Bead Soup Teaser

Here is a very vague impression of the assortment I am sending to my Bead Soup partner today, Donna Millard!

She has already mailed off her package to me and I can't wait to see what's in it! The picture on her blog is really intriguing.

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.

A Weathered Heart

Head on over to Earrings Everyday to read more about these earrings featuring components by Shannon LeVart! If you have Earrings Everyday in your reading list, it may still be showing as yesterday's post--for some reason my post of today is not registering in Google Reader or on my blog list, but I assure you, there's new reading material! Head on over if you're in the mood for earrings...

The Golden Hoard

As opposed to The Golden Horde, a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that was established in the 13th century and formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire.

In this case, it's a strand of pearls, in mingled antiqued copper and old gold, that I've been hoarding forever. I think I used one in a bracelet once.

I've combined them with beads from another couple strands I've largely been hoarding (I think I made a pendant with them in 2009), of azure kyanite spears. I'm in love with both these elements! The pearls are rustic in the extreme; they range in color from old gold to almost dark persimmon, in shapes reminiscent of spilled molten metal--as if they were spewed from a forge and cooled where they lay, with the sooty evidence of their origin collecting in folds and fissures. These kyanite have lovely schiller, like each is home to a tiny, cool flame that lights it from within. They're a lovely melange of viridian and cerulean--two of my favorite colors, and words!

I started out with one of my flower clasps, intent on turning it into something wearable. I originally had very different plans for it, but when I thought of these pearls I had to use them. The clasp fastens underneath the flower itself, making it largely invisible. (I photographed it on my old plank washed up on the shores of Flathead Lake--I drill and hammer on it, and generally use it as a lap-desk. I made all those little holes myself.)

 
I designed it to be worn with the clasp to the side. I am really stuck on this configuration right now, I think the clasp reminds me of a corsage.