End-Year Wishes

As in the next few hours we're entering 2012, I'd like to wish you all a good start in the new year with positive minds and in good spirits. May the year bring a better life for everybody!

Enchanted Pearl

Something showy, glamorous, extravagant... Something to wear for parties and special events... These descriptions are some of common features of winter jewelry. My choice for the festive cold season is on the contrary. It's a not-too-flashy necklace piece that's perfect for night fun time AND daytime office work.

I remember myself when working in a law firm years ago. I stepped into the office in business suit and with high heels. The accompaniment jewelry I wore was usually a pair of basic earrings. If I wanted to play a little bit of dressing up, I wore a simple choker-length necklace, too. That was all. My jewelry shouldn't be overwhelming my outfit as the purpose of dressing up was to maintain sophisticated look and at the same time assure self-confidence. That's the idea behind the Enchanted Pearl necklace. It's designed to perfectly pair with business suits when worn with the clasp on the back of the neck. But I made it more flexible. When it's worn with the clasp at the front showing the all glitters of Swarovski crystals, it's ready to liven up another look with party dress. Clever idea, don't you think?

Complete details on how to make the Enchanted Pearl necklace is available in Bead – Winter Sparkle Special 2011, Issue 34.

Paisley Glam

Finally... after waiting for almost a year, I have my Paisley Glam necklace published in Creative Jewelry 2011, a special issue of Beadwork magazine.

As shown in many of my designs, I love using crystals and pearls to create elegant designs. This piece is no exception. I opted Swarovski crystals and crystal pearls to feature a huge paisley printed Swarovski pendant and sprinkled them with Bali silver. When I made it last year, winter feel was approaching and the excitement for christmas and new year's eve was beginning to fill the air; so my mood was flowing with the buzz of these two events. Something elegant, glamorous, alluring. A show stopper.

Even when the December festivities are over, the necklace still adds certain quality to the appearance of its wearer in other formal or semi formal occassions (just don't forget to match it with appropriate dressing codes).

Ring A Ring...

o' copper,
a pocket full of earrings...

I happened to have a lot of copper rings and connectors in slightly different copper color tones: bright reddish brown and dark antique one. As brown is usually associated with fall season which is coming near, all I could think of was to mix them up for pairs of earrings.

Metalicious Bling!

I've carried some ideas to work with metal findings and here's one of the results from my experiment with versatile jumprings. If normally I use sterling silver, this time I chose several different kinds of open and closed rings from TierraCast. The quality of these premium alternatives is impressive. Sturdy, excellent workmanship and wonderfully designed in several finishes. I just love the products and already have some extra staples in my jewelry material box.

There are lots of style elements found in this bracelet. I joined hammered rings with rope and double ropes open jumprings, and attached them to a hammered toggle with plain ones. I used black and rhodium finishes in two different hues. I also used big, medium and small sizes for the rings. My goal was to make a chain-look bracelet with flair. I've seen people wearing a big silver chain bracelet but never an assembled rings one. When the bracelet was completed in the first phase, I took time to examine the design. Stylish, eye-catching and maybe it would be fine for men, too. Wow, making a unisex bracelet wasn't on my what-to-create list but I did it! So excited with the outcome, later I asked myself what if it was added with crystals? So I gave some Swarovski blings in, once again, two different types, i.e. lucerna and chessboard, without diminishing the presence of the metals. The final piece looked more lively which I really liked. It fit the bill of glamour, fun and flirty side.

Double-Duty Necklace

It's been awhile I didn't make double-duty necklaces: 1) to adorn someone's neck, and 2) to serve as prayer beads. In the past I've made several versions of this style. I started with a short-length adjustable necklace and later made a long one, both using artisan lampwork beads. Besides creating functional pieces, my intention was also to promote lampwork beads in my work. I was a newbie in lampwork beads world and easily got excited when I spotted cool bead designs on internet, in books or magazines. Within a few months, I owned a handful of artisan beads from here and USA! After seeing how unique and beautiful they were in person, I instantly knew they would give some art touches in my designs. Since then I've weighed lampwork beads as equally important materials as Swarovski crystals and sterling silver.

Back to double-duty theme, last year I made necklaces featuring lampwork beads as pendants in different ways. One was hung on one of toggle parts and the other positioned very close to crimped two wire ends. This year I used a sterling connector to hold a lampwork bead pendant.

I also experimented with a very large ring. I was thinking of a prayer beads necklace that would easily slide on a door/window handle or a small hook and I came across a really big lead-free pewter ring (about 32mm in diameter) from TierraCast. I'd read lots of positive comments and feedbacks on internet about this brand and so I thought it was time to prove them. The outcome wasn't disappointing. I should start stocking more TierraCast elements now.

Another recent experiment was a short necklace with Swarovski crystal pearls and copper findings. The photos of famous ladies like Elizabeth Taylor and Princess of Wales Diana wearing pearl necklaces had inspired me to create a simple, timeless, elegant piece. Classic style. And without knots. While generally pearl jewelry are strung knotted, my version of this style was replacing knots with small spacers and crimp beads.

The result may look deceptive. I bet no one would ever think in first place that this necklace is actually prayer beads!

Creative Jewelry Special Edition

My Purplelicious Garden necklace is selected for Creative Jewelry 10th anniversary edition that compiles 165 inspiring projects and interesting articles from past issues of the mag. This special edition is out now.

Failed Experiment

Do you believe that one's mood affects her/her work? I do!

This necklace was made when I (1) wanted to use leather for a change in my jewelry work; (2) didn't stock end crimps that fit the size of the leather; and (3) wanted to use leftover sterling silver chain accidently found in my stash. Having one big beautiful polymer clay focal, assorted crystals and silver findings ready on my table, I was thinking to make a fun, casual necklace. Here is the result: a failed experiment!

At first, I defended myself the necklace was wonderful. The design was similar to my two other designs Joy and Lemonia Drop with a little variation in the closure. I knotted the leather ends to attach the lobster clasp and its ring. But I had a funny feeling. Something wasn't really right to complement the focal. The more I stared at it, the more I felt bothered. While I found the pendant (focal and its chain dangle) was perfect, the knotted leathers half ruined the overall look of the design. They appeared to be a bit bulky and gave an impression of sloppy finish. Maybe next time I would use the knotting system when my mood sets for tribal adventure or metal power or leather trends or something else when knots are good way to show all the elements in a piece. So I reworked the design and...

it turned out to be completely different! The necklace looked more fun and stylish. Much better than the first. This is what I think the importance of being brave to accept failures and explore other design possibilities to achieve the most desirable result.

If Only...

I believe every design has a purpose. Why this bracelet has a triple string of small pearls? Why that necklace uses many big beads? Why this pair of earrings are made long and in bright colors? Why this and that and so on. Only the designer of that piece has the answers.

Similarly, I knew what I wanted to achieve with this long necklace. I wanted the floral motif lampwork beads to be the focus of attention. They’re full of multi pastel-colored petals and some with a cute lady bug too – something not to be missed! To keep the attention stay in place, I intutively knew I should make the design clean and without many embellishments. So I used dark oxidized sterling silver chains and Swarovski crystals to create a contrast between black and white. Voilà, the contrast made the soft colors of the flower beads pop! A few accents of Bali silver spacers, bead cap and toggle completed the look. Now, who would miss to spot any look-at-me details on this necklace?

If only my winter had all these colorful flowers… I can only wish.

Cheer Up!

It all began with a shortage of materials. I didn’t have enough chains and interesting clasps but that shouldn’t stop me from completing a project. So I connected two types of chains and ended them with a round basic clasp. To make the end parts more interesting to look at, I added owl and heart charms.

Next, I didn’t have charms that might go nicely with the cupcake pendant. No worries! Crystal dangles would do a great job to liven up the back parts of the necklace.

What if I attached colorful crystal dangles on the front side of the necklace? They shone just enough to accentuate the big flower focal.

And what if I used different crystal shapes in colors I picked from the heart’s color combination? To me, they looked perfect.

The rest was a fun exploration of mixing and matching colors and materials. I combined two kinds of chains, scattered small colorful crystals mimicking the colors of the pendant and embellished them with Bali silver findings.

Visually light, whimsical, colorful… I’ve been making many necklaces with this kind of design. Perhaps it has something to do with the current season. We still have several months to go through snowy winter and haven’t experienced the coldest days yet. We need colors to brighten up the days and I believe the necklaces would make a sweet smile on anyone’s face.

Autumnal Flavour

These pieces were made to cherish the current season. Copper and topaz colors are the highlights.

Collector's Style 2

More of collector’s style designs.

The bracelet below is made of Ring Bead (5139), Galactic Bead (5556) and Bicone Bead (both 5301 and 5328).

This bracelet consists of Wing Bead (5590), Round Bead (5000) and Bicone Bead (5301 and 5328).

There’s always a concern about my work being copied. Swarovski products (beads and findings) are now sold everywhere around the globe and it’s easy for people to buy the same materials and duplicate my designs without my knowledge. However, I doubt exact duplications are possible since I have my own recipe to mix and match many different sizes, colors and types of Swarovski products and give them details with metal elements (and other jewelry-related items). I strive to create disctinctive pieces that depict my style and leave no room for reproductions by people other than me.

Collector's Style

I’ve revisited my past bracelet designs (Amethisa, Karina and Aquatica) that feature several shapes/types of Swarovski crystals in a variety of colors and sizes. This bracelet is composed of Twist Bead (5621), Cosmic Bead (5523) and Cubist Bead (5650) – all in crystal copper color; plus Round Bead (5000) in red and Bicone Bead (the old type 5301) in greens to accentuate.

　
I’m sure I’m not the only one who adores the sparkle of Swarovski crystals and this kind of design is a great way to fulfill one’s wish or need to collect any shapes, sizes and colors of the crystals.

Pink Laguna

For some people, inspirations can come from unexpected places or objects. Mine is from a photo frame.

Two weeks ago I was thinking of new ideas for this big floral focal bead and always got stuck with my search for right colors of the crystals to match. The next thing I knew I should discard the color schemes. The necklace was made for a lady in late 40s and I didn’t expect to see color combinations that fit more for little girls and teenagers (for example, some colors used in this set). Just when I was about to give up my attempt for that day, the photo frame idea came to mind. Decorated frames I'd seen in crafts books or gift shops. Imagine this: a picture in a black-colored wooden frame with a few little beads randomly glued on its sides; or a cushioned frame with stiched beads around it. The beads don't have to come in similar colors to those in the picture. They're there for the frame. So here’s my interpretation with this frame idea.


A beautiful pink lampwork focal on dark-oxidized sterling silver chains accented with Swarovski crystals and a Bali silver toggle. The focal’s colors pop. The darker shades of the crystals represent grace and dignity. The firefly toggle adds a dash of cuteness. One of a kind.

Luxe Feelings

It’s always a pleasure to work with beautiful materials.


I’ve recently made some new designs with lampwork beads, Swarovski crystals and sterling silver, and this time I’ve felt a tremendous thrill to see the results. They’re full of blings and glams giving such luxe feelings to the wearers.


Many times people come to me and say that it’s sometimes difficult to find the right clothes to go with jewelry pieces I make. Well, the simplest and best thing to do is to choose soft plain fabric in a single color. To start with, try blouses, shirts or dresses in black and white as they’d be great with any colors. Or pick one color that’s similar to the colors of the jewelry for another option. Try also clothes in one color hue like blue, brown, purple, green, etc, that would coordinate nicely with the overall color combination of the jewelry. These are a few easy ways that I’ve tried for myself and worked wonderfully when it comes to choosing what to wear (clothes and jewelry); so I think they might work magic with you, too. Feel free to try!


Click here to see other designs. Some are sets and some necklaces.

Chain & Metal Style

Chain and metal style is getting more popular. I’ve seen many fabulous designs using layers of chain and mix of metals from copper, brass, bronze, pewter and gunmetal. These non-precious metal types are favoured for their economical price and thus making them ideal subtitutes to gold and silver. Their colors ranging from brown to yellow to grey tones also add special charm to jewelry pieces.

I started to mix metal components last year when making a pair of earrings to match the Earth Dance bracelet. I needed to see how the design would look like if I attached copper pin dangles to vermeil ear wires. I avoided non-sterling silver type for the ear wires to prevent myself from getting allergic.

My first tryout wasn’t up to my expectation but I was pleased to learn that mixing brown and gold colors would lead to an acceptable result. So I moved on to another earring project featuring caramel-like colored lampwork beads. I had tried vermeil headpins to hang the beads but felt their colors didn’t really blend. Brown copper pins looked better to hang them and I let the gold touch shine from the vermeil lever-back earring wires.

Since then I’ve done more chain and metal experiments in my work. If you check out my Flickr gallery, there are a few bracelet designs that explore variety of copper findings (Ivory Swirls, Potpourri, Romantic Bloom). Other designs use more of sterling silver in different finishes: bright, light oxidized and dark oxidized. I admit sterling silver is still my preference and the different finishes of sterling silver give me wider possibility to create quality wearable pieces.

Color Study

I’ve been in a playful mood with big beads. I mean really big beads, as big as 4cm in size. The bigger, the better!

For one thing, large beads would get noticed due to their size. If they’re hung on a single chain, they’ll be a statement piece. People would see them undistracted. Then, another good thing, the presence of colors, motifs, textures, shapes and other features applied on the beads would be visibly recognized.

Recently I’ve done color experimentation with three large focals. Captivated with the multicolors on each focal, I was intrigued to make simple long necklaces based on their palette. I’ve stocked up Swarovski crystals in rainbow of colors and I thought finding the matching colors of the crystals to be paired with the focals would be a fun challenge. It would be impossible if I couldn’t find some. And yes, I was right!



There are yellow, orange, dark pink, sparkling brown, dark green, light green, red, turquoise, and white. I reflected all of them in variety of crystals except brown. Leaving out one color wouldn’t disgrace the overall look of the necklace. The complete design of the necklace is shown in here.



White, green, orange, red, blue, black, yellow… What a mix of bold colors! Here I tried minimalism. I wanted one color to play dominantly, so I picked bright red as the dominant color accented with green and blue without overwhelming the presence of the heart focal. If I used this method with other colors from the focal palette, the result wouldn’t be much different. The focal bead would still be a centre of attention. Click here to see the necklace in full.



Now I wanted to expose this focal with unmatching colors of the crystals. The variegated brown and blue give the flat-sided focal an earthy feeling and I searched different colors that bear a similar feeling. Red magma – the new color from Swarovski – is the one. When I put all the beads together, they clicked right away. See the entire necklace in here.

Most of the findings used for these necklaces are oxidized sterling silver. Dark-colored sterling silver makes the beads’ colors pop and is also a wonderful alternative to black cord.

Changeable Earrings

Try this: changeable earrings. One earring findings for more than one earring dangle. Does it sound interesting?


This is not a new idea but it’s a smart way to wear earrings. I’m pretty happy to have found the leverback sterling silver ear wires that are specially designed for changeable dangles. Simply slide a dangle onto a piece of ear wire and clip its leverback (a closure attached to a curve ear wire) to secure. Quick and easy!

In general, flower motif beads appeal to anyone especially those who just begin to appreciate lampwork glass beads. Thus I’ve made several dangles featuring many kinds of flowers created by various lampwork bead artists. Since I intended them for everyday wear, their designs are pretty basic as shown in the next photo. Sure it’s always possible to make dangles with more delicate and more elaborate designs for the changeable earring style.


And here’s another thing. Changeable earrings are great as a gift. I usually put one set of ear wires and two dangle pairs in a beautifully-presented box for any occasion from birthday to friendship to farewell (and any other dear moments). Who wouldn’t be pleased to receive two pairs of lovely dangles in a single package?

Bright Warm Days!

I realize I haven’t put much attention to my blog and Flickr gallery lately. I did update them but not as many times as I’d expected. My mood to do any jewelry-related stuff seemed to be set in frequent silent mode during this year’s winter. Seeing snowy ground and lack-of-sunshine sky in the wintry chill for more than three months was distressing enough. Rather than immersed myself in jewelry work, I opted to cook or read or play with my kids. Thank heaven the winter is now over! It’s been a wonderful warmer weather for the last three weeks and I feel I’ve got my creative spirits back. There are a few new designs completed since days have turned bright and hopefully soon I’ll post them on my blog and Flickr.

When All Eyes See...

What you wear.




See more of past earrings designs in here.