Earring Duo - Blue Birdie and Carmel Steampunk Gears

These cute little birdies were found at my local bead store - most of the charms and dangles they have are not really my style, but when I found these folky little brass birds, I knew they would be perfect.  Paired with handwoven beads in a matte silverlined blue, they'd be the perfect piece to attract attention at a casual gathering.

 

I haven't made many pieces recently without handwoven beads in them - once the muse took over, so did the beads!  I took apart a necklace recently that just wasn't working, and the little clay steampunk gears and the colourful lampwork rounds ended up on my work table next to each other.  They'd be perfect for a steampunk enthusiast who wants something that's a little more subtle or casual than your ordinary steampunk garb.

Romantic Duo - Peach and Violet Bracelet and Earrings

 

This isn't my comfort zone.  Peach and Violet?  Not me.  But sometime karma and glass speaks to you.   And you go rummaging around the beadbox for "something" and a large acrylic cube just kind of sticks out at you.  Sure, it's been there for 20 years, but it needed to be in this bracelet. 

The peach and light lavender beads are my own lampwork - some times its not as exciting to make spacers, but there are other times, like this, where the simplicity and striations of the glass make everything just right.   

If you'd like either of these pieces for your own collection, the earrings are here and the bracelet is here

Northern Lights - Essential Oil Diffuser Bracelet in Subtle Light Blue

I've become slightly obsessed with making beaded beads out of seedbeads, as seen by the lovely, just barely there blue coloured beads.  Not a seedbead colour I would normally work with, but it worked well in the bracelet.  This particular bracelet also has a felt diffuser ball, so it can also be used with essential oils.  Just put a couple of drops on the felt ball, and you'll benefit from all of the healing properties that essential oils have.

My Etsy shop has been sadly neglected, but the bracelet has been listed here

BJP - #4

I participated in the Bead Journal Projects 2011 year.  Or at least I intended to.  I made it to about March or April, behind by only a little bit, and life happened.  If you're not familiar with the Bead Journal Project, you create a bead embroidery piece, one per month, over the course of a year.  But of course, life had other plans, and despite my best intentions, I didn't complete the project.  Not that I wasn't busy - I followed favourite rock band around North America for a month. I got a new job. I got another new job.  I went on another vacation.  And, if you judge by my pathetic attempts at blogging last year, 2012 wasn't much better.  The newest new job involves a lot of travel, and a lot of time away from home, and therefore beading.  But 2013 is another new year, and I thought I'd try and finish up the 2011 series.

I don't know if I really had an intention for the fourth series.  The second and third pieces just materialized.  This one was harder.  I will tend to monochromatic pieces if not driven in another direction.  I'd also picked this one up after over a year absence.  It was hard.  In beading it, it felt a lot like I was starting over.  I guess in many ways I have.

Ootheca Bracelet Progress

Here's the finish of side 1, plus a little over half of side 2 done. The other picture shows how the two sides will sit together when done. There will be small crystals to bind the two sides together, and I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together. I like the look, as it doesn't "look" like a bracelet that's made out of seed beads, even though it's entirely beads. The project is from "Seed Bead Fusion" by Rachel Nelson-Smith. I used a transparent blue with a luster finish for the darker colour and a colour-lined medium blue for the lighter colour.

New Project

I picked up my "Ootheca Cuff" this weekend. When finished, there will be two sides, which will be joined by hundreds of tiny crystals. Right now, I'm about 2/3 the way through side one. In all, there will be 29 rows of little bumps, and the second side will have bumps alternating with the first, so that each hole will be filled. I love the way that this is coming togther, just wish that it didn't take so long to bead!

Bead Journal Project - February

I finished the February Bead Journal Project piece, which I'm pretty happy with. I think it looks like detail from a belly dancer's costume. On this project, I'm working through a colour wheel, which means this month's colour is pink. I didn't really know what I would bead about, but I was inspired by parallel bugle beads arranged in a wave shape that I'd seen somewhere along the way in looking at other BJP member's blogs.

I'm also taking the opportunity to use up little bits of beads in my collection - ones that wouldn't be suitable for loomwork or peyote stitch, or that I don't have enough of to make a whole piece out of. The pink beads on the top are certainly some of those - I know that they were purchased when I worked at the bead store (which was ...well... close to 20 years ago). They're a little smaller than the size 10's usually available, and I only have a few colours. They were perfect for the pink on this piece though, and so joined some delicas, bugles and four pressed glass coins that I picked up in New York in the fall.

I learned a few things along the way this month. I wish I'd extended the beading just a bit further out, so you wouldn't see so much background fabric around the edges. I also wish I'd taken into account how much time seed stitch takes, especially when it's that close together. The top and bottom of this piece took quite a while to do, but I love the result.

Bead Journal Project 2010 - January

I chose to make covered buttons for the Bead Journal Project. I wanted something that was not going to take forever to bead, but something that was substantial and would feel "finished" at the end of each month. For January, I started with white, which I thought represented the ideas of "new" and "hope". I used 3 vintage buttons for the centre of the design, and surrounded them with seed beads, which fade from white into grey. I learned a lot beading this design - both about the round space that I was beading and about covering a surface entirely in beads. The first version had all sorts of small flowers and miscellaneous bits on it that I was planning to bead around - much too fidly and intricate. In the end, I decided that none of it was right, and re-beaded to the design that you see here. The design, to me, represents all that has just begun or is about to begin this year - new job, new places to visit and new people to connect with.

Christmas Ornaments

I just got word that two of my ornaments were received, and I received one today. I made the entirely beaded one, and the bell-pull style, and received the "PEACE" ornament. For those of you who read the Wagon, the entirely beaded ornament was the one I wrote a post about a few months back, asking if people wanted/would appreciate a beaded ornament. I described the ornament as a hot-pink tie-fighter, and don't think the description is that far off.

What I've been up to....

I started a bracelet recently that I'm quite excited about. I included the pattern picture, as it's mostly just a dark blob that doesn't photograph well. I'm using two different shades of dark blue oilslick beads - a shiny one for the dark colour and a matte one for the light colour, but it all just mostly looks black when photographed.

I also am working on my first non-sock knitted project - a baby sweater for some friends who just had a little girl. I still need to add the other front and to knit the raglan yoke on the sweater.

New Bracelet

All I can say is that the bracelets are addictive, and a great way to use up extra items I have in the beading stash. This one's for sale on Etsy.

New Bracelet - Alhambra Waters

I did the alternate (non-beaded) centre on Alhambra Garden, which meant that I had a ton of delica beads left over. And not wanting to waste the beads, I made a bracelet out of the extra beads that I had. Of course, it took a lot more than the 4 or 5 grams of delicas that were provided for the centre to make the bracelet, but I'm still so pleased with the overall result.

New Beaded Bracelet Happy Dance

Here's a picture of the latest beaded bracelet - it's going to Mom for Mother's day. She wanted something in black and silver, so I hope that she likes it. I incorporated the new Swarovski crystal pearls into this bracelet, and I think that they worked out well.

Second Freeform Bracelet - In Progress

I wanted a white/cream bracelet to incorporate the vintage buttons, but I didn't want it to look too much like a bridal bracelet. I then found the green, which solved all of that. It's about 3/4 finished, as I started working from the centre out and now need to finish the ends and add a clasp.

Back with pictures!

Here is the first freeform bracelet - blues and purples...

On the first day of Christmas....

I decided to give away 12 gifts on the 12 weekend days before Christmas as blog candy. I love doing blog candy - it gives me a chance to send things out into the world and have other people appreciate them. I like the act of creating things for other people, and blog candy is a perfect way to do that.

So without further ado, here is the first of the 12 gifts - a hand beaded needlecase. It's a combination of blue, turquoise and lime green beads, which are more green in real life than the yellow tone showing up in the picture. If you'd like to enter your name for the needlecase, please leave a comment in this post, and I'll draw from all the comments on Tuesday night at midnight Eastern time. You don't have to be a regular reader, or have commented before, just leave a comment and I will enter you into the drawing.

This is the PIF/Blog Candy that I created for Heather. She'd signed up for a gift at the start of the year, and I'm terribly embarrassed to say that it's taken me this long to finish her gift. I hope it's been worth the wait.

The peyote stitch needle case pattern is from "Threaded Needle Designs" and is the same pattern as I'd used for Barbara's gift earlier in the year. The pattern is originally came as a kit with the purple beads, and I re-used the pattern to create a second needlecase with some plain black and white beads that I had on hand. The beads are all Bullseye art glass, handmade by me.

Pyra's Done!!

I finished the last of her beads tonight! Of course, she still needs a strap and some fringe at the bottom, but the little tiny seed beads are done!

Beaded Needle Cases

Thanks for the compliments on Christine's pay-it-forward gift. I used a pattern from a book called "Beaded Favors" by Jennie Might. I purchased it at Shipwreck Beads several years ago in Washington, and I think it's still available.

If you want to have a go at this on your own, there are several good tutorials for peyote stitch on line - you'll need tubular peyote for the sides of the case and flat round peyote stitch for the top and bottom. There are some free peyote stitch patterns available on the net as well.

Blog Candy Number #1

Christine just emailed me to let me know that she received her needlecase and cellphone charm today. I'd created the little needlecase based on one I sent in an exchange last year, but without the japanese character on the front. I'd also included the little cell phone charm to match - I wanted something for spring, especially as both Christine and I live in Canada, where winter can seem to drag on forever.