Silence….

A long time… a long time indeed… since I last posted… what can I say… I’ve been in a really funny mood… winter? life? I don’t know… I just didn’t feel like talking… or writing… I can’t say I was depressed… I just needed to have silence in my life.

Very little beading happened during this quiet time… I couldn’t find myself…. so I occupied my mind (and my creative craving) by redoing my son’s bedroom… painted it, bought some new furniture… (a desk, a cupboard, some cool wall stickers)… updated it and reorganized it to fit his age…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really proud of myself because I managed to do everything on a really tight budget!!! The paint was about 300 NIS (c. $80), I found the cupboard on sale for 400 NIS (c. $108), the desk, also on sale for 200 NIS (c. $54), of course I had to build them, which I did all by myself!!! :-) The rest of the furniture I already had, I just reorganized it and gave away a ton of toys that he had grown out of… bought some wall stickers, that he chose himself …  and voila’ :-) I’m so glad he finally has a proper cupboard to keep all his clothes in and places for most of his toys… plus, most importantly, a desk!!!! to do his homework on, draw, do whatever he wants (instead of on my dining room table) :-) I wanted to paint the old wooden furniture white, but Ethan didn’t want me to… so I left it…

My lovely (and talented) cousin Bettina made him this gorgeous ceramic Mezuza cover for his new room and even made me 2 more for my bedroom and my workroom. Aren’t they gorgeous!!!

So once the room was done you would think I would get some beading done, right? well… no! still waiting for my muse to return from her extended hiatus!!!! So…. I started doing some origami… and started checking out things one could do with origami… came across this amazing artist (who happens to be in Israel too) Ilan Garibi…. you have to check out his amazing origami lamps!!!!

Design by Ofir Zucker and Albi Serfaty in collaboration Ilan Garibi.

Photo by Albi Serfaty.

Then after a bit of origami…. some crochet!!! :-) I started making a blanket for Ethan's new room… some angry bird hats… anything to avoid the frustration of sitting in front of my beads and having nothing to say…. my beads are silent….

Then, the other day, a friend came round to show me how to start on my metalwork… I’ve had the equipment for almost a year and all I made was a pair of earrings which I posted a while back:

I simply had this fear of the torch and the unknown… so my friend Penny came over and kindly spent the morning showing me how she makes her lovely hammered copper bangles – see below her lovely work and check out her etsy shop - PenelopeStern!!!

            

And here is what I made!!!!

Couldn’t have done it without Penny’s help!!!! I made one with her, then spent the next day making 2 more 1/2 round ones and 2 flat hammered ones! and I LOVE them!!! I’ve been wearing them ever since!!!! :-)

Armed with this new knowledge, and having got rid off some of the fear of using the torch, I thought I would use one of my books and try and make one of the projects, a ring… here is the result… not perfect but not bad for my first attempt and good enough for me to wear! :-)

 

It feels really good to be making again!!!! and I look forward to playing more with my torches… so stay tuned and see what I come up with! :-)

BAO Item of the Week

A super quick post today! My poor son has been sick with really high fever (41 Degrees Centigrade) since Friday (suspected swine flu – suspected because no one can actually say if it is or not!)… so I’ve been up for the last 2 nights with him and spent yesterday at the emergency clinic and today at the doctor… a couple more days and it should be all over… and they tell me that within the next 3-5 days I should know whether I caught it or not! something to look forward to!!! :-)

So my apologies for posting this late, but here are this week’s BAO Items of the Week:

My Item this week is:

Ridin’ the Wave – Bangle

Purchase and pay for this bangle between now and the 26th November and receive 15% OFF + FREE shipping to anywhere in the world!!

Visits the BAO blog and find out what specials offers are attached to this week’s items!

http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Wishing everyone a healthy week ahead!!! :-)

Ridin’ the wave - bangle

I’ve been so busy beading lately that I’ve come to a point where I need to take a break from beading only so that I can start posting some of the things I made before I accumulate too many to handle! :-)

When I first started beading… around 4 years ago… I started to experiment with different stitches as I was learning them… and one of the stitches that I really enjoyed experimenting with is the herringbone tubular twisted stitch… and this is one of the very first bracelets I made and THE very first I sold! I got the chance to take a picture of it the other day:

I completely forgot I had made this bracelet and when it came into my possession again I took the opportunity to take photos of it and to make another one, because I liked the design, because I wanted to see if I could remember how I made it and to see if during the last 4 years my beading had improved… here is what I made:

Ridin’ the Wave - Bangle

OK… so I now use much better quality beads (Japanese and Czech seed beads) which are more uniform in size allowing a much nicer finish… and probably my beadweaving technique has improved a little too…. but I also like the 1st one for it’s un-evenness and roughness… I just really like this design I guess :-) so maybe more to follow…. in the meantime I did start a necklace matching the new bangle… but got distracted by the other 3 pieces I’ve been working on! Come back soon and check them out! :-)

Yeahhhh!!!!!!! :-) Made it to Etsy's Front Page

As the title says..... Yeahhhhh!!!! made it to the Front Page  of Etsy!!!!!

Funky Lifesaver

This is probably one of my first and favourite bangles that I ever made.... long before I thought of selling my beadwork!!! I LOVE it and in fact I've got one and I wear it almost every day!!!   I make these to order according to requested size. 

LAVA BAG Freeform Crochet Big Hoop Bag by SaraAires

 

 

Thank you SaraAires from Portugal for creating this great treasury and for including and getting my bangle on the Front Page!!! :-)  Go check out her shop for some gorgeous colourful crochet pieces!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 Mirrored Images Cuff by GrandmaMarilyns

 

 

Thank you to GrandmaMarilyns for not only letting me know that my Funky Lifesaver was on the Front Page but also for providing me with a screen shot of it so I could boast about it!!! :-)

 

Stuck!!!! .... but inspired....

Well... I've been making all sorts of crocheted ropes for the piece I'm working on..... and I'm not happy with any of them!!!! however... something good has come out of it all.... as I used one of those crocheted ropes to make a new bracelet!!!.... Yesterday I went to pick up my order of beads from Bogal Ltd. and of course that is always exiting, coming home with a bag-full of new beads!!! and I got these amazing flat mother-or-pearl discs amongst lots of other amazingly gorgeous stuff!!! I feel so unbeliveably inspired... and have so many ideas for the new beads.... but there are only 24 hours in a day and I need to sleep at least 4 of them away!!!!! arghhh.... yes, I did mention that I'm obsessed with beading, right?!? :-D

anyway those gorgeous mother-of-pearl discs + my crocheted rope and I had to create this bracelet.... it was screaming to be made.... so here is my unexpected but very inspired Black & Pearl Bangle....

now back to the drawing board trying to work something out for the other piece ;-p stay tuned! :-D

and damn that bloody spell-check doesn't work againh!!!!!!!

EBW RED Challenge

Look at this fabulous collection of beadwork!!!!!


Will be tough for anyone to pick their favourite....



My entries:

Beating Heart necklace # 7 in the list

Magic Red Carpet bracelet # 17 in the list

Royal Flash bangle # 24 in the list

Voting starts on the 7th January US time

Go vote for your favourite piece! http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

Red.... amongst so much grey....

What a miserable day it turned out to be..... grey, rainy, cold, miserable.... thankfully it started off beautifully, with blue, clear, sunny skies, and was therefore able to take some decent shots of my 3rd and last piece for the Etsy Beadweavers Red Challenge (Go and vote! :-D)

I finished it late last night.... this challenge has really inspired me.... and although this bangle was inspired by a previous bangle I made ("Funky Lifesaver") it is quite different both in design and in execution, yet it is based on the same principle of tubular RAW (Right Angle Weave) and embellishment. They take a bit of concentrating, but I love making these bangles.... very meditative and therapeutical.... you constantly have to think of which way to turn, but at the same time it has its own momentum.... it's not my first stitch of choice when I make a piece, because I know I need to be 100 % mentally there... no distractions, no interruptions... but once I start a project, I get really into it and love doing it!!!...

and here it is:

Royal Flash Bangle

This tubular Right Angle Weave (RAW) bangle is warm, luxurious, rich, elegant and flash, it reminds me of the Queen’s jewels. Stitched using "antique-gold", garnet red and frosted red Czech seed beads, embellished with tiny pearl seed beads and purple, green and blue Swarovsky crystals. Looks amazing with a black evening dress and just as great with jeans.... Funky chic!

I don't think the picture does the actual bangle justice... it's so much more... hmmm... delicious, in real life.... much deeper colours, especially the reds.... but it's the best I could do.... but I am definitely improving! :-)

Photography by Patrizia Tager

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Don't forget, the voting starts soon!!! :-)

Please visit http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ from the 7th January and view all the wonderful entries at the EBW’s blog and vote for your favourite piece from a selection of very talented bead weavers.