Echo of collaboration with Mona

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

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 ;)

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

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?!

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

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

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 ;)