Breakes Unwind

Happy Hanukkah/Merry Christmas to you all!

It has been a while since I last posted.
In the last couple of days I felt creative and inspired again, after not being able to finish a new work for almost three long weeks. Ideas of new designs kept running in my head, I kept sketching them in my notebook, but not one of them I succeeded to create. It seemed like something, which I couldn't really tell what it is, was holding me back. On some days I just felt lazy - a new and strange feeling for me when it comes to beading... I even had a terrifying thought of not being able to create ever again… Even now, writing about it, this thought has a very bad impact on me…

But, those days are gone (hopefully for good) and I enjoyed working again. I actually worked like crazy and was able to finish 5 different pieces in just a few days. I enjoy working fluently so much! With every new item finished, I felt a good wave of energy flooding me.
So, this is the first I've finished – an embroidered pendant on a beadwoven necklace. When started working, I had a general idea of beading around the small purple cabochon, but the rest just came along the way. Also, it was the first time that I didn't have any troubles and complications working embroidery… real pleasure..
I will post the rest of the works later… I now have to finish the new design I have in the works…;)





Also, I want to say thank you! to everyone who voted for my Yuki Onna necklace (below), which came in the third place of EBW December challenge.

Yuki Onna - Japanese Snow Woman - EBW Challenge "Snow Queen"

Etsy Beadweavers Challenge theme for December was "Snow Queen". My entry is number 18.
Please visit EBW blog, choose your favorite from 31 gorgeous pieces and vote for it. Voting begins on the 9th and lasts till the 15th. I am sure that voting is going to be a challenging task, as all 31 entries are just stunning!
While I was Googling for some inspiration, I found this fantastic mask I immediately fell in love with, named "Yuki-Onna", on SoCal Design site. Their site is beautiful, full with other fantastic designer masks, inspired by many cultures. Check them out! And thank you, Claudia of SoCal, for giving me permission to use the photo here!

I really liked the design of the mask. In my eyes, the designer succeded to reflect well the nature of Yuki Onna spirit. In the Japanese folklore (and like in many other cultures) she is described as a beautiful woman with long hair, but her intentions are murderous and far from soft femininity - she's "cold as ice"... You can read the story about the evil snow woman here on Wikipedia.

In my necklace I tried to represent the beauty of Yuki Onna by using soft curly lines of beads, and her ruthlessness by the two sharp points at the top and by the icy sharpened crystals. It took much time and a lot of unpicking before I was satisfied with the design, and now I really like the final result. I like it so much I even created matching beadwoven earrings, something which I rarely do.. :)

In fact, this necklace is the second one I made for this challenge. I had to unpick the first one, shown in the last photo, (I kept only the "snowflake" that is in the center) because I didn't really like the design and the way it was laid around the neckline- the structure was not good.

And although I was a bit frustrated of the time got lost, I had doubled pleasure creating two of them. That's a positive way to look at it, isn't it?.. ;)