Some Simple Beading

This has been a bad week from a knitting perspective.  I've had a migraine most of the week.  I actually missed work on Monday and Friday.  Friday I pulled out some beads that I bought from Artbeads and did some stringing.  This necklace is a variation on the Tunisian Bazaar Bracelet.  I bought extra beads and made a necklace instead.  I really like the green arrow heads.  I added some glass beads that I had bought at Bead and Button a couple of years ago.

This set is based on the Nebula Bracelet and Earrings.  I bought extra beads and an extra clasp and made a matching choker.

Boho Blue Necklace

I decided to take a little break from knitting and do a little bead work.  This is from the Learning Center on the Artbeads web site.  It is the Boho Blue Necklace, I guess I've been in a blue mood lately - color-wise anyway  The instructions are explicit on the first strand, with the large oval gemstones, but on the other two strands they tell you to "randomly string" various elements.  I hate that.  I cannot do random.  Here is a list of components pulled from the project page.  I used Soft Flex to string the beads on.

Dakota Stones Lapis Lazuli 4mm Round Bead Strand (R0186, qty 1)
Dakota Stones Blue Apatite 6mm Faceted Roundel Bead Strand (R0440, qty 1)
Dakota Stones Blue Apatite 4mm Round Bead Strand (R0437, qty 1)
Blue Daisy Jasper 15x20mm Drum Bead Strand (R2351, qty 1)
JBB Antique Brass-Plated Brass Flower Bush Hollow Round Bead (BEAD-0387, qty 3)
Czech Glass 15x12mm Multi-Colored with Picasso Finish Oval Bird Bead Strand (BEADS-0422, qty 1)
Czech Glass 8mm Opaline Green Blue with Picasso Finish Faceted Round Bead (15pc Pack) (BEADS-0197, qty 1)
JBB 4.9mm Antique Brass-Plated Pewter Daisy Spacer (BEAD-1372, qty 33)
TierraCast Brass Oxide Pewter 3mm Faceted Heishi Spacer (BRO-0422, qty 21)
11x7.5mm Antique Brass-Plated Textured and Plain Link Chain By the Foot (BTF-0602, qty 1)
JBB Antique Vintage Brass-Plated Pewter 3 Petal Leaf Toggle Clasp (PBA-TOG004, qty 1)
8mm Antique Brass-Plated Open Jump Ring (BBA-OJR08, qty 4)
5.5mm Antique Brass-Plated 21 Gauge Open Jump Ring (BBA-OJR06-A, qty 6)
14K/20 Gold-Filled 2x2mm Crimp Tube (GF-CRM2, qty 6)
14K/20 Gold-Filled 2.5mm Crimp Cover (find-0022, qty 6)

Beaded Flowers

I took a break from knitting today and decided to do a little bead work.  This is a kit from Beadcats called Festive Flower that I've had in my stash for a couple of years.  Of course I modified it.  It was intended to be a pin, but I had some filigree that provided a perfect base for it.  I've always been fascinated by the chains of office that I've seen in paintings from Tudor England and I've wanted to make a variation on them with beaded flowers mounted on filigree.  As a prototype I am pretty happy with it, although I need to work on the construction technique a little.

I also want to play with the colors.  The colors that came with the kit don't really show off the structure.  I'll also have to buy some more filigree.  I only have two pieces of this particular design.  I bought a bunch of filigree at Bead & Button one year just to have a variety in my stash.

Materials (numbers are Beadcats stock numbers):
Seed beads
2-14-234-71:  Size 14/0 dark red silver-lined irid
2-11-225-71:  Size 11/0 bright red silver-lined irid
2-08-228-71: Size 8/0 red silver-lined irid
2-06-228-71:  Size 6/0 red silver-lined irid
Pressed glass
N-LA-840-01:  pressed glass leaves, dk topaz transparent
Lampwork
L·X1·839·00:  topaz transparent Radiolara
 

Bead and Button 2012 - Swag on Display

When I finally started cruising the show floor, the first thing I spotted was this beauty, who now guards my kitchen (well, there was a hook in the ceiling already, and I wanted him somewhere he would not get broken).  I bought him from the Hand Blown Glass Company of the Wisconsin Dells.

My sister Virginia has been incorporating metal filigree into her pieces, so when I found a booth that had an excellent selection at reasonable prices I bought an assortment.

We had breakfast one morning with a delightful bead artist, Dolly Ahles, so I stopped by her booth and picked up this beautiful selection of flower buds.

I also had a nice visit with the lamp work artist Sage Holland, who is teaching one of the Master Classes next year.  The vases on either side are her work.  The one on the left is folded glass, a very ancient technique.  The wonderful flower in the middle is by Beau Anderson.

I also picked up a nice selection of clasps from Grains of Sand.

And the hardware for a purse from Victorian Purses by Sue.  I've been wanting to knit a beaded purse for quite some time.

And a random collection of pressed glass and a dragonfly clasp from Bokamo.  They have had the booth opposite us for a number of years now.  Remember those cool stones in my Celtic Infinity necklace and my Avatar necklace?  It turns out they are pressed glass.  I found some more this year.  Maybe this time I'll remember what they are and where I got them.

Ooops...

So, let's see how good your eyes are.  Two of the six blue stone beads are smaller than the others.  Can you spot them?  You might think there are three, but there are really only two.  When I was taking my initial photos I thought that I may have grabbed a couple of smaller beads, but this photo was the real proof.  This afternoon I cut it apart and re-strung it.  I think those two smaller beads may have been left overs from an older strand.  Here it is after my fix.

Lavender Roses Necklace

I picked up this set of lamp work beads last year at Bead & Button.  I thought that they were sweet, and the predominant color is purple, which is my favorite color.  While I was putting my swag away I decided it would be an easy job to turn them into a necklace and figured a simple color scheme would be best.  I think the purple stone may be lavender jade, I don't remember what the blue ones are.  A couple of years ago I picked up some clasps at the Bead & Button show, including some carved roses.  Strung on silver Soft Flex.

Sacred Vessel Necklace

I have had this focal bead in my stash for a couple of years.  It is by Larry Scott, my favorite lamp work bead artist.  Yesterday morning I was putting away my swag from the last Bead & Button show and taking stock to see what I wanted to look for this year.  When I pulled out this strand I knew immediately that they would go perfectly with this bead.  The large oval beads are fossil coral from Indonesia.  I'm not sure what the small gray ones are, I am really terrible about keeping track of what kind of semi-precious stones I buy, only what colors.  I am going to try and fix that, and I have a couple of field guides coming to help me identify what I have.

I used a fish clasp and silver Soft Flex.

Celtic Infinity Necklace

I love Celtic Knots, I even know how to draw them and I have used them in beadwork.  I picked up the Celtic knot beads a while ago and they have been in my stash waiting for something worthy of them.  I found the Celtic Knot clasp last year at Bead & Button.  I bought the pendant at Bead & Button as well, but I don't remember how long it has been in my stash.  The large beads I found last year, probably at one of my favorite stores in Yellow Springs, Ohio - Unfinished Creations.  I always stop in there after Bead & Button to see if the owner has any unusual gemstone beads.  I didn't have enough to fill out the length so I used some smaller onyx beads.  Strung on silver Soft Flex.

Avatar Necklace

I've had these elements in my bead stash for at least a year, but hadn't figured out how to turn them into anything.  Then a couple of weeks ago I dreamed about a possible design, which I sketched while trying to stay awake during the Preliminary Design Review of a program that I am working on.  That original design idea did not work, but it got me playing with the elements.  The beads in the outer spots of the dish are all glass, but they look like stone.  The problem that I was trying to solve was how to work the triangles (that look kind of like shark teeth) into the design because their hole is in the middle, front to back, making it a challenge to attach them into anything.  As is so often the case, the solution was easy, once I stopped fighting the nature of the beads.  I remembered that I had a strand of semi-precious stones that were not spherical, but were instead rounded cubes (the ones in the center of the dish).  So, I decided to go for simple and strung them all on some Soft Flex beading wire.

The resulting necklace reminds me of something that the Na'vi might wear on Pandora from the movie Avatar, hence the name of the piece.  I had an odd number of the interstitial beads, so I added 3 to one side and 4 to the other side before I attached the clasp.  By doing this I actually compensate for the asymmetry of the clasp itself.  The loop adds extra length, in comparison to the bar, but thanks to the extra bead the necklace hangs symmetrically.

Titania's Trifle

My choice of color for Maria's shawl may have been partly inspired by this bracelet that I finished up last weekend.  This is another project from the October/November 2011 issue of Beadwork Magazine.  The project in the magazine is called Around the Block and is by Barbara Falkowitz.  The construction is simple right angle weave with some embellishment.

Materials:  (Beadcats stock #)
2-11-510-02:  size 11 seed beads, green transparent with olive green luster
2-11-532-22:  size 11 seed beads, celadon green luster
1-03-510-02:  3 mm cubes, green transparent with olive green luster
KO Thread
Small pearls
Button

Once again you can see from the stock numbers how easy it was for me to match the color of the cubes with one of my size 11 beads, and to have the same glass finish (luster) for my beads.  The button is from my button stash.  I didn't have any green or gold buttons that would work, but this one had the right surface finish and design to complement the bracelet pattern and colors.  I thought about painting the button with nail polish to make it match, but then decided I didn't really need it to match.  I sized the bracelet so that it fits my slender wrist fairly closely (I hate floppy things on my wrists), the finished length is 6 inches.  It is wonderful to wear, beads feel great against the skin, very sensual.  The bracelet reminds me of something that a Faery Queen might wear, hence the name.

Isis Necklace

I decided that I needed a better name for this necklace than "Amethyst & Gold", do you think the Goddess Isis would be offended if I named it for her?  It is definitely regal, and seems to have an Egyptian feel to me, and Amethyst is one of the gemstones sacred to her.  The necklace isn't quite finished, I still need to add the clasp, but I don't have any suitable clasps in my stash, so I ordered some.

Project Name:  Sleek in Silver by Hatsumi Oshitani, October/November 2011 issue of Beadwork Magazine

Materials (Beadcats stock #):
KO Thread in purple
2-11-748-90 - size 11 seed beads clear-lined with cool purple
2-08-840-18 - size 8 seed beads gold opaque w/ colorful metallic irid
T-55-840-18 - TILA dark gold opaque w/ rose metallic irid
Faceted Amethyst drops

Amethyst & Gold

I have been wanting to make this necklace ever since I saw it on the cover of the October/November 2011 issue of Beadwork Magazine.  Shortly after the issue came out I spotted the faceted amethyst drops and I knew I had one of the key components of my necklace.  So after I finished up the Edelweiss Necklace I started on it.  Because of the nature of beadwork, I try not to have more than one beading project going at a time.  The construction is a modification of St. Petersburg stitch using the new two-holed beads know as TILA beads.  The project in the magazine is called Sleek in Silver and is by Hatsumi Oshitani.

Materials (Beadcats stock #):
KO Thread in purple
2-11-748-90 - size 11 seed beads clear-lined with cool purple
2-08-840-18 - size 8 seed beads gold opaque w/ colorful metallic irid
T-55-840-18 - TILA dark gold opaque w/ rose metallic irid

Edelweiss Necklace - Finished

I took a break from knitting today and finished up this necklace.  I had started it a couple of weeks ago, but then had to put it on hold while I awaited delivery of some finer Soft Flex.  This is the Edelweiss Necklace by Melinda Barta in the October/November 2009 issue of Beadwork Magazine.  You might recall that I used the flower element in my Dragon Scale Necklace.  To assemble the necklace I threaded a piece of Soft Flex (0.014 in 925 Sterling Silver) through the herringbone section and then threaded a flower at either end.  On the side with all of the flowers I attached the magnetic clasp.  On the other side I strung 18 pearls.  I then made the six flowers that form the central spine.  I found it easier to thread the pearl onto the Soft Flex before I beaded the flower.  The pattern calls for creating a ladder of delicas and then joining it to form a circle, beading the flower and then placing the finished flower onto the pearl.  Instead I did brick stitch around the pearl and then beaded the flower on the pearl.  Here is a picture of the strand before embellishing.

And here is a picture of the back-side so you can see how I spaced the flowers with delicas.

Then it was just a matter of making more flowers and figuring out the layout.  Threading the Soft Flex through the herringbone section was a little tricky, and it would have been easier if I had done the herringbone around the Soft Flex to begin with, but obviously I was successful, with a little patience and finesse.  I like the fact that the necklace is not suspended on the herringbone section, it seems to lay better.

Materials:
Pearls, about 8mm in diameter

Size 11 Delicas (Beadcats Stock #s):
4-11-463-91 clear-lined w/ rich yellow, irid
4-11-583-14 cool dk green opaque metallic
4-11-127-02 flesh pink transparent luster
Size 14 seed beads:
2-14-127-02 medium pink transparent luster
2-14-463-92 clear-lined w/ rich yellow, luster

And here you can see the power of the Beadcats stock numbering system.  The first digit represents the bead type, so 4 is Delicas, and 2 is seed bead, the next two digits are the size, the next three numbers are the color, and you can see how easy it is to match colors across bead types, and the last two numbers are the glass type and the surface finish.  You can read all about their stock numbering system on their web site.  At this point I have quite a stash, so I often don't buy beads for a project, I just make do with what I have on hand.  It does mean that I sometimes have to be a little more creative in my bead selection, and I often hit on color combinations I might not have otherwise.

Sea Monster Bead Necklace

I'm not sure what to call this necklace.  Is the focal bead some kind of strange sea monster?  Or perhaps an alien artifact?  Or even an alien insect.  I finished it up last night and I am pretty happy with how it came out.  I wanted to try and pick up the cool spirals in the main body that you can really only see in strong daylight, and I think I have done that with the spiral bead rope mimicking the spiral design.  I went for the teal and the yellow and left out the white.  For a clasp I used a vintage button that I bought at Bead & Button.  One year there were two very nice young ladies in the booth next to ours selling vintage buttons as well as reproductions of vintage buttons.

Materials:
10 grams - 3.4 mm  Japanese Drops - Beadcats stock # D-34-579-90, aqua-green transparent lined with tan
8 grams - size 11 beads - Beadcats stock # 2-11-443-90, clear lined with light yellow
2 grams - size 11 beads - Beadcats stock # 2-11-690-75, turquoise green silver-lined semi-gloss
Technique:  spiral rope

Project Updates

I finished the herringbone stitch section of my Edelweiss Necklace last weekend and started making the flowers.  The plan is to have several different colors of flower petals.  Right now I am waiting for a delivery of some finer gauge Soft Flex so I can start assembling.

Last night I pulled this project out.  I bought this focal bead a couple of years ago.  I like the colors, but I'm not sure if the design does justice to the focal bead.

How it all began

Back in the summer of 2000 I was in graduate school at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana studying the history of science when the Beadcats (my sister, Virginia, and her business partner Carol) came to visit Yellow Springs, Ohio.  Now, South Bend is only 5 hours away from my home town of Yellow Springs, so of course I had to come home to see them.  They were en route to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they were going to have a booth at Convergence, the Handweavers Guild of America conference.  They stopped in to see the family and to see if they could get some help at the show.  My brother, John, volunteered to come help them set up, and I volunteered to help them set up and help them man the booth at the show.  It was my first real exposure to fiber, fabric and beads, and I was hooked.

The show was kind of slow, and I remember that the booth next to ours was selling knitting machines and I sat with one just behind me that was set up and running the entire show, and that convinced me I never wanted one in my house.  To make the time pass we decided to do a little bead along, and Carol taught me how to bead a spiral rope.  I picked some colors, and by the time the weekend was over I had made this:

I enjoyed this project so much, that I selected some more flower, leaf and lentil beads as part of my payment for my labors that weekend and made this:

There is a matching bracelet as well as earrings.  I still have the bracelet and I think I still have the earrings, but I gave the necklace to my niece, Erin, when we went to my brother David's wedding in 2004.  I made dresses for my sister, Liz, and her daughter, Erin, for the occasion and the necklace matched Erin's dress.  I was originally only going to loan it to her, but she loved it so much, I just couldn't take it back.

I then decided to make a more dramatic variant, and created this necklace:

The large focal beads are catkins, and I used the medium sized ones to make a pair of matching earrings.

It was at this show that fabric spoke to me for the first time.  I was wandering the floor when I went by the booth for St. Theresa Textile, a Cincinnati store, and a purple batik said "Buy me!"  I walked into the booth, pointed at the fabric in question and said "I have to have that."  I had no idea what I was going to make out of it so I bought 5 yards.  I soon discovered retro patterns and made this dress:

The pattern is Simplicity 9192.  I loved this pattern so much that when I found another really gorgeous fabric I made another one, which I wore yesterday to a retirement luncheon for a colleague (yes, it really was warm enough yesterday to wear this outfit).

The lace shawl is Broderie.

I also bought some fiber at the show, and when I got back to South Bend I bought "How to Knit" by Debbie Bliss and started knitting.  I did knit a scarf out of one of the two yarns that I bought.  I think it is a kid mohair, silk combo.  The yarn is a boucle, so I wanted something simple.  I think I did a moss stitch.  I still need to weave in the ends.

The other yarn I bought is a worsted weight purple/blue variegated wool/silk blend that I will probably knit into a vest.

And so began my love affair with fabric, fiber and beads.

Pearl Embrace Collar - Finished

I finished the necklace this afternoon. I do love bead work, even though I haven't done a great deal of it. The color, the texture of the beads, there is a richness and sensuality there that touches me. As with knitting, simple stitches yield wonderful complexity and beauty.

Materials:
- 136 Pearls, about 4.5 mm in diameter
- 3 grams size 11 seed beads (Beadcats stock # 2-11-437-14, bright gold opaque metallic)
- 3 grams size 15 seed beads (Beadcats stock # 2-14-438-70, 22kt gold electroplate on clear glass)
- 10 grams size 15 seed beads (Beadcats stock # 2-14-239-01, rose-gold iridescent)
- 23 flowers (Beadcats stock # N-F2-840-00, topaz transparent)
KO thread (gold)
clasp

Dragon Scale - Spiral Bead Crochet Rope

I finished the spiral bead crochet necklace last night. I really like the way the colors work together. The blue iridescent beads of the center of the spiral with the olive green purple-lined beads and the bronze all seem very organic to me. Once I got going with the crochet I didn't want to stop, and I wasn't sure how long a rope I would end up with, so I decided to put the clasp in the front, hiding it with the flowers. I borrowed the flowers from a project in the October/November 2009 issue of Beadwork Magazine (the project is edelweiss necklace by Melinda Barta).

Materials
- approximately 20 grams of size 11 seed beads, blue iridescent
- approximately 10 grams of size 8 seed beads (Beadcats stock # 2-08-507-90, light olive transparent lined with lavender)
- 10 grams of size 6 seed beads (Beadcats stock # 2-06-816-14, dark gold opaque metallic)
- approximately 1 gram of Toho Aiko beads (TBC-221A)
- 3 8-millimeter semi-precious stone beads
- one focal bead by Larry Scott
- Size E silk Guderbrud in dark green

Pearl Embrace Collar - Part II

Well, I just couldn't leave it alone. That's what tends to happen when I start beading. I've been known to stay up half the night. I tried the lavender beads and they just didn't pop, so I went back to my bead stash and looked at colors and settled on a rose-gold bead, and a gold-lined clear bead, and found some gold flowers that would work for embellishing. I also picked out some rose and gold drops. I'm not quite half-way done with the initial embellishment.

Pearl Embrace Collar

Playing around with the beads and pearls got me itching to do more, so I pulled out some recent bead magazines and flipped through them until I found this pattern in the December 2009/January 2010 issue of Beadwork. The designer is Lisa Kan. I've finished the square stitch chain of size 11 beads and pearls and now need to do the embellishment. I'm thinking of using the pale lavender beads, along with the autumn spice beads, but I don't have the flowers I need, so I can't finish it this weekend. Maybe I should go find another bead project to start, or I could work on one of the two that I have in progress...


It is also the first snow-fall of the season. I love it, as long as I can enjoy it from indoors. This is the view from the deck looking into our woods.