New in the Shop: Pagoda Set, Rivoli Kaleidoscopes, and Sakura Earrings

I listed several new items in my Etsy shop over the past few weeks. If you're interested, click on the images to get the detailed information on each item.

First up is a pair of earrings in silver and red, created with my Pagoda Beaded Charm design:

...And also a matching Double Pagoda pendant:

Next there are three Rivoli Kaleidoscope Pendants; the first in red, crystal, and silver, and loosely matching the above Pagoda set. Do you see how I replaced some of the Miyuki drop beads with peanut-shaped seed beads?

Then there's this one in black, green, and gold:

And the larger variation in fern green, purple amethyst, and teal:

Finally, I listed two pairs of Sakura Charm earrings, the first in the original cherry blossom colors:

And the second in apple blossom hues:

All of these items are available for purchase in my Etsy shop: click on any of the images above to get more information about each item.

Pagoda Series Kits

I created two sets of matching kits for my Pagoda series. First we have the Pagoda beaded charm in Redwood:

And in Pandora Sapphire:

Next there's the Double Pagoda Beaded Bead in Redwood:

And again in Pandora Sapphire:

The Double Pagoda kits make one beaded bead each, while the Pagoda kits make three beaded charms. All of the kits are available at my website, and include all the beads needed to create the design, a beading needle and the appropriate thread, and the pattern for the design delivered electronically in the PDF format.

Fall Harvest Set

Dust has gathered around this blog over the past month and a half, so I thought I'd start by explaining what I've been up to. I'm working on revamping my website from the ground up, so I've been spending some long hours at the computer when I would normally be beading. It's been a lot of work, but I'm learning a great deal about web design and I'm excited about how it's coming together!

But in the meantime, I found a little time for some beading. I created these Pagoda beaded charm earrings for the fall season about a year ago, and found it high time to make a matching pendant. 

So I made an additional Pagoda beaded charm, turned it upside-down, and matched it with a Double Pagoda beaded bead:

Both the earrings and the matching pendant use 4 by 7 mm briolette Swarovski pendants (article no. 6007) in the place of Czech drop beads, a substitution that I've explored before and found that it generally works for most of my designs.


I also made a pair of little crystal helix beaded bead earrings in the same color palette. 

The copper ear wires in this pair are from the same batch as the year-old Pagoda pair, so when you compare them you can see that they oxidize quite a lot over the course of a year of moderate use. I think I like the oxidized look better though; the darker copper draws less attention, leaving it on the beaded charms where it belongs. What do you think?

Winter Illuminations Necklace

I completed my piece for the latest round of the Artbeads.com blogger program, this time in a "Winter Enchantment" theme:

To be honest, I was somewhat wintered-out after finishing the Wintery Mini Ionic Polyhedra set and my Ice Queen necklace last November, and I thought that I couldn't possibly think up another icy, wintery design before suffering from brain freeze. So I turned to another interpretation of wintertime:

Photo © Peggy Holsclaw 2011 

In Japan, several of the parks, shrines, and temples are lit up in the evenings during holidays and seasonal events (their Fall Illuminations are particularly spectacular). My sister Peggy is currently living in Japan and took some beautiful photos of the Winter Illuminations in the bamboo forests of Arashiyama, a district on the outskirts of Kyoto.

Photo © Peggy Holsclaw 2011 

Photo © Peggy Holsclaw 2011 

This photo really spoke to me: something about the combination of silvery bamboo leaves with the intense blue bamboo stalks communicates a fresh crispness without being overly cold. I used light sapphire AB Czech pressed glass lentil beads to mimic the shape and shade of the bamboo leaves, dark indigo AB2X Swarovski crystal bicones for the intense blue color, and a collection of black, hematite, and silver Japanese seed beads to complete the design. After a couple of attempts I created this beaded bead design, which is a cousin of the Double Pagoda beaded bead:

I made five of them total, and paired them with additional Cosmic crystals complete the necklace:

Finally, for a limited time Artbeads is kindly offering a 15% off everything coupon code to such awesome readers such as yourself. The coupon code is ZZ-DESIGNER-0211, and is valid until the end of the month. 

What wintery-themed pieces have you created this season?

Full disclosure: The swarovski crystals and Czech glass lentils used in this necklace were received as a gift from Artbeads.com. No payment was made for the review of these products.

Margie and Me Color Challenge: The Modern Madrid

For Marcie's latest Margie and Me Color Challenge, I chose Margie Deeb's "The Colors of Constructivism," or palette #102 from The Beader's Color Palette. Lots of grey, black, teal, and more grey in this palette. Not my usual choice of colors:

I made a Double Pagoda Beaded Bead pendant since I just finished its tutorial and therefore had this design on the brain. I went for teal and grey round seed beads, teal Miyuki drop beads, some shade of AB2X Swarovski crystal (Indian Sapphire?), and black Czech drops:

I think I pretty much failed to match the colors called for in the palette. With a little planning, I would have picked up some of the newer Crystal Silver Night Swarovski crystals, which I think would cool down this pendant but still give it some sparkle. I still like the pendant though, enough to keep it for myself :)

Be sure to check out all the other Margie and Me challenge pieces on Marcie's blog. 

Have you ever worked in a color palette that just didn't fit your style? If so, what did you come up with?

New Tutorial: Double Pagoda Beaded Bead

My newest beadweaving tutorial, the Double Pagoda Beaded Bead, is now complete:

It's a little bit bigger than the Pagoda Beaded Charm, and uses a similar collection of shapes and sizes of Czech glass teardrop beads, Swarovski crystal bicones, Miyuki drop Japanese seed beads, round Japanese seed beads, and the newish 2 by 4 mm peanut-shaped Japanese seed beads which I love so much. However, 8° Japanese seed beads can be substituted for the peanut seed beads in both designs, as in these two charms below:

I've categorized the Double Pagoda as an advanced design since it uses a combination of non-standard weaves, but intermediate beadweavers should be able to follow the tutorial since I included numerous detailed photos and illustrations. It's the perfect size for a petite pendant. Here's one in electric emerald:

I also finished a necklace derived from my color-matching experiments with one of Melissa Vess's gorgeous lampwork focal beads:

The focal is complemented by two Double Pagoda Beaded Beads and over a dozen cube beaded beads, made to match the colors in the focal. 

Finally, since I still had a leftover Double Pagoda that didn't quite match the focal, well as one extra cube beaded bead, I paired them with a simple variation of the Double Bubble Jacks beaded bead for a doubly-double (quadruple?) cascading pendant:

The Double Pagoda Beaded Bead is available in the tutorial sections of both my Etsy and Artfire shops on my website if you'd like to make your own. I think I'll make another one myself for Marcie's latest Margie and Me color challenge this weekend.

What will you be beading this weekend?

Color Matching: Lampwork and Beaded Beads

I'm always looking to challenge myself to incorporate new color palettes into my beadwork. One of the more fun ways to accomplish this is to color-match beadwork to the colors of a lampwork focal bead or bead set. Indeed, color maven Margie Deeb recently noted how seed bead and lampwork artisans are kindred spirits in the exploration of color, and expressed a desire to see more collaboration between these groups of artists (I'd argue that Cynthia Newcomer Daniel and Melissa Vess are making much headway in this area). 

So when I was making some new Double Pagoda beaded beads in preparation for writing a tutorial, I decided to color-match some of them to one of Melissa's focal beads.

I was picky about the colors that I chose for this beaded bead, since Melissa's bead contains some very specific shades of tan and silvery aqua. For the Swarovski crystals, I chose the dark indigo hue, which is similar to the dark blue iris shade of my chosen peanut seed beads. I went all-tan with the seed beads, in slightly different shades, and put the aqua colors in the drop beads. 

My first Double Pagoda attempt contained more tan and less blue than the lampwork bead, so I swapped some of the tan seed beads for dark blue iris.

The difference is somewhat subtle, but I think it matches the lampwork bead much better.

Here are both attempts side-by-side next to the lampwork bead:

Do the colors match and complement the lampwork bead? What do you think?

Time Machine and Pentacluster Pieces

Recently, I had the opportunity to try Gwen and Florence's Time Machine beaded bead pattern from beAd Infinitum. I ended up making two Time Machines in different color schemes. I thoroughly appreciated the level of detail and quality of writing in this pattern, as it allowed me to complete two Time Machine beaded beads without any confusion or half-completed beaded messes. 

This Time Machine beaded bead features hues of patina green, light amethyst, and copper. I decided to make it into a pendant:

I like how faceted roundelles can be used in this pattern; there are some gorgeous beads in this shape coming out of the Czech Republic nowadays in color schemes not found in faceted round beads. 

I also made an Ionic Pentacluster in the same color scheme, just because:

For this next piece, I again chose my color scheme from a particular green and purple color palette from a Czech faceted roundelle. I also used these same roundelles when stringing this necklace:

I originally had a completely different idea in mind for another beaded bead to pair with the Time Machine focal, but I found that Pagoda beaded charms matched style of the Time Machine much better. I think the matching Miyuki fringe drops really tie them toether. I also made two related, slightly larger beaded beads in a design which I think I'll name the Double Pagoda beaded bead. Cyclamen opal Swarovski bicone crystals complete the necklace...

...and Pagoda beaded charm earrings complete the set. 

The Time Machine and Ionic Polyhedra beaded bead patterns are available at beAd Infinitum, while the Pagoda beaded charm tutorial is available in my Artfire and Etsy shops on my website.