Karyn's Beading

How rapidly time flies and to my shame I see the last time I posted was in October. I haven’t been idle – just too busy with family and work to blog. I have managed to get some beading in, so here’s a quick recap of what I’ve made in the last few months of 2011.

October…

Still delving into my stash from Singapore, I made this Aquarmarine and blush pink rice pearl necklace knotted on two strands of silk.

I’m still working on a pair of Blue Chalcedony earrings to go with this necklace. Although I’ve made them up several times, I’ve ended up taking them apart again. So that’s still a work in progress.

Then there’s this Carnelian necklace that I teamed with Silver-plate netted balls I found in Spoilt Rotten Beads.

I love the way the Carnelian stones were cut but when I originally paired them with solid silver balls, I thought it somehow looked too heavy and didn’t bringing out the curves and varying shades of the Carnelian. Adding the netted balls worked a treat as it provided both the space and a sense of lightness between each carved piece. The earrings were trickier (maybe that’s just me) but I like the way the Carnelian pieces swirl when I wear them.

November…

A busy month with Ballet and Piano concerts for both my girls and organizing a birthday party for 35 seven-year-olds, but I still managed to fit in a Wire Wrapped Jewellery Workshop by Mani Lindenthal at Spoilt Rotten Beads. This was my first class in wire worked jewellery and it was an enlightening morning. Mani is a very warm and friendly teacher who is clearly an amazing jewellery designer, happy to share her wealth of experience – visit her site: Mani Design.  I did her Glamourous Cuff and Ring workshop.

Here’s what I started off with:

As I got into the wire wrapping and working my choice of beads into the cuff, I realized that I needed a fifth bead to give each section a focal point. I chose to add the lovely Shamballa beads that Spoilt Rotten Beads stock with very pleasing results:

I love the cuff and it made a perfect present for a lovely friend but I wasn’t too happy with the ring – it really needs more work.

And Finally December…

A colleague asked if I would make two Christmas presents for her. I was really nervous about this. She gave me the colour schemes she wanted and off to The Beaderie I went. I have to say at this point, The Beaderie is expanding rapidly, it’s amazing how Sally and Andrew have transformed the store adding twice as many beads and semi-precious stones to choose from.

Here I’ve used these olive-sized Amazonites and faceted aquamarine stones with frosted silver balls as spacers, finished off with silver plate oval link chain.

For the second necklace, I couldn’t resist the red coloured faceted red stones (The Beaderie has rows of these delciously coloured stones that are so tempting). This I teamed with flat Bronze coloured glass beads, black faceted crystals and champagne miyuki beads as spacers:

I hope the recipients of these presents liked them.

Well there, those are the highlights of the last quarter of 2011. My new year’s resolution: to blog about each project as soon as I’m done.

All the best wishes and Happy Beading in 2012!

♥K

Tagged: Amazonite, Aquamarine, Bead shops, Beading, Blush rice pearls, Bronze, Cambridge UK, Carnelian, Cut glass beads, Ear-rings, Necklace, Red, Semi-precious Gem Stones, Shambala, silver-plated, Wire-wrapped Jewellery