Sneak preview!

I can't say anything about who this is for, or what it is. I'll just say that I'm really happy with it, and that it was a huge challenge.

From beadwork other

Work in progress...

I've finished the bezel on a new goddess face. I think she'll be a garden goddess - I have a lot of flower beads in the right colors. She may end up completely different, though. Sometimes my plans don't mesh with what the piece wants to be. I love that I've gotten to a place with my work that it takes shape and evolves on its own.

From Beadwork Necklaces

From Beadwork Necklaces

I love how the back turned out!

Name?

I can't decide what to call this girl. She's another project that's been half done for a while. I managed to finish her this week since we're down to one car and I've had time in the mornings at work before everyone else arrives. I like that she looks kinda tribal, art noveau, and middle Eastern at the same time. Or am I the only one that sees all those things?

From Beadwork Necklaces

From Beadwork Necklaces

From Beadwork Necklaces

New Necklace

I have so many unfinished projects! Yesterday I decided to pick one up out of the pile and finish it to a wearable point. This Fimo face cab has been sitting there for AGES, with only the bezel done. So I finally sat down and started embellishing with netting and fringe, some fun Czech pressed fish beads, drop seed beads, and no plan... Originally she was going to be an air goddess, but the beads I dug up to go with her spoke "sea", and then the netting started looking like waves, then I thought of fish nets, then I added fish beads... and she was born. The necklace closes on the front right side with a simple sterling hook, masked by some short fringe. The whole thing is pretty lightweight, so I just went with a simple, single strand strung strap. I love the swaying movement of the long branching fringe, juxtaposed with the jiggling movement of the looped fish fringe. Can't wait to wear her today while I'm working on another new piece!

From Beadwork Necklaces

From Beadwork Necklaces

From Beadwork Necklaces

New Lampwork!

I ordered a "Bead Bowl Special" from Catalina Glass - one of my first orders on Etsy. The beads arrived today, and I couldn't wait to tear into them! I love grab bags, and lampwork, so the two together are even better. Here are the beads:

From Bead Collection

Aren't they great? The colors are so "me", and will work perfectly into my beadwork.

I decided to make a quick pair of earrings out of the kitty and another bead, plus some pearls, a couple of seed beads, and some GF wire. Going to wear them to work tomorrow!

From non beadwork

Happy Belated Birthday, Lil Bro!

My brother's birthday is in May - I've just finished his birthday present (eek, bad sister!). I'm sending it off tomorrow, so here's a sneak peak. When I asked if I could bead anything for him he said yes, much to my surprise. He's got his first desk job and asked for a small sculpture to sit next to the computer. I decided to just start stitching, and here's what came out!

From beadwork other

I made the scarab cab from Fimo, dusted with metallic powders.

From beadwork other

From beadwork other

The dichro cab is one of a bunch that he picked out for me last time I visited.

From beadwork other

From beadwork other

This is the underside - I wasn't going to cover it, but ended up needing to hide some stitches.
Hope he likes it!

My BF's mom has ordered some earrings from me. I made 15 pairs, so here are my favorites:

From non beadwork

From non beadwork

From non beadwork

From non beadwork

Lots of different colors/sizes/shapes of pearls! I love making earrings out of pearls. They're so quick and satisfying - it's hard to make an ugly pair.

Bead show!

Today the BF and I went to a bead show, one of the American Gem & Bead/Jewelry shows. For a small show, it was quite good. Most of the smaller shows usually focus on gems, silver, and crystal. As a seed beader, I'm always looking for new seed beads, unusual glass, and focal beads, so I don't usually get much out of a small show. This one had a seed bead supplier, and another with some fun lampwork and vintage beads. Originally, we decided to go so I could find pearls for an earring order I'm working on, and I found everything that I needed for very good prices. Even the BF had fun shopping. Here are pictures of what we got:
These are the pearls. Very nice copper coins, graduated raspberry coins, natural lavender, silver lavender, capri, turquoise and red baroque. Some of these are quite large, though everything except the copper coins are bargain pearls. I only need a couple of good pairs for earrings. Cute Chinese lampwork frogs. These were too whimsical to pass up. I've got some ideas for these already!I love this blown lampwork bead. It's BIG, and it'll make quite a centerpiece.
I have some flat red square drops that these vintage beads will look great with.Czech seed beads! 13/0 ruby and crystal s/l charlottes, 11/0 ruby s/l and greasy mint green, 10/0 matte opaque blue rainbow. I bought the red ones to go with the lampwork bead, and the blue and green ones because I hadn't seen those colors before.
The seed bead supplier also had a great selection of those new picasso Czech seed beads. I got these drops in a dark topaz color with green picasso coating. These are close to a 6/0 in size.These are the beads my BF picked out. Can you tell he likes turtles? The large white beads are matte crackle quartz. The dealer of the cubes said he employed Afgani refugees to cut, drill, and string the beads. The turtles are lapis lazuli, 2 shades of serpentine, green turquoise, golden agate, bone, imitation amber, and horn.

Now I'm off to make earrings. Have a great day!

A new start!

I'm hoping with this blog to journal my progress as a jewelry artist, and life as a Westerner in the South. I am excited to get more people looking at my work, and hope to eventually start selling pieces online. Please comment! I would love to know what you see in my work - it is often so different than what I intended. Please see my full gallery, as well!