Geocaching and Beadweaving - The Portokali's Beadwoven Bug is out there!

I like beadweaving. And I like geocaching. And so I put these two hobbies of mine together...

Patriotic coin purse! (competition entry)

The past few months have been quite hard, you know, between changing diapers and brestfeeding and the work there's not really much time left for the hobbies. A while ago a Czech bead supply shop koralky.cz came up with a competition for the 95th anniversary of our country - create a piece in the national colors and use the Czech Preciosa beads. That was a challenge I couldn't miss. I like beading with Preciosa, you might say that there seed beads aren't as regular and neat looking and Toho or Miyuki but when you get into it and start working with them, you'll see why so many (especially Czech) beaders like about them. They have their charm, they come in a huge variety of sizes and colors and for us Czech beaders it is of course a question of national pride as well :)

It didn't take me that long to figure out what I'd create for this competition - I wanted something practical, something one can use in the everyday life and since I'm crazy about coin purses, I decided to make yet another one.

Moemoea - my B.O.T.B. 13 piece

Here it is, the THING for which I gave up most of my sleeping time these past two months...

For good luck

We haven't had much sun these last few days. I read about the floods in the capital, we're lucky to live in Brno and not to have them here but the weather is nothing to envy us either. 

I felt like making something that would at least remind me of the spring. And that's actually the whole story of this piece.

Enjoy more photos here.

B.O.T.B ´13 - Beading under pressure and with a newborn in my arms

I have mentioned to just a few of my friends that I'm participating in an international beading contest. I didn't say much more but I feel I should make it right at least now when the deadline is approaching.

Orchids, the first big thing...

It was in 2011 when I decided it was time for my first big design. I had seen many rich flower necklaces and I really wanted to make one myself. I wanted the piece to be elegant and since I hadn't tried to make many flowers before and the orchid was one I was sure I could make (and it certainly is an elegant flower), I decided to go with orchids.

Meadow necklace

If you're at least a little familiar with my work, you have probably noticed that I enjoy flower designs. It started with brooches, continued with bobby pins and I wanted to make also a necklace which would give the impression of one of these flower wreaths you make from freshly picked flowers and put them around your neck.

I decided to go for the flowers of soft colors which can typically be found on a meadow - bell-flower, bindweed, thistle - and add one sharper color, that would be the poppy blossoms. Making the bindweed and the bell-flowers wasn't anything especially difficult, since these designs are used to create so many things. The thistle is a combination of a beaded bead and a simple "fringe" top. I have seen beadwoven plants similar to these three before so it wasn't a big deal to figure out how to make my own and of a little different shape and color. What I'm especially proud of are the poppy blossoms which I designed from zero. I know, it's just brick stitch but to make the petals and assemble the blossom actually takes a lot of time as well as shaping the blossom well.

The rope should be quite soft and fall around the neck rather than hold a regular shape, therefore the herringbone tube was a clear thing. To stay with the meadow theme I decided to create a grass imitating fringe on one end, which would be passed through a loop on the other end. It looks really good but it wasn't enough, so I added a small magnetic closing a few centimeters over the ends and under the flowers.

As for the material - everything's the Japanese TOHO beads but the lower part of the thistles, that's Czech glass beads Preciosa.

You can purchase the Meadow necklace here (Czech and international) or here (Czech).

And here some more photos:

Sun Dryad

I finally know what it's like to try to bead when you have a newborn baby! It's not easy :D

"Devilish" pieces

I got my hands on two amazing pieces of red coral, of course I couldn't leave them in my drawer for too long. Rather than incorporate them into something big, this time I went for smaller two-color pieces, Devil's Claw and Devil's Stump. Both have a beaded top made of black Preciosa and TOHO beads and Devil's Claw has, moreover, a string of Preciosa beads "wrapping" the coral. Both pieces also have some fire-polished beads.

I have my very own model now!

She's nine days old today, her name is Liliana (Lily) and she is posing with a White Lily brooch which I made in honor of my at-that-time-unborn daughter and her name. It will take some time until she can pose with bigger pieces but anyway, she's the most precious model (and the most precious thing in general) I have. Thanks to her great dad for helping with her creation :D

Stepping out of my comfort zone - National dolls!

Once in a while it's good to step out of one's comfort zone and try something new. With me it's mostly been wire jewelry and decoration but this time I decided to take it further and make some dolls. National dolls!

I have three of them so far, Šárka in a typical Czech costume, Stavroula in one of the Greek ones and Pryia representing India in a saree.

Let me know in the comments which other national dolls I should make!

And enjoy some more photos:

Wearing beads in winter

Today is the last official winter day, so this post isn't out of date yet :)

Our beadweaving club was asked to write an article that would encourage people to wear beaded jewelry (and other pieces) in winter.

Purple charm - a necklace full of Swarovski

This was the first piece which I sketched properly before starting to bead. I think it's to be expected that the reality will differ but I was surprised how much the necklace resembled the one on the paper (what a pity that I threw the sketch away). I was going for something elegant and luxurious and also I recently took a liking in beaded flowers with the center made of rivoli. 

Vitrail brooch

I bought these amazing big (approx. 2 cm) crystals in vitrail color and I also had a big excess of purple TOHO of various shades from another project, so it didn't take long to figure out what to do with the material. And I felt like making something smaller for a change.

Fire-polished beads were quite a clear choice to complement the sparkling design and that's it. Actually, there's not much more to write about this brooch except that it looks absolutely stunning on all kinds of coats, blazers etc.

You can check out this brooch and purchase it here: My e-shop (international), Fler (only Czech).

And here are some more photos:

Spring, please!

I'm not a big fan of winter. I hate being cold and I don't like snow unless it's in the mountains or in my garden. Therefore, this year I decided to call the spring with this little piece called the Ladybug brooch to break the monotonousness of the winter colors.

Art Nouveau coin purse

I've always admired beaded handbags and other accessories. There are so many beadwoven necklaces, cuffs, earrings...so after my first attempts to create something that wouldn't be a piece of jewelry (which I didn't even put out there in the public) it was time to make a coin purse.