LEARNIN' ME SOME MORE METALsmithing!

In my ongoing process of learning about metal and all those new jewelry creation horizons, I enjoyed another fun class with Beth at Bead Street.  Her Passion Flower design, her embossing machine and some 26g copper blanks (and several wire wrapped glass beads, leaves and flowers later) helped me make my leaf bracelet below.  I slightly altered my bracelet design (hard to imagine, I know!) because the original design had all the wrapped dangles on one side of the metal bar, which was beautiful, but on my wrist just wouldn't stay in place.  So, I went back and refined it for me ever so slightly by adjusting some of the dangles to the other side, so both were more weighted.  Now, it wears a little better for me.  I am also still messing with the metal colors... I can't seem to leave it alone, or to get it exactly where I want it, but this is the latest version.  More to probably come, as just this morning before I left for work, I was taking off old and adding new paint for a different look. See the last three pics below for newest coloration (more turquoise!)

I N C R E D I B L E PORTALEGRE' DESIGN!

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.

O BEAD DELIGHT!

Ahhh - so comforting and just plain wonderful time spent at Bead Street with all my beading sistahs -  Eileen, Sandy, Judy, Sharon, Sue and Virginia, and our newest classmate, Gail.  And I don't want to forget those sistahs in the metal class across the hall with Beth.  Wish I could be two places at once!  It was just a wonderful Saturday!  Felt so great to be back doing what we love to do together!  This pattern was a challenge to start, as the quadratiles want to kind of hang loose as you construct the base, and so they rotate if you aren't careful... which didn't click in until I had to remove my stitches a few too many times...  Ha.  My natural tendency is to bead tight, so it took me half way down the bracelet to get the hang of it.  But, I'm liking working with quadratiles and the Czech glass O beads are always fun to work with.  Love the color options, which are endless.  Class at Bead Street taught by Sandy Taylor, design by Adele Kimpell called "QT Bracelet". 

LIGHT, DELICATE EARRINGS

These earrings are SO light and flowing -- really easy to wear -- I don't even know I have them on.  The pattern is called "Duo Drop Earrings" designed by 2015 Designers of the Year for Beadwork Magazine: Barbara Falkowitz and Amy Haftkowycz.  This pattern is showcased in the June/July 2015 magazine and I was excited to try them because it incorporates both wire working and stitching.  What's better than that?  Color combos are endless, of course! The first pictures below are outside in bright afternoon light - the next two are also outside, but in the morning light, one with a flash.  Proof that lighting changes the way your colors reflect! P.S.  The pattern called for half-hard wire, which I didn't have, so I used soft, plus I used what I had in beads, which were not all as the pattern suggested.  But, truly, that's the fun part, isn't it?  Making it your own!

TRANSITIONAL PATTERN USING SUPERDUOS!

I love patterns that are flexible in their design so you can transition the pattern from a bracelet to a necklace or even earrings.  This pattern is just that - "Chainon" designed by Eileen Barker at Bead Street.  Here's my transition from the bracelet pattern to a necklace.  Love these fun colors OF COURSE!  Notice I interspersed some BRIGHTER peachy 11/0.  Some of my pics show that better than others.  This pattern uses superduos, lentils, and 11.0 sb.

MY OWN INTERPRETATIONS!

Summer gets so busy... and it's tough to stay on any kind of regular schedule, and expanding my beading brain has taken a back seat of late... but I have a few new completed projects that are my own creations and I'm quite proud of both!  One is stitched and one is wire wrapped.  And, I do have a couple other wonderful projects, which I hope to share on this blog very soon.  They are quite spectacular, designs by my mentor Eileen @ Bead Street. Stay tuned for those...

Making a button hole in peyote was a first for me on the bracelet.  It took me a minute to figure it out - as I started stitching the slit sideways instead of up and down with the flow of the beads.  Figured it out pretty quickly, and like how it turned out.  My button is a tagua nut round, with a magnesite disk that just fits inside, with a peanut bead and 15.0 on top.  I love the peanuts around the outer edge.  I tried several different things, but the peanuts seemed to mesh the best with the design of the bracelet.  I tried o rings too, and they were a neat look, but ultimately the peanuts won out.

 My other JDreams design is below.  I used mixed metals to make the heart and wire wrap the shell beads for part of the chain.  A special gift for Teri in my office.  She has been soooo helpful to me this past year and I wanted to do something special for her birthday.  She rides a darling covered scooter, and I found this charm with her in mind, and JUST kind of built it from there.  This necklace and earrings came together like it was meant to be!  Thank you, Teri!

 

SUMMER EARRINGS!

One really can never have too many earrings, right?  Here are a few of my latest creations!  

These darlins are earrings, made from the same pattern in my last post, which was a bracelet pattern taught by Sandy at Bead Street.  Isn't this great chain too?  These came together so nicely - the colors, the chain and the great twisted wire all  compliment.  

A great flower pattern from Fusion Beads using the new pellets, O rings and Super Duos.  I added some splash with color on the birds with some leaves over head.  These colors seem to be everywhere this year.

Another color variation of the pattern above.  These pellet glass beads are a fun new choice.

And, my newest triumph in wire wrapping!  Doing the free flowing thing... not always easy for me - I like my wraps close together and tight, but in this version I wrapped loose and free.  LOVE how these turned out, and the process took me out of my comfort zone.  They go with my pea pod metal smithing necklace from previous post.  The round deep purple beads are the druzy quartz.  They are incredible up close and personal!

SHADES OF BLUE!

Blue and turquoise - I seem to repeat this color combo, but love turquoise with anything, really.  It's a versatile color and so gorgeous with this bright blue.   A pattern by Deb Roberti, taught in a class by Sandy at Bead Street.  The flair around each segment of this bracelet is lovely, and truly, there are so many color combos, my head's all aflutter with what I can do next with this pattern!  I have trouble doing the same thing too many times, so I varied this slightly, to give it a different look, and used 3 different colors of seed beads, along with the two colors of pearls.  See my next post for earrings made from the same pattern.

AN EYE CATCHER OF REDS!

I do love a good RED, and for me that means more to the orange side of red.  And, this shade of red in a variety of differing beads comes together incredibly adding in some other bright colors - green and turquoise glass beads, with some translucent brass and antique brass metal thrown in for good measure.  I actually made the earrings more than a year ago--a beaded bead design by Eileen at Bead Street with Czech rounds with gold little birds added as dangles--and the necklace was made several months ago, which is tubular herringbone using 8.0 sb (a great project for long stretches of straight road in the car headed to and from MT to see our kids/grandkids/granddog!).  The pendant is the Wendy Speare design from my recent post, just with a totally different color combo, and the bracelet is newest -- another design by Ella Des taught in a class at Bead Street by Sandy. This combo certainly brightens up any outfit I might be wearing!  Ha. 

FIRST METAL SMITHING PROJECT!

What an exciting project - starting with a flat piece of copper metal, and, ending with a lovely pendant.  It's unlike anything I have done, so it was a learning experience for sure.  Taught by Beth at Bead Street aptly called "Pod Pendant".  It took me some time to get past my initial mind block.  Beth asked us all to draw an oblong form on the metal and then start cutting it out with metal shears -- say what?  Free-form a design? On metal?  Again... what?  ha ha. The best part of this creation is that everyone in the class had a beautiful pendant at the end of the day, and we all had our own method of inspiration and metal working.  As we found out, the copper metal is very forgiving and this project very "organic".  Even if you have no clue, the key is to just keep working on it, and eventually it will turn into something incredible.   Soooo, here it is - my first attempt at working with metal, and I must say, I am proud of myself and ready for the next project.  Thanks, Beth!  It was a great afternoon. P.S.  The incredible purple beads are druzy quartz beads from Bead Street.  They are such an "eye catcher" in the right light.