Orchid - beaded pendant and tiny earrings

A wonderful friend of mine has given me recently the best present a beader can get! When I opened the package and saw lots of Miyuki Delica beads I was speechless! These of you who live in Poland know that well - these beads aren't easily accessible here, so the surprise was even greater for me. Of course, I had to try them out as soon as possible. Actually I wanted to make something simple and since another friend of mine asked why, despite being into astronomy, I haven't been designing anything of star-shape, a star was the first project I decided to make. While beading though it appeared that it would be something more than just a star - not the first time when a finished project is far from what has been planned to make. The result I achieved looks more like an orchid flower to me - don't ask me why though, it's probably just my crazy imagination again that sends such pictures to my brain. ;)

Anyway, this is my first project made with Delica beads (my new greatest love!). Some Toho seed beads are added in the middle. The entire pendant measures around 6 cm (2,36") without the bail.

In addition (completely unlike me, I know!) I made some tiny earrings too, repeating the motif from the center of the pendant. Actually they looked so cute to me, that I made another pair too, and soon I will share the pattern here with you. I just need to draw it first. ;) They look better in reality though, much better. The camera has stolen the entire depth and they look so flat here...
They measure around 17mm (0,67") in diameter.

And tomorrow I'll show you another experiment with Delica beads. An experiment that I have found rather successful. ;)
So see you until then, my friends. :)

Ssssssnakes ;)

When I found a pattern for the snake, I knew I would have to make it. It didn't even look like a beaded crochet rope, more like a real snake. It took some time though to make it - I started working on that necklace in the end of June, and I finished it just two days ago. Of course, if I had been focusing just on this piece, it would have been done long ago. Stringing the beads though was a nightmare, and this is what was stopping me from finishing it sooner. Over 9300 beads, tiny 15/o beads, have been used for this project... And now I am crazy enough to want to make a green one! ;)

The necklace is 40 cm (15,75") long.

And a close-up:

Unfortunately, I don't know the author of this amazing pattern. I found the snake here, so if it's you, Kseniya, who has drawn it, it's a great job done!

And as I am posting snakes here, there is one more beaded crochet rope with a snakeskin pattern, although not that realistic, as the first one. This necklace was actually waiting for six months to be finished. Started in January, finished in June. I guess I just had more funny things to do. ;)
It is made with 11/o Toho seed beads and is 42 cm (16,5") long.

Now, despite my plans on making another snake, I should get some rest from bead crocheting. I have got some wonderful Delica beads lately, so it's about time to try them out. :)

See you soon with some other beadwork. Good night! :)

The roses again...

It's quite late already, but I better post it now, since I might not have enough time tomorrow...

Do you remember the crocheted necklace with the roses? The one from this post? Well, it didn't look bad, but making it was a nightmare. I'd never make it again... but I knew that someone really liked it and wanted to have one for herself. It was hard to force myself to work with this pattern, I admit, but once I realized that I had only a few days left (it had to be done by August 17th - that's today!), I started working like crazy to make sure it would be finished on time. Still don't know how it has happened... but the necklace was completed within just three days. Yayyyy!! ;)

So, this is the necklace again... this time the roses aren't on a white background, but light beige instead. It is made entirely with Toho seed beads size 11.

I wanted the necklace to have an adjustable length, but adding a chain for that purpose didn't sound like a good idea to me. Not for such a thick rope at least. Below you can see how it has been solved. :)


This is the shortest version:

This one is slightly longer:

And this one a little bit longer than slightly longer ;)

And finally, the longest version.

During the last few days I have made two more gifts. One of them is another beaded crochet rope, simple but elegant for Julia, along with a matching bracelet.

The second gift is a small, simple pendant for Helene. She probably doesn't expect any gift, so hopefully it will be a nice surprise for her. :)

And in just a few hours all the gifts will be in a plane flying to Sweden...
I will stay with you though, because soon I'll have more beadwork to show. :)

Good night! :)

Mandala - beaded pendant

Lentils... Mmm... There were one of my favourite candy when I was a kid. They weren't even available in Poland, so we were getting them always when we went to Czechoslovakia - yep, it was THAT long time ago, when it was still one country. Now you can buy similar candy almost everywhere... but is it just me, or they really don't taste like the true Lentilky? ;)

Now my favourite candy is BEADS! But now you can find lentils even amongst the beads. I got a few colours some time ago, and finally I decided to make some use out of them. This is how the "Mandala" pendant was created. The base is a net made with lentil beads, embellished with seed and fire polished beads. It measures 4cm (1,57") in diameter, and trust me - it was incredibly fast to make. I needed only one hour to complete the second, silver and blue, pendant. It's simple, yet it is quite eye-catching.

The tutorial for the pendant is available on Etsy and Craftsy.

Also, if you would like to get this pattern on Etsy, use a following coupon code: LENTILKY - and it will give you 10% discount - not only for the Mandala pattern, but any other tutorial too. :)
It expires on August 12th, so you have some time to use it. :)

 

And as always, I want to thank you for visiting this blog. You make me want to create even more. :)

Hugs to all of you! :)

A beaded donut again! ;)

It has been a while since I have made a beaded donut... but it's been even longer since I have published one here. ;)

The two beaded donuts you can see here were made exactly four weeks ago! That shows how slow I am with writing the tutorials... Even the drawings were finished soon after the pendants were made, but today, despite the heat, I finally forced myself to do some work, so the detailed instruction is ready too. It's a very easy pattern, but you should have some experience with peyote stitch in order to make it. It might prove to be too difficult otherwise.

The donuts are made with Toho seed beads size 11 and 8, as well as 3mm and 4mm fire polished beads. They measure around 5cm (2") in diameter without the bail.

You can get the tutorial on Etsy or Craftsy. :)

I hope you're not suffering too much from the heat. I do! But I'm not going to complain, we have a wonderful summer, after all! :)
Hugs and I'll see you again soon. :)

Stapelia - starfish flower

A starfish flower - it was my first thought after I have finished the pendant. A flower that exists for real, actually, although it looks a bit different in reality. It is famous, or maybe rather infamous of having an extremely awful odour of rotten flesh. Sure, the real stapelia looks better than my pendant, but at least my starfish flower doesn't smell bad at all. ;)

The pendant measures 4cm (1,57") in diameter and it is made with 4mm and 6mm glass pearls, 3mm magatamas and seed beads size 11 and 8. It is double sided, as most of my pieces.

Stapelia was finished some time ago, when the temperature was still bearable (it's way too hot now and my boiling brain refuses to think up any new patterns;) ). It took a while to write a tutorial though, but now it is ready too. It is available here on Etsy and Craftsy.

Also, I would like to thank you for all the comments - I haven't got much time to respond to them, but I'm always happy when you leave a note. :)
Have a wonderful time!

Pillows - beaded pendants :)

So, the holidays are over... no more sleeping until noon then, what a shame. ;( Two new beaded pendants - Pillows - can only remind me about that "lazy" (you already know that it was everything but lazy for me) time. One of them was actually made something like two months ago - now it got a companion. Both pendants are made with bicone beads, glass pearls, SuperDuos and Toho beads. They measure 3cm (1,18") /side length/ and are 1,5cm (0,59") thick.

 

The pattern for the pendant is ready and soon it will be available both on Craftsy and Etsy.

And I have to go back to the kitchen, or the dinner will be burnt. Oh how I love it.... *sigh*
See you later then. :)

EDIT /03.08.2013: Now the pattern has been finally published. You can get it here (Etsy) or here (Craftsy). :)