Retro Fade Earrings and Bracelet, 2 versions

I picked up a new dress for Brian and Rion's 20th anniversary party so, as usual, I decided to make something to go with it. I was planning on wearing my new John Fluevog Star Trek Boots with the dress, so I tried to shape the tip of the earring to mimic the toe of the boot.* 

I made one large earring and one small. I've been into off-centered things lately. I'm not sure if I'm feeling off-centered or if it's just a way of playing with my designs. I roll with how I'm feeling a lot when I make things, some pieces work and some end up hidden away forever in the studio. I ended up deciding to wear my wedding earrings to the event instead of these!

The bracelet followed the earrings. I wanted to make something large but quickly since it was time-sensitive for an event. I did the bracelet in 2-drop peyote (2 beads at a time instead of my usual one) and I'm not sure it was any faster. 

This is the sort of visual reminder I often leave myself in my camera roll t

o remember how long my pieces take!

Then I liked the bracelet design so much that I made another one with my chosen "Fall 2022" colors. This led to some different earrings than where I started in this process. Creating odd shapes in my beadweaving is usually more tedious than straight lines in my work so I didn't match the original earring design. Instead, I mimicked the bracelet in a smaller pattern for the earrings which created a diamond pattern. The first set got...really big. They measure 3.5 inches long from the tip of the earwire. I knew this bracelet was headed to Angelwood Gallery so I made a slightly more "normal" sized earring set and am keeping the very long pair in my personal stock. Which means you can still purchase them off of my website HERE.

The bracelet and slightly shorter earrings can be found at the Angelwood Gallery in Grand Rapids, Ohio (if they haven't already sold).

The fuchsia and black version of this set will be available during Midnight Madness at Bløm Meadworks in Ann Arbor on December 2nd from 5-11pm.

*On a personal note, I love that Star Trek and Fluevog came together to make a beautiful boot. I ordered the boots on preorder when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was airing. Every time there was a closeup of the boot on the show I would go "there's my boots!" Which I plan on continuing to do because, lets face it, costuming is 75% of the reason I even watch TV.

Color Movement Bracelet and Earrings

I ordered these neon green delicas (I think the color is called kiwi) thanks to Pinkhot_UK using this color Miyuki seed bead in her Instagram posts. I needed to have that color in my stash, but I did not have a plan for it...  So the kiwi delicas sat in a zippy bag with these other colors I had thought might look good with it until a design came to me.  

A design never really came to me.  I just needed to see these colors together so I decided to create a bracelet where the colors moved from one to the next. I realize that I haven't made a 2-drop peyote bracelet in a while and decided to video this one being made because I was pretty sure I could do it in one sitting. Which I did!  I then made the earrings the next two nights.

When I was making the earrings I couldn't decide which direction they should hang. Green top to blue bottom or blue bottom to green top.  So I asked Bryan since he has a good eye for design and he picked for me.  The second night, as I was making the second earring he was pointing out that the colors are representative of a horizon and he liked the way the color moved downward in an earring form where if it was flipped the other way the color would feel like it was moving upward. I work on these while I'm winding down in front of the TV at night, It's nice that he is often able to give more thought into my work than I am capable of after I'm pooped out from working. He's a night person and my brain works better in the mornings. It's jsut lovely having him next to me noting my work as I make it. 

Below is the video of the bracelet being beaded:

I also made this grey mismatched pair of earrings, which I like really like, I just decided they probably didn't need their own blog post: