Black, gold and green - and a little softness too

When I posted a picture of this bracelet, one of my good friends (Claire) said 'super colour combo - one of those unexpected ones that you do so well' which was of course, an enormous compliment coming from someone who kind of knows what she's doing with colour and components herself, ahem! I almost feel like I'm cheating when I accept compliments like that though - I'm so led by what's in front of me. This bracelet was actually a reworking of one from a couple of years ago (not sure I ever took a photo of the original, sorry) which for some reason I made for an approximately 12" wrist (not quite, but you get the picture!) and had needed re-doing for some time. It was sitting on my work tray, along with a new set of astonishing lampwork beads from Jana Filípková (I must show you the rest of the set sometime soon - really and truly, astounding), and somehow the fun spottiness of the vintage black acrylic, and the playful shimmering sparkliness of Jana's glitter ball seemed like they wanted to go together. It also helped to balance the bracelet nicely too - those large acrylic beads are actually very light, and the smoky frosted sea-glass-esque rounds on the other side are on the heavy side by comparison. The large glitter ball did the trick, weight-wise. (And psst - there's another butterfly on this bracelet too...!)

I had some of the acrylic rounds left over from shortening my canklet-style bracelet, and so decided to turn them into some simple earrings. I don't often work with black - I'm not entirely sure why, I do wear black both in my clothes and make-up, but somehow I really don't like it in home decor or beads. Too harsh; too stark. I knew these beads needed softening for them to work for me, but as these rounds are on the large side, I felt that adding beads onto them wasn't the thing to do here, despite this post. I tried flattening out a couple of etched brass bead caps but they didn't look right, and then I remembered Lorelei Eurto's vintage tin bead caps that I splurged on a while back. Still have a small cache of them left over, pleasingly! These lovely floral ones - pinks, peaches, greens and cornflower blooms on a yellow base - gave the black acrylic just the right feel, and tapped into their vintage feel. I also had exactly the right weenie lampwork beads from Julie Wong Sontag in a soft, etched lemon yellow, to decorate the earwires. 

Both of these sold the same day I shared them, so perhaps I should work with black more often....!

Sweet Child of Mine

I wrote the other day about the challenge of necklaces. My own personal challenge it seems - many designers I know seem to think necklace first and bracelet very much later. My brain is funny like that. 

I also promised that I would share my other necklaces from that particular necklace-making session. Those sessions tend to only happen when I have stern words with myself, and epic events on the horizon....! It began with my wheeling myself off to a cafe (my travelling beads have reached such proportions that I use a mini wheelie suitcase right now - not my usual but it does tend to happen with a big event around the corner....I am *not* one for travelling light, it seems), ordering some tea, resisting cake with the mental promise of hot chocolate further down the line, and pawing through my bead boxes. 

And this is what happened:

In all honesty, I'm not totally sure how it did. These designs usually come about because I am drawn to a particular art bead in my stash - something that gets up and shouts 'pick me, pick me!'. I've had the gorgeous puffed ceramic heart from the hands of Nancy Schindler-Adams for a while now, over a year in fact, but somehow (although I love it), it never quite made itself heard. Something about that particular shade of yellow - I'm never too good with the greener yellows. And then the grey-black wash over it too....I just wasn't sure how to use it in a way that was both the heart, but also 'me', if you know what I mean. 

I think it actually began with the pressed glass - the grungy, rough-cut black/bronze faceted rounds, and the bonnie turquoise poppies. And then it sort of fell together and flowed from there....

Sometimes it's like that. You get to the end of something and are never quite sure how it happened, even though you are rather glad it did!

Some more grungy, rough-cut frosted grey/black faceted glass beads - these are 'English Cuts' although I'm never quite sure what makes them English - one of my favourite pewter Green Girl Studio keys (my stash is very, very low of these, I must remedy that as soon as I have the pennies!) and a couple of my 'end-of-day' handwoven glass {song}beads. Somehow, it balanced itself out, all by itself. 

Black and green-yellow - two colours (yes, I know that's technically incorrect, but never mind!) I rarely work with. Yet here, they both leapt to the forefront of my designer/maker brain. I'm glad they did. 

And, for those children of the eighties like me, here's a bit of nostalgia that (of course) inspired the title. I couldn't quite bring myself to drop the F from of, but Guns n' Roses had no issues there. A real classic - when size truly mattered in a man - hair size, that is. And also, I feel in the shoulder department - check out Axel's from 0.26"! Worthy of Dallas, I'm sure.