Karoo Summer Cuff

I have to make a confession. I have had a project to show you for a long while now and for a number of reasons have not posted it. The project is a bracelet that I have named: My Karoo Summer Cuff.

Karoo Summer Cuff

The primary materials of this cuff; ostrich eggshell beads, brown picture-stone and pale green ultrasued, inspired the name. In the summer, after the rain the arid brown Karoo comes alive with sprinklings of green. I know you are supposed to be inspired by nature and then make something but that has never worked for me!

Choosing materials for a new project is always fun!
I started out with the ostrich eggshell beads and the
green ultrasuede and went from there

Made with ostrich egg-shell beads, seed beads (mostly size 15), pictures stone chips, rounds and others all embroidered onto pale green Ultrasuede. 

The final selection. Its about choosing complementary
 colours and textures. I got the patterned ultrasuede
 from Beads East. Ironically its finish is called ostrich skin!

The actual inspiration behind this design? Ostrich eggshell beads.

I love ostrich egg-shell beads (OEB). They have the most beautiful, delicate texture on their surfaces and every bead is handmade and unique. And I thought to myself what a pity it was that those surfaces often got covered up in the way they were utilised. For more examples of OEB jewellery check out my Bushman Beading post. 

I wanted to find a way to display the front of the beads where all the delicate detail could be seen.

A chain-mail network of size 15 beads
holds the eggshell beads in place.

The difficulty was finding an interesting way to attach the flat beads without obscuring the front too much. Then I had the idea of doing something like a chain-mail effect, using seed beads to "tie" the OEB into place. I think it actually worked quite nicely. 

My pieces tend to grow quite organically. I will have a concept for a surface embellishment or focal section and will just create the remaining parts as I create the piece, they are never fully thought out first and never sketched.

Creating a quick markup of the design elements. This is the
 place to test colours and design. Its also a chance to play
 around with finishing ideas like fringing. And to see
 how focal beads will compare to the detailing.

The result I think was quite effective. Sorry I dont have any pictures of the making process, I was having too much fun to stop and take pictures!

Closeup of the focal

A few picturestone rounds break the monotomy

Backview

The final design

"Thing" modelling the cuff

Backview showing the closure.

I sent in pics of the bracelet to Bead and button magazine, but they were unfortunately not interested in publishing it. I contemplated trying another magazine but just did not get around to doing so. One of the reasons I have only now posted this to the blog.

There are more exciting things coming up soon (I have been busy), so stay tuned...

Love Jet