Photos of recent work

I took some nice photos of recent work today, so I thought I might as well post them. At least it shows that I am actually powering ahead on the UFO project. I've had to have a break from that though, to make my entry for the Bead Society of Victoria's 2011 Bead Challenge competition. I'm about halfway through my entry, and then it's back to the UFOs. I've finally had some inspiration for my winged time piece, and I can't wait to get stuck into it.

This is a close-up of the pendant of the necklace that I discussed in an earlier post. It gives a good view of the vintage button used as the focal. I have been wearing this one a lot and always get compliments.

This is my latest completed piece. There's an earlier blog entry that shows the chain as it was being made. This necklace evolved several times, and really it isn't very much like my original conception! The antique buttons used in the pendants came from Button Mania and L'Uccello, both in the Nicholas building on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane. I'm going to enter this in the Member's Exhibition at the Bead Expo this year. I won't win any prizes but it's always fun to see what people think of your work.

I actually made a bail at the back of the top pendant from ultra-suede instead of beads for this one. I wanted the pendant to sit up a bit on the chain. At first I was going to make a beaded loop from the top to the bottom, but I've been caught out before with beads rubbing against other and the finish coming off, and I didn't want to risk it with these Swarovski pearls. That was when it occurred to me that I could use ultra-suede. One thing I learned from this was that, if I'm going to do that again, I should sew the ultra-suede bail on before attaching the backing to the pendant. It was quite awkward sewing it on afterwards, and the stitching is a bit messy. If I had thought it through, I could have attached it with the sewing machine and it would have been nice and neat. Oh well, next time!

These necklaces were also the subject of an earlier blog entry, and now they are completed. They aren't easy colours to wear! I find the top one goes nicely with my grey tunic though - gives it a bit of a lift so I don't look totally drab. These are both made with beads from Bead'licious and then basic diamond net chain. They are pretty and easy to wear, so I consider them to be very successful.

I have also completed another dragonscale bracelet and altered a necklace for WS, so I suppose I'm not doing too badly in the beading stakes at the moment.