Spiral Rope

My spiral rope is coming along nicely. I've made a tassely bead for one end and want to make the rope long enough to go around my neck twice before I put a tassely bead on the other end. I like the shine of the gold and look forward to wearing it.




Bumblin
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Bangle

I made a bangle.




Unfortunately I didn't plan it quite properly and it's a tad big but I like it very much.

Current Beading Project

This is what I'm working on at the moment.




I'm not sure yet if its going to be a bracelet or necklace. I've only just thought maybe it could be a bangle but I think it might be too big. I'll know later today when I get to bead another of the Laura McCabe claws that I'm using to frame a lampwork bead of mine.

Bumblin
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How did it go?

It was quieter than the same bead fair last year which was disappointing. Last year I chatted to lots of lovely people. This year I chatted to a few lovely people and sold a few beads.




These are some focal beads I made for my stall. I was really pleased with the bead selection I had and was secretly hoping to take lots of money. Unfortunately I didn't take enough to cover the insurance to be there.

I'm going to give Etsy a try once I've caught up on the housework I've neglected in favour of bead production.

Beads

I've been making beads ready for a bead fair on Saturday. Here are a few pictures.




I took the photos on an iPad and am rather impressed by the quality.

Spiral rope

I've never made myself a spiral rope. I made one for my mum ages ago and have meant to make myself one for ages.

Here's my effort so far.




I quite like the monotony of it. I can pick it up and put it down and don't need any instructions.

Lantern Lighter Necklace - finished

I finished it and am really pleased with how it looks.

Lantern Lighter Necklace

The bottom half of the lantern is finished.



I'm not totally comfortable with the darkness of the rivoli bezelling against the relative lightness of the sides. It's made me appreciate how hard picking colours is and the value of 'kits'. Hopefully when it's done and threaded on the rope I'll like it more.

Bumblin
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Laura McCabe Necklace

It's coming along but probably a little too slowly for my deadline at the end of the month.
I decided I didn't like the end pearl bead so changed the colour to red and like that one far more.



Bottom left of this picture you can see the focal 'Lantern' taking shape. I thought it would be wrong to show it in close up before its finished in respect of copyright. I'm nearly there with it.

Bumblin
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Bracelet

I made this


With these



Using brick stitch around each glass bead.

Bracelet finished

I finished my bracelet after many trips to my shed to make new beads. I really love it.

Lampwork and Clay Bracelets

Here are two bracelets I made with some of my Lampwork beads and some clay beads made by a very talented young lady.




I've used leather with a simple knot between each bead.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bumblinbeads

Laura McCabe necklace day eight

Here's the progress so far. I think it's going well but I'll be running out of a key bead colour soon.

Bracelet Progress

The beads I made look really good.



This is progress so far. I'll need to make more beads but I'm very pleased with how it's looking.

Bracelet

This time the dye worked better


I had a go at making the bracelet with some pearls and gemstones I have but couldn't quite follow the method in the magazine because the thread I wanted to use wouldn't go twice through the holes. I have some alternative beads now cooling very slowly in my kiln. Hopefully they will work better.

Bracelet making

I wanted to make a bracelet featured in the magazine Making Jewellery.

I had some natural leather and had read about natural plant dyes. I liked the idea so thought I'd give it a try.

I like green so I thought I would use mint. I found a good website and followed the first step of preparing for the dye. My leather went from this


To this



Not what I was aiming for!

I now have another bit of leather soaking in green food colouring and water to see if that works. No hot water has been used!

Laura McCabe Lantern Lighter Necklace

Today is Day Three for me of making a new Lantern Lighter Necklace as a gift for someone. Blue and red are the two requested colours. This is how far I was yesterday. I aim to make some further progress today.

Some lampwork beads

Here are a few lampwork beads I managed to make yesterday.

Lampwork

This bead was an accident. I didn't know it would turn out the way it did. I love the bubbles in it and the way the blue looks like a ribbon suspended in the glass. Not something I think I could repeat.

Belissimo Beads

Here are some gorgeous Belissimo Beads. The pattern belongs to Marcia DeCoster. They are lovely and satisfying to make. I love this easy way to combine different colours.

Lampwork Beads

Here are a few lampwork beads I made recently. I think I'm getting better at it.

A Beadweave Lariat

Here's a beadweave lariat I made. I like the style but think it needs to be longer. I've not been happy enough with the way it looks to wear it.

Polymer Clay Bangle

I really like this bangle my friend Michelle helped me make. The cane is one I made a few weeks ago.

Polymer Clay

Here's a polymer clay three-toed sloth I made with the guidance of Christi Friesen's excellent "Welcome to the Jungle" book. Her books are excellent and have the most brilliant step-by-step instructions that mean it's relatively easy to produce something that looks good.

Lampwork Beads

Here are some lampwork beads I've made.
The tiger style beads are Corina Tettinger's design and I like making them very much.

Polymer Clay Necklace

This is a polymer clay necklace I made from some beads I really liked. Some of them ended up looking a bit like the "Scream" mask which I thought was quite clever. My polymer clay beads get sanded in my rock tumbler then buffed with my little dremel type thing.

Beadweave Necklace

This is a variation on a Mary Davis creation and I like it very much. I wanted it to have an antique feel and think I achieved that with the colours I choose.

Lampwork Bead Necklace

Here's a photo of a lampwork bead necklace I made. I wanted a way of wearing lots of my lampworks beads at once and something that was a bit versitile.

I wear this necklace very long or wrap it once to create two strands. Unfortunately it looks wierd as a bracelet because I think there are just a few too many beads for that.

I've used a bit of leather and just tied simple knots between groups of beads so the lampwork isn't too overwhelming.