Simply Gorgeous: July 2014

I am bringing up the rear on this reveal...I was supposed to have my post ready and set to be published by this morning! And since I'm so late, due to "technical issues" (unable to upload pictures in the usual way) I'm going to cut to the chase and show you all sorts of pretties, made with Znetshows cultured sea glass beads.

Each participant was asked to select two colors from a list...colors that inspired summery thoughts. We were not able to choose specific beads, those were a surprise. And we knew we'd be receiving beads in different colors as well as our chosen colors. Our mission was to complete at least two sets (two or more pieces) of jewelry...one set appropriate for daytime, and one for evening wear.

The colors I chose were "periwinkle changes" and a beautiful spring green, "peridot". What I received...well, you can see here:

Okay. I have to admit that at first glance, I wasn't entranced with the matte purple barrel beads. However, as I started playing...well, one thing led to another. I had some beautiful matte white beads from a previous challenge; I believe they are "marquis spindles". Long, elegant beauties that are tapered on both ends. I also discovered a strand of tiny teardrop beads from a long-ago bead store purchase; they are a color mix called "sea glass", and the beads are a combination of shiny and matte glass. I made a combination of strands for a bracelet, using the matte purple barrel beads, the white marquis spindle beads, little clusters of the sea glass teardrops, and a few tiny (4mm) round clear Swarovski crystals. I twisted the strands, added a pretty dangle, and made some coordinating earrings. Here is my offering for an evening set:

Oh no...look at the SIZE of these pictures! Why can't I upload from my Dropbox folder? I had to copy/paste from my Flickr page, and it is not successful in this format. I'm unable to resize the photos, I'm so sorry!

I love the way the different shades of purple work together, and I was thrilled to be able to use two of the pretty pastel lampwork beads from my Bead Soup partner, Dyanne Cantrell! The picture below is of the same bracelet (slightly different angle)...with the two additional sets of earrings. For the evening challenge, I made one bracelet and three sets of earrings.

And now for the daytime set...I used the Znetshows rings in "turquoise bay", and joined them together with large silver jump rings. Front and center is a focal piece made from a big chunk of recycled glass...oh, how I love those rough, chunky beads! I added a few tiny matte aqua teardrop beads and a dangle of brass and turquoise Czech beads...a bracelet just isn't finished for me until there's a dangle or two! The earrings are simple aqua nuggets with small dangles made with more of the matte aqua teardrops. The earrings are on the larger side, to complement the bold bracelet.

What a pleasure it was to work with these beautiful beads. I didn't touch the beautiful peridot barrel beads...but I'm playing with them now! Here's a link to the fantastic Znetshows e-magazine that Hope Smitherman labored over with such a great result...please check it out, and see the beautiful creations from my fellow designers! You can find the Znetshows blog here: znetshows.blogspot.com, and the individual designer's blogs here:

DonettaFarrington (You are here!)