Something for Winter......

I can't emphasize enough how much I love long necklaces. They are versatile to wear and with the cold weather now, they are most appropriate to accessorize the solemn Autumn/Winter fashion. Featured here are two of my latest works, Textured Red and Purple Hues long necklaces.

Textured Red - This is a simple necklace that involves only two coloured beads. The rich Red ceramic beads are highlighted by a strong contrast of Gold seed beads, weaved in Herringbone stitch. The textured pattern on the chain livens it up, making it an interesting necklace that can be worn for any occasions.

Textured Red Long Necklace

Purple Hues - Purple has never been my colour. In fact, this is probably my second Purple jewellery made so far. The necklace is centred around the natural rectangular Purple Agate beads. I love the unique lines on each tile, so keeping it simple, I included faceted Purple Agate round and Black Onyx round beads and weaved them with silver Charlotte seed beads. The necklace definitely adds colour to the (usually) dark coloured Winter wardrobe!

Purple Hues Long Necklace

Craft 2012

I try to blog at least once every month but it seems like my last blog was in early December 2011, and today is already the last day of February! It had been a hectic period for the past two months with house moving, travels, kids starting school, etc.  I am pretty much settled into the new year's routine now and have started to think about beading again.  

Honestly, I have not beaded for awhile.  In fact I have been busy making little crafts around the house, like fabric notice boards, canvas art pieces, cushion covers and my latest obsession is to make tissue box covers. The idea came about because I was trying to look for covers to cover up the tissue boxes but couldn't find any over here. I saw some designs back in Singapore but they were too busy for my taste. So, I decided to sew it myself. It did take some trial and error to finally come up with the product.  Here are the three I have sewed.

Fabric Tissue Box Covers

My favourite has to be the centre one with the retro space prints. My sons love anything about space/solar system and has a space theme for their bedroom so this cover couldn't have been more appropriate!

Now that I have completed the sewing bit, I have to start on some beading projects soon. I just received a lovely package from Lisa Peter Arts. Here are some of the goodies that I have bought.

Cabochons

My photograph did not do justice to these beautiful art pieces especially the donuts. The colours are very rich and every piece is artistically created! I look forward to creating something out of them soon!

Till then, hope you are happily crafting as well!

 

 

 

NetSome Glamour by Marcia Kidder

Completed beaded pieces of Beady Girl's 'NetSome Glamour' (Bead & Button  Magazine, August 2011)  by a lovely beader, Marcia Kidder. 

"Attached are pics of my completed Net Some Glamour. I used 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm and 6 mm Goldstone. Thank you so much for your help. This is the most challenging stitch I've ever tried but I love it. I received many compliments when I wore it on Thanksgiving." ---- Marcia

Thank you, Marcia for sharing with us the lovely photos of her works!

New additions to Spring/Summer Collection

Spring/Summer 2012 Collection - BOLD

Beady Girl's new Spring/Summer 2012 Collection is finally here! Check out our lovely array of bead woven jewellery brought to life with BOLD and fresh colour appeal. Here's a preview of the chunky cuffs.

Onyx Orange Cuff

This is an embroidered cuff using Orange & Red seed beads to bead around Onyx cabochons. I have created a scallop effect on both sides as the embroidery tapered off at the ends.

Goldie Orange Cuff

For this piece, I had done a herringbone flat band using Orange & Supra Gold seed beads. The design is simply blocks of gold beads to break up the orange base. The band is then sewn onto an ultrasuede and completed by bead embroidery round the metal cuff.

Turquoise Orange Cuff

Turquoise! How can I forget my favourite Turquoise and it actually works very well with the bright Orange. This piece is more elaborated with layers of different colours and types of seed beads. The tiny teardrop cabochons added accents to the piece.

Bricky Cuff

This brick-stitched band was actually completed awhile ago. While I like the design of the piece, I did not like it being a soft bracelet. So, I recycled the piece by transforming it into a bead embroidered cuff.

Goldie Raku Cuff

The cuff is centered around three beautiful Raku cabochons created by Lisa Peters Arts. It is hard to describe Raku pieces because each and every one of them is so unique and full of character. These light Olive cabochons are combined with Tigereye cabochons to create a warm Gold coloured cuff.

New Arrivals @ Story

Chrycosolla Necklace

Oriental Necklace

Bollywood Carnelian

Blings from Belinda Saville

ERINITE RING

ERINITE RING
(photo is courtesy of Belinda Saville)

Background
I bought this beautiful rectangular Swarovski crystal rivoli a few years ago with the intention to bead weave around it. I did create a bezel for it but was never satisfied with the result and kept it away in my stash. Till recently, while corresponding with Belinda Saville, I thought of the rivoli and asked if she can custom make a ring with it. My requests were to draw the design inspiration from one of her works, a beautiful faceted Azurite Malachite ring and a wide ring band.

Result
Belinda never fails to surprise me with her excellent craftmanship. The finished ring is absolutely gorgeous and the filigree details at the sides of the ring add an intricate touch to this "chunky" ring. Belinda had to build a pretty tall bezel to accommodate the height of the rivoli but trust me, the ring does not look clumsy at all. In fact, I call it "petite chunky". It rests very nicely and comfortably on the finger.

I have received a few queries on my thoughts about the ring and all I can say is that it is PERFECT for me! I took Belinda's good advice to have the ring patinaed. I can definitely wear it from smart casual to formal occasions.

AGUA NUEVA AGATE CABOCHON

AGUA NUEVA AGATE PENDANT
(photo is courtesy of Belinda Saville)

Background
In one of Belinda's Facebook posts, she showed a collection of Agate cabochons. One particular stone, known as the Agua Nueva Agate caught my fancy. The fact that I kept going back to the page to admire the stone affirmed my "want" that I have to get it! It has a very lovely lavender colour with natural lines in the design. It is in a unique semi-circle shape which makes it perfect as a pendant. So, the cabochon was sold to me!

Collaboration
When I ordered the pendant, I had intended to bead weave the chains myself. I bought several kinds of metal seed beads in silver, nickel and brass but none works because the silver does not match with the pendant. Eventually, I had to settle for my all-time favourite, Czech Supra Gold! The Supra Gold beads' colour is almost identical to the gold nuggets.

Herringbone Stitched Chains

I beaded the chain in 3 segments (on each side) with tubular Herringbone stitch, and connected them with an interlocking design using White Gold Plated Delicas. It was a subtle effort to break up the gold chain so that it does not overpower the whole necklace.


Result
I love the soft curves that Belinda has designed at the bottom of the pendant and added the gold nuggets. The incorporation of the gold complements the warm lines on the cabochon very nicely. The cabochon itself is a beauty. It is highly-polished with depth of lines that gives the cabochon a 3D effect!

ABOUT BELINDA SAVILLE
To view more of Belinda's stunning collections or to contact her, please visit  her;
Blog : http://belindasaville.blogspot.com/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/BelindaSavilleHandcraftedJewellery

Rings Galore

Bead Embroidered Rings

Mother of Pearl Green

Mother of Pearl Red Picasso

Mother of Pearl Gilded Turquoise

Ruby Glass Turquoise

Vintage Glass

Long Ropes

I love long necklaces and I love it even more when I can bead-weave the beads together. These two ropes are my latest creations and every bead was woven together (not strung) to form a contemporary piece of adornment.

Aquamarine

Sponge Coral

The warm Sponge Coral (red) gemstones were stitched with Supra Gold seed beads using Russian Spiral technique while the cool Aquamarine (blue) rondelles were stitched with permanent finish Silver seed beads using Spiral Rope technique.

It is pretty addictive beading these necklaces and a third one is in the making.

Metallic Swirls

My latest necklace created with an artistic cabochon from Lisa Peter Arts.