Monday, February 04, 2008

The Day Between -- aka gem show, day 2ish


It always feels weird to have gem show in town, and to not be doing anything gem show related. That's what today is like. This is the day where I have to do all of my chores and errands before I really dive into the shows. Of course, I'm not going to bore you with the nitty-gritty of that, so let's move on.

The above image is the dish of beads that I'm working from right now, and a little piece of the necklace. That base strip is actually done now, and today I'm going to try to add the fringe and finish it up. That's right, it's Peacock Feathers, the cousin to Phoenix Feathers!

Originally, There was going to be some black in there, because I really don't like working without a neutral. However, I'm almost out of black size 11 seed beads (again?!), so I let Chris convince me that it would be better without... He felt that the black made it too dark for a peacock. At first I doubted the combination of cobalt, gold lustre olivine, and iridescent dark tealish green without any neutral serving as a barrier, but it quickly grew on me. It definitely has the rich, decadent look of a peacock's tail plumes.

Oh, and it never fails... gem show is in town, and it's pouring rain today! I sure hope it clears up soon! I feel bad for all the vendors who are setting up today.

7 comments:

  1. Heh. Last year I bought 500gr of black 11s from Sandi and I'm down to about 370gr now.

    But I think the cobalt is probably working as a neutral with the other two -- dark blue can do that.

    I've finished the poppy necklace and have the bracelet and earrings to go. That's me, old fuddy duddy, matching sets. People don't like it, too bad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I probably need to buy about 500gr myself. I use them a lot and there tends to be a lot of culls...

    I think you're right about the cobalt. It's not normally a neutral for me, but it works well as one on this piece -- which I just finished, BTW!

    Nothing wrong with matching sets. I have 4 coordinating bracelets to go with my multi-strand blue necklace, and I ought to get some blue niobium wires and make some cute earrings. I can't wait to see your poppy necklace!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I looked to see if I have blue niobium earwires and I don't, but I have a few other findings in blue left. I'll send them to you.

    I do have purple earwires, I'll have to check those against the poppy necklace, although since I have more purple findings, maybe I should plan to use them in a single piece. What to do, what to do.

    I'm out of all the yellow I bought and I don't know that I'll be getting more niobium. I'm more a weaver, and that doesn't usually use this kind of findings.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks! I actually found a vendor today who had some anodized titanium findings, and that's what my earrings are, so I bought 4 sets of earwires and matching headpins... I got blue, bronze, purple, and blue-green. I might make something with the purple ones tonight, to wear with my purple clothes to work tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think it must be the purple day. I'm wearing purple pants and a tiedye top with purple, red, and orange. I grabbed a purple handtowel to put in the one-kitty carrier, and the exam room we were in at the internal medicine vet's was in purple. Each doctor has their own color, extending to towels and calendars.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Okay, blue niobium findings mailed off today! And there's a necklace that I expect you to take apart and use the big beads for the shop or you. I was reminded I'd set it aside when I saw one of your Etsy pieces. Some of my early stringing stuff is pretty minor, but have nice beads, so I put them aside to do something with. My grandmother taught me to weave, not string!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you, Marilee! I'll let you know when they arrive!

    My grandmothers didn't teach me anything!

    ReplyDelete