Bellydance Costume

Sometimes I put my beading supplies and skills to work for my bellydance costuming needs -- although I would like to point out right here and now that I did NOT make all of that green seed bead fringe, because I hate doing fringe and that much would take forever and be really boring, since it's just one size and color of bead. No, I totally cheated and bought that stuff pre-made on eBay.

What I did, however, is add some extra fringe made with freshwater pearls, Czech glass beads and Swarovski crystals for extra visual interest. And I raided my chain supply for some nice looking copper chain. As for the pretty copper diamond medallions, those were sent to me by my beading and bellydancing friend SaraBeth. I'm glad I found the perfect project for them!

Someday I'd like to do a really intricate beaded belt and bra set, even though that's not really the fashion for my style of bellydance. I just think it would be awesome to make one. But for now I have a lot of easier dance costume projects in the queue ahead of that idea.

Back to destashing!

I'm doing some spring cleaning on my bead collection, tidying up and reorganizing and rediscovering things that I forgot. This is also serving as good inspiration to list some of my excess beads on Etsy! I have entire hanks of Czech glass leaves that I really only need one or two strands of, so it's time to get them listed again.

I started with these grape leaf beads because I think they are just perfect for Summer designs. Such a nice clean, crisp color!

There are more leaves and other shapes of beads coming soon, so keep an eye on the Destash Beads section of my shop.

Sunny Seattle Summer

 This bracelet takes its name from the fact that I started it during my Summer vacation in Seattle, where it was beautiful and sunny and wonderfully fun. Of course, I didn't finish it until the end of October, but the colors still remind me of my trip.

 I used Jean Power's Caldera pattern which will be in Contemporary Geometric Beadwork! It's the same technique as the Power Puff but with a more complicated pattern which creates endless waves of chevrons. I love the white borders between the various greens and teals.

 I was originally going to do olive and bronze, but let's face it, I do that too much! I needed a summer brights bracelet.

Now that it's finally done, I am ready for more beadweaving and embroidery! I think I am going to particpate in NaSeBeMo, which is like NaNoWriMo but for seed beading instead of writing. Weaving and embroidery every day! Woo!

Allegory Gallery Late for June

 My new goal is to tackle all of my monthly obligations early, instead of putting them off until the end and then suddenly not have time for everything. There's really no good reason for me to be posting my June project more than a week into July, so expect to see my July project next week rather than rushed in at the end of the month.

These chandelier earrings feature three types of beautiful beads from Allegory Gallery. First, the yummy translucent green AB leaves, which have the most delightful luster. Next, some tiny fire polished beads in a nice metal-lined medium emerald green. Finally, the cutest little vintage Japanese beads, which came on a looooong loop of the original thread, with the original Made in Japan sticker. It was hard to cut that strand! They were just so adorable as-is! I wanted to wear the strand like a long necklace, but it probably would have snapped some time when I was out to dinner, sending tiny green beads rolling under tables, perhaps even causing a waitress to slip and spill a tray. Any plan that involves injuries and lost beads is not a good one.

Anyway, I took all these sweet beads and I dangled them from a really cool pair of Sterling Silver chandelier findings that I've had forever, to make a simply gorgeous pair of earrings. I have plenty of beads leftover (especially the vintage ones), so I think I'll have to make a matching necklace.

 Disclaimer: Some items in this blog post were provided for promotional consideration by Allegory Gallery.

Allegory Gallery: Seelie Bracelet

 Spring is here, which means it's time for cute little sundresses! And cute little sundresses need fun, casual jewelry in Spring colors! Thankfully I had these funky bright green beads from Allegory Gallery, just waiting to be made into the perfect bracelet. They're some sort of glass with an interesting coated and drizzled effect. I haven't seen anything like them before and I'm curious to see how they'll hold up. Allegory Gallery also provided the silver-lined clear cube beads. I don't often use cubes in my beadweaving, but they make really cute spacers, especially since this bracelet has a rectangular focal.

And what a focal it is! The little charm is a pewter piece from Green Girl Studios. The back features a quote from a WB Yeats poem: "Come away oh human child, to the waters and the wild." I love the poem and I love the faerie. I have 3 or 4 of these charms, so since this is a bright Seelie bracelet for Spring and Summer, I think I'll make a dark Unseelie one for Fall and Winter.

 Little Swarovski crystal bicones in Light Olivine add just a touch of sparkle. The glass beads have large holes, so the 3mm crystals help keep everything lined up perfectly. Plus I really feel that a bracelet like this looks better with 3 types of beads than two.

Check out what the rest of the team is up to!

Peggy Li

Sally Russick

Penny Neville

Cindy Cima Edwards

AJ Reardon

Amy Cousin

Genea Crivello-Knable

Brenda Salzano

Shannon Chomanczuk

Charlene Sevier

Jess Prill

Rebecca Anderson

FTC disclaimer: Some beads in this post were provided for free in return for promotional consideration.

Remember the Muffin Tin?

I made this necklace as part of the Muffin Tin Challenge earlier this year and then never got it listed on Etsy. This was the only photo that turned out from the first batch so I had to take more. Then only one turned out from the second batch! So I'm still waiting to add a close-up to the listing, but if you like what you see from a distance you can make Green Guardian Dragon Necklace your very own.

And if you're wondering why I didn't keep this one, since I love olive green and bronze together, and I love dragons, the simple answer is that I already have necklaces in this color scheme that I like even better. It's pretty similar to my Garuda necklace, in fact, so I felt like it was best to put this one in the shop and let some other green-lover add it to her collection.

And now, Treasuries!

It's time for another Wednesday Treasury round-up! Above is my FAETeam Treasury Tuesday collection, featuring an assortment of green items perfect for Halloween costumes. The funny thing is that I keep making all of these Halloween treasuries, but I haven't planned what I'm going to BE for Halloween. I'll probably just cobble something together from my closet as usual!

My fantasy jewelry was included in two FAETeam treasuries yesterday. First, you can find my tribal skull necklace in Creepy and Kooky, and you can find a filigree steampunk necklace in Victorian Fae. Two themes I love!

Treasury Tuesday Makes Me Dance!

Ok, so I felt like making a belly dance treasury. I decided to step out of the FAETeam box again and just make a treasury full of whoever I felt like featuring. I did put fellow FAE Mermaiden in there, because every dancer needs at least one of her chiffon roses. I have two and they are LOVELY. I will have to get more, to match my other costumes. The two I have are, big surprise, green, but I do occasionally wear other colors when I dance.

This particular treasury was inspired when I saw the silver hair pin and silver bindi in my suggested items feed on Etsy. They just went perfectly together, and I knew there were plenty of items in my favorite belly dance shops that would go with them. I played "Monochrome" by Collide to help inspire me.

I was also included in a Treasury, which was made before Tuesday, but I'm going to include it in this post because it's so pretty:

Operation: Buried in Beads III -- Code Name Muffin Tin

 I'm starting to imagine Operation: Buried in Beads as a series of really bad 1980s-style action movies. For those who are new to my blog, Operation: Buried in Beads is what I call my ongoing project to use up my ridiculous stash of beads. My efforts are thwarted by my own bad habit of buying more beads even when I haven't used or put away the results of the last few shopping trips.

The Muffin Tin Challenge was a really good way for me to use up a lot of those extra beads. For instance, the necklace above (called Whatever Faeries Think About, but not yet listed) used up an entire strand of black lava beads, and a polymer focal that I bought years ago.

 Catch of the Day, which I just listed on Etsy today, allowed me to not only use a really cute octopus clasp from Green Girl Studios, but also the rest of the black lava strand that I used most of the other week, and the last of some tiny green glass beads that I've had forever.

This necklace is neither named nor listed yet, but it allowed me to use up two partial strands of glass beads, the last of the chartreuse luster ovals, and the last of the golden bronze pearls that I've been nursing along for almost as long as I've been in business. Well, not quite. There was an odd number of the glass beads and pearls, so there's one of each left, but don't worry, I'm going to hang them from a hair pin, so they'll be used up soon. Oh yes, and the pretty olive and gold polymer dragon was also purchased years ago. I probably intended to keep it for myself, but let's face it, I have WAY too many necklaces and the other green-loving dragon-lovers of the world deserve some one of a kind jewelry, too.

I actually used up a lot of other stuff that has been around for way too long, but I ran out of time to edit pics today, so I'll get to those later this week.

Just for fun

 It seems like I don't do a lot of beading just for the fun of it anymore. Everything that I make is either to sell, to use my beads from Artbeads, or to fill a spot in my wardrobe. But this ring was created just because I saw the pattern and I wanted to try to make a ring. I used five colors of Delicas, and by colors I of course mean "shades of olivine." The sad thing is this is probably not even close to all the shades of olivine I have. I added some 2mm Swarovski crystals in olivine to the edges and the center, because I felt like the design needed some embellishment and if I'm going to wear a giant cocktail ring, it should have some sparkles.

The pattern was posted on Facebook to promote Geometrics by Dustin Wedekind and Kate McKinnon. I'm pretty excited about the book, I think it will probably be just about everything that a bead book should be, and it's being written right here in Tucson!

Speaking of things made in Tucson, on the lefthand side of my blog you will now find a Kickstarter link for Autopsy Bears. This morbidly adorable (adorably morbid?) project is the brainchild of my dance teacher Fonda and one of her friends. I've already made my pledge and I really want my bear, so if you'd like to support some crazy Tucson artists, please consider singing up to be a backer.

Treasuries!

I've got rings on my mind. I'm working on one based on a preview tutorial posted to promote Dustin and Kate's Geometrics book, and trying to dream up my own designs that I could make and sell. Rings are all over the beadosphere right now, but my treasury is mostly full of chainmaille and wirework. And of course, they're all from FAETeam!

Last week, I also made Look, I just really like green! A few FAETeam pieces are included, but the main theme is green things from my favorite items and favorite shops.

One of my tribal necklaces is included in Peacock Tales by Mermie. Apparently peacocks are in, of course, in belly dance land they're always in. We love decadence!

Beautiful Treasuries!

Here we are at another Wednesday, which means it's time to take a look back at Tuesday! I was only included in one Treasury this week, but what a beauty it is! Click on any of the items in the Widget to have a closer look.

Our weekly theme was something May-ish, so I curated a collection called Adornments for the May Queen, which gave me an excuse to showcase things which were beautiful and green (or photographed on a green background).

I've also been quite busy adding new things to my shop Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs, so be sure to drop in!

Preview for a new product line

This may look like one of the usual crystal bracelets that I make, but I assure you that it's something new! Instead of using standard Japanese seed beads between the crystals, I've used tiny metal seed beads. Yes, real metal! I made this one with silver, but I also have some beautiful brass that would be perfect for steampunk designs. Right now I'm giving the green and silver one a test-drive, and if it holds up well I'll be adding them to my selection of handmade bracelets at Erthe Fae Designs.

Happy Green Day!

Ok, yes, technically it's St. Patrick's Day, not Green Day, but I am really, really, really not Catholic. My family is so predominantly protestant that I don't think I'd even met anyone of the Catholic faith until I was around 15, and that was only on the internet. And though I do credit my Irish heritage with giving me pale skin, freckles, and red highlights in my hair, Irish is only one of about 8 nationalities that make up my heritage, so I wasn't even raised with Irish cultural heritage. I think my Mom made corned beef and cabbage once in my childhood -- and I hated it. I still refer to corned beef as "zombie beef" due to the fact that I was reading Xanth books at the time, and zombies in Xanth are pickled.

So to sum up: I am not Catholic. I am Irish, but they are probably going to take away my Irish license for the zombie beef joke. And I am a colossal nerd.

So I like to think of March 17th as the day where everyone pretends to love green as much as I do! Hooray! Let's all wear green! And eat green food! And drink green beverages!

To celebrate, let's look at some beautiful green jewelry from my shop! Above, the always-popular Turtle Talisman necklace.
Medeine, a woven spiral rope necklace in soft shades of green, perfect for Spring.
This crystal beadwoven bracelet is made with two richly saturated shades of green. I call it Marsh.
Verdant Pageantry is a very elegant pair of chandelier earrings, adorned with drops of my favorite stone -- malachite!
Eternal Spring earrings feature crystals, cane glass, and lovely opalescent green leaf beads.

This is just a small selection of the beautiful handmade jewelry available from Erthe Fae Designs. There's plenty more in green, and even some in other colors, too :)

Custom Jade Earrings

Right before Christmas, I sold a Medusa necklace made with Nephrite Jade, Lizardite (whatever that is!), and Swarovski pearls. A few days ago, I received a convo on Etsy from the customer wanting matching earrings, so I made these. Nice and simple. I love the Nephrite Jade, it has a beautiful translucent avocado sort of color. Actually, I like it so much that I used most of the rest of the strand in a cool necklace for a friend of mine, which I will probably post tomorrow :) I hope Rings & Things has more next time they're in Phoenix for a trunk show!

Fun fact: Even though I shamelessly plug Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs on a daily basis at this blog, and have a big Etsy widget, I have been getting more visits to my shop from my dance blog, where I don't mention my shop and just have one little link to it! But SEO demands that I keep mentioning it here to raise my Google rankings.

I'd blog more, but right now there are a couple of little corgis who would like my attention!

A zebra in a dirigible!

I don't normally decorate for the holidays. Chris and I don't "do" Christmas, and even if we did, where would we put a Christmas tree without it getting destroyed by the cats and/or the corgis? But this year I was feeling sad about my lack of decor, so I decided to do something about it. After hitting JoAnn's and World Market (armed with coupons and sales fliers, because I am a savvy shopper), I put together this adorable semi-steampunk wreath.

The base is a pre-made fake evergreen wreath. I didn't realize how off-round it was until after I took the photo, so I may need to bend the wire frame a bit to fix it. I added a bunch of picks from the holiday floral decor section, and a couple ornaments from World Market (the zebra in the dirigible and the starburst). It's green, it's festive, it's sparkly, and it's non-religious. Perfect for my non-descript winter holiday celebration!

My Maine Coon mix Topher was very interested in it while I was assembling it (I hung it on the door and stuck stuff on it and rearranged until it look right), but he's been ignoring it since I finished, so hopefully I won't come home from class tomorrow and find that he's taken a flying leap from the couch and pulled it off the door!

Don't forget that it's not too late to make YOUR holiday more green and sparkly with a purchase from Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs (I think that's my most shameless plug yet).

Dance goal update: Last night's practice was running through our song for recital a couple of times. Not anywhere near half an hour, but there was all that chair dancing earlier in the day.

Colors of Fall -- Artbeads.com Blog Partner

I made this necklace a while ago, but it was a surprise for a friend in Canada, so I had to wait for the sloooow post office to get it to her! Now that it is finally in her hands, I can post it all over the internet!

Back at the start of Autumn, Artbeads.com invited its blog partners to pick out items for a Colors of Fall theme. One of their suggestions was to use the Pantone Fall 2010 Color Report as a guideline, and that was the option I chose. I really liked the color Woodbine, a warm and rich olive, so of course I made that my focus by choosing a focal and accents from the Ceramic Beads category and some really saturated Czech Glass. The focal also has touches of Endive, and on-line the brown looked similar to Chocolate, but it turned out to be more red in person, so I put some very chocolate-y brown lava beads from my own stash into the mix, as well as some red tiger's eye to draw in the warm red-brown in the ceramics, and some pearls to pull everything together. You can't see it in the image, but the necklace is finished with a bamboo-patterned, gold-plated Pewter Toggle Clasp.

My original plan had been to do a bead embroidered focal with the bamboo pendant, but it turned out to be much too large, thick and heavy to use as a cabochon. This is a high-quality focal that is nicely detailed on both sides. The focal and the accent beads both have generous amounts of gold paint accents, and I was overall pleased with the quality. The Czech glass and Tierra Cast brand toggle were both up to the high standards I expect from those materials as well. As always, Artbeads.com packaged everything up nicely and shipped it in a timely manner.

And speaking of the lovely folks at Artbeads.com, they're kicking their Black Friday sale off early! If you feel like taking a break from getting ready for the holiday and doing a little bead shopping, you can use code ZZ-THANKSGIVING-SALE to get 20% off your order of $60 or more.

FTC Disclosure: Federal regulations stipulate that I need to tell you, dear readers, that Artbeads.com provided the items from the above-linked categories to me for free, in return for review and promotional consideration. I receive no additional compensation for my reviews, and I of course give my honest opinion of what I receive.

Now if you'd like to see more of my work, please head on over to my Etsy shop, Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs.

Special Weekend Etsy Update

It's been a busy, rather emotional week, so I unfortunately did not list any new items on Etsy, but I do have a few Etsy related things that I'd like to share with you.

First, my SEO efforts on items like the above-pictured Beaded Pomegranate Faerie Necklace (aka, The Hungriest Pixie Ever) are starting to pay off. I did a little Googling last night and was pleased to find that Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs is the #1 Google result for handmade fantasy jewelry! My visits are still low, but at least I know that it's getting easier and easier for people to find my shop. I even found a pair of my Steampunk Key Earrings on a search for handmade steampunk jewelry.

Then today, when I logged into my shop to do more SEO work (it never ends!), I found that Etsy has given me the capability to offer coupons! I'd like to be able to use this to do some great holiday sales, but if you'd like to get a head start on the other shoppers and help me test the system, you can use the code "yaycoupon" to get 10% off your order!

In FAETeam news, our latest Gift Guide is Decorate for the Holidays with FAETeam. Although the main focus is ornaments, there's also a tree topper, a few holiday-themed prints, some greeting cards, and a few decorations well-suited for your mantle, centerpiece, or desk to lend a little festive cheer.

I also curated a treasury just for fun. Green and Magical is pretty self-explanatory, I think.

This week's cool find is VooDooBunny. I saw her featured on another blog and her shop has several items that I might have to buy as holiday gifts!

Teal 'n' Green

Teal 'n' Green is a Lincoln Street Bracelet from Rachel Nelson-Smith's Seed Bead Fusion book. The only real change I made to her great design is that I of course used a button and loop clasp instead of a magnetic clasp. I worked my bracelet in teal on one side and green on the other, with white accents for both sides.
Green Side!
Teal Side!

This bracelet was a lot of fun to make. The directions make it seem a little difficult, but once I started weaving it, it really all made sense. And Teal 'n' Green has the special distinction of being my first (and so far, only) international beading project, as I did some work on it while I was in Aruba.

Sneaky Sunday

I don't normally post on weekends, since I'm usually pretty busy -- and definitely don't expect any more weekend posts from me for the rest of the month, as I have major plans almost every weekend. But! I'm having a quiet Sunday afternoon, so I thought I'd sneak in here and share a picture of Teal 'n' Green, my version of the Lincoln Street bracelet from Rachel Nelson-Smith's Seed Bead Fusion book.

More pictures tomorrow!