Back to business

I was in Brazil for a month and got back last week and flew the next day to the
Swarovski HQ in Cranston -Rhode Island for two days of Ambassadors meeting and training. I have lots of info to share and soon new designs.
For now a gorgeous picture taken in Brazil and a bracelet freshly made just to practice "putting" components together. More to come soon.

Above a typical flower grown on the Brazilian savanna - does great in hot, dry and arid environments stands out as the main flower that symbolizes the area where Brasilia was built, in Portuguese is called "cerrado". 

I was practicing a little last night and made this bracelet - birds flying away from the coming cold days - bye bye spring!

All findings from Michael's stores and German style wire form Beadalon.

My latest addiction: Czech peacock glass beads

 I am lately working  a lot with peacock glass beads made in Czech Republic. ..when I spotted them for the first time I was beginning to create designs for my upcoming book titled: "Modern Expressions - creating fabulous and fashionable jewelry with easy-to-find elements"by North Light Books , and coincidentally I was searching for different components..not necessarily new but different...those beads were different and fresh so the distributor in Canada kindly supplied me with a nice variety and I created a design for my book. Sad thing is that I did not explore the whole potential of those beads because now I have been creating designs for the same distributor and lots of exciting pieces have born from my studio table.  After I got my samples new shapes, colors and effect was released and by the time my book is out I am sure they will be all over the place. 

The best quality comes with the ones made in Czech Republic and they are top notch. It's all about shyness, interesting prints and cool shapes - many of the prints resemble vintage/geometric old school design staples and that what makes them hot.

 I can't resist and hold it back anymore so I am showing you a pair of earrings that I made for John Bead Corporation using one of the latest shape called "dagger"...it's fantabulous, it's inspirational and open  many possibilities of happines designing.

Check for  yourself the picture belo...and least but not last a nice addition to this design was the connectors used by me by Tierra Cast - first time everrrrrrr using findings from them (althoug we ve been dating for a while...lol)  and my goal was to give a  new interpretation for them...here I used it to add contour and air to the whole sexy look of the dangling earrings...to me is ultimately DALICIUUS !

earrings made with peacock red Labrador glass dagger drops,

ornated components used as connectors by Tierra Cast and padparadscha SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS

xilion beads- article 5328. German-style wire and silk thread by Beadalon.

Photo and design by Fernando Dasilva © 2010 for John Bead Corporation Ltd- Canada.

Summer clearance and shopping cart

My website now - wwwdasilvajewelry.com now with a real-virtual shopping cart!

I finally have a shopping cart on my website. Thank to a very good friend, I am able to offer customers a nice shopping experience and better than that, a huge  summer clearance is on until Fall. You can find a nice variety of jewelry made with semi-precious stones and a youth yet chic street-wear collection.

A touch of metallic glass beads was added recently to the web because I couldn't resist the alluring colors and prints of some of these fabulous and eccentric peacock beads.

Below some of my favorite pieces of my website.

Please stop by and take advantage of the summer discount to give to yourself a daliciuus Fernando Dasilva's original...or surprise somebody you love with one of my pieces.

XoXo !!!

Multi-strand necklace with Swarovski Elements crystals, lime citrine briolettes and sea-blue chalcedony fancy cut drops. Sterling silver 5 rings bar clasp with adjustable chain - hand knotted.

Tropical wood, Czech peacock glass beads, aluminum chain and a touch of Swarovski Elements. 26 inches long.

Brushed vermeil tooth pendant, Kiwi jasper, Swarovski Elements and chrisophrase on gold plated chain.

All designs and images by Fernando Dasilva© 2010.

All copyrights reserved.  

Hoops for August

My first post of the month is dedicated to my mom...who loves earrings and cannot leave the house withou wearing a pair of them.

Like many women under Leo zodiac sign, her jewelry needs to stand out and catch many glances as possible like the rays of Sun. Although not a big fan of beads she has learned through my designs to appreciate them...so here are some of my "hoops" made with her in mind.  

Gold filled hoops with gold plated charms and chain.

14 ky gold filled hoops with peridot and fresh water pearls.

14 ky gold filled, ruby and cherry chalcedony briolettes.

Gold plated flat circles wrapped with colored wire and Swarovski yarn,  lemon citrine and Swarovski crystals. Earrings featured on the book "Earrings, earrings, earrings" by DRG.

14k gold, tanzanite, aquamarine and blue lace agathe. 

Sterling silver and peridot  beads. Unfinished.

My friend and customer from Dallas wearing a one-of-a-kind chandelier earrings made with faceted carnelian coins, turquoise briolettes and vermeil components. One of my favorites creations ever. Love big and long earrings. 

Beyond inspiration

Inspiration can strike you in many different ways but many  times I don't rely on inspiration to create my jewelry designs simply because many times I am not inspired by anything at all, neither thinking about anything specifically. 

Most of the time I only have in my mind a color palette and everything else born from that deep desire of working and manipulating components on those colors that for some reason are talking to me.

The necklace below was created last year for the latest Beadalon catalog #30 and the initial idea was to showcase the white stringing wire - that actually is one of my favorites among many of the wide range colors available by its brand.

I've detected two fabulous print media that could have been used by me as the original inspirations for this necklace because both- a magazine cover and a product ad - are modern, sleek, vibrant and hip.  Check out the 3 following images:

On my design the color white is the main element. On the magazine cover black and white takes the main role. Then on the product ad yellow speaks loud and vibrantly sets the whole mood. All of the 3 images deliver the same color palette and obvious each color was explored with a different intention.

Necklace photographed by John Fritzinger for Beadalon © 2009.

Organic Murano

In the picture above: Organic aquamarine chunks mixed with filigree spacers, Swarovski Elements and Murano glass beads. Non treated Brazilian aquamarine large chips adds a funky and edgier vibe to the refinement and sophistications of crystals and Venetian glass beads.

Two rhodium plated star key rings were used as connectors and it can be found @ Beadalon.

In the last picture above,  wood and coconut shell beads are combined with crystals to showcase a Venetian pendant with "millifiore" accents. Crystal circle bail holds focal point in place.

Designs created by Fernando Dasilva for Murano Glass beads .

Book cover: "Modern Expressions"

This is the cover of my upcoming book, "Modern Expressions".

Turn heads by creating fabulous and fashion-forward jewelry!

"Modern Expressions" features 25 step-by-step projects featuring some of the coolest products available in the jewelry making industry today.

Learn to create chic necklaces, earrings and bracelets using basic jewelry techniques building a strong foundation to create your own one-of-a-kind pieces. Fashion sketches accompanies 15 of the projects to provide you an excellent guidance on how to pairing it with clothing choices.

A men jewelry gallery offer a fresh vision on male accessories.

Coming in January 2011  by North Light Books an imprint of F+W Media Inc.

Sexy hoops with Garnet CZ's

The folks from Artbeads.com sent me a couple of fancy cut Cubic Zirconia drops (pendants)  and I was waiting for the right moment to make something ultra sexy and feminine with them.

I got several ideas going on. I love fancy cuts and on those situations there is no need to do too much with it because the wow effect is the stone itself.

After months and months storaged inside my secret drawer here it is my design incorporating them into a fun, sassy, sexy and luscious pair of hoops - long and flowing, like I think it should be.

I 've decided to use a wide flat circle disc as a frame for the pendants; I wire wrapped around with spaced and longs wraps using copper Artistic Wire, then I created simple dangles of flat oval garnets to be added to the end of gold filled chain. The focal components are the garnet CZ drops. I love this fan shape cut and it has a little of art deco in it.

Design and photos by Fernando Dasilva © 2010.

CZ garnet fan cut drops by Artbeads.com
Product score:   ✫✫✫✫✫

Disclosure:  
A pair of garnet CZ faceted fan pendant CZ-GARN-FN18  was kindly provided free-of-charge by Artbeads.com, within the frames of Artbeads.com blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.

Bead and Button 2010 - Beadalon new products application

Playing with findings and new products is always fun if is not done under pressure and that is the recipe for successful use of unexpected products.

Beadalon just came out with a sparkle thread that pushes my boundaries into a more crafty and artsy place. I still was able to add Swarovski Elements and make it something fun and fresh.

Below is the picture of a necklace made by me during my demo hours using the hollow mesh tubing filled with crystal beads and spaced with strands of sparkle thread tied between the beads...triple strand to make it luscious...the sparkle thread  worked as spacers keeping the beads in place mimicking cages. A little bit of a "fantasy look" for girlie days.

 

My second necklace below was structured by gun metal chain and interesting focal beads serving an opaque carnelian off-shape bead turning into a pendant.

I used adhesive squares to glue Swarovski Elements on each side of a Lucite orange bead.

Another new fave of mine appears here again - an off-shape (love those) rich animal print metallic peacock bead by Canadian jewelry supplier John Bead Corporation. have you seen those? If not you should run to the closest bead shop and ask for them...those beads are amazingly fashionable and very versatile. There are many "lines" to select from, I went with one that coordinates better with the other Swarovski crystals I have used - , red magma roundelle, crystal dorado bicones and golden shadow cubist. 

This necklace will add pizazz to either a summer or fall outfit, and can be worn on day or nightlight. 

Chic, simple and trendy! That is all you need to feel expressively modern and beautiful...but hey don't forget about an upbeat attitude..that is a must have.

Energy to all!

Fernando.

Fashion, Forward and Findings

I made a very few pieces during the demo time at the Beadalon booth at Bead and Button 2010 Show last month.
Earrings are the quickest pieces to make it but sometimes I c only make one side and finish the pair once I am back home.
Below are few earrings made using the new very modern ear wires by Beadalon. I am sure lots of them will be sold by other companies down on the road, but once again Beadalon has introduced them to my design world and here are some of my favorite ones.

Above is a large cherry chalcedony drop held by a hinge pinch bail ear wire...if you're looking for instant gratification and don't want to spend any of your precious time wire wrapping nor opening/closing jump rings and needs a new pair of earrings to add pizazz to a new outfit,  this is the right ear wire for you. It doesn't require hardly any of your time at all...it's a less than 2 minutes pair of earrings...better than that only online shopping darling! The findings is sleek, modern and perfect to showcase a fat briolette or a long fabulous faceted drop. Shazan!

Oh..I love those...still modern and sleek but on this hoops the ear wire has a back ring. It doesn't interfere on the look of your beads and you can add any combination of components and it will work.

Oval light purple peacock Czech beads by  John Bead Corporation  are the focal element combined with crystals by  Swarovski Elements  ...the new baroque pearls are sensational.

I used satin silver bead bumpers against all the wire wrapped loops to add more texture and interest to the design element itself.   

On the pair of earrings above, I used a hinge oval ear wire that gives a touch of high end jewelry look to a street wear piece. Swarovski Elements copper octagon pendants (two holes) works as connectors adding movement and sassiness to the milky surface of bamboo coral components. These earrings offer a snap-close feature without the need for an earnut. 

I hope you enjoy the first designs of July 2010.

See you again in a couple of days.

Fer.

Fernando Dasilva creations © 2010.

Bead and Button flashes

Once again we had a great time at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee last week

The show hours are brutal but we can always count on having quality time with fellow designers, friends and customers. Milwaukee always surprises me and this year the highlight  in the city was the restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel - Kilawat - incredible cuisine, ambiance and daliciuus™ food.

Following are some of the other highlights of this trip - food is one of my passions and
it will always have lots of space in my life...to me is art and sometimes some people make comments that are totally unfair about me (gluttonous) and the "passion" about food, but you know, I will not change who I am to please anybody else. So suck it because I don't need this kind of negativity.

Cheers to life and to some of the people who stroke a pose to this blogger!

Okay...this was the beginning of my work week...have had no time for lunch and decided to grab a Vino Volo meal @ the Philly airport. The prosciutto and fig jelly sandwich is daliciuus and I ordered just half and was perfect but the white wine flight was terrible...the three wines were horrible..a Lebanese, a Turkish and a Portuguese one...the one from Portugal was the least bad one. It's in the menu under "Mediterranean whites" and it sounds so beautiful and epic but it's no fun...so Heads up people!

Wyatt White's 6 hours wire wrapping class was a huge success and 90% of the ladies was able to finish their components. Great people and 1derful teacher. Beadalon and Swarovski Elements sponsored it and I assisted. We did have 2 of our best local friends in the class helping us and providing water and cookies. It couldn't be better!

Overview of Beadalon's booth. Spacious and modern! Loved it!

The John Bead guys having a serious conversation and that black jacket is stunning..lots of bling and sparkles on DJ's back. I think he should consider a pair of pants with a whole stripe of Swarovski crystals for next year. Glamourama! 

Components made during Wyatt's class at Bead and Button. Stainless steel wire and Swarovski stone.

Another great moment of the trip. Wyatt White gave a presentation for the Loosen Bead Society of Milwaukee and it was magnificent. people were interested in learning, very well organized and one of the best groups ever. 100 ladies were eager to learn design tips and tech info about many of the products available by and through Beadalon.

Cindy Collins(VP of Milwaukee Bead Society) and Brenda Schweder (President) surrounded by Wyatt White (Beadalon's product manager) striking a pose for this blogger.

It was a great surprise to meet Brenda at this event. She is a jewelry designer, author and fellow Swarovski Elements Ambassador. It was nice to have the chance to chat a little more since we always juts talk quickly at other social gigs.Her iron work is phenomenal and she definitely is a modern expression of talent from head to toe. Check out her newest book "Vintage Redux" - it's fierce and fabulous!

Well, I was already high on those Pom Martinis and those Tohonians ladies were dripping in seed beads originals. Gorgeous neck pieces and tons of hours of work to get that 3D effect. Unfortunately the badges destroyed our  fabulosity...just a little...lol  

more to come....

Cheers!

A little of gemstones

After getting back from JCK, I am ready for Bead and Button but before I hit the road (or the sky) I am showing you a necklace that I created using two of the most popular colored gemstones.
Enjoy the images below.

Many jewelry lines will be featuring lots of amethyst for Fall/Winter 2010 collection. Citrine is another great gem that can enhance any Fall outfit.  You can go both ways on the earrings here. I choose for a single colour that can be worn separately so it's not too match match. A pair of sterling silver square hoops would also rock on!

Have a good day!

Nando.

Modern Jewelry Made in Brazil

I spent Xmas in Brazil on December of 2008. Before I head to my hometown I spent a week in Sao Paulo, one of my favorites cities in the whole world. It was awesome to be in Brazil during the holiday season after an absence of almost a decade. Among many great things I saw in Sao Paulo that December the one that got all my attention it was a jewelry line I spotted in this fabulous neighborhood called  Jardins (gardens).

I went to a street fair with my friend Mauro looking for cool tees and I did find some ultra fashion ones but the most interesting finding was the jewelry line of Maria Clarice.  Her pieces are very modern and ubber cool. She started designing jewelry repairing some of her mother's vintage pieces and them she channel her calling for design into jewelry making...then later on she wold be updating old pieces and making them better and contemporary...it was a married between form and functionality. 

You might think that I am crazy since more than a year has passed by and I am bringing to you something "old"....but dahhling, let me tell you: her jewelry has one the most important things that a wearable jewelry line needs to have for me...timelessness...considering the economy and the fast pace that we live in nowadays it's great for any woman to buy an accessory today and still be able to wear it 2 years later...Maria Clarice pieces are contemporary and futuristic, casual chic and funk and sometimes whimsical.

Take a look at the few pictures I took of her line at the time (I was authorized by her to do it and she did tell me that her website was under construction) and they look like they were created for her 2010 Summer line. I believe that is almost impossible for anybody to look at a entire designer's line and fall in love for everything but her overall aesthetic and vibe is incredible! I did think her jewelry is very Daliciuus™ to look at it! 

So I hope you like as much as I did.

BTW her website is finally up and running and you can check it out and see what's she's been up to. Yes, it's in Portuguese but come on if I made in English you can make in Portuguese as well.

Enjoy Maria Clarice designs below:

I love the colors of the long necklace and the free form patched leather necklace.

Very cool components holding the cords together. Like the combo of synthetic stones, metal and fabric.

Above a selection of few of my favorite pieces.

On this picture the designer herself showing to a customer how the necklace sits once is on.

You can see in the background more of her creations.

Maria Clarice can be found at the street fair of Benedito Calixto Street plaza.

Sometimes I ask myself why I should spotlight another designer's creations but the answer is that I want to share with you what I like, what gets into my  eyes and brings me joy and of top of all I believe that beauty doesn't exist by itself. It needs to be seen, it needs to be worshipped, it needs to be talked and it needs to be admired. 

All designs on this post were created by Maria Clarice © 2008.

Photos by this blogger.

A very popular stone

We are starting a new week  and I am bringing back a relatively old piece made for my Summer/2009 line because old is new and new is old. There will be always a place for turquoise (Chinese stabilized turquoise) and clear crystals on your accessory box. The background is a sunny and very blue sky.

Fernando Dasilva © 2009.

VIVA MEXICO AND EL LOOK DEL DIA!

I created this very subtle necklace inspired of course by Frida Kahlo. 

Frida to me is the epitome of everything Mexican...her art was dramatic, colorful, tough and many times morbid but regardless the reasons for such painful art legacy, Frida was a real ambassador of her people and her nation. 

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo and the unquestionable importance of its people in our lives I want to spotlight this formidable woman and her colors.

On this piece:  carved resin roses, Peruvian hand-painted wood by Great Craft Works™, light amethyst drops, once dyed and now faded cherry chalcedony drops, brass, twisted jump rings made with Artistic Wire®, 19 strands Beadalon® .024' satin silver stringing wire and antique brass heart toggle by John Bead Corp.

Fernando Dasilva © 2010.