MY FIRST COLLAR...

Stitching a collar design and having it lay flatly around the neck (without buckling) ... hmmm... a quandry for a tight beader like myself!  This is really a fun pattern (a design by TrendSetter Yasmin Sarfati) and has so many color combination possibilities - it's like a rainbow of color around my neck.  This was my first attempt at a collar, and I feel like I need to try it again - right away - so I can try to bead softer with less pull.  The problem I noticed as I was beading was the thread showing in-between.  Not a look I love.  On the very top row of RAW, I went back through, adding 8 sb in-between the 3mm fp.  That seemed to work, but the subsequent rows buckle slightly.  So, if someone knows the secret, please share! 

PENDANT OF SOME MAGNITUDE !

A beautiful pattern and a gorgeous piece. It's even more gorgeous because of the extreme effort it took me.  I attempted it twice, with beads breaking and the bezzling not going too well each time - scratch those!  Dang, one more time I'm gonna get it this time...third time was the charm, but not without difficulty - a 3mm fire polish bead broke as I was close to done.  Ah me -- oh my!  I was about ready to throw something... but of course refrained.  I retraced and inserted another 3mm so I couldn't see it, and finished the project.  It's a design by Vezsuzsi that made it to the cover of Bead & Button, June 2016 issue.  It truly is magnificent, but may be a tad bit harder than the three bicone difficulty rating the magazine gave it.  At least it was a challenge for me.  I ended with wrapping an 18 gauge wire bail, so as not to overpower the piece and added beautiful czech glass melons and rondelles to finish up.  Quite an eye catcher...