Lovely Kuro is now on his way to his new home.  Enjoy, little guy.

How wonderful!  This lovely pair of pendants finally sold.  (Back story: They’ve been on hold twice and canceled due to bank/credit card issues.  I was starting to think they were cursed.)

(…They’re not actually cursed.)

I’m so very happy to report that Pyrria has found a good home and will be sent on her way shortly!  (Well, I don’t want her waiting in a box for any longer than she has to.)

New in the Shiny Things Etsy shop today: another pair of gemstone materia pendants!

The “Meteor materia” is another gorgeous rainbow obsidian bead with one *incredibly* bright halo in green and gold, and a very subtle silver-blue one on the opposite side (which I could not get to photograph for the life of me). The “Holy materia” is real aquamarine, the internal layers giving it an incredible shimmer at any angle, the white bands adding even more. Both beads are able to “spin” in case the wearer would like them repositioned in their wire setting.

I’m seriously resting my hands for a few days in a row now.  No, really.

The Bride’s Bird.  Still very young and unaware of the ways of the world, the seventeenth daughter of Nature decided to take a husband.  There were many years of bliss, until her husband became ill.  When his eyes ceased to see her and his chest ceased to move, she cried out in anguish for her mother’s help; but Nature told her this was the way of mortals, and she could do nothing to go against their fate.  Nature’s daughter begged the birds to take her soul to her husband’s, but they too could not go against the way of things.  Devastated and alone, the daughter of Nature tore apart her wedding dress and began to fashion her own bird, sewn together with her own hair, bejeweled with her own blood, its eyes made from her own crystallized tears held in place by her own wedding ring.  She breathed the breath of life into the bird, and when its wings spread and flapped she begged for it to take her soul to her husband’s.  The end of the tale changes depending upon the storyteller, but they generally agree that the bird took her to meet her husband, and Nature would never again acknowledge her seventeenth daughter.

More info and a couple more pictures are available on my web site.  (It’s also currently available for sale.)

Despite appearances, Pyrria is actually quite shy.  She opens up and becomes the life of the party when she’s comfortable, but until then she is more than content to explore on her own or find a nice little quiet spot to roost and sing to herself.

Pyre birds are often mistaken for phoenixes by (hopefully) well-meaning but generally easily-distracted or just plain inattentive mages, magicians and alchemists.  They’re more closely related to dragons than they are to phoenixes, legs designed for running at high speeds and leaping.  That’s not to say they don’t fly, of course; they rely more on self-made heated air (in part thanks to the heartstone) to stay afloat than their wings.  There was some, shall we say, “unpleasantness” a while back regarding humans and their inability to keep their hands off sparklies that they proclaimed as their own, hence why pyre birds are rarely seen these days.

(There are quite a few more pictures and detail shots at her gallery page.  She’s also looking for a good home, by the way.)

Sebian has a deep curiosity about the world.  A “hunger”, if you like.  In fact, he’s really very interested in food.  Cooking, as well.  Or rather, he likes to do the sampling instead of the cooking.  Such is rather common of a young bead wing dragon, since they’ve got an awful lot of growing to do.

Yeah, “bead wing”.  What else am I gonna call him?  The only plans I really had for this one when I started were 1.) the yarn color, and 2.) that he was going to be wyvern-styled.  Everything else was kind of just… what happened.  I’d planned to do the wings completely differently, too.  I really, literally, cannot explain what happened—but I’m not complaining.  Even if the wings did take me four days and more beads than I ever want to count.

And yes, he is fully poseable, fully flexible, and fully scratch-under-the-chin-able.  For detail shots and more pictures, please head over to Sebian’s gallery page.

(And he just so happens to be looking for a good home.)

Black, white and silver is classy.  Elegant.  But just black, white and silver is cold.  The answer?  The color of life itself: deep, rich crimson.

Admittedly, I’ve yet to identify these stones.  They’re heavy, high-gloss, and look to be to be very close to obsidian… but don’t quote me on that.  The red stones are jade dyed deep blood red, and I adore them.  They have this incredible layered shimmer to them and the occasional black band that works beautifully.  All of the wire and the clasp itself are all pure sterling silver.  It can be worn with the stylized “leaves” on the silver beads visible, or flipped over so that they’re just plain red.  Either way, gorgeous.

(And also available.)

With Her Blessings.  I had a very clear image in my head as I put this necklace together; it seems something of a piece of ritual jewelry that a priestess would wear, keeping her constantly reminded of the circle of life, as it were.  Life and death, joy and sorrow, ugliness and beauty; sides opposite but necessary, and always truly connected.

The centerpiece is red obsidian, looking to me like it represents a drop of blood in blank whiteness—but we’re going for a theme here, see?  It’s set in hand-hammered and formed rose copper.  Surrounding that are green snake/snakeskin agate beads, wooden beads hand-painted with flowers, and finally one of my favorite old finds, hand-carved wooden skull beads (with quartz beads supporting them).  All of this hangs on a cord made of six strands of high-quality cotton embroidery floss, crocheted together for strength and stability.  And a nice, rough look, I think.  That also gives the necklace a comfy bit of stretch.

I’ve actually been waiting to put these beads together for… a while.  Nice to see it all worked out so well.

(It is of course also available for sale.)

Kaishun’s got an incredibly optimistic view on life in general.  After all, he’s one of the dragons who helps to usher in spring every year.  Admittedly the duty isn’t always easy (Mother Nature just loves to readjust her snow schedule without telling anyone), but seeing the leaves and flowers begin to bud is rewarding.

The only clear ideas I had when I started were “white and pink”.  Kaishun definitely took on a life of his own after that.  His antlers and, er, “artistic spines” are wire-wrapped and decorated with lovely, lightly frosted silver-lined pink glass beads, with a few tiny delica bead accents.  His belly and the bottoms of his feet are of course brilliantly sparkly pink, and his eyes are rose quartz.

(“Kaishun” means “return of spring” or “rejuvenation”.  Suiting, I think.)

(He also happens to be looking for a good and proper home for a spring guardian.)