New at Art by Andrea

Decorative silver sliders with clear and jet black Swarovski crystal alternate with clear silver-lined seed beads and more clear Swarovski crystal beads. This is 'Swarovski Crystal and Seed Bead Bracelet 2'. This bracelet is sized for a larger wrist at 8 inches!                    

Purple Swarovski crystal in decorative silver sliders alternate with silver seed beads and two colors of purple Swarovski crystal beads. This is 'Swarovski Crystal and Seed Bead Bracelet 4'.           

New Czech pressed glass leaf earrings

Coming soon to my Etsy shop. These earrings are made from Czech pressed glass leaves in iris green. Their beautiful colors will brighten up your whole day!

Swarovski here, Swarovski there!

After much struggle, and much ripping out and redoing, this piece had come to the point in the photo above. I hung it on Matilda, my dressmaker's form, and looked at it for days and days and days. I then decided that the clean edge was just too clean and needed .... something. So I added this edging.

Neither the edging nor the lacey necklace have been tied off and knotted yet. I know better than that! Eventually I will have to call it done, because it is headed for a competition in March.

Four new bracelets at Art by Andrea

 Pearls

Swarovski

Peyote Stitch

Jewelry Preview

I saw these beads at a local bead shop and just had to have them!  They're so retro, so sixties, so darned cool man.  And I know there must be some retro-lovers out there who will pop over to my Etsy shop (link on left side of this page) and acquire these little gems for themselves, or perhaps as a gift for someone near and dear to them.  I will have them up for sale sometime over these next couple of days.

Spring/Summer 2011 Jewelry

What have I been up to?

Well......

One thing I've been doing recently is turning out necklaces in Russian Spiral, which is a stitch I have become quite fond of.  It is actually a form of tubular netting, so the end result is a necklace that is wonderfully flexible.  You can even coil them up and you won't harm them a bit!

If anyone would like one in custom colors, please contact me at my Etsy shop (link at left) and we can discuss colors and length.

Russian Spiral Necklace

This is the newest jewelry piece for sale at my Etsy shop.  It is done in a Russian Spiral stitch with a clear denim blue size 8/0 seed bead and a smaller matte black diamond AB seed bead in a size 11/0.  That's beading talk for a larger clear denim blue bead and a smaller grayish bead with that really cool finish that makes all kinds of colors come out in the bead.  Swarovski has been doing it for years!  And speaking of Swarovski, the clasp is embellished with Swarovski crystals in a clear AB color, for a touch of bling. 

The Russian Spiral stitch makes for a very flexible necklace that really drapes beautifully when you wear it, and feels great to wear as well.  I made myself one in a matte denim blue and silver, and I wear it all of the time. 

You could wear this one with jeans or a suit.  It's a really versatile piece!

Three views of the new large peyote stitch necklace in the Copper Collection

OK, so these are the three views of this necklace that I am thinking of using when I put it up for sale on my Etsy shop, Art by Andrea, at www.andreagoo.etsy.com.  The first view will be the one showing the clasp, then the other two shots will be alternate views, showing how it looks real time with some very basic wardrobe items that most women have in their closet.  You could really jazz up a basic black turtleneck and black jeans, or you could just as easily wear it to work to class up a black suit. 

I'd love to get some feedback from everyone on this one.  So please, leave me a helpful comment, or tell me how much you love it.......!



A new addition to my Copper Collection jewelry

I am working on a new piece for my Copper Collection, a peyote stitch necklace to go with the little heart pendant.  I envision at this point that the heart will be a removable pendant or perhaps even the clasp.  Who knows?  We'll see!

Mother of Pearl beaded collar makes it to competition finals

OK, I'm so excited I could just bust!!!  Many of you have seen the Mother of Pearl beaded collar that is up for sale at Art by Andrea.  I recently entered it into Fire Mountain Gems and Beads 2010 Beading Contest in the Seed Bead category, and apparently they liked what they saw in the photos.  I made the finals!  Keep your collective fingers crossed; I'm sure I'm up against some stiff competition. 

What's new at my Etsy shop

I'm still debating about this whole blogging thing. It would work a lot better if I could just hook up the computer to my brain directly, so I could write whenever the thoughts enter my brain, which is actually quite often. I'm just terrible at sitting down at the computer to do the real writing! Perhaps now that I have hired myself a real, live web technician to help with a lot of the work I hate to do, related to actually getting my created items up for sale at Art by Andrea, I can work on more frequent blogging. Yeah, yeah, yeah... My web tech, Abraham, is very motivated and a quick learner, so he's actually been spurring me into a real work mode around here. But the kind of work I have to do, rather than the creative stuff I like to do. Consequently, there are a lot of new items for sale on my Etsy shop: blank notecards with an old world Italian style, new photos, new jewelry, cheaper photos, cheaper jewelry, and lots more coming on a very frequent basis. Sooooo, check out my shop, and have everyone you know check out my shop!!!

New items for sale at my Etsy shop!

Cupid is coming! Cupid is coming! Cupid is coming!

I have created a few sets of vintage-styled Valentine's Day cards. Check them out!

And look for two types of pearl and seed bead bracelets coming soon as well. A double stranded bracelet I'm calling a 'unity bracelet', which is intended for brides, and a ladder stitched bracelet. Both types of bracelets will be available in a variety of sizes, with matching earrings available as well. And custom work is always available!

Recent Jewelry Productions

I have discovered recently that the path of an artist in the throes of a design dilemma is not a straight one. I'm working on the beaded collar that I'm hoping to enter into competition this year. I have the 'centerpiece' of the design done, I think. Unless I get too picky and rip a part of it out again and redo it better. Now I'm working on the supporting designs. And after a few attempts at a flower design, I ripped out all traces of the flower and went for paisley instead. Then I looked at it, and thought to myself, "Almost!" And I ripped it out again, one last time, and redid the paisley with a bit of a tweak. And I liked it so much, I'm almost done with the corresponding one on the other side of the collar!

Recent Jewelry Productions

This is the beginning of another beaded collar, true white this time, rather than the ivory color I used last time. Perhaps I'll call it White Wedding 1. The flowers are made from white oval cat's eye cabochons, with round Swarovski crystals in the center. The center crystals and the second row of edging beads around the flowers have an AB finish (aurora borealis that is) to add just a touch of color and sparkle and pizzazz to the piece, without overdoing it. The background will be entirely done in a different white bead that is semi-opaque and visually very different from the beads used in the flowers, leaves, and vines. I want the background to support and enhance the overall design without being a distraction. This is going to be a challenging piece to get a good photo of, so I guess it will be a learning opportunity for my photography as well!

I'm also working on another piece for the Copper Collection. This one is a heart, and I'm not sure if it will end up being another brooch/pin, or the center of a necklace. And since a friend of mine mentioned that she wasn't crazy about the contrast of the white background showing through (as in the original brooch), I dyed this piece of backing with coffee, to tone down the white. I see advantages to both background colors, so I guess I'll just keep taking a survey of how many folks like one and how many the other.

And then I decided I should enter the next Fire Mountain Gems (my favorite online bead shop by far!)beading contest, and perhaps the "Bead and Button" magazine contest as well. It would be good exposure if I do well. And, I do know of other Etsy beading artists that have entered these competitions, because I've drooled over their work before! They're the ones that got me intrigued enough to try my own hand at these extensively beaded creations. So, it's time for me to jump in to the pool and see if I can keep up with the big kids!

I'll have photos soon of these newer projects for you to check out. And now I'm going back to White Wedding 1.

Recent Jewelry Productions

I had so many photos of my recent jewely, that I decided to play around with Picasa's collage function to see what that would do. It's actually very versatile and user-friendly for those of you out there who might want to play around with it sometime. In the above collage is a picture of my first beaded collar(center left) without the clasp. Then you have pieces in my new Copper Collection, as well as my second beaded collar, done entirely in ivory-colored beads. I'm thinking this might make a nice wedding piece. So, how many hours did I spend sewing little, bitty ivory-colored beads and fresh water rice pearls around the mother of pearl cabochons? At least 300 hours !!!