Red Corralling Technique Necklace

I have long admired the beading of Vavara, a Russian beader. She has written a few books, and this is the first necklace I have tried. It is available from bead-patterns.com, and is called "Coral III Necklace". The branches are really easy once you get a rhythm to them. I used two colours of size 10 (from a Czech company who has smallish size 10's) and size 8 seed beads for the main section as fill in's. The main colour was light opaque red, and the contrast (end of branches) was dark opaque red. The original pattern has longer centre branch sections, however I just made all the branches the same length. I also added larger size 8 seed beads to the starting band to make it a little more substantial. This is a really fun technique, and went fairly quickly once I got the hang of doing the branches. I will try some more contrasting colours in the next one. I brought this in progress to a Christmas cookie party, and got rave reviews. I plan to try another one for me. This one was a Christmas present for my daughter. Because she did not want a choker length, I am adding a 5" strip of adjustable back extender.

Black Necklace for Christmas

I made this necklace for my daughter for Christmas. She liked it but wanted a longer catch so she could wear it NOT as a choker. I added a length of adjustable beads to do this.
I used a pattern by Sherry Wayt that I downloaded from readytobead.com. I adapted the design to make it symmetrical.
If you haven't seen this website they have some good patterns for instant download.
I tried to make the centre hang lower, but due to the irregularities of the seed beads, next time I would increase by at least 2 bead increments. This was a fun pattern to do, and I plan to try some further variations.

Baroque Necklace

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These necklaces are from a pattern on Bead-Patterns.com by Charlene Hughes. The silver one on top is the full motif in the pattern. The mauve necklace on the bottom is simplified. This is a right angle weave technique. A free pattern for the technique by Kathy Rice is available on the Fire Mountain Gems Website. This is a great way to use the 4mm square beads.

Teracita Medallion

One medallion of the Tera Cita Bracelet by Melanie DeCoster. This was in beadwork June/July 2007, p. 32. Easy to do, and quick. I added a bail on the top using the same mesh as the base of the medallion. Beads: Charlottes(turquoise), Size 8 (light purple), and 4mm svarovskis, turquoise fire polish 4mm, and gold size 11 seeds.

Chevron Lace Beaded Beads

This is a necklace composed of beaded beads that I made in the Melanie Potter Workshop. They are made with chevron chain, first a tube for the foundation, then circles added on each level of the chain. They are made with size 15 for the lace, and size 11 for the foundation. Lots of potential uses for these beads!!

Ndebele Peyote Combo

This is a new technique I have seen and been very curious about. It is so geometric, but I was not sure how to do it. I just got the new book Mastering Beadwork by Carol Huber Cypher, and it has a pattern called "Inclusions Between the Stitches Bracelet". p. 170.
So, the technique is easy once you get the hang of it. You start with three beads in a circle, then do one row of herringbone, then on the third row you adding beads in between, and this becomes the peyote as you add rows of ndebele. I added seed beads on the last row. I guess these will be earrings. I used the new size 10 delicas, they are really fun to use as they work up fast but still have the nice even look that delicas produce.

Lotus Necklace

I attended my first beading workshop with Melanie Potter at Bead Junction on Roncesvalles in Toronto. I really learned a lot of general techniques in addition to making the projects. This is the lotus necklace - or I should say it is a lotus. All of this project used chevron chain as the basis of the stitches. The chain is then embellished with beaded beads. The actual necklace is on Melanie's site, http://www.melaniepotter.com/. The lotus you see here was done mainly in #11 seed beads. In her necklace there are also smaller lotuses done in #15 beads. I thought one was enough, and I didn't add the beaded beads because I wanted to use the chain also for other things. I do not really like the colour of the peyote band that attached the lotus, but these were the only beads I had that sort of went with the colours, and I didn't feel like taking this apart when I got back either.

Melanie is a great teacher, and was very patient and also made sure she went around so everyone got personal attention. I would love to visit her studio in California sometime, and maybe I will now that our son is heading to California to work in January.

Chevron chain is easy and creates an open framework that lends itself well to embellishment. It is also a strong structural weave that enable the chain to be firm. The chain drapes well, and a lot of other embellishments could be added. Carol Wilcox Wells site www.shoolofbeadwork.com has a bracelet called On the Fringe that uses this stitch as the base. There are also vessels done in this stitch in her book.

Bezeling Rivolis

I finally learned how to bezel Rivoli Stones. The trick on this is to do just the front first, then inset the stone and snug up, then do the back.

Pattern from BeadPatternCentral.com

This pattern intrigued me from the pattern website hosted by Ann Benson. The technique involves a peyote ring done such that the whole ring circumfrence is done first, then embellished. These are supposed to be parts of a bracelet, but I will probably use them in someting smaller. Interesting technique, and has possibilities for other embellishments and sizes. This website has very interesting patterns, a little pricier that bead-patterns.com, but one to watch. The round green middle is a coin pearl. The smaller motif is an 8mm fire polish. The middle beads are sewn in through their hole at the end, and the medallions can be attached to each other via small peyote strips. The pattern is by Carolyn Reese.

More Bead Fantasies

Another medallion from Bead Fantasies II p. 27 by Takako Samejima. It is hard to find the small semiprecious stones, but they are really precious when you do. This one has goldstone 2mm goldstone on the outside, with 4mm firepolish. A 6mm chaton montee is the centre. The patterns uses the 2 needle technique, however I did it with one needle and it worked with a little problemsolving to figure out how. I put a small jumpring on the back to attach this to a ring or chain.

Beaded Bead

Here is a beaded bead that I did from a Bead and Button Pattern - (By Gwen Fisher and Florence Turnour, page 72, Aug.06, Issue 72).

The authors have a great website called Bead Infinitum, with their specialty being beaded beads. They have a couple of free patterns on the site, and lots of inspiration.

This one is made over a 1 cm wooden bead. I painted the wooden bead with nail polish - 2 coats. Hint - I ended up placing the wooden bead on a q-tip minus the cotton to handle it more easily.

I like the pattern, however I don't think the colours I used show it off enough. Because multiple colours are used, you have to make it once to understand where the colours end up. I think I will make a template that I can colour for the next one before I start.

Pendant a la Takako Samejima

I love the books by Takako Samejima from Japan, although they are challenging technically. In particular, most use 2 needle technique, which I have found fairly challenging. I did find a tutorial at bead-patterns.com in which some tips are explained for manipulating the 2 needles. (Pattern 10383 by Chris Prussing). Bead-patterns.com is a great site if you haven't seen it, and all patterns are downloadable immediately after payment.

This pendant was adapted from an earring pattern on page 34 of bead fantasies. I used glass perals and swarovskis, and number 10 seed beads. I have made a few of these for little gifts to give my daughter Tegan and my son's girlfriend Liana. They are quick to work up and look great on any small link chain.
There are 4 Bead Fantasy books, all available on Amazon or Chapter's.

The bail is just ladder stitch with 2 bead rows, then go back with number 15's and add a small picot of three beads.

Sharing Projects

I love beading and have read several interesting blogs, so I decided to start one. I hope to show what I have been working on and pictures to go with them.

I am a self taught hobby beader. I love to make things and just wear them or give them away. I finally took a workshop recently from Melanie Potter through Bead Junction, and really learned a number of techniques that will improve my beading. I highly recommend Melanie's workshops, and also thank Bead Junction for having her to Toronto. Heather and Patricia are also great beaders and create a very friendly and helpful atmosphere in their store.

Retarding patterns, I will try to give you the information on where to get the pattern or the book reference.

So, I will be posting a few pictures of things I have made on this blog.