It is a time of year when gaudy is ok, too many crystals are no biggie, weird colors are out in full force, and who cares if you have nothing to match them!
Ornament time even trumps hand piecing a Hallowe'en quilt. (I quilted a block, on that one from a while ago, by the way)
I get to clean out weird beads from my stash whose original purpose has been long forgotten. I get to use those gorgeous electric green drops! And, above all, I get to see things I've made make people happy without the where-am-I-going-to-wear-these-giant-parrot-earrings-face (true story-and to a luau ended up being the answer)
I want to give ornaments to everyone I know, every year, but in the end, the inlaws usually get theirs first, then I run out of time :( I hope to change that this year though, (like every year :) )
So with no further ado, I present the first ornament of 2010.
This is Red Star.
Red star started his life as a simple silver ball from Wal-Mart. He would have started his life as a clear ball, but I couldn't find any that weren't ginormous, so he is silver. He was adorned with silver-lined ruby-red Czech size 11/0s, matte silver Japanese 15/0s, and Dark Siam 3mm Swarovskis.
The star pattern evolved from a pattern in this month's Bead and Button (crystal star pendant). The pendant they showed had 8 points, was 2 sided, and had a rivoli in the center. I thought the 8 point star was too big for covering my ornament, so I did some alterations. After much fuss and cutting up, I came up with the new 5-point star. It seemed a bit floppy and funny-looking, so I added the central stabilization, and a bit of bling. I made a collar out of 15/0s and more Swarovskis, and attached the band of stars below. The whole thing threatened to hop off the ornament, so I secured it below as well.
(What Spyderjewels blog would be complete without a really blurry photo?) Also, I made a hanging loop for this ornament. I used 18g craft wire, 2 silver spacers, and a red bead who may or may not be some sort of semi-precious glass.
All in all, I'm happy with my little red star. And, hopefully, he'll have lots of new friends in the coming weeks
So So Pretty! I saw the pendent too and I want to make them for the tree just as is no ball yet! I was thinking of attempting embellishing a ball soon but not quite ready yet!
ReplyDeleteOh so pretty!
"slipcovering" a ball is really fun, and not incredibly difficult, I'll share a secret-it's mostly netting...
ReplyDelete