Beadwork - My first box

Here is the box that I made at the bead class with Julia Pretl at Bead Junction.

Stitched in peyote stitch is followed nicely from the puffy stars I did last week. The start and increasing was done the same way. It was so much fun to make that I start another Saturday evening.

I finished the second one this afternoon.

On Sunday I took Julia's broad collar class. I have got it about 3/4 finished. I hope to get it done by the end of the week.

Beadwork - Little Red Puffy Star

On The Beaders Showcase I have seen some beautiful work by bead artists around the world. One artist - Lidia had pictures of these very cool little puffy stars. I asked if they were her design and if so did she have instructions. She willing shared with me her draft instructions for creating the cool little stars.

This is made with a combination of herringbone and peyote stitch. It was fun to make. I look forward to making more in a variety of other colour combinations. I think that they will make great Christmas ornaments.

Beadwork - Blue Acrylic Necklace

Last Friday I went downtown to Queen St W. There are about 7 bead store within 1 block. At Arton's I found these cool blue ombre acrylic beads. They had a sample piece showing them strung on a chain held in place with crimp beads. I was inspired by the piece so I purchase the large acrylic beads and the small blue glass beads.

I have strung them on the chain with 4mm round silver beads. I really like how it turned out.

The challenge of this piece was finishing the ends. I did not have any finding specifically for finishing the ends of chains. I checked my favourite online source beadfx but the only one that had was sterling silver. I was able to come up another solution. I used a beadtip on each end, with a crimp bead on the end of the chain. It looks good, I just hope that it will hold.

Beadwork - Coral & Lampwork

I started this piece with the purchase of the set of 3 lampwork beads from AirWynn Glass Designs at the Toronto Bead Society Garage Sale. I loved the red embellishment of a clear orangey red glass. I have combined them with the deep red of the sponge coral rectangles, the orange of the hyacinth cubic zirconia rectangles & hyacinth Swarovski rounds.

The challenge of the this piece was the layout of the beads. I played with the placement of the lampwork, originally I had them spaced equally around the piece. That layout did not look great when tried on. Grouping the lampwork beads together in the center gave them the staring role of the necklace.

Beadwork - Black and White Bracelet

At the Friendship Beading retreat last weekend in Montreal I took a class with Diane Reda to make this bead crocheted bracelet.

It was a good project for a class as I was able to almost finish the piece during the class. I finished it at home with a different closure.

This is my second attempt to do bead crochet. This was much easier that my last attempt. I guess working with larger beads helped.

I look forward to trying this project again.

Bead Challenge - Blue Foxglove trio

I have finally been able to finish this stunning necklace. I started back in April and I spent this morning putting everything together. This piece is designed by Kerrie Slade and was published in the April 2008 issue of Bead and Button magazine. It is stitched using one of my favourite beadweaving stitches, ndebele or herringbone. I have used three shades of blue for the flowers.

Here are some detail images.

End of Bead Crazy Week

My bead crazy week is over. I taught three classes this weekend and I also learned how to do an easy bead crochet bracelet. Last night's bead bingo was a hit. 24 bead crazy ladies enjoy an hour and a half of bingo with wonderful prizes for all.

I am going to spend tommorrow just beading. I hope to finish a project that I have with me.