I'm very proud that this piece received a third place award in the first International Miyuki Delica Challenge sponsored by Caravan Beads.

My "aquarium" was designed over a 12 inch glass block. The back of the piece was left open, to allow light through. The blue waters are made with dozens of colors of transparent Delicas, and when backlit it reminds me of scuba diving trips I've taken. (The rightmost picture below was taken with backlighting.) This piece evolved quite a bit during its creation. I've found that my best pieces are the ones where I'm constantly thinking "what if" during the creation process.

Stitches used in the piece include peyote, branched fringe, right angle weave, and surface embellishment.

The piece I submitted for the 2nd Miyuki Delica Challenge - "The Phoenix" - has it's own page, since I actually photographed the creation process as well as the finished piece.

Fire Vase

This was my very first piece of sculptural peyote (actually my first peyote piece ever!) The thought was to achieve a fire effect, with the flames drifting up the vase and then opening out into the gold-tipped petals at the top. However, I became so enamored of the shading in the piece that I ended up shading further and further into the yellows and then creams, so the fire is mostly hovering at the bottom of the vase. But I still call it the Fire Vase, because that's how I think of it.