black butterfly

201312 black butterfly, a photo by Dabu's Macrame Creations on Flickr.

ivory necklace

ivory necklace, a photo by Dabu's Macrame Creations on Flickr.

... with the beads from my dear aunt :-)

brown turquoise choker

brown turquoise choker, a photo by Dabu's Macrame Creations on Flickr.

Green Stone Choker

..some green stone and a lot of improvising.

Creative Crisis

There're two reasons why I get stuck:
1. if there're more than two projects lying around unfinished because they did't turn the way I intended
2. if there is a riddle I can't solve no matter how hard I try

Inventing one's own designs is very much like cooking without a recipe. Sometimes you get very lucky, your food is tasty and your guests ask you for the recipe because they're sure there is one. These are the precious moments that fill me with dangerous trust in my own improvising skills. But there is also a difference between cooking and knotting: you throw away your bad cooking experiment, but your unlucky macrame one stays there with you, lying around waiting to be disassembled...

I'm also frustrated about a technique which I'm sure should be rather simple but I just don't get it. I spent a week trying to copy a curl like in this necklace. These are really great works by the way, do not look improvised at all :)

Recycling

201307 brown choker, a photo by Dabu's Macrame Creations on Flickr.

Everything but the cord on this choker is recycled. The beads and both metal rings came from two different necklaces, which were given to me because the owner doesn't like them anymore or they are uncomfortable to wear - women have there reasons why they buy jewelry and don't wear it :) So I made this choker as a birthday present to the nice lady who gave me the both pieces. I hope she likes it.

Roman Necklace / Choker

roman brown necklace, a photo by Dabu's Macrame Creations on Flickr.

... is a little out of balance - the stone should have been placed a little higher - so I'd better use some necklace templates in the future.

but nevertheless it is comfortable to wear and looks pretty good. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the stone..

Wrap a Stone

Two projects in two days. I've learned a lot making these pendants. What I need is to learn how to work with wire. Not necessarily wire wrapping of stones, but working with wire in general so that I could make frames and metal elements myself. The green design didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, and I think it was because I needed some wire elements to support the macrame work. I'm also thinking about trying out the Cavandoli technique.

I would never have courage to wear this funny pendant. Imagine conversations you could have if you wear it to a night club :)

Rainbow Colors

This is a bracelet for a special occasion, which is the CSD in Berlin. As always it was a great party and THE place to be this weekend...

I like this bracelet design: it is very easy and takes maybe one hour to make. I already have some ideas how to change it  using different colors and adding beads.

Artemano

Usually I get my inspirations from online research, but I almost never imitate the works I liked or download tutorials. Firstly because I don't have the same supplies as used in the picture, and secondly, if I know from the picture how to make a piece, I can't help changing it into something new.
The works of this great macrame artist are a real challenge. I look for example at this amazing bracelet and I have no idea how he (or she? or they?) made it. I found Artemano a couple of months ago and I know for sure I won't get my peace till I've cracked one of his works and made something that looks exactly like it.
oh, I see it sounds a little criminal :)

Thank you Lilly for the great photos

_MG_3151, a photo by Lillart on Flickr.

I'm very grateful to my dear friend and photographer  Lilly for not only making beautiful pictures
of my works, but most of all for her moral support and enthusiasm about my creations.
Her great excitement as soon as she sees a new piece ("I love it, I love it, I definitely love it!!!...") is extremely motivating. Above all she is also doing "practice tests" with my jewelry while trial wearing the pieces and reporting back to me about improvements to be made.