Autumn Colors Necklaces

These are two necklaces I made recently. The center part of the first necklace is something I made a few years ago , as part of a necklace I entered to one of Etsy Beadweavers monthly challenge, but I wasn't really sure I liked how it turned out. 

I've put the necklace aside until I figured out how to change it.. It took a while until I found the right beads and other materials to combine the crocheted part with, but I finally made it, and I am very pleased with the new design.... 

Rose Gold & Autumn Colors Textured Necklace

The other necklace I beaded especially for Beth, a dear friend who lives on the other side of the world.

A few years ago, when I only started out my Etsy shop, she contacted me and asked about some clasps that I used for my bracelets. We had a few conversations, and then she told me that she had a lot of jewelry making supplies she received from a family member. I asked if I could buy some from her, but she kindly and so generously wanted to give them to me as a gift. She sent me large heavy box, full with many kinds of beads and other fun stuff! 

I used some of the beads she sent me back then in this necklace I made for her, and I am so glad she wrote and said loved it!  Hugs & love to you my friend Beth! 

First Signs of Spring Necklace

First Signs of Spring, Necklace

Filigree Beaded Star Pendant with Crystal Drop Leather Necklace

Sparkle & Spikes

Beadwork Magazine Designer of the Year 2013

Machu Picchu Necklace 

After a very long wait, I can finally tell that I will be published in Beadwork magazine as a Designer of the Year in 2013. I am excited and honored to have been selected by the magazine, together with the other three great designers - Meggie Meister of Amphora Designs, Jill Wiseman of Tapestry Beads and Sabine Lippert of Trytobead!

My first project - Machu Picchu Jewels - is published in the Feb/March issue. It's a necklace that can be made in two versions (and part of it can be used also as a bracelet).

Monochromatic Version of Machu Picchu Necklace 

Lacy Clover Ribbon Jewelry Set

This is my newest project - Lacy Clover Ribbon - a design of a bracelet, 2 options for a necklace and matching earrings. I love the delicate clover shape that the drop beads create, and the whole design reminds me of lace ribbons. The jewelry are made with Twin beads (or Superduo beads), fire polished beads (or Swarovski crystal rounds, as in the silver set) and with Japanese drop and seed beads. A tutorial for this beading project is available in my shops.

I love working with those two-hole beads, but once again I experienced the downside of them - if you miss catching a bead with a blocked hole - you're in trouble! Luckily, in this project, it was easy to unpick the work instead of having to break the blocked bead, as I was forced to do in my previous Twin beads project. I wanted to start beading the design idea right away and I didn't want to select from a pile of beads before starting to bead, so the solution I found was to get myself used to stinging the needle in both holes of the bead to check if they're open before stringing it, and this somewhat-strange method seemed to have saved me a lot of time and and frustration... Try it! :)

Also, I am happy to tell that my Layered Loops Bracelet is included (and appears on the cover!)in the recently published Stitch Workshop: Herringbone Stitch by Kalmbach Publishing (click on the link to go to Amazon and preview the book). This reminds me that it has been quite a while since I beaded something in herringbone stitch... maybe it's time again... I love this stitch!

Twin Spades Necklace and Bracelet

This is a new set of necklace and bracelet I designed with Twin beads. The pattern created by the arrangement of beads reminded me of the shape of spades, so Twin Spades is the name I gave to this project.
A tutorial for both necklace and bracelet is available in both my Etsy and Artfire shops.

I purchased some Twin beads not long ago, without knowing that actually there are two different brands of this bead with two holes - Twin beads, manufactured by Preciosa-Ornela and Superduo beads, manufactured by Jablonec (both are Czech copmanies). I haven't tried Superduo beads, but thanks to Sabine Lippert posting an image on Facebook, I learned that Twin beads are a bit non-uniformed, compared to the Superduo beads (which are much more expensive than Twins) and that there is a larger selection of colors of  Twins compared to Superduos.

I can tell from my experience working on this new necklace & bracelet project, that in a pile of 50 gr of Twin beads I found a few beads with irregular shape, but there were not too many of them - most of the beads were fine. But what really turned into a nightmare was finding out that I can't continue working and pass the needle through the free hole of one bead, simply because it was blocked! I tried to open the hole, but had not succeeded. So the only thing I could do was to break the bead using pliers and replace it with a new one. Breaking a Twin bead seemed to be a challenging task - I had to use great force and to try different angles before it finally broke. Then I had to re-fill the two spaces the removed bead created (that was the easiest part..).So I know that I will be sorting and selecting my Twin beads before I start the next project, in the hope that I will detect and take out any beads with blocked hole...

But except all of the above, Twin beads are really beautiful and fun to work with I love the texture they add to the beadwork!

It's Passover Eve today, so I wish all who celebrate it Hag Sameach! 

Passover means that spring had officially sprung!... I love the smell of spring and the warming weather is doing wonders to my energy. :) And to those who celebrate Easter - Happy Easter!

Fringed Rosette Earrings

I had everything but illustrations for the tutorial of these Fringes Rosette Earrings ready and waiting for over a month. Because the rosette part of the earrings has a domed profile, making the illustrations of it was a real challenge... But it's finally done and the tutorial is available! The earrings are made with glass pearls, seed beads, bugles and Swarovski crystal beads (the earrings can be made without the fringe, so without the crystal beads).

Another item I had finished in the past couple of weeks is the blue necklace below. I beaded this necklace especially because I didn't include instructions for the pendant in Dainty Filigree Rope & Bracelet tutorial, and many of you had asked for more examples of necklaces made with the same rope pattern (actually, the rope can be sewed or attached to any pendant). I managed to finish it in no time and I love how it turned out! (I didn't realize it till now, but it came out with the American flag colors.. :)

The pendant in this necklace is a flat, drop shaped blue & white gemstone, which I bought a few years ago. I liked the stone so much that I was willing to buy it without knowing what kind of a gemstone it was (the store owner didn't know, either), although I had decided long before not to buy any more unidentified gemstones..*sigh*

I think it is not lapis lasuli, because it doesn't have the typical vivid blue of lapis, but it's more of denim blue mixed with white -- could it be blue Chalcedony?, or is it blue Agate? If any of you can tell what it is, I'd appreciate your help if you comment and let me know... I so hate it when I can't tell my customers what they are buying...I promise myself not to make the same mistake again! ;D

Taking about mistakes, I already told you about the huge mess I created by deleting all the blog photo albums I had synchronized with Picasa & stored on my smartphone. But I didn't know how bigger - much bigger - problem it would be to go back to older posts and to find all the relevant images. Since I didn't always give names to the pieces I beaded (I usually feel reluctant when it comes to naming my works, but I'll leave that subject for another post), and since in my early posts I didn't write much or described the pieces ("my new bracelet" doesn't tell much, does it?), there were posts that I just had to guess which was the piece that belong to it, based on the date. In some other cases I had to leave that ugly exclamation mark that replaces the missing images, simply because I couldn't figure out what images I was looking for. I restored most of the images by now, but I wouldn't be surprised if I find two different posts from totally different dates showing the same "New Work" images. Now see the title name of this post? and how descriptive is this post? Lesson learned! :-)


And on a HAPPIER NOTE -- I have received some exciting news regarding my beading work, but I can't tell you yet about it. I have to wait until they are ready to announce...Yes, I know, I am a bad teaser... ;D And it's almost 4 in the morning. Bed time!

Magical Magatamas

Last month at a wedding party, I met a few people I haven't seen in a couple of years. We chatted a bit and they asked me what job do I have and I told them that I am a jewelry designer. Then they were very surprised that I don't wear any jewelry (mine or others), and they said that I am a living example of  "a shoemaker who is walking barefoot" (it's an old Hebrew say). Funny, but true!... I stopped wearing jewelry long before I had started beading due to allergy to metals I had developed, and somehow I got used to being "jewelry-naked" (except for a watch, if that counts). I promised my relatives to show them some of my work the next time we meet, which would be next week in another family relative's wedding. I decided to wear a nice jewelry set to show off at the coming wedding... After all, my jewelry is made from glass beads, so there shouldn't be any allergy excuse... ;)

Luckily, my Muse cooperated and I managed to finish this new necklace and matching bracelet on time before the wedding (a tutorial is also ready & available). They are made with seed beads, glass pearls, Swarovski crystal beads and Miyuki long Magatama beads. (I take this opportunity to thank the people of Bogal, who are always very helpful and come to my rescue whenever I run out of beads before the project is finished... Thank you, Gloria and Avishai for an excellent customer service!).

Once again I had a challenging (read: annoying) designing process with those Magatamas (mainly because of their large, diagonal holes), but I love them, and I didn't want to give up on the texture they add to the beadwork. I am very pleased with the result! The necklace is laying nicely around my neck and the bracelet is softly draping  my wrist.

Now all I have to do is to find something nice to wear that goes with this set, which is another challenge for me! I never had to match the clothes to the jewelry - it usually goes the other way around, right?... ;D

Summer 2011 - Heat, Health and Hope...

My Muse is gone.... It's probably the combination of July/August heat, my eyes getting tired too quickly and the excitement I feel about people's protest over the huge social-economic gaps that is taking place here in Israel in the last couple of weeks. Daily life worries and health problems can be a real turn off to any creativity sparkle... 

Last Saturday night, I joined the largest ever protest parade in Israel that took place in Tel Aviv, as well as in many cities throughout the country and in my town. I came back home all sweaty and tired, but my spirit was filled with fresh energy and hope. It was amazing to see (and be part of) a large group of good people making an effort in trying to make our life and our children's future better... It was a great reminder of how beautiful, united, supportive and strong Israeli people still are, even though this time the issue was not our complicated security situation, but about fighting social injustice and corruption - the main reasons for our domestic social problems ... I am looking forward to a real change, even if I know it would take more time and effort before we can feel it!... 

Okay, back to beady subjects... This necklace is the ONLY thing I created since my last post (I still haven't finished the bracelet I wanted to make to complete the set of necklace & earrings I created...). My inspiration for this necklace was one of Lisa Peter's Art beads, used for a wire wrapped pendant. The colorful beads in the necklace are Indonesian "trade" glass beads - beautiful, irregular shaped handcrafted & hand-painted striped large "seed beads", strung on orange cotton cord. 

New - Antique Silver Necklace with Crystal Pendant

I haven't done much beading in the past month. All these eye tests I had to make and the fact that even with my new multi-focal glasses (I had those replaced for me twice last month, but I still don't see 100% well with them), made me feel a bit nervous & depressed and made beading being an uncomfortable task. One eye test - which I feared the most about its results - came out (relatively) good :) , and the doctor said that even though the only treatment for the problem is laser eye surgery, it is up to me if I want to have it now, or I can wait and see if there are any changes in the next scheduled tests in every six months. I want to wait and see (pun intended ;) what happens... I am now using another new eyeglasses just for computer & beading work, and it works and feels much better. I am optimistic! :)

This is my newest necklace - herringbone rope with strung beads and a bead embroidered pendant with Swarovski crystal beautiful chessboard stone, and I also beaded matching stud earrings. I like how the necklace turned out - it reminds me of the silver jewelry my grandfather used to make. It has a bit of antique feel to it thanks to the beautiful Miyuki Duracoat #4222 seed beads I used for the main color. I started working on a matching bracelet about a week ago, but I got stuck with the design and my Muse has left me again, so it is still waiting, unfinished, on my beading tray...