Bead of the Day: "Winter Wonderland"
The last post proved to be very popular, so thank you all who made comments here on the blog and on FB - very much appreciated, especially that I realise that I need a tutorial on how to use these tiny thingies.
Yesterday was - at last! - spent at the torch. Well, half of the day to be honest. There are always things in the way when you are at home, especially near Christmas time. I won't go into detail, but in the afternoon I finally got back in front of the torch - yey! I had lots of ideas, as you do when you've been away from it for such a long time, so I started melting glass happily, feeling extremely inspired. I made several focal beads, all of them with my own murrini, decorated with goldstone, silvered ivory stringer, the base bead was out of dark irovy overlaid with crystal clear in places, and of course, lots of Double Helix Aurae - for the lovely Christmas sparkle. I love Aurae - easy to get good results and it can be reduced into so many shiny colours: silver, gold, copper, and even gold and copper - with many shades. The bead with the murrini was dedicated to the star which was born for Jesus.
However, I'm using past tense here. This is because... Sadly, all my beads broke. I work in the conservatory, and to make sure there is plenty of fresh air, I open windows and the door. Yesterday was an exceptionally windy day, so no matter how hard I was trying to keep my beads in the flame, obviously, it wasn't enough. I was sad when I saw them all cracked, but I'm not anymore. I just need to work harder. The other thing is, I like the design I've come up with, especially with the star, so I'll be using it again - and it's not windy today!
One more thing to mention: I've decided to hold a raffle for my dear blog followers, and the set of beads that I'm going to give away is almost ready, I just need to make one more bead - it's always the way, isn't it? So I'll be "officially" announcing it in a couple of days, so that the beads would get to you in time for Christmas! :)
Some of you might know that I have started working as PA, it is a part time position with London Russian Ballet School in Clapham. I am also looking after their charity "Kids Love Lambeth", so one can say that I am sort of a development officer. Despite a busy schedule and having sometimes to do bits a pieces over the weekend (like promoting performances on Facebook and in other media) I have not stopped making beads and jewellery and I still manage to sell here and there as well as write a tutorial from time to time. If anything, having to go to work has made me more focused on how I want to spend my free time, and of course when I go on my train journey there is plenty of time to think about new designs and projects.
So this is a little update on what's been happening in the "Princess Bead's Garden". I have also made new pieces for my Etsy shop, and here are the pictures. I had the "Russian Flag" pair in the shop for some time, but it became obvious that my Russian compatriots are not strong on jewellery making. So, as it is Christmas soon, I had a cunning plan and transformed them into a pretty pair of earrings, with a fashionable long loop, ready to wear. So we'll see! There is a bracelet featuring my famous "Berry! Christmas" beads, crystals and sterling silver findings. And the last one - Go, Matrioshka, go! One of the Matrioshkas, my winning stars, with a beautiful 8mm crystal on top as a sparkling crown, turned into a pendant - a truly unique piece. I have a better photo of it in the shop, but Blogger did not want to accept the portrait picture, so here it is in landscape. Talk to you soon! xx
