27.4.08 Beaded Amphora

It's been a while that I wanted to make an amphora. Inspired from my atzec clasp, I came up with this one.
The spiral is like the one I made for Frida and the donuts are done with RAW ("Luscious Links" by Shelley Nybakke, Beadwork Magazine February/March 2008).
I incorporated brown 18/0 french vintage seed beads (!!! got from Nicole Campanella Etsy store) to the donuts done with Japanese 15/0 seed beads.
The full necklace contain beads from all over the world: Czech, Austrian, French, Japanese and Chinese! I am a bit disappointed with the pictures, but maybe I'll change them when I' ll take better ones...

19-20.4.08 End of Spring in Bat Shlomo

14.4.08 Hojas Bracelet Tuto and versions

I have been asked for the Hojas bracelet scheme that I developed few months ago for a workshop. I based myself on a repetitive motif from the Hojas Collar that I learned from Chris Prussing scheme together with Diane Fitzgerald's private collection and help. I call that repetitive motif "the fly motif" since it reminds me of flies wings. I taught this bracelet in several workshops and gathered here some of its versions. The clasp part remains a personal challenge and as you will see, each one took it somewhere else.

In the following small movie, you will see some versions of my students and also self-taught versions such as "Smadar's Treasure" 's ones.

1st slide: This slide is a close-up view of one of the sides of the bracelet. However, the work is done following horizontal rows, as on the second slide.

2nd slide: The black dots represent size 11 seed beads. The first row shown here in black is a ladder/square stitch row (3 beads height). Later, try to follow carefully the thread path.

I hope you will enjoy it and you are welcome to leave me any remark or suggestion.

You will make me very happy if you send me pictures of your own creations, based on this tuto!

Good Luck,
Judith

12.4.08 My first polymer clay jewel - "The red kiwi necklace for Rony"

For my friend's birthday (11.4), I spent part of last night making this necklace. I learned so much during the work, which is not clean and there is still much to learn and improve, but yet it was very fun.

I based myself on the excellent french book "Créer ses bijoux en pâte polymère" (Édith Maccotta-Soffiati). I tried the "Collier Kiwi" project (p.42-44) and ended up with this version.

I also found a use for those coral beads I got from Frida. Now I need to think what should I do with all these polymer clay leftovers...

Chapter IV – the Aztec Collar

The final collar.
I feel a relief.
I used for the first time the smoked Fireline thread (0.06mm, 6 lb), while attaching the clasp to the spiral. This is a magic thread!
Hope that you will like it. It is not so practical, but it has some sense of humour, 4 sides and even more….

Chapter III – the Aztec helmet, the playing toad and the monstrous fish head

I tried to get some inspiration from David Chatt, Valerie Hector, Kathryn Harris and I wrote down those ideas.
Only last week, with the encouragement of Varda and Omer, I had a turn in my story.
I started playing trying to make an Aztec Helmet.

It then became a jumping toad:

With all these turquoise and aqua colors, also this monstrous fish wanted to join the party (this is the clasp attached to only one spiral end).

Chapter II – the Aztec spiral

I was afraid thinking about the point when I will finish the spiral final length.
It took me few days to arrive to that point, while Omer was making fun of me – being so glued to my seat, playing with those beads.

I finally arrived to the point I wanted to avoid: THE CLASP ! ! !
I cannot detail all the ideas that ran through my mind for making this clasp and toggle – but there were many of them and in other words, none of them suited to my opinion. All the way to Eilat I tried to think about something with Omer – but nothing came out of it. Not to talk about the days after…
I got stuck.
That was frustrating.
I couldn’t start something else before finishing that collar and I had no idea how to do it!!!
Birgit Bergmann suggested I could use a snap fastener. I went to buy one and it cut my thread. She said it should be from plastic and I used one from metal….Grrrr….
For the first time in my beading life, I thought I would use a clasp from metal and I finally let it go. I thought it would take too much time to order it from the USA and get it.
Again stuck…