More cats. Silver kitten and Photo Bomb Kitty.

Two more wire cat designs.

The first one is in sterling silver caging a 25x18 mm black onyx cabochon, the second one was made for my mother in law showing two cats, in antiqued copper. I named it "Photo Bomb Kitty".

A year in pictures. February 2014 - May 2014

I have a lot of catching up to do... it's been almost a year since my last post.

Let my guide you through it thru pictures.

February 2014 - May 2014.

Peridot "Snakes"

I ordered some AA 3 mm Peridot rondelles a while ago from Beadsonsale.com, but they've sent me some (probably) A+ grade 4 mm faceted rounds instead. It wasn't worth the trouble of sending them back, so I've put them away - they've been lying around in my drawer for months now, never knew what to do with them. 4mm is the worst possible size in beads for me, I'm always having trouble finding a use for them. I tend to use either smaller or larger beads in my designs. Then I remembered the "Christmas Tree" earrings I made last December....

...and going through my sketches I found a variation I planned of doing, but completely forgot about. And the 4 mm Peridots seemed just the perfect size for it. The earrings turned out a little on the large side (and there seems to be a larger demand for earrings than earring and pendant sets, anyway), so I've decided not to make a pendant/necklace to match...

...instead I made a bracelet. It is light, delicate, with an understated elegance, and it looks great on the wrist.

Click on the images for larger pics.

Garnet Chandeliers

A few months back, I made a pair of delicate Victorian-style garnet earrings that I liked very much. But my sister liked them too, maybe even more than I did, so we "struck a bargain" at Christmas: I kept the carnelian DNA-earrings I originally made for her (they were just a little bit too large on her), and she got to keep the Victoria earrings instead.

But then, after I got back from Transylvania in January, I would often find myself rummaging through the jewelry drawer for something red with silver... I had made many coral pieces with copper over the past two years, but garnet was what I was really looking for.

So I've finally decided to make a similar pair of earrings for myself...

Now I find myself looking for an occasion just to wear them, or an outfit to pair them with...

My sister's earrings, smaller and more delicate:

And mine, a bit larger and bulkier, but still quite elegant:

Teardrops

Two entries back I started grouping my older designs based on basic forms, shapes and design elements.

After spirals, leaves, flowers and branches I'll continue with teardrops - a very popular and quite versatile form, which lends itself to a variety of design possibilities.

I've created all kinds of teardrop shaped earrings and pendants in the past two years, but my favorites are the ones that include some woven element...

Here are my best pieces:

Inspired by Nature

Nature is an endless source of inspiration: I've made branches, leaves, flowers, tree of life pendants and even DNA-themed earrings and necklaces.

For the latter, my favorite design, I got the original idea from a pair of earrings my friend, Aniko Sandor made a number of years back,   I took from her the idea of twisting a long rectangular frame into a double-helix, but I used different techniques to fill out the frame, with visually very distinctive  results.

"Double Helix" Earrings:

"Double Helix" Necklaces:

Branches. My fingers hurt so badly after days of weaving this set, I don't think I'll ever venture to make anything similar to it. And I like the result so much, I might never be able to part with it.
 

Woven Leaves:

And flowers:

Rays

In my previous entry I mentioned the "sunray" theme, and I felt I needed to elaborate a little on it.
 
This is a design element where a series of rays start out from a row of beads, ending on a (semi)circle, resembling to some degree the sun in children's drawings. Although the rays restrict the design possibilities a little bit, they also have an effect of low-keyed elegance. That doesn't mean you can't play with the color scheme, the shape of the frames, and use of metals, maybe even mixing them.
 
Here are a few creations in this style: