Tiamat dress in progress

I've been looking back over my blog posts and photos, and I've been working on the Tiamat dress since September 2008. It's amazing to consider how long it has taken for me to get a good obsessive momentum with the dress. I tell people it's an elephant birth--it took a long time to gestate, but now it's alive and kicking.

Here's a current progress photo:


(You can see more photos at my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/KaliButterfly

I'm really thrilled with the way that the neckline came out. Since I hear that the Babylonians saw the Milky Way as part of her body, I wanted stars to be an integral part of the design. (I'm only hoping I have enough of those black lip stars since Fire Mountain Gems stopped carrying them! *insert worry here*) I've used or will use amazonite, blue goldstone, hematite and flourite stars in the piece, as well as the 1,000+ black lip stars I did manage to squirrel away.

But what am I doing blogging? I have to get back to work!

Vanessa Walilko
Kali Butterfly
Eclectic chainmaille jewelry, unique handcrafted jewelry designs
Become a fan of Kali Butterfly on Facebook.

Fossil Record

Aside from the many thousands of seed beads that I plan on attaching to the Tiamat dress, I also planning to add a number of interesting stones, pearls and other objects in the same color scheme.

Included in this miscellaneous category are two fossils I picked up at Dave's Rock Shop (pictured above). They are orthoceras fossils, from the Ordovician to Devonian period in the Paleozoic era for any fans of the fossil record. (Of course, this may only be relevant information to other former Montessori students.) One measures about 6 inches long, the other under 4 inches. I'm working on beaded bezels for them, but they will be the focal pieces of the top of the dress. (The one with two pointed ends will be placed just at the point of the v-neckline of the halter.)

The temptation to go back to Dave's and look for more interesting things is almost overwhelming. I say almost, because I already know this dress is going to weigh a ton, and I don't need to add any more rocks to it.

Vanessa Walilko

Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry, Beaded Dragon Sculpture and Chainmaille