Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Valentine's Bouquet

I am SOOO proud of my latest design, and I'm so happy to be able to share it with you! On Valentine's Day, my SO had a lovely bouquet of flowers delivered to my office...how sweet!?! The flowers were so gorgeous, and the color combination was so intriguing, I knew immediately that I had to make some jewelry to match! After work, I stopped at the local bead store where I picked up a nice selection of pearls and glass beads....okay, okay....so I picked up more stuff than what I needed for the bouquet design, but those are going to be put together in the upcoming weeks. Back to the bouquet.....I never really laid out an exact design for this necklace. I decided that I'd start with the focal point - a large, flat shell bead with a pretty, iridescent coating. I wire-wrapped the focal bead to the center of sterling silver chain. After that, I decided to give the necklace an asymmetrical look - I wanted to mimic the random placement often found in flower bouquets! It turned out to be a great technique to give this necklace a fantastic look that is guaranteed to be one-of-a-kind! Here's the finished design next to the actual bouquet:



Valentine's Bouquet
Valentine's Bouquet (Design not on site yet)



I used the focal bead with fuchsia-mauve-colored freshwater, coin pearls to mimic the main flowers in the bouquet - STARGAZERS! I put small light green freshwater in small bunches to represent the baby's breath in the flower arrangement. The wavy, green glass beads are similar to the long green leaves sparsely placed in the vase. White button freshwater pearls and rose colored Swarovski crystal bicones are representative of the roses in the bouquet, while small, round amethyst beads mimic the small purple flowers. Here's a more detailed picture of the final result:



Valentine's Bouquet
Valentine's Bouquet (Design not on site yet)



I love the way this asymmetrical design turned out! The "Valentine's Bouquet" necklace is a veritable wearable bouquet! It's certainly one-of-a-kind! How cool?! :-)

Cheers!

Diana

Monday, February 20, 2006

DCL gets a makeover!

That's right! I've given my website a well-needed makeover. After spending countless hours perusing fonts, I finally picked one that I thought fit my jewelry and my business. I applied the new font to the web site and lightened the overall colors of the site...just in time for spring! Here's a sneak peek at the new look:


New Look 2006
Click here to check it out!



I'll be adding the new font to a couple other places here and there, but the hardest part of the makeover is over! Yay! Let me know what you think!

:-) Diana

Thursday, February 16, 2006

*NEW* - Outfit Suggestions

Yay! A great new idea is rolling out from D Celestine Limited! Woo hoo! Since DCL is inspired by fashion, I've decided to add "Outfit Suggestions" to some of my designs! Now, as of today, I only have one outfit suggestion done for the "Heart of Bermuda" necklace, but I'll be adding more and more of these fun pages as I get them completed. Here's what the screen looks like:




Heart of Bermuda Necklace



To see the "Outfit Suggestions" just open up the detail page of a design you like and scroll down to the "Get the Scoop" section. This area has any further details about the design that would not normally be included in the basic details. If an outfit suggestion is available for the design you're eyeing, look for a link to the "Outfit Suggestions" page and click to see any outfit tips I have for that particular piece! It's that simple!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Tahitian Glow Set

Here's my latest & greatest - the "Tahitian Glow" jewelry set. The first thing that catches my eye with this set is the gorgeous, almost-glowing orange color of the Red Carnelian stones. A little sparkle is added to the jewelry with Swarovski crystals. It took a long time to put this set together, because all the stones are hand-wire-wrapped using sterling silver wire, but it was definately worth it! The necklace features a large, flat, round Carnelian disk for its focal point. Here's the necklace:


Tahitian Glow Necklace


I named this jewelry set because the warm tones of the beads reminded me of some sort of mystical nighttime luau. My super-cool childhood friend, Serena, helped me come up with the final name, though! I was going to call it "Luau Glow," but she suggested "Tahitian Glow," which I thought sounded pretty cool and still fit the necklace well. Here's the bracelet:


Tahitian Glow Bracelet


The necklace and bracelet feature a gorgeous Karen Hill Tribe Thai silver, teardrop toggle. The toggle has a slightly antiqued look to it, but I think the shape of it is what really sets it apart and gives both the necklace and bracelet extra personality! Because the carnelian stones can get heavy if you use too many at one time, I kept the earrings simple and just used one carnelian faceted rectangle and one bicone Swarovski crystal in topaz for each one:


Tahitian Glow Earrings


The orange color of the Carnelian is simply enchanting. I love how the natural colors of the stones are almost undulating as they swirl from a deep, almost brown tone, to bright orange, to an almost light yellow hue. Add some color to your jewel box with this stunning set!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

New Photography Method - flower accents

Some of you may have noticed the new pictures on my web site. I wanted to do something to my photographs to make them stand out and make them unique, so I've decided to add flowers to them! I'll be collecting silk flowers in various colors to match my various colors of crystals, gemstones, freshwater pearls, and czech glass beads. For every new design, I'll pick out a flower top or flower stem that I think best accents it to help bring out the gorgeous colors of the beads that are so hard to convey via the web. I'm also planning on collecting some vases and ceramics that I think will look good with both the photo overall & the jewelry! I hope you enjoy the most "scenic" photographs! Here's an example (click the image to learn more about it):


Megan in white and light blue


I named these earrings after my very good friend Megan who is getting married this April on the beach! I think these earrings will go perfectly with the bridesmaids dresses she has selected - except the light blue crystals need to be switched out with "aquamarine Swarovski bicones." I'll be adding those earrings to my site later this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

:-) Diana