Recycled Beads Ring

Another tutorial on Ruby's Beadwork caught my eye, and I thought it would be a nice way to use up some of the old beads I have lying around in my recycled bags.  I don't actually have that many beads in there to play around with though, as most of the stuff is earrings and brooches.
I've been trying to find uses for these milky glass beads that I have - which I think were glass pearls whose coating came off.  I've used them before (On A Sunny Day In England, Sweet Tooth Competition Prize and My Beating Heart) and this seemed like the perfect project to use up the rest of them

Woven Diamond Earrings

My first post this week is this gorgeous pair of earrings I made for myself that I haven't been able to stop wearing.

The earrings feature black and bright pink fuchsia Delicas beaded in brick stitch to create this cool diamond within a diamond pattern.

 It's finished with a round gunmetal bead and silver fishhook earwires*.

My mom loved them so much that she she asked me to make her a pair.  Hers feature transparent grey Delicas with an AB finish.

The earrings will be available to buy soon in a range of colours.  I'll also be making ones with other designs which I'll post separately.

=:x

*They'll also be available in clip-on style!

Dragon Eye Ring

Rings are my favourite type of jewellery and lately I've got into beaded rings.  They're not as uncomfortable as they look, they're a lot easier to freeform than wire rings, they don't wear or tarnish as easily - depending on what beads you use - and you can make them from any old beads you have lying around - particularly useful when you have old beads that needs using up!
This is the first bezel ring I've made.  I had these really cool glass beads that reminded my of dragon's eyes - my favourite* mythological creatures, keep your damned unicorns!

Molten Metal Necklace

Today I'd like to show you a necklace I've been working on for a while.  The Molten Metal Necklace.

I've had this pendant for a while as I could never figure out what I wanted to do with it.  I came across it again a few months back and after I'd been testing out different beading techniques, I knew I wanted to make a spiral rope chain.  However, matching the colours and creating the pattern proved to be a nightmare.  I never thought silver and copper would be so hard to match!

The black beads were easiest, but it was choosing whether have the silver or copper beads as the core or the accent.  I decided upon these copper-lined crystal beads as a core and accented the black seeds with silver.

As a little something extra, I followed a tutorial on Ruby's to make this beautiful toggle clasp (my first!) and then ruined it by taking the photo before I'd tidied up the excess thread.

 

Oh well, it's still pretty and will be available to buy soon!

=:x

Swarovski Ombre Cuff Bracelet

So this is the last in the set of the Swarovski Ombre.  This was also my first attempt at a wire wrapped cuff/bracelet.  The design was inspired by a tutorial for a watch in one of my beading books.

Swarovski Ombre Earrings

 I had a few crystals left over, so I decided to make some earrings to go with the Swarovski Ombre Necklace. There's also a cuff bracelet, which will be featured in tomorrows post. Both were designed in my head as I was working on the necklace.

I knew the earrings had to be simple so as not to detract from the visual effect of the necklace.  I continued the ombre theme, however, with graduating colour and size to create these drop-style earrings.  I didn't use as many colours as I used in the necklace, preferring to stick to the pinker end of the red spectrum.

These along with the necklace and cuff will be available for purchase soon.

=:x

Swarovski Ombre Necklace

This is probably one the ones I've been most excited to share out of the new things I've created over the holidays.  I bought a Swarovski mix containing various shapes in shades of red.  I played around with them on my design board and was inspired to create an ombre necklace.  I instantly began sketching, however the ombre effect on its own didn't seem enough.  I really wanted to catch the eye.  I began adding strands to add to the effect, but there was still something missing.  Going back to my mixed bag, I noticed the the different sizes and the idea of a 3D ombre came to me.

Christmas Cluster Necklace

This is a necklace I designed for Christmas with a red and green glass bead mix.  I added some gold metal beads too and hung them from a gold plated cable chain.

Mintberry Swirl Necklace

I've really got to think of a better name for this necklace before I sell it!

I've had this pack of lampwork beads that I received in a goody bag (I think!) for while and I haven't really known what I wanted to do with them.  So using my new found beadwork skills, I've transformed it into this beautiful necklace.

Gran's Locket Necklace

On the same theme as yesterday, my Gran also gave me this heart locket which contains a photo of her and my Grandpa at my Mom's wedding.

Grandma's Ring Necklace

Here's my first "make" post of 2015!

This was my first Christmas without my Gran.  Before her dementia got really bad, she gave me her Mother's wedding ring.  She unfortunately lost her own in the care home where she was staying and we've never found it.  This ring is too big for me to wear, and rather than spending unnecessary money getting it refitted, I used my latest love of beadwork to turn it into a necklace.

 

New at X99 for 2015

Over the next couple of weeks they'll be a lot of updates to the site.  I've been pretty busy over the holidays making new jewellery and I've also received some good news which will hopefully result in major changes to the way I do things.  I've been looking for a new camera as the one I currently own is quite old, and doesn't take photos the way that I want to.  My studio set up could also do with a bit of updating.  The good news I received means I'll be able to get a better camera than the one I was looking at, which means better photos for the site and for Etsy. 
Also this year, I hope to find someone to handle the business-y side of things like I said I would.  This break has proved that doing so much all by myself was killing my creativity.  I definitely need someone to handle the marketing side of things at the very least, as my brain just seems to switch off.  I don't know whether to put the Etsy shop on hiatus while I work out which direction I would like X99 to continue in.  I have actually started working with the things in my recycled/donated bag, the results of which I shall show you soon.  So expect some changes to the site - I don't think the look will change again, however I am thinking of starting over and using my old jewellery as a kinds of portfolio. 
One last thing I want to introduce this year is donating a portion of all sales to a mental health charity.  If it wasn't for the (seriously underfunded) mental health services in my area, I would have started this hobby, so it would be great to give something back through what they gave me.

Love and well wishes for 2015 - here's hoping it will be a good one!

=:x