Then I found the Russian lacquerwork booth. Holy cow! This stuff is amazing. Years ago my parents were in Russia and brought me back some traditional lacquerwork and I’ve always loved it. Until now, though, I’d never seen it done on beads. Plus, most of the designs were PANSIES! Those who’ve been reading this blog for a while know that I am just a sucker for pansies. It’s like I’m bonded to them because I have to have them. So, into my bag went a pair of lacquerwork pansy beads which I promptly turned into these cute earrings with the addition of some Bali vermeil and some black Swarovski crystals.
I bought a few other pieces from the same booth in both the lacquerwork style including this fabulous mother-of-pearl pendant with a detailed winter landscape painted on it. Here's a close-up:
The same booth also offered beautiful things from porcelain artist Kenneth Chen who was featured in a recent issue of “Beadwork” magazine and I bought some of his beads as well. The round pieces in this picture are all porcelain and the others are the Russian lacquerwork:
I’ve already paired the winter pendant with the green apatite I mentioned earlier and some pearls and seed beads to create this piece:
It will be up for sale on the website later if I can manage to pry myself away from it. I think it’s now my favorite thing that I’ve ever made and the picture doesn’t really do it justice because you can’t see the details of the pendant and the perfect way that the apatite and pearls pick up the gorgeous colors.
As if the show wasn’t enough by itself, Jenie and I headed over to Santa Monica to have dinner at a place called “Monsoon” on the 3rd Street Promenade. Wow! The food was fabulous. Of course, we were both famished having skipped lunch so that might’ve helped, but still! I almost cried when I made myself leave half my dessert on the plate so as not to COMPLETELY blow my diet.
Anyway, it really was a terrific day and it gave me the motivation to speed through all my chores on Sunday morning (laundry, laundry, laundry, dishes, kitchen counters, more laundry) so I’d have a couple of hours to play with my new stuff before Ryan got home.
In fact, I had such a great time that I almost managed to not notice how much I missed my little Ryan – I’m having a hard time getting used to this new schedule! As great as the show was, the best part of the weekend was seeing Ryan’s sweet face last night when he got home and gave me a big hug! He is just one terrific kid and I’m so lucky to have him!
Take care all!
KJ
3 comments:
both of those pieces came out great, but that necklace is *awesome*. you better not undersell yourself on that one, either!
Thank you...I am rather proud of it myself. I haven't done too many of these multiple, twisty strand things, but now that I see how this came out, I may do more. And how lucky was I that the apatite just picked up the deep greens in the pendant PERFECTLY?! I'ma need me more of those pendants!
it's a really cool design. excellent job. obviously i should have asked you long ago about the peridot necklace i've been trying to figure out. and in fact, i will. that necklace is really gorgeous. :)
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