Earrings

I took a few earrings photos yesterday....I've made quite a few pair this past year and I'm getting ready to illustrate the directions.  I'll be debuting them as a class called 'going formal' on a cruise in May.  Some may show up before then because if you like earrings being able to make your own in a color of your choosing is pretty good.

Using the romantica component and a bit of diamond weave finished with a  beautiful pave drop.

Hubble Stitch from a craw base, very fluid and fabric'y.  Finished with metallic sunshine Swarovski drop.

Soft and beautiful, a craw teardrop finished with a sprocket and a praw-3 circle which attached the ear wire.  Finished with a Swarovski drop in metallic sunshine.

Swarovski fancy stone in unfoiled fuchsia, long since discontinued but I have a few.  Turquoise ab 2x and a golden shadow pave drop.

RAW bezel with 3 mm Iridescent green 2 x crystal and metallic sunshine fancy stone.

My newest favorite pair of shoulder dusters in dark silver with chain and a platinum pearl top.  This teardrop is made bottom up with the sprocket which contains the chain made first and then a split into two sides to complete the teardrop.

A second Romantica medallion pair for those of us who prefer silver.

Knitting with beads

You may have noticed over the years, when I'm not beading I'm likely knitting (and lately I've added sewing but that is another story.)

So knitting with beads combines the best of both worlds.

The pattern is Madli's stole by Nancy Bush published in the Estonian lace book.  It calls for nupps but I decided on using beads in the place of the nupps.  This is a long stole which will gradate through 6 skeins of yarn from green to fuchsia.  I've also picked a different bead for each of yarn color changes. It's fun to see this one evolve.  It's currently a little better than halfway.

MadDesigns is Open

We're trying a new business model and we hope you will like it.  I really really want to continue to share my designs with you, but carrying a large inventory or multiple color ways was starting to feel overwhelming with the amount of airstream traveling that we have planned.

I'd like to be able to pick one favorite kit, pull out the drawer, take piece part inventory, order necessary supplies and kit up a few.  So that's what we're going to try.  The website has been re-designed to support this model, so what you will see it four pretty photos of what is currently available for sale.  To see the current offerings, click here.

When the inventory is gone we'll add a new kit for sale.  With just four kits to manage we can even take the inventory with us while traveling and ship it from where ever we happen to be.  Some things may be available again and some will not.  For example in the dramatic La Navette black bracelet, both the dark red coral crystal and the Sphinx navette fancy stone have been discontinued.  Sadly the same is true for the light green pearls in Santa Lucia.  The Gold Chrysolite Duomos is brand new and will likely be available again but the current inventory is all there is right now.  

Your order will also include a pretty little bag of beads from my studio.  There may be bead soup (although I know that could make some of you shudder while others will be elated!) or a few sparkly beads for you to create with.

The store will remain open with new things being added all the time.  I'll primarily use Facebook to let you know when new inventory is being featured.  Check back often to see if your favorite is here!

Thank you for your support as we transition to our dream of more travel.  Be assured the beads always travel with me and I have made many of my favorite designs while on the road!

New look

I left you on my last post with the description of our travel plans.  We've been working towards 'retirement' and more travel for a few years now and this is the year that we've really begun on that journey.  With this in mind I thought it would be fitting to change my banner to this years Bead Dreams Entry called 'Journey' which was a compilation of my bead journey over time.

I am going to a very exciting party tonight and I will wear Journey.  There aren't too many occasions for a piece like this, but tonight is definitely it.  You'll have to wait until the next post to hear all about my party going.

Since the last post we've done a 30 day caravan in the Rocky Mountains and a one week stay at a local state beach, both excellent.  If you have an interested you can read about our travels on Three Mad Wanderers.

In the meantime, we're changing things up at www.marciadecoster.com  I am still in design mode and still wanting to share those designs, although as I have fewer bead engagements and less time devoted to kitting we've had to decide how to best move forward.  Instead of a full array of kits in multiple colors we will make five kits available at a time.  So on any given week there may be a few pale blue sprockets, a couple of pale green Santa Lucia's, and for those of you hoping, I'm going to kit the silver white Romantica soon.  When a kit is sold out, we'll put up another kit.

Kits may or may not be repeated.  This will all depend on popular demand, availability of supplies,  time to kit and whatever may be newer on the horizon.  I've been working on a series of earrings which I'll start making available as well.  Eventually we'd like to move towards making some tutorials for sale without beads.