THE INTRICACIES OF DESIGN II

HELLOOOO ALL,
I hope you had a lovely JULY 4th HOLIDAY WEEKEND!!!. I actually had a pretty restful weekend and spent some quality time with my bebe since it seems like for the last few months we've been like ships passing in the night. Unfortunately in all that enjoyment I forgot that my Dad's birthday was on July 4th, so calling him with well wishes completely escaped me :(/! But then again at 68, i'm sure he can identify with forgetfulness, so I am thinking I'm most likely forgiven ;-P
Shortly before holiday, I had spoken with a client who tended to veer towards a more simplistic yet chic look. She wanted a modification on a previous multi-strand coral and turquoise piece I had made months earlier so I ordered the beads for this custom project. It appears I ordered the wrong size coral stick beads for when the temporarily strung beads arrived, I was horrified but really didn't feel up to the hassle of return. Little did I know the stringing would be a labor of love. Suffice to say I was not a happy campter given that it took a combination of 2 days and almost 11 hours total to string the teeny beads onto a silver wire. On day 1- after I started dozing off at the table with only a strand and half completed, I was like, ENOUGH of this! Especially since I was working bright and early the next morning. Meanwhile my hubby had already given me a crazy look (u know the the one that says- "U are Joking right"..) and hied himself off to bed an hour earlier. What can I say, I tend to push the limits when I'm motivated! The only sad thing is the energizer bunny inside of me tends to be a wimp at times..huff..eyeroll!! :-P
In any case, I eventually finished it (NO JOKE) after much stringing and re-stringing to ensure that the layers would lie appropriately on chest and neckline once worn. These pictures are just to give you an idea of how labor and time intensive some of these beading projects tend to be. I can now start to understand why some of these products on the market are so pricey.

 The ORIGINAL 5-Strand Statement Piece- Adora

THE INTRICACIES OF DESIGN

HI ALL ...
Long time ... Siiiiigh! I really have these great urges to post as often as once a week or more but ALAS!
I've been trying to design as much as possible to showcase the product on the Etsy website (www.EdenHouseofDesigns.Etsy.com ) in the interim while I work on getting the company website running. A little while back a client reached out to ask if I could design something for her mom in time for Mother's Day. Feels like eons ago given its already halfway through the year now - my, how time flies!! In any case, I had just gotten some cobalt blue magnesite length drilled slabs and was pondering how to use it. I vacillated quite a bit between using silver versus gold findings to bring some 'bling' into the piece. After setting out the stones and deciding on silver, I then tried to determine what would bring some OOMph to the piece. A single strand appeared too simple for the statement look I tend to gravitate towards so decided to double it up with the hope that Mommy's neck bone was made of sterner stuff -- no flimsy collagenous bones here, whew! I ended up with a great set. However, the challenge was in trying to find pieces in my current stash to complete the product in a chic manner as well as making sure my poor fingers did not get caught in the pliers when twisting wire for the matching earrings. A big shout out to my client though - I got such an amazingly timely payment though she really had me struggling to figure out how to accept a payment via email of all things!! Who would've thought we'd get here with technology - I must still be in the Victorian era because all these email verification's via Wellsfargo in order to link to BOA weblink to transfer the $$ had me mind-boggled for a hot minute! Since the hold up was on my technologically backward end, I just went ahead and shipped the product out  in enough time for her to oooh & aaah over her new baby - from my arms to her neck - (all the while on bended knees praying funds would be figured out.. lol). Suffice to say, I ironed out my hi-tech issues and MAMA loved her GIFT!!!!
I subsequently re-ordered more stones but somehow the cobalt blue stones from the same vendor were not as vibrant as the previous set, I thought. I suppose given the nature of the stone, variations are to be expected. So this time round, I tried it with gold findings as well.
* A SAFE & HAPPY 4th of July Celebration to ALL* [...In my dreams but hoping come Monday when I return to work, I will see less banana bags (=vitamin replacement IV bags for alcohol abuse) and less admissions with those who got too happy with the moonshine lol.. we"ll see!! ]
...Muaahzzzzzzzz
PS:  Let me know which one you like better, Hugz