Nightblooms - Flower Bracelet

I fancied a bracelet to go with my flower garland, so I made one. :-)

Here it is:


It's made from the same materials as the garland necklace, however I did not add the cocoon but replaced it with a flower crocheted from black laceweight cotton. I wanted the flower to lie fairly flat on the bracelet so it wouldn't catch on everything.


I hope you noticed the matching nail varnish. ;-)



The clasp is similar to the one on the garland with an ebony wood bead and a loop that is part of the bracelet.


Here is the flower in detail:

This set and the matching earrings I am currently contemplating will be available as a custom order in my Etsy shop where you will be able to choose the colours and length of the necklace and bracelet. The standard price will be for a longish necklace plus five flowers and one flower for the bracelet. Additional flowers will be charged extra.

For those of you curious to know how long it takes me to make a flower garland:

About 1/2 hour preparing the silk (dampening it and separating layers, cutting the cocoons in half and making scalloped edges.

About 1 - 2 hours for the necklace 'chain' itself depending on length, width and detail.

About 1 hour for making the five flowers in the green/blue garland, twice that for the gothic one because each flower centre has a crocheted flower centre.

About 1/2 hour for putting it all together.



The bracelet takes about:

1 hour for making the bracelet itself (crochet).

1 hour for preparing all the separate parts of the flower.

1/2 hour for putting it all together.

Each design will be different as the silk is shaping differently for each silk rod and I may add bits and pieces (like beads, tendrils etc) to bring out the beauty in each design and make it an individual creation.

Nightblooms - Flower Garland Necklace

Sorry guys, this one's mine. LOL

Just thought I'd get this out of the way before I show you what it is.

My latest fibre art creation. Ta-dah:


It's been made in a similar way to the other flower garland although this time I used black silky cord and deep aubergine coloured paper moire yarn.

The silk rods used are a dark burgundy red (darker than on the picture) and black.

In the centre I've used a crocheted flower made of black lace weight cotton, a lovely slightly frosted red glass bead and a black matte size 6 Miyuki bead.


Each flower is set into a maroon coloured cocoon with a scalloped edge.



Here's the clasp with the beautiful ebony bead.

Spore-Mania

Just thought I show you what Ben and I have been playing with. All the spores have been created using the Spore Creature Creature from EA Games. It is the perfect entertainment for the Summer holidays and can be played by little ones (from 3+ to 99). All you need is a computer. It's available both for PC and MAC. :-)

Ben's creations:

Cacty


Minals

Ben made that specially for me. It's got flowers all over it and it's very cute. :-)



Westi

Ben's deer ant. :-)Aspahagus

This was a creature Ben and I designed together. Reminds me a bit of Roc, a bird from mythology.



Inkfluff

Another of the creatures we designed together. Ben named it as well. :-)




Dragonicus Fiammatis

I just love dragons. Ben told me to make a fiery one, so here it is!

Dragonicus Maris

I also love sea horses, can you tell?


Leonidas

And here is what Ben calls my 'cat-monkey-wasp'. It was supposed to be a griffin-like creature....

This is as far as we got. What will your creatures look like? Go on, have a try, it really is fun!

Flower Garland Fun

Just a quick post. I wanted to show this off, but it's almost bedtime...


The garland has been made with beautiful chartreuse green string crocheted into a lovely vine complete with leaves. It has then been embellished with moss green paper moire yarn and the leaves have been filled in. The garland is closed with a little wooden bead hidden amongst a leaf and a few tendrils.



The flowers are silk rods in three colours: emerald green, kingfisher blue, golden yellow. I've also used sage green cocoons cut in half and with scalloped edges, golden natural cocoons and wooden and coconut beads.


The garland can be worn as a long necklace, wrapped around your neck twice, and in your hair (or whatever else you can think of - a scarf maybe? or wound around a green or turquoise silk scarf?) - the possibilities are endless. :-)

Chain Mail Little Seed Bracelet

This bracelet was also made a little while ago, however I couldn't decide on a feature bead so it's been waiting to be finished.


From little seeds big things grow. Don't ask me why it reminded me of that, but it had three feature beads wired to it which it all didn't like apart from this one... LOL Jewellery with a mind of it's own!


The bracelet is made from handmade copper jump rings - two different sized ovals and small round ones. I've also added a very useful and pretty little clasp that will allow the bracelet to be adjusted - tighter or larger.


I can't for the life of me remember what plant the seed is from. I bought a whole load of them a long time ago and they're just so gorgeous.


It was actually fun to make the chain mail once I'd got my head around. I started on a necklace but ran out of jump rings. I'll finish it one of these days. :-)

Happy Tears

Happy Tears Set (Earrings and Bracelet)

I made the bracelet a little while ago but it needed some earrings to go with it. I wasn't sure what design to choose for the earrings as I wanted something simple, so this is what I came up with.


The feature beads are the Bluesy Pink 1 beads I bought from Firedance beads a while back. The metal I've used is rose gold - the first time I have used this. It's funny how each metal is different to work with. I've also used white jade, frosted quartz (clear), rosy pink cherry quartz, and aquamarine. All the glass beads (including the lovely pale rose rondelle beads) are from Firedance beads.

The bracelet is a simple design of beads wired together in a chain with a pretty handmade clasp. I wanted the beads to shine and the design (I felt) therefore had to be flowing rather than complex.



The earrings are elegant and flowing, too, with the beads just strung on the wire which then was shaped and hammered to the current elliptical form.


The set is for my new wedding range which I am currently putting together - like the Fairy Queen Tiara and matching Fairy Queen corsage bracelet.

Fairy Queen Dewdrop Corsage Bracelet

I've been busy experimenting with new materials. I got the most gorgeous silk rods and cocoons from the LARKSPUR FUNNY FARM & FIBER ART STUDIO on Etsy and decided to make a corsage bracelet with some silk roses to match the tiara I made a little while back. The most difficult bit was to restrict myself and not buy the whole shop! The colours are amazing and they're even better in real life than on the pictures in the shop.




I started off with the band. It was made from the same silk/steel yarn and paper moire yarn I've used for the tiara. I made two ribbons of the same size in the paper moire and then a third but this was crocheted in gunmetal wire. I sandwiched the gunmetal ribbon between the two paper moire ribbons to get a sturdy base. Then I embellished it with lace made with the silk/steel yarn and lots of tiny Japanese beads.


I added a little lip to one end and a flowery embellishment for the button to go through so the bracelet could be closed securely.



Next, I had to fabricate the roses. Grace from the Larkspur Funny Farm & Fibre Art Studio was extremely helpful. I had never worked with either silk rods nor with cocoons and was a bit at sea as of how to use it and prepare it. She patiently answered all my questions in great detail and, finally, I felt ready to play. :-)

Here's a picture of the materials I used:


Three strips in two colours of the silk rod (old gold and natural). These were prepared by moistening them with water and then gently peeling the layers apart. With a little patience I managed to get two layers. I then patted them dry and went over them with a rolling pin to flatten the fibre after all the handling. The golden cocoon (a natural cocoon rather than a 'grown' cocoon was also moistened with water so I could gently pull it into the shape I wanted.



I've also used some dark green cocoons that I cut into two halves and then I created scalloped edges with some embroidery scissors.


Next, I attached Swarovski and Czech faceted beads (the same ones I used on the tiara) to the centre of the golden cocoons and attached 3 layers of silk rod, stuffed each into the green cocoon halves and finally attached them all to the bracelet.



It was a lot of work but I think the result is quite natural, and every fairy queen would love to have one for her wedding. :-)

Here are a couple of pictures that show the corsage bracelet being worn:


I am planning to make a few hair pins and other items to embellish hair with the silk rods and cocoons. Some will match this set, others will be a riot of colour. It's all planned out (in my head). LOL Check back soon.