The designer's corner

[Artpearl]

Hello Adeline,

Really beautiful earrings, I love the floral design. The pearls are very nice and have a lovely sway to them.

[Isabelle35]

Hi Adeline,

Again, I love your work. Those "cluster earrings" are fab! Thanks for sharing!

[Chameleon]

Lovely pearls, specially the earrings with the "flower" top! And the wild orcids . Are those cattleya type (can't tell from the photo)?

[Adeline Leigh]

Thanks, Chameleon, Isabelle and Louise. The akoya baroques and saltwater keishis with the etched flower findings are not of my own design, I'm afraid. But I'm happy to take credit for replacing most of the pearls that came along with it and I couldn't resist weaving in gems too!

The pigeon orchid is from the dendrobium genus. What is amazing about the masses of wild little blooms is how they thrive without any care. If you are an orchid grower, you will know how much effort it takes to coax a bloom out of these finicky plants and how rare it is to find an orchid with a scent. The wild orchid bloom cycle is triggered by sudden drops in temperature (at least 5.5 °C or 10 °F), usually as a result of rain, and the next 2 days, the garden is an aromatic wonderland.

Before pearls and gems, my other love was perfumes. My husband often jokes how I couldn't possibly use up the perfumes I own in this life time. Hah! He hasn't seen where I hide the pearls If only my favourite nose Jean-Claude Ellena can perform his alchemy and bottle this sweet, balsamic and yet delicate scent. And for good measure, he can grind some pearls into it as well!

[Chameleon]

Hi Adeline!

Your own designs are also wonderful. Specially, when I think how much time all the wrapings will take

I love the light scented orcids and have got a few. No dendrobiums thow. I guess, after your introduction to the pearls, you still have "some" parfumes . I always had too many too. Still have...

[Adeline Leigh]

Tks, C. Perfume and pearls. Sad the two don't get along.

[Katbran]

This is a work in progress. I wasn't sure that the length was going to work for me without adding pearls. So,as a trial run, instead of knotting the pearls I used these tiny tiny little black acrylic beads between the pearls so I could string it on wire but get the length that would come with the knots. Worked pretty well..in fact they look just like knots!

[Caitlin]

Great idea. Keep it on the wire for awhile!

[Katbran]

Thanks Caitlin

I'm a bit tempted to wear it but there's only one crimp at each end and no glue ... with my luck I'll end up chasing pearls all over a restaurant! Think I'll just keep looking at it for awhile. I think I need two more silvery pearls to get the length right for me. Should have bought more pearls.....

[pattye]

Very nice, katbran! Love the large (silver?) bead, nice range of tones on the strand, too!

[Katbran]

Thanks Pattye ! I do love that bead, I've had it sitting around for about 6 months waiting for the right spot.. and it is SS - I'm going to get a quote on having it Rhodium plated to try to prevent tarnish problems- hopefully it won't be prohibitive.

[Adeline Leigh]

Good job, Katbran. Great to see your latest buy in a design already. I like the tiny spacers

[Katbran]

Thanks Adeline! Yeah those tiny suckers are quite helpful in getting an idea of what it would look like finished..had to haul out the magnifying light to get them on the wire. I was about cross-eyed when I finished. lol

[Ash]

Nice job Katbran! Very pretty, trendy & elegant.

Cheers

[Katbran]

Thanks Ash Very kind words!