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Total matches for beaded: 87

Snow Melt

Snow Melt

Comprised of some leftover wire from another project, a bunch of beads I've been wanting to use together, and a whole lot of wishful thinking when it comes to when winter "actually ends" in New England. I just really wanted to do something simple and light and different, and I did actually enjoy this project even if getting back to the finishing fiddly bits took... about a month-ish.

Currently available to buy.

Bite Me

Bite Me

I think I spent as much time waiting for supplies to arrive as I did actually putting them together. It started so simply, this: finally using some beads that I had been keeping together for... years... as well as a few new ones I'd traded for recently, and I'd wanted to try something new with the multi-strand thing. Then, as is The Way of Things, Getting Ideas made it all a little more complicated, and some things I'd wanted to make use of didn't work out, so I got different ones, and finally this is a thing that's complete!

I was initially inspired by diamondback rattlesnake patterning and then just kind of meandered from there. Obviously I enjoyed adding "fang" beads and some "droplets" of red pearl at the bottom, but the actual title of the necklace drifted into being a little before that. Gotta entertain myself somehow, you know.

Really happy with how this turned out even if it did take F O R E V E R to space out every individual row to fall exactly where/how I wanted it to. Nine rows of beads, where seven of them had to work perfectly with the one above and below it, but the top and bottom gave me a little wiggle room up until the very end when everything got attached to the clasp. Which, by the way, is successfully comfortable against the back of my neck. But, it's been designed specifically so that the clasp can be changed at the buyer's request, because it took me quite a while to decide on a slide clasp as opposed to various types of multiple trigger/spring clasps. It was an adventure I'm not sure I want to repeat, is kind of the point, but I'm still glad I did the thing.

Currently available to buy!

Dreaming of Spring

Dreaming of Spring

Well. I failed the assignment to do something simple with these components, but I did manage to something different and interesting. Also admittedly the actual inspiration for this whole thing was being deeply offended by a necklace that was made of real silver but fake turquoise. Yeah, this'll... show you, probably rich designer who hasn't done your own jewelry making in who knows how many years. ...Lucky.

Anyway. Most of my gratitude for these truly gorgeous materials goes to a friend who traded me shinies for shinies (and leather! and cookies!). It took a long while of staring at the shiny pile before deciding what I wanted to do. Generally I cringe at the idea of just putting things on a string, because I... cannot do something that bores me. So I complicated. Things. But in an interesting way! And I wanted to do earrings again anyway, so. Many many simple things all jumbled together in labradorite, malachite, turquoise and silver. And predictably trying to get all the colors and flash to photograph was very difficult, but additional challenges.

Also I guess there's technically a whole lot of illustrating things I've learned and ways to improve the strength and comfort of supposedly simple things. It's where the complications come from!

Currently available for sale.

Date: 08 June 2024
Prickles

Prickles

At long last, Prickles the Cockasaurus Wrecks is here, with many accessories!

Full disclosure: I've been wanting to do this for many, many years. I've also been looking for the inspiration, but alas, Tomopop's archives are not quite helpful and it was way back at the start of the indie vinyl figure craze, so I'm not sure if I'll ever manage to find the figures again, but once I laid eyes on a whole table full of cutesy cartoony chibi-style anthropomorphic vulva vinyl figures for sale, I felt the weird need to create balance in the universe. My first go of this idea was actually a huge clay sculpture that started off very rough and gradually became """realistic""", but eventually I scrapped that because it just wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. Many years later, I finally decided I should just go with what I know, what I'm good at. Prickles was born! All in all, he's actually a full 21.5 inches in length from head to tail-tip, approximately 9 inches tall to his hips, and about 8 inches wide across the knees in his current pose (13.5 inches for the feet, in his current pose).

My plan was always to have a few fashionable accessories to go with, but I kind of decided what they'd be on the fly. I very much wanted wings, so I went with beaded felt wings with iridescent paint on the underside. The slouchy sweater was already a nebulous idea, but just got confirmed by a lovely patron an of course rainbow yarn was the only option. I definitely needed a hat, but the floppy yellow hat with a flower theme came to be in the moment, and the bandana was due to an old silk blend shirt that's been falling apart for years that I love the color of, and between my partner's suggestion of "something green" and my own desire to use the fabric for something fun, plus a few color-shift green/gold/purple beads, the bandana was born.

As for accessories I did not create: the cuff that the wings were built on, the pearl cuff and the lock cuff were all gifted to me by my housemate's mother who pretty much handed me a bag full of department store and costume jewelry to either use or donate somewhere. ...I dismantled all of it and have been gleefully putting it to my own uses. As one might expect.

Let me be clear here: Prickles is meant to be fun, silly, irreverent, and very much an art doll of my usual standards. His legs and toes are fully wired for poseability, and the rest is firmly-stuffed but still soft and squishy. This is a joyful piece of art that amuses me. It's also a protest piece against puritanical bullshit that cannot be escaped or looked away from in this year of 20-fucking-23. It is unapologetically weird, dumb, fun, and... wholesome in its own strange way. This is sex-positive and life-affirming and not in any way a black mark on my long line of charity chocobos or adorable plushes. I did this. I made this. This is mine and I could not be happier with the way it turned out.

Currently For Sale!

What It Wants

What It Wants

The heart wants. You know how it is.

Upon fully disassembling a bag of random shinies given to me, I made plans to use bits and pieces. ...I then immediately lost track of those plans and have been doing whatever I want since, but this one kind of begged to happen. The rhinestone heart centerpiece was just on a boring silver chain, and what good is that? It deserves more. Most of the beads were the ones gifted to me, but there are plenty of others I've had for years that could be tossed in. Hey, I tried for simple, I mostly succeeded.

Currently Available.

Date: 22 March 2022
Winter Nights

Winter Nights

I keep trying not to quote "Zooropa" lyrics, but that's exactly what this feels like to me. I'm deeply happy with the result but this is not a project that I saw coming. Whoops? Very sparkly whoops?

The blue really hits you first, that luscious indigo/cobalt/color of dark sky not-quite-black. And then then the little purples and greens are definitely there when you start inspecting it. Which is, basically, impossible to show in 10 pictures, let alone 20, but I tried. Lighting matters, obviously. I had all these beads and I wanted to use them. So I did. Exciting stuff, this. It was just really nice to have no plans and come out of a two day project which should probably not have been a two day project *cough* with... well, sparkly.
Currently Available.

Date: 09 February 2022
Despite the Inevitability of Death, I Will Live in Defiance

Despite the Inevitability of Death, I Will Live in Defiance

This one's been kicking around in my head for a while, in various forms. I picked up the Swarovski skull before anything else, seemingly ages ago... and wouldn't you know it, I never actually checked to make sure the hole was properly drilled all the way through. It wasn't, but I make it work. Like I made one broken scale bead work. Is the back a mess? Yes. That's because all these strings required extra lines, knots, and additional stabilization to make it wearable. I played with the band design for quite some time and find this to both be comfortable and sit around the neck in the way I wanted it to, plus it's incredibly customizable for the person who ultimately wishes to own it.

Basically, I wanted a sincerely impossible to miss, apparently impossible to photograph, comfortable and strong piece of """statement jewelry""" and am remarkably happy with the result. For the record, the top center jewel actually isn't black, but "dark rainbow", and getting the camera to pick up the subtle blend of darker colors is... not... a great time. I tried. The jewel which drops from that is, like the tiny jewel between the larger ones, a crystal which reflects the full color spectrum depending on the light and your position while viewing it. It's a screaming rainbow disasterpiece.
(For sale.)

Date: 19 April 2021
I Could Strangle You With a String of Beads

I Could Strangle You With a String of Beads

Long, long ago, I came across an article with a very dismissive tone which stated that working with beads was inherently useless. Beads were not useful for anything but decoration, and therefore it was kind of ridiculous to choose to work with them. My thought upon reading this article... is the title of the piece. I've never come across it again despite looking, though I have found similar articles. None have had the same dismissive tone, luckily. Makes me wonder if it was edited at some point, but some years later... at least there's this.

Admittedly, it's exactly what it looks like: I dug through my bead drawers and tried to come up with a decent selection of different beads to string together into a lariat necklace. With a Swarovski skull dangle at the bottom, of course. My sentiment remains, with or without the article existing.
(For sale.)

Date: 19 April 2021