January Retrospective

 I must say, I've beaded more in January than I have in a very long time, and I've really enjoyed it. Although there were only 5 weeks in January (I've been beading a pair of earrings for every weekend, rather than every week)... I've actually made 7 pairs of earrings! If you read my new years resolution blog, you'll be familiar with the first two pairs, but I wanted to keep a record of each month's makes together, so I've included them here again. 

Tassels and Superduos - my own design. 

Scintilla Earrings - my own design. 

Keep your eye out for Bead & Jewellery Magazine issue 107 to see a tutorial for how to make these.

RAW Pearl Bezel design by Jean Power from her book Rivoli Beadwork. 
I initially made these as I'd seen a friend make them with sapphire rivolis and cream pearls, and they were beautiful, but very traditional looking - I wanted to see how different they would look with dark pearls and a lighter rivoli. The long kidney wire earring findings added to the different look. I really love them. 

In fact, I loved them so much.... I beaded a second pair! 

These are based on the Bicone Snowflake design from Jean Power's book Rivoli Beadwork, although I have used chatons - the 14mm chatons are lovely, etched Chinese crystal chatons which have a really unusual look.

I am in love with these Little Lantern earrings from Sabine Lippert's book Beaded Fantasies.   I made a pair years ago and they have been worn a LOT, so making a second pair seemed like a good idea. They were quick to make up and used some really interesting construction techniques, as Sabine's beadwork always does. 

This last pair for January are my design. A simple loop of CRAW with a crystal dangle in the middle. I must say, if nothing else, I'm very impressed with my wire wrapped loops on these earrings. They're neat and they match - that's quite a feat for me! 

I hope you've enjoyed joining me on my earring journey in January. If you have any questions about the designs I used, or have any suggestions for future months, please drop me a message in the comments. 

I've also noticed that my colour schemes seem to fall into the pink or blue/grey box, so if you have suggestions for colours you think I should try, just let me know.