My husband noticed, “It’s been five days.”

Okay, so some times we take a little drive, I pop my head out of the window and snap a few photos.  I like to get on the gravel because my husband slows down a little bit, though he hates the dust on the shiny truck.

So the last time we went out we took a few photos of some neat old buildings.

Love old houses, love to see people living in them and taking care of them.

I would love to have one….I’m not sure if my asthma would take it though.

So any way, we are driving along and see this magnificence.

It was perched on this hill, the road bordering it, and dropping elevation, so it really stood on top of this outcropping.

Oh, how much money it would cost to rehab this one.  But wouldn’t it be wonderful.  I’m so grateful it is still standing for us to admire.

It just goes to show you, you never know what to expect the next road you take and what you will see.  I live in a county where everything older than 50 years old gets bulldozed and a brand new ranch style house, or a McMansion is put there.  I love to see  something like this.

Oh, how I would love to live here.

We got to see this little gem.

Same house, seconds later.  Remember, we are driving.

This is the remnants of the old school.

This is behind that wall.

Well thanks for tuning in.

My progression on the latest necklace is coming along.  I didn’t work on it as much this weekend because I was trying to rest from my very weary week.  I have about six more days of work, and then my much-needed winter break.  Hopefully I will be able to show you some stuff fairly regularly then.

Thanks for visiting. Happy beading.

C

Yep, I’ve been working on some stuff this weekend.  You know that time of the year for me…I would rather make things than buy things.  I can’t keep it all.  Besides I’m getting better so my stuff is improving compared to some of the stuff in my stash bag…my stash bag of finished pieces.

So a little of this.

my giftie girl likes lime green, so I looked at the opposite side of the color wheel, and it said violet red, so this little so gel seed beed in clear pink isn’t to saturated or bold.

So this is a 2 drop peyote band.  I have added some 8’s along the bottom to give it a little more curvature.  This is where the drops will hang soon.

This was taken about 1/2 an hour before stopping.  I guess I’m at about 2 hours or less at the length of about 10 inches.

So here is my selection process.

I pulled out these.

So I selected the lime green with clear beads to disband and use.

But I haven’t used them yet.  These are probably more like 6’s, So I haven’t used them in the peyote band…I think I will use them with the drops…

So I got out my 8’s.

I picked out dark lime green silver lined, and also a transparent root beer (which seems to go with everything) to alternate for the 8’s on the bottom of the band.

I also worked on stringing some pearls.  You know I just got better at this trick.

So this is what I made this weekend.  Three necklaces and one peyote band necklace started.

We end with this photo.

Thanks for visiting.  Take care and happy shopping all.

C

I told you I would post the second bezel that I made.  That is second ever made.  Still I can see some improvements need to be made.

The problem?  I guess I made the back to big before starting the “cupping” part.  So I had to add a few extra rows of the 15’s to keep it in there.  It is still a little loose, but better than my first attempt….

Okay, so back to the green cat’s eye.

See this one I did my version of a peyote stitch with 15’s.  I don’t have the little pointy parts like the last one.  But that is because I didn’t use the component the pattern asked for.

Here are some more shots.

Okay, time to start my car for the morning commute.  It’s getting cold around these parts.

Have a great day everyone.

Thanks for stopping by.

C

I worked a little more on the necklace.

Here I have added the second color of scallops.  Boy I have to say that this first row was a little tiring on the hands.  Maybe it is because I’m not stretched out on an easy chair.  I think this had to do with sitting at a table, and making sure to keep the necklace’s weight on the table and not in my hands.  Residual carpel tunnel syndrome methinks.

Here is the second row starting.  This got to be way easier by this point.  I don’t know why those top rows were making my hands really numb.

Here is the second color in the second row.  This piece does start to lay more flat as you work in more beads.  The first row, and the first section was whirling around and not staying in place, but once I added that second color, everything started to drape correctly.

So working time on this one for me is about three to four hours so far.  No I don’t think I’m a fast beader, I have to take pauses to shake my hands alot when they start hurting.  Dang that carpel tunnel!

Thanks again for checking me out.

Don’t hesitate to send me a comment either.

C.

I have a few days off, so I’m trying to get some Christmas presents done.  I feel this is a great excuse to make something for people because I don’t “sell” my stuff, and it gives me an excuse to keep buying beads.  I mainly make my stuff for me, and to give away.

Though I am willing to make something for someone if they wanted to tell me what they wanted, the colors they would like, and length, etc.

But this is out of a recent past issue of Bead and Button Magazine.  A design by Kara Jacob called “Through and Through”.   The magazine called it a variation of netting, which I guess is what you call it.  It looks like it will drape like a netted collar anyway. Here is the beginnings of it.

The scallops are dangling from the wire base of strung beads.

I’m using Ming Beads from Fire Mountain.  I have some better beads, but I wanted to make sure I had enough in three corresponding colors.  So I figured this necklace would be find with the Mings on the first try of this necklace.

I find it interesting that a lot of the beaders that are getting published in Bead and Button have only been beading for five years or less.  I think that is amazing.  I’ve been doing it for about three years, and I certainly see my advancement grow.  Part of that has to do with continuing my lessons through these magazines.

Another source that I check out are some of the blogs written around the world.  If you can find some bloggers from Hungary, then start looking at their links it is truly insightful.  There are many many of these bloggers publishing pattern for bead construction.  But don’t let not knowing the language get to you.  I find that in the patterns they are using universal names and telling you what the size is….you don’t need to speak Hungarian to understand.  Plus there are translating applications that will translate some of these for you if you really want to know.

Keep in touch, thanks for stopping by

C

Well second to latest, I haven’t shot the second try of this.

It’s a fail.

But first try ever.

The back side.  I type of netting to hold it in the back.  The design called for a Rivoli, but I did not have that size.

Instead I used a flat back cabochon, but it didn’t stay round, I guess because of that five pointed star on the back and pulling tight.

Okay, So I tried it again with another flat back cabochon, this time with a spiral peyote stitch, and 15’s but I think that I made the “back” too big, as it seems kind of puffy before I started “cupping” the beads around the cabochon.  Pictures will follow later.

I have to work now,  So I will be shooting pictures later for the next post.

I am working on the Dahlia Flower that is in the current issue of Bead and Button.  The first cabochon I did was based on that design.  Though I failed as I used the wrong thing inside of the beaded bezel.

Talk to you later.

C

Lately my beading has been happening on Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday.  The early part of the week gives me a chance for some quality time with my husband and time for me to either exercise or rest. He works later on the later parts of the weeks, which gives me time to exercise, relax and bead!  But I’m in the midst of working on some Christmas presents for some of the folks I work with.  Hey Isn’t that why I do all this beading?

So Keep and Touch and I will post some more photos soon.  Oh Yeah, I have a few days off coming up, so I hope to ramp up my beading on those days as well….

See you later

C

Yep, actually a few days ago I finished.  I wanted to make the loop a little fancier, so I wasn’t quite finished with it till I added a couple of more rounds.  But here it is.

Of course silly me, I keep placing my photos on the very same spot where there is a scratch in my work surface.  It looks like a loose thread.

I used a large glass bead for the closure, and peyote stitch bevel.

The necklace is a double spiral rope comprised of a core of Czech glass pearls and assorted seed beads, as well as Czech glass bead mixture.

So what do you think?  Like it, or is it to violet? I guess I have a lot of beads that color.  Anyway, it measures at 15 inches, before the clasp, I think that added another two inches.  I think it will stay up high on the neck without choking the wearer-which was my goal.

So today I started this…..

This is an attempt at a beaded cabochon.  This here pattern is from the latest Bead and Button magazine.  This is the beaded Dahlia pattern by Melanie Colburn.  Of course this is just an attempt.  First of all I didn’t have the 18 mm Rivoli.  So I tried to substitute it with this cabochon, but it didn’t quite fit, as the cabochon is flat on the back.  Here are more photos.

This is the photo without the flash….I think this photo turned out better.

This is the back side.  Not the usual peyote backed bezel look, this was part of the interesting working that Melanie did in the magazine.  But of course, since I don’t have the pointy end of the Rivoli, it doesn’t fit right.

See all the pointy parts that are not supposed to be there…..plus I had to add about three extra rows of 15’s to keep the cabochon from falling out of the “cupped” portion.  So….back to the drawing board with this one.  This is my first attempt at working this sort of thing, so I have the idea down.   I think I will try the standard peyote backing since this is a perfectly flat cabochon and it will get a much tighter fit.

Anyway, Happy Beading!

See you next time.

C

Yep, I finished my necklace a few days ago, but just got around to taking photos and posting them.  Here they are.

So there it is.  Tah Dah!      How I worked this up is like this.  I did a peyote band, then hung the shell coins on the bottom.  Then I just took some assorted colors that went with the shell coins, and attached them spike style.  This one took a few hours, but believe it or not, I think I got the spiking done in about 6 hours total.  Probably about a 10-12 hour project for me.

Now to show you what I started two days ago.  First it is a double spiral rope.  This is from a design in Bead and Button Magazine by an artist named Alicia Shems.  You can go to Bead and Button and find this in their designs to download.  So I just started it on Thursday Night and I did some work to it just to get a good start for Friday night.  Here was my first hour of progress or so.

I just wanted to get my colors together, and try a little trial to see how it would go.  So for Friday, I think I added about 6 more inches to this one.  Total of about three hours after Friday.

Now that it is Saturday, I’ve finished about 11 inches of it.  A few more inches to go.  At this rate maybe I will be able to get some Christmas presents done after all.  This is only the second spiral rope that I have ever done.  I really like how they come together.  This is a little different version of it for sure.

As for now, I think I’m catching a cold.  I’ll see you guys later, and thanks for dropping in.

C

Just wanted you guys to see the necklace I’ve been working on.   I have been adding spikes to the peyote band of the shell coin necklace.  Here is my progression so far.

See 2/3 done, or is it 4/5ths.  Anyway, I am glad.  This necklace has been on my work table for a little too long.  But that is okay.  I’m loving how it is looking now though.

I just love this style of free form.  It works so well for me because I have so many random beads, and I love to put the colors together and just have fun with all sorts of beads.

Love those tight shots too.

See, my one loop didn’t work and the necklace was a little tight, so I added a couple of more loops to it.  Each time I added a loop though, I made sure to go through the loop several times, as many as would allow to firm it up, and keep it as strong as possible.

And here is a couple of my earliest projects.

Obviously when I was still putting clasps on my bracelets.   Don’t do that anymore.  My hands can’t take it.

Plus, I was always getting the tension wrong on the ends, or exposing threads, or using too much thread that I couldn’t go through the path that I wanted…..you all know.

And another one, using 4mm druk beads, right angle weave, and 8’s cylinders for the dangles.

And I put this cute vintage button on the end of this one.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by again folks.

We will show you the end results soon.  Hopefully later today.

Gotta go jog first though.  Beautiful day today!

C