In The Dark Of The Night

It has recently come my attention that, considering I'm an avid beader and I'm ALWAYS making SOMETHING, I really don't own that much of my own work. Now that, readers, is a sad thing, as an artists should still own some of her own work. Besides, what better way to promote your work than by wearing it out? :D

Confession: I love Goldstone, especially blue goldstone. :D So when I found a HUGE collection of Blue Goldstone on my new favourite beading website, Cranberry, I just HAD to have the big one. Yep, that one right there *clicks "Add to Cart"* :D Match that with some 6mm round Blue Goldstone beads from Empire Beads, and I knew I was going to be making another of my Elegant Elements cuffs...

There wasn't too much thought behind this one. It just...WAS. Apparently, this cuff was meant to be and I was just the vessel through which it was made. Gotta love it when that happens :)

I did, however, have to use my brain for some things. Like which seed bead colours to use around the cab, ie, what went with what. THAT was difficult. I had about 4 different versions of blue that each went perfectly with the Blue Goldstone and really brought it out (not made it so dark-I didn't want it to look black), yet didn't go with each other. I finally settled with silver-lined Montana Blue, silver, and black, with the faintest hint of S/L light sapphire (I think 1 round in the end).

THE CLASP: Well, that was what this piece seemed to tell me that it wanted to be different from the rest. So it features a double clasp, which I'm quite happy with :D

What to call it? The name came to me while I was beading this cuff while watching Disney's Anastasia one night on my tiny TV next to my bed. The scene where Rasputin is singing "In The Dark Of The Night" while planning to kill Anastasia came on, and the light bulb came on in my head! I knew exactly what I wanted to call my cuff. Blue Goldstone is the darkest blue I've ever found, it's always reminded me of the night, and the darkest time of the night. So that's what this cuff became: In The Dark Of The Night. Which also sets it apart from the others (that I've made and that are still in my head), as they all have names that all start (or will start) with the main colour of the cuff.

I've already worn her 3 times (bit late with posting pictures haha) and can I just say, she is AWESOME :D I love having my own jewellery I've made :)

In other news, this is the latest collar I've been working on (and apologies for the dodgy photo, Blue Goldstone is very hard to photograph without natural light). I've done a bit more on it since this photo, and there shall definately be a blog post about it when I'm done :D

Happy beading all!
Meg

Lime Spider

I had last week off Uni due to Easter. It was a glorious 10 days indeed. I worked, and watched movies, and SLEPT IN, and did some good ol' study (and now I'm back at Uni and I wish I were still on holidays... :P). A nice break.

And what would a break be (or any day for that matter) if I didn't do any beading? :D As a study procrastination, I created the following:

Allow me to introduce to you "Lime Spider!" She's the next in my Elegant Elements Cuff Collection.
This cuff features a large cat's eye cabochon matched with the same type of beads I used in Red Beauty, but obviously in lime green this time. For this cuff I decided to use black as the background this time (I'm aiming to use neutral colours for the background in all the cuffs, except perhaps one...), and I think it gives it a funky, sassy feel. I'm very happy with the results.

You can see that, when the cuff bends, you can slightly see the pale green suede I beaded on underneath. At first I wasn't happy about this, but then after a while I decided I liked it. It's just a hint of green and I think it gives a nice effect...

The beauty of using cat's eye cabochons or beads is the way it reflects light. I was quite facinated with the textures within the colours of the cab depending on the angle of the light that shone on it. Away from direct light, it's a quite dark green, but shine some light on it and these playful lines of light green and lime start to appear. It was for this reason I had diffuculty deciding what colour green I should use to bezel the cab. If you look closely at Red Beauty's cab, I used three different types: a light transparent red, then a dark transparent red after a few rounds, and finally finishing with a silver-lined dark red. I wanted to keep this the same with all the cuffs. So in Lime Spider I finally decided on lime transparent, then dark transparent green, before finishing up with a silver lined dark green. I think it works well. Finishing with a silver-lined round of seed beads seems to give the cab a hint of brightness, which I had noticed with Red Beauty as well. This effect will DEFINATELY be kept constant in future cuffs in the collection.

I'm still playing around with the clasps on these cuffs, so while this one is quite similar to that in Red Beauty, it still has a few differences. Firstly, because Lime Spider is shorter in length than Red Beauty (it currently actually fits me, can you believe it?!), the beaded band that connects the toggle loop to the actual cuff had to be longer. I'm happy with how this clasp looks, but in future I feel that the band should be wider (thoughts?), as the cuff itself is quite wide.
I had also been recently reading through some beading books/mags/websites/etc (AGAIN :P) and I kept seeing an interesting type of clasp come up again and again, where the peyote loop almost looked embellished. Finally I discovered that it involved using two sizes of seed beads. So here it is!

(see, told you it fits :P)

I used a different kind of suede than that of Red Beauty, and so this one feels even more soft on your skin! It feels very nice, may I just say. :)

And of course, everyone loves free stuff, so here's the free pair of matching earrings that come with the cuff.

So there you have it: Lime Spider, the second installment to the Elegant Elements Cuff Collection. Hope you enjoy her!

Oh, study break's now over, back to work... Y'know, I haven't beaded for a week just so I can't get distracted with how that wonderful braelet is looking so far, how nicely that collar is coming together, how absolutely gorgeous that pendant will be if I can just allow myself to finish it... (Stop it Meg, you're getting ideas :P) Let's just say I'm having withdrawals again...

Happy beading!
Meg

Sales and new listings!

I have TWO sales lined up! :D A friend wants two versions of my Peas in a Pod set (which was inspired by a project I once saw briefly in an old issue of Australian Beading-don't know how the designer was...) for Christmas presents. So I'm really happy about that!! :D

I have listed many new cabochons in my shop, such as the following:

Polymer clay rainbow face cabochon

and:

Polymer clay rose cabochons


There are MORE of these handmade cabochons in my shop, so please go on over and take a peek!

Thanks for reading!
Meg