From Beyond :)

A good omen for the day! Thanks to the Lady of Lost and Found!

Found on A Path to Spirit, a great surprise to colour my day in blues and greens.

Wire

Sooner or later beadwork leads to a fling with wire. If only to make bead fringe, or clasps, you can't ignore wire for long.
And I saw such wonderful things with wire that my fingers itched to give it a try. Putting beads on a head pin was familiar stuff, my sister gave me a pair of chain nose pliers and some wire for my birthday when I was a teen. But coiling, twisting, was another matter. And I had these lovely stones lying around that just were not flat enough to use in beadwork.
A lot of trial and error followed once I had decided to try and make real real beadwork pendant. I made one using a bead and Szilviabead's excellent tutorial on Deviant Art. But how to bezel? I studied pictures, tried the classic three-wire bezel (which I did not like, too many loose ends to wrap up) and the good old puzzle wrap. And a netted bezel, this one. It's far from perfect, just as the stone is far from perfect - it's chipped on the back side. But I liked it, broken stone and broken wire becoming whole. This one I often wear. The wire is silver plated so sooner or later the copper underneath will show through, to give it a warm glow. That will only add to the charm of it, like a few gray hairs or wrinkles give a face warmth and personality. "Be whole again" I wrote when I put this one in my Deviant Art gallery. And that's what it means.
Silver plated wire, glass beads, a freshwater pearl, and a lovely fluorite.

Mother of Pearl

Ahh this one makes me nostalgic. My first mother of pearl pendant. True, there's a definite Triz influence here, but the way I found to make these pretty but irregular vintage facet beads lie the way I wanted them to was my own invention.
My sister models here. It was in those days of confusion when my sisters visited regularly to keep an eye on things and me. I had just finished this pendant, made with a beautiful mother of pearl cab. She tried it on, for the picture, and I had a hard time getting it back! Later I made another one for her, different but roughly the same technique.
And this one was the first beaded pendant I sold. I put this picture on my facebook page and the next day I Had Mail. Now the pendant's alive and well and living in Bruxelles.

red pendant

It's not all symbol-heavy stuff I make. This one, though made with more or less the same materials, is light and feminine, pleasing to the eye.
It was my second commissioned piece, the first one for someone I had never met. Scary! But I had this painted cab, the reds so beautiful next to the bronze coloured seed beads, and his lovely baroque pearl to give it a light and very feminine touch. The lady I sold it to was very pleased.

Jewel of Samarkand

Another 'oldie' from Indiana Jones' backpack. Samarkand, I thought, maybe because of a book I read. Another amulet, shielding the vulnerable heart chakra, balancing its green with the reds and golds of furious phoenixes, justified anger and hurt kept in an accessible but secure place.

I felt strong and balanced wearing this. Several people tried to buy it but I refused. This one's my shield, cross and six pointed star well hidden in its shape, golden eye promising harmony, and its final shape the symbol of Venus and Mercury combined. Well, that's how it turned out. My hands sort of went their own way on this one, a real occult rorshach for those who like that sort of thing. But without all that crap it's nice too.

Eye

Now here's an Eye to ward off all evil!
I was so proud when I finally finished it.

Now in the possession of someone who needs a good and secure ward.

Yes it's all new materials except the chain. But we thought it looked like something Indiana Jones dug up somewhere, from the tomb of some long lost queen-high priestess. Old but still filled with a powerful magic.

Modelling in this picture is my Broken Healer Hygeia, the Dustbin Dived Divinity.

Dragon Eye

No chronology in what I am showing now, just the first picture that showed up when I browsed for things to show here.

OK, this is the first Dragon Eye I made. Glass cab, painted, sealed, then beaded up and backed with black leather. I made several of these (sold a few, gave some away), people really like them. The eye as a guard from evil has a very long history. This amuletette was dreamed up only to find that eyes like these can be found all over Deviant Art etc., with the only exception that I paint my eyes myself. Duh, gave me a good lesson on synchronicity and the illusion of uniqueness.

She is the Mother

I should apologize for not showing this one first. She is the Mother of all things I make. I am a bit shy to show her, she is so close to my heart this one. Not a very good picture, that held me back.

She is the Mother.

A First

My most recent necklace. I wanted to make something with viking knit, and it had to be something from another age. A gladiator/warrior necklace.
Most of my things seem to come out as something from another era. A mythical past, a dream world where myths are living realities.

Where to begin this blog? I am a woman, mother, jewellery designer by chance. And I dream with my hands when I am making things, giving material reality to whatever is in my mind at the time.

This is my gladiator necklace. Hard times ahead, determination to face up to it all knitted in brass, hope in green glass, earthy realism in brown. Hope you like it.