Moira K Lime at SOFA NY!

Congratulations to Moira K. Lime whose work will be at SOFA New York this weekend. She'll be represented by Charon Kransen

Vanessa Walilko

Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry, Beaded Dragon Sculptures and Chainmaille

Dragon sculpture on Etsy

After a long hiatus, some news: I've listed a dragon sculpture on Etsy that you can take a look at here: Beaded Dragon Sculpture.

More Etsy updates to come. Keep your eyes peeled.

Vanessa Walilko

Unique, handcrafted beaded jewelry, beaded dragon sculpture and chainmaille

Chicago MS Walk this Sunday 5/4/08

In all the current happenings, I forgot to post a message about the MS Walk this Sunday. A person very close to me (who has asked to remain anonymous) has MS, and so I've decided to participate in the MS Walk in Chicago this Sunday.

You can visit my page by clicking here. I know asking for donations now is a little short notice, but they will accept donations even after the race, so dig between your couch cushions and pull together some money for a good cause.

Gina is also walking, so you should donate something to her too! Visit Gina's page by clicking here.

Vanessa Walilko

Unique Handcrafted Jewelry, Beaded Dragon Sculpture and Chainmaille

Amazing Soft Sculpture

As those of you who have seen my beaded phoenix necklace could probably guess, I'm pretty wild about phoenix mythology, from the ancient Egyptian bennu to the X-Men cartoon Phoenix Saga. When searching for phoenix images, I recently came across this:




That's right: a a phoenix soft sculpture. Sundreams and Myths features the incredible soft sculpture work of Cheryl Simshauser, who makes the most incredible phoenix soft sculptures, not to mention some fantastic dragons as well!

I wonder if I could somehow justify the purchase of one as a business expense...

Vanessa Walilko

Handcrafted unique beaded jewelry, beaded dragon sculpture, and chainmaille jewelry and classes

Blue Buddha Boutique Gallery Update

I'm proud to say that I actually held this piece when it was finished: a Wide Sterling Silver Cuff.

Absolutely incredible is probably the only phrase that comes close to describing how neat is it. Good job, Rebeca!

Vanessa Walilko

Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry, Unique Beaded Dragon Sculptures, and Chainmaille

Adventures at Lill Street

I'm a beader, a chainmailler, and occasionally I like to pretend that I'm a metalsmith. I'm currently taking Intermediate Metalsmithing with Sarah Chapman at Lill Street Gallery. She is one of the most excellent instructors I've ever encountered, and I highly recommend taking classes with her.

I've posted photos of two rings I put together during the class. One was totally indulgent and made for instant gratification purposes. I purchased a prong setting from Rio Grande and soldered it to a band I had put together ages ago and never found a use for. The only catch was that I had to saw the band to remove the silver under the prong setting, because the stone was cut so deep that it wouldn't fit otherwise. The stone is a "Mystic Green Topaz" that I purchased from Jewelry Television.



The next photo is of a ring I had put together the first time I took intermediate metalsmithing. The band popped off on one side, and after carefully prying the stone from its bezel, I re-soldered the band and voila: I can wear my big ring again! Big rings make me happy, as you can tell from my French Beaded Flower Rings and my Bat Ring.



I have no idea what the stone is. I bought it because I had a store credit at Caravan Beads and thought it looked neat.

I've also made a minor change to the bottom navigation of the Gianessa Designs site, making the Blog link open in a new window.

Vanessa Walilko

Unique Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry, Beaded Dragon Sculpture and Chainmaille

I'm in the Des Plaines Times!

My shameless self-promotion paid off: a story about my Fire Mountain Gems award was printed in the Des Plaines Times!

You can take a look at my award-winning design here: Phoenix Reborn.

Vanessa Walilko

Unique Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry, Beaded Dragon Sculpture, and Chainmaille