Wow, I won 3rd prize!

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!

More Russian Fairytales

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!

Progress rapport

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

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

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

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

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





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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




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

Australian Bushfires

I love Australia. I had an honor to spend two months in Perth, as a visiting researcher at the University of Western Australia. And I am honored to call several Australians my friends.

First, I did not pay attention to the news about the bushfire in Victoria. It's a natural thing, happens every summer and promotes vegetation. Australian nature is used to that.

And than I heared about the death toll. People got no warning. Winds made the fire to spread with a speed of a car on a highway. Terrible.

Fellow Etsians have opened a charity shop: OzBushfireAppeal. I could not find anything cloe enough to my heart to buy, I do not like buying stuff that will never be used. That's why, I've decided to make a donation. I hope it will be accepted.

Carnelian Sunset:


and Victoria.

Brad, PJ, Ja-On, Nicolin, Siva, Nura, Titik - I miss u, guys!

P.S.
Bought a .pdf with coiling instructions. I know exactly what to make with its help! ;)

PärlPlatsen's Word Challenge - CLOWN

Word challenge is a game played at PärlPlatsen.
This time I got the word "clown" straight in my face. After 10 minutes of a total shock, I got an idea - the clown's wig. Red and orange. Huge. F l u f f y.
At first I wanted to make a bracelet. Than earrings. Finally, I have cut those ideas down to a single pendant.
I've recently got some great Jablonex seed beads in several shades of purple. I love red and purple together, and my husband is the biggest fan of Färjestad hockey team. Purple and orange are the colors of their sponsor, Löfbergs Lila. Well, I have quickly blessied myself with a cross sign, and started beading.

Well, does it look like a clown to you?

Africa-challenge: I did it!

Pfew, I'm done with the Africa challenge.

First of all, I discovered that I know virtually NOTHING about African art. Ok, voodoo, masks and sculptures do not count. And I knew a little bit about kitenge or kangas, the fabric that can be used as a gown or as a baby-carrier, here is the picture of the one I use for my kids:

But back to the challenge... First that came into my mind was batique and those huge spiral wire necklaces and earings that masai women are wearing. But then I learnt that batique was brought to Africa by Europeans. As to masai necklaces, they indeed are gourgeous but hardly comfortably wearable.

And than my husband took me for a day-long trip to Stockholm right after the Christmas. We were browsing in the Old City and I have discovered a tiny shop of African art not far from the royal palace. There I've saw those fantastic bronse handmade beads, made by craftsmen in Burkina-Faso. I just got to have them. There were several multistring necklaces on display there as well and all over the sudden I understood what I wanted to do. This is my little tribute to African folk art:




I've put it on display in my Etsy shop, somebody perhaps might like it enough to buy. ;)

Still figuring out the Beach and Tropical Hollidays...

Santa's Little Helper

Last weeks I've been beading like one of the Santa's elves, making Christmas presents. Let me show you some of them.


This one is for my mother in law, I called it Aurora Borealis (check out the gorgeous pictures of the phenomenon taken by Jan Curtis).

The stone is labradorite, one of my absolute favorite stones. It might look gray and simple at the first glimpse, but when the light hits it - oah my... it sparkles and shines in all the colors of rainbow! I think the stone reflects a bit what kind of person my mother in law is...
I do not know why, but people tend to use labradorite mainly in combination with silver, perhaps partly due to is main color. I think that this stone looses a lot when surrounded by beads and metals of similar "shades of pale". I think it deserves gold (or in this case - gold filled).

The second necklace is called Lycopodium or Galadriel's moss. Lycopodium (stag's horn clubmoss) is one of the most ancient plants known on this planet, its spores are known for their healing properties.

Why Galadriel's moss? I just love Elves, that's why ;) The rope of the necklace is crochetted with Miyuki 15/0 and C-lon D. It was a pain in the neck to make it, but well worth the effort! The rope is thin and shiny, and just runs between the fingers. The central piece is made using coralling technique with Miyuki Chartreuse drops on the end of each branch.
Who will get it? Fiancé of my husband's best friend, all three are hopeless roleplayers ;)

The Angel has been finished.

I've been idle for a while, both kids were sick. But now it is finally over! And I can upload the last pictures of the Snow Angel.

I had some trouble with fringes. I tried with Sherry's inspired ones first, and it did not work at all, judge by yourselves.

But they looked nice anyhow ;)


Than I have tried three more versions and have finally made up my mind. Even my husband, who was very much anti-fringe at the beginning, has agreed that the necklace looks better now ;)
Ta-daaaaaaa:


This is the finished Snow Angel.

Experiment: Witchery

I start feeling quite comfortable with peyote stitch. The next project is the result of my crazy experimenting with peyote in its free form. I called it Witchery.


It is inspired partly by Pratchett's Nanny Ogg, partly by the witches in Stardust movie. While making it, I was thinking of an old witch. She was not evil my witch, that's for sure. She was perhaps quite a rich lady one day (rich enough to afford silver Delicas to embellish her gown). One day she was young and perhaps even beautiful. Who knows, maybe she got poor with age, or perhaps she just stopped caring about her look. Freeform peyote has allowed to create a feeling of those torn rugs she was wearing. Original lace is still there in some places, I mimicked it with pewter Ornela beads and some netting as well as accented with Delicas here and there. I have interchanged portions made of fine matte opaque black Tohos (representing velvet, I'd say) with really rough cheep and uneven MingTree seed beads, representing poor attempts of my witch to fix the dress.
The cab in the middle is what remains of her glory. Or, perhaps, all her power is in that stone? ;)
Well, those were my thoughts when I was making the piece.

On the practical side of this project: it took me two days to make the cab setting. I made it over and over again until I was satisfied with the look.


OK, it was a stupid idea to make it in peyote, RAW would be a much better option, I admit it. Live and learn! :)

Sitting tight in the swamp

Seed beads do not let me go. I just want to learn more new stuff and make more beaded things! Start thinking about Etsy, will see about that. For now, I wanted to learn how to make the beaded cabochon settings without glueing them first on the Stiff Stuff. For the necklace below I have used stones that I have got from FiremountainGems. They came among assortments, therefore I am not really sure about what sort of mineral they are. My guess is that it might be dyed red agate, since carnelian is usually a bit more reach and deeper in color. I called it October. The pictures are taken by a friend of mine, her camera is waaaaay better than the one I've got. Guess, it is going to be my next big investment.

Looking for the ultimate seed beads and some autumn inspiration

Now it is getting serious. I have ordered color samples for Jablonex from StarkDesign (see link to the left) and our FiremountainGems order has finally reached Sweden. Now I have got Toho, Matsuno, Delicas, DynaMites, Jablonex, Ming Tree and Guttermann to play with...

Short summary so far: Jablonex beats them all when it comes to embroidery, it looks like. There were many more Tohos that did not want to pass through my needle, than Jablonex. Delicas are fun to make details and cabochon settings with, but I did not like them in embroidery. Toho size 15 galvanized gold has lost all coating already after two (!) days of wearing the piece, however larger sizes were still fine after two-week test of constant wearing. No changes in any of copper-coated seed beads of Toho, regardless the size. Next time I will try Jablonex supra gold, the distributor claims it is way more resistant.

After choosing the beads more carefully, I have come up with the following creation. Presenting proudly - September.



The central piece is embroidered with Toho sizes 15-6, Matsuno and Delicas, as well as the strange size 9 rocailles that one can get from Panduro hobby (made in Czech republic, but not Jablonex), and Jablonex Evergreen mix (Zionesse, SE). The rope is made in tubular peyote with green Tohos and Jablonex Autumn leaves mix (StarkDesign, SE). Fringes are sitting on a net of size 9 Panduro seed beads, their bases are made of DynaMites 11° (matte root beer) as well as Jablonex Tortoise Matte mix, and I have used Jablonex Autumn leaves for the tops. The form of my fringes is secured with copper-plated Tohos 15°. Here is the close-up:



The piece is inspired by work of Varvara Konstantinov, but I wanted to bring some personal touches to it (and I have never done anything like this before), as well as I wanted to re-discover the fringes-on-the-net technique by myself.

Stringing continued :)

Here is some stuff that I have made this summer.

This one was made by request from my brother, meant as a present to his girlfriend. The "challenge" was to string something brown. Well, brown it was: lamp-work glass, seed beads, glass hearts and dyed freshwater pearls.

My mother was next in the line - she needed a necklace to match her new green-brown-copper party outfit. I made two pieces with mixed seed beads and some acrylic ones, added dyed shell beads and dyed freshwater pearls in shades of green and (surprise!) brown ;).


This one was made because my precious soul all over the sudden started to request something light, white and pink. I blame it on pregnancy!

And this is the last piece of my "summer collection" - recycled old and boring string of turquoise chips that my parents bought me in Egypt in 1990. I have added some freshwater pearls of natural white color, clear crystal chips, foiled glass beads and gold-plated metal beads.

First steps...

This is one of the first necklaces I have ever made: two strings of mixed seed-beeds, one string of peridot chips and a string of mixed large beads. And what a mix it was! Acrylic beads mixed with glass, dyed freshwater pearls, metal and its plastic imitation and semi-precious gemstones. I thought it might be fun to try out different materials and textures, and I think it went quite well.


But I have also discovered another thing - I love working with glass beads! There is something magical about those... Something about their cool, shiny surface and the weight of the string in your hand...
I never thought that I will fall for mixing glass with semi-precious gems. But c'mon, I'm not a jeweler, I am a beader! ;) And I like it!