New Sparklies!

[slyviolet.livejournal.com]

I've been quite prolific in my jewelry lately. Trips to Sacramento and Hawai'i in the last few months resulted in discovering some fantabulous unfamiliar bead stores and some fun new sparklies for me to play with.

'Kaiba': Amber beads with an ojime (Japanese carved wooden bead traditionally used to decorate bags that hung from their sashes and belts, as traditional Japanese clothing has no pockets so they carried lots of bags). Kaiba is Japanese for seahorse ^_^





'Arcadia'
Silver wire with all manner of gemstones and beads. I love the little bumblebee, he's so happy.




'Dragonfly'
Freshwater pearls with little dragonfly danglies.




'Starfish'
Blue chalcedony and freshwater pearls with a taguanut (carved from the nut of a tagua palm tree) starfish that I found in Hawai'i.



'Lotus'
Cloisonne lotus bead with garnet and amethyst beads.




'Mardi Gras'
Lampwork glass focal bead with Czech faceted firepolish beads. This one is a new design I'm working on, I don't add the chain until I know exactly what 'choker length' would mean on the person I'm giving it to, and then add just enough chain at the back for this part to hang right at the base of the neck. I like that it will hold its shape, making it look more choker-like without having to hug quite so close in around the neck, which has always made me a little claustrophobic even though I love how chokers look on me.





'Yule'
Porcelain focal with Czech faceted beads. This is one of the focals I found in Sac, and I'm totally in love with it. The necklace fades from summer colors up at the clasp down to deeper more wintery evergreens at the front.





'Gold Star Special'
Lampwork star with silver foil inclusions (another Sac find), with Czech glass and amber. Again, I faded the necklace from light to dark, this is something I've been playing with lately. I like movement like that through a piece, it adds another dimension.





'Hippocampus'
A porcelain focal I've had for ages but never quite found the right matching beads for until now. I faded the green from dark to light, and it reminds me a lot of seaweed. Seahorses are fascinating to me, I adore them.