Oriental Lace Bracelet

Thank you everyone who took the time to answer the poll on the right side bar here! I really appreciate it!

This is my new bracelet I named "Oriental Lace" . I was once asked how I got to think of my designs -  the idea and inspiration for this bracelet design came from a beautiful fabric pattern I saw in Interfilier article about fashion trends for Summer 2010.

Image from Interferier.com

I fell in love with the pattern and just had to create something similar in beadweaving.
It was time consuming, as always, when it comes to designing something new, but as much fun playing with different beads size in different stitches until I found the right way to stitch the desired pattern. I then spent some more time stitching a few samples in different colors, improving ans simplifying the beadwoven pattern until I found the one that worked best. I just love this process!

Twisting and Bending Wire

OK, so this is harder than I thought. While working on this cuff, I realized that wire working requires a lot of thinking about structure and construction beforehand.
I tried to work in the same way as I, in many cases, work in beadweaving - creating a base and then add more materials as I go along and build the design. Implementing the same process with wire could have worked (I think) if it was a free form wire cuff, but in this case, it didn't work well.

I built a frame around the focal bead and then connected more pieces, one at a time. I should have measure and cut all the pieces first and then connect them with another piece of wire in order to have a symmetrical body. Another thing I learned is that I should have used thicker, harder wire for the foundation (the wire here is dead-soft 20 gauge). I also had problems with creating the closure after the whole body was finished - another thing that I should have thought of beforehand and resulted in an awkward finish.
Although I spent more than 5 hours working on it, struggling with the wire and pliers, and it didn't came out as I envisioned it, I learned a lot of things through the process, which is most important.

I have so much more to learn and practicing to do and I'm excited about it! The only bad thing I can tell about this new work is that my fingers are aching from all the twisting and bending...

New Bracelet in Soft Spring Colors

I usually like to work with Fireline thread for most beadworks, but when a softer result or matching color is needed, like in this bracelet, I choose K.O. thread .
I like K.O. because it's already waxed and it's thinner than Nymo or C-lon. But, as I realized yesterday, it's not as strong enough as Fireline or Nymo.
I've put about 5 hours of work in this bracelet, but just when I finished hiding all the threads and thought to myself 'Done!' (at 4 AM in the morning), the thread broke in the middle and a few seed beads fell out. Probably one of the fire polished beads cut it.
I was mad! I wanted to take the scissors and cut the bracelet into pieces. I cried instead, like a baby... I then had to thread the needle with a new K.O. to stitch together the broken parts. Just to be on the safe side, I passed through all the beads again. So, it actually turned out like beading the bracelet again, and of course, like using doubled thread... Lesson learned.
I like the textured result, though.

Wire Wrapped Pendant

I am enjoying the new love affair... This is a simple pendant, created with 3 sizes of (pre-made) hammered hoops which are connected by wrapped wire with some beads embellishment.
It was a bit difficult to me to keep the wire wrapped close together on the hoops, because their width is changing. Adding the Swarovski daisies was challenge, too, because they cut the 28 gauge wire several times...

Wire working seem to be much fun, although not as much relaxing as beadweaving to me.. I am yet to get used to this technique and feel comfortable using different wire gauges and pliers. I decided to take it slowly by working on small projects each time.
My next wire project will be a bracelet with similar materials. First attempt of creating it failed (and almost a whole spool of wire was wasted..) as I didn't construct it well. I will post photos if and when it's finished.

Wire Jewelry

This purple/fuchsia pendant is my first finished wire work. I started working on it yesterday at a workshop (the first for me), instructed by Angelika Motzkin at Bogal's. I wanted to learn the basics of making wire jewelry for a long time now. I waited a long time for Angelika's workshop and it was worth it! I receive some good tips from her and enjoyed her clear instructions.

At the end of the workshop Angelika showed us some of her wire jewelry and... I am not the only one who was almost speechless... Each and everyone of her creations is a jaw-dropper! Her work of art is so intricate, abundant and inspiring...
Her beadwoven pieces are as much beautiful. It's a pity that she doesn't have a website (as for now), but you can see a bit of what I am so excited about in this bead art necklace of her, which came in as a finalist in Bead Dreams 2009 competition.

*October 2011 UPDATE: Angelica now has a web site, where you can see some of her amazing works:
http://angelikamotzkin.com/decoration.html

Angelika, if you are reading this - Thank you so much for a wonderful, inspiring workshop. I enjoyed every minute of it!
Thank you too, Gloria of Bogal, for taking care of everything and for making everyone feel comfortable.  ;)

Today, I woke up and immediately set down to complete the purple pendant. The plan was to attach it to a necklace with linked wire components (as in Angelika's sample), but my daughter fell in love with it, so I decided to give it to her, hanging from a simple sterling silver necklace (she's allergic to other metals). I turned the one single part I created for the necklace into another pendant and hung it from a simply strung necklace.

I can't wait to finish all the other works that are on my To-Do list, so I can start a whole new wire project. This is really fun!