Inspiration Flash

One of my customers emailed me today about the beads she had received, she said:




" I love these beads...simple but beautiful and very stylish."





And that was just the very look I was going for! So I decided to share with her, and you where some of my inspiration comes from. These are the beads that she bought:

And they had been inspired by - ok you guessed it Strictly Come Dancing Costumes!! I do love a bit of glamour and I really love watching the show (and Take Two of course!) - so not only am I enjoying the show, but my mind is thinking - WOW, those colours look great together, how do I get that look into a bead!

If you look a the bodice of the dress, you can see that it has a layered depth, so I started with a white base - I then added on "Antique Clear" - a super lovely colour, and then it needed the black. I wanted the black to compliment the bead and not take over, but at the same time it also needed to be bold - so I placed some kissing flowers around. Popped the beads in the kiln - and they were great when they came out - but still not quite what I was after, they were still glossy and shiney. So I then decided to etch them - this is basically putting them into acid that gives the bead the matt/frosted look. Voila - the beads were ready!

So now you know!