Peanuts! Get Your Peanut (Beads) Here!

I've been playing around with Peanut Beads, and just finished this double spiral bracelet:

Purple and Pink Double Spiral Bracelet by Sweet Freedom Designs

Purple and Pink Double Spiral Bracelet by Sweet Freedom Designs

 detail, Purple and Pink Double Spiral Bracelet by Sweet Freedom Designs

I capped the rope with some of my own enameled beads, in matching purple, then added a sterling silver toggle.

This is actually the 3rd bracelet I've made using Peanuts this week (and the 7th bracelet I've woven this week - very productive week!), but the other bracelets I made were patterns from bead mags, so this is the first one I've made without following someone else's directions. [In addition to Peanut beads, I have a LOT of new shaped beads in the shop, and have been madly working up various patterns to show customers how to use these fun beads. If you guys want to see what I've been stitching, let me know in the comments, and I'll take some photos and get a post up!]

I'm really loving this double spiral bracelet, for a couple of reasons.
1) It's gorgeous! I love the colors, and I love the textures the peanuts impart. Lots of fun!
2) This marks my first successful double spiral! Way back in 2012, I made a quite a few stabs at getting the double spiral into my repertoire - and 2 blog posts: Here, and here. Now that I have dared to try it again, I realize that all my problems and anguish 2 years ago were NOT the fault of the directions I was trying to follow -- the problem was that I was trying to work too many sizes and colors of beads into my double spiral.

I have made hundred of single spirals, and always use different sizes, shapes, and colors in the pattern. I love to mix up the colors and textures, and often end up with very chunky spiral ropes, which I love. Here are just a few (I swear!):

So, enough about my sordid past with spirals - back to the double spiral. Obviously (at least, NOW it is obvious to me), the secret to a successful double spiral is to limit your colors to TWO, and keep your bead sizes fairly similar. Too much business in either color or texture makes the double-ness and the spiral pattern disappear.

Can't wait to explore more variations, different bead types, etc.! I may even try a triple spiral!

And the purple and pink double spiral bracelet is available in my Etsy shop!

Purple Spiral Necklace with Top-drilled crystals

I love top-drilled Swarovski crystals. But I have no idea how to use them. Am I the only one that buys beads and doesn't know how to use them?

I bought hundreds of these 6 years ago at a gem show, in probably 30 different colors. They fascinated me! And they have been sitting there, mocking me, ever since. And no one at the bead shop buys them, either - I think folks are confused by top-drills. That's my theory, anyway.

So, I decided to play with some of these last week, and since I am on a purple kick, I chose the lilac ones.
I decided I would cluster them in the center, like ripe grapes, because they REALLY have an impact when they are clustered together!

I chose a simple, "skinny" spiral to complement these sparkly crystals:

I added some 6mm Czech pressed glass beads, in a pretty tanzanite color, throughout the rope as accents.

This pretty, dainty handwoven necklace is available on Etsy!

Pink and Teal Spiral with Dichroic Glass Pendant

This dichroic glass pendant really captured my imagination - I love the swirling colors, which remind me of sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico - gorgeous pinks and blues, with a hint of gold!

I decided to make a lush spiral rope for this pendant, and chose the plump pink freshwater pearls first. I just love how they bring out the pinks in the glass pendant.

Then I added teal gold, and blue glass seed beads in a variety of sizes and shapes, and I just love the final result:

It's available on Etsy!

Holiday Lariat

You may have seen this one before - I made this last December, and wore it all the time. I have hauled it out again today - it will be my Holiday "go-to" jewelry, because I love it!

The whole lariat was supposed to be a beadwoven spiral, but I noticed I was running out of the ruby red Czech glass I was using. *Sad face* I made the 2 lengths of spiral rope you see at the ends here, and worked to come up with plan B.

Sometimes these setbacks DO turn out for the better, because I really like the solution I came up with: I incorporated some of my favorite lampwork glass peppermint beads, and had enough of the red Czech glass to do a bit more spiralling, so I made 3 short lengths of spiral rope, which I then strung up asymmetrically with a mix of red and green Czech rondelles plus some larger pressed Czech glass bicones.

I think it's very festive!

Do you have a favorite piece of holiday jewelry?

Spiral Rope with Turquoise Heart

I fell in love with this puffy turquoise heart, and fell back on my old standby, the spiral rope, for the necklace. I love weaving spirals with pinch beads - they lie so nicely, and come in such gorgeous colors!
I think this whole piece has a lovely Southwestern look.

And it's available in my Etsy Shop!

Cobalt Spiral Bracelet

I had Venetian glass rounds that matched the beautiful cobalt blue and gold lentil bead in yesterday's necklace, so naturally I made a matching bracelet!

Cobalt Spiral with Venetian Glass Focal

I chose blue and gold lampwork beads for this spiral rope necklace, to accentuate the gold and deep cobalt blue in the gorgeous Venetian glass focal bead. Blues are SO hard to photograph - the blue in the focal is pretty true, but the blues in the spiral rope are photographing a little to sapphire-y, when they actually match the blue in the focal bead.

The basic beadwoven spiral is my go-to stitch - it works up quickly, and looks so radically different depending on the beads you choose. Love it!

Bold Beadwoven Spiral

This dichroic glass focal pendant has so much going on - vivid colors, patterns - I love it! I decided it was a strong enough piece to carry off a big, bold spiral, so that is what I designed. I pulled some teals, blues, and golds from the focal, and then added the huge pink freshwater pearls, which give the spiral a dramatic flair.

And it's available on Etsy!

Waves on the Beach - a Handwoven Spiral

Sometimes you luck into the most stunning focal beads - like this one. Undulating waves of blues, whites, and browns, with bubbles, and sparkles in the browns - it instantly reminded me of turquoise waves lapping on a sun-kissed sandy beach!

I decided to create a beadwoven spiral rope to pull out the stunning colors in this glass bead. I used several colors and sizes of seed beads, some pinch beads, and some bronze freshwater pearls, and this is the result:

A peyote bail with a pinch bead ruffle acts as a slider for the lampwork focal.

This stunning, summery, beachy necklace is now available in my Etsy shop!

A Golden Spiral

This handwoven spiral rope was created with gold freshwater pearls and various sizes of gold-colored seed beads, inspired by the gorgeous golden large-holed lampwork focal bead.

I purchased this bead over 5 years ago, and I wish I knew who made it, because I want more! I have no idea where I got it, and could kick myself - the colors are fabulous, but the shape is what I really love - it's like the artisan twisted the molten glass to get this lovely shape. If you think you recognize this bead, or even better, if you think you can make some, let me know!!

Wednesday Worktable

It's Cellini Spiral, still.

When last we visited my Cellini spiral, I had just started connecting the 2 Cellini spiral tubes across the center of the necklace, where I was hanging a gorgeous lampwork focal bead that, IMO, goes perfectly with the spiral:

I have continued to work on this piece on-and-off, between the Florida Road Trip for the Torch Fired Enamel Workshop; doing repairs at the shop; and normal shop duties like taxes, housekeeping, blogging, etc.
Sometime last week I finally finished the center connection to my satisfaction, and I am saving it to show you when I finish the entire necklace.

Once I finished the center, I had a new dilemma - how to create a flexible finish for this necklace? The Cellini tubes are quite stiff, and I experimented with chain, bead stringing, and sari ribbon, but nothing was really right. I decided to try a different beadweaving stitch, and then needed to figure out which one was most compatible, and how to integrate whichever stitch I chose into the Cellini tubes, with their gaping holes!

I ultimately settled on a basic spiral rope, with size 11 seed beads as the core, so that the spiral is "skinny." I wanted it to fit inside the Celllini spiral at the end, and I attached my new skinny spiral to a few beads, sank it inside the Cellini spiral, and then decreased the Cellini spiral until it closed over the new spiral, locking it in place. I chose galvanized silver 11 Delicas for the decrease, because they were the predominant bead in the Cellini spiral, and it seemed like the thing to do. At the time.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any bead caps that were the right size and shape to go over the Cellini spiral, to make the change between stitches attractive and functional. I knew that this transition between the Cellini spiral and the basic spiral was not going to be pretty, but the bright shiny silver Delicas really call attention to it. But I don't believe that any bead I had decreased with would have made a seamless transition. 

So my next mission was to figure out a way to cover up the decrease. Since beadcaps had been ruled out, I thought back to the little freeform peyote ruffled skirts that I had created at the other end of the Cellini spirals (see first picture, above) and decided to replicate them at the decrease end, as a way to cover the decrease.

I worked on these skirts all day yesterday, and by the time I had finished stitching, my planned ruffled skirts had turned into big old Elizabethan collars, but I'm OK with them. (Perhaps because I'm itching to move on to a new project?!?)

Here are several pictures of them, from different angles - it was hard to capture the essence of what I am doing here.

That small tube extending to the left is the start of the "skinny" spiral.

So, I am teaching a beadweaving class right now - taking a break here and there to type this entry - and once the class is over, I will start stitching the spiral ropes. Hope (*crossed fingers*) to finish them today, since they go pretty quickly. Then I want to stitch a toggle and bar, connect them, and be done - and when I finally finish, I will reveal the finished necklace here!