My entry for the Etsy BeadWeavers July challenge was truly challenging! I had no trouble at all finding what I wanted to use for the focal piece. I don't remember where I got it originally, but I've had this gorgeous brass brooch for many years and could never bear to part with it. As soon as I saw the theme, Midsummer Night's Dream, I knew I'd use it somehow.

The pin never worked properly, as it would always come undone. I can't tell how many times I was stabbed by that silly thing, even over the past couple of weeks while I tried to decide how to incorporate this into some beadweaving. I originally thought to make a cuff using fabric and beads and leaving the pin intact, but it's such a large piece that I gave up on that idea. It would have been nice, perhaps, to leave the pin on so someone could use it as a pin or a cuff, but oh well.

Eventually, I opted to create a spiral rope for the pendant. The focal piece has a lot going on, with the fairy, all the gems and jewels, the freshwater pearl (which I added), and all the swoops and movement in the brass itself. It just seemed better not to get too carried away with the necklace portion. I created the spiral rope using two colors of Czech glass beads that match the colors of the brass, but it looked like it was missing something. I sent an early photo to my friend Carol Dean (aka SandFibers), and of course she had a brilliant idea - add some opalescent beads to the spiral, near the pendant, to pull in the opalescent gems around the pendant. I wonder if Carol Dean wears a cape...

The addition of the opalescent beads (which, luckily, I had!) took me past dusk, so the original photos I posted with the listing were pretty pathetic. This is one of the new pictures of my entry, Titiana Speaks to Bottom.

The deadline for entering the challenge was yesterday, and by my count there are 31 entries!! Two of them have already sold, which is absolutely wonderful. That's even better than winning the challenge itself (which doesn't come with a trophy or award of any type, just the honor of selecting the theme for an upcoming challenge).

My newest original beadweaving design, Just a Scribble was finished and listed in my Etsy shop on Monday, and I really love it! This one was inspired by a scribble on a piece of paper, just proving that inspiration can come from just about anywhere.

I fully intended to post pictures of the new cuff yesterday, but I wound up having lots of orders thanks to marymary's post in the Storque about her Top 10 Whales. She included my Whispering Whale mini notecards in the list, and I wound up getting orders for a whole bunch of Captioned Critters! I was pretty happy about that, especially since marymary had actually purchased some awhile back and gave them a little brag in the post.

Since Etsy admins are changing their stance on considering it spamming when someone lets you know they've featured you in a treasury, I was pretty happy this morning to find a convo from bluemoose telling me that she had featured my Tropical Storm cuff in this beautiful Treasury West of Mosaic Eye Candies. It's a great collection, and I'm honored that she included my cuff in it!

How to create a beautiful necklace...

Begin with a donut pendant created by a fellow Etsian (RedCrowArts),

add a spiral rope created from lots and lots and lots of seed beads, include some tiny fringes in a contrasting color (following the suggestion of Carol Dean, aka SandFibers),


and voila!



I ordered a few pieces from Red Crow Arts, and I love them all. I have such an affinity for black and white, though, that there wasn't much doubt which of the pieces I'd use first. The finish on this donut is beautiful, with the crackled look accentuated by the glossy finish. It's very lightweight, too, so the person wearing this necklace won't feel weighed down at all.

Soon to be added to my Etsy shop...