Rivoli Play Time

Bezeled crystal rivolis: I love them. Love making them, love wearing them. They have the individuality and creativity of handcrafted jewelry, with the sparkle and glamor of big-budget pieces. Over the years I've bought a ton of Swarovski on clearance, found vintage treasures on Etsy, and even scored some discontinued or sample crystal stones from a friend who works for  a local retailer. I love to pull all these shinies out and run my hands through them, like a greedy pirate with a treasure chest. But I'm not as good about actually using them. I never want to turn the glittering potential into something that doesn't live up to my hopes. I'm trying to be better about this: all the bead dreams in the world won't do you any good if you never actually make anything.

So: I started with an inspiration -- there to the left.

Ancient-looking geometric multi-stone pendant on a round gold necklace base.

Nice, right? Modern but raw, asymmetric, just the right balance between minimalist and decadent. And totally recreateable with beads: an important consideration.

I realized I had amassed an accidental collection of rivolis of various shapes in shades of blue and green; I pulled out Delicas in a spectrum of gold and amber and went to work. The result? This lovely thing below, which I'm calling the Rivoli Puzzle Bracelet, because putting all the pieces together was something of a puzzle. What started as a pendant or a brooch had to become a bracelet when I realized there was no way this collection of stones could be made symmetrical.

Rivoli Puzzle Bracelet.

I have taken a couple classes from the great Laura McCabe, whose peyote bezeling technique is unparalleled. (Both books also highly recommended.) There's a bit of improvisation at play here -- navettes are still a bit of a bastard to put bezels around -- but on the whole I think it's one of the most successful pieces I've ever made. I plan on wearing it to every holiday party I'm invited to this year.

The big question as I finished the final bezel was this: how to embellish the peyote base? Ultimately, as with the Citrus Mess bracelet, I decided against embellishment, counting on the shape and color variations to give the piece movement and interest. Any embellishment I thought of sounded fussy and overdone, and would ruin the quiet strength of the developing piece.

Roads Not Taken:

  • One thing I learned is that putting a bright solid-color bezel around a lighter unfoiled rivoli means you get reflections, like pebbles on the bottom of a pond. Definitely something I want to try again in a more deliberate way.
  • I would love to get stones and Delicas in two contrasting colors and play around with intensity, such as the coral and green colors in this pin.
  • Alternatively, I would like to get a set of identical stones and then add embellishment details, such as in this lovely Lalique bracelet.

 

Revisions: Peyote Hex Chain.

Once more we play our dangerous game. A game called: Surely This Could Be Better. Today's piece is one I've just finished. It's a Diane Fitzgerald variation -- you're going to see a lot of Diane Fitzgerald variations, because making peyote shapes pleases my fingers in some wordless way.

A string of peyote hexagons in a spectrum from dark green to light green to pale silver to lavender to dark purple.

There are definite pleasures here. The chain has weight to it and all those Delicas really catch the light, especially the hex beads. (Hex beads in hex shapes are just about my favorite thing in the world. You'll be seeing more of these as well.) The spectrum holds together nicely, considering I cobbled it together from the odds and ends of my stash. But if I were to make this piece over again, there would be some changes:

Hex peyote chain with problem points circled.

  • Chain too short: A failure of planning, and probably the most frustrating error. This piece was envisioned as a solid necklace, long enough to do without a clasp. But once I got about halfway through the color spectrum, I found it would really be more like bracelet-length. But it's far too thick and chunky to lay properly as a bracelet -- I cobbled together a necklace extender to make it wearable, but it's a slapdash fix and it shows. Options: to make a rope or chain to support the hexagons, which doesn't appeal, or to make another length of the same chain and fix it together. Somehow this feels kind of ... gimmicky is the word, I think. And it would be a trifle too long. Perhaps the solution is to make a series of smaller hexagons on either end of the chain, which lead to a clasp? Something to consider when I'm in the Sulky Land Between Projects, where nothing feels inspired but my hands still want something to do.
  • Abrupt transitions: I could have benefited from a mid-range purple between the dark purple and the lavender beads on the right. Again, I was using stash beads, but still. It stands out more because the green values modulate so pleasingly.
  • Corners are jarring: An experiment that didn't quite work. I'd hoped that by making the corners borrow colors from the neighboring hexagon, the transition between shades would be smoother. Alas, it unsettles the transitions instead, particularly when the shades progress faster than they should. Next time, solid hexagons.

It's actually quite a hard thing, to look at hours of one's own work and find it wanting. Uncomfortable and breathless, like wearing a life vest that's too tight around the bust. But like the life vest, comfort is secondary to the purpose. So I learn what I can, and I hope to do better in the next draft.

Wednesday Workshop: Subtle Stripes

Welcome to the Wednesday Workshop series! On weeks when I don't have a project of my own to celebrate/tear to pieces, I post images of work by others, talking about how they use particular elements of design. The complete series can be found in chronological order here. Working with color eventually means working with pattern -- but the progression from following a set of instructions to creating one's own patterns can be a daunting move. How does one go from following Lisa Kan's clear and easy instructions for Russian spiral in her book Bead Romantique, to creating something like Suzanne Golden's Cellini spirals? It feels like a Last Crusade-style leap of faith.

Screenshot of Indiana Jones from Last Crusade, from a moment when he has no idea what to do to get across an abyss.

Like Indiana Jones, the best way across is just to go for it. We'll start with the first step: taking a basic pattern element, and changing it slightly.

This week's example comes from Koala Handmade Jewelry, and it is singularly lovely:

Turquoise and gold striped bead crochet bracelet by Koala Handmade Jewelry.

The original pattern is bead crochet, but could pretty clearly be applied to peyote stitch or tubular herringbone or what else have you.

Notice how one stripe of beads alternates between gold and turquoise -- the result is like a half-stripe, or a lighter stripe, and it's much more sophisticated and subtle than a second solid stripe would have been. It's a small, simple change that results in a striking effect; a bit of Rococo richness without sacrificing clarity or form.

Try this on: