Last week I worked on destashing some Swarovski rivolis, and ended up with two necklaces that are made exactly the same way, but look completely different. I had five rivolis in my stash - two Crystal Purple Haze, two jet black, and one tiny aquamarine. I’ve been holding on to them for awhile because I simply got bored with peyote bezels, and I just couldn’t find enough inspiration or motivation to make anything with them.
When I decided to try and use up at least a few of these rivolis, I wanted to try something new - no rings or pendants. The colors were too different to stitch them all together in a bracelet, so I decided to tackle them one at a time, and use each rivoli in a collar. I’ve had some success with big focals on netted collars before, and I thought these crystals would do nicely for the same job.
I started with a Crystal Purple Haze, and chose a palette of tangerine, rootbeer and purple lined Rosaline to complement the unique array of colors in the crystal. Jonquil lined aqua 15/o’s in the bezel pick up on the hints of blue and green and give everything a fun contrast.
With the jet rivoli, I saw an opportunity to use some of my new white-hearts in bright red, so I created a palette of tribal inspired opaques. Although the only opaque 15/o’s I have are orange, I decided not to complement them with the rest of the palette, and stuck with blue, black and yellow in the collar. I love the way the white hearts look as accents in the beadwork - their unique beauty isn’t lost in among the rest of the beads.
Predictably, I got bored after two bezels, so the remaining three rivolis will have to wait their turn. If another inspiration doesn’t come along, I may end up making another collar or two, since these ones turned out so nicely!
What’s your favorite way to use rivolis?
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1 day ago
Hi:-)
ReplyDeleteBoth collars are great!Colorful and nice.
Recently I've used lots of rivolis and can say,my favorite way of using them is in bracelets,when they are not overembellished very much.I like the way You used them in Your necklaces.I can say,I'm a little fed up with those all 'stars' and 'rosettes',with lots of crystal bicones,or rondellos and beads around rivolis.Even if they are different,each time I see them I feel really bored.Rivoli,mostly the big one,as 18 mm,even 27mm-recently I've bought such big ones:-) are so decorative on their own,so it isn't necessary to make them bezelled too much.In pendants or bracelets they are 'super stars',with their beautifully shinning cut,so we should let them play the main roles in that 'beading performance'.
Hugs-Halinka-
Both are gorgeous, but I LOVE the first one! Great work!
ReplyDeleteLove them both!
ReplyDeleteBoth of the necklaces are beautiful, but I prefer the seconded one with the red beads. http://www.etsy.com/shop/jewelryLair/
ReplyDeleteThanks! Anything with white-heart beads is a favorite in my books, too!
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