Beaded Bracelets

I have not made too many bracelets. Maybe because I cannot wear them - they get in the way as I work on the computer in the professional part of my life.
However, recently I took a couple of classes from a beading store (Beads and Plenty More in Northland mall; from an awesome instructor named Joanne in case you are curious) and started playing with the idea.

The first kind of bracelets combines pearls and beading with Japanese delica beads. Actually, man-made pearls are better unless you can spend a fortune on very even real pearls. I used mostly glass pearls but also some shell pearls; I prefer working with shell pearls but there is more color selection with glass pearls.

The net effect is having the pearls "wrapped" in beaded leaves. Japanese delica beads are used because they are very consistent in size, and that's necessary for this style. Here are some of my bracelets. The pearls are 10 mm in diameter.

I made a set of necklace and bracelet using the same technique. Two different pearl sizes (10 mm and 12 mm) provide the necessary curve for the necklace. The necklace falls just below the neck like a collar.





The second kind of bracet is made with crystals and lace-like beadwork. Here ar some examples.

Upcoming Jolanta Fashions Sales in August and September

• Thursday, August 4, 10-5, Art Walk, on 8-th Avenue, around 1-st Street SW. The event is organized by Canadian Artists for the Poor, http://www.artistsforthepoor.ca/calgaryartwalk.html .
• Saturday and Sunday, August 20-21, 10-6, Market Collective, at the old Ant Hill's building on 10-th Street in Kensington area. See http://www.marketcollective.ca/ for more information.
• Thursday, September 1, 10-5, Art Walk (the last one this year), on 8-th Avenue, around 1-st Street SW.
• Saturday, September 10,  10-5, Parksale, University of Calgary, main campus, on the green space between ICT and Engineering buildings. The event is organized by PARK (Promoting Artists Redefining Kulture). See http://www.ourparkonline.com/parksale.html for more info.

Silk Necklaces

Last summer I made a necklace for myself with a recycled silk scarf and large wooden beads. I received a lot of compliments while wearing it. This inspired me to make a collection of colourful summer necklaces using silk, ribbon, and a variety of  beads: wood, glass, and acrylic. Normally, I do not use acrylic beads, but somehow "silk" and "heavy" do not go together. These acrylic beads are very light despite their size and they look like sea glass. I will have my new collection at the Art Walk on July 7 (see the last June post). Here are sample pictures. Enjoy!

2011 Summer Sales

I am participating in Art Walk events downtown Calgary (8-th Ave., around 1-st Street SW) this summer. Art walk is organized by Canadian Artists for the Poor, http://www.artistsforthepoor.ca/calgaryartwalk.html, so the money goes to support a good cause.

• Thursday, July 7th from 10am-5pm
• Thursday, August 4th from 10am-5 pm
• and Thursday, September 1st from 10am-5pm.

I invited my charity of choice, Calgary Immigrant Women's Association (CIWA), to join my booth. Come and meet lovely ladies from CIWA Art and Crafts Market. They always have beautiful hand-crafted items for your home and yourself. In am totally addicted to their hand-made glycerine soap :-)

On my side, I will have a lot of summery, colourful pieces.A few pictures included, but I want to experiment with adding fibers to my jewellery, so you will see some totally new stuff. Come and check it out.

#633 - Coloured magnesite in turquoise and lime green, with yellow citrine and silver plated aluminum nuggets. The necklace can be worn as a one long strand or doubled for a chunkier look. The spacer buggle beads and toggle clasp are silvler plated. Comes a a set with earrings.

 #608 - Nothind says "summer" like yellow and white. This necklace  combines yellow and white shell links with gold plated rings and chain. It is a long chain that can be doubled if desired.

#606 - Made with turquoise coins and  gold plated rings and chain. #629 - A pink coral set with silver plated shells  that makes me dream of a summer beach.   Both will look awesome with this summer's fashions.

#618 - If you are into chunky jewellery, you may appreciate this asymmetric combination of turquoise, clear quartz, crystals and silverc plated copper wire. Alternatively, you may try #623 -that combines turquoise with chrysacolla beads.

I would not be myself if I did not include anything red. #622 has large red coral chunks with clear quarts. Note supper-cute flower clasp - I have very few of those left. Comes with matching earrings (on top of this post). #619 is made with beautiful amber nuggets that I brought from my vacation inn Poland last year.

Busy!!!

I started building an Etsy shop, but got distracted with some other opportunities that came up. More details later.
I am also taking several jewellery classes at alberta College of Art, so June is super-busy. Looking forward to summer when I should have more time to create.

Copper

How about copper? Here are a few piece that I made over the last few weeks.

#603 - A long copper chain with jasper and Swarpevskki crystals has  a centerpiece of Owyhee creek jasper and hammered copper ring.

#584 - a pendant of hammered copper swirl surrounded by two Owyhee jasper wings on a copper chain with copper toggle clasp. This necklace has matching jasper and copper earrings.

 
 
 
 
#505 - This one I made last year but I still enjoy its asymmetric design and mix of techniques: there is beaded rope, viking weave, chain maille, and of course beautiful brecciated jasper nuggets.

Brass

In case you are into brass jewellery, check out these designs.

#607 - I used in this necklace two strands of antiquated brass chain, in addition to the main strand that is made of brass beads, tiger eye and golden colour pearls. The centerpiece is a large tiger eye nugget (note the beautiful oblique stripes in it) with a fringe of Swarovski crystals, golden pearls and brass.

#601 - A large oval of ocean jasper in olive green and yellow, adorned with brass wire and Swarovski crystals, is suspended on a hand-weaved brass wire rope with magnetic clasp. Makes me think of my military-style summer jacket... I like unusual pairings.









#587 - More of brass chain and large stone beads. It's a variety of quartz. Also, vintage brass beads that look like textured olives. This necklace  has a set of earrings to go with it.

#588 - This one is made with brass chain with large multi-coloured amazonite stones and delicate figree ghrass beads.
I am  adding a close-up picture of the same necklace - the colours of these stones are out of this world.