August in Israel...

I wish the summer was over, I can't stand the heat and humidity anymore! I miss the fall, or better the spring...(I don't like the winter. I feel like a bear with all the cloths on). The weather makes me nervous-- I hate sweating, but I hate the sound of the air condition even more.. I can't sleep well.. I'm always tiered... very hard to concentrate on the work, even in the late night hours. I'm going crazy.

The only good thing I can think of August right now is that it's the weddings season, and weddings are always so exciting!..
Today I finished working on this cuff, made especially upon the request of a cute bride-to-be. Her wedding is going to take place on the beach, so she asked for a simple design, in clear, silver and just a bit of silver colors, that reminds the soft sand and the waves on the beach. This is the design I came up with for her bracelet (I'm happy, she was very pleased :).


This is the first time I've created something by following a graph of the pattern, and I have to admit that it was hard for me to do (it's the ^&*%$%# heat! ;), and maybe it was even harder because I had to use three kinds of clear seed beads with slight differences in the color. I now admire artists like SandFibers even more than before. She creates her lovely intricate designs using tiny Delica beads. Amazing!. It is really a hard, challenging work and very time consuming! I am not sure I'll do this kind of work again. OK, maybe I'll do it again, but only in the fall or winter...or if a cute bride asks me.. :)

This is another necklace I recently finished working on-- a simple design in bright colors. Great for summer, isn't it?.. ;)

Here Comes the Bride - EBW July Challenge

I created this bridal set of jewels especially for the EBW July challenge - Here Comes the Bride. Please visit the EBW blog from the 9th until the 15th, view all 39 entries and vote for your favorite. I assure you it's worth the click...all entries are gorgeous and it's interesting to see each member's take on the theme. My entry is # 27 on the list.

This photo was taken by my dear son, who wanted to try catching the many sparkles 
of the crystals in this necklace. He did quite a good job at it, didn't he?

It seems that waiting patiently for my beadweaving muse was worth it in many ways.. After a month or so of general depression and no inspiration for beading, ideas suddenly came up in my mind one after the other... It really felt great beadweaving again, like meeting a good old friend after a long time and having so many things to say to each other...

During the waiting time, except for reorganizing my working area and bead boxes; teaching my kids a few lessons in cooking and "re-discovering" the little garden-in-boxes I have in my balcony, I also spent some time doing some...sport activities. :0) I can't even believe myself...I am so not a sports person...I usually get tiered just by thinking of it... :D Ardjan though it would be a great way to chase the depression away and I think he was right. It did help a bit.
He and I took a long ride on the bike in Tel Aviv port area one day. Thank God riding the bike is not something you forget how to do.. Ardjan, the crazy super-fast rider, had to ride slowly in order to stay in my pace... I felt like a sweat soaked sponge after finishing the 10km+ track and I then thanked God again, this time for keeping me alive during the ride...;)
We also took long walks in the evenings, when the heat was bearable, after which we exercised in the gym area we have in the park near home. And I also did some stretch exercises that my (beading) body really needed...It felt great doing all this stuff.., except for the muscles pains that came afterward...;)
Well, maybe it was too much activity for a start, but I really hope that laziness will not take over me again and I will make at least some of those activities as part of my routine.. so far so good.. :)

Now back to the beading table to finish the new bracelet I'm working on...

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?.. ;)