Weddings: Fall, Y'all!

Though Bead Up has been MIA on the blog scene, she's been making up for it by being equally and steadily busy making custom creations! (And I do apologize for being blog MIA - it's not you, it's me)! I hope to fill you in little by little with recaps of some custom pieces and wedding ensembles -- here's the first of hopefully many!
You know how in Project Runway the contestants are often given a client-based challenge, but afterwards chastised for not incorporating enough of their own "voice" into the final design? I will admit, this is often the case when I create wedding jewelry - I do what the bride asks and often tone down the Bead Up flair so as to keep it wedding respectable. 
But when my dear friend and sorority sister Regan asked that I not only make her wedding jewelry, but also consulted for my Bead Up design itself, I knew this would be a different kind of wedding job :) Regan started with the basics: she planned to wear a white wedding dress but wanted to accessorize with dark greys and charcoals with a bracelet, earrings, and a broach. After a few more series of questions, we agreed that making a dangly charm-crystal bracelet of sorts would be great, but an exaggerated one would be even better! Though as for the broach - she was leading that all up to me! Lastly, she asked for some matching dangle earrings - but not dainty bridal... funky bridal! LOVE IT. So, after showing Regan some hues of crystals and findings, we agreed on these: 

I have never purchased so many crystals for one piece of jewelry in my life! You can also see the materials I bought for the broach at the 3 o'clock of the photo. I am not going to lie - I had never made a broach before, but I love a good challenge. So I finally found a random pin holder thing, and along with some unique oversized Swarovski crystals and floral wire, I twisted and tied up this:

 And when I applied the base to the form, we had this:

Next was making the charm dangle bracelet. I wire wrapped over 200 Swarovski crystals and, one-by-one, bound them to a gun-metal chain. I loved how the crystals reflected the sunlight!  

After 200 rounds of measuring, clipping, wire wrapping, applying, and arranging, we had this bracelet!

 I sent Regan a photo of the earrings as seen above, though we both agreed that they needed a little "umph!" So...!

Regan's was the first wedding I was able to physically attend this year (that whole moving across the country thing got in the way of traveling across the country again)... and best of all - she got married in the exact same Garden Court where my hubs and I married nearly three years ago! It was a great "homecoming!" As for the jewelry, the trio was the perfect finishing touch to the already perfectly beautiful bride!

http://www.angiewilsonphotography.com/

She and Matt looked so chic and modernly romantic!

And though I had a hard time initially conceptualizing the dark grey accents to this wedding outfit... 

That not only did it match the men's color pallet...

But it even matched Regan's shoes! PERFECT combo!

http://www.angiewilsonphotography.com/ 

Oh, and let's not forget the Bridesmaids (and many of my other sorority sisters)!

...which were a combination of some gold leaf charms from LA's jewelry district and small orange crystals (which included a clip-on version, too!). 

...which, I must say, went very well with the orange fall leaf theme. Who would have known it would have gone so well with the dark grey?  

And when I wasn't helping with the jewelry at the wedding, I was busy taking photos of the guests at the photo booth! Regan's wedding was so well planned and Bead Up is still thrilled to have been a part of it. Thank you for including me, Matt and Regan - you are loved! 

MIA - but still keepin' busy!

Ok, so I know I have been rather MIA lately. But I swear, I have been busy doing Bead Up things (in addition to a million other things, including getting over a bad cold and starting a new job)! Here are a few of the latest projects I have completed... A loyal customer of mine, Karen, asked that I make her 3-year-old niece a little pink bracelet for Valentine's day. I used some beads I actually had left over from a previous project and came up with this little number: I love how the beads capture the light! When I gave it to Karen, she put it on her own wrist and laughed, saying "You will need to make another one - I like this one too much to give it away!" Coming right up! Back in December I blogged about how a co-worker of mine asked that I make her three brass necklaces that looked like exaggerated chains. She liked them so much that she asked if I can make her a double-linked bracelet to match. I mixed and matched some different sized chains and brass links to come up with a cute little bracelet that I thought she would like. When I presented it to her, she liked it so much she asked if I could make another one so she could stack them. I didn't get a chance to take a "formal" picture of the bracelets, but did manage to get a snap shot of them on her wrist as she just so happened to wear some rings that matched! I used the remaining chain and links from the project to come up with a matching necklace, complete with a cute little birdie charm! And finally, I splurged and managed to make something for myself, too! I have arrived at a point where I have become a loyal customer of two particular stores in LA's jewelry district (good products + great price + nice staff = I am there and devoted, baby). Every time I shop at The Bead Factory, I have been drawn to this certain string of peach, brown, and clear faceted round crystals. Finally, upon my last visit, my husband put them in my shopping basket without me knowing and I went home to find a surprise for my personal indulgence! I knew just from looking at these beads that I didn't want to yuck them up with any other beads or wire-wrapping -- I loved how they looked next to each other in their "raw" form and wanted to keep that integrity. And though there were enough beads to make a solid 13" choker kind of necklace, I wanted the beads to fall just north of my collar bone, yet also be adjustable in length. So I ordered some large linked gold chain and gold findings and simply strung the beads on some gold wire: And then added the gold chain and clasp, in addition to a cute little clear faceted bead at the end of the chain :) I LOVE how these crystals capture light: Now if I only knew what to wear the necklace with, I would be set! Meanwhile, I am meeting with a new client this weekend to start creating her wedding jewelry -- all I know is that she wants statement necklaces -- my kind of project! I am also working on a few more giveaways and some really cool, fresh, never-before-seen-kind-of blog-entries :) Keep posted!!