Monday 10 May 2010

Bustin' my bead stash, two beads at a time

So, this is my first post on the blog, and I'm afraid it's not going to be as dramatic as some of the other posts, on account of the number of beads I've managed to use for my recent projects. You see, although I do own some seed beads, I tend to hoard larger beads, and these tend to come in pairs. I am obsessed with making earrings for some reason, so to make even a small dent in my bead stash is going to take some work. But we've all got to start somewhere, so here goes.

These first two pairs of earrings were made from beads which were already in earrings - I bought some fab but inexpensive gunmetal and antique brass findings, which I am using to give a new lease of life to some neglected beads in my stash.





The remaining earrings were made from beads in my stash which I didn't think really suited silver findings.

I love these beads, they remind me partly of plum tomatoes, and partly of lipstick - the little dents in the beads are intentional, I didn't prod them to see if they really were toms, honest:



I don't usually like pink, especially such a pale pink, but I think it works well with the dark chain:


These unusual beads have a two-tone effect - when the light hits them, they become a vivid orange colour:


And finally, my favourite colour. I love turquoise and these beads were nestling in a bag of blues, waiting for a bit of antique brass to make them 'pop':



I think that's enough beady waffle for my first post. I'm off to drool over all the gorgeous seed bead creations on the blog now.

6 comments:

Clair said...

Gosh Kitty! I'm in love with your simple, but stunning photography. It's so hard to get decent pictures of your work! Nice Job!

Loving the tomato reds and the turquoise (beautiful bead caps too!)

Kitty Ballistic said...

Thank you, Clair. I have a simple set up, next to a window (natural light is very important), and I use a large piece of grey card as a background. For the hanging earring shots, I use a tall, neutral-coloured vase, and for the flat shots, I use a white oblong plate (which comes out greyish in photos).

Oh, and for every good photo I get, I have at least several rubbish ones. :D

I don't know if it's OK to post links to shops on here, so if you want to know which shop I bought my beadcaps from, e-mail me, or PM me on the board.

Sarah said...

No such thing as too much beady waffle! Your earrings are all gorgeous, and the photo's are fab. Seeing as we are supposed to be busting rather than adding to the stash I don't think we should have too many links to stores but I think the odd one is fine, plus I want some of those findings!;->

Liz said...

There's nothing wrong with two beads at a time...especially when they're as gorgeous as this! Beautiful earrings and great photos too :)

Maneki said...

Very pretty earrings, I especially like that first pair with the flowers.

Sarah said: "Seeing as we are supposed to be busting rather than adding to the stash I don't think we should have too many links to stores/.../"

*lol* See, that's what I'm doing wrong: every time I get around to using beads from my stash, every time I sit down and say I'll finally actually make something with my many beads, I somehow end up buying more new beads than I've used up...

Kitty Ballistic said...

OK then, here is the shop I bought my findings from: http://www.artfire.com/users/lululalaland

The shop is in sections, so it is very easy to avoid the beads, and just select findings, which can then be used to use up some of your bead stash. ;-)