My dear dear friend LuAnn lives in WA state and they are avid SeaHawks fans. After all these years of making her birthday jewelry, it dawned on me this year I should make something she could wear on game day. Duh! Takes me awhile I guess. I saw a wonderful bracelet/earring design by CzechMates Trendsetter Svetlana Einy -- using four hole quadratiles, size 11 and 15 sb, and 2mm fp. I don't usually bead with silver beads, or use silver wire, ... but you have to get out of your comfort palette from time to time, and for this girl, it seemed perfect this year -- LOVE YOU LU!
Next up an incredible pendant design by Penny Dixon - it's supposed to be earrings, and as with many of Penny's creations, if I get one done... I'm feeling lucky. This one took on a JDreams life of its own at the end, as I made a couple errors (imagine!), which sometimes takes me on a lovely side journey, and things turn out great. So, on this journey, I ended up adding some little flowers to the bottom round on either side!! I absolutely love this piece and will post once I have an idea of how I'll finish it. I used 2-hole crescents, 3mm fp, size 11 and 8 sb, and for the flower add-ons I used pips, 2mm melon rounds and size 15 sb. This pattern used RAW, and I worked very diligently to get it down. It took some practice!
"Yummers" says it all for me on this piece. I worked and worked and re-worked the colors to come up with a final combination on the 2-hole triangles that spoke to me. This combination sang loudly - and I had my aha moment! Love those times when you just know, cuz you feel it, see it and hear it! A pattern designed by Agnieszka Watts, a Starman Trendsetter, from Bead and Button, with my own design for the closure, adding in some 3mm fire polish for adventure. A fun new look for a button closure.
A beautiful new bracelet design (Right in Line) by my mentor, bead store owner, incredible designer, and MOST IMPORTANTLY good friend, Eileen Barker -- just published in the Bead & Button, February 2016 issue. An ELEGANT design, and one that will take your breath away, both while you are making it, and once completed. It's a substantial, weighty, gorgeous piece.
We convened for a group beading day, and tried to follow the condensed instructions in the magazine. It doesn't get any better than having the designer at the beading table with you! I like to have a longer thread, which for this piece, I now know I need to reconsider. My length of fireline kept catching on all the other beads, the further into the piece I got. Yes, Eileen, I'm listening... I need shorter thread. Thank you for this incredible design. LOVE IT!
And, as you'll see below, I altered the design ever so slightly and added in two 4mm fire polish on my first row, when it was supposed to be one, so I went with that and alternated every fourth row with the two, plus used a different color.
I do love a good challenge, and Beadwork Magazine Designer of the Year, Penny Dixon, does not disappoint. She is an incredible jewelry designer. I wanted to start a new project, and her "Pergola" earring design, just one of her many mathematical equations, called out to me from the pages of the magazine! So, I gathered the beads that I needed and started... and I struggled, let me tell you. But, onward I kept weaving each and every little stitch. For this trial run earring (yes, I have made only one at this writing!!!) I used the colors I could put my hands on in my stash, so this might not be what I would have put together if I had had all colors (!), but I thought it worked and I really quite like the way it turned out. Some red/green, but not too much. I used a combination of metals for the Czech bars (I originally thought my Czech bricks were the Czech bars called for in the pattern, but they are too thick so I had to start once again with the proper bead to get the spacing just right) and Penny's pattern used the quadra lentils and I used quadra tiles, which seemed to work just fine. I feel pretty dang thrilled with myself having finished this ONE earring. On to the next one...
So many wondrous things happening during this awesome time of year -- my favorite fall season! Woo Hoo! It's also a time of year when I'm preparing for birthdays and other celebrations, so I cannot post all my in-process little pretties, but soon, very soon! Here are a few of late, that I can post. The first is this adorable bracelet made in perfectly Halloweenie colors, of course!!! A pattern design by Eileen Barker at Bead Street (you can also follow her on Pinterest or view some patterns on Starman) using quadratiles, tiles, drops, 11.0 and 15.0 seed beads, and 6mm rounds, but of course I used 4mm pumpkin rounds (melons) with 11.0 seed beads on either side to fill in that gap. I love this bracelet. It flows with your wrist, and it lends itself to lots of color - the drops I used are so awesome. Green/orange/clear. One way they look green, another way they look orange. A fun twist.
Next, some witcheeee earrings. So fun to wear. They get noticed, I'll say that, even in all my hair! I found a pattern on the Fusion Bead website (they do a great job in their Inspiration section!), and did my own thing from there. I used some of what I had in my stash (another unbelievable thing... I know!) black onyx and lucite, including the darlin' melons for "her" head - they are fun to use on lots of different pieces.
Another lovely fall colored bracelet below, that is wonderfully lacy on the wrist. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to warm to a new pattern, and this one was just that. However, it didn't take long, and as I started assembling each of the parts, it began to talk to me! A pattern by Lisa Jordan, a Starman TrendSetter, in a class taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street. We used super duos, mini duos, 4mm fp, 11.0 and 15.0 seed beads.
These earrings are my design (JDreams) - I love leaves in all colors, but mostly in fall colors, surprise! So I just started stitching and this is what I ended up with. Czech glass leaves, a 4mm bicone for added sparkle, a little bit of leaf chain, and a stitched flower of leaves with a 6mm fp in the middle, using copper 11.0's for the center. I could have gone on and on stitching with these, but I just had to stop right where they are because they are lovely enough!
The earrings above and the bracelet below are more of my JDreams designs - love these white bone melons, coupled with the green Czech glass spacers and the effervescent orange rounds. Below a peyote stitched bracelet using a Bo Hulley ceramic heart button. The button just finished off the wrap bracelet, don't you think?
The beautiful PORTALEGRE' design by Eileen Barker. Need I say more? I've made two colorways (and changed the second version to include 4-hole lentils instead of the 4-hole quadratiles) of her design and am absolutely in love with the size and stature of this bracelet. It is a mathematical, architectural force in and of itself -- absolutely beautiful, Eileen. I am blessed to learn from the Master herself! Thank you for letting me share this design on my blog.
