The science of beading ;)

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?

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

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

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)

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.

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

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 :)