This set became a finalist in the most prestigious bead competition in the world – Bead Dreams 2010, and I feel proud for this my “baby”, though it wasn’t selected as a ribbon winner.   But I am happy with just beeing the part of the show, and this is certainly amazing thing: this year both of my entries (this set and the necklace ”The Stone flower”) were selected as finalists! You can see this piece on official site of Bead and Button magazine, the top from the back and the bracelet as well as all other finalists of this show!

This set is consisting of 3 parts: the top for a pregnant lady (completely made from beads), necklace and bracelet. The idea of this set came to me while I was expecting a baby; and the experience of spring on the nature of my home city with hills, covered in thick snowdrifts, sparkling under the sun on the thin crust of ice over the snow with billions of snow “diamonds”, and a real miracle – butterflies flying among all the snow – showed me the exact image of this set. It has a deep sense of human’s closeness to Nature, combining the ideas of expectance by a mother for her child and Mother Nature for spring.  I wanted to accent the beauty of the expecting mother and the beauty of the snow-melting time with its clear thin delicate ice, sparkling snow and joyful spirit.

The butterflies on the necklace and bracelet are also symbolic. They are forerunners of Spring’s Nascency: in their bodies-”souls”- they show up different manifestations of coming Spring (melting snow, dew drops, thawed patches, etc).  These butterflies are very different, like snowflakes – you can never meet the same shape among others.

About the technical aspects of this set: I used here my own technique (Tatiana’s MOTIF (“Microbeaded Openwork’s Tastiness In Fitzpatrick’s Fancywork”)) working with antique and vintage micro beads in embroidery, making the embroidery look delicate and lite like lace.  The top on the front has a little clasp, hidden by Swarovski crystals. On the back the top has buttons made from pearls on two sides of the central part of the back.

Тhe necklace has magnet clasp on the bottom of small butterfly.  The big butterfly from the necklace can be removed and used as a pendant separately or as a decorative part for a hair clasp.

Creation of this set took about 9 months – in unison with the idea.

Materials used in this set: Antique Italian glass seed beads sizes 18, 20, 22, 24; vintage Czech seed beads and cuts sizes 18, 20; Japanese glass seed beads sizes 15, 11 and cuts; Czech micro cuts; Swarovski crystals (2 mm round crystal beads, bicones 2.5 mm, 3,4,5 mm; 6 mm crystal rondelle beads; 11×6 mm crystal modular beads; crystal aquiline center hole beads; crystal sew-on stones); natural rock-crystal beads; natural pearls; leather; memory wire; Fireline, Silamide waxed thread; Lacy’s Stiff Stuff.