June Favourites

A bit late but here we go...

A necklace with a copper filigree finding and pink and copper glass beads,
plus a shiny rhinestone in the centre.

Necklace with bright yellow polymer clay roses (made by me) and metal leaves.

A brooch with a polymer clay disc and bead embroidery on the edge. Custom order.

Simple angel earrings filled with air and light. Polymer clay. Custom order.

A five-line cuff on memory wire. I just love the purple drops.

And finally - buttons! My mother wanted me to make buttons
so she could use them on her bags. The symbol that kind of looks
like a star is a motif from Estonian national embroidery - kaheksakand.

And some earrings :)

Summer Elements Blog Hop

Today is the reveal day for the Summer Elements Blog Hop hosted by Rita from Toltec Jewels at Jewel School Friends. Here is her post for the reveal - she's made a mouthwatering blueberry necklace. I'd wear the heck out of that :D

The idea of the hop is to share an element of summer, perhaps create something inspired by it. 

To me, summer is nature. To me, summer is flowers and their scent. To me, summer is the Song and Dance Festival that takes place every couple of years and the first of which was held in 1869. And I decided to try and share all of this with you. 

The national flower, and certainly one of my favourites, is the cornflower: 

Image not mine - I didn't see any wild cornflowers blooming yesterday, when I set out to find them.

The garden variety.

And some pictures of a field of rye. Rye is the type of crop most often associate with the cornflower, the name of the flower translated directly from Estonian would be rye flower.

 

For the reveal I created a pendant, using motifs from Estonian national embroidery. I embroidered a cornflower, some daisies and two crop heads. The background is white linen and the pendant is framed with black matte seed beads. Blue, black and white are Estonian national colours.

And finally, a taste of the Song Festival I mentioned. 

 

Sorry about the poor quality of video, but this is one of my favourite songs that has been performed at the festival. This was recorded in 2004, so it was before I got a chance to be one of the singers. I have participated twice, in 2007 and 2009, and both times were amazing. I would translate the title as Beatuful Land and the first lines as Summer is beautiful and so is the evening... So it kind of fits the hop :) 

Oh yes, and while I'm on the topic, here's a link to a very powerful performance from 2011. *Hint, hint*

The Summer Elements Blog Hop Participants: 

Toltec Jewels (Hostess)     http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com/

Marlene Cupo                   http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com/

Cheri Reed                        http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com/

Ailsa Cordner                    http://www.bramalfiebeadsetc.co.uk/

Robin Reed                       http://willowdragon.blogspot.com/

Nan Smith                         http://www.wirednan.blogspot.com/

Sherri Stokey                     http://www.knotjustmacrame.com/

Christie (Charis Designs)    http://charisdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com/

Carolyn Lawson                 http://carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com/

Susie Harris                        http://jewelleryjunkie.blogspot.com/

Andrea Glick-Zenith           http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/

Nelly May                          http://smellynelly.blogspot.com/

Melissa Trudinger               http://beadrecipes.wordpress.com/

Dini Bruinsma                     http://angazabychanges.blogspot.com/

Kathy Lindemer                 http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/

Cory Tompkins                  http://tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.com/

Robin Reed                       http://willowdragon.blogspot.com/

Gina Hockett                     http://freestyleelements.blogspot.com/

Karen Martinez                 http://www.fairiesmarket.blogspot.com/

Liz                                    http://beadcontagion.blogspot.com/

Jasvanti Patel                     http://jewelrybyjasvanti.blogspot.com/

Solange Collin                    http://www.blog.ahowinjewelry.com/

Karla Morgan                    http://texaspepperjams.blogspot.com/

Anindita Basu                     http://alankarshilpa.blogspot.com/

Alicia Marinache                http://www.allprettythings.ca/

Andrea Trank                    http://heavenlanecreations.com/

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell     http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com/

Mischelle Fanucchi             http://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com/

Tanty Sri Hartanti               http://tjewellicious.blogspot.com/

Shaiha Williams                  http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Mary Govaars                    http://mlhjewelrydesigns.com/

Becca Sirevaag                  http://godsartistinresidence.blogspot.com/

Lennis Carrier                    http://windbent.wordpress.com/

Regina Wood                     http://www.gina-design.blogspot.com/

Sue Kennedy                     http://suebeads.blogspot.com/

Kathleen Breeding             https://www.facebook.com/99BOBOTW

History Hop - REVEAL

I participated in Leah Curtis's history themed blog hop where the participants got to choose from a list of historical periods or cultures and create jewelry inspired by that. My theme was English Romanticism and Mourning Jewelry. Though I had a lot of ideas going on around my head when I picked it out, I only managed to create two pieces - a pair of earrings and a necklace. 

First the earrings. I had a bit of trouble with them at first, but after some useful advice from my mum I got them to work.

Czech faceted glass beads and Japanese Toho seed beads.

They're really not that large, my hands are just super small.

And the necklace. 

I wasn't sure at first if the greyish tones would go with white, but I think they work fine.

The piece started revolving around this vintage metal button with rhinestones that
my mum found in one of her drawers.

I made the focal by embroidering some of the grey faceted beads around it. 

For the additional pieces I sewed beads onto grey filigree discs.

This was my first such challenge and I had a lot of fun making these pieces. Here is the list of all the other participants, so go make yourself a cuppa and enjoy the show. I know I will :)

Leah Curtis - Indus Valley - beadyeyedbunny.blogspot.co.uk
Laney Mead - Māori - laney-izzybeads.blogspot.co.uk
Becca - Art Nouveau - godsartistinresidence.blogspot.com
Melissa - English Romanticism and Mourning Jewelry - beadrecipes.wordpress.com
Tracy Stillman - Native American - tracystillmandesigns.com
Liz E - Native North American - beadcontagion.blogspot.com
Ahowin - Māori (New Zealand)  - blog.ahowinjewelry.com 
Jasvanti - Indus Valley - jewelrybyjasvanti.blogspot.com
Lizzie - Art Nouveau - theneedtobead.blogspot.co.uk
Julia Hay - Merovingian - pandanimal.blogspot.co.uk
Dini - Celtic - angazabychanges.blogspot.nl
Caroline - Art Nouveau - blueberribeads.co.uk 
Charlie - Moche of Peru - clay-space.com/blog
Karin - China - maverickbeads.blogspot.com
Niky Sayers - Rome - silverniknats.blogspot.com
Marcia Dunne - Celctic and Mourning Jewelry - thealternativefoundry.blogspot.co.uk
anafiassa - Mesopotamia - anafiassa.blogspot.com
Kokopelli - Native American - kokopellidesign.blogspot.com
Christa - Native American - adventuresofwonebeadywoman.blogspot.com
Clair - Roman - obstinatepursuit.blogspot.co.uk
Susan Bowie - Native American - susanbowie.wordpress.com
Gloria Allen - English Romanticism - gloriaallendesigns.blogspot.com
Sheila Garrett - Early Russia - 4brownowl.blogspot.co.uk 

May Favourites

As the month of May is almost over, I wanted to share some of the pieces I've created during it. So, without further ado, here goes...

A sunny bracelet with glass beads and bronze coloured details.
I made the chain myself form these bronze hoops that had just been lying around for a while now...
just one of those things you're not really sure what to do with once you've got them.

A set of a necklace and matching earrings. I made the primrose blossoms out of
polymer clay already in January but only used them now. I matched the blossoms with
light yellow or perhaps creamish glass beads with a structured surface.

Here I used up another set of polymer clay beads I made in January.
I decided to spice the necklace up with seed bead covered glass beads and silver-plated
findings. Also, on each clay bead, one of the blossoms is set with a shiny rhinestone.

Here I decided to try my hand at making brooches. Though bead embroidery is
time-consuming and sometimes quite irritating - especially when the thread tangles up and
it's too dark in the middle of the night to untangle it -, I find myself getting hooked on the technique.
I used Japanese Toho seed beads and some glass beads that had been lying around for ages.

And this set is my absolute favourite from May. Turquoise and gold coloured beads
- faceted, crackled, bicones, Czech seed beads and what not -
make for a fabulous pendant and earrings and all in a simple brick stitch.
Simple, yet intricate, don't you think. And I've never sold a set that quickly.

And here are some earrings as well. As I create quite a lot of earrings, I decided to put them all in the same image - less scrolling that way. 

See the red+copper butterflies in the upper right-hand corner? Those are mine :D

I think posts like this one might become a monthly thing. I'm much too lazy to post over every individual thing that I feel that I especially like and it might become boring for others as well, so this is a good solution.

Blue as Summer Skies

Today I would like to share with you the story of a necklace I made over the last weekend. It started off with me playing around with some blue glass focals and the desire to do some bead embroidery, which, note please, I have only used twice before and only to create some very simple pendants. 

You might notice that the blue pebbles have strings of white in them. They kind of remind me of clouds. 

So I drew the outline on paper and transferred it to the felt. After that I glued the pebbles on and started encompassing them with seed beads. And after filling up the surface (with a few mishaps like cutting the wrong thread or being exactly one bead short - let's see who can find where that happened), adding the ribbon, and adding all the necessary finishing touches to it, here is the end result. This was my first project with bead embroidery on this scale and I hope you like it :)