Seven stories, sources of inspiration, pieces of work by students

Final examination projects by the students at the Applied Arts Secondary School and the Upper Secondary School in Jablonec nad Nisou

Inspired by stories; this is the poetic topic which was set for the students from the Jablonec Applied Arts Secondary School and the Upper Secondary School in Jablonec for their final examinations at the end of 2017/2018 school year. The topic was set by PRECIOSA ORNELA, which sent the students the necessary materials from its product range of beads and seed beads from the PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ brand. This resulted in seven unique creations which are well worth taking a closer look at.

We will sweeten the relaxed summer months for you with stories interwoven with glass beads and seed beads into unique characters and subjects from legendary mythology and everyday life.

We present the final examination projects of seven students from the Applied Arts Secondary School and the Upper Secondary Scxhool in Jablonec nad Nisou; Romana Hanková, Karolína Jandová, Karolína Kučerová, Denisa Maturová, Veronika Prokopová, Nikola Šprynglová and Adéla Tövišová. We are about to reveal the first of them.

Romana Hanková's dragon

The first of the seven products will take us out into the countryside on dragon's wings, as described by Tolkien in the Hobbit. It was his dragon, Smaug, which inspired Romana during her work:

"Another source of inspiration for me was the birth of the glass beads in the glare of a fiery furnace, which are closely associated in their colours with the colours of my dragon,“ wrote Romana in her final project.

The core of the dragon statue consists of a copper structure covered in soft foam and unwoven textile fabric. The dragon's eyes have been made using the wound bead technique. The dragon's final colour scheme is in tones of grey and orange, which are trending for the 2018 - 2019 season. The dragon's skin consists of PRECIOSA rocailles, bugles, imitation pearls or PRECIOSA Chilli beads from the PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ range.

Karolína Jandová's dreamcatcher for bad dreams

Who wouldn't want to only have nice dreams? Karolína holds these protective symbols dear and not because of the wide range of possibilities for working with them: "I approached this from a different point of view and made the entire dreamcatcher using only costume jewellery techniques and with trendy materials from the PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ brand,“ said Karolína.

There are two dreamcatchers, because one of them represents protection against bad dreams during the night and the second during the day. They have therefore been realised in the colours of the moon and the sun.

Karolína describes the production process thusly: "The first dreamcatcher is made from a copper plate, from which I cut out the shape of the sun using a fretsaw. I then finished it and cut holes into the ornament. This was followed by galvanisation."

The same procedure was also used for the aluminium circles which were surface finished using so-called anodisation, i.e. the electrolytic oxidation of the aluminium.

"When making the sun dreamcatcher, I strung gold PRECIOSA bugles onto nylon and white and orange PRECIOSA rocailles onto a gold satin cord. The approach was similar with the second dream catcher, where I used silver and blue PRECIOSA bugles which helped create the image of the moon inside the circle."

Walking the dog with Karolína Kučerová

Karolína Kučerová's final examination project depicts the story between a man and his dog. There are many experiences to be had when out walking your dog on its lead. The product is mainly aimed at the group of dog owners who want to have designer accessories for their pets.

"The dog's senses are filled with the sound of the lead, its structure and the promise of a walk – a story full of odours which in themselves constitute different stories. For the human, this involves a connection to the dog. The lead protects the dog from its own indiscipline and the wheels of cars or trams. The lead is also a decoration which is often supplemented with a coat," wrote Karolína.

"So, why not use the coat as a design element and tell a story with it?" she added.

How was the dog coat and lead created? In addition to being a tasteful accessory when walking your dog, the lead is also intended to serve as protection against the elements. That is why the coat includes a rain design. Karolína decided to use grey and blue PRECIOSA bugles and transparent drops with a blue lining from the PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ product range.

Karolina's lead was created using the Kumihimo technique.

Denisa Maturová's mysterious samurais

Denisa is inspired by warriors; she is literally attracted by medieval warriors, knights or samurais. By their courage, dedication and honour. And also by their armour. That is why she choose them and gave them physical form using PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ in her final examination project.

The clothing of these warriors from the Far East was made of leather or iron and then later of steel after the advent of firearms.

Denisa knowns a lot of details about samurais: "Their armour consisted of a helmet, armoured sleeves, epaulets, a cuirass, an armoured skirt and boots. Their faces were protected by cheek plates or a mask. The basic element was a kimono, which is designated by felt in my work. I chose the new PRECIOSA Karo™ two-hole seed bead in order to create the effect of the scaled texture of the armour."

How was the armour created? Firstly, it was necessary to make a drawing of the armour. "In the next step, I sewed the seed beads to the felt, so that the first general layer was created. I then cut out the shape of the figure and cut the helmet from copper. This was followed by the filing of any rough edges, cleaning with sandpaper and polishing. Once the cleaning was completed, it was time to solder the hooks to the helmet. it was then necessary to repeat the cleaning. This was then followed by sanding and further cleaning," said Denisa.

Her teachers helped with the preparation of the 3D model. Once the upper and lower sections of the armour had been sewn, Denisa applied brown PRECIOSA rocailles to the base.

Veronika Prokopová's tattooed handbag

Many people around the world are adorned with tattoos. "The story of bodily decoration is as old as mankind itself," claims Veronika. Her final examination project tells a story which is not so distant from those which came to Europe two hundred years ago in the pictures tattooed on sailors' bodies.

Veronika took the story of the tattoo in a slightly different direction and then continued even further: "Tattoos are also a form of jewellery and an accessory, so why not bring these two aspects together? The leather handbag with the popular motif of a skull is decorated with roses with selected PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ seed beads."

Veronika tattooed the skull onto the bag using a tattooing machine. The three-dimensional roses create a nice contrast with the flat motif of the skull. She made the roses out of individual petals made of red satin. She sewed each one with beautiful shiny rocailles, bugles and two-cut beads and attached them to a handbag made by Ludmila Infeldová using steel wire.

Pizza with Nikola Šprynglová

Nikola called her piece "PIZZA CREATIVE from PRECIOSA ORNELA" and it is a gift or advertising item for a significant client.

"The item symbolises the journey of the seed beads from the manufacturer to the consumer. Just as a pizza invokes a complex of tastes and a desire to create things with beads and seed beads from the PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ brand,“ wrote pizza-lover Nikola.

"The distribution of the material tells the story of the journey of the order, its completion, delivery by post and its journey by road, air or sea. The customers waits impatiently at the end of the journey. You can see for yourself what the customer will unwrap," added Nikola.

The radiant colourfulness of the product evokes just the right aroma and everybody starts to drool when they see the pizza. The beads sewn in the shape of chilli peppers, salami, olives or basil look very realistic. You can even hang a quarter slice of pizza on your keyring.

Everything has been perfectly packed in a tailor-made box sewn with golden paper.

Adéla Tövišová's CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS inspired by LEONARDO

The glass ornaments, which we can no longer do without at Christmas, tell everybody a similar story full of expectation, mystery and celebrations and festivities.

Adéla has given classic decorations a modern appearance thanks to the inspiration which she found in the geometric drawings of Leonardo da Vinci: "Leonardo da Vinci investigated the structure of nature, at whose core often lie complicated geometric polyhedrons. I am of the opinion that the processing of these elements using PRECIOSA ORNELA's trending materials for 2019 will bring a new and unique view of the topic of a modern interior decorated in the Christmas style."

Adéla also sees the possibility of using her products elsewhere: "In parallel with the development of architecture, interior design and accessories, I also see untapped possibilities in the area of Christmas decorations, which do not have to be commercially ingratiating, but can meet the demanding criteria in line with the contemporary view of the cultural of housing. The certain minimalist hint of the decorations could fulfil the function of an interesting accent and given rise to a slightly different Christmas atmosphere. The large decorations can be used all year round as interior decorations."

The decorations based on designs by Leonardo da Vinci consist of PRECIOSA bugles and rocailles from the PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ product range strung on wire.