Something Blue...

Making special sets for special occasions is something I love to get the chance to do...

This week I have had a great project on the go, making a set of charm beads and a matching pendant to go with an outfit for a wedding in July. I love doing the real one-offs and getting deep down into what is desired for the occasion.

Here is the dress...
She is going to team it with a very light silver grey shawl or cardi and shoes in the same colour.  It will look very elegant...

My lady wanted to bring out the bright cornflower/electric blue colour that is apparent on little patches in the pattern of the fabric and have a statement set of beads made especially for the day.

Here are some inspirational pictures from nature that show off this wonderful colour...

Of course there are delicate cornflowers, electric lightning bolts, the iridescent blue on butterfly's wings or beetle's wing cases. I wanted to try to create all the energy that this colour evokes with glass...

So I started to focus on the colours within the colour...

There's actually not one 'colour' here at all; there is a mixture of lighter bright turquoise electric blue, which then merges into bright electric purple at times and fades down into the deepest navy.


I needed to make the beads 'pop' in the same way and utilise these nuances of colour within the glass to bring the beads alive..

  

Here are a few close ups. 

The wrap bead is the darkest of them all but the pure clear wrap allows the light in a bit. It has a flow about it and it has great tactility.


This one on the right is a kind of speckled design. I liked it because it also lets the light burn through but in a different way... There are 3 different shades of blue in this one!

This is the flower petal one.

Not really a cornflower, but still, so delicate and graceful..
















I'm loving these silver droplet ones at the moment...

This one is all about electric currents and energy.

This one is my fave!

Made with that glorious silver glass again and a very light blue encasement! This one is a bit 'under-the-sea' ish.

And now for the pendant!

I definitely got that lush water-mouthy feeling when I got this one out of the kiln and straight away said to my customer that if she didn't want this one,  there was no trouble as I would have it myself!!! (...But unfortunately, she loved it straightaway too!!)

The  beautiful swirls of colour are dreamy. It's about 3 cm in diameter.

I made it so that she cold wear it on her Trollbead necklace, so it has a 4mm silver core like a regular charm bead but it is oh so much bigger...

This type of bead makes a real statement on the Trollbead necklace. They are so unusual. Guaranteed to catch the eye! Very versatile too; as they sit quite comfortably on ribbon or simply strung on cord or leather when one fancies a change..

The close up here shows the pendant in all it's glory.

And here are the charm beads on the charm bracelet with some silvers too..

As always thank you very much for reading the blog x

Lotus

This lovely set has just been finished.

The brief was for a calm watery set with a colour theme of teal and aqua.

I wanted to create a set of beads with lots of texture but retain the flow and quality of water that would lend to the set a sense of tranquility.


They are called 'Lotus' because they remind me of the lotus yoga position which can be used for meditation and relaxation. I imagine someone completely serene and peaceful sitting, maybe on a warm airy beach with the sun going down.  (Not me though; ...anyone who knows me will know that me getting to that beach in that kind of chilled out state is about as likely as seeing an elephant on a tightrope on Maidenhead High Street.

Anyway, moving on... the set of beads is all about serenity and peace. Maybe they will transmit those vibes to their new owner... I hope so.....

Here are some close ups of the set. The nearest bead to the camera is a mix of teal and aqua glass with a wrap of reflective 'oil on water'  silver colour changing glass around it.

 This one is a light teal pure and clear bead with little fine silver droplets.

This one is more organic in feel. It has little silvered ivory petals inside a light teal encasement.

I was really happy about this one. It's very simple and has lovely clarity. It has a teal centre with a twilight blue layer over the top. It has a very interesting and unexpected effect when the light shines through it as the colours are perceived differently from different angles.

These last two pictures show the whole set of six beads on a bracelet with some silvers to set them off.

I like the light and shade in the set and the texture that I ended up with.The mix across the colours turned out great from greeny/teal to twilight grey/blue.

I hope my fabulous friend likes them...

Festival Beads - Spring Has Sprung Early!

These beads were a bit different for me. I wanted something light and fun and I fancied doing some more fine pattern work using dots and gravity. I love them!

Back along I did a series of five or six beads that I called the Festival Collection. See below:

I wanted to do something using a similar technique but using a much brighter, lighter palette, and as you can see the beads came out with a slightly different feel.

I chose some 'spring' like colours. Some vibrant brights and other pastel shades. I had to make the stringers really thin as some of the detailed dots needed to be really tiny.

This is a hexagonal bead with bobbles. Layers of white and colour gradually getting smaller as they get to the top. I love the zing of this one!

This lime and turquoise one is also very zesty....

This is a calmer pastel take on the Spring look. Delicate minty green, aqua and soft purple....

Lime green and white... Energetic, lively and bouncy....

Ooh I love this one! It grades from a deep (almost purple) blue to a limey (almost yellow) green. It's light and sunny; you really feels like you could get lost in it. The large ring of six dots on either side merge into each other in the centre to make a pleasing zigzag.

Blue sky thinking.... This one reminds me of ceramics. I used some CIM glass in 'ming' and 'electric blue' for this and because I heated it quite crazily the glass colours have spread to create a 'fuzzy' edge. At first I thought I might have messed it up, but I actually like the effect its made...

 Lastly, this one is quite unusual. It has a twist on one side and a swirl which grades darker and darker purple towards the centre.. On the other side there are some purple and black simple dots...

Finally, here they are (except for the purple one) on a bracelet. They look so zingy, peppy and lively together....

Thanks for viewing this blog xx