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 (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 (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

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:



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

*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!

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!

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

Quote - Inspiration to Start My Business

For those of you who don't know....I LOVE quotes! I think they're wonderful little tidbits of inspiration that can really make you think!

One of my all time favorite quotes just happens to be one of the things that helped inspired me to start my jewelry business. It asks, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" I think this quote gives a positive message to anyone who has ever been afraid to try something new or to seek out their own dream. It really makes you wonder...."Is there something that I've always wanted to do that I've been too scared to try?" Well, IMO...life is too short to worry about failure. To me, it's better to try something and fail then to not try and wonder all your life, "What if?"

I hope that this little quote helps inspire you to try something you've always wanted to do. Good luck with all your dreams and aspirations!

Cheers!

Diana

Palazzo Ducale Set

One of the hot new colors pantone predicted for spring is a pretty, light pink color called, "Cameo Pink." See the Spring 2006 Trend Report for details (via DCL Newsletter - click here to sign up). Anywho....I made this necklace with that color in mind.





This necklace uses pink peruvian opal, 3 unique bali silver beads, jet Swarovski crystal bicones, and a large, faceted pink calcite nugget. This is a very interesting piece with the contrasting shapes - the squareness of the rectangular pink peruvian opal stones against the rounded bali silver beads. The various natural pink hues of the pink peruvian opal give the necklace an unusual color scheme. I've never really seen a necklace with this combination of colors and shapes - it's one of a kind!

The natural inclusions and undulating colors of the pink peruvian opal reminded me of some sort of ancient European castle....and what d'ya know? There just happens to be a building called the "Palazzo Ducale" in Venice, which is famous for its large pinks walls made of Veronese marble. Click here to see pictures.

Here are the matching earrings:






The basic design of these earrings is one of my most popular. Again, the contrast of this design is interesting with the light color of the pink peruvian opal against the black color of the Swarovski crystal bicones.

Worn together, this set looks great with light, cream colored pants and a light pink sweater/top or jeans and a black top.

Pantone's Spring Colors & a "Preview"

A member of the International Jewelry Designers' Guild posted a message about Pantone releasing their Spring 2006 colors. I checked out the PDF...and wow! How inspiring?! Now, I know all the hottest colors that designers will be incorporating into their new clothing lines....and more importantly, I can make jewelry to match it. There are further details in my Spring 2006 Trend Report which you can access via my newsletter. What? You don't subscribe to my newsletter? Well, here's a link so you can sign up.... http://www.dcelestine.com/newsletter.asp ....Trend Reports are for newsletter subscribers as a perk for signing up - plus you get coupons and all kinds of cool stuff!

The Pantone article also mentioned that designers would work with tropical themes using the blues and greens of the Caribbean, Pacific, etc. Well, I love the beach - how relaxing it is and pleasant the natural color scheme is, so I decided to do my next collection based on this "tropical theme." I'm not releasing any more details just yet, but here's a preview....



Heart of Bermuda Necklace


This gorgeous 3 strand necklace is funky enough to make a statement, yet elegant enough to add an extra touch of class to any outfit. I could see someone wearing this necklace with either a white flowing dress for "around town" or a black fitted dress for a more dressy affair. I call this necklace "Heart of Bermuda" because the wavy, Russian amazonite beads remind me of seaweed floating in the ocean. There just happens to be an area of the Pacific Ocean called the "Sargasso Sea," where sailors used to be scared away by the large amounts of seaweed floating on the surface of the water. The Sargasso Sea is located in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. The rich green color of this necklace looks especially good with white, which I hear is going to a big fashion statement for the spring and summer.

First Post EVER...and a lil history!

Ok, so I've decided to start up my first blog....I know....I caved in....everyone has one, right? Well, mine may be a bit different from some. I plan on talking primarily about my work & passion - jewelry making.


"Pearly Peacock" - turquoise, coin freshwater pearls, amethyst, peridot colored Swarovski crystal bicone

For a lil history....I've always been an artsy person. My dad is an architect, so since childhood, he has nurtured the artistic side in me by helping me take up all kinds of artistic hobbies, including: painting with acrylics & watercolors, drawing with pencils & colored pencils & charcoals & pastels, seed-beading (weaving & jewelry making), photography, scrapbooking....and the list goes on.

Once I got to college, I found that I didn't have time for the arts & crafts I used to appreciate, so I kinda (sadly enough) let it go. No worries though! As soon as I graduated and got my first "real job," I was soon looking for a hobby to utilize my newly found free time. Well, for whatever reason, I went in Michaels and went to look at craft supplies & stumbled upon some books on jewelry making. They were fascinating! I had never thought to work with beads other than seed beads before! I started purchasing pewter components & glass beads and I made some simple bracelets, which I gave to friends, co-workers, family, etc. It wasn't long before I wanted to upgrade, not only my materials, but my skills, so I taught myself how to do wire-wrapping and started purchasing Swarovski crystals. It's kinda like a snowball effect, really...I've found myself constantly looking for new beads & components, as well as new methods. I started purchasing gorgeous gemstones & freshwater pearls, and I'm looking into ways I can make my own "designer" pendants. I'll have to keep you posted on that one though...gonna be awhile before I can afford one of those kilns! They're expensive!

Well, I guess that's enough with the "high level history." I've started this blog so I can share the story behind my work and my inspiration with people around the country ...and even the world!

After playing around with several of the blog layouts, I finally decided on this one.....at least till they come up w/ some new ones to try. This one has the same simple clean look as my web site....I found the others to be too overdone for me, or too "techie-looking." So, this will be with me for awhile. I hope you enjoy reading my blog, and PLEASE do feel free to post comments. I always enjoy getting feedback! :-)

Thanks for stopping in!

Diana