I seem to have trouble remembering to photograph items before I turn them into jewelry! Thanks to Artbeads, I again have received some awesome spring-y items to try out. I chose a range of flowers, leaves, vines, pastels, and bright spring greens to make a range of pieces well suited to the changing seasons.
This first necklace uses these really cool felt beads. A friend of mine makes really cute needle felted creatures. Similarly (but not nearly as cute!) are these beads. I've modernized the look by combining the natural, fuzzy feel of the beads with clean lines of metal. A string of bright turquoise delicas finishes out the necklace to keep it from getting too big.
Next, I had to get my Swarovski fix! I chose to use a peridot twist pendant combined with simple wire wrapped crystals. I also made a wire wrapped bracelet using amethyst polygon crystal beads, along with some real amethyst faceted rondelles.
I chose a couple of neat leaf components. The first is a leaf pendant from Tierracast. I kept the design simple since the leaf is neat by itself. The other is another lariat (similar idea to what I did for the Valentine beading post). The toggle is a really cool leaf and branch design. I kept that to the front and mixed it with lime chalk turquoise, peridot crystal, and a simple chain dangle from the clasp.
After months of seeing the vine bails for the Swarovski briolettes, I had to give it a try. I went with a large, uber-sparkly crystal AB briolette with the silver vine bail. They're really simple, but pack quite a punch!
Finally, I made a ton of earrings, as usual. I've always wanted to try making earrings with the resin flowers. I did just that, and combined them with a bunch of miscellaneous bead caps and spacer beads I had stashed away. There's a copper and olivine version of the above earrings, some felt earrings to match the necklace, and finally, I tried some glass flower beads.
Right now, Artbeads is having a sale! More details HERE.
Please note that I have received the products free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid to do so.
Showing posts with label beads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beads. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Etsy Beadweavers Challenge
This month's challenge theme is the ocean. For my entry, I was planning on emulating waves using Swarovski rivolis and delicas. I got the blues going in the piece, but it looks a bit more floral than I was intending.
Visit the Etsy Beadweavers Blog to vote for your favorite between the 9th and 15th of February to see all the beautiful entries for this challenge and vote for your favorite.

Visit the Etsy Beadweavers Blog to vote for your favorite between the 9th and 15th of February to see all the beautiful entries for this challenge and vote for your favorite.


Labels:
beads,
beadweavers,
challenge,
etsy,
swarovski
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Beadweaving Bliss
I've been on quite the beadweaving kick lately. Plus I've been having a bit of fun playing with new techniques. The first is an "orb" pendant I made using a method developed by Gill Slone (B&B). It is made with size 15s, size 11 delicas, and Swarovski crystal bicones.

I also tried to make a beaded ring. It's a little lumpy, and not so round (more triangular-square-ish) but it makes for a neat frame for crystal.

I'm still on a rivoli kick, so I had to make something a little more substantial than just a pendant. I made a whole necklace!
Finally, I decided to give the Cellini spiral a shot since I've been ogling over the technique for a while now. I combined it with some Swarovski crystal (of course!) and here's the result...

I also tried to make a beaded ring. It's a little lumpy, and not so round (more triangular-square-ish) but it makes for a neat frame for crystal.

I'm still on a rivoli kick, so I had to make something a little more substantial than just a pendant. I made a whole necklace!


Thursday, January 21, 2010
Valentine Beading
This is the time of year that you can't go anywhere without seeing a heart or some form of romanticism. Find no exception here! Artbeads.com has provided me with some Valentine's day themed items to try out. I was a bit too excited to make jewelry, so I started to make some before realizing that I hadn't photographed the raw supplies. Whoops! I did get a shot of the gorgeous furnace glass beads though!
I'm still on a bit of an earring kick, so here's an array of v-day inspired designs. The top left pair features pretty antique copper heart beads and Swarovski crystal.
The top right pair has Swarovski crystal and the cutest sterling heart chain. I've also made little hearts with square sterling wire.
The bottom right makes use of the same heart chain as well as a dangling assortment of Swarovski crystal in shades of pink and rose. The awesome part of those is the faceted Swarovski heart at the bottom.
The bottom left pair uses the furnace glass beads featured above and Czech fire polished glass beads.
For those less "girlie," I made a more subtle design using black heart beads and twisted glass barrels. The earrings don't exactly match, but I'm not one for making things match perfectly because it's less interesting.
I also made a necklace! The composition of the large red heart bead is a mystery since I obtained it in a bead swap, but it's suited perfectly to this simple necklace. It also has a sterling key charm and more Swarovski crystal!
If you're interested to see what I've made with glass beads and sterling silver components from Artbeads, check out my previous post here. Check back tomorrow and I'll have more designs with the remaining Valentine's day beads.
Please note that I have received the products free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid to do so.

The top right pair has Swarovski crystal and the cutest sterling heart chain. I've also made little hearts with square sterling wire.
The bottom right makes use of the same heart chain as well as a dangling assortment of Swarovski crystal in shades of pink and rose. The awesome part of those is the faceted Swarovski heart at the bottom.
The bottom left pair uses the furnace glass beads featured above and Czech fire polished glass beads.



Please note that I have received the products free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid to do so.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Swarovski Crystal
Who doesn't love a healthy dose of Swarovski crystal?! Artbeads has tons of beautiful, sparkly beads and components to choose from. I got a whole bunch of different beads to give them a try. I really like the crystal rivolis because they have so much depth and dimension. The funky polygon shape in padparadscha is also really neat!

Here's what I've made with the Rivolis and a little bit of bead weaving with size 11 and size 15 seed beads:

I had a lot of fun incorporating Swarovski Crystal bicones into bead woven bracelets. The wavy lime bracelet is inspired from a bracelet in the most recent Bead and Button magazine, and has lime crystals in the center. The deep blue bracelet makes use of dark sapphire bicone crystals.

Check back here in a week or so and I'll show you what I've done with some more of the Swarovski Beads that I have, and to get some inspiration!

Here's what I've made with the Rivolis and a little bit of bead weaving with size 11 and size 15 seed beads:


I had a lot of fun incorporating Swarovski Crystal bicones into bead woven bracelets. The wavy lime bracelet is inspired from a bracelet in the most recent Bead and Button magazine, and has lime crystals in the center. The deep blue bracelet makes use of dark sapphire bicone crystals.


Check back here in a week or so and I'll show you what I've done with some more of the Swarovski Beads that I have, and to get some inspiration!
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