Thursday 29 April 2010

Exhibition is here!!!!!

Well ... today is setup day for my very first Exhibition. Ugh I am sooooo tired. Stayed up last night and "tweaked" a couple of pieces before packing them away. LOL I'm getting to be a bit of a perfectionist.

Today is also a big day because it turns out I'm to be interviewed by ABC Tropical North Radio while I'm at the Gallery. *insert very wide-eyed shocked look just here* :) ... I don't know what's more nervewracking - the Exhibition OR getting interviewed.

Anyway, everything is packed up and ready to go ... I just need to do the hour drive to get out there. On another exciting note ... the Gallery here in town saw my flyers/invites, liked what they saw, and want to see more. After the Exhibition is finished at the end of May, they'd like to see more of my pieces with the possibility of selling some in their shop. Cool hey!! :)

Well, wish me luck!!!! :)

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Rustic Earth

Edited to add - Finally thought of a name ... and I'm very happy to say that this is the one they chose :)

This is the third and final piece that I have made for my gorgeous family members to choose between for their mum. Turquoise just happens to be one of her favourite stones, and I had a couple of these big slabs of African Turquoise in my gemmie collection for quite a while ... just waiting for the right piece. After much starting, pulling apart, and starting again, this piece just wasn't happening ... so I did the other two pieces instead. Finally I decided that I needed more slabs to work with ... and lo and behold, inspiration hit. Why don't I go back to my first love? Wiring?

Nothing goes better with Turquoise than copper findings and wire.  I had good intentions of this piece being structured and the wire framing the beads .... that just wasn't going to work LOL. Structured and me just don't go together :). My wiring took on a more freeform nature, but also because I didn't want the wire to take anything away from the gorgeous African Turquoise ... and I think I achieve that.

The pillow beads are also African Turquoise - there's also a smattering of Swarovski Copper Pearls in there. I love this piece and I almost want to keep it for myself ....  :).







Tuesday 13 April 2010

Blue Metallica

These beautiful dichroic cabs have been in my collection for a while now just waiting for the right inspiration ... a lovely Etsy lady from adornedintreasure made them, and they are spectacular in real life.

Took me a few goes to get this right - I've unpicked it a few times, and wasted alot of thread in the process. It has changed a little from my original design as I decided in the end to use ribbon/twine as the necklace part. The front is pretty "out there" so it really didn't need a flashy necklace part as well.







This is piece number two from my special commission request. I've decided to make a couple of pieces for them to choose from - this and the beautiful Cyclamen Serenade piece below - I may even go one more. I'm hoping that whichever one they choose, that she'll adore it.

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Cyclamen Serenade

This piece was made after getting a special request from members of my family for their mum. As she is a very bright and extroverted person, she needs something that is right out there with her. This piece IS a statement piece, but it is oddly subtle at the same time ... I think LOL.

I love the Swaro colour Cyclamen Opal, and it just goes perfectly with this handmade clay Peruzi (Nat) cabochon. Using bead embroidery, I've surrounded it with a fringing of 258 Cyclamen Opal 4mm Swaros and 24kt gold seedies. The necklace is made of more of Nat's beads, Czech facetted glass and more Swaros.

Cyclamen Serenade









Friday 2 April 2010

Seahorses Playground - DQ19

This piece was made as part of the Designer Quest Challenge on the Beading Forum.

My mojo left me a few weeks ago when my back went out, so it actually took me a long while to get the bolt of inspiration I needed to get this made before the challenge ended ... I scraped it in with a few days to spare.  The lovely pack for this Challenge was provided by Dani from The Whimsical Beads - she made the seahorse focal herself.

The piece has a peyote rope base which has been embellished with glass shell beads, seed beads and metal rounds. The seahorse is floating on a bubbly fringed bed of seed beads, glass shell beads and metal rounds. He looks very magical in real life :)