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

Half Term Beading

Well my son is off school this week, so we went down to London to visit my Mum. Although she is hoping to sell her flat soon, so we had some house chores to do, we did get a little time out as well. On Sunday we went with Mum to the Globe theatre at Bankside where she works as a volunteer steward. There was an 'Autumn Plenty' event with a procession from the Globe to the nearby Borough Market...superb for foodies. We watched a bit of the performance by 'The Lion's Part' and shopped for goodies, many special apple themed. As it was a gorgeous sunny day we then walked along beside the Thames to Waterloo, crossed on the footbridge, and walked North to Covent Garden, where I was pleased to see a bead shop open! £50 or so on a selection of lovely Swarovski rondelles and bicones, and I was a happy beader.

The Copper Crystal rondelles were almost immediately used as embellishment on this lovely cabochon (Preciosa glass from Nikia on Etsy), but as it is quite large I can't quite decide whether to make a brooch or necklace with it