Year of Jewelry Project - Week 1

One of the challenges I'm undertaking this year is the Year of Jewelry Project, a Facebook group where participants commit to creating a piece of jewelry weekly and posting it to the Facebook page and their individual blogs.

The prompt for Week 1 was Something New for Me, trying a new technique, or an old technique in a new way. I stitched up a pair of right angle weave earrings (old technique) with a (new-to-me) seed bead shape, farfalle beads. The pattern is from Maggie Roschyk's Artistic Seed Bead Jewelry, and I will be coming back to these peanut-shaped beads for more experimentation!

I picked up that hank of Czech farfalle beads at a recent bead show because their transparent, lustered finish combined two colors on Pantone's Spring Color Report.  The center of each seed bead is Violet Tulip, and the edges twinkle with Radiant Orchid, the Color of the Year for 2014. I finished the design with blackberry and pink-hued pearls and a touch of Vitrail and Indian Pink crystals.

Not daring enough (yet!) to try the full-hue exuberance of Radiant Orchid in a dress or a sweater, it's going to be a fun new shade to use in my jewelry designs! At first I thought I had very little of this year's signature color in my studio, but as I was putting away this project, I noticed pops of it on my bead tray - in my glasses and scissors!

Where are you seeing Radiant Orchid?

Earring A Day - Banishing the Blues

In a solid week of gray, foggy mornings and rainy afternoons, I found sparkle and shine at my bead table, stitching up some colorful baubles to beat away the blues. Continuing with my earring-a-day project, this week I’ve added 5 more, all fit for a party.

Bright with greens, purples and golden orange, these would be perfect for Mardi Gras. The pattern, which uses two sizes of drops along with peanut, 11 and 15 seed beads, is Cindy Holsclaw’s Pagoda Charm.

Blue is a big accessory color this year, and I love to contrast it with yellow-orange. This is another component from Maggie Roschyk’s Artistic Seed Bead Jewelry. I don’t know when I’ve been so inspired by a beading book! I can see these done up in so many different colorways and accent beads.

Classic black and silver never goes out of style. Deborah Roberti’s Diamond Tila pattern gave me a chance to use up more of these tile-shaped beads from my stash. 

Double the sparkle, these dangles with red magma cosmic rings and padparadscha rivolis pick up and reflect light from all directions.

Gwen Fisher’s three-dimensional designs are always fun and challenging. Her Deco Lotus earrings gain enough wow-factor from a second layer to make them just right for special occasions.

Carnelian and Silver

A Labor Day slip on a small puddle of water left me with a mild back sprain, and in a horizontal position for an entire week. My doctor allowed me to sit or stand for 15 minutes each morning and evening! Of course, I dedicated those precious vertical moments each day to literally inch along on my silver and golden raspberry herringbone rope.

Finally on my feet again, I finished embellishing the necklace this afternoon.  The accent strips are done in right angle weave and filled with pearls, crystals, amethyst and carnelian rounds, and matte metallic fire polished beads. Beautiful fall colors to complement the carnelian and sterling silver focal. The herringbone rope design is Maggie Roschyk’s cover piece from June’s Bead and Button magazine.