Swarovski Rivoli

Well, I was going to try to take pictures of all of the things I have already made, post them, and then start updating with the new things. But! I am a terrible procrastinator, and going on vacation certainly didn't help me get motivated in that respect. ("Must go to the beach! What's this, a bead store? Oh, we should go see the wild horses! Is that a geode shop? Let's go~ fly~ a kite~ Up to the highest heights~" Hee.) Ah well.

I thought I'd share some new things instead, and I'll eventually get the time/inclination to post my "old" things. I haven't posted anything due to thinking I should post older stuff first, and ... well, that seems kind of silly. I'm constantly making new things and would rather talk about those anyway.

Last month, I took a class with a lovely lady named Danielle Payette (www.inlightcreations.com) and learned how to bezel a Swarovski rivoli. This is what we made in the class. They're made with a crystal AB rivoli, light blue copper-lined seed beads, erinite bicones, and sterling silver earring post findings. Each one took about a little bit more than an hour. Lovely results, don't you think? (Note: You can click on each picture to see it in full size.)

Well, a few days after that class, I decided to try making another one, this time with an amethyst rivoli, light blue purple-lined seed beads, and amethyst bicones. The seed beads were a little bit wider than the ones I worked with in class, so is it has a more bubble~y look. I haven't decided how to finish it off yet.

On Wednesday, I was looking through my bead stash for something, and came across my other rivolis. Oh dear. I had my delicas out, and thought I'd try using those instead of 'normal' seed beads. Let's just say they work well! I expected that they would, since they're great for peyote stitch anyway, but I was very pleased with the spiral I could achieve on the back of the rivoli. That was a nice discovery; it'll be great for earrings.

I started off with a rose rivoli. For some reason, I decided that I wanted to go super-pink, which... really isn't my normal inclination. I chose to use "transparent raspberry" delicas and rose bicones. I actually love the results, which surprised me. Here's the pendant I made, in a small spot of sunshine. I need to decide if I'm going to do a stringing project for it or not. I don't like how it looks on a chain, so I probably will.

After I finished that, I went a little bit crazy. The earrings aren't finished, because I need to decide on findings. Fuchsia niobium? I could go all-out pink, couldn't I? Or something a bit more tame...? (Nah!)


After I did the pink set, I decided to do something a little bit different. I started with a sapphire rivoli, and sapphire bicones. I didn't really want to have another monocromatic piece, so I pulled out some very pale orange matte delicas, and some darker "pumpkin" matte delicas to accent each bicone. I left out a couple of the side bicones, and added a dangle/swag on the bottom instead. I took a picture of the side/back of it as well (see below), so you can get a general idea of what that looks like. It's pretty much the same on all of the pink rivoli pieces as well, but they have more bicones on the sides.

All of the crystals (rivoli, bicones) I talk about in this post are Swarovski crystals. I started out typing in Swarovski everywhere it applied, and it was just getting a bit excessive, so I thought I'd just make one note at the end.

I love Swarovski crystals. They have a lovely sparkle, and they come in too many colours, shades, and finishes to count. When I saw the rivoli collection, I just fell in love with them. I bought a few right away, despite not really knowing what to do with them. They're gorgeous. My pictures absolutely do not do them justice. I'm so glad Danielle was giving a class on bezeling these beauties!

Sunday, June 14, 2009