Saturday 21 April 2012

Anyone for Rococo?

Well here is my finished Plume Agate cuff, as time went by it became more and more ornate, having started fairly Baroque it became Rococo!

I decided to edge the main area of the design with Matsuno Amber SL AB finish seedbeads, although they are less regular than the Miyukis, I think the shimmer makes up for it. It would have been easy to just continue all the way to the edge, but I wanted to keep the focus on the stone and it was already quite busy. I chose to just fill the background with rows of gilt lined ivory alabaster beads for an opalescent shimmer. I considered other beads but these seemed to fit without overwhelming. I wanted to use only the beads I had to hand (too impatient to wait for orders) and I had a 50g tube of these.

The final effect reminded me of the palace of Versailles, where every surface has decoration, and light and shimmer bounce off mirrors, crystal and gilding. I therefore decided to name the cuff  'Trianon'.


Trianon Cuff

Attaching to the cuff blank, and edging to complete took another evening. I chose Matsuno Champagne SL AB size 11s and  Miyuki duracoat Champagne 11s for a 'gilded' frame effect. The cuff is lined with cream Ultrasuede.

This whole piece was completely outside my comfort zone in colour and style, but while making it I was transported to another place and time, and I hope the 'romance' in my head was captured in the final product.

For other pictures including more progress shots, and a picture of the unmounted complete embroidery, see my Flickr Album Bead Embroidery

8 comments:

  1. Hello:-)
    It's fantastic!Looks like the first class porcelaine:-)Ideal Rococo epoque:-)) The colors remind me my Granny's Rosenthal tea complete set.It's really beautiful composition.
    Warm Hugs-Halinka-

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  2. This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! A true masterpiece. I absolutely love it!

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  3. I love this ... its truly beautiful. It really stands out and is really inspiring.

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  4. Thank you all so much for the kind comments, It grew from the beautiful cabochon, I stared at it for a long time!

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  5. This turned out very beautiful!
    Thanks for joining in on my birthday giveaway.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  6. You're so right about it echoing the opulance of Versailles - and you've certainly used colours and a style generally associated with Marie Antoinette. It's a beauty.

    Out of interest, can you remember where the gorgeous little leaves came from? They're a bit swoonsome :)

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  7. Thank you! I'm fairly sure they came from Yashmacreations on Etsy, although Valentina didn't have any when I looked to replace these.

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