More bead crochet: autumn bracelet

This bracelet is made using bead I thread the same way as in the pink lustre sample I wrote about earlier. For this bracelet I used the same light amethyst copper-lined czech seeds, but added brown dancing FW pearls instead of oval beads.

Being top-drilled, the pearls sit differently than "straight drilled" pearls in the same shape would. I really like that result, though most of all I like the colours and the fact that I finally ended up using these pearls that I've had for ever (and which doesn't look as pretty on their own as mixed with the pinkish amethyst seeds).

Bead blog recap weeks 34-36

I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to make weekly recaps of my posts over at my Swedish bead blog... So here's a long list of post from the last three weeks.


The charm group project
We're making charms for a charm bracelet, which will be raffled at the PUSS bead meeting in October. All proceeds will be donated to Cancerfonden. Do you want to be a part of our project?

Cute flower charms
Learn how to make easy and sweet daisy bead charms at Beadsmania.

Fireline
Fireline is a very popular beading thread, used primarily for bead weaving.

How to tumble glass
With a stone tumbler, you can also tumble glass to make beads and pendants for your jewellery. You will get soft and frosted glass, similar to beach glass. No tumbler? Grind down the sharp edges and etch the glass instead.

Faux pearls
Faux pearls have been made for centuries -- and at times they were reserved for royalties. Includes a list of diffrent types of pearls/pearl names used for imitations, from shell pearls to Majorica.

Sharp triangles from Miyuki
Miyuki is know for their chubby, rounded triangle beads. Now they're about to launch a new version with sharper edges.

Harmony theme for bead contest
Swedish bead shop Sirlig is presenting a new jewellery-making contest on the theme harmony.

Art Bead Scene September challenge
This month's inspiration is Persia, an illustration by George Barbier.

Vitrail
Vitrail is a colourful finish that can be found in several version: vitrail medium (or just vitrail), vitrail light, vitrail dark (vintage) and vitrail green.

Bellatrix beading contest
Perle4U is having a small contest based on the pattern Bellatrix: make one or more of these components and incorporate it in a piece of jewellery.

International Bead Awards 2010
IBA is a new international design contest by Best Beads Verlag, the publisher of elegant bead mag Perlen-Poesie.

New from Swarovski for autumn/winter 2011-12
Swarovski Elements have released their new colours for the nex autumn and winter season. New colours is Sunflower, latest effect is Crystal Silver Night and for pearls there's the Light Gold Pearl. New shapes includes a beautiful new heart and cute clover beads as well as a flatback butterfly and more.

Shrink plastic jewellery
Projects for making jewellery from shrink plastic -- includes some lovely silhouette jewellery not to be missed!

Cross stitch your own metal pendants
Among the autumn news from Panduro, you'll find partially perforated metal pendants and bracelets, ready to be cross stitched by you.

Texture hammer with interchangable heads
I love hammers and this is no exception. Instead of getting just one or two textures when you buy a texture hammer, this one comes with nine different heads you can mount of the hammer.

Elytra from Sternocera aequisignata
Elytra is the hard outer "shells" that protect the wings on beetles. In this case the colourful jewel beetle, which has traditionally been used in thai arts and crafts. Unusually but striking components for jewellery (includes examples of finished jewellery).

How to use two-hole beads
Stringing, wirework, bead weaving -- there are many ways you can used two-hole beads. Here you find a long list of projects to be inspired by.

Two-hole beads
As you probably guessed, two-hole beads are "double drilled", having two parallel or crossing holes.

Win beautiful glass beads
In association with Bello Modo, I'm giving away 18 lovely German two-hole beads.

Pearlized autumn contest
Swedish bead shop Pearlized is hosting a new autumn jewellery-making contest.

How to use scallop-edged settings
I show how you manipulated the edge of these simply but useful settings to make pendants and links.

How seed beads are made
Learn how seed beads are manufactured in Japan and the Czech Republic, from the melting of the raw materials to quality control and hanking.

Bolo ties -- not just western jewellery
Bolo ties are mostly associated with cowboys and other American Western styles for men, but here you find necklaces in a variety of styles for both him and her.

Bead crochet tests

Reading Beads Bee vol. 22, I found this necklace (p. 16) that seemed to be made in the type of "loopy" chain stitch bead crochet I like. Made by this beader, if I "read" the text correctly. So of cause I had to test this -- for me slightly different -- way of making chain stitched jewellery. It's rather similar to turkish bead crochet in that you alternate between seed beads and larger beads -- in this case rice pearls -- and make loops consisting of one pearls and a row of seeds. But unlike in the turkish style, you don't stitch the loops onto the next row, meaning you get a rather different look.

As usual I work with what I've got and not wanting to string loose seed beads, I had two colours of 10/0 czech seeds on hanks to choose between. I went with light amethyst copper-lined, which worked with the twisted glass beads in pink (topaz) lustre I choose as my large beads in the absence of any rice pearls. I love the colours and overall look, but it's way too chunky and heavy -- for a wearable piece of jewellery you can't use beads this big I think. Below you can see it photographed next to a ruler so that you can estimate the size of this little sampler.


Inspired by the same Japanese bead mag as above, I also wanted to try mixing in chips in the seed bead loops. Again, had to use what I could find, which explains the somewhat iffy colour scheme (I guess it's not hideous, but I don't like neon pink in these glass chips).

This also turned out to be a pretty chunky piece, but lighter and more wearable that the pressed-glass bead test. As a reference, this bracelet-to-be is approx. 17-18 cm long. I will use chips again, but I believe I'll probably try to decrease the number of seed beads for each loop -- or, better yet, opt for smaller size chips and seeds. Making it less chunky. As for colours, I do believe it'd look more attracting in a different colour scheme. I have some tumbled rock crystal chips that I think would look nice paired with white or frosted seeds, but I don't have any white thread so I couldn't test it.

Top 5 things I'm not good at

1. Answering blog comments -- but I do read and enjoy them all!

2. Answering e-mails -- I do it, but it takes time...

3. Remembering people -- faces mostly, but also names

4. Not waiting to the last minute to do something

5. socializing -- which kind of explains my top 3...


Yupp, just a top five of bad excuses and a way to say "it's nothing personal" if you're waiting for me to contact you... I do this to everyone when my energy levels are low or when I'm unsure about the socially correct way to talk to someone. I've been a bit tired lately so I'm trying to sort out what things are top priority and work with those even if it means I'm letting other things drag on longer that I'd prefer. Like replying to e-mails that aren't a matter of life and death. Sorry if that is happening to you right now, but rest assure: I haven't forgotten you! It'll just take a few more days for me to get back to you....


PS! That's our Figaro (yes, named after Figaro and Cleo) in the pic. My sweetie.

A crocheted necklace for mom

Right now I'm busy judging entries in a beading contest, but I thought I'd show you what I did last night (literally night, I finished it around 1:30 AM). Mom wanted me to make her a necklace similar to one I'd make for myself in czech 10/0 seeds. I said ok, but as she's just paying for the supplies she had to string the beads. I hate stringing beads, which is the reason it took such time for me to find the right beads for her: I wanted 10/0 (not 11/0 or 9/0) seeds on hank and mom wanted them to be blue. A slightly difficult combination to find. Anyway, I want them hanked as it makes stringing them easier.

The necklace is made in my favourite bead crochet technique: chain stitch with loops. It's a very easy method for making crocheted jewellery and I like the bead loops. Normally, I make rather small loops (5-7 beads), but you can make much larger ones of a very different effect. Bead looops can also be used together with single beads on a chain stitch or made using different bead sizes and/or shapes. Very versatile, in other words. But this time I kept it very simple as per mom's request.


Want to see a pic of the whole necklace too, don't you? I'm thinking of making something similar on a winter theme: the texture kind of remind me of rime/hoar frost.


BTW, this was also the first time I used Gütermann Top Stitch (knapptråd) for bead crochet. I've mostly used YLI and pearl silk before. The Gütermann thread feels very similar to YLI so I'll probably buy a few more colours of it in the future, not least since this thread is easier to find in Sweden.

3x giveaways and contests

Giveaways
As usual, Andrew Thornton presented a new giveaway a few days ago. This time you have a chance to win sparkling chinese crystal beads from US bead shop Auntie's beads. A lucky winner will get three strands of crystal beads and four pendants -- as seen in the pic above.

Via Andrew, I also found a lovely giveaway by Janet Macdonald at her blog Singingwoods. She offers an inspiring lot of beads including eight Green Girl Studios charms, six beads by Gaea and a lampworked rose focal by Helen Simon. If you like fairy, don't miss her giveaway post, showing pics of "fairy doors" -- something I'd never heard about before.

Last giveaway tips is a book giveaway hosted by Melanie Brooks at Earthenwood Studio Chronicles. She is giving away a copy of Dafna Yarom's book Creative Paper Jewelry, celebrating September and the memories of going back to school.


Contests
I'm not good at remembering to post tips about contests and challenges here, mostly as I write about those in my other blog (check out the label tävlingstips to find info on all sorts of beading contests and challenges). But this time I'll try to mention some current ones. Sorry if the info is a tad short.

Art Bead Scene Blog features monthly challenges and this month the artwork your entry should be inspired by is Persia, an illustration by George Barbier.

Simone, AKA Perle4U, challenges you to make a piece of jewellery using her Bellatrix pattern (free for contest participants).

The September theme for Vintaj's challenge this month is Family Tree. Note that the deadline is coming up soon: September 10. For inspirational creations on the theme, check out their blog.

Publisher of Perlen Poesie bead magazine, Best Beads Verlag, is hosting the new International Bead Awards, where you can enter as hobbyist or professional beader/jewellery maker in nine different categories.


You can find links to more current American beading contest in the end of this post.

Out with the old, in with the new

I'm working on a destash right now. As per usual, really: I tend to go through my bead stash once or twice a year for several reasons. I do it to make room for new beads, to get a bit of cash to finance those beads, to see what beads I have but are unlikely to use. And so forth. But the best thing about cleaning out the bead stash like this is that it's such a cleansing experience for me as a person too.

Destashing is one of the ways I work through a periode of low creativity. By sorting and "culling" my beads I find old beads I've almost forgot about and sometimes I end up putting different beads together in a way I hadn't thought about before. It gives me new ideas and that's a great side effect. My aim is most likely not to be inspired as much as it's just about "getting rid off" beads that lay there in the storage, year after year. Some of them haven't seen daylight since the day I bought them. So why keep them when I can sell them and buy things I want more instead? Not least since I know how good I feel when I sort out the old beads and make room for the new.

Of cause, it's a fine balance between sorting out beads I'm unlikely to use and keeping beads that might inspire or attract me in the future. I'm sure all beaders that have been in the game for a couple of years know what I'm talkning about. We evolve, our preferences change and we learn new things. Suddenly one day we find an old bead or finding we bought as newbies, but never used -- and this one day it's exactly what we need. Some things are best to keep. But others just add to the clutter, physical and mental. Knowing what things to keep and what things to sell isn't easy.

I tend not to sell newer beads unless I have many of them or there's a special reason I believe I won't use them in the near future. It's not like the beads I prepare to sell this time wasn't in my stash the last time I went through it. They're just beads that had to wait six or twelve months more for me to see them as expendable -- or for me to go through that specific bead box, I don't always go through my whole stash at once. Now I feel more secure about my decision to sell them.



It's also a question of how brave I am: how much do I dare destash? Destashing is not for the faint of heart -- it can be a bit of an ordeal for a horder. But I know I have to do it sometimes. I know I feel relieved when I have sorted through my beads and have just the ones I actually want left. The beads that was just there, like meaningless fillers, are gone and I can see the rest of the beads more clearly. It's like I've had all the weight of those beads on my shoulders and now it's lifted. I also feel good knowing I can buy new and inspirational supplies without guilt when I've recouped some of the expenses by selling my "leftovers".

So even though it can be difficult to choose what beads to keep and what beads to sell, even though it's time-consuming at times, I keep doing it because it feels good. I need my spring and autumn cleanings to not drown in beads and a never-chaning, stale bead stash. I don't sell my jewellery so a destash is really also my only way of "making" money from my beads to finance my hobby. One of a few ways the beads I buy can leave me and my home.

To conclude, all I can say is: cleaning out the old and making room for the new is a freeing and inspirational experience. You should try it too if you haven't already.