Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Vocal Focal...

...isn't that the most fabulous swap name? And this was one of the most fun swaps I've been in, as well. Just a small one...there were 12 of us. My partner is Renetha Stanziano at Lamplight Crafts and Renetha actually sent me TWO beautiful focals!


The first one is a beautifully etched-finish long tablet glass focal, drilled vertically. The colors are right in my wheel house and so of course it was this one that I started thinking about to begin with. How to show it off, without overwhelming it?

I thought about hanging it simply from a nice rope of some kind...but that seemed too ordinary, somehow, for this gorgeous bead...

I thought about trying to wire wrap it a bit and do a chain with some complementary beads...but my wire wrapping skills are so far primitive at best..and I didn't want to "cover up" the bead with wire in any way.
And then, as beady things will tend to go, I had an inspiration in the shower one day.. (don't visualize that scene...it will be bad for your mental health!)

When I look at the bead, I think immediately of water and waves; it may be tough to see in the picture, but the bead is sparked with a bit of silver in those curls...it's just gorgeous. The word that came to my mind....is rivulets....rivulets, running down to the ocean...and there's where my design came to being.

I plan on doing a plump skein of individually strung seed bead strands, that will move and shimmer, in the colors drawn from the bead. I am including a chain which I have used a bit and absolutely adore as one of the strands as well; it is a very tiny what I call dot-and-dash ball chain and will add a bit of texture and some additional sparkle, and mimic the silver in the bead itself.

The skein will be caught at centre front with a bail made of swarovski Crystal AB bicones or rounds in RAW about an inch or so wide; I'm hoping it will look like wave splash :-). The bead will dangle from that.
Here are the seed beads I've pulled, to give the general idea:


And a bit more closeup to show the detail of the bead and that dot-and-dash chain I love:


And then....the second beautiful focal Renetha sent me! I'm a little star-struck LOL...Renetha's friend the inimitable Carole Ohl designed this focal, which Renetha then stitched. 

It is absolutely gorgeous! I don't have plans "set in stone" yet for this one, but am leaning toward a really simple textured seed-beaded bracelet, probably silver, with this as the focal clasp. It is well-designed as it has a "slip-on" feature at the back which makes it really easy to attach, almost like a slider bead.

Thanks again to Renetha and Bonnie Coursolle at Jasper's Gems who organized this swap! Here is the list of the other particpants. Please take a few moments to visit them as well!


Cindy Wimmer
Ginger Bishop
Bonnie Coursolle
Andra Weber
Shirley Moore
Kashmira Patel
Maybeline Tay
Dee Torcherer Elgie
Bonnie Coursolle
Rhonda Baird

ETA: I see some of these links are not working, and I'm not sure why...working on it!
ETAA: Fixed!

9 comments:

  1. I absolutely love the lampwork! And seeing it with all those seed beads -- I can imagine you'll make something wonderful with it.

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  2. Oh, jumping up and down excited over those colors! So excited to see what you make with it, the beads you chose are wonderful!!

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  3. I LOVE the lampwork focal! Beautiful! I have tried seed beading and still do though with decreasing frequency due to the detailed work it requires. My poor eyes can't keep up. I can't wait to see what u are going to create with the focal bead and all those lovely seed beads.

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  4. Your two focals are both really amazing. I already LOVE what you are going to do with the etched lampwork focal.... wow, you happened to have the perfect stash of beads to go with them & I cannot wait to see the results (may have to snatch it from you too - I just love those colors!). And that second focal with the stitchwork is really beautiful - I happen to love beadwork and I know it will turn into a wonderful design. :-)

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  5. Wow, Your focals are beautiful. I love the color palate the you are going to use with the lampwork bead. I can see the ocean ripples on a full moon night with the glittering stars reflecting on the water. Your necklace is going to be so peaceful to wear! I can't wait to see what you do with your second focal. I like the bracelet idea. I am gong to have to explore Renetha's and Carole's blogs.

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  6. ooooh....am loving the water and waves focal!

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  7. Hi Lori,
    You received two beautiful focal beads. I am looking forward to seeing the necklace you envisioned for the lamp worked bead. I can see your design in my head and to me it is going to be gorgeous!
    Therese

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  8. Wow, I can't wait to see what you come up with for the lampwork focal. I fixed the link to my Vocal Focals...hopefully. Glad you like the focals.

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