Raspberry Ripple Bangle

Well, Mummy has certainly outdone herself!  Check this bad boy out:

How gorgeous is that?!  I love the tila beads through the centre and the way the look like stained glass peeping out the rippled edges of the wings.  Those seed bead edges also completely threw me with their perfection!

This outstandingly gorgeous bangle is available in our Etsy Shop here. 

Tiny Triangle Earrings

Regular readers will know how much I love and am inspired by the works of Jean Power, especially her triangles.  They're so simple and yet so versatile.  Recently I needed to make a small thank you gift for someone and Jean came to the rescue again!

Tiny little triangle earrings were perfect!  

I bead around the post rather than glue the post to the finished triangle, mainly because you never know what people are allergic too, and the glue could dry prickly - never good!

I ended up making these for all my friends in all sorts of colours:

They are available for only £5 in my Etsy shop here

A wedding!

On Halloween, Chris and I got married.  It was the most wonderful day of my life:

He looked utterly spiffing in his 3 piece tweed suit, and I felt like a princess in my Georgette wedding dress. It could not have been more perfect. I wore pearls in my hair, made by Mummy:

 

 

My bridesmaids wore red satin and I made them a simple necklace and matching earrings using Swarovski Elements in Siam paired with Silver Duracoat Delicas:

My flower girls had silver bracelets with matching Swarovski Hearts dangling, but I forgot to take a photo of them because I'm an idiot!!!

Mummy's necklace was spectacular!  She bought a pattern from BeAdInfinitum called Starburst Galaxy and made it in Swarovski Pearls and made a few adaptations to make it perfectly perfect for the wedding:

How gorgeous is that??!!  She wore it with petrol blue silk and looked amazing!

All in all, we had a wonderful day and it was glorious bringing our craft into it - not least because it saved us plenty of pennies!

Mummy's Makes: Earrings Galore!

Mummy has been on a bit of an earring frenzy recently.  We wanted some cheaper, smaller items available in our Etsy shop because we both felt that we want to be more accessible to all purse sizes.  No matter what price we sell things for though, only sterling silver or gold fill ear hooks will suffice because who wants earrings that turn your ears green or itch like crazy by the end of the day?!

I had some Swarovski Heliotrope rivolis left over from my Necklace & Earrings Set so I gave them to Mummy and she concocted these gorgeously simple earrings adapting Jean Power's 3D Geometric Triangles to bezel the rivolis using silver duracoat seed beads!  Gorgeous!

These are some simple 14mm Swarovski emerald rivolis simply bezelled (again using silver duracoat seed beads), to let that rich green sing.

She also made a pair using gold seed beads and those delightful green AB 15s to add some interest to the rivolis.

Some gorgeous 16mm Swarovski Heliotrope rivolis simply bezelled using gunmetal seed beads.  I honestly can't believe the difference between these and the first ones in this post.  The heliotrope is really darkened and more indigo, whereas the ones at the top seem much more purple.

These cute little earrings were made using Swarovski Cosmic Squares in Crystal and some Swarovski pearls.  I love them and may have something similar for my wedding in October!

Again, Swarovski Cosmic Squares in Crystal but the Aqua AB delicas look almost denim coloured in daylight and make these earrings seem much more 'everyday war'.  I really love these for their chic simplicity.

A simplified version of her Crystal Triangle Earrings, I love these for the addition of the 2AB bicones at the corners of the triangles.  

And then finally this bad boy!  Rather than make a pendant for a necklace, Mummy decided that this Swarovski Golden Shadow stepped rectangle would make a perfect medal style brooch/lapel pin.  Of all the items she has made recently, I love this the most.  It is so unusual and so stylish that I almost wished I wore suits to work so I could make me one of these!

All of the above are available in our etsy shop.

Swarovski Heliotrope Necklace & Earrings

I've been concentrating so much on geometric beadwork for the last few years, after being heavily influenced by the unbelievably fabulous Jean Power and the work she inspired for the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork community started by Kate McKinnon, that I recently felt like I needed a bit of a break from structurally impressive beadwork. I didn't start off with this necklace and earrings set in my head.  Originally I was going to make an asymmetric and bonkers necklace inspired by Jean's Marun Bracelet but as I was bezelling all the rivolis, my plan changed and  I decided to make something a lot more traditional and basic.  I needed some serious sparkles in my life and some old school Hollywood glamour! 

I chose silver duracoat delicas for the simple reason that I wanted the rivolis to take centre stage.  I did think about other colours, but wanted simplicity of form and background colour to fade so those rivolis really sang.

This is what I made:

It's an extraordinarily simple but uber glamorous necklace made using Swarovski Heliotrope rivolis in an assortment of sizes (from 12mm to 18mm), with a 27mm vintage Heliotrope Reverse Fancy Stone as the centrepiece.


I started by using Jean Power's obvious, but previously unthought of, method of bezelling smaller rivolis (soooo obvious now she's pointed it out here!)

It felt like a never-ending bezelling job!  Although I did find some Swarovski 2AB bicones in my stash that I had utterly forgotten about that went beautifully with the heliotrope rivolis.

I don't think I was even half way finished at this point!  (I also really need to do something about how messy my bead tray gets when I'm creating!)

Then came the moment to bead that gorgeous vintage Heliotrope Reverse fancy stone.  No picture can do justice to this bad boy!  It has some serious sparkle and the colour is just so intense.  I love it!

I started joining the rivolis using the bicones.  I used 3mm bicones round the back to join the 12mm rivolis and then switched to 4mm for all other sizes.

Halfway there and the threads are starting to be tamed!

I decided to use a sterling silver magnetic clasp on this necklace.  Mainly for aesthetics, but also I would be absolutely distraught if someone was wearing it and it got caught in something and ripped - it would be such a waste of a lot of work!

Look at all those rivolis!  Sparkles from every angle!

I enjoyed making the necklace so much I decided that I would make a pair of simple matching earrings.  I don't often make earrings - generally I find them too small and fiddly - but this time I knew that they would compliment the necklace perfectly.

One earring done...

And finally I made its match.  They're extraordinarily simple and pretty plain.  I really just wanted the rivolis and the bicones to do the talking.

It is available in my etsy shop here

A necklace for Megan

Over Easter, Xander and I went down to South Wales with my other half, Chris, so that I could meet his family.  Whilst we were down there we had an absolutely lovely time.  We visited Swansea and Llanelli and went to have chips on the beach at Mumbles.  It was glorious.

Chris' sister and her husband have three rather beautiful children, one of whom asked me if I would make her a necklace.  She and her Mum had a look through my blog and my Facebook and she really liked the Ombre Cabouchon Necklace that I made a few months back.  She told me that her favourite colour is blue so I knew exactly which stone to use, because what 7 year old girl doesn't like sparkly blue goldstone?!

A simple twisted herringbone rope with silver lined clear and blue iris delicas was the perfect foil - made big enough that she'll be able to wear it when fully grown as well as now. I decided to go against making one of my usual clasps in favour of using a silver magnetic clasp, just in case she got caught on something though.  In the end, I really liked it and didn't think it a design compromise at all!

I posted it to her as soon as I made it and got a lovely telephone call to say thank you and a really pretty picture of her wearing it, which was a real treat. 

Mummy's Crystal Triangle Earrings

Once again, Mummy is the creator behind the pieces in this post (I really need to get more beading time in!).

Inspired by the most marvellous Jean Power and the triangles she is famous for, Mummy decided that she wanted to see if she could use the triangles as a bezel in which to hide some delicious little Swarovski rivolis.  Of course, she couldn't stop at the making of one pair of earrings, so made three!

How sweet are these gorgeous little earrings?!  Unfortunately, the light was rubbish (blooming England in Winter) so you can't get the full delight that these earrings are.  The back side is a simple triangle and then decreased around the front, using 3mm rounds at each point, which helps stop the rivoli wriggling about in it's triangular cocoon, and then sparklied up with a picot edge in 15s.  I love this set in gunmetal and steel with the smoky grey rivoli.  Very me!

Isn't it strange how a different colour can change the whole look of a piece?!  The exact same pattern as above, just with shades of pink yet they look so delicate and girly and definitely not something that I'd wear (sorry Mummy!).

And then again, with black and dark red.   These look quite gothy compared with the more industrial gunmetals and the girly pinks.  I love them!

 like how the rivoli is completely encapsulated at the back, reducing the risk of the point being knocked off and ruining the whole earring. Also, how different these earrings look just with a change of colour.  It always astonishes me that colour plays such a huge part in the whole feel of a piece, even something as small as a pair of earrings.  I shouldn't be so surprised but because I'm rubbish and generally have my go to colours, I always am!  If Mummy had just shown me the pink set, I would have been impressed with the construction, but never in a million years thought they were my bag, yet the exact same earring in the gunmetal and steel may simply have to find their way into my jewellery box!

RAW Heart

Mummy's proper on one with creating new patterns!  After the stars and seeing the Sweet Hearts that Sabine Lippert made, Mummy decided that she could shift the techniques that she learnt on using the sizes of the beads to for the shapes onto cubic RAW.

Off she set, with a simple desire to make a heart.  Rather than using sizes, she decided to continue with the way she was going on the stars and used numbers of beads instead and this is what she came up with:

Isn't it the loveliest and most deceptively simple looking thing you've ever seen?!  On the side like this you can see the inner CRAW construction and the fact that she went with matte bronze along the inner side of the heart and shiny bronze along the outer edge, a perfect complement to the silver lined emerald.

The heart was simply hung on a silver chain using a jump ring through one of the units.

Pretty work Mummy

More of Mummy's Stars!

A couple of weeks ago I showed you the astonishing Stars Necklace Mummy made.  Well she couldn't just stop at a necklace now, could she?! 

Below are two sets of earrings she made using the very same pattern, just with very different looks due to the colour choices, construction and the bead choices.

These grey mismatched earrings are fantastic.  Although this photo doesn't quite capture their full glory, the dark insides and light outsides really does stand out against the pale matte grey of the rest of the stars.  I love mismatched earrings and these are just brilliantly fun.

Below you can see how very different the stars look when made of delicas.  To me they become much more angular and rigid looking (and are a lot more difficult to bead!).  They look much more striking in this medium sized star and have definitely lost the dreaminess that the 15s lend.  Where the earrings above are bigger and crazier, they are also more ethereal than the smaller, simpler single stars made from delicas.

Both are beautiful, both make me so proud of Mummy for thinking up such a fantabulous pattern, I just think I prefer the dreamy and less angular look that 15s give.  Quite a shock, considering that I usually prefer quite vicious and angular looking jewellery!

My Sister's 40th

Last year my big sister turned 40 (although she looks in her 20s, the cow!).  I decided to make her a little something special for her birthday present.  Something that she could wear to posh parties as a set or earrings for when she wanted to sparkle only a little.

Unfortunately I don't have a better picture than this so I'll have to talk you through what I did.

First of all, my sister is a gorgeous brunette with the most dazzling brown eyes that range from almost amber in some lights, to deep chocolate it others.  She loves gold so I decided that the base colour should be Metallic Earth Batik Gold Iris (DB1010), using purple iris Charlottes as the detail and the stones are Swarovski in Amethyst. 

First I bezelled the stones with the delicas and the charlottes.  Around the large stone I "stitched in the ditch" to add an extra round of peyote and then a simple picot edge with the charlottes before adding a very simple bail and suspending it on what has to be my most perfect herringbone rope ever!

The earrings were simply bezelled and then hung on solid gold ear wires.  No frills around the edge so that she could wear the earrings with anything and so that they didn't distract too much from the large oval stone necklace.


It's simple and understated but I like it and I know she does too.

Sabine Lippert's La Fleur Bracelet

I've done a Sabine Lippert pattern before (her Sweet Hearts pattern - these earrings beaded by Mummy) and found them easy to read and thought I'd give myself a bit of a challenge for a Christmas gift for one of my staff.  After much deliberation (and I mean lots - Staff 3 is a delicate young thing and is girly in ways that I'm just not so this was a massive challeng!) I decided upon Sabine's La Fleur Bracelet (found in her book Beaded Fantasies).  As I've never really made anything like this, and Staff 3 is a delicately coloured redhead I played it safe and used turquoise and bronze as the colourway.

The bracelet is made up of these darling little flowers made with 8mm Swarovski chatons (an absolute bugger to source in this country!) and tiny 3mm Swarovski bicones, with mainly size 15 seed beads!  I've put a 50p next to the flower so you can see how small these blighters really are!

I made what seemed like a bazillion of the flowers - each one with thread left on, as you can see in the picture, with which you do the most sublime links with (Sabine really does take care that even the bits of the work you don't see are as beautiful as the bits you do).

Then it came to joining them together and working out if I needed to do another flower or if it was long enough.  The pattern calls for 9 flowers (if I remember correctly), but Staff 3 is a tiny little thing so she needed only 8 flowers.  Which is a good thing as I'm not much of a component maker - I get bored!

The finished bracelet.

All in all, it was a nice make.  Not difficult by any stretch of the imagination, just blooming fiddly!  I think I got through 2 or 3 needles per flower, and definitely needed my pliers on more than one occasion for pulling the needle through.  It was a complete change of direction for me, the instructions were clear and concise and Sabine explains things very simply. It's not something I would wear, but I think it looks lovely on Staff 3 and I know that she likes it, which is what is important in a gift after all!  I did buy another colour of chatons and matching bicones that would go with steel/gunmetal seed beads but I think it'll be a long old while before I make this pattern again.  Life is far too short to repeat the same patterns when there are so many to try, as well as so many ideas in my own head!

Ombre Cabouchon Necklace

Real life has kind of taken over recently, in a very wonderful way, which has meant slightly less time to bead.  I'm beginning to get back on the beading wagon, with ideas falling out of my head and onto paper.  Until they get to needle and thread time, I thought I'd show you something I made late last year.

I was given a commission before Christmas to make a simple necklace with a layered onyx cabouchon and a simple ombre chain.

The lady I made it for wanted it as a gift for her Mum and she chose the cab, as well as the colours and the base design.  She wanted the colours to bleed into each other and the clasp had to be beaded as well, as her Mum doesn't do well with any metals.

This is what I was given to work with - she wanted black to be the predominant colour in the chain with just a small bit of white showing either side of the pendant dropper:

My first step was to bead the cab. A nice easy job, but for my own hatred of matte beads - the more you handle them, the less matte they become (oils in skin etc) and they really bugger up the thread!  I'm used to working with quite a lot of thread but have to use much smaller lengths as it frays more due to the rougher bead surface.  The trouble is, matte beads really do lend themselves to many projects, and the matte beads against the highly polished surface of the stone was just beautiful.

Then came the rope itself! We opted for a simple 6 round herringbone rope, not twisted, not lazy, just a simple rope.  This made the bleeding of the colours really work and although you can barely tell that the pinky pale brown turns into silver before heading into white, I really like this for the effect. 

Here you can see the rope width against the cabouchon.  Not too clunky and thick, but not so delicately thin that the cab looks ridiculously chunky!  To be honest, it took a little while (and lots of samples!) to settle on this width because although I liked the eight round rope, it would have been far too chunky for the lady in question.  I also always tend to veer towards the large and chunky rather than the thin and delicate.

Getting the rope even on both sides, but still random looking was an absolute nightmare! Not a very good picture below, you can see the warped square found in Geometric Beadwork by Jean Power that I used to hang the cabouchon.  Because we only wanted a small amount of white beads to peep out either side on the rope, I thought Jean's ingenious design was the way forward.

And then we moved to the clasp.  The loop is a simple peyote circle that I beaded and then joined the herringbone rope to and the toggle has a loop that loops through the continuous herringbone loop on the other end of the rope.  I prefer to make my beaded clasps like this rather than a simple loop and toggle (or bigger bead) joined by a few beads because it makes them look a little more interesting and a touch more finished.

The completed piece:

I know the lady's Mum liked it Christmas morning and I hope you do too!  It's very different from all the geometric work I've been doing recently.