Mixing it up

When I first started beading and being interested in stones, rather than buying a whole strand I would only buy a few beads of each type. So I have a great collection of beads that vary in colour, texture, cut, shape...just about everything! These two necklaces show a range of semi precious and precious stones.

Although the combination of blue and brown doesn't always come to mind as a natural combination, I find myself paring it up constantly. Rich browns with duck egg blue one of my favorites but I hardly seem to see it in clothing and jewellery.

For the necklace on the left, it was designed very much with this colour combo in mind. I collected stones until I was happy with not just the combination of colours but also experimented with texture, opacity and shape. I played with opposites: faceted and smooth; translucent and opaque; flat and chunky; bright and darkened darkened silver. Once I had the stones and the hammered silver loop (for added interest) I thought that putting them together would be a snap. Just as 'effortless style' and 'the no make up look' paradoxically take both effort and time, so does 'apparent randomness'. For 9 elements there are 362880 combinations (look for yourself). A nightmare for professional non deciders such as I. The stones in this necklace are (from left to right) amazonite, labradorite, jasper, smokey quartz. amazonite, grey labradorite, chalcedony and prenhite.

Using the same design principles, I made the red/brown necklace as a commission. It's both exciting and scary to make a commission, in this case it was for a special present for a person that I did not know. There is the added pressure of making a piece of unique jewellery that does not look like it was bought on the $10 sales rack in Myer! Second time around I enjoyed the freedom of picking stones from my collection, using some of the rarer stones like the triangular quartz druzy with a fine, sparkling crystalline surface and the round, highly detailed fossilised coral.

At present I have departed from asymmetry but more about that later......

Curvy Crochet

I am now convinced more than ever that I will never get around to making all things things that are swirling around in my head or languishing on the bookshelves in the many books and magazines. But hey I'll give it a go..

Here are 2 things that were on the to do list for at least 5 years...The first two pics are of the now modern classic Boteh Scarf by Kathy Merrick. The seemingly complex pattern is actually quite easy. Each of the "paisley" shapes is in fact a right angled triangle which is then curved by turning the work 90 degrees and working the long triple trebles on each row the hypotenuse. Then start a new triangle and continue making the swirly patterns. The open row of triple treble gives the whole piece a beautiful drape. I made this in a Japanese silk cotton mix accented with a lurex yarn. The colour is not well reproduced by the camera, it is more of a khaki green. I was so taken with the pattern that I made two more in long repeat colour graduated yarns....They were shipped to Italy for christmas presents before I had the chance to take a photo.

That's hairpin crochet in the purple. This is a crochet technique that uses a large hairpin frame, the yarn is looped around the prongs and a central "spine" is then crocheted. Long strips are made, then the loops are again crocheted. In this sample piece, I made a zig zag design by grouping 18 loops to form the valley. On the opposite side of the spine the loops were fanned out and the complementary 18 loops were worked into 6 groups of 3, this then formed the apex of the zig zag pattern... Now what to make?

A few projects

As usual at Christmas, I am rushing to make presents for relatives and friends. The earrings are for my cousin in Italy. They consist of inverted drop hoops that can hold a myrid of dangles, in this case graduated moonstone briolettes. This style makes the most of the blue flash of moonstones as the sway on the chain. I hope she likes them.










The next project was a commission for friend. She wanted a necklace for her sister. I took the opportunity to make a lariet style of necklace, I had been planning to make one for ages. It consists of an open strand of facetted iolite rondelles accented with gold beads and a open loop. The ends are finished with iolite briolettes. It can be worn as a choker or loosely tied a long necklace. Got to make one for myself!

SXS 2010

A few favs from this year's Scupture by the Sea. As usual I am drawn to textiles and glass. The stones are covered with the lint that comes out of dryers that has been felted and secured with threads. Some one must have been drying a lot of jeans to get those intense blues.