In Progress

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that I put an Etsy treasury together last week featuring freeform beadwork after being inspired by this cuff by The Jade Dog.

I'd never thought of embedding bezelled cabs so a big thankyou to the Jade Dog for that window into creativity!  Go check out her Etsy store.....some gorgeous work there.

So...I dug into my box of miscellaneous components and found the geode slice I'd already bezelled and that was the strating point for this wide freeform cuff I began late yesterday afternoon.  Once you have the basics bead weaving skills down freeform is truly fun to do.  One of my students, Selina, asked to be taught freeform in one of my Open Bead classes the other week and boy was she happy....no rules, no pattern to follow...she was off and running.

I totally encourage beaders to try this form of bead weaving as it truly brings out your creativity, stretches you to incorporate everything you've ever learned about beadweaving and gives you an original piece of art at the end.

Butterflies

As I'm teaching how to make a butterfly cane next month and until you get some practice in the cane tends to be on the large side I thought I'd show what you can actually do with them. This one will be a pendant style necklace when beads arrive to finish the St Pete's chain it will hanf from.

 Slices of the lower wing would make great earrings too.

I woke up with a foggy brain which I think started last night when I couldn't think of what I wanted to do next.   I started to make the Steampunk version of the dream cuff and then decided to redesign it....of course, that decision came AFTER I'd completed the base.  So I played around with beads to see if I could find another colorway I was happy with.  Then I started thinking about freeform, dug out some components from my "I love this, don't know what to do with it" box ....only to realise it was quite late and I was tired.

I feel foggy brained this morning and don't know where to start....probably tidying the studio would be a good idea, but what fun is that?  There are patterns to write and kits to pack, new designs in my head, things to finish, and I should probably list some more stuff  into my Etsy.

So...I need to just sit down with a nice iced coffee and make a list.

Ta Da!!!!!!

Here she is the bracelet dreamed up in the two hours sleep I had one night last week.  Artbeads had sent me these gorgeous jet Swarovski rounds and bicones on their blogger program and I'd been designing things to do with them....those designs got scrapped, well, put aside after the dream as they were perfect for this cuff.

The base is RAW, it then turns into tubular peyote and then into herringbone. Layered at different heights to give a slight curve.

Yes, that's a jumbo snap turned into a clasp....this one will NOT fall off!

It's quite chunky and rather sparkly...and hard to photograph!

The design does have another layer which I didn't use on this one as I rather liked the holes, but a future version will have all four layers.

This is an extremely versatile design with so many variations possible I doubt it will ever look the same twice.  There is a Steampunk version coming....so stay tuned.

Disclaimer: Artbeads sends me beads from time to time so I can show you and give my honest opinion on them. I am in no way reimbursed for that opinion.

I Want To Put A Hex On You!

In the nicest possible way of course :)

This is my Reversible Hexagonal Lozenge bracelet which will be a project in the August/September issue of Beadwork magazine.

I worked this one up in metallics, one side to wear with black the other side to wear with brown.....multi-functional!!  As you can see the hex is dimpled on one side and raised on the other so that the center pearl is embedded and won't interfere when you wear it pearl in.

I also made a mix up version in turquoise, random colors on one side, the three point swirl on the reverse.

If you follow me on Facebook you'll know I have an industrial freeform design swirling around in my brain right now....and the hex lozenge will probably make an appearance in that.  The metallic version just screams to be part of a machine.  I may be entering my industrial period!

Sisterhood of the Travelling Beads

OK....so I had the box of goodies in the trunk of my car and what I don't have in front of my face I tend to forget about. Shame on me!

I will say I did think about right as the Bead and Button show started and knowing Heather was going to be busy with that the thought went in and out of my brain quite quickly. And we won't mention the last six weeks have been full of major stress, illness, car problems, computor problems, printer problems....the depression problems create and the back log of work.

However....here we go....finally!!!!

Heather Powers of Humblebeads and Art Bead Scene put together this great box of goodies and had the idea they would travel from beader to beader, the beads being swapped out on each stop.

I had mentioned to Heather that it would be cool if the stash ends up back with her so she could have a turn too and she said she would then divide it up into prizes to give away.  How cool is that?

This is what we added, quite a bit more than we took but that's half the fun. Some of my polymer beads, some of my beaded beads, gemstones, Delicas, seed beads, glass beads and metal charms.

And this is what's left from Heather's original package including LOTS of Heather's Humblebeads.

So....now it's your chance to win the Travelling Beads. Just post a comment on my blog if you want a chance to win.  You pay postage and the beads come to you....you get to take what you want and replace it with some of your stash.

The Pros & Cons of Sleep

I don't know about anyone else but I have one of those design brains that doesn't have an OFF switch and to get any sleep at all I have to take the happy little pills that induce coma like sleep.   When I die and people ask how I'm sure the answer will be "her brain exploded", the result of running out of the happy pills.

I will typically have sketch books, notebooks and loose pieces of paper around me full of new designs that I haven't gotten to yet and those account for maybe 10% of what's in my head.   And they just don't stop coming.  The image that comes to mind is a "Lucy" episode where she was working in a chocolate factory and looses control of the conveyor belt.

So....I love having something to make me sleep and shut down my brain for a while.  However......sometimes it pays off forgetting to take one.  Thursday night was just such a case as my muse came up with the most amazing layered cuff design.  I was up yesterday morning at 4am rummaging through beads to make this new design that flows through a pallete of stitches in a way I didn't even know could be done.  It was actually worth only having two hours sleep!

I've never designed anything that is as versatile as this one.....it allows for so many variations that I'm sure I could make a hundred of them and not one be the same.  I can see if I did it a certain way it could be totally romantic, another way classic, yet another and it would be Goth, and it screams to be Steampunked.  Make it with two layers, three layers or four, or partial layers....

Yeah, yeah I know...I'm a tease!  Pictures will follow when I've worked a version or two up.  This is the first piece that makes me think it would be a great project and kit for the big Bead shows.

Obsessed with Flatwork

It certainly seems that way lately, and this is the latest off the beading bench. I call it Steel Wave, lots of matte metallics and a bit of shiny in my favorite color palette of black and shades thereof, silver and a teensy bit of red.

I was really happy with the buttons I found at Joanns, and on sale too, they even had the little bar in the center rather thann two holes.  This one is definitely on the industrial side.  This is one I'd love to keep.

Joanns have their 50% OFF buttons this week and I stocked up. I tend to buy buttons that inspire cuffs rather than the other way around, much less stress that way...not to mention time hunting for just the right button.   So yesterday afternoon I pulled out the new buttons and started designing, two buttons in and I had three designs, one being a new Carpetbagger.  I just need to restock my Delicas....I had such a great collection when I wasn't using them.