Playing with possibilities

I had a great time speaking at the San Diego Bead Society on Saturday and then on Sunday teaching in my home studio which is something I rarely do.  One nice benefit is that I end up with a clean studio!  So this week I will be putting the final touches on my preparation to film a dvd on right angle weave.  This means I get to go to Colorado on Thursday.  I am hoping to see snow, but not so much that driving is treacherous….wish me luck with that.  If you have an artsy destination in Denver that you recommend, let me know that too.  We have carved out 3/4 of a play day before flying out on Saturday.

But back to Playing with Possibilities.  You may know that I most often design with small components which I bring together into pieces of jewelry and that I often re-use bits and pieces of tried and true thread paths changing them up with sizes, color, and different counts.  A ten sided pacific morning glory when made with 11 sides and folded becomes an earring or when made with 7 sides, another earring.

This is the class we did yesterday and sadly I didn't take a lot of photos.  Many of the gals brought their own beads so there were a lot of lovely color combinations.

These are my favorite fancy pants earrings to wear.  I used 2 mm light metallic gold crystals between the spines so they have a lot of sparkle.

But the real star here is a piece done by Agnes Montano, President of the San Diego Bead Society.  She wore it to the meeting on Saturday and I couldn't stop staring at it.  There are so many beautiful elements here.  The connections between the ellipses are perfect, with each side ending in a drop.  The center focal piece is edged with 2mm gold aurum crystals and each ellipse around the neck has a 2 mm top and bottom inside the ellipse.  This makes the necklace twinkle and is part of what draws your attention to it's beauty.  The little daggerette flowers were designed by Cindy Holsclaw (pretty sure that is not a word, but it seems fitting)  There is also a very clever clasp which I didn't photograph.  It was a treat to experience this gorgeous piece of beadwork.  

I would love to make this, and perhaps it will one day be a pattern, but for now I just admire it's beauty, don't you?