Vintage Style Pendant

I feel a bit of beading laziness lately. I do want to bead something new, but I don't feel like going through all my stash and start to pick colors and materials, in the hope that some idea will pop up. Usually I enjoy this process and I have a lot of patience for it (and it also gives me the chance to see again forgotten items I have...fun!) but now, maybe because of the heat and humidity we have here, I don't feel like it, it's too much effort when you are almost drowning in sweat, even late at night...
So I thought I'd just pick up a stone from the stone box and bead bezel it - something simple and rather quick, and this vintage style pendant with a cute little rose is the result.

Happy to have finished it, I then realized that I ran out of the chain necklace I wanted to use, so I just hung it on this brass collar. I am not sure about the collar and I think I will change it (what do you think?), but for this I have to go to Tel Aviv to buy some chains, because unfortunately, we don't have a decent bead store in our area. This would have to wait, as I can't even think about going there before the weather is a bit cooler. I don't think I would survive the humidity in Tel Aviv... it's the worst! I survived 40 long horrible summers when I used to live there, up until 5 years ago... but I am now 5 years older!... :)

Vintage Style Lacy Bracelet

How I wish that the nice way new year 2010 started would continue. The past few weeks have been so stressful for me. I have some unpleasant family and financial businesses I'm dealing with for quite a long time now, among other 'real life' regular stuff (two teenagers at home, to give you an idea of "regular"...;) , and this seem to take out a lot of energy from me. I try to find my mind & soul some rest by bead weaving, but this also doesn't work for me as it usually does. This reminds me of the say "muses are silent when the cannons are roaring"... I wish this period is over soon so I will be able to get back to my routine and concentrate more in my work.

I started working on this simple bracelet 4 days ago and it took me more than 10 hours to finish, would you believe it? I couldn't concentrate, kept mistaking the order of beads and couldn't complete one single row without unpicking it several times. Really annoying. If it wasn't my love for playing with different sizes, shapes and colors of beads in order to create texture in my work, I would have given up after just a few rows... I'm now glad I didn't because I love it!




I used one of Claspgarten clasps again - a gorgeous, sparkly, multi-strand rhodium plated clasp with Swarovski crystals set in it, and it fitted the bracelet's size perfectly. That was a relief - no need to struggle.. :)

I also used the same beads for this matching small pendant.




Let's hope the weekend will be peaceful, pleasant and fruitful! :)

Tropical Nights Necklace and Earrings - EBW Challenge

It's time to vote for your favorite entry in the Etsy BeadWeavers monthly challenge again!
Triz, who won the November challenge, have chosen the Jan-Feb challenge theme - "Tropical Holiday". It was a great theme and I think it's the first time that there are so many entries - 47 wonderful creations!.
Please visit the EBW blog, pick your favorite and vote for it. Your comment is also appreciated. Voting lasts until the 15th , so don't postpone your voting!

My entry, #26, is the Tropical Nights necklace.
I used gorgeous, sparkling Czech vintage crystal stones I bought a while ago and I thought they would be perfect for this project, as they sparkle in iridescent shades of tropical green, fuchsia and yellow. I also used 24k gold plated Delicas, Swarovski crystal bicone beads and vibrant fuchsia Swarovski chatons.
I had to unpick the necklace a few times before I found the best connecting points of the components to allow the necklace to sit nicely around the neckline. I almost gave up after the forth time… :/ I hate that part of beadweaving, which I guess many, if not all beaders do… But, I was able to finish it on time, and I like the way it came out so much that I even created a pair of beadwoven earrings (I'm beginning to like creating those.. :)) with the beautiful fuchsia chatons.

Photographing this necklace was a challenge in itself.. and these are the best photos I could post. The necklace is much more sparkling and colorful in person. I am lucky to have a very patient photographer… Thanks, Ardjan! :)