Swarovski Rivolis - Am I too picky?

Well, since my last post about Mikki Ferrugiaro and her awesome Tutorials, she has released her Urchin Wings Peacock Pendant...and I have been waiting for this one!

It's one of those classic pieces that's just so beautiful and feminine...and to me it's reminiscent of fancy ladies going to the opera, or flapper girls dancing in a speak easy...it's a beautiful piece that any girl would love to carry in her evening bag or wear as a pendant. And it doubles as a little compact mirror too, so it's pretty and it's useful...

The Tutorial includes two variations of the Peacock Pendant, one with the mirror back and one with the pin back as well as her original version of the Urchin Wings Bracelet that was featured in the December 2010 issue of Beadwork Magazine...basically, this is the unabridged version with more detail than the one in the Magazine.

I have been busy working on several projects using the Lace edging from Mikki's Lace Cufflette Tutorial...and I must say, it is proving to be as versatile and useful as I thought it would!

So far I have added a beaded lace edging to a plain Loomworked cuff and I am now working on the actual Herringbone cuff in the tutorial. It's pretty damn awesome...but I have been sidetracked by the Urchin Wings Peacock Pendant, so I will share more on the Beaded Lace next time!

I have started on two colorways of the mirror backed version of the pendant...but I didn't have quite enough Rivolis in the right sizes to finish it in any colorway so I am just working on the separate components for now.

In my stash I have the 18mm's in several colors, but not the ones I want for this project...and I have quite a few colors of  the 12mm's but I only have 4 of each and I need 5 for each pendant.

So I spent a few hours browsing my favorite online bead stores looking for Rivolis...this is something that should have taken 20 minutes, even with all the other beady distractions! But I can't seem to find 18mm Rivolis in any great colors...or in any colors that also come in the 12mm size other than the very basic colors.

While I love shopping for beads, this was a truly annoying experience! Am I just too picky?

Everyone has Crystal & Crystal AB...probably my least favorite Swarovski color! Several places have the other basics: Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, Rose, Peridot, Aquamarine etc....which are fine for the most part, but definitely not unique or outstanding by any means!

And quite a few of them start to look a little too fakey-fakey once you get to the larger 18mm sizes...almost like those giant plastic "gems" on those Troll dolls! Remember those? Haha!

Anyway, back to Swarovski: I like the Emerald, it's a nice, deep, dark green, so I plan on using these in one pendant. But I want some more exciting colors...and ones that I can get in 12mm as well as 18mm. Why can't I find Siam in 18mm? It's a basic color...and it's a deep, dark red...I have these in 12mm and 14mm, but can't find them in any other size!

And I only found 2 places that have the 18mm in Jet, and one of those sites is always out of stock! This is a very basic color and it should be available in every single shape and size offered by Swarovski!

But I would also love to see some more unique and exciting colors in the 18mm size...like Crystal Red Magma, Tanzanite, Paparadscha, Jet Hematite!

And I would love to see all sizes of Rivolis in colors like Dark Indigo, Purple Velvet, Hyacinth, Antique Pink, Silver Night, Bronze Shade, Metallic Light Gold, and even some of the Opal colors like Fire Opal, Pacific Opal, Palace Green Opal, Cyclamen Opal, Caribbean Blue Opal...

I just want more exciting colors in a broader range of shapes and sizes...or at least to find the same colors in all sizes across the entire line of Rivolis...why do some colors only come in the smaller sizes? It seems that they just don't make them in that many colors, or the retailers just don't carry them for some crazy reason. Or maybe I am just too picky...

Then there is the other extreme...the Vintage colors and the specialty coatings that aren't necessarily applied by Swarovski. Some of these are pretty cool, and some are very expensive! But even if I am willing to pay the higher prices, I still can't find a good color in both 18mm and 12mm...very annoying!

Now I know the obvious solution is to just use two different colors...one color for the 18mm center stone and another for the 12mm stones that surround this center. And I will probably do this at some point. But for now, this is still a new project and I am already unsure of my color choices. So I don't need to throw another wrench into the mix and use two different colors for the main components!

Anyway, enough bitching about Swarovski...they are beautiful and I love them, I just want better variety and more unique colors offered across the entire line of their unique shapes and sizes!

In the end I did find a few that will work for now...I ordered a few 18mm Jet to go with the 12mm's in my stash and a few 12mm Emerald to go with the 18mm's in my stash!

And of course I ended up buying more than just the Rivolis I need...but that's part of the fun of beading!

I don't have any photos to share yet, but hopefully I will make enough progress today to warrant taking some WIP photos...and if that happens, I will add some pictures in here!

I know most people skip straight to the pictures and then if you've caught their attention with some sparkly beads, maybe they stay long enough to read the words. But regardless of who may or may not be reading the words, I still have the urge to write the words...