Saturday, January 24, 2009

Pink River listed at ArtFire

Since I took the trouble to edit my photos of the Pink River bracelet, I decided to go ahead and list in on ArtFire. Here are some more snaps of it.



I just love it and am wondering if I should really sell it! LOL
Whew! What a week! didn't have time to bead or do art at all. I'm going to physical therapy and have discovered multitudes of muscles I didn't know I had, and they are all very sore. Hopefully, though, this will prevent me from having back surgery.

My stepson is moving in also, and I'm trying to clean out his room, which was floor to ceiling boxes of books and craft supplies. I don't know where it all came from, but it's way more than I'll ever need. Of course going through it book by book, box by box, seems like it's taking forever, or even longer! Maybe I'll have time to bead today...

But here's a photo of something I've already done for your viewing pleasure:

I call it "Pink River Bracelet" and it is somewhat freeform worked in triple peyote stitch, out of glass beads and fresh water pearls.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Sun-Moons-Stars update

I finished the necklace and started on the bracelet! It's hard to get good pics at night, but I was so excited about finishing the necklace, I had to post them right away. I decided to knot before and after the large coin beads for a little more security. I wasn't able to use a needle for this project as the holes in the 2mm silver beads were too small for one to go through! But the Fireline was stiff enough to go through them twice without too much trouble.

Here's a closeup:

The necklace taken with a flash:

Without a flash:


Does anyone know if it's OK to put a dab of clear fingernail polish on the knots in the Fireline? I hope so... I usually do that when I use Nymo for a bit more security.


I started the bracelet with the leftover thread from the necklace (better too long than too short!) about 12" pieces and knotted the coin bead in the middle with two teensy silver ones on each side. I'm adding a 4mm green iris, a 8mm clear, a 4mm green iris, and another 2mm silver bead, then knotting, one unit on each side, probably will have a total of three sections with the 8mm on each side, then will fill out with the 4mm and 2mm alternating until I get my length.

I kind of design on the fly like this... it seems to work best for me. How about you? Some people do better with patterns and instructions, but I'm not so good at following directions! LOL :)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Pics of what I'm working on

Yesterday I mentioned working on a watch band. I used a watch face I already owned, but didn't wear because the leather band was too tight. I started this in our last local bead club meeting on Jan 10 - Blue Ridge Beaders. It is an embellished ladder stitch using two needles, which is awkward for me... I seem to be all thumbs! LOL


Here is a detail of the stitch:


I'm also working on a flat spiral bracelet in purples. I made a beaded bead and loop closure, but think the loop needs some embellishment, it looks a little wimpy for the rest of the bracelet, I think:

I seem to always need to work on multiple things... I guess I'm a process person that way. Yesterday I was playing with my beads and found some lepidolite coins ... most were pink, but these five were mostly gray and yellow. I also found a slightly larger yellow calcite coin, and thought... hmmm ... the gray coins look like moons from a Hubble photo, and the yellow calcite looks like the sun... what if I design a necklace around the concept of Sun-Moons-Stars? LOL So this is what I've done so far, I also plan to make a bracelet with the extra coin bead:



What do you think? I'm stringing it on doubled fireline and have a simple hook and eye finding for the closure. I've also added 8mm crystal fire polish, 4mm green iris fire polish and the teensiest 2mm silver beads.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

I'm going to try this out and see what comes of it. Right now I'm trying to finish a flat spiral bracelet and also beading a watch band. What is everyone else working on?