Colour My Love

My newest piece ... just finished this morning.

I started this piece a few weeks back when I was madly making all that wedding stuff for the Bridal Show. I thought of doing this as something different - "out of the norm" so to speak for a wedding. Well, true to form, I didn't get it finished in time for the Show .... but actually I'm glad I took my time on this one. It's the first time I've ever made beaded beads - albeit little ones - but I love doing them so much I want to do more.
Rich sumptuous reds - clay heart tiles, seedies, Swarovski Crystals (lots of them), and a gorgeous Sterling Silver and Garnet toggle clasp
 

and the winner is .......

Kara Esler from Heavenly Princess ... come on down!!!! You have won the beautiful pair of earrings shown in the post below.

Email me you addy darl so you can receive your beautiful earrings :)

cheers
Maryanne

Gift for 700th liker on Maryniky Designs - FB

Well ... I never in my wildest dreams thought that my "like" page on FB would reach 700 "likers", but it is drawing near. I decided to give away a gorgeous pair of earrings to the 700th person.

These earrings are very special indeed and come from my Nebulae series ... featuring handmade Lampwork beads by Etsy Artist Atlantisglassandbead, Purple Velvet AB2 Swarovski Crystals and Sterling Silver studs. Valued at $30.

See my FB page for more details - just look for Maryniky Designs :)

New website up and running

It took me the good part of a day, but I finally got around to re-designing my website. I was lucky enough to have a new logo designed by Rachel from Atomicbutterfly Designs, so I thought "why not re-design the website as well".

Hopefully I've ironed all the glitches out - please let me know if you see anything amiss, or if there are checkout problems at all.

You can my website here ... Maryniky Designs

Also, as you can see I've changed the layout of my blog to reflect my new logo :) mmm now to get new business cards and flyers done up. :)

Jeanne Antoinette - Madame du Pompadour

Jeanne Antoinette was better known as "Madame du Pompadour - she was the mistress of Louis XV.


This piece was started back in April as part of a themed Challenge "Madame du Pompadour". When I started researching pics of this famous mistress, I saw pretty blues, lace, flowers, brocade, ribbons ... so I endeavoured to make a choker-style piece based on all those things. This is the result ... a winding branch of pretty blue flowers.

Made with seed beads, Czech FPs, Czech flowers, lace flowers, and Swarovski Crystals. Finished off at the back with a deep blue satin ribbon.

Hope you like her :)

A couple more Bridal pieces

Here's a couple more that I managed to get done before the big Wedding Showcase today.

Had a great day - met lots of lovely people, networked with a few businesses, passed out lots of business cards and even a couple of orders.

Below are pics of the setup I had for my table :)

Bridal collection

I'm in the process of building up a bit of a bridal collection - this is just the beginning :)

Top Left:  Biwa pearls, Freshwater pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Gold Fill clasp and extender chain
Top Right:  Biwa pearls, Freshwater pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Gold Fill clasp and extender chain
Bottom Left:  Coin pearls, Swarovski pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Czech FPs, Gold Fill
Bottom Right:  Swarovski Crystal Sliders, Swarovski Crystals and Pearls, Sterling Silver

Lace Wedding necklace - lace motif, seed beads, Swarovski Crystals, Swarovski Pearls, Sterling Silver

In flight

This piece was my entry to the Australian Beaders competition - the kit sort of stumped me there for a while, but in the last week before posting it finally came to me what to do. I had also recently received a copy of Beverly Ash Gilberts gorgeous book "Beaded Colorways" and it has inspired so much. I ended up making a bit of a bead soup with the beads from the kit and adding some blue seedies into the mix ... it worked, which is really good coz I didn't fancy picking out all those blues from the soup LOL. This is my first foray into freeform beadweaving, and I'm hoping to do alot more in the future.

Flight

Newspaper article

On Monday I had the pleasure of being interviewed by one of the journos from our local paper. I fully expected that it would a normal sized article with perhaps one photo. Well yesterday I got the surprise of my life when I opened the paper and saw this. To put it simply, I was completely gobsmacked and totally stoked all at the same time.

It's quite humbling seeing ones work shown like this.

New Listings on Etsy and my Website

Now that my Exhibition is over and done with, I've decided to put my Wearable Art pieces up for sale. They can be found at Maryniky Designs on Etsy, and my Aussie website.

Not all have been loaded up on Etsy as yet, so please keep checking back :)

Exhibition outcome

Well my Exhibition is over and done with ... bit sad actually ... but it went very well, and I've had so many positive comments about it and my work. Even managed to get my piccie in the paper a couple of times - not that that is a good thing LOL.

Sales wise I sold three pieces, but the whole aim of doing the Exhibition was to get my name out there, so the sales weren't a priority. I'm extremely happy with how it went, and I would love to do another one ... perhaps next year after I've built up another collection. :)

Pic from the local paper a couple of weeks ago.

That's me on the right hand side. :)

Exhibition pics

Thought I'd post up some pics of the setup for my Exhibition ... turned out quite well and I'm really pleased with it all. :)

The paintings in the background are from my lovely co-exhibitor Margaret Burgess ... her paintings are hauntingly beautiful.

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!!!! :)

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 ....  :).

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.

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

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 :)

Passionate Expressions - A Creative Journey

Well ... it's almost here. Just six short weeks until the opening of my very first Exhibition "Passionate Expressions - A Creative Journey", featuring all my bigger show pieces and my jewellery.

Passionate Expressions - A Creative Journey
1 - 31 May, 2010
Gargett Gallery, Gargett, Qld, Australia

I'll be having a Meet the Artist day early in the month, which I'm a bit scared about, but I'm excited about at the same time. I'm hoping to get more exposure for my pieces, and be able to pick up a sale or two ... even better would be another exhibition in the future.

Etsy Frontpage

Well it finally happened and I didn't even know anything about it LOL. One of my pieces - "Snow Queen" - made it to the frontpage of Etsy the other day. It's funny, I was sitting there that night trying to figure out why I got about 30 new hearts that day .... DOH!! Pleased as punch I am :)

EBW treasury

Finally, after patiently stalking the Treasuries for weeks, I managed to snag another treasury ... this one is full of some gorgeous work by my fellow Etsybeadweavers. Please go and have a look at all these lovely ladies work :) You can find it here.