Tuesday 24 April 2012

The "Wedding Issue"

Spring has sprung, and so has wedding season!! I'm calling it the wedding issue, but this is really just a small sample of wedding jewellery ideas. The two requests I'm currently working on are very similar in that they're using the byzantine chainmaille pattern in almost everything!

First for the bride: Two different necklaces using pearls and crystals.


Next: The bridesmaids have byzantine necklaces that match the appropriate wedding colours :)
(note: blue is for one wedding, green is for the other!)  



Last but not least: The handsome men of the party may decide to coordinate with stylish pocket watches!

Thursday 22 March 2012

Catching Up

I've been neglecting my blog lately in favour of making tons of great new things! But now it's time to catch up and give you tons of pictures :)
I'll start with some new kumihimo designs:

Mixed copper seed beads with a big flower accent.


A little mermaid inspiration!


Red, black and hematite beads.


A little fun and funky with pink and black!


Hematite saucers give kumihimo a different look.


And here's some new chainmaille work:

Byzantine bracelets made with glass donuts.


A busy byzantine masterpiece!


New weave called Dragonscale!


More glass donuts in necklaces.


Full persian in black and silver, with a nice silver rock!


Smaller orange glass donuts in a full set!


Small black donuts in a bracelet.



Seed beeds and jump rings make bubble bracelets!


Coloured chainmaille!

And some chainmaille worked into watches!!

Copper and silver.


All black!


Byzantine pocket watch.


Simple chain pocket watch.


Black and silver band. 

And, finally, here's a collection of necklaces:

Crochet with blue stones.


Crochet with yellow stones.


A little mix of black and clear!


Clear beads and gold, it goes with everything!


Long necklace with random green beads.


Inspired by New Years! Champagne and glitter!


Blue cubes and a butterfly for spring!


Chunky and tribal!


Orange beads wired into an eye-catching pendant!


Lime is so in this spring!


A full butterfly set in matte grey.


Gold and black for a night out!


A purple variation on a string of pearls!

Thursday 16 February 2012

Kumihimo Kraziness!

My latest obsession is kumihimo! Based on the traditional Japanese art of weaving silk into braids and ornaments, the jewellery world has tons of variations to offer using silk cord and beads to make some pretty cool stuff!

Check out these links to see the tools used and more samples of finished work:
http://www.weirdollsandcrafts.com/kumihimo/kumihimo.html
http://craftdesignonline.com/gallery/

Now check out my stuff!


My first braid... simple black and white swirl with a nice white bead.


Pink and black swirl with an Archimedes quote.


Two tone red in honour of that lovey dovey squishy day :)


Some green luck for the Irish.


Four shades of brown with a silver key.


Black and grey for my favourite elephant charm!


Here's where I started getting creative with beads.
These are glass pearls woven with a fine white cord.
I think it looks like grandmother's pearls with a 21st century twist!


Pink and clear cube beads, and it's surprisingly smooth on the neck!

I used blue cord and silver seed beads... it took so
long I quit once I had enough for a bracelet!


Teal and purple are so IN this season!

Another seed bead experiment in blue :)




Metal Bouquet

My biggest chainmaille piece yet!




And some other chainmaille work...


Pink and purple donuts with byzantine chain.


Semi-precious Unakite stone and peach glass beads.