Melbournian - A Beaded Tribute

As most of you know I recently (February 2011) had to leave my beloved city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to head north to Brisbane, which is the capital city of Queensland, Australia due to my husbands employment. It was with a heavy heart that I left this city .. here was where I felt at 'home' for the first time in my adult life and a place that was so cosmoplitan and happening that it really had everything to offer. Melbourne has been ranked in the Top Three most liveable cities since 2002 and I cannot agree more.

What is a Melbournian you might ask ....?? A Melbournian is a local person who resides in Melbourne, it is what us Australians do it would seem .. for example if you live in Perth, Western Australia you are a Sand Groper .. if you live in Darwin, Northern Territory you are a Territorian and so on and so forth. I am now a Queenslander, who lives in Brisvegas' (local term). Melbournian is a beaded tribute to Melbourne, my favourite Australian City and to Autumn my favourite Season. I enjoyed 6 Autumn's in Melbourne.

Melbournian came about after I was unable to complete what was to be my first Bead Dreams entry, due to time constraints, exhaustion and just a general overwhelming work load I could just not complete it in time. I parked it .... then returned to it a week or so later, undid what I had already beaded and began again .. this time on a totally different 'thread path' if you like. I have beaded parts of this, over and over .. trying to get the tension correct so that the symmetry of the curve that is evident in the SC Stone component of the focal was perfect.

The necklace straps are peyote beaded armatures, ie plastic tubing that I beaded around. I needed elements of the neckpiece straps to be strong and bold to tie in with the bold focal component of the neckpiece. The armatures where further embellished with herringbone, right angle weave and picot stitches. The focal sections of this neckpiece are comprised of 5 separate sections. The large embellished Swarovski Crystal stone focal has been created using 8 (18x13mm) stones, 3 65SS stones, 3mm & 4mm bicones, Toho, Czech and Miyuki seed and cylinder beads in sizes ranging from micro (size 16) through to size 15 to size 11.

The second component is the large Swarovski Crystal Cosmic Ring, this is the bridging element that suspends the three large Swarovski Crystal Navette Pendants who swing handsomely from their 'winged bails'. Winged bails are a design I created using peyote and herringbone to form the 'wings'. Navette 1 is a 30mm Navette, the centre is a 40mm Navette .. the third being another SC 30mm Navette.

Colours and Swarovski Elements (Beads & Stones), Seed Beads and Cylinder beads used in the construction of this large statement piece are vast and varied: The Swarovski Crystal Element colours are Golden Shadow, Crystal Coppper, Khaki, Khaki AB, Olivine, Diorion and Topaz. The Swarovski pearls are Cream. Swarovski Crystal Elements used are Cosmic Rings, Column Pendants, Rondelles, Navette Pendants, Bicones, Foiled stones and Briolettes. The seed beads are dark red these are micro beads, size 16 very tiny .. the tiniest I have worked with. Other seed beads include Toho faceted seed beads, Miyuki cylinder beads, Czech charlottes in a range of colours including green, matt green, bronze, gold and cream. Beadweaving stitches used to build this neckpiece include Even Count Peyote, Tubular Peyote, Herringbone, Tubular Herringbone, Right Angle Weave, Netting, Picot and Freeform.

The clasp of this neckpiece is quite clever (in my humble opinion) as it is in fact a 'faux toggle clasp'. It does not open like you would expect but is released via a magnetic closure that I have hidden beneath a skirt of right angle weave woven bicones and hammered seed beads. The toggle was created by weaving together two Swarovski Crystal barrettes, then hiding the join beneath further embellishment. The ring part of the Swarovski Crystal Toggle Clasp is a Swarovski Crystal Cosmic Ring.

The future for Melbournian is that I plan to keep her... she is to lovely to part with. I will however be making another more elaborate neckpiece using this design as a foundation but using an entirely different colour scheme that is yet to be decided. I will then submit it to the Swarovski Cyrstal Fire Mountain Gems competiton which opens later this year. Happy Beading.

PS
All of these needles were harmed in the making of this neckpiece .. John James needles of whom I HAD (so past tense) a complete preference and bias to seriously let me down.

Note: the needle packets looked like this ! Top packet is what the back looks like with the statement "Packed and inspected in England using needles made in China to Entaco's quality and specification" Boo I say Entaco ... Boo ...

I purchased about 25 packets (about 625 needles!) of these needles in size 12 and 13 from Fusion.com only to discover that they were no longer made in England but were now only packaged in England and made in China ... nasty, cheap and downright frustrating needles to work with. They do not have any 'bend' ability, they cannot cope with tight thread passes and will break into more than one piece! I will reserve the use of these needles to simple beadwoven exercises were there is not any need for pressure or force. I am told by Carol Dean Sharpe of Sandfibres that Ponies and Tulip needles are the best ... I will investigate these needles and source them immediately!

PSS This is what my bead station number 2 looks like after Melbournian was completed .. I have two work stations within my 'Beading Lounge' aka Mad Womans Den. Better get busy and tidy up for the next beading session ...

A Journal of a Commissioned Piece of Jewellery

   I decided to create a journal type blog demonstrating the process of creating a jewellery commission as a means to offer insight into how SBJ might undertake such a task. I selected Judith for my journal, not only did I like her non traditional approach to her impending marriage but what was truly a blessing was that she knew exactly what she wanted and together we created a wonderful heirloom piece for her to wear on her wedding day.

This was Judith's second wedding and as such she steered away from traditional colours and gowns. Judith's wedding gown of choice was the most beautiful peacock teal blue slim fitting floor length dress, plunging neckline with a feature twisted knot, such a simple and elegant choice. I suggested one of my Bermuda Blue, Swarovski Article 4127, size 30X22mm with a gunn metal foiled backed stone as a start.

Judith loved the different flashes of colour, she and I both felt that this would be the focal for the simple necklace design. I fiddled with a few Swarovski bicone colours, matching and thinking out loud, we finally agreed that the Swarovski Metallic Blue AB 2x was the perfect match for this magnificent focal stone along with Miyuki Delicas DBR 42 and gold seed beads. I sketched up an idea so that Judith was able to see visually what I had in mind.

The original idea was to have the focal stone surrounded by graduated Swarovski rounds in sizes 4mm through to 8mm. The design had to be redesigned and requoted due to nil availability of Swarovski rounds in Metallic Blue AB 2x. Due to my inability to source these particular beads we opted to use Swarovski, Metallic Blue AB 2x in 3mm bicones. I ordered a full factory pack of these bicones and had to wait a fortnight or so before the beads arrived as they were a special order from Austria. The lovely Heidi from Harmony Beads in Balwyn, Melbourne orders beads on my behalf, love her for that! Whilst I was scouring the internet for further bead options for Judith I happened to come across some lovely Swarovski stones Article 4610, 14mmx10mm in Bermuda Blue and Article 4470, 12mm in Metallic Blue, these were acquired from the States.

I met with Judith again to discuss the bead finds and drew up another sketch, placing the beads on the sketch book over the sketched design so that Judith could decide which beads she wanted, Judith choose the rectangles ie Article 4610 in Bermuda Blue in a 'portrait' orientation.

The design was to be a bead woven focal, embellished with bicones, the two rectangle stones were also to be bead woven and all strung together with bicones and Delicas as the necklace strap. A simple button clasp was agreed upon, this was to be netting stitch using Delicas and gold, hammered Charlottes. The button was to be a most beautiful vintage & discontinued Swarovski Article, 16mm, Bead in Bermuda Blue (also from the States).

I wanted to include Judith as much as possible with the creation process so as each component was beaded I sent her an email with photographs. When you are commissioned to create something special for a wedding. You are essentially being included in a significant and emtional personal event. I put an incredible amount of time, effort and energy to ensure that the piece created is exactly what the client wants. It is not only important to produce your best work but also to produce it on time.

I ended up beading two large focal stones, with two embellished options. I understood that Judith did not want anyting 'frilly or over the top', she is just not that sort of gal. I knew as soon as had completed Option 1, that she would not like it so I beaded Option 2 which was bicones beaded horizontal to the focal stone, then further beaded with a size 15/0 Czech Charlotte. This particular batch of Czech 15/0's need a special mention in themselves as they were just awful to work with, the plating kept peeling off, revealing an ugly black bead. I had to bead the focal stone for the necklace at least 4 times before I was happy with the result, examining every bead under the magnifyer before sewing it on. A new order of Czech 15/0's arrived in time through the Post and I was able to finish the commission with the new batch.

As expected Judith chose Option 2, so work continued. The next hurdle was to see what option Judith would like for the beaded rectangle stones... to embellish or not to embellish, again as expected she choose the embellished version. The photograph below demonstrates the two versions.

Judith collected her necklace yesterday and was thrilled with the result. Judith had been earlier that day and despite my measurements the necklace was not quite long enough, so a quick rebead with the addition of more beads and it was a perfect fit. Judith arrived, tried on the necklace and announced... I love it! Music to my ears... another happy customer.

Technical beading information: I used Beadsmith's new product 'Ultracast Invis-Braid in translucent 6lb for most of the design and Fireline, Crystal 6lb for parts of the design such as the points between the focal stone and the rectangle stones. Fireline was no good for the necklace strand part of the necklace as the 'drape' of straps was too stiff and rigid, the Invisi-Braid offered such a wonderful fluid like drape that proved a perfect choice. Peyote stitch was used to bead the focal stones I beaded those with Delicas DBR 42 size 11/0, Metallic 24k gold plate Charolottes size 15/0, Czech Charlottes size 15/0. The Metallic 24k gold plate Charlottes had a single hammered facet which added further sparkle, dimension and interest to the piece. I used a combination of peyote and netting stitch to form the clasp.

I have been including a makers mark on most of my work for sometime now... probably a little hard to see, but it is an oval shaped tag with 'Social Butterfly' engraved. Lower left on the large stone.

Private commissions for your individual jewellery desires are most welcome. Commissions can be achieved regardless of your location.

Recently Judith kindly sent me these photographs of her special day and with Judith's and her photographer Colyn Huber, Lovegreen Photography's permission.  I was able to share these photographs with you as well.  Congratulations to you and your new husband Judith!