Happy New Year!

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!

Hi guys!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All together we can make it happen!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

First photosession

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

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

Photograph - Åsa Delau, model - Anna Malmgren


Anna, Åsa, Lina - thanks! :)

PUSS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sigulda and Colors of Fall

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

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

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

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


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


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

There also are copper pendant and links,

as well as some gorgous Swarovski Crystal Copper.

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


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

What about now?

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

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

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


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

To be or not to be?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Thanks for your imput!