Spring Around the Corner

This is "Early Spring", my entry for the April challenge of Etsy BeadWeavers - Spring Around the Corner.Check out the EBW blog to see all 49, spring inspired, beautiful entries and vote for your favorite (my necklace is #21 on the list). Voting ends on the 15th of April.

Treasures By the Sea

EBW challenge theme for February was Ocean/Sea Inspired. What a great source of inspiration it was! No wonder there are 46 (!) entries this month. Voting is going to be very hard, as there is an abundance of great pieces!
My entry "Treasures by the Sea" necklace is # 5 on the list.

Voting lasts until the 15th, so don't miss out your chance to check out all entries and vote for your favorite!

Surprise in The Mail!

A little box came in the mail and I was so surprised to see these five gorgeous clasps sent to me, again, by Claspgarten! Thank you, Karin of Claspgarten! I am so grateful and flattered to have been chosen to design with your clasps... :)

I am so in love with the brass rectangle clasp I got and can't wait to start working on something with it (probably a bracelet) .. The photo doesn't do justice to the other ones with crystals... they are so beautiful and really sparkle!

I have completed working on a necklace using this large clasp I got in the first batch, but I can't post the images yet, since I am thinking of sending this necklace to Perlen Poesie magazine for publication, so it has to be kept as a secret for a few months..

Like it has always been for me, new materials to work with excite me and give my muse a huge push! Fun! :)

New Glitzy Bracelet

A new bracelet with Claspgarten clasp - rhodium plated clasp with Swarovski crystals. I really like how this one turned out. :)

I have one last item to create with Claspgarten clasp - it is the most challenging one for me. I'll probably have to try a few possible designs, as this one has a unique shape, (relatively) large size and heavy weight...

Too many thoughts and ideas are running in my head right now, making too much "noise", like in a busy train station... One is for the current EBW challenge (which I doubt I'll be able to finish on time, but that's as per usual..:D); one is for a bride's custom necklace (luckily I have enough time for this one); another one is for a project to be published in the European magazine Perlen Poesie next year, and lots of ideas for details of my (possible) entry for the Bead&Button show 2010, which I really (really!) hope I'll be able to create and finish on time...
It seems like I'm 'beading' in my mind more than I'm actually beading.. ;)

New Sparkling Bracelet

I usually don't use a lot of Swarovski crystals in my work and especially not this many in one piece. But that doesn't mean I don't like BUYING them.. ;D So, I bought these Light Colorado Topaz bicones almost two years ago and I finally came up with this pattern that includes a lot of them (144 beads, to be exact). I have to check how this pattern comes out in a different color palette, but that will have to wait until I'll finish two other works I have in progress. As always, too many ideas to try but not enough time...

Asymmetrical Necklace

I had these beautiful "Hi-tech" beads and daggers for quite a while before I knew what I wanted to make with them. They are gorgeous in my eyes - I love the unusual (for me at least) stamping, and their colors change if you look at them from different angles. I decided to try to make something I haven't done before - an asymmetrical design, and combine 3-D hoops (I just love 3-D beadweaving!).

Although there was not a lot of beadweaving to do, it took me hours to arrange the hoops, embellish the focal "flower" (I didn't plan to make a flower- it just came out along the way, but I am still happy with the result), connect all the parts and make sure that all of them sits nice and well around the neckline.
I love to combine leather in my work, so using some cords for the rest of the necklace was a great solution for me, because I didn't want to overload the design but to keep it rather delicate and simple.


Photographing this necklace was a bit of a challenge - it's hard to take photos that really shows the beautiful sparkle of the crystals (opaque black AB). These photos are the best my photographer could get, using a home-made light-box that we built. It's his passion for photography that made it possible to show this necklace here. If I had to take the photos, I would have given up on the whole thing after only a few attempts! :) Thank you dear Ardjan!