Spilled Beads Do Not a Design Make...Yet

So, I knocked over my box of aventurine and jade beads - the nagging mom voice in my head told me that it shouldn't have been sitting on the floor on top of other things on the floor, and should have been more tightly closed. After saying some bad words to the nagging mom voice (which by the way, isn't remotely like my mom's voice - it's more like my own, nagging at the kids, but much surlier, voice) and grumbling to nobody about having to get down on the floor to scoop them up and more grumbling and bad words said to myself in general about having to sort them, I was on my knees with a tablespoon* ready to scoop them and sort them back into the box when I really looked at the random pattern of the colors and sizes.

*yes, that's what I use to scoop spilled beads off the carpet and it works really well - happens often enough that I keep one in my tool box with the tiny souvenir (probably not what they intended to happen, but it somehow *cough* fell into my carry-on luggage) Singapore Airlines spoon I use to sort small beads I've used and are now all jumbled up on the bead mat

"Hmm," I said to myself - possibly out loud, as I do talk to myself out loud, quite more often these days since I spend a lot of time alone in my workroom, and I guess I kind of miss the sound of human voices, or I'm just going insane, which wouldn't be a bad guess either - "that would be an interesting look for a necklace."

So instead of sorting and putting them back in the box, I dumped them into one of the shoe-box tops I've lined with a small piece of thin foam packing material for a DIY lap-desk and grabbed the bead stringing wire.

Strung about 20" or so - not happy. Tried adding some silver spacer beads, didn't like this try:

So I took off all the roundels and spacers until I just had two roundels and one spacer. Nope. (didn't take a picture of it)

Added some contrasting colored glass beads and some amethyst beads - still not doing it for me. Will continue to play with this until I get something I like. Knowing me, I'll probably end up with a pattern. I'm not that good with random.

Oh, and one other thing, I've had this silver leaf pendant almost a year now and still haven't figured out what to do with it. I considered using it on the necklace above, but rejected it, too. I do think it needs to be on something big and bold, it's 2 and a quarter inches wide and almost 2 and a half inches long.

As always, your opinions, comments, sympathy and humor are greatly appreciated :-)

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Dawno

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This Is What Kept Me Up 'til 2 am Last Night

Sometimes my brain and my fingers just take over and I play around on autopilot. Take last night for instance. At about 9 pm I (thought I had) finished up the last blog post with a few words about the silver filigree and stampings I had bought from Accessories Susan. That got me wondering if there was a way to make my own filigree. I started Googling around.

I didn't really find anything immediately accessible, like web tutorials or even downloadable .pdfs, although there is a book I might be getting. Just looking at the cover, I knew that it would be a major equipment and supply investment to do filigree that way. (by the way, if you'd like to buy this book and you do it from clicking this link, I get a few pennies).

But I did get an idea of how I could use what I had on hand to attempt something filigree-ish. I didn't want to try and copy what was on the cover, but I thought to myself, I can make curlicues and wire them together, right? So I grabbed my 22 gauge wire (yeah, the expensive sterling stuff again - ouch) and started making spirals and wrapping them together, lather rinse repeat...and this is where I ended up at 2:30 am (you can click to enlarge):

The beads are from the Beads of the Month assortment I posted about on the 8th- I particularly was happy that there was a larger bead that is embossed with tiny swirls, and the little "honeybun" beads - all in lovely shades of lavender and purple.

It's still in 'draft' - I need to step away from it for a while, look at the picture, maybe even print a few copies out and draw on them...to see what needs changing. I like the off-center look, but there's still balance to be considered, and the side on the left of the photo seems too light because of the larger bead on the right and the heavier wrapping that comes from the middle and curves to the right (an artifact of starting at what ended up as the center of the design and building from there.

And, as you can see, I used a Rings & Things choker form to hold the design. It's the clear coated, 16" steel, magnet clasp form. If I get this to a place where I like it, I will invest in a sterling silver choker form for it.

I also think, when I look at the picture above, that the backdrop I use in my photos may have subconsciously influenced the design...the backdrop is a pillow sham I put over a rectangle of styrofoam and prop up behind the necklace display bust. It comes from a heavy cotton, white on white Jacobean embroidery coverlet and sham set. Yep, lots of swirly curly there...

Earrings and a new Embellished Retractable Lanyard Badge Holder

Didn't do nearly as much as I wanted to today - but I did make these new earrings - The one unfinished pair (far left first set of pictures) I'm still debating on how I want to finish them. the pair on the far right has rutilated quartz nuggets, amber chips and tiny amber beads dangling from filigree circles and may be my favorite pair of the day. All earrings are on leverback, shell embellished brass ox earring findings from Accessories Susan, which also provided the filigree, chain, headpins, etc. for all of them. The only thing not from there are the beads and stones.

For this set, below, on the earrings at the far left, I'm considering adding something to the bar that holds the dangling smoky quartz bead behind the filigree.

And this is another filigree embellished badge holder - I thought I'd show the side detail, too, as I've put a bit of stamping on the sides as well as the front. The filigree stamping on the front is one of my favorite patterns, by the way. The side view also shows the button on the back used to release the ribbon lanyard from the inside reel to retract and extend it.

I've only got a few of these badge holders left and I'm thinking of holding back a few for later experiments. Whether they become a permanent part of my inventory will depend on the comments I get from folk I meet at the convention or here on my blog. I did get one positive comment on the steampunk style one, over on my Flickr page (Thanks, justalby!) The particular shot of the new prototypes has had 11 views in just one day...I think because I tweeted about it on Twitter.

New Necklace - Gunmetal and Garnets

First off, thanks to Lisa and Sandi who left very helpful comments on the last few posts, where I asked for input on new photo layouts for my Etsy store. I'd still love to hear from anyone else with an opinion!

Tonight's work in progress is a 3 strand necklace featuring garnet stone beads (I'd link, but the item is not in stock right now) from Artbeads, garnet Czech glass from Shipwreck beads faceted Czech glass bead mix and gunmetal chain from Rings & Things, with antiqued silver bead caps (Artbeads) here and there.

I mentioned the bead assembly technique I used for the garnet stone bead bits on the outer strand in a previous post, and left off there not sure where I wanted to go with the rest of the necklace, but I finally got some inspiration:

It's not finished yet. I need to decide how to finish the part that goes around the neck and fastens. I saw a designer fashion site showing a vintage style necklace that has chain and cameos in the front and then finishes the piece with frayed ribbon ends tied in a bow in back. I'm pretty sure I don't want to do that, but I was thinking about perhaps a silk or satin cord. Will need to ponder.

I also wanted to share links to a couple new jewelry artist sites I found today - beautiful stuff, so I hope you'll book mark them, too!

Bev's Jewelry - the chain maille necklace profile picture is really striking - and she has a blog, too.
Then there's Naked Jewelry, by Sally Jewett-Brocato who I discovered on Twitter.

Happy weekend!

Monday Musing on Creativity

Yesterday my husband and I went to see Jonathan Coulton in concert in San Francisco, so no post. Although I did some minor additions to other work and a bit more organizing, no beading of substance was accomplished yesterday. The concert was wonderful though and I saw a couple of folk who are pretty well known in science fiction and tech circles at the concert too.

My husband opened the mailbox just before we got in the car and pulled out Saturday's mail - somehow we just forgot to check it the day before. Waiting in the box were some aquamarine roundelle beads from Artbeads (along with a few other goodies I just had to get). I didn't open them in the car, and we got home late, so I didn't open the box until this morning. I had a few things I wanted to do today outside of the workroom, so I didn't started working with them until fairly late this evening.

I decided to use all sterling bits with the aquamarine, so this will feature sterling beads, different sized sterling roundelle spacers, sterling oval jump rings and sterling 20 gauge wire along with the roundelles and some polished chips I already had. Here is the first six inches:

I don't claim any specific inspiration for this piece from the concert, but Coulton is inspiring - he has gone and done what he loves to do and makes a living doing it. It surely hasn't been easy, but it seems like he's having fun. It was certainly a lot of fun listening (and often singing along) last night. It would certainly be great if all of us who create with our hands could find our audiences and make a decent living with our crafts.

Lovely Lapis Lazuli

Tonight I worked on a necklace using 21 gauge dead soft gold filled wire (the label says 12/20 so I'm not sure what that means in terms of the karat), 3mm and 6mm 14k gold filled beads, 4mm and 6mm lapis lazuli beads (really nice, rich blue but not many pyrite flecks, unfortunately), and some vermeil beads that look like they're made from tiny gold coils. I think next time I'm going to get the half hard wire, though, I'm a bit worried about the fragility of the loops.

I've been working very carefully in cutting of the wire to make the looped links, eliminating as much wastage as possible. So far I've have been very successful. I have a small (5 ft) coil of the wire and I put the beads on the wire coil, bend the first loop length and make the loop, move the beads up to the loop and bend and measure for the second loop, then I cut it from the coil. I'm very happy with that technique. I'll have to figure out how to do that with my sterling wire which is on a much larger coil. One thing I really want now is a "cup burr" tool to round off and dull the sharp end rather than having to snip it. So I added it to my Amazon wish list and maybe the hubby will see it and get it for me.

I haven't quite figured out how I might sell it at the price point necessary for any kind of reasonable profit for my effort and the cost of materials (for example, those vermeil beads cost $1.25 each and I'm going to end up using at least 8 or 10 of them plus about $10 in gold filled beads - haven't figured out the per bead cost of the lapis or the per inch cost of the wire), so it might end up in my jewelry box.

No picture tonight - I've finished 13" - will post a pic when I finish it.

Mostly Miscellaneous

I've finally put hardware on all the lanyards I'd had hanging around in "nearly finished" status today. Also made a new one using clear faceted crystal rondelles. Puttering around with different bead combos and trying to find one I like to start a new piece.

I was at the store today and saw a bin that was made for putting up in the shower, probably to hold a loofa or a few small containers of shower gel and shampoo - had two suction cups on the back. I thought it would be a great holder for my most used tools - round nose pliers, clippers, etc., and if I put some cup hooks on the little left hand extension to my desk, it could hang there and free up some desktop space.

Of course I forgot the cup hooks, but it holds the tools just great and I'll pick up some hooks next time I'm out. I've been meaning to get a leather mallet, so maybe I'll go to a hardware store and get both those items.

I've been procrastinating on my photography and as a result very few of my new items are up on Etsy. I really need to get my Etsy store updated. Then I have to figure out how to get some traffic in there!

Working now on a pendant necklace with faceted light sapphire blue glass - will post a pic when it's further along.

Should I Name it "Captain Hammer"? And What About the Anvil?

I actually did a bunch of beading related stuff last night (before and after watching some TV) but didn't make anything new, although I did finish the blue glass linked necklace I posted about on Tuesday. I think it turned out pretty cute.

I'm still pondering the re-make of the rhodonite vintage style piece (it started as a choker)and still trying to figure out how to set the peridot colored glass gems in the other vintage piece, to say nothing of how I'll finish it off. Did get some peridot colored faceted drops for it in today's mail, so they definitely will be incorporated.

So what do I do tonight? Start something new! I'm linking light amber colored wavy diamond beads in two alternating sizes, with large antiqued brass links and smaller jump beads. I really don't have enough of them to make a very long piece, so I have to decide if it's going to be part of something with multiple chains or if I'm going to try and find more of the bead mixes that these came in. I'm pretty sure I bought all the stock at one Michael's, will have to go to the other one that's further away, I guess, and see if they have them.

In the package with the drops, I also got a small anvil and chasing hammer - want to flatten some of the ear-wires I've made to make them look more finished. I'm leaving marks on the practice wire, though, so I will have to scour the internet to find out how to keep from doing that. There are some other things that I've seen done where the wire has been flattened, too - for strength as well as for the look of it, so I figured it was a skill I need. What started as a little hobby is so fun, fascinating and satisfying, it's turning me into a serious student of various jewelry crafts. Well, you know what they say about idle hands...

Message to an Online Bead Store: If You Make it Hard to Find the Beads, I Won't Shop With You

Two necklace lanyards finished except for hardware, tonight and one "apprentice" type necklace with wire looped beads, jumprings and large circle links nearly done. The reason I'm calling it an apprentice type is that I made it to practice making loops, try out a design idea I had, and used very inexpensive materials. I eventually intend to make more necklaces with wire loops, etc., and for sale, but with much better materials. I just don't want to start using those materials until I'm satisfied I have an excellent product.

I liked the pattern of roundelles (rondels, roundels, whatever - nobody's consistent with the spelling that I've seen) and then a larger bead, like I did in pink and citron colored glass so much, I did one in aqua glass and one in light sapphire glass. They're both about 30 - 31" long (I don't measure until I've added the hardware).

I want to do one in peridot glass, but I couldn't find any roundelles, so I decided to check some bead supply sites. Shipwreck Beads has them in a color they're calling peridot, so I'm ordering there. The one thing that has kept me from doing a lot of ordering from them is their search feature. It's so frustrating. I'll put in very specific terms and end up with 20,000+ items 'matching' the search. Often the results go page after page of stuff that isn't even close. Finding the right faceted roundelles at Shipwreck took me probably 5 - 10 minutes of searching.

For example, I decided I'd like some more aqua beads. I type in 'Aqua' with a few other terms to try and narrow the search, and reds and pinks and topaz and black beads show up on the page. Frankly, if I don't know exactly what I want and enter it exactly the way they name it, I spend way too much time just clicking from page to page. I'd rather search somewhere else where they've got a decent search tool, and as a result I end up buying from Fire Mountain, Artbeads or DI Beads (and I've shopped at others, too - just not as much, and usually because I've seen something on a beading site or blog that led me directly to the item I wanted). I've noticed that in some cases the prices seem better at Shipwreck, but it's too hard to find anything and my time is more than worth the few cents I'd save.

I'd just about finished my linked necklace when I noticed that I'd connected several beads directly instead of using jumprings, as I had on the rest of the necklace. That's what I get for trying to do it while watching "House" on tv. That Dr. Wilson is kind of cute, so I get distracted *grin*.

Here's the work in progress - I'll add the missing jump rings, tighten up everything and it'll be done. I guess it's obvious I was into blue today. Tomorrow, though, I'm a bit beaded out for now.

I dislike it intensely when I miss a night posting - but last night I was very busy with a number of other things I needed to do and didn't get to either beading or posting.

I tried to practice making wrapped wire loops again - this time with the brass wire and some 'toy' gold-colored painted plastic 4mm beads I dug out, and I can't remember why I bought, but have had for ages - probably some craft thing I did back when I wasn't beading. I really need to get a smaller gauge wire, though, the 20 gauge is too heavy and stiff for wrapping and I'm not getting the kind of practice I need.

I've also completely dis-assembled the rhodonite choker and been playing with some re-working on it...still not sure where I'm going with it.

This evening I decided on a change of pace and am stringing a badge lanyard. I'm using gold colored fresh water cultured pearls, gold faceted square glass beads and gold faceted bicone glass beads with large gold-plated spacer beads between them. It's got a very lush look, I think.

About 8 - 10" to go still, but it's late and I'm going to bed soon - so here's a work in progress shot taken on a beading mat that's lying on the floor:

Caf or DeCaf?

Made a beaded badge lanyard necklace that compliments the eyeglass chain I posted about yesterday. All glass beads, the small cream beads are Czech druk, the lozenge ones are from the local Global Beads store as well as the flat oval light mocha colored ones. I'm temporarily calling it "Cafe au Lait" but not sure that will stick.The silver beads are glass seed beads and silver-tone disk spacers, that I use a lot and hope I can keep finding them.

Here it is with the eyeglass chain - I think they make a nice pair.

I'm working on something with my vintage style beads and some very nice faceted disk rhodonite beads and small rhodonite oval beads. I have a couple rhodonite cabochons as well, they may work with a filigree setting...we'll see.

Holiday Beading - Started Working in Silver

I've begun working with my 20 gauge silver wire. I'm making much smaller loops with very small beads in white, ecru, beige tones and connecting them with silver jump rings. I'll keep going until I run out of jumprings or the right size/color beads, which ever comes first. Hope to have something long enough to actually wear when I'm done.

Will finish it off with some silver chain and a lobster claw if it's short and make it an eyeglass leash if it's long enough - I'm at 12" right now (need about 24" for a short one). This morning I also finished a red glass bead necklace with copper links, 24".

Detail of silver chain, red/copper & silver chain full length:

click picture for larger view

Will be traveling on business this week, not sure how much updating I'll be able to do - thinking about taking some stuff on the trip to bead with in the evening, have to make up my mind soon as I leave Wednesday morning.

Lovely Robin's Egg Blue Beads

I've been playing with my new vintage look stampings and beads and bits - I'm not ready to share here yet - still in the experimental stages, working out techniques and kinks (sometimes literal kinks in the wire bending stuff that I need to keep practicing).

I did take a breather and make a necklace lanyard, though, with these lovely robin's egg blue mottled oval ceramic beads I found at Global Beads last weekend.

30" (although it's still unfinished, and the clasps add about an inch to the total end-to-end length), ceramic beads with a bit of an iridescence in the glaze. I thought the combination of large silver tone (no idea if they're plate or what) filigree beads, small oxidized silver filigree beads, and these tiny Czech druk square iridescent beads with very tiny oxidized silver bead caps is delightful.

Here's a picture of it draped - I got replacement bulbs for my photo lights, but it's still not as good as photography in natural light. I don't know why this one came out so dark and orange-y when the one above came out pretty well - perhaps because the one above is a tighter shot? The color above is very much (at least on my computer) truer to the color of the beads.

Well, the Labor Day weekend is begun - I may not post tomorrow, have family coming to town and probably won't get any beading done. Hope to see you Sunday, then!