Photos of recent work

I took some nice photos of recent work today, so I thought I might as well post them. At least it shows that I am actually powering ahead on the UFO project. I've had to have a break from that though, to make my entry for the Bead Society of Victoria's 2011 Bead Challenge competition. I'm about halfway through my entry, and then it's back to the UFOs. I've finally had some inspiration for my winged time piece, and I can't wait to get stuck into it.

This is a close-up of the pendant of the necklace that I discussed in an earlier post. It gives a good view of the vintage button used as the focal. I have been wearing this one a lot and always get compliments.

This is my latest completed piece. There's an earlier blog entry that shows the chain as it was being made. This necklace evolved several times, and really it isn't very much like my original conception! The antique buttons used in the pendants came from Button Mania and L'Uccello, both in the Nicholas building on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane. I'm going to enter this in the Member's Exhibition at the Bead Expo this year. I won't win any prizes but it's always fun to see what people think of your work.

I actually made a bail at the back of the top pendant from ultra-suede instead of beads for this one. I wanted the pendant to sit up a bit on the chain. At first I was going to make a beaded loop from the top to the bottom, but I've been caught out before with beads rubbing against other and the finish coming off, and I didn't want to risk it with these Swarovski pearls. That was when it occurred to me that I could use ultra-suede. One thing I learned from this was that, if I'm going to do that again, I should sew the ultra-suede bail on before attaching the backing to the pendant. It was quite awkward sewing it on afterwards, and the stitching is a bit messy. If I had thought it through, I could have attached it with the sewing machine and it would have been nice and neat. Oh well, next time!

These necklaces were also the subject of an earlier blog entry, and now they are completed. They aren't easy colours to wear! I find the top one goes nicely with my grey tunic though - gives it a bit of a lift so I don't look totally drab. These are both made with beads from Bead'licious and then basic diamond net chain. They are pretty and easy to wear, so I consider them to be very successful.

I have also completed another dragonscale bracelet and altered a necklace for WS, so I suppose I'm not doing too badly in the beading stakes at the moment.

Pinterest

I've been having a lot of fun on Pinterest lately. Check it out here: http://pinterest.com/
One thing I have been doing is pinning pictures in particular colour themes on one board. I thought I could use them later to help work out what 'my colours' are, on the basis that, if I pin enough pictures, there should be some sort of theme emerge. I have also set out a 'beadwork inspirations' board, and have been using it to pin web-pages with vintage and modern jewellry I like. I hope to eventually see themes emerging that will make it more obvious to me what my style is. It probably sounds really silly to say that, but I often find myself looking in books or magazines and thinking, I like that, I like that, I like that ... and they are all different! So what is it about each different thing that I like? Why do I like it? Is there a common theme in what I like, which just isn't obvious to me? Give me a few more months and I'll report back on my findings!    ;)

Last post for today - this is the current worktable

This is the current project. I really liked the coral Swarovski crystals I used in another necklace, and wanted to do another necklace where they were more of a feature. In this one, the pearls are 4mm, whereas in the other one they were 3 mm, so they stand out more in this one. Using the same matte black beads in 11o and 15o for the netting also makes the pearls stand out more. I find these very easy to bead with and they look terrific.

The plan is to make a pendant with the vintage black button shown on the right, which will hang from the diamond net chain. I haven't started on that part yet though, as I wanted to see how many of the pearls I needed for the chain, and then how many I could have for the pendant. It's actually really difficult to find coral coloured beads in the right shade to match with these pearls! So I expect the pendant will end up being mostly black. Once this is complete I hope to have the beads assembled to go back to my Steampunk thing and see if I can finish it this time. The Melbourne Bead Expo is in November, and if I want to put any of this stuff on exhibition, it has to be finished by October. 

These weren't UFOs, but they were a lot of fun!

I have recently discovered that I can do basic beading projects while watching telly, although it has to be simple stuff that doesn't require much thought. So I have been having fun making bangles. The patterns for these come from B&B and BW magazines. The crystal honeycomb bracelets designed by Cynthia Rutledge are a lot of fun to make! One of these is too small for me and I'll have to give it away eventually, but I guess that's just an excuse to make more. These are very comfortable to wear, and unlike metal bangles, they don't make any noise as they move about your wrist. I'll be making more of these I expect. Funny thing though - I haven't done any crochet this Winter, and hardly any embroidery, because the time I would normally use for those crafts has been filled with beading.

More UFOs completed

Here are two completed necklaces - I showed one half-done in an earlier post. Both of these necklaces have been made using lampwork beads from Carli Hall of Bead'licious. The chains are made using diamond netting stitch. The necklace on the right is made using grass green fire polished crystals and cooper-coloured 15o and delica beads. Copper coloured glass rondelles are used on either side of the lampwok bead, and copper coloured glass flower beads are used as bead caps. You can't see it in this photo, but the clasp is a button and loop closure with a copper coloured vintage glass button.

The chain on the right is made with 3mm Swarovski pearls, pistachio green 15o and black 11o seed beads. The effect is a bit like argyle socks! It's very different but I really like it, and it is a good complement to the lampwork beads. The clasp on this one is also a button and loop closure, made with an opaque green antique button.

At the same time that I purchased the beads from Bead'licious, I also purchased some sets of beads from Wendy Bergamin of Bergamin Beads. Wendy makes some wonderful beads, and I have several of hers in my stash. Anyway, I had all of these coloured beads in my stash and wasn't sure how to make them into a necklace, then at the last Quilt and Craft Fair at Jeff's Shed (end July), I saw some small red rondelles, which I knew would be perfect spacers for these beads. This is a perfect Winter necklace, just because it is so very bright! I purchased the clasp at the Bead and Button Show when I went there in 2008, but I have to say it's the only part of the necklace I don't like - the toggle bar scratches my neck. I'll see how I go with it, but I might have to come up with a different arrangement. This only took a few minutes to make, but I'm sure I will get a lot of wear out of it.

The on-going saga of the Steampunk creation

Some time ago I posted photos of a half-finished piece I was calling my first attempt at Steampunk. Well, that piece has been sitting there ever since, waiting for inspiration. The original intention was that there would be a series of Victorian style swags of beads connecting the components. I tried many different combinations of beads and crystals and other bits and pieces, and I could never come up with a swag arrangement that I liked. So frustrating! Anyway, I was looking at that project the other day and I think I have come up with a Plan B at last. It's dependent on getting some more of one type of bead from a friend of mine, who gave me the original lot. She is going to go through her stash and see if she can find the rest of the beads, and if she can, I'll start work again.
I'm thinking now that it might be a RAW style band connecting the components. More later ...

The Gryphon necklace

This is my latest completed project. I call it the gryphon necklace after the image on the antique metal button which I have used as the central focal piece.

This started off as a kit I purchased from Laura McCabe a couple of years ago, when she came out to teach in Australia. I really liked the chain, but wasn't keen on the focal, which was a set of dangles. So the kit sat in a drawer for ages, while I did other things.

Anyway, a while ago, I was going through my beading drawers, looking at all my bits and pieces to see if inspiration would strike, and it did! It occurred to me that the chain would look really good with the antique button, and all I needed to do was design a pendant that would match with the chain. I made the necklace first, as I needed to know how many beads I would have to use on the pendant. My challenge was to use as many parts of the kit as possible, including the various pearls and bits and pieces that Laura had included to use in the dangles. I decided that I could add to the kit contents, but only with left-over beads from other LM kits. That made the challenge both harder and easier ... harder in that it really limited my choices, but easier in that a couple of the projects I had done from LM kits were in roughly similar colour-ways, so I had quite a few beads that toned with the ones from this kit. It was also hard in that the colours were not ones that I would normally use together. I really wouldn't have thought dark purple, mustard gold and raspberry would work together!

So, the only original part of this project is the pendant, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It was very difficult getting the bead embroidery to be even on both sides, because I was working from the outside in. There's no doubt it's easier to start in the middle and work outwards.

It's worth noting that I was very careful to not alter or damage the antique button. I built up behind it with stiffened felt to protect the shank and prevent it from sticking out at the back. While it makes the pendant a bit thick in the middle, it means that the value of the button should not be affected. I think you should be careful when using antique pieces in your work, and only alter them if it's absolutely necessary, or if they have no intrinsic value.

I still haven't gotten any further with my big steampunk piece. I wish some inspiration would strike with that project, because I would really like to finish it. I should aim to get it done in time to exhibit in the Bead Expo I suppose. The last week or so I have gone mad for the bracelet by Cynthia Rutledge that was featured in BeadWork magazine a couple of months ago. I have already completed two versions of it, and have no doubt I'll do a few more. It's actually an easy project to do while watching telly - with most of my beading I need to sit at the table and really concentrate. I'll post some pictures when I've finished another one.