Beadwork, beadwork...

Yes, lots of beadwork this time. ;)

As I am running out of time, I have been working harder than usually, making as much jewelry as possible. Good thing there's only some simple jewelry to make now... all the more complicated projects are already finished. Here however you can see the simpler ones too. ;)

The beaded sphere that can be seen below was actually made more than two weeks ago. It was only waiting to get a bail, so it could work as a pendant. Now it's ready to be shown to the world. ;) It is the same dodecahedron as used in the earrings from here, only that it is bigger, measuring 2,5 cm (1") in diameter. A pattern that I have designed by myself, which I'm extremely proud of. ;)

This beaded bead is made of Czech seed beads as well as 6mm crackle beads.



Have made a few bracelets too, a necklace, some earrings... some others are still waiting to be finished though. One of the bracelets is a beaded crochet rope (yes, I can't live without bead crocheting for long), with a silver spectra bead as a focal point. The second one is a turquoise macrame bracelet, with a peyote bead... that one goes with matching earrings. The third one was extremely time consuming, as probably it is the first and the last bracelet of this style I have made. Twisted peyote isn't something for me I suppose... too tedious. ;)

But here they are:

The necklace is a pretty long (70cm - 27,56") twisted herringbone rope with two decorative diamond shape elements, made with cubic right angle weave. Since it is possible to slide the rope through one of them, its length can be easily adjusted. I don't even want to count the hours I spent on making it... ;)

And finally, some small, simple earrings... Cubic right angle weave stitch combined with peyote, and light green metalic spectra beads. At least I could make them in less than two hours. ;)

And that's all... at least for this post.

Because another set I have recently made, deserves its very own blog entry... ;)

So see you soon again. ;)



The Earrings Challenge - Part 2. Back to wire-wrapping

So here we are, the Earrings Challenge is being continued again.

Not quite sure if I can still call it the challenge, since the idea of it died very quickly, as some other duties... yes, let's call it duties, although it was just a kitten, a monster kitten though, haven't let me do much. Had to hide the beads deeply if I didn't want to risk losing them... tried to hide my hands too to keep them safe, but with that I was constantly failing. ;) Eventually the little twister luckily has found a new loving owner, so I could get back to beading.

And not only beading. Whole ages have passed since I played around with wire for the last time... Once favourite jewelry making technique has been forgotten for a few years. Thought however that it might be a good idea to see if I can still work with wire... have I succeeded? I don't know. I know that my fingers were extermely aching the day after I returned to the wire-wrapping. Now though they're getting better, so I can continue with making more wire earrings once I post this entry.

The effects of my last days' work you can see below.

The earrings are made of silver plated copper, oxidized (at least the first three pairs) to achieve a dark grey colour of the metal. It didn't fit to the last pair though so it is going to keep the light silver innocent look. In all of the earrings the wire is accompanied by the wax pearls in different sizes and colours as well as the metal beads. And they required *a lot* of time to be finished... well, wire-wrapping is very time consuming, but the effect is worth the hard work.

But I couldn't forget about bead weaving either... And since I liked the beaded dodecahedrons from here quite much, decided to make some more of them. This time a little bit bigger than the last ones, since I used the bigger seed beads. They measure 1,8 cm (0,71") in diameter.

And another pattern that I decided to recreate... Originally it was designed as a beaded ball made of seed beads along with 6mm pearls. Good for a pendant, but not for the earrings, since it was just too big. It was almost a challenge too to make it smaller, so I could use 4mm beads and make the spheres more fitting for earrings. The earrings are already finished, as you can see in the picture below...

... and another pendant of this desing is being made and that's how the original one looks:

The next pair of earrings is quite simple, made of tiny metal beads using a cubic right angle weave stitch. The pearls however aren't that orange for real... the picture lies in this case. ;P

And the last piece of jewelry that I have managed to complete. A tiny wire wrapped pendant that is only 2cm (0.79") wide in diameter. Some wire, some chain, some metal beads and a gemstone I cannot name... couldn't oxidize it either, so it will remain the way it is...

Hopefully I can show some more effects of my work soon. :)

Bezelled octagon and a beaded crochet rope

When I have found some Preciosa 18mm octagons for a very reasonable price, couldn't just help but order a few, although I didn't know what I could use them for at that time. Especially one of them, Bermuda Blue, has drawn my attention and it was the first I decided to work with. Its colour really makes me dream of lying on the beach on some tropical island and watching the wide, clear, turquoise ocean... Gods, I think I need some vacation! ;)

Too bad it is impossible at the moment and my Bermuda Blue crystal needs to serve some other purpose to not remind me of any holidays. Only had to dress it in snowy white seed beads and it has become a perfect focal bead in another beaded crochet bracelet. It doesn't look like a octagon anymore though, but who said that only round rivoli crystals could be bezelled to achieve a similar effect? ;)

Yes, I love making beaded crochet ropes. I can make two bracelets in just one evening, while on some more complex projects I have to work for many hours... So I have finished quite a few of them recently and have a few more in my nearest beading plans. Like making a similar bezelled octagon, this time a Vitrail Light one, with a double rope in matching violet and light blue. It will have to wait a few days though... Until then you can see some of the latest crocheted bracelets I have made.

Like this one, with a beaded sphere again, this time used as a charm...

...and this one, with a charm of a different shape, made with cubic right angle weave stitch...

...and two more with the beaded spheres (I must be crazy about them since I make them so often)...

...and the last one, made of transparent beads, with a shading effect given entirely by the floss.

I'm pretty sure that's not the end of the beaded crochet ropes on here yet. ;)

Beaded crochet bracelet

Must admit that I was very impressed when I saw the beaded crochet ropes for the first time. Mostly because crocheting sounded like a black magic to me. Yet, I couldn't give up too quickly, even though most of the tutorials available throughout the web haven't been very helpful to me. However once finally I've managed to learn it (thank you, weraph, for your wonderful tutorial!), it has become one of my favourite beading techniques. For ropes like this I have tried tubular peyote stitch before, but crochet ropes are faster to make, easier, and - what is the most important - are very flexible without losing their tubular shape.

This bracelet was waiting for over a week to be finished though, since I couldn't decide what kind of focal bead would fit to it. Eventually made a beaded sphere, using a peyote stitch. Think it was the best choice. ;)

Couldn't help myself though and had to make two more beaded spheres for earrings, however they are slightly smaller than the one used in the bracelet. Their size doesn't exceed 14 mm.

Should make more beaded crochet bracelets soon I think... :)