Spanish Stars

We are planning a trip to Spanish speaking area soon, so I have been researching some Spanish bead blogs. There seems to be communication across Spanish and French sites, and I found this one through my favourite French forum Ile aux Perles.  A great Spanish  site that was referenced recently in Ile aux perles is called Quienlodira Creationes.  This is a well developed site and includes both examples of projects and some patterns.It also gave me a chance to practice my very rusty Spanish.  After cruising the site, I found a very attractive star necklace, and then made several other visits until I found the pattern.  To save you some time, here is the link to the pattern, but please make sure you look around this blog, it is lovely and artistically presented with many interesting pieces.  Website: Quienlodira Creationes

I did have the link to this pattern, however this website has changed so you will have to look through the main website.  

The little star was made directly from the pattern for the most part, but I added a round of size 15 beads to surround the pearl in the middle (I added 9 beads on each side, then went through again to solidify the circle).  The larger star is my adaptation in which I added a few more rows to the star, and also some silver peyote and 4mm firepolish to the back.  I added a back loop so that this can be put on a chain. I will update this post later to when a finished piece is ready.  The stars are really fun to do and work up very quickly, I highly recommend this pattern. 

Seed Bead Fusion Project

I have admired the work of Rachel Nelson Smith for a long time, and was very pleased that she has now written the book Seed Bead Fusion. The book uses a combination of diagrams and photos to explain the techniques. Many of the projects use the technique that is in her well known and very sculptural cuff bracelet.

The first project I made was a small “bede” which gave me the chance to learn the technique in which the right angle weave areas are then built up using peyote technique. Understanding where the colours will end up is a challenge, but after the first experiment I was ready for something larger. The picture is of the project called “O. Bernstein Component Necklace” p. 84. This worked up very well, and I made it into a pendant. The chain is simply three strings of size 11 Japanese seed beads put through a glass bead at regular intervals. Like the cuff, this pendant is very 3D and I plan to make a few more in other colour schemes. It can easily be made in an evening, and I would like to try a thicker chain compliment to the pendant.
And yes, I made the bear during my miniature bearmaking era from several years ago.