Ombre beadplay is always a fun little design project…
Casting an eye over our selection of uniques today I noticed that we have an absolutely marvelous collection of raspberry pinks in stock at the moment. I decided to have a bit of a play with them, but thought I’d give the design a little twist and try my hand at a crimson-to-pale pink ombre composition….
This collection of beads are wonderful, rich shades of soft blush pink through raspberry and down into a deep, satisfying crimson. Add an absolutely dazzling array of pattern and texture, and no matter how this composition came
together it was bound to be a fantastic bracelet. I really think that with these beads it would be impossible to make the bracelet look anything but gorgeous.
The most essential tool when designing this sort of bracelet is definitely a play tray… I string the beads onto the rod to find just the right placement for each bead. Often I’ll think I know just where a bead “belongs” in the ombre gradation – and then when I slot it in, it becomes apparent that it really looks better a little to the right or left.
At the two extreme ends of this bracelet design you’ll find some of the opaque unique beads that are such a delight to true collectors. The rich red and glittery one shown above has actually been tempting me for my own collection! So luxe and utterly delicious. At the other end of the bracelet be sure to note the beads that have elegantly formed flowers traced on milk glass backgrounds. These have been such a lovely fresh addition to the design oeuvre of glass Trollbeads uniques. I’d love to see an entire bracelet made up of these delicate beauties.
I knew that I wouldn’t allow many silvers to find their way onto this bracelet design…. partly because the fun of an ombre is to see how the colours relate to each other, gently transitioning from one shade to the next. It was also in large part because there were simply too many gorgeous beads that I wished to include in the composition! However, the overall effect is much more effective with a little silver to break up the colour blocks and allow the eye a spot to pause and rest. In the end I selected a few highly ornate silvers that were up to the task of matching the drama of their glass companions.
Both the silver and the glass elements in this composition are like a confection for the eye…
Clockwise from clasp: “Lace Lock”, All Glass beads uniques. Silvers: “Spiritual Ornament”, “Elderflowers”, “Spiritual Adornment”, “Wine Harvest”.
C.
Well. Here we are at Day 14, and the end of this year’s fast and furious Trollbeads Challenge at Tartooful. Normally I’d be just getting warmed up, with many days left to explore all the facets of my collection, but this year we shortened the challenge to encourage more of you to take the plunge and join in. Like every year, I feel as though I really am just getting started. Every day that I perform the ritual of creating a fresh design, I have more and more ideas for future designs. Like every year, I have ended the Challenge with more unexplored inspiration than when I began.
I’d like to thank so many of you for your support and participation. Having all of you playing along with me each day gives me a real sense of the extraordinary community of Trollbeads collectors that I’m privileged to know, both in the gallery and online. I’ve been delighted and inspired by so many of your creative and beautiful designs. Your daily encouragement and kind words for both my designs and the compositions of other collectors brings an element of joy to this exercise that goes far beyond the pure aesthetics of our designs. Thank you, my friends….
Today I wanted to lighten up, and play with some of the ivory toned beads that are usually locked into my black, gold and ivory bracelet. That neutral bracelet is an essential wardrobe item for me, and a piece of jewelry that I wear several times each week… It’s unlikely that it won’t be rebuilt after the challenge, but until then… I can take these little ivory lovelies out for a spin and see what they can do!
I usually pair most of these purple beads with Azure Bubbles and mossy Labradorite for a muted and understated approach to purple. I’m not really a “purple person”… but despite that, somehow seem to have acquired a good sized group of purple beads that I love. My purple and labradorite bracelet is one of those bracelets that often comes out of my Troll bag for a visit… I’ll even leave it on my bedside table so that I can just enjoy looking at it… and then it goes away, still without having been worn. I’m actually very content enjoying beads in this way, as beautiful objects that don’t have to be worn.
My thought was that pairing most colours with white and ivory somehow take some of the power out of them. The example I like to give for this is Red. Pair Red with black, red, purple, or pink… and it brings to mind racy lingerie, red lipstick and all sorts of other fabulously sexy stuff. This is red fingernails and red sports car sort of red. However, pair red with white, and it evokes Valentine’s hearts with paper lace, checkered tablecloths and cheerful Christmas ornaments. Heartfelt, but innocent. So. I thought that perhaps pairing purples with white would give them an even softer air.
Today I’m playing with “Beautiful Blue”. This hard-to-describe shade of blue is one that appears in a number of unexpected spots in the Trollbeads collection. You’ll find it, peeking out from among the sandy speckles of “Milan”… or hiding right at the edge of the light stripes in “Khaki Stripe”. There’s even a hint of it in the petals of “Flowers on Indigo”.
Two of the most delicious bead designs from the Autumn 2015 collection also feature this “Beautiful Blue”. “Dream Away”, with its distinctive raised and textured glass dots is an intstant scene stealer of a bead… Often oversized, it demands the spotlight, and we find ourselves centering it an many bracelet designs. Here I’ve given the center spot to a lovely “Blue Tigers Eye” and
gave it further emphasis by framing it with a pair of “Lotus Tops” and then a pair of “Dream Away”. It makes for a strong, symmetrical heart for the bracelet design, and firmly sets the colour palette. Next the challenge was to find more “Beautiful Blue” to build out the rest of the composition. I reached for “Black Flower Mosiac”, and the new “Pure Heart”.
Well, here we are in the very busiest time of year… the gallery is hopping with holiday shoppers, the streets are bustling, and the sound of live music can be heard drifting through the Village. Most of us are dashing from one errand to another, busily preparing our homes for the upcoming gatherings, and attending various holiday celebrations that are already underway. It can all be a little overwhelming… but it’s part of the rhythm of the seasons and what fun to have a such a joyful time as this in the very darkest time of year.
This Autumn 2015 series has intrigued, delighted and, at times baffled us at Tartooful. On the one hand the designs are absolutely gorgeous – exactly the sort of subtle, natural tones with which we love to play. On the other hand, we are, at times, hard pressed to determine which bead is which – many of the designs can mimic each other in their extreme forms! Rainbow of luck, Power of Hope and Shades of peace are close relations. No matter – we love them, whatever their names are…. (“A bead by any other name would look as sweet…”)
Today I teased together a soft and pretty plum, grey and celadon composition that is designed to be that moment of calm… While it could be seen as hinting at the Spring to come, the subtly earthy tone of the plum, makes me think that this could be an all season bracelet. I’ve included “Pink Conch” in the crew, as it is surely a cousin to the “Balance” family. Recently the “Pink Conch” examples that we have been receiving have a lovely olive tone to the stripes that open up new possibilities for that already lovely design.
I’ve included generous helpings of sparkle in this bracelet – nearly half of the beads in the design are ones that dance with gold. For me, a large part of the appeal of this bracelet is the way these subtle colours play with each other. On the other hand, I think that without the contrast of the deeply patterned silvers, the distinctive texture of the natural stones, and the brilliant light of the “Dichroic Ice”… it might be too homogenous and fall a little flat. I’ve found that before when trying to design with all deserts or all azures – they are lovely but they benefit from the addition of contrast.
With the notorious Black Friday shopping specials only a few days away, we’ve decided to join the fun and throw our very own Trollbeads event. This Friday and Saturday we will be proud to present a very special selection of *SALE* priced beads and premade bracelets, as well as a *TOP SECRET* bead designed by Trollbeads just for Black Friday 2015. (This is one bead that you will absolutely need.)
With so many beads still tempting us from the Autumn collection, lots of yummy new uniques and stones in stock and a whole new group of beauties for Christmas there are more reasons than ever to come by and pay us a little visit… Oh, and UM you might want to think about gifts for the holidays…. for other people as well as yourself. (one for you, two for me…)
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