Look at this... I finished a bead project and took its picture! Ok, so it's not much of a picture. I took it right here in the office, with it just sitting on my current beading work surface, so the colors are a little off and the reflections are weird, but you get the idea.This is the rivoli necklace that I was working on last week, and having a bit of trouble with. I managed to make it work after all! I thought the top two stones were both Deep Lagoon color, but the middle one is actually erinite, upon closer inspection. They're somewhat similar, but the Deep Lagoon has a warmer base color and odd, dark flashes due to having one of those special after-market coatings. It's one of the many custom colors that Betcey at Beyond Beadery carries, and the base stone is actually vintage. Oh, and the bottom rivoli is emerald. The strung section is an assortment of emerald and erinite crystals in various shapes, with the same Delicas I used for the bezel serving as spacers. The washers are actual hardware, from Home Depot, and the idea is to slip a ribbon through them and tie it at my neck, making for a nice adjustable length and a mixed-media feel.
A couple of things about this necklace: One is that it was almost free. The rivolis all have little chips or scratches on the edges, which can be hidden by bezels but which Betcey didn't feel right selling, so my co-workers and I at gem show got to take them home as a bonus ;) The crystals are all from various birthday presents and surprise packages from my friends, who know how much I love green (especially erinite and emerald!). The Delicas were from a friend who was destashing, the 15s were inherited from my friend Layne. I think I may have bought the Czech 15s from my first gem show employer, but they might also be from Layne. The only things I paid for were the thread, Beadalon, crimps and washers.
The other thing is that this is an attempt to make a necklace with steampunk inspirations, without it being obvious. Though I had the idea to do these rivolis with golden and bronze bezels before I moved, the impetus that got me moving was my new goggles. It doesn't quite match (the lenses are definitely more like the discontinued Medium Emerald Swarovski hue than the true emerald I used), but it coordinates nicely. And the genuine brass hardware washers are a nice, subtle touch, I think. I have two more that I want to turn into earrings, as soon as I find the bronze-hued titanium findings that I bought at gem show. The idea is to be able to wear it with my goggles as a nice accent to a steampunk costume, but for it to also be at home with other styles.
In other news, my website is still down. Bah. And since I was feeling a little down (physically and mentally!) yesterday, I read Jumper. All of it. I started at 3:15pm and ended before 1am, and that was with taking an hour break to play some Guild Wars, and some time for dinner. So I basically devoured the book. It was much different from the movie, better in lots of ways, worse in some (the movie is cooler, the book is deeper).
Also, I still can't find all my little spools of beading thread. Right now all I have at my disposal is my huge spool of black, and the little spool of olive that I've used for my last two projects -- neither of which are suitable for the bronze and golden brown lariat I want to start. Guess I know what I'll be doing today!
Wow, that's a great necklace! It looks like something someone would wear to a Hollywood award show!
ReplyDeleteI guess you liked Jumper some, if you read it all at once like that! True, it's not cool, it doesn't have special events or wars, but it's one of my favorite books.
What a fabulous necklace! So glad you were able to finish something, especially something this terrific :)
ReplyDeleteYou guys are too kind -- I'm glad you like it! Now I'll feel Hollywood glamorous when I wear it ;)
ReplyDeleteMarilee: I did really enjoy Jumper. I rated it a 5 out of 5 on the little Facebook book app I use :) The movie was cool in that it had a lot of great action scenes (most of which were spoiled in the trailer!), but I liked the book's treatment of Davy much better. He was a deep, well-rounded character and his anger issues gave him a realistic edge. One reason why I kept reading is because I was so caught up in the character and I wanted to see if he would overcome the darker aspects of his nature.
Chris didn't want to read the novel, since he has a long reading list right now, so I told him about it, and he thought the original story would have probably made a better movie. I do have to agree, it could have been like The Bourne Identity with a sci-fi twist, more espionage and less poorly-defined ages-old conflict.
(and so far you're doing pretty good on book recommendations for me ;) see, I told you I liked things with faeries!)
WithOUT! Without faeries!
ReplyDeleteYeah, we fans would have liked a movie based on the book, too, but when Steve signed the contract, he let the movie guys do what they wanted (and that's only fair -- few authors get the money from a movie and most need it).
ReplyDeleteI just don't understand why they felt the need to change it. Unless, of course, they just wanted an excuse to go to all of the exotic locations featured in the movie :P
ReplyDelete