Rose Window Rivolis!

Hello everyone and Happy New Year to you!

I always like to look both backwards and forwards at this time of year and I'm actually giving myself a little pat on the back right now. It turns out that I had 17 projects published last year via the Preciosa Ornela website (based in the Czech Republic), Bead & Button magazine (based in the US) and Digital Beading Magazine (based in Australia). That is a whole lot of designing, beading, pattern writing, diagram drawing and proof reading and much of it evolved as the year went on - I think if I had known that kind of workload was ahead of me this time last year, I might have run away to hide in the woods. Taking stock of the past year is a good lesson to me and reminds me of what I can achieve step by step, or should I say 'bead by bead'. Anyway, turning my attention forward instead of back, it looks as though 2015 might be a quieter year for me publication wise, but I do have one or two things in the pipeline which I will of course share with you as soon as possible. In the meantime, there are now around 60 of my designs available in various places, so if you are looking for some inspiration, feel free to scroll through my blog and take a wander through my website or look here, here and here.

You might recognise the first pattern to be published in 2015 as it has been published before, but Rose Window Rivolis has been reworked in a different colour and is now available as a FREE download from the Preciosa website.

All you need to create yourself a pair of super sparkly earrings or an eye catching pendant are some 16 mm Rivolis and a sprinkling of Charlottes. I have made a pair of these earrings in both gold and silver now and they really do catch the light as they twirl, with the Rivolis glinting through the lacy overlay of the cut beads. Although these earrings are around 7 cm long, they are very light to wear as I've used the minimal amount of beads by capturing the Rivolis with netting stitch. Of course if dangly earrings are not your thing, adding just one component to an earring finding still gives a touch of shimmer in a much more toned down way.

I'm happy to say that the earrings have also been used in another Preciosa advert, this time in the February issue of Bead and Button magazine. The Preciosa photographer has truly captured the detail in this shot and you can really see the gorgeous warm sheen of the Crystal Honey Rivolis - thank you!

So that's it for this time. I hope 2015 is a sparkly year of endless creativity for you and that it holds many happy hours of beading.

See you next time!

Kerrie  ♥

Charlotte Flowers!

Hello everyone!

Here I am again with another free party-themed bracelet pattern for you to download and enjoy. This time it is my Charlotte Flowers design which uses Charlottes and Rivolis from Preciosa Ornela to create a row of dazzling star-shaped blooms. You can download the pattern here.

When Preciosa first asked me to create a project for the holiday season, I had all sorts of beady ideas running through my mind; from baubles and brooches to tiaras and tree decorations. In the end though, I settled on an understated yet elegant bracelet that will quietly sparkle on your wrist like snow in the moonlight. I've captured luminous crystal AB Rivolis in nets of glittering silver Charlottes and then added radiant golden petals which appear to reflect the flash of the Rivolis.

As well as being added to the Preciosa project catalogue, this piece has also been used in one of their latest adverts which you can see here. The photo in the advert shows a nice close-up of the gorgeous clasp I used as the finishing touch for my party piece bracelet. It features a beautiful vintage floral brass button set into a sterling silver box clasp and is available from A Grain Of Sand.

I've just worked out that Charlotte Flowers is the seventeenth pattern I have published in 2014 and that's in addition to the patterns I sell via my website and the other forty or so projects that have previously been published (see the side bar for details). I hope my designs give you many happy hours of beading and I aim to bring you more of what you love in 2015.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Time for a little Floral Elegance ...

Hello everyone!

Well only two days after my last blog entry - here I am again with news of a new pattern that has just become available. This time it is another pair of earrings from the Preciosa Ornela 'Charlotte Collection' which I have named 'Floral Elegance' and you can find the instructions for these in the latest issue (issue 10) of Digital Beading Magazine. Each flower has extra long petals which flare out at the tips to reveal the glittering fire polished stamens and yet because they are made from tiny size 13 Charlottes, they are as light as a feather to wear. I suspended my flowers from long gold ear-wires so that the flowers would delicately dance and sway about my neck and as these beautiful beads have a cut side, it means that the light bounces off the flat surface giving the flowers a gorgeous sparkle.

I hope you enjoy creating your own Floral Elegance and don't forget that we would love to see what you make from this pattern, so please feel free to send me a picture or to share your pictures on the Preciosa Facebook page or the Digital Beading Magazine Facebook page. Digital Beading Magazine is always on the look out for photos to share on their 'Show it off' reader creations section too, so why not make a pair of these (or even adapt the pattern to your own tastes) and send in a photo of your work?

See you again soon with details of another new pattern!

Kerrie ♥

 

Blogs and adverts!

Hello everyone!

There are two new patterns just around the corner which I will let you know about very soon, but in the meantime this is just a quick post to tell you about a couple of other things. Firstly, my second post on Bead & Button magazine's 'Bead Buzz Blog' has now been published and this one is the start of a series of articles I intend to write on inspiration. It's something that gets talked about a lot and we all have our own ideas, but I thought it might be fun if I show you some things that get my creative cogs whirring and this month I started with one of my favourite idea igniters - clasps.

The second piece of news that I almost forgot to tell you is that three of my pieces from the Preciosa Ornela 'Charlotte Collection' have now been featured in magazine adverts. The Rose Window Rivoli earrings are in the latest issue of Digital Beading Magazine, the blue flower is in the current issue of Making Jewellery and you can see the three golden flowers in the new issue of Beadstyle magazine. It always surprises me to open a magazine and see a full page advert of my work, especially this time around as these pieces are all made with size 13 Charlottes and therefore not very big in reality. I'm really happy with the way these came out and the photography really makes them POP with every little bead being visible - so thank you Preciosa Ornela!

So that's it for now but I'll be back very soon with news of those two new patterns!

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

The Charlotte Collection!

Hello everyone!

I'm back sooner than expected as Preciosa have now sent out the April newsletter which is all about Charlotte beads including a fascinating insight into how they are made and their history. This means that I am able to show you the items I created for Preciosa which previously had to be kept under wraps. Preciosa asked a number of designers (including my friends Karolína and Romana from the Czech Republic) to create pieces using these wonderful glittering beads and if you take a look at the whole album you can see what a diverse range of things we all created - everything from stunning tasselled earrings to delightful shoes decorated with peacocks!

Although I had a few Charlottes in my collection I had only ever used them for accent beads. However, for this project I wanted to make items made solely from these tiny beads to try and show how the cut edge reflects the light and elevates beadwork to new shimmering heights. The first piece I made is ornamental - three little golden flowers with a shiny black pearl centre. It is hard to capture in a photograph just how much these little flowers actually gleam!

The three flowers were very fiddly to make, so for the next item I made three easy 'Dangle Bangles' in a striking red and black combination with a simple piece of ribbon to keep them all together.

Next I thought I would go back to flowers and so I created a pair of little flowery earrings with elongated petals and fire polished stamens. These are so light that you hardly know you are wearing them and yet they make their presence known by glittering beautifully as you move.

Although I had spent many hours beading by that point, I felt that due to the size of the beads, the collection looked a bit insignificant and so I mixed some apricot Rivolis with a lacy stitch to create a more substantial bracelet.

By then I had two bracelets, a pair of earrings and an ornament so I thought perhaps I needed to make a ring. I used another Rivoli and created a large floral ring with long silver petals and you can really notice the cut surface of the beads in this piece.

I had probably spent the best part of a month working with Charlotte beads and yet I only had five small items to show for it which was making me feel anxious. I had spent the previous year working with large Pellet and Thorn beads, brightly coloured neon beads and size 6 striped beads in primary colours - all of which work up into noticeable pieces in a relatively short space of time and now I was faced with gorgeous but tiny size 13 beads and I was running out of time. I sifted through the bag of Charlottes wondering what I could do to pad out my collection and my eye was drawn to a lovely but unusual shade of blue and I set about creating a large flower brooch with a couple of green leaves. It might look simple but I lost count of the hours that went into this piece and I can tell you that because of the ruffled nature of the flower, there are literally thousands of beads in it! I was happy with the outcome though as I felt that it added the necessary extra dimension to the collection.

And by then I was almost out of time but I just managed to make the Rose Window Rivoli earrings I showed you last week. Although I love the density of my blue flower brooch it was refreshing to be able to make a few Charlottes go a long way in these earrings by using an open stitch to capture some Rivolis.

So there you have it! The above represents about six weeks work and it all fits into a very small box - but when you open the lid of that box you are dazzled by the brilliance of those very special Charlotte beads. If you haven't already, I would urge you to try them as they really will give that touch of luxury to your work.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

(All photos courtesy of Preciosa Ornela) 

Rose Window Rivolis!

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry for the long blog silence - as is the new normal, I've been busily working behind the scenes experimenting with brand new bead shapes, coming up with designs that I can't show until the companies are ready and writing instructions which will be published months later. So although it looks like I've disappeared, I'm actually working flat out with six patterns completed and scheduled for publication and four patterns waiting to be written up. Back in January/February of this year I created a collection of work with Preciosa Ornela's beautiful Charlotte beads - these size 13 beads have two cut surfaces which reflect the light making them twinkle and shine like no other bead I have ever come across and they were a delight to work with. For one of my pieces I went for maximum sparkle and mixed Charlottes with Rivolis to create a pair of glittering earrings which have been used in Preciosa's latest magazine advert.

I named these earrings 'Rose Window Rivolis' as the way the Rivolis show through the nets of Charlottes reminded me of the circular stained glass windows found in Gothic architecture. I paired gold Charlottes with Crystal Honey Rivolis to create a subtle glowing effect but I chose Crystal Vitrail Light Rivolis to go with the silver Charlottes so that the wonderful colours would shine through the delicate silver framework.

The pattern for these earrings has now been published in the latest issue of Digital Beading Magazine and so you can create your own Rose Window Rivolis in any colour you choose. Don't forget that we would love to see what you make from this pattern, so please feel free to send me a picture or to share your pictures on the Preciosa Facebook page or the Digital Beading Magazine Facebook page.

I'll be able to show you more of my work in the coming months including the rest of the Charlotte pieces, a collection of work using an exciting new bead shape from Preciosa which is due to be launched in June, a whole host of new patterns that use everything from seed beads to Pellet™ beads and an exciting collaboration between myself, yorkbeads and A Grain Of Sand - so be sure to watch this space!

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥