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).

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Mad for Toggles

I'm rediscovering my lentil and tablet beads with this front-closure toggle design. It's sort of an easy bail to make! My bail making skills are very rudimentary, and the toggle bar adds interest to the focal.
Toast and Sagebrush Pendant
I made this one with one of my toasty textured tablets by Mary Ann Carroll--it's a very warm looking bead, with its warm toast colors, and its pebbled texture makes me feel warm (makes me think of ostrich hide, and ostriches come from Africa, and Africa is warm...) It also has some sage green mixed in--green like sagebrush, and sagebrush grows in desert climates, which are warm...(Yes, there is a theme here; we got new snow today on the ski hill, so I am thinking of warm places. I do that a lot. All year round in fact.)
Then I did another similar pendant. I really like to squeeze all I can out of a design.

After I finished the pendant below, I thought I should name it, and by golly if it didn't remind me a lot of Monet's "Water Lilies." It was the dollops of sky blue on the dark green background that made me think of lily pads. I went to look at the painting online, and the name seemed apt. I had even gotten some lilac in there too (there's a little spot of violet at the top of the focal).
Water Lilies

The large lentil focal and the bigger roundel are by Karen Hardy. Unfortunately her Etsy shop is empty. :-( The smaller roundel is by BeingBeads (I was thrilled how well they all went together!) The round beads include moss agate, teal-dyed quartz, and Czech glass in lilac. Copper plated pewter charm and freshwater pearls hang from the focal. Monet wasn't Irish, but it works for me. It's all "wet" colors, and Ireland is wet. So one dry pendant and one wet pendant. I try to be inclusive because I'm all about diversity.

Well, I suppose I should go to bed. There's nothing else to do.

8 comments:

  1. Ooooh. You were talking about these the other day and I was having a hard time envisioning the design you were creating. I think they turned out absolutely lovely! The bails, the toggles, the colors you pulled from the focal beads. Rockin!

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  2. Lovely necklaces, love the color combinations and the front toggle design.

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  3. Both are lovely, but I'm concentrating on the first one - the one with the toasty bead and the desert influences. Wonderful. Because you just freaked me with the 's' word...

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  4. They are both beautiful and I really love the toggles. Can't make up my mind which one I prefer - the color combo is great in both and they both look just so right with the beads you have chosen, good choices.
    jenni

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  5. I'm lovin these!! Can't find Karen Hardy beads for sale anywhere, that bead is gorgeous!! Guess it's making me post anonymously again!! KristiBowmanDesign

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  6. both are very pretty! love the colors too!
    amy @ copperdiem.blogspot.com

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