Koi barrettes, part two

[merimask]

So.  I finished a whole bunch of koi barrettes. 

I made a few changes from my first design.  The new fish are about a third smaller and the dangles are much shorter (the longest one is about six inches).  The barrette backs are 50 mm instead of 70mm, which makes a huge difference.  The fish are shorter & narrower & actually look great as side clips.


I also changed how I did the dangles.  I beaded the whole wire which was very time consuming, but I'm happier with the way it looks.  I chose various glass beads in shades of blue & aqua, which is all sparkly & watery-looking.  I added a few accent pearls on some...on others I used Czech glass beads with a mirror finish (they looked like bubbles to me).

Anyway, I had fun doing them.  Many thanks to 

smillaraaq, who provided a link for a really simple giude to all the koi varieties...it made things a LOT easier for me because it was quick & easy to print out.  I still have a ton of varieties I want to make.

 

Next project; some new Medusa masks.  I want to make a couple in "real" snake colors.  Usually I do them in fantasy metallic colors over black, but I'm intrigued by the idea of a Medusa that's colored like a diamondback rattlesnake in brown & sand tones (& maybe turquoise eyes!  My favorite color combination!).  Anyway I cut out two of them last night.  It's going to be my big project for the next few days.

EDIT:  I just made myself an ETSY account!  It was SO easy...easier by far than clunky old e-bay to be sure.  You can see my shop here.   I only put a few pieces up, just to try it out.  Thinking of putting the koi barrettes in there as well.  Hmm!