really liked the idea of swapping original beadwork. Rachele is a very talented beader, and I really enjoy competing against her in couple of latest EBW challenges ;)

This is the original picture of the Forest Path, the bracelet that I made for her, based on the "vibes" I got from talking to Rachele online. The stone in the middle is pyrite, which has told me that it prefers company of greens and bronzes.

And this is the fabulous bracelet that I have got back! I totally love it! Rachele not just made the embroidery, she has also made those stunning cabs by herself! The bracelet is just screaming "Rachele's Originals" all over it. I have had it on me every day since I've got it. THANK YOU, DEAR! That was such a lovely New Year present!

Well, there is another New Year present I've got! This time, it is from Holland, from Madame GreenEnvyDesign Esther Nejman herself!

I went to Utrecht in Holland for couple of days in November to talk work and molds with the local professionals. Since you can reach any part of Holland by train (and because everybody knows by now that Essie is my Karma Twin), we just had to meet! And we did. And we had fun. And we were drinking wine and talking beading. I made a pendant to Essie, which I have had no time to photograph. Essie, if you read this, would you be so kind to take a picture of it? Thanks a million, mate!

Essie has made a necklace for me that she has forgotten at home on the day we were supposed to meet. No worries, European mail service came to rescue and I got it! It is fabulous! I love those colors and the design is amazing!

Just look at this central piece, how cool is that?!

Essie, Rachele, THANK YOU GUYS!
I am very glad and honored to have a piece of/by you!

BIG HUG!

Me and my avatars

2010-01-01T12:25:00.000+01:00

I have been thinking to change the look of my shop for quite a while. Went browsing other web-sites, asked around, searched Etsy... Finally, I came across a wonderful shop of MamoPlanet and saw those beautiful custom-made banners.
It klicked instantly and the search was over. MamoP made this beautiful banner for my shop. Amazingly, it just felt perfect once I saw it. And the dragon.... My very own water-winged dragon! I LOVE THAT DRAGON!

And there are two matching avatars that I will be changing between now and then (depending on the mood, I guess) :

Mamo, Thank You!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Byzantine Mirror

2009-12-13T13:16:00.006+01:00

Guys, I hate flying. The concept of clear-air turbulence drives me nuts! That's AIR for heaven's sake, why should it be as bumpy as an old country road? Something does not add here, in my mind.

Yes, mind. Mind is a crazy thing (well, at least mine is). So, I really need to work hard to take it from disaster-thoughts and plant sometwhat more useful instead of those. What can be better than beading (especially, combined with a shot of single malt times two)? Last month I had to fly twice, and I was working on the central part of this necklace. This is why it got so big - I had to pass total of 4 hours (landings and take-offs not included). It, actually, has helped my anxiety! And resulted in a necklace, which is good too ;)

After giving it a good look, it reminded me of antique brass mirrors, hence the name.

Connecting the massive central part to the rope was a bit of a challenge. Finally, I came up with a solution that you can see here:

But then there was quite a conflict between the weight of the pendant and a webb-like connection, which I was not really feeling like re-making (yeah, lazy!). So, I figured that the fringe would ballance that up. And knowing myself it was highly improbable that it was going to be an ordinary fringe.

So, a huge pendant born in scare for flying, turned out as a odd necklace. ;)
You never know...

Vanilla Ice-cream

2009-12-12T13:48:00.007+01:00

Being a Superior Scribbler is not all that simple - feel the pressure to scribble! ;)

Here is my latest creation - Vanilla Ice-cream. I have been running around with this idea for a very long time.

Firstly, my husband bought me several great agate slices in his last trip to USA. They are quite specific stones due to their shape, and I was not realy sure what was the best way to deal with them. I was convinced that it was going to be a freeform piece. Then I saw a very interesting freeform necklace by Nataliya Pechenkina from biser.info. It gave me some good ideas, but I really did my best not to repeat anything and to create a really unique design.

Secondly, I really wanted to incorporate Swarovski beads in a freeform design based on pre-mixed seed beads. Auntiesbeads.com has kindly helped me in realisation of this idea, they carry a good selection of various seed beads, including a broad range of mixes.
Sometimes I enjoy mixing beads by myself, but sometimes it is great to have a pre-mixed "starter" to make your creativity spin. In this necklace, Au Natural, Good Earth, Moonstone and Golden Grain mixes were combined with several other Miyuki and Toho seed beads. I find multi-shape mixes perfect for making freeform.

And, finally, I just wanted to bead a white necklace for a very long time. That's the complete story of the Vanilla Ice-cream.

Disclosure: I have recieved the Swarovski chrystalls and some of the seed beads free of charge, in return for writing a honest review about the supplied products. Auntiesbeads.com has not compensated me in any way for writing this review.

Wow, I'm a Superior Scribbler!

2009-12-10T10:57:00.005+01:00

It is all Kerrie Slade's fault, folks! ;)
She has nominated Marsha of Haute Ice Beadworks for the Superior Scribbler award, and Marsha has kindly passed it over to me. Oah well! I do humbly accept. ;)

Do not consider myself one of the top scribblers, though. Ok, I love scribbling, but never have time to do it. Perhaps, it is for the best of mankind anyhow.

Now I have to pick five worthy recipients. Well, after some thinking, they are:

Sig "Beadedbear" - Beadedbears Nonsence and Complete Waste of Time (Man, she knows how to scribble! Love that blog!)
Smadar Grossman - Smadar's Treasure
Zoya Gutina - Gem and Beaded Jewelry
Patricia Vener - Vener Art Beadblog
Cindy Caraway -Artful living on the bluff

Being a Superior Scribbler is really a bit like being a member of Etsy Beadweavers - tonns of honor and quite a bit of work. ;) Here are the rules:

* Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 bloggy friends.

* Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & name of the blog from whom he/she has received the award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must display the award on his/her blog and link to this post which explains the award.

*Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List - that way, we'll be able to keep up to date on everyone who receives the award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I am washing my hands. Now it is your turn!

2009-12-09T19:11:00.002+01:00

Last month we had two winners, which gave us two themes: Piece and Winter Olympics.
Everybody is welcome to cast their vote at our blog. The poll is up between 9th and 15th of December!

You know the drill!

The science of beading ;)

2009-12-05T11:00:00.004+01:00

Last months were quite hectic. I've made lots of beaded things, but never had a chance to blog about them. But this is a special one.

It is made for a Master student we had in our lab. Ok, here it comes - she's one of the best students I've ever had over the years. As a token of appreciation for a great job that she did with us, a colleague of mine and myself have decided to make her a present - this necklace.

Even specialists in the field will not know what it represents. And I will not give a latin name of the fungus (because this blog post would otherwise come up in all Google-searches, so un-scientific!) ;) Let's just say that the bug that we are working on is a mold, originaly found on prunes and it loves lots of sugar.

Here are some real life scientific pictures of some of its parts (published online with kind permission of the person who took them: Jan Dijksterhujs of CBS, The Netherlands). Now you know what is that white pearly stuff that is growing out of the "prune" cab ;)

The bug is a pain in the head to grow - it thrives in media with LOTS of sugar. And to get it a good medium for growth, one needs to melt all that sugar. And you can guess what happens if the temperature is too high, or if you melt it for too long? Yes, it caramelizes! And you (read: your student) has to start all over again... That's the meaning of those colors in the necklace.

That's the science, kids! ;) Am I a geek? YES, and proud to be one!

Miyuki + Swarovski + Zirconia = True?

2009-11-29T16:40:00.010+01:00

Sometimes in our lives, we get offers we simply cannot refuse. One of this cases is when a company asks to use their products and write a review. That is exactly what I am going to do today - to give you my honest opinion about Artbead's Cubic Zirconia and some of seed beads that I've never tested before.

I draw a design, and than started beading. It did not go as smoothly as I wanted. It took me quite a while to figure out what was the best way to make those "wings", and finally I settled with an UltraSuede.

For quite a long time I was willing to test two sorts of Miyuki Delicas: satin egg-nog (DB 0674) and 22K gold with iris effect (DB 0501). Those gold ones are incredible - I love the shine, the color, the sparkle. The satin ones have lovely finish and are contributing to an outstanding visual effect. I liked them in the finished piece, however, I am a bit concerned about their sharp edges - especially compared to Miyuki buggles, which are quite smooth. Had to sew through them several times more, than I usually do with any other kind of seed beads.

And than I got a crazy idea "to marry" Swarovski and zirconia ;) I think, the experiment was a success - they look quite well together. Swarovski bicones have a bit of cold feel about them, whereas zirconia feel a bit warmer and more naturally looking (in a very strange, sub-conscious sort of way). Love those, would definitely use more of those in my jewelry.

Ok, if I have to criticize something - why on earth was this color called "orange" by the manufacturer? ;) They look more like raspberry liquor to me! Color is very close to Swarovski's padparadscha - for comparison look at the picture above: 1st and last beads are 4 mm round cubic zirconia orange, next to them are two 4 mm bicones of padparadscha. I've got the central 6 mm crystals as a gift from my brother, and thus not sure about the name of color.

Anyhow, if you have a minute, please check out the Artbeads homepage for more of these sparkling beauties! I'd also like to share a discount code with all my blog readers, it gives you 10% discount at checkout (SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424).

I called this piece "Angela", it will shortly come up in my Etsy store.

Disclosure: cubic zirconia (CZ-ORG-TD36, CZ-ORG-TD9 and CZ-ORG4), as well as Miyuki Delica beads (DB0501 and DB0674) were kindly provided free-of-charge by Artbeads.com, within the frames of Artbeads.com blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.

More bead embroidery

2009-10-28T11:16:00.006+01:00

Today is not as gray as yesterday, and I've finally managed to take some pictures.

This gorgeous fossile ammonite is from Morocco, bought from StarDust in Stockholm. Pendant is a custom order for a friend of my mother in law. It had to be very simple.

I've bought these blue cabs in Sala, a small gem-shop near the local silvermine. If I am not totally wrong, it is a dross - mass of impurities that appear when melting metall ore. I loved the idea of using it in jewelry! The cuff is called Polar Ice, you can guess why ;)

Finally - a pendant with carnelian, Autumn. And again, Czech seed beads in all their glory!

Promotion

2009-10-26T08:48:00.008+01:00

I'm actually doing lots of beading, but the Swedish autumn does not want to provide me with good light to take any pictures. Therefore I'd just share some text with you this time :o).

Guys, please check out this fabulous video, courtesy of Christina of GoodQuillHunting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7vHSQ5lKFs
It is featuring most of the EBW team's work. Great selection, wonderful music, and such and eye-candy! Enjoy!

My promo-input was not as spectacular as Christina's, but I've managed to publish another article in Zoya Gutina's newsletter at http://www.MyLovelyBeads.com, this time featuring EBW team.
Here you will find the English version: http://www.mylovelybeads.com/internal.php?act=guide/displayArticle.php&ArticleID=48
and this is the link to the Russian one: http://www.mylovelybeads.com/internal.php?act=guide/displayArticleRu.php&ArticleID=47

K for "Control" ;o)

2009-10-08T18:07:00.008+02:00

Couple of months ago I went gem-shopping in Stockholm. At Kristallrummet in the Old City, I've noticed gorgeous kyanite healing chrystals. This stone is one of my absolute favorites, I'm just dragged to it (pretty much as to labradorites & spectrolites).

Those chrystalls reminded me of Superman cave, how sci-fi nerdish is that? ;) Boy, I was giggling when the EBW September challenge theme was announced.

Although kyanite reminded me of those good chrystals in the cave, its name rimes really well with kryptonite (which everybody knows was quite bad for the poor Superdude). Than my husband gave me an idea - my necklace was going to deal with superhero infestation problem :o)

You can read the complete story here.

Materials: 11/0 Permanent Finish and nickel plated Tohos and Swarosvki bicones 3 and 4 mm; 3D RAW all the way. Do not know what is going on with me - I'm getting addicted to Toho and Swarovski lately. Odd.

And here are all the fantastic entries for the EBW challenge this month.

Please visit our blog and vote for your favorites from 9th to 15th of October! Thank you in advance :)
My favorites are numbers 3, 5 and 14, but I have not made up my mind yet. Which one are you going to vote for?

Custom order - the last day.

2009-10-06T10:25:00.006+02:00

I'm done! :)

It was a fun project. With all latest bead embroidery items (I'll blog about those soon), as well as the embroidery course, I have forgotten how much fun it is to make freeform! It was a very refreshing experience.

Latest addition - right side:

Customer had some points about the color scheme, and I have made some changes.
1. Added some green and yellow beads to the red part, to soften the redness.

2. Added some extra of that gorgeous Jablonex LA Orange mix of orange, yellow an amber around the donut connector and next to the bronze "belt".

That's my clasp solution:

"Clasp on":
"Clasp off":
Pfew! :)

Days 5 and 6

2009-10-03T13:30:00.003+02:00

I've been quite busy with my "ordinary" job last couple of days, thus there is not too much progress on the custom item.

Basically, I'm working with the right side, thickening it up.

And now I'm off for the ball at Uppsala castle ;) Sometimes being in Academia pays off!

Hugs :)

Day 4

2009-09-30T14:45:00.003+02:00

The left side is taking its shape. Thinking of The Perfect Clasp...

Have a nice day!

Days 2 and 3

2009-09-29T15:48:00.005+02:00

Was teaching bead embroidery class yesterday - capturing Swarovski rivoli. And today I'm down with a cold. Hope just it's not that bloody swine flu.

Anyhow, the custom order... Turns out that the customer is not into fluffiness and fringe, but into thickness and chunkiness. Back to the drawing board then :)

So long!

Day 1

2009-09-27T20:21:00.017+02:00

Beads are behaving well. Oah, well, they are behaving as usually - in the most unpredictable manner imaginable.

Customer got inspired by Dini's fabulous Forest Walk. Here is my interpretation of it.

Central part:

Right side:

There is no use to take pictures of the the left side under artificial light, it all comes up as a big orange blob :(. I'll make a day-light picture of it as soon as Swedish autumn would allow me.

That's the result so far:

Have no idea how it will look by tomorrow ;) Oah yes - I'm teaching another bead embroidery class tomorrow, which means very little progress on this necklace. Pity, but such's life.

Stay tuned!

Custom order

2009-09-26T20:39:00.006+02:00

I've got a custom order via Etsy. Necklace. Feeform. Rich autumn colors. Its' gonna be fun!

These are going to be the main colors:

I'll add more of that gorgeous Toho Rich mix from BeadsDirect.co.uk - the ones that you can see on that "old" bracelet of mine (that I still love dearly and wear quite often). And some corals and Latvian amber.

And than I went beadshoping ;)

Lampworks, crow-beads, Czech pressed glass...

That's the ingredients. Will see where they will take me ;)

I WON!!!

2009-09-07T13:57:00.009+02:00

Not exactly the B&B show, and not FMG contest, but nevertheless I won in a all-summer long beading contest, Gråtyngda dagar, that was arranged by PärlPlatse n. The challenge was to use only gray beads. White, silver and black were allowed as well, but the main weight should be put on gray (that's why I nicknamed this contest "Another Shade Of Pale"). Each contestant could enter with two items. My second necklace took 5th place of 18. I am glad!

Tadaaa - my winning piece, Morning Mist (Morgondimma):

Before the contest, I asked organizers if it was Ok to use beads with AB/RB effect, including labradorites and spectrolites, that are natural color-shifters. And, sure it was! Well, I went for it.

I have developed a strange addiction to labradorites lately. It says that the stone cures depressions. Maybe that's the reason?

As most of my creations, its a freehand bead embroidery. Basically, beads told me how they wanted to be arranged. My inspiration came from early mornings in August, memories that I had from a field courses in botany and zoology back in Latvia. 4 o'clock wake-ups and listening to birds by the lake... That's what this necklace is all about.

The cab is made in (of course) Russia, thanks to Valentina! If it originates from Finland or Norway, I do not know.

Here are some details:

And these are just some pictures of the focal stone under different light conditions:

Special thanks to my office-mate, Su-lin, for modelling.
Many thanks to Zoya and George Gutin for their comments on the design.
(to fringe... or not to fringe...)

Are you ready? Here are some pictures of my second entry - Rainy Summer (Regning Sommar).

Netting, free-form peyote and fringe = grey sky, heavy clouds and rain. Swarovski = sunshine through the clouds.

Many thanks to my second office-mate, Cecilia, for being my model!

I am teaching my first beading class!

2009-08-29T15:24:00.005+02:00

There is a small but charming beadshop in central Uppsala, Pärlboden. Its owner, Lillian, has kindly allowed me to teach my first ever class in bead embroidery.

We have decided to keep the first class very simple 101: a beginner's guide in capturing a cab.
I am giving an overview on most commonly used materials, such as types of foundations, backings and adhesives available in Sweden, talking about types of cabs, and finally, I show four basic bead embroidery stitches on example of this pendant:

The fun part was that everybody has managed to complete the pendant within three hours! It seems that everybody was satisfied with the class. So, we scheduled for a continuation - level B bead embroidery.

Next time, we'll be making something like this:

By the way, the focal dichroic glass cab is one of many that I've got from Noora. Thank you, dear, I am looking forward to working with the rest of them!

Everybody who took the course - thank you for your patience! It was a great fun teaching you, ladies!
Lillian, thank you for the opportunity to share my passion with others!

VOTING for the August challenge

2009-08-11T08:09:00.002+02:00

Due to technical difficulties we have had to put the polling on the following blog: http://ebwteam.blogspot.com/ Simply click the link and we will forward you to the Challenge and the voting. Things will be back to normal next month! Good luck EBW members!

Dates for the voting have been changed as well. The poll is open until 17th of August.
What a great group effort!

What can come into my mind in sleep...

2009-08-08T13:48:00.006+02:00

In the beginning of summer, I blogged about my 3rd place in a beading competition. I won a "mystery pack" from Nooras Silvergrejs - respected and highly recommended supplier of silver findings in Sweden. In the package that Noora has sent to me, there was also a bag with a "challenge" tag on it. Inside was a lovely handmade fuzed glass cabochon, shimmering in hues of golden-blue-green-pink-and-hundreds-of-other-undescribable-colors.

How does the red color affect a bull? Everybody certainly knows that. Well, the effect that the word "challenge" has on me is somewhat similar ;)

But, I was tired, depressed and stuff, thus the cab was lying quietly for couple of months. Until this Tuesday, when I went to sleep. Somewhere on the borderline between sleep and being awake I saw a lotus. It became a chain: lotus - India - gold - red - garnet - BLING! - gold - more gold... ;)

I've captured the cab with 24K gold-plated Delicas that I've bought one day (just in case, good to have!) and never dared to use.

Taking pictures of dichroic glass is fun, I just love the way it is shifting colors depending on the angle!
That's it for today ;)
Take care!

P.S.: Not for sale! My own, my precious! ;)

August challenge

2009-08-07T14:18:00.005+02:00

Guys, you must check this out! I am really proud to be a member of EWB, just look at all those fabulous creations that girls have come up with!

Voting will start in our blog-page on 11th of August and will go on until the 17th. Every vote counts! :)

I was gone for too long :)

2009-08-01T13:53:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

Time to come out from the closet - I am combatting depression. Tired, worried, down, blue - you name it. So far, no medication, just long biking tours around Uppsala. And some beading.

I bough some gorgeous brass stampings this winter, from a fellow Etsian who owns the The Brass Boutique. One of them was a dragonfly that I used for my Temptation necklace. I thought that the branch of ivy will make a nice company to the Russian serpentine cab (Valentina's shop, as usually). After aligning those two, I've got sort of elvish vibes from this combination of brass and green veined stone. Than both the vine and the stone were put aside, until unnouncement of EBW August challenge - The First Ladies of Style.

Lúthien, mother of Elrond, grandmother of Arwen, daughter to the Mr Wood Elf Himself, etc, etc, etc - all can be read in Silmarillon by Tolkien if you have desire (and time)... So, I thought of the fair lady of wood elves. Brass and green, what could better? And I picked up the ivy and the serpentine cab.

Embroidery part was easy. Making the chain took me almost a week. First, I made a wide freeform colar. It has killed the focal.

Than I made several vines with RAW and thought to build a keltic-knot structure. The focal did not look any better.

Finally, the idea of RAW-based chain came into my mind. I did not have enough of serpentine beads, and ordering them all the way from Russia would have taken ages, therefore they are mixed with white onyx beads. I think that is adds a bit of moonlight glow to the piece.
Only than, the focal came alive.

I will let you know when it is time to vote ;)

Be well!
/Olga

EBW July Challenge

2009-07-13T06:38:00.007+02:00

Here Comes The Bride!

Despite a dodgy internet connection and a couple of hyperactive rascals to children, let me introduce the EBW monthly challenge. The polls are open for voting until July the 15th at EBW blog. Please take a minute and have a look!

"Beading vacation"

2009-06-25T20:09:00.002+02:00

Hi guys!
There are a bit too many things happening around me right now, and I am taking a break, just to keep me sane. Physical health is not an issue, but my head needs some rest. I have not done any serious beading lately. Sadly, I had to put Galina's course on ice for a couple of months. Even sadder, I will not enter Miyuki contest #4.

But well, I need a break :)

Take this quiz, it's fun!

What's yours?

Here we go again - time to vote for the JUNE challenge!

2009-06-09T12:18:00.002+02:00

And now it is again that time of the month - the pole has been opened today! Everybody got a chance to vote for their favorites in Humor challenge until the 15th of June! Just klick on this link: http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/2009/06/etsy-beadweavers-june-challenge-humor.html

Wow, I won 3rd prize!

2009-05-26T20:53:00.008+02:00

Last time, I told you that I have entered a beading contest by PärlPlatsen - Summer Memories.

One of my necklaces has taken the 3rd prize, and the other one - the 4th. All entries can be viewed in this gallery, please click on the pictures to see them in full size.

The 3rd prize winner is The Ray of Light, featuring Anita Spångberg's gorgeous fused glass cab (which, actually, has inspired the rest of the necklace).
It reminds me of sun-rays, bright and hot. This was my first experiment with a RAW - rope.
The second necklace was my favorite of these two, as the matter of fact. It is named after the town of my birth - Júrmala. A popular Latvian song, "Pie dzintara júras" ("By the amber sea") was on my mind in the process of making it.
I've used aqua terra jasper (variscite) stones in two different shapes. It was a nice material to work with!

One more news - this week I've been featured in Etsy Team Latvia blog. There are going to be new stories of all the group members every Tuesday! Everybody is welcome to have a look, the girs do truly AMAZING work! There are not just beadweavers in this team, but also painters, photographers, taylors, embroiderers, sculptors, etc. All united by Latvia - the country where theyir roots are from.

I am working on a free-form brickstitch tutorial that will be posted here. Stay tuned!

Sorry for being idle!

2009-05-21T23:40:00.007+02:00

Folks, I did not intend to disappear like this, it just happened.

Duties first: Etsy BeadWeavers had another Monthly challenge, Red Carpet.
The winner is Miriam Cielo with a GORGEOUS necklace! Congratulations!!!

And here are all entries:

The topic of next month is HUMOR.

Right, now I have some explaining to do. The matter is that my mom was here for a visit. I did not feel like hanging online all the time. That would explain my absence from the beading forums and Etsy Beadweavers Yahoo group.

I thought I'd just bombard you with pictures of the items that I've been making. None are for sale, all to give away :)

1. White simple everyday set for my mom:

(these are my first beaded earrings!!!)

2. Also for my mom, ogalala lace-based necklace (pattern by Katie Debuque in Bead and Button 2001 46:68)

I made this one only because 90% of inhabitants of a Russian beading site, biser.info, have this necklace in their galleries, group pressure I guess... I'll never EVER make another one, I was so incredibly bored! But it looks nice on mum's neck, and that is what makes it worth it!

3. More stuff for mom. This is not an original design either. The setting of the cab is beaded for one of the lessons of Galina Pchelkina's course. The chain is free pattern of Sandra Halpenny available here. It's sort of a simple and timeless necklace. Not exactly my style, but totally wearable!

The cab is a wild Russian beauty - a rare stone called "scarn" from Valentina's shop.

4. My mother loves amethyst. And here is another simple pair of earrings:

5. This is a present for a good friend of mother's. Светлана Ивановна, С Днем Рождения!

6. My homework for Galina Pchelkina's lesson Nr. 5 - a medallion. Have no idea what to do with it. yet.

7. Finally a Foxan/MadeByOlga style: a present for my baby-brother's fiancé, with close-ups:

8. Two more pieces were submitted for a local beading contest. I'll blog about those after the 25th of May.

Hugs, time to go to bed... But now you know why I was idle!

The course I am taking...

2009-04-26T19:29:00.002+02:00

Some of you know already that I am taking a course from a Russian beadweaving master, Galina Pchelkina via biser.info.
I took it because I felt stuck in peyote and bead embroideries, like sitting in a comfort zone for all too long. Russian beaders are insanely versatile in their use of techniques! Anyhow, I joined the course. First lesson was simple (chains), so was the 2nd (cab settings). The third was a plain nightmare: Right Angle Weave in combination with strict following the pattern (I was seriously considering dropping out, but Galina kicked my butt). And here is the lesson four. I loved it!

All patterns that have been used are copyright of Galina. I just have added some personal touches to them, but all the credit should go to my teacher.

Blue lace:
The Other Sister Boleyn:

A fragment of a necklace that I have to finish (hope to get my carnelian beads soon!).

You must be able to speak at least some Russian to take the course. It is free of charge, open for registration until May the 1st.

Take care!

Time Machine Challenge - we have a winner!

2009-04-18T13:09:00.002+02:00

Most sincere congratulations to beadsbyvezsuzs!
Stunning masterpiece, please check it out here.

The topic for the next challenge is Red Carpet (by RachelesOrignals). The idea is to bead for a movie-star of your choice.
Well... Sofia Loren or Cate Blanchet? Classic beauty or elvish extravagance?
Will see. I have not decided upon entering yet, all depends on availability of time.

Water... Everywhere is water...

2009-04-15T17:42:00.005+02:00

Guys, now it is official: I am hooked on blues and turquoise.
I have bought those cool dyed dragon-skin agates at Facett. It was kind of an impuls-buy. That's why I wanted to make something with them as soon as possible, otherwise they would have joined other things in my stash-pile.

I have borrowed the idea from Karton, with her kind permission (thanks for showing it to me, Kristina!).

So, these are the stones:

And here is what I have done with them:

This is the view from behind:

And this is the fringe-part:

I think those two do match :)

Fairytale geography continues - Due East

2009-04-11T10:34:00.006+02:00

I bought this beautiful Afghan Lapis Lazuli cab from Stardust - a little lapidary shop in the Old City of Stockholm. It became immideately clear that it is going to be a solitair as well, I would not like to match it with other stones.

The bowl on the picture was bought in Morocco. It is handpainted - the lines are not perfectly straight and the pattern is not perfectly symmetrical. That's why I like it so much.
I wanted to make my pendant the same way, and used the very first sketch without trying to make it flawlessly symmetrical.
The idea for the pattern came to me from traditional Persian textiles.

Love affair: me and Russian gems

2009-04-11T00:10:00.005+02:00

I've just finished another pendant with a stone from Valentina's shop.
This time, it is marvelous Russian jasper. It started talking to me not more than a week ago, asking for ivory, pearls and furs. Imagine that!

The inspiration for it came from two sources. The pendant itsef is inspired by the book of fairytales of people of Northern Russia that I bought to my sons. But the technical part of making it got inspiration from beadwork of a talented Russian artist Guzell Bakeeva, a piece of bead embroidery on fur.

I called it Due North. Well, the timing is not perfect, perhaps (lagom till sommaren). But hey - when stones start talking to you, it's impossible to just ignore it!

And yes, it is not supposed to be symmetric or straight!

P.S. I have used a small bit of a Fair Trade reindeer (caribou) pelt, produced by Saami-people in North of Sweden.

And again - Etsy Beadweavers April Challenge!

2009-04-09T08:38:00.004+02:00

I have said it before and I say it again - I am very proud of being an Etsy Beadweaver! Just look at the incredible examples of creativity at its best in this mosaic:

I decided not to participate this month.
You know the drill: the pole is open from 9th to 15th at http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/
Come and vote for your favorites!

Have a fabulous day! :)
I'm off to work to write even more project proposals. Happy-happy, joy-joy, sarcasm-sarcasm...

More Russian Fairytales

2009-04-06T16:39:00.004+02:00

This pendant is made for the Smyckestillbehör competition. Together with other entries, it is listed in their blog. Everybody is welcome to have a look and leave thier comments on any of the entering creations before the 20th of April.

The inspiration for this necklace comes from fairytales of Pavel Bozhov, a famous Russian writer. Born in Ural (as my mother), he was writing about the hidden treasuries of this remarkable part of Russia: the mines rich with gems and precious metals and people rich with talent.

The story tells about a skillful miner that wanted to make a flower of stone that would have come alive. The poor guy had some set-backs on his way and made several beta-versions before coming up with his final creation, the angel's trumpet inspired stone flower. Well, I will pick the white Angel's flower some other time.

For now - the pendant is made with Charoite, a rare stone with rich natural lilac color. It is mined only in one place on entire planet - on the banks of river Chara in Yakutia region in north of Russia.

Take care!

Finally - my Facett creation

2009-04-05T10:16:00.004+02:00

I have started mking this cuff at Facett. Finally, I wanted to make an embroidered cuff as every self-respecting bead-embroiderer does ;) Or, rather, all normal people start with small pieces (like cufs), and just overambitious freaks like myself make humangous collars their first projects.

Oceania is going to be for sale at Etsy.

Back home from Facett!

2009-03-29T12:57:00.005+02:00

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

2009-03-24T10:09:00.006+01:00

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

2009-03-22T12:52:00.004+01:00

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 :(

2009-03-14T14:26:00.012+01:00

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... ;)