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!

New 3D Rectangle Pendant (Aiko vs. Delica)

I'm hooked on the three dimensional geometric shapes lately. This is my new design of 3D rectangle and beaded bail. I used Delica (red) and Aiko (all the other colors) beads.

Until not long ago I have used regular seed beads for this kind of works, but then I started to work with Japanese Miyuki Delica beads. The result is much better, because these beads are more uniformed and allow you to make clean lines. You can see the big difference of the two kinds used to make these 3D stars.

BUT then, thanks to a very dear friend, I discovered another kind of uniformed beads. She has sent me some of her favorite Japanese Toho's Aiko beads as a gift (and some more exciting things :)) to try them out.
What can I say? She is right - the Aikos are even better than the Delicas! They are much uniformed and have a larger hole, which makes it easy to pass the needle several times, without worrying about breaking the tiny beads.
Thank you so much my dear friend, I really enjoyed using the beads ! And I hope you like what I made with them! :)