Spark Kits in Stock Tomorrow!

 

Many of my Fall Flame necklace kits allow you to make the rope with either the A beads at the center, or the E beads, as the tutorial is written.  To accomplish this feat, you can simple re-label the A beads as E, and B beads as D.  C remains C as usual. I believe you could also change the leaf around if you prefer, but honestly, I like the contrast between vein and leaf, and I think that would be lost if you made that switch.  BUT it's YOUR CHOICE, to make.  

For the next week, I'll mark the tutorial for Fall Flame down 25%, so if you want to try your own colorway, please feel free.  Many people have done so, very successfully, and enjoyed it.  

What I love most about this colorway is it's Spring into Summer look.  And it looks great with many different clothing options.  I had to do a little styling for you!

I love it on my favorite little black summer dress, as well as with citrusy lemons and limes.  It also looks great on deep avocado, since the vein is a complex bead that features that color with a pinky glaze, and this year's Viva Magenta was made for this lovely leaf.  

If you want to try the beautiful shapes and ripples of this leaf, and you don't want to wait for any of the more Autumnal color versions, this is for you, right now!

I'll put the listing in my Etsy shop tomorrow morning, April 29th, 2023, at 9am CST, and pop back here to drop a link for you then.  I have nine of these kits, but if you miss getting one, I could make a few more, so just drop me a convo.  

I'll leave you with this above closeup, and this side view, which reveals it's shapely natural curves.  

Fall Colors for Caramel's Claws Necklace in Cinnamon

I was asked for kits in both the Sage and Cinnamon colorways, and have been out of them for ages.  It's really hard to find viable focals, but I have a set of each colorway now, and I am happy with the choices I have gathered together.  Here's a quick rundown in a larger scale than I can show you on Etsy.  These will go live in my ETsy shop tomorrow, Sunday, March 12th,  at noon CST.

Some deep jade greens, with cinnamon swirled throughout.  Deep and mysterious.

The most old-school Red Creek Jasper in the group.  Spectacular, and the last of its kind that I can find.

Also quite a classic collection of Red Creek markings and colors.  

Predominately cinnamon, with golds, greens, and deep, dark veining.

Nut brown with jagged deep green veining, and just a few hints of gold.

Various shades of brown and copper with a quartzy lightning strike.

The simplest of the group, in deep rich chocolate.  

This focal would feature the pretty curves and details in the bezel.

Some interesting dark inclusions in this focal bead, with creamy highlights.

The dark tones in this focal are almost purple, maybe best described as midnight.  

It has a petrified wood quality.  Unique and unusual.

For this week, I will leave these kits priced as they are at $52.  A kind of sale, because as I calculate my kit cost each time, it seems to go up, just like the cost of housing and groceries.  Then, on the 18th, they will go up to $55, so if you are interested, grab your favorite by St. Patrick's Day, to take advantage of the old pricing.  Caramel's ancestors demand to be fed, and the cost of peanuts has gone up...

Visit Blue Hawaii on a Dreamscape Dragon!

 After a long, lush summer in the garden, and a fall about a remodel (still not fully done), I am back to beading. I am starting with re-kitting projects that have been out of stock for a while. Like Blue Hawaii Pineapple Blossom Necklace.  It's an exploration of Chenille bezeling, and how Chenille expands to make a bell connection. Plus great with faded blue denim, and all soft blues.  Find the kits here in my Etsy shop.

I got a few Dreamscape Dragon kits finished last week and they sold out in a hurry, so more are now back in my Etsy Shop here.  They are vibrant, with great harvest colors.  I love my dragon on matte black, so it really shines!  I managed to locate some of these jewels, and I hope my source will provide a solution to the missing jewel for the Paradise Dragon as well.  I have samples ordered, and will keep you posted! 

I was honored to be featured on the wonderfully curated "Seed Beads and More" Facebook page last Saturday.  I showed a lot of my competition work, which is how my beadwork design developed and matured.  If you'd like to take a look, here's a link to that post.

In the meantime, I'll be wearing my Dreamscape Dragon for Halloween festivities. Seems reasonably magical and spooky.  Happy costume holiday to you all.  ENJOY!

Next up, some Honey and Berries Caramel's Claws.  They always remind me of pumpkin pie!

MORE Blueberries!!

The last two sets of kits I posted sold pretty fast, so I have re-kitted both to serve my reserve list and add hopefully a few to my stock.  This blog post has images of the Blueberry Caramel's Claws necklace.

I will contact you if you are on my reserve list, and do my best to see that you get a kit before they go live, sometime this weekend.  I'll update to an actual posting time for this weekend by the end of the today, Friday the 13th of May.

So here are the Blueberry Caramels' Claws kits.  One was from the first posting and the other four are new.  

A was in the last batch, and has some slight pitting, but nice light aqua color.

B has some dramatic patterning with a little light and lots of dark blues.  Both sides quite interesting!

C is very soft and a has some neutral color, along with lots of the lighter blue.  Amoeboid!

D has lots of the paler blue, and looks like a water depth chart to me, with maybe sandbars.  :)

E has substantial taupe neutral color, which I think nicely justifies the copper bezel. 

I'll keep you posted about when these will go live in my shop here, and on my Facebook pages.

LILAC KITS!! Plus a 25% off sale on the Tutorial.

One of the first tutorials I wrote was "White Lilac".  And at the time, I thought I would make kits for the project.  As it turned out, making those kits was a substantial task.  Twenty bags (and this by  consolidated several groups of products into more eco-friendly single bags) and 27 different items were required!  At the time, I simply lacked the organizational experience to do this.  But now, older, wiser, and more experienced, I MET THAT GOAL.

I HAVE LISTED THESE KITS IN MY SHOP, AND THE TUTORIAL SALE IS LIVE AND LASTS THROUGH THE END OF THIS MONTH.    

The most common feedback I get for this tutorial is about how hard it is to find all the beads.  So given that I had bought many of the beads for the white colorway in 2016, (and more since, as I have run into them at what I consider to be kitting prices) I have decided it is time to remedy that situation.  

I also have a new colorway I am calling Lavender Lilac, plus the original White Lilac colorway and the kits are finally assembled, the tutorial buffed up, and a 25% off sale on the tutorial are all ready to go, just in time for the vernal equinox! 

The White Lilac is built from two different white Czech rounds and their organic shapes and subtle color shifts are so beautiful in these flowers!  They have a sharper, deeper matte green leaf, and are high contrast, with a subtly sparkly gilt-lined Ceylon pearl Toho bead in the yoke.  I wear mine with several different colors and always have people stopping me to look at the necklace. 

Love the way this upper leaf pulls away from the neck, and how the attachment allows for a V or a choker!

The Lavender uses Opal Silver Lined Toho beads, and a softer, rainbow finish bead for the leaves, for a generally springy and lovely look.  I did the gradation as it is done in the tutorial, but I am planning to do this one more time using a different idea.  I just LOVE the varigated lilacs that I recently discovered.  Here's a link!  Now, my flower pattern cannot really be used to create this edge detail.  BUT I think something magical could be done by using the kit beads in a slightly different way.  

You would likely need the tutorial to be able to fully understand this, but I think if you were to use the A and B PALE beads at the tips of the all or most flowers, varying them slightly, sometimes just the A, or just some of the A, and sometimes 1 or 2 or 3 or even 4 of the PALE B, it might just be spectacular.  Like that one little flower above!  I put an insert with info about that idea in the Lavender kits.  So if any of you decide to give that a try, PLEASE SHOW ME!  I'd love to share it here on my blog!

If it seems like a good time to take on a BIG project, (these take me about 25-30 hours) and you feel like celebrating the return of warm, sunny days, and sweet-smelling flowers, stop on by MY ETSY SHOP! 

Summer Fruit Kits Back in Stock, and a Sale on the Tutorial

I am going to take the assembly of these kits as a big win! 

I felt completely overwhelmed when Swarovski shut down sales to mere mortals.  Between that and Covid, I found it hard to pick up a needle or a bead.  BUT...  I got busy with some Christmas beading and my mojo peeked out from behind its rock.  I remembered I had bought oval fancy stones to re-kit this project, and finally with a little nudge, and some help from a friend, it's done!

The tutorial allows for 5 different variations of an extended, winged bezel project.

And to celebrate, I am selling the tutorial at 25% off until next Saturday.  So if this project is of interest, now is the time to grab that tut!  And if you want, the Kits are now is stock too!

And MAYBE, just maybe, there might be a new project in the offing...  Crossing my fingers!

How Beaders Use My Patterns Fascinates Me!

I am really fascinated by the things people like to do to my Fall Flame leaf pattern.  Judy set out on a real learning mission and asked a lot of questions along the way.  It's fun for me to be able to talk all bead nerdy with someone else who actually cares about that I am blabbering on about.

Judy wanted to shape her leaf differently and give it an additional vein and a more complex edge.  

I believe the darker leaf has just the two veins that my Sugar maple model had.  

But in her lighter red leaf, she added a third vein to each side of the leaf, and a much more complex edge.  I know she found it challenging to make the two sides match.  Trying to record and draw what you did the first time to replicate the second side is challenging!

I know there are maple leaves that have 5 separate sections, instead of the three (and hint at a fifth) that Sugar Maples have, and I honor her effort and achievement.  I find it inspiring.  I also found it interesting that she did not have an interest in the color ombre.  Pretty sensible really if you want the observers eye to take in the complex shape and edge.

She did a great job!  Thank you for sharing with me and my readers Judy!

If you want to play with this pattern yourself, you can find just the leaf and bail pattern here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/477843955/etutorial-for-fall-flame-leaf-bail-only

If you want the rope too, look here for that tutorial:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/469164117/etutorial-for-fall-flame-leaf-bail-and

Visit my Etsy shop here, for all available kits and tutorials!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HauteIceBeadwork

Preview of all the New Vintage Jasper Cabochon Sets, in size XXL!

I have new cabochon sets for the Vintage Jasper Necklace!

 They will post to my Haute Ice Beadwork Etsy shop on Saturday the 5th of December 2020.

First a quick explanation.  These rectangular cabs are both longer and wider than previously.  It's how they arrived from my supplier, Intrinsic Trading.  I have made an additional tutorial for the larger bezel required, and am giving it to those who already own the tutorial.  Just send me a convo on Etsy so I can look up your purchase, and include your preferred email address.  If you purchase the tutorial from this point forward, the larger bezel instructions are included.

Here is an original necklace, next to my new sample so you can see the size difference.

Now, on to the yummy new Red Creek Jasper cabochon sets! If you like the soft pink in my sample, there is a similar set in the Antique Silver group. So we'll start there!

4 Heirloom Silver Kits

Love the energy in this set! Forest, gold, and taupes.

 

Blush-y, with bits of green and gold.

Almost raspberry, with taupe, and dark fracture lines.  

I gave this kit a Rainbow Burnt Sienna bead to hint at the warmth in the chain.

The other pink one.  I gave it a coral Rainbow Orange Sunset bead for warmth in the chain.

3+ Antique Bronze Kits

Mostly gold with soft greens and some red details. Uplifting!

Another one with so much energy!  Mostly gold with green and red accents. Symphony of neutrals.

Burgundy and gold symphony.  Especially nice barrel cabs.

This kit needs a smaller, XL shorter bezel that is not illustrated past Row 3.  If you are experienced with bezels, and want to try it with the guidance given in the tutorial, I will list it just for you. 

Let me know through Etsy Convo.

3+ Verdigris Kits

Light and dark greens, with a lovely red and gold edge.  More really nice barrel cabs.

Awesome red speckle pattern on a mostly green surface.  Hints of gold.

Taupe with speckles and fracture lines in dark grey.  Sunset barrel cabs.

This is the other smaller XL cab.  

If you love its blush sliding into mossy green, let's talk via Etsy Convo.

3 Copper Patina Kits

Yummy warmth with some forest green and gold accents.  Nice set of barrel cabs too.

All the wonderful colors of Cherry Creek Jasper in one stone!  Nice deep red edges.

Rich and deep coppery colors, with gold accents.

OK!  That is the parade of Jasper.  Hoping you enjoyed it, and wishing you a Safe and Happy end to this year of mayhem!