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.

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.

Funky Wonky & Purplelicious Garden

I should’ve updated my blog earlier but the summer heat has kept me away from my computer. The temperature has reached above 30 degrees and I feel like living in a big oven night and day. So hot and humid! If only I had an aircon installed in my place, oh… that would be very very nice.

So here’s the latest news. I have two necklace projects published in Creative Jewelry 2010 magazine: Funky Wonky and Purplelicious Garden.


The Funky Wonky necklace features Mallory Hoffman’s multi-colored lampwork discs which are not perfectly circled. But this imperfection is something I’d like to show off in my design. Since the discs have layers of colors and dots around their edge which make them look distinctive and interesting, I wanted these elements to get noticed when the necklace is worn. So I strung each disc on a bright silver chain and connected each chain with a jump ring. It’s a pretty simple project to make.


The other necklace is Purplelicious Garden. It's a show-stopping piece that displays a big lampwork focal bead by Crystal Brashear surrounded with Swarovski crystals and peacock-colored freshwater keishi pearls. The focal bead is particularly beautiful. I fell in love with its delicate flower motifs and color scheme even though purple isn’t my favorite color.


If the photo above isn't convincing enough to prove my word, take a look at these earrings. I've made them with smaller beads of similar floral design. Aren't they lovely?

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?

Everyday Wear Earrings

Start your day with a bit of sweetness in your ears!


Wear a simple pair of artisan work earrings and find out what other people would say when they talk to you and inevitably take a glimpse at your ears. The chances are (a) they’ll find your earrings interesting and get curious of what they are; once they ask questions about the materials of the earrings, you’d probably be excited to give them the answers and possibly end up in a friendly chat about many other topics (I can tell you this because I get into this kind of situation many times even with total strangers!); or (b) they don’t give much thought on how you look or what you wear; in this case, you just stay cool and feel confident that you look fabulous with the earrings you have in your ears.


Seriously, artisan beads bear their own uniqueness. Each artist has his/her own artistic taste and skills, and the beads that come from the artist’s hands represent his/her style. Thus, no two beads are exactly the same. The one-of-a-kind quality of the beads that gracefully hang in your ears add charms to your look.


These earrings are made for everyday wear. They’re pretty basic and light. I’ve also made a few more simple designs with flower lampwork beads, metalic lampwork beads and freshwater pearls. Check them out in my Flickr gallery!

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.

Show me PEARLS! (2)

It seems the pearl bug has got into me!

This is another freshwater pearl necklace I’ve made within past months along with Mermaid’s Glow and Pearly Spell. How did I start the design?


The creamy white pearls used for this necklace are of fantastic quality. Round, smooth, lustrous, thick-nacred. Simply adorable! But the inspiration actually came from the sculptural flower focal. The combination of delicate petals and vibrant colors in sunny orange, white and red made the flower more interesting to look at and a one-of-a-kind item. So I recreated the Around the Green style which I felt best to present its charm and the loveliness of the pearls. I added tiny faceted carnelian rondelles and a pair of Bali flower spacers to give interspace between them. And to complete the design, I used Swarovski bicones and flower sterling toggle. Done! The finished piece is so loveable. It's elegant yet classy for any occasion.

Show me PEARLS!

Next to Swarovski crystals and artisan lampwork beads, I have a special love for… pearls! Yes, pearls!!


These naturally-colored creamy peach keishi pearls are beauties to die for! They are thick-nacred, lustrous and have smooth surface for the most part. I love them so much and couldn’t think of a better idea than bringing them into spotlight of everyone’s sight as they deserve it. To make most of their fabulous appearance, I used up almost the entire pearl strand (there was only one pearl left as the wire didn’t go through its tiny holes) but alas the length was a little too short for a necklace considering the size and type of the pearls. So I added a few Swarovski crystals in silk color to reach a desired length and a small set of floral lampwork beads for extra visual interest to the design and voila! There are two ways to show off the pearls. When it’s worn like shown in the photo, you’ll get the look of timeless elegance. When it’s worn with the clasp on the chest, you’ll get the elegance style with additional sparkles and modern feel. Curious? Click here to see what I just described.

I’ve used similar type of pearls for another necklace displaying beauty of elegance and glamour. The design aims to feature the luminous purplish-pinkish tone (and a little bit of creamy peach too) of the keishis so I set them in the middle between variety of Swarovski crystals in coordinating colors. The result is like this.

Wavy Petals

Do you see the biggest glass disc on this necklace pendant? It’s metallic blue and I really like it. The color changes in different lights from dark blue to violet to coppery gold. Awesome!

So badly I wanted to feature the metallic sheen in my jewelry, I decided to make a pendant comprising several wavy discs in different colors including metallic ones. There are metallic blue, transparent red and opaque green as shown in this photo. The other side of the pendant have metallic brown that looks a bit pinkish, transparent red and opaque pink and they all can be seen in here.

Floral Beauty

I love the colors in these lampwork lentils: white, pinkish peach, purple and green. The flower motif is simple but the color combination is fresh and inspiring making it perfect color sample for Spring!

I just realized that I’ve collected more lampwork beads with floral pattern than ever before. They’re all interesting and I think they deserve to get some attention. That’s why I made a simple design for this earring pair just to make sure all eyes focus on the white floral lentils.

Click here to see another earring design highlighting the beauty of floral lampwork beads.

Sunny Rose

I’m very happy with this year’s spring. We’ve had beautiful weather for the past two weeks. Sometimes cold, sometimes windy, but most of the time warm and sunny. I just hope the weather will get warmer and warmer until summer so that I can take the kids out more often to enjoy sunny days.

Speaking of sunny days, I guess it’s very clear why this necklace is called Sunny Rose. Look at the colors of the sculptural lampwork flower focal: vivid opaque yellow of the petals, transparent green leaves and a mix of bright blue, dark blue, bright yellow of the stamen. Oh, wait here! Blue color for the stamen?

Anyway, initially I wanted to have the crystals in several different colors to complement the focal but then I was never satisfied with the results, so eventually I decided to play safe by using only a single color of Swarovski dark sapphire with a few bright-colored accents. When the necklace was finished, I kept saying "oh, ah" to myself as I didn't expect to see the effect of the color combination I'd made. The contrast between dark blue of the crystals and bright sunny yellow of the flower focal was so striking that would no doubt make people’s head turn. Trust me!

Fairy Rose

Naming a piece of work is not an easy task and it proves right for me. There are times I can create appropriate names with ease; other times I can go completely dumb!

This time I can't find any better name than Fairy Rose bracelet. Looking at the pastel colors of the artisan lampwork focal, they are a mix of pink, peach, white and green with a hint of yellow reminding me of colors in fairy movies, princess stories or even girly princess dresses. A name that relates to one of these features would be fine I thought and right after I completed the bracelet, I knew what to name it.

It's officially spring time in here and this bracelet is one of the designs I've made recently to welcome the warmer season. It has feminine look with the scuptural rose that really pops against the soft-colored background and the flirtly dangles that move joyfully on one's wrist. Simply beautiful!