Hi friends,

               Quite a long time since I could make time to post something. Busy days.... Well, whoever said being a teacher is an easy job will have to change his thoughts if he experiences what it means to be a teacher, especially during the time of exams..... bundles and bundles of answer scripts to be corrected... phew..... feels like a never ending task.....  no time for anything else.

             Well... I thought I deserve this break from all the paper evaluation work ... so, here I am with a new post... It's going to be some more pieces of jewellery.

            The work with beads took a back seat as I found it not quite practical and too risky to open my box when the little one was around. But it is very frustrating to keep  away from something you love to do.
           A casual thought led to a new idea that worked out.... and that too very well. There were many containers of baby powder lying around ( some  bought, many that my son got as gift ) that I couldn't use for the little one... he had some breathing trouble and the doctor asked us not to use the powder... I tried to make  a pliable dough using the powder, some baby massage and adhesive (I used fevicol ) ... tried different ratios and ended up with one that worked.. The dough took few days to harden. It was lighter and didn't need any baking... so I found it easy to work with...

               This was the first piece I tried...

                I was happy with the piece and then tried making beads to design jewels with ... The first piece I made was for my sister. The beads, once fully dry, were coloured using acrylic colours. I used green and pink pearl finish paints for the beads as well as the pendant. The pendant was made using two flat circular pieces and spherical beads that I fixed after coloring. 

           My darling girlie meanwhile got jealous that the first piece wasn't going to be for her. So, I started a piece for her as well, in the colours of her choice... well, she wanted one in bronze and black combination with a triangular pendant ( as totally different from  the other piece as possible....). As an afterthought, I attached some hangings on to both the pendants... Darling daughter was very happy and I got the hug and the kisses I expected, and I think I deserved as well.... being a mom is never an easy job, right !!!

                    Made just a couple of pieces more of this type.. beads and pendants of a few designs are in stock now, waiting to be painted and made  into pieces of jewellery. Meanwhile, waiting for more ideas.... 

That's it for today. Hope to be back soon

Bye.

- Chitra.

Hello friends,

                     Am back with a purse I made using old clothes. For this one, another pair of old formal trousers was used. Also, some pieces left out from  the shirt I did the Canadian smocking on for the bag I have posted last.... Just cut the trouser legs at the knee and folded the two pieces one over the other and stitched to keep them  in place. That formed the basic body of the purse. To one side, I added a small pouch that was actually the shirt pocket... that has a small zipper to close it with. On to the other side, another longer zipper was attached making an inner pouch out of the trouser leg.( it is clear from the photos posted here, I hope...)

       A plastic sheet was used in between the outer layers of the purse for some strength and stiffness. Some strips from the shirt was used to make the sides of the purse as also as a trimming over the flap... these I attached by hand....

              Once finished, the purse is big enough to fit a small notebook.... (well, I needed one to fit my cellphone and some papers  in... but finally ended with a purse larger than what I planned for....). Some bits of lace was added to give it a feminine touch.... A magnetic snap( that came from  another old pouch...) was added to the flap.

              It is this purse that I am carrying daily to work these days..... and, it feels nice .... 

                   It is going to be a hectic couple of weeks coming up... work, work and more work awaits me.... Just one day( tomorrow) to relax and get ready to face the busy weeks ahead....

Will be back later,

Bye.

- Chitra.

Hey friends,

Today's post is yet another handbag I stitched recently.
Actually, I came  across Canadian smocking here-

http://indianparentsforum.com/home/canadian-smocking-tutorial-4-basket-weave-design/

                 Thanks to the simple instructions the tutorial has, I found it quite interesting... Decided to give it a try.. what I had in my mind is the design of a simple clutch in  which I could fit in my cellphone .......
My hubby's shirt came in handy for the plan I had. Thought he work was easy( not the first part which involves drawing a grid on the wrong side of the cloth.... that requires quite a lot of patience which is short in supply with me :-)  those who know me, know that very well ) The bit I completed, I stitched it over another piece of fabric... and this I had to keep aside till I could make some time to transform into a clutch..

                I quite forgot about this and when I could get time to start with it again, well... my plan changed and thought of another design - for a bag... Searched my stash of clothes to recycle that I had kept aside and finally decided on an old pair of formal trousers my hubby had wanted to dispose of. A little work later. these are the two  pieces I completed for the two sides of the bag.

                     An old dupatta of mine as also long strips of the trouser fabric was used to make the lining for the bag and... to it, I stitched the side- pockets of the trousers as open pouches. The handles of an old travel- bag was used to give strength to the handles of the bag.

                   A small hook I took from  my son's water bottle was fixed to the lining as a key- holder... The zipper alone was attached manually... ( I don't know why, but even after so many bags and purses, I still am  not confident of attaching a zipper very neatly to a bag). 

                    And here is the finished product.... Feels nice having completed the project :-)

That's for today. Be back soon.

Bye.

- Chitra.

Hello friends,

                It feels good to be at home, playing with the little one for a while... mind free from tension( well, not fully, still.....) and at least plan to finish some pending work when the little lad takes a nap( that is, if he chooses to take a nap.... I know, I am dreaming for sure..... but then, once in a while, that too feels good...). I thought the least I could do was to post some more of my jewels... so, here they are...

             This first one is a little delicate piece in pink and silver combination.... say pink, and it definitely has to be my darling daughter's favourite.. with matching earrings, of course..

                And this is another classic combination of red and gold... goes well with traditional wear... there are cute little hangings on the necklace and the earrings

               These are a set of three butterfly earrings that can be made real fast... made these three in less than 20 minutes... the first one was a small gift to a dear friend of mine... one was for the little daughter of another friend ......

            So that's it for now. Be back with some new designs of bags/ purses I made quite recently... 

Actually, have to take some good photographs of those... ( am not good with camera. as you would have known by now..)

Bye.

- Chitra

Hey friends,

        It has been a busy day today... and I was wishing for some quiet leisurely time for myself (sigh !!) ... Just a couple of days of leave more,  and then it will be back to work... Doesn't look like any of the work I plan will work out ( well.. what's new !!)

        Today, I am posting some more jewelry work.

       There are some pieces of your work you fall in love with once you complete a project. The two jewels I am  posting here are my favourite....

       This one is of a classic combination of wood and golden beads. The earrings too have the same combination. Took some time and effort to finish this, but, I feel it was worth the effort...

             This is another one that I love... A delicate one in another classic combination of silver and black. The pendant with hangings is what I like the best about this..... the earrings too...

Will be back with some more of my works soon...

Bye.

- Chitra.

Hi friends,

Am back with some more of my work...

This is another piece using wood beads... The inspiration for this pendant was a picture of a ruby necklace I happened to see in a magazine.. There are three swinging hangings in the middle of the pendant..There is a pair of earrings to match..

The next jewel is a small attempt at making a simple peyote bead weave tube... Actually, had made the three pieces of peyote tubes some time back... but not used it in any work.. thought of this later. The longer of the tubes forms the end piece from which there are two hangings each with a ' beading around a bead'. The two smaller peyote tubes form the pair of earrings to match with the simple necklace of a single string of black seed beads.

The inspiration for this piece, I found in this blog-

   http://beadsmagic.com/free-pattern-for-earrings-mia/ 

Thanks to the author of this blog for the instructions that was easy to follow, though this was my first attempt and the finishing is not so good, I enjoyed making these..... Made three similar pieces- one for the pendant and two for a pair of earrings... The basic necklace is a single string of golden seed beads.

So, that's it for today....

Have got some days off... and have made a lot of plans for works I have been wanting to do for quite some time... including some stitching projects... 

Bye, 

-Chitra.

Hello friends,

Got busy with work...  back with some more new photos of jewellery work...

               This one is a play with some seed beads and wood ones.... there are two strings of the light brown seed beads.. A simple piece in earthy tones.. with some red wooden beads... there is a pair of earrings to match....

               

                 This is yet another similar one.... Have plaited three strings of glass seed beads forming the chain for the large wood beads.... This too comes with matching earrings... The large wooden beads were a part of a hairband... but I had some other ideas for them when I bought the band just for these beauties....so here they are - as a part of this simple jewel....

             

                There are a few more jewels I had made using wood beads... sadly, forgot to take photos of those.... 

Will be back soon with some more of my works..

Bye,

-Chitra.

Hi friends,

Had posted some photos of simple jewel designs yesterday... Posting some more now...

               This is a single strand necklace with oval off- white pearls, golden tube beads and round gold sandstone beads. There is a pair of earrings to match. A simple yet elegant piece..

             This one is a delicate darling - a necklace of silver chain and seed beads with light blue crystals .... paired with blue crystal and silver chain earrings  ... modified the pendant part of the necklace to be with longer hangings ( my mom's suggestion).. 

             This is another elegant single strand necklace made of oval off- white pearl and patterned golden beads.... made 2 pairs of earrings to go with it, both hoop- style with pearls.... this set is another of my daughter's favourite ones... made another piece of the same design for my brother's little princess.

Will be back with some more posts...

Bye.

- Chitra.

Hello friends,

          Today, have selected some photos of my bead jewellery work....
I had made some small, very simple pieces when I was in school... played with bead weaving for a while......later, just left all that.... no idea why...

             It was my sister who compelled me to start those again... Well, it was just after my little prince was born, and I was at home still with a lot of time ( actually, not a lot.. but you know, whenever I could get some time, when the little one would be napping... )... And I knew that if didn't take up any work then, I wouldn't have the luxury of even a bit of time once I joined duty after my maternity leave...
            The first two pieces I made were from a single string of white coloured natural pearls my sister had... She wanted some new, yet simple designs...  and thus was I brought back to the world of bead work and jewellery....

            This is a simple illusion floating necklace ..... my sis showed me a similar piece she bought for my daughter and asked me to try the design..and here it is.... with a matching pair of earrings and a ring as well....

          And this is a simple single strand necklace of golden tube beads and white pearls, with a pair of hanging earrings as well...

                My sister loved both the designs and so, this was just the beginning of a variety of pieces of jewellery I made in a few months.... My mom too would give me suggestions... Needless to say, my darling daughter was the happiest... 

            This hobby of mine has taken a backseat now as it is too risky to work with little pieces of jewel- making materials including beads and tools when the little one is around... well , only for now... till the time  the naughty lad learns to stay put at a place for sometime at least ( I know, I may be dreaming when I expect that to happen soon... he is not even 4 years now... but, hopefully in another couple of years, I may be able to resume my bead work.)

Will post photographs of some more of my jewels tomorrow...

Bye ...

- Chitra.

Hey friends,

Posting some more miscellaneous work from some time back..

                  This was a project I did with my daughter, for her EVS work at school ... the house was made out of hard cover of old books and diaries. The house has some details including grills on windows, and even a small swing on the terrace. We had some real fun designing this miniature.

                 Then there was a time I was real crazy about glass painting.... made some wall hangings, painted some very elaborate work of butterflies on flowers... Sadly, I did not at that time take photographs of any of those.... all that is damaged and long gone... what is left is these two small pieces posted below.. these too are not in a good condition..

                 This soft toy- a little bird- was made out of scrap cloth bits... don't remember the site that gave me the inspiration and idea for this..

               And then it was origami that held my interest for some time... Then it was beaded jewellery,  then dresses for my little princess, after that it was faux- terracotta jewellery, wool work, soft toys ... it was bags and purses after that....... and this continues.......  

               Don't know if it is quite normal, but my interests have been in various types of art works at different times... it may have something to do with my patience levels and time availability, I guess... But, I have enjoyed it all.....

Be back tomorrow....

-Chitra.