bling ring – The Indecisive Beader

Bye bye baby

Normally I’m pleased when I sell something, but to be honest I felt quite sad this week when a lovely customer bought my favourite Heliotrope Cocktail Ring. When I made it I thought hard about listing it, as it is very me, but given that I never get to wear most of the things I make for myself (and I was on maternity leave at the time, so even less likely to wear it) I photographed and listed it on Folksy. The form is a simple one – three peyote circles – two forming exaggerated ring bands and the third bezelling a big vintage Swarovski flat back from Robin’s Beads. The colour of the crystal is totally fab (deep blue with turquoise and magenta highlights) and it’s a discontinued finish, so hard to get at all let alone a nice big one like this. Hopefully Robin’s Beads will have some more crystals left, as now it is gone I can’t help wanting another one for myself…….

Success

Well my very first attempt at an Etsy Beadweavers Team Challenge was a success – the Nasturtium Ring came joint first! Even more amazing was realising that the two other winners are really very good, serious beaders – Chris Maj (Etsy Shop here) and Hannah Rosner (Etsy Shop here). So good, that they are both so busy with their Battle of the Beadsmith entries that they asked me to suggest the next challenge theme on my own. Yes, that’s right, real Battlers and me, corresponding and beading! What’s really lovely is that I’ve been feeling a bit stuck beading wise lately – I don’t really have enough time or energy to tackle as much new original work as I’d like, so to sit down and bead an entirely new piece in one weekend and be so pleased with it is great.

Anyway, I’ve chosen ‘Architecture’ as the next challenge theme – participants have until July 5th to list their pieces on Etsy, so keep an eye on the EBW blog to see what everyone comes up with. I have a feeling that it will produce a good wide ranging set of pieces, which will be very interesting. As for myself, I’ve been pinning away here but haven’t quite decided what to do yet – I do have some amazing beads which I ordered before I knew I’d won which look just like the ‘Gherkin’ (the Swiss Re Tower here in London), so maybe something London themed…….then again I also bought a darling little Eiffel Tower from the same seller so who knows?

Birthday beaded bead update

Well my quick and easy necklace didn’t turn out to be quite so quick in the end. I pressed out the pleats in the shibori ribbon a bit as planned, but it still didn’t look right just simply knotted and draped. So I decided to add a clasp, which meant end caps as well:

The ring is an adaptation of Sabine Lippert’s Bling Ring, and the end caps and toggle bar I made up myself using embellished RAW. I’ve left one end unfinished for now so that Mummy can choose the final length herself. It’s all packed up in a nice box with the beads I’ll need to complete it plus needle and thread in a little bag, so I can get it finished when she is ready to decide.

She seems to like it, and also enjoyed her traditional annual birthday day out with the family at Kew Gardens, and then tea, cake, and finally fizz chez nous. The new Barefoot Walk at Kew was particularly fun, especially when number one son got stuck in calf deep mud – such a lovely experience that I couldn’t be cross when he then fell over.