Ruby Princesses

While reviewing the craft photos I have saved for future blog posts, I realized that I had skipped a project from last fall. As I've mentioned before, I designed a number of fantasy tiaras for my friend Heather to use in her fairytale photography work, which you can see on her site Fairyography. As her collection of princess dresses grows, she occasionally asks me to create new pieces to complement them.

In this instance, her client expressed that the princesses-to-be would also love it if they could deck themselves out in jewelry, as well as tiaras, to get the full princess experience. I had a pretty short time frame to create these pieces, and they needed to be small child friendly, so I decided to go with something simple.

As all my tiaras are, I made these using color-coated copper craft wire and a variety of glass beads, pearls, and Swarovski crystals.

Heather likes a magical organic look for her photo accessories, so I developed this wire branch tiara design with her input for her very first crowns, and we've used it repeatedly since.

For the coordinating necklaces, I decided to go with large, faceted glass beads and a simple bead cap. I like how these ended up looking like crown jewel-sized ruby necklaces on the little ladies who wore them.

Finally, I made bracelets using smaller faceted glass beads knotted on stretchy gold cord. I wasn't sure these were up to my (and Heather's) standards, but in the final photos they look great, and the stretchy cord is very child friendly.

You can view some examples of the photos taken using these accessories in the Fairyography blog post featuring this photo shoot.

Fairy Treasure Necklace

Fairies are one of my things; I love fairy mythology and art. So, when I traveled to Minneapolis for business this summer and saw this pendant in a bead shop, I had to have it.

Once I had the pendant (which is also available online, for example here or here), it took a while for me to build a necklace around it because I wanted to do something special with it. Ultimately, I decided to use brass chain and metal components along with Czech glass leaves and flowers, which are some of my favorite beads to work with.

This is the result. I threw in some glass and aventurine beads to round things out, and, unusually for me, laid them out in an asymmetrical design.

I really love the final necklace; it's one of my favorite things that I've made for myself. It's also turned out to be one of the most attention grabbing, as I've gotten lots of compliments and questions about it. One of the questions I often am asked is what's inside it. The truth is, I haven't decided to put in there. I've thought about putting in a few drops of some of my favorite essential oils or thoughts and meditations on small pieces of paper, but I haven't hit on the right idea this yet. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any thoughts.

Turquoise Cabochon Revisited

My main craft project right now is A) big and B) for an event that won't take place for a while. So, in the meantime, my posting may slow down a little. On the other hand, I recently reorganized my jewelry and realized that there were some pieces that either need repair or changes. I'll be working on those one at a time when I need a break from my big project, and I'll post them if I feel like they're interesting.

I originally made this turquoise cabochon pendant back in 2007, very soon after learning this beaded cabochon technique using bead embroidery to create a bezel around the cab.

My photography skills have also improved.

I hung the pendant from a single strand of suede cord, but I've never felt like that cord was dramatic enough to go with the pendant; it's just not visually balanced. To achieve the needed balance, I've added to more strands to the necklace.

As you can (hopefully) see, the new version looks more cohesive. It also feels more substantial to wear, which I like. One of the new strands is a round leather cord and the other is a strand of seed beads that match the cabochon beading.

The cabochon itself is turquoise, with beading done in brown and turquoise Czech glass seed beads.

Turquoise Woman Power

I made this set for a friend who's always liked delicate jewelry. The pendant, which is about 1.5 inches long, and the roundel beads are both made of turquoise.

As usual, I used sterling silver wire and findings to assemble the jewelry. Unlike the other piece I made in the same time frame, with this one, the non-working end of the wire goes all the way through to the wire wrap on this one.

Ukranian Netting

Perhaps my favorite bead work technique, hand-woven netting uses a needle, thread, and seed beads to create intricate patterns. Russia and the Ukraine are particularly known for this kind of bead work, so I decided to make a necklace using some traditional colors and patterns from that region.

I made this necklace using size 11 Czech glass seed beads in matte black, opaque red, and matte silver-lined gold from the pattern Netted Diamonds by Maria Rypan.

Like several of my other favorite netting patterns, this one uses the ratio of the beads in the top of each row to those in the bottom to give the necklace a natural curve.

A loop and toggle closure is my preferred technique for finishing woven bead necklaces. I find it's more secure since it can be created continuously from the same thread and beads as the rest of the piece. I also like to alternate the bead colors on the clasp, just to give it a little something of my own.