More Mint. Actually TWO kinds of Mint!

 

NOTE: EVERYONE ON THE WAITING LIST HAS BEEN NOTIFIED, 

AND I WILL POST THE REMAINING KITS AT NOON CDT IN MY ETSY SHOP 

TODAY, SUNDAY, MAY 15TH.  AND THEN I'LL ORDER MORE JEWELS

BASED ON FEEDBACK.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

PEPPERMINT contains the same Laguna Delite fancy stone as the original Mint, and all the supporting beads are the same, except for the accent beads around the bezel.  They are now Czech Pearls, which are match the shiny surface of the seed beads, and are substantially easier to locate. 

SPEARMINT is the original Mint, with a new fancy stone, Silky Sage Delite, which is just slightly more green than the Laguna.  Spearmint uses the original accent beads, also Czech, which are matte, and have a nice contrast with the shiny galvanized seed beads.  

So, mostly the same, but slightly different.  I was worried that the sweater I designed this colorway around would not work with the Peppermint version.  I was totally wrong.

The green-mint sweater was happy to be seen with either version of the necklace.  But the turquoise denim jacket mildly preferred the bluer Peppermint version.  I totally know how hard this is to see in a photo, because the color is so dependent on light, angle of view, and context.  But you could take my word for it if you chose.  

In any case, I am faced with a conundrum.  Which version should I make more of?  

I do have a waiting list for the original mint, and I am sending out convo's to all those on the list today.  If they want the original, I have one, so I will send my notifications in the order they were received, trying to be fair to all.  

Then, I will post what's left in my Etsy shop.  If you have an opinion, even if you do not intend to buy a kit, I'd be interested in hearing it, either here in a comment, via Etsy convo, or on my Haute Ice Beadwork Facebook page.  

So I'm off to start notifying my waiting list!  And contemplate what I should be ordering for the next set of kits.  

OH!!!  And coming next week, a pretty new colorway for Caramel's Claws!  This is Raspberry.

Same problem though, although a good one to have. I am torn between the lighter and darker bezel.  And I have two different acorn bead arrangements.  SO...  for now, I'll make half in the lighter bezel and half in the darker.  And purchasing interest will help me decide how to make the next set. 

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.

Meet Mint!

 In my quest for replacement parts for Pineapple Blossom Necklace Kits, I stumbled across a source for some "S" Fancy Stones in colors I had not used before.  So, presented with an opportunity, I ordered some samples and jumped right in!  I hope you'll like the results!  Meet Mint!

I have to admit, I started here because I found a new sweater at the Soft Surroundings sale rack, in one of my favorite colors.  The color I thought (as a very young teen) all my bridesmaids would wear at some big church wedding.  SO I did tilt this piece toward cool summer icy blue greens, and that sweater.  Plus a closet full of other things I love. That is the new sweater, top and center.

My first efforts with Pineapple Blossom mostly were about the interplay between shiny metallic dark Toho Demi beads and their soft Semi-Glazed bead colors, plus the Sueded Gold and other matte Czech rounds.  I gradually used lighter metallics with the mattes, and this time, I have all-out, unabashed dazzle.  I loved the many colors in the Swarovski jewel, and teamed it with Toho Perma-finish metallics.

I used the beads in a gradation in the bezel itself, and mixed them together to use randomly in the rope.  I think my gradation is so subtle it's almost irrelevant, but I enjoyed doing it, so in the kit, the colors are separate.  YOU can decide when to mix them, or not.  

I ran short of the Czech beads for the last of my kits, so created a kit without a sample piece.  It will use Baby Blue Czech Pearls, instead of the Sueded Gold Light Teal in this version.  There is just the one.  And you have to gamble.  But I think it will be luscious.  If no one wants it, I get it for myself, lol! 

Here's a little idea of how it might look...

I think the pearl finish works really nicely with the metallics!  And blends nicely with the color mix.

So, the new kits will be live in my Etsy shop at noon this Sunday, April 24th.  There are 6 of the Mint, plus the one Baby Blue and I will put them all in one Mint listing, with the Baby Blue as a color choice.  

It's been quite a chilly spring in Minnesota, but there have been a couple "sweater only" days.  Guess which one I wore???  

Hoping your Spring has rainbows, and robin eggs, and a little sprouting fresh mint.  

New Colors for Caramel's Claws Necklace in Progress, but FIRST...

 I went to the local Gem and Lapidary Workers show last week and found some nice bits of stone to re-kit some old favorites.  But first, I have two of the stones from the original Blueberry edition that I never kitted.  This is the version with the chocolate ambience.  Here's a reminder of the colorway.

Below are the two new stones.  I like to be able to have a place here on my blog to show both sides of the stone, because either could be chosen to be the front.  

Minor pitting with nice over all color and an interesting dark vein.

Some larger pits, but with a little drusy sparkle inside, and exciting veining throughout.

And these are the new acorn beads.  The originals are no longer available.

They are translucent and a little less teal, and more aqua.  They seem nice with these stones.

These are kitted with the chocolate coppery browns shown above.

They will be in my shop tomorrow morning, April 14th.   

BUT!!!  I have another set of coming, with a hematite bezel and dark grey accents, and making use of the matte stones, which are vibrant and luscious.  SO, know there are more Blueberries on their way in the next couple weeks, depending on supply shopping and shipping times.  And if you already have a chocolate version, you might want to wait for the hematite.  Stay tuned!

Happy Spring and a Joyful Easter or Passover or Ramadan, 

or whatever you celebrate when the earth begins to re-awaken from Winter's slumber.

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! 

When People Use my Tutorials, and Add Their Own Personality and Skills

 Susan contacted me when she could not find her download of one of my tutorials.  We had a nice chat, and she went on to buy a Summer Fruit kit in the Grapefruit color.  I know orange tones are not everyone's favorite, but she assured me she loved color and proved it when she finished her focal.  She swore she had the wardrobe to work with it, and she DID!  I love this fabric!  It was her gentle nudge that reminded me I had the materials to re-kit Summer Fruit.  That was a good thing!

I was enthusiastic about her costuming, so she shared a Fall Flame necklace she had made, with coordinating earrings.  

   I think those earrings are inspired, and I also love what she did with the bead caps before the clasps!

Then she sent me an image of her Fuchsia Pineapple Blossom Necklace, again, with earrings she created with leftover kit beads and some rivoli's she "happened" to have on hand.  Don't we all have stuff like that??

I love how she adapted my pattern to create the rivoli edges for her earrings!  

And again, an interesting bead cap and clasp variation!

And finally she had asked if I could put together a Green Frond kit for Pineapple Blossom, and of course, I had most of the materials, except for the Swarovski, which of course was no where to be found in quantity.  So she made up her own, similar colorway and again, matching earrings.

It's really rewarding to see my patterns made up, and added to, by my sweet customers!  

Thanks Susan, for sharing your ingenuity with me!  And letting me share on my blog!!

Visit my Etsy shop for these tutorials and kits and more here.

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!