Let's start with new colours in familiar designs. I've done a bunch of new colours in my pearl bracelets. As you'll see, I've expanded into some brighter colours for the summer months. These are made with glass pearls and seed beads and have lobster claw clasps so I can add an extender chain and make them adjustable if need be. They are $20.
The first is a combination that makes me think of August in the Okanagan, of multitudes of grasshoppers singing in the sun baked hills. It's caramel pearls with gold-core green seed beads.
The next bracelet features the same gold-core green seed beads but has green pearls. I suppose it's the June or July to the previous bracelet's August. Or more of an herb garden.
The final piece using these seed beads has violet pearls and is definitely more of a flower garden or summer meadow. I really love this combination. I'll almost definitely do a necklace in it at some point.
Sticking to the violet and green theme, I also have a set with green pearls and some lovely oily-finish violet seed beads. Kind of a reversal of a green "vine" with violet blooms.
I also did one with those same oily-finish violet seed beads with lilac/lavender pearls. This one is cooler in tone.
And to finish off the range of purples, I have one with the violet pearls and iris seed beads. The violet pearls really bring out the pink iridescence in the finish on the iris beads.
The next few bracelets all feature navy blue pearls. The first one is relaxing, deep and cool with silver seed beads.
The next features a bit more contrast -- in fact, its opposite on the colour wheel -- in the form of clear copper-core seed beads. I feel like the copper makes the blue pop more vibrantly. And I don't know why, but I feel like copper is the metal of summer.
The final navy blue piece features blue copper-core seed beads which give a more muted version of the previous design while adding extra depth through the second shade of blue.
I'll fess up I did also do a few more neutral pearl bracelets. I noticed when posting my previous batch of photos that I was out of white with silver, so I made one to go with the necklace I have.
I also decided to try a white with iris. I was delighted by the result. It's very delicate and feminine and airy.
I also brought some colour to white pearls with the icy blue seed beads I've come to love. You've probably already seen them with dark grey or black pearls, but I can't believe I didn't mix them with white before, because it's gorgeous.
Which brings us to necklaces, because I loved this combination so much that I made a necklace in it. Here it is on my snazzy new bust. Like my other single-strand pearl necklaces, it's $39.
I also have a couple new multi-strand designs to show you.
The first is in sun-kissed gold tones. It's an asymmetrical two-strand design of white pearls with bright gold seed beads and caramel pearls with clear brown seed beads. I have a few shots so you can get a good sense of it, and a close-up of the filigree box clasp.
The next is a triple-strand center with a single strand chain. It's a design I came up with to make a triple strand necklace more manageable in terms of time and materials. The single strand chain is a new design featuring white pearls and grey-silver core seed beads. This is attached to a lovely silver-coloured three-to-one connector which is in turn connected to light grey, dark grey, and black lines of pearls with iris seed beads. It's quite long and I need to get a larger bust to display it properly.
That's it for pearls. I actually have a couple more bracelets to show you. They are two versions of lace stitches with seed beads.
The first is done with grey silver-core seed beads and is horizontal lace. Because of the number of beads in each loop, it ends up curling or ruffling, which I'll fess up was by accident but I thought it was pretty fun so I kept it.
The next one is more of a cuff. It's vertical lace made with pink pearl-finish seed beads and edged with black pearl-finish or hematite-finish seed beads. It looks really fun emerging from a long sleeve, but I think it could be pretty funky summer-wear too.
Back to necklaces. I have another familiar design with new colours. It's a daisy chain with bugle bead leaves in blue. So it's a forget-me-not chain. here it is on my new bust and then a bit more of a closeup on my old flat stand. Like its violet sister, it's $30.
And the final piece I want to show you isn't new at all, but I am forever trying to get a good photo of it. Here's my latest effort, on my new bust: Treasures of the Deep.
And that brings this really long entry to a close. I am busily at work on new beach glass pieces for the show as well, since everything I've posted photos of before is over at the Maritime Museum. I may or may not have time to post photos before the show on the 12th, but even if I don't get pictures up, they will be there.
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