New Stuff

Courtney's Necklace
Originally uploaded by satyridae

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house... No. It was the night before Christmas Eve and my son said that he needed a necklace for his girlfriend and it had to be special and it had to have dark green and seafoam in it and could I help?

So I dug through my lampwork beads and found one with the requisite colors and strung it on multiple strands of mixed green beads, finished it with a sterling heart toggle and posted a picture of it on my Facebook page.

The response was bigger than I generally get for my beadweaving. Because of that, I'm going to make up some more necklaces with lampwork focals and put them on Etsy. I'm working on one today that's blue and green. They will be more affordable than the elaborate beadweaving, and I'm finally using some of my own glass beads. I'm excited!

Opal Collar Step 17

Opal Collar Step 17
Originally uploaded by satyridae

I think I've got all the pearls on now, and nearly all of the crystals. Next comes covering all the threads on the back with ultrasuede to protect them and to give the necklace a more finished look. I think I am also going to add a layer of padding inside, because I like the slight poofiness the beadwork takes on if I let it.

There are close-ups, too. Click through to flickr to see 'em.

Opal Collar Step Sweet 16

Opal Collar Step Sweet Sixteen
Originally uploaded by satyridae

This is a very fun part of the process, in which I'm adding crystals and pearls throughout. Some of the crystals are flat vintage Swarovskis (for instance, the one in the center bottom of photo), some are tiny 2mm Swarovski rounds (the ones scattered through the bright gold at the top), and some are Swarovski AB bicones (the one at the apex of the top central opal). The pearls are all freshwater and charmingly irregular. It surely sparkles.

Opal Collar Step 15

Cut Out!
Originally uploaded by satyridae

Cut out and ready to embellish further.

Opal Collar Step 14

Opal Collar Step 14
Originally uploaded by satyridae

The shape is complete. There are a few small areas to fill in, and then I'll cut it out. I'm so ready to have it cut out!

There's more embellishing I want to do, primarily with pearls and crystals. I'm hoping to be able to get a lot done today and tomorrow.

Opal Collar Step 13

Opal Collar Step 13
Originally uploaded by satyridae

It's not a fast process, this bead embroidery. I spent several hours adding more green-gold beads. It's looking a little less Czarina and a little more Hollywood to me now.

Opal Collar Step 12

Opal Collar Step 12
Originally uploaded by satyridae

The beads I ordered came yesterday, and today I got a chance to work on the collar. I love the subtle greens and pinks and yellows in these 22K gold-plated beads. They are perfect in real life with the opals!

Rainbow Brights

Rainbow Brights
Originally uploaded by satyridae

I'm still waiting for beads, letting the opal collar sit idle till they arrive.

In the meantime, I wanted to play with something shiny. And golly, this striped bracelet is really, really shiny. It's made with silver-lined Delica beads, and it sparkles like an old Vaudeville chanteuse. My true love likes it enough to wear, which is remarkable as he's not a jewelry kind of guy. Though he does put me in mind of an old Vaudeville... oh, never mind.

Update

The morning sun on the green beads was just too, too much. So I'm going to take the sage advice of my friend Carol Dean (whose lovely beadwork can be found here) and use some 24K green gold plated Delicas. Which, naturally, I don't have on hand. They should be here in a couple of days.

The bright green around the pearl "flowers", while not suited to the elegance of this particular necklace, is a really wonderful look that I am not at all finished with. Stay tuned. :-)

Opal Collar Step 11

Opal Collar 11
Originally uploaded by satyridae

Some gold fill-in along the top tonight.

Now I'm dithering about the color around the pearls. The green echoes and amplifies the green fire in the opals, but I wonder if it doesn't diminish the elegance just slightly.

Dither, dither, dither...

Opal Collar Step Ten

Opal Collar Step Ten
Originally uploaded by satyridae

Today I had to relocate two of the amber beads for the pearl enclosures to work right. So that's what I did. The pearls are all irregular, and I love the way they look. It's starting to look more like what it's looked like all along in my head.

Update

No opal collar photo for the update- I've gone around and back through the existing beadwork, strengthening and tightening. It's part of making jewelry that lasts- but it's nothing to see. :-)

Here's a cute little pair of earrings, though, that I made for holiday wear. Available in my Etsy shop.

Opal Collar Step Nine

Enclosed!
Originally uploaded by satyridae

One circuit around in gold beads.

Now what?

I have no idea! I'm going to let it sit overnight...

Opal Collar Step Eight

Opal Collar Update
Originally uploaded by satyridae

Here's some of the edging around the Ceylon white beads. The edging is the same color as the opal bezels- 22KT Delica beads. It's super sparkly! I've spent the whole day on it and I am very happy with today's progress.

Opal Collar Step Seven

Opal Collar Update
Originally uploaded by satyridae

The bezels are all done! Yay! They sure took longer than I expected they would, but I love the way it looks. The next step is to decide how much color to add. At this point I'm thinking not very much. Some more gold, for sure, perhaps snaking around the amber chips.

I'm also unsure about what to do above the central opal- right now I'm leaning toward having the necklace's top line dip there as well- sort of a sweetheart neckline. It will become clearer as I add more beads. It always does.

Opal Collar Step Six

Opal Collar 2/3 Bezeled
Originally uploaded by satyridae

I wish I could figure out how to capture the fire in these opals! They are so beautiful- almost distracting while I'm trying to work, they twinkle and sparkle and throw glorious shafts of color into my eyes.

Five more opals to bezel, but tonight I got invited to go out to dinner, so too bad for the beadwork. Tomorrow is another day. ;-)

Opal Collar Update

I've been bezeling away here, and have all the center opals finished and one whole side. I'd love to get the other side finished tomorrow and post some photos. It is really starting to look like something for the Czarina!

Opal Collar, Step Five

Opal Collar, Step Five
Originally uploaded by satyridae

Here's a close-up so that the rings of pearly white seed beads will show up against the white backing.

I didn't get a lot accomplished today, but I did get several of the bezels enclosed with circles of white beads. There are a couple of pearls and several clear crystals embellishing the places where the rings meet and would overlap.

At this point, I'm really leaning toward keeping the embroidery very simple. The opals are so flashy, so stunning, that it almost feels like too much color would take away from them. So the plan for now is to encircle all the opals with at least two rows of white beads and then re-assess.