Just peachy...

A couple weeks ago I went to a local Beadfest to wander around the vendors, and ended up feuling my pearl obsession a little more. I picked up a couple of strings of lovely peach colored freshwater pearls with the idea that I wanted to do a wider cuff bracelet in right angle weave, similar to the amethyst bracelet I made previously.

I wanted to do something monochromatic, so I added size 11 Miyuki seed beads to the mix to keep it simple.

I spent much of Friday watching the royal wedding festivities and playing with beads - not a bad way to spend the day!

Here's the bracelet I came up with:

I used a slide style clasp so the cuff would sit flat when wearing it.

And a close up:

I keep seeing 6 lb Fireline being the recommended thread to use, but I tried 8 lb for this project to see if that would give it a little more body, which it seems to do. The knots when ending threads aren't as tight though since the fiber is a little heavier, so I made sure I went through quite a few beads with it.

Right angle weave seems to be a very popular beadweaving stitch, and I can see why. It's not hard to master and is quite versatile. I'm sure I'll be experimenting with it again with other projects.

Because the pearls are slightly irregular, you can actually see some of the threads here and there in the bracelet, but I'm still very pleased overall with the effect. I have another pearl cuff bracelet that I wear all the time, so I think I'll end up with a lot of use out of this piece.

And of course, I wanted some sort of coordinating necklace. I chose to do a variation of the Gothic Chevron necklace from B&B's Your Seed Bead Style book. The pearls I was using were larger than the recommended size for the pattern, so I also opened up the bottom a little by adding a few seed beads in there as well.

Very grand, eh?

This was quite fun to make and easy once I got the pattern down. I did start it and undo about five times until I had the variation down pat that I was doing. It doesn't sit perfectly flat on my neck which bothers me a bit and I might redo it in the future as I get better with beadweaving skills. Since I did spend a bit of time reinforcing the necklace, it's going to be a project to take it apart though LOL To be fair though - our necks aren't one continuous curve so if you make a collar with an even curve, there ARE going to be areas where it's not perfectly smooth.

I did one repeat of the patter to put together some earrings:

Meh. They're ok. I'm not sure what bothers me about them.

I had about two dozen leftover peach pearls which I suppose I could have just tossed in my stash along with another tube of the seed beads. Although I like the collar, it's not a very "casual throw on" kind of necklace so I started paging through some of the various bead magazines I have, looking for inspiration for something a little lighter. I've really been drawn to St. Petersburg chain because I like the feathery lightness of it, and found a project that I borrowed some elements of.

This is what I came up with:

Since I didn't have many peach pearls left, I dug in and added some small white potato pearls in, and some rocalle (15/0) seed beads with a white pearl finish. I like how delicate the chain came out and it was a lot of fun to stitch.

Amethyst Bracelet

My first attempt as seed bead stitching. The larger stones are 4 mm amethyst beads and the pattern is a freebee from Bead and Button. If you click on the picture, it will come up much larger.

I've been reading a lot of beading blogs and forums online lately to try to learn, and along the way I picked up the little gem that the Fireline 6 lb sold in sporting goods stores is the same Fireline 6 lb that is sold for beading...but it's about 1/3 the price if you buy it in a sporting goods store. You have to buy a much larger spool, but it's all good - I won't run out anytime soon and it's not large to store.

This was surprisingly easy to do, but I do have a lot of experience reading various craft patterns and doing different types of embroidery. Once I got in the groove, it only took about 2 hours or so to complete.

I have my next seed bead project planned and it will incorporate some of my beloved pearls (if I haven't mentioned it, I'm obsessed with pearls), Swarovski crystals, and Delica beads. I am waiting for a few supplies I ordered online.

And one more....

Last one, for now anyway.

I have to rework the earrings...I like the design but the execution isn't as smooth as I'd like.

Close ups of the mixed jasper set

Per a friend's request, close ups of some of the jewelry I posted yesterday.

The necklace:

The pattern is quite random, which works really well if you have some consistencies. Each element is separated by six stone chips, and each round polished jasper is flanked by silver beads.

Another close up:

And here's the bracelet:

Just a simple stringed bracelet of the polished round stones alternating with silver beads. I picked up some memory wire today so I should be able to make a wrap bracelet that matches the pattern of the necklace later this week.

Exploring a New Craft

Because I don't have any other projects to keep me busy, right?

Over the years, I've played around with making my own jewelry - quite a lot as a teenager and less so as an adult. Still, I love beads and it's fun to mess around with such things, so I've been working a little more towards learning proper techniques and such lately. I thought I'd share two recently finished projects.

This first set uses deep red beads alternating with small silver beads. It's a simple, chunky design that is actually quite striking. I don't think I managed to really capture the depth of color of the beads with this picture, which have slight variations to them. You can see towards the change in pattern at the back of the necklace where I ran out of the silver beads and just filled in with the red ones. It works! I've since found some more of those beads but I don't think I'll bother to change the necklace.

The next one was just finished this morning and the camera definitely does not do it justice.

The necklace is an infinity style - no clasp, no beginning or end, just a few strategically placed crimp beads to hold it together. It's a mix of different jaspers, blending chip stones with 4 mm, 6 mm and 8 mm jasper rounds with silver beads and a few pewter beads for some visual interest. It's 75 inches long, so I can wear it as two long loops, three shorter loops, or as a four-strand choker with the use of a clasp. I really love this piece - the stones are gorgeous and interesting with all their natural variations. (Yes, Michelle - this WAS inspired by that fab pearl necklace I have been drooling over!)

The bracelet shown is one of several that I'll be making. I need to get some memory wire so I can make a multistrand style wrap bracelet with the rest of the chips. I also think I'll probably use the rounds mixed in with pearls using a pearl knotting technique I want to practice.

So that's it for now. My next project will be an adventure in seed bead weaving - just gathering materials for that and then I'll have to find a block of time (ha!) to work on it. I picked up a couple of seed bead books to teach myself, and I'll probably take a class or three at my local Potomac Bead Company when I can fit them in my schedule.