A chronicle of the meanderings, false starts (which in retrospect, while sort of embarrassing turned out to be highly instructive), epiphanies, selective apathy (still evolving), wild mood swings, opinions (subject to frequent change), and life lessons of an inveterate dabbler (and her latest dabblings).

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A Broody Romance


All together, the elements in this Valentine's Day necklace seem a little melancholy to me, in a lush kind of way. Like a fierce, but doomed, passion, a la Wuthering Heights.

Ah, love. And neurosis.

I created it for the Happy Mango Beads Valentine's Day contest, so I thought I'd best have some sort of Valentine's Day-type colors--in this case, loosely in the red family: aubergine (or eggplant, for you Philistines), deep berry, dark wine-red, magenta and fuchsia. The lampwork is from BeingBeads (Etsy), the silk ribbon from Color Kissed Silk (Etsy), and all the copper components and focals (except for the crimp covers) are by me. I threw in a second heart--the little charm--to bump up the V-Day factor. It fastens in the front with a toggle closure.


I had originally wanted to knot this (and made like seven failed attempts before I finally gave up) but it just wasn't my day. I still wanted a little dot of color between the beads, so I placed glittery, tiny fire-engine-red seed beads between the lampwork. You can almost see them here.

I've left the spiral coil crimps untightened to allow it to be sized to fit.



13 comments:

  1. It's absolutely stunning! These are way more Valentine-ish for my taste than bright reds and pinks :)

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  2. Gorgeous! The colors are much better than the typical overdone scheme. The lampwork is the perfect complement for the copper.

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  3. Love it! I've gotta agree with everyone else; the colors are so much more exciting because they aren't typical or expected.

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  4. Yep, the colors are waaaay better than typical valentines day!

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  5. Damn girl that is one sweet necklace. It's one that you can wear any time of year, totally!

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  6. Lovely, not your traditional, oh so common red. Love the beads, the design and the various elements that come together so gorgeously.

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  7. I remember comments about designs being taken apart after previous photosessions. I think it the redesigns were well worth it. This is FABULOUS! Colors, design, components. All of it!!!

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  8. Hello gorgeous! That is one lush and romantic necklace. That copper piece is so amazing. Love the texture. And seed beads are in their place as spacers in my opinion. I love the little unexpected pop of color. Those beads are marvelous. I am ever so envious of people who can tame flame and molten glass to make such lusciousness. Enjoy the day! Erin

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  9. Beautiful necklace! Love the colours!

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  10. This is a really lovely piece. Not only that, but it fits the mood of your blog and your banner. Now how did you do that?!!! :-)

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  11. Your work is fantastic! You are so talented! I do love all your gorgeous pieces....
    :))
    Monica

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  12. This is *absoutely stunning*. I love the colour scheme (of course it's aubergine ;-)); romantic but not too much. Those beads between the beads are perfect!

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  13. Congratulations on winning second place! It is a gorgeous piece!

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