One can’t be somber all the time!
This brooch has a dyed and carved bone face paired with a lapidary cabochon. I should know the type of stone, but have forgotten.
The brick reds give way to warm umber beads highlighted with dark copper 15°s.
Something unearthed when digging through an abandoned brickyard perhaps? Lost beneath piles of dust and rubble for generations.
A keepsake once again.
Doesn’t this horse look like it’s won the Triple Crown? I think so. In record time too!
A lovely ecru and tan cameo brooch embellished with all manner of seed beads.
The teeny tiny gold beads are 24kt charlottes, acquired ages ago from I don’t know where. Not even sure I could find them again if I wanted to.
Maybe she’ll try a run at Ascot next year?
A bezeled cameo, strung with delicate chiffon.
This necklace is another exercise outside my comfort zone. I’m not usually one to do religious work, though the cameo is obviously that.
I think the Virgin is pretty spiffy with her red and gold crystals and matte gold beads.
There was a bit of a struggle about what type of necklace to use. I wanted something softer, less mechanical than my usual stringing.
Red chiffon ribbon, living in the stash for years was just the ticket.
Every time I look at this necklace, I think it needs to be worn by a gentrified lady wearing hoop skirts in the drawing room of a long-ago plantation.
Must be something about the colors. Or the hair style.
A Day of the Dead cameo beaded round in pink, peach and gold, strung with champagne pearls and bi-colored crystals. There are even gold beads, just because.
Now that the season of insanity (also know as Presidential elections) is over in the US, it’s time for everyone to say a little prayer. We survived!
Though I’m sure many folks watching overseas were getting quite the chuckle from the goings-on.
Onwards!
A Virgin of Guadalupe cameo, bezeled round with beads and bugles. She’ll trumpet a new beginning. Get it. Bugle. Trumpet. I couldn’t resist!
I was a bit nervous before starting this brooch, but it turned out even better than I expected. The twisting beads that make up the border add just the right pop of color, don’t you think?
As do the peach beads surrounding the cameo. Not all blue. Not all white. Just a little different.
I’ve been seeing a lot of dragonflies this summer. Some flitting around the back patio, others (alas) in the garage. I suppose it’s due to the wet Spring we had.
Seeing them inspired this brooch. The cameo is very dimensional, standing out from the blue background at least 1/4 inch.
Seed beads of various sizes make up the peyote stitched bezel. No lotus under glass this time.
The edge-work is pretty simple, having a running band of beads with crystal picots every so often. It needed something more, so I added fringe, but not too much. Just right, as Goldilocks would say.
Mum. Mum. Mum
Though I’m not at all certain if the cabochon of this brooch is in fact supposed to be a chyrsanthemum-mum-mum. Or not.
Either way, whatever botanical beauty it represents, I think I’ve done it justice.
It was fun and interesting to play with colors I don’t usually gravitate towards – blue, peach, crystal. The peach is enough of a contrast to the blue that it shows, but isn’t garish. You should have seen some of the other colors I auditioned (then shrieked at!). A more muted palette was definitely called for.
Like the other brooches I’ve been making recently, this one has faux leather and a pin on the back.
