Cube Love

I think it's about time for another post, just to show the bits and pieces I've been working on. First, my little contribution to this month's Moodboard at OTTBS. It was a little bit of a challenge; fall colors I have, but pink? PINK! My stash is oddly lacking in pinks, particularly pink seeds. After a bit of frustration, I found this big faceted glass round in pink and thought, "Okay, I can work with this." (Look at that giant chip in the bead! Luckily you can't really see it in real life.) I'd been meaning to do something round in herringbone, and this seemed to be a good opportunity to use lots of different colors in one piece. As for what this piece is... I have no idea. Perhaps it could be a pendant, or a very large flashy ring? Or perhaps it will sit in the box full of all the other little round doodads I've beaded, haha.

I wanted to do more with the moodboard colors, but that pink was just blocking me at every turn, so I said "Fuck it!" and turned to something not fall-like at all. This type of cube-y two drop peyote I'd attempted a number of times but kept failing miserably; then yesterday it just 'clicked'. Normally I find peyote a little tedious, but this one works up quickly and since it switches from cubes to seeds, there's a little variety. Oi, but it uses up thread fast! Ah well. I adore these cubes; I've had them for years, but really I just bought them because I liked how they looked in the tube. Finally, the tube of cubes happened to roll next to the tube of the opaque red seeds and I loved how they looked together. So, it kind of decided for me. I love when that happens.

So that's what's been going on with me recently. Instead of my usual gratuitous kitty photo, I'll leave you with this; a frog I found in, of all places, my toilet. Ha! (I scooped him up into a styrofoam cup and we took him outside.) Forgive the awful quality, but isn't he cute?

'Til Next Time!

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I Love Getting Mail!

Hello~

So my eagerly-awaited copy of Creative Beading Vol. 6 came in today, courtesy of the giveaway by Cyndi at Beading-Arts. I've been stalking the mail truck for days now, so imagine my delight when I came home from a doctor's appointment (with Taco Bell in tow), my husband presented me with a package that could be none other than my long-awaited treasure! I was surprised before I even opened the package, because it was clear by the weight and feel that the book was hardcover. Very nice!

After perusing every page of the book, I decided that I must create a project from it after I'm done with my first creation for the September Moodboard over at OTTBS (I think I'll finish it tomorrow; stay tuned for photos~) After much consideration, I decided to go with the "Do The Twist" bracelet (as shown at left), because A. I have the proper beads for it, and enough of them, and B. I have experience with twisted herringbone, so it isn't entirely intimidating. I'll have to look through my beads to decide on the color, but today I did pick up some gorgeous Toho hex beads in a sort of blue lined with copper with a sort of AB coating- yum! I bet I can find some firepolished rounds to go with them (I bet it'd work with rondelles, even- and I have way too many of those...)

So that's the news for the day; good stuff, I'd say! I'll leave you with Trinity, hugging my wrist tightly as she sleeps.

'Til Next Time!

Functional Peyote

So, my husband suggested I bead something more functional than jewelry; a case/cover for my electronic cigarette (a much healthier alternative to 'analog' cigarettes). I looked at my ecig and thought 'tubular peyote would do the trick nicely!' I'm proud of myself- while I love the look of peyote, I find stitching it to be quite monotonous and tedious. It just doesn't work up as fast as I'd like.




But for a long time I've been telling myself I need to practice decreasing circular peyote, and I'm quite proud of myself for this little project. I thought about copping out and not beading an end 'cap'; rather just leave the work as an open tube, but I made myself do something scary, and surprised myself with the result.

The spiral pattern with the silver-lined delicas took me a couple of tries to get started correctly, and luckily just happened to work perfectly with the eighteen-bead-long circle (if that makes any sense). It also created a nifty little spiral pattern on the bottom where the decreases are (which themselves form a soft, pleasing to the eye hexagon. I love hexagons).

Funny I went with blues- blue is not exactly my most favorite color (I like greens and oranges). But the dark blue delicas I picked up specifically because they're so pretty- you may not be able to tell, but they have a pretty iridescent iris effect). The teal delicas seemed like they'd be a nice compliment (and lord knows I have way too many of those beads; I NEED to use them up already). The silver just made sense.

Overall, I'd say it's a success! I'll leave you with Neo and Trinity as babies, chilling in the window.

'Til Next Time!

Umbrella!

Good morning! I wasn't planning on posting something this early, but when I saw this, I couldn't contain my excitement. I stumbled upon a german beading blog called Perlenfieber (which google translate tells me means 'bead fever') and immediately noticed this incredible beaded umbrella!

I'm in love!

Of course this means I'm going to have to try making one myself. Too bad I don't have any of those wonderful playful colors! Perhaps next time I make a sale, I'll have to go shopping. I'm relatively confident that I can pull something like this off. I just wish it was my idea; isn't it adorable?


'Til Next Time!

What Luck!

I was checking my email for a final time tonight, and I saw something from Cyndi at Beading-Arts.com; turns out, I won a giveaway being held there for a copy of Creative Beading Vol. 6! I'm so excited! It's so rare I win anything, I had to re-read the email a bunch of times, haha! Cyndi says she'll send it tomorrow- I can't wait to look inside!

That wasn't the only lucky thing today. I finally, after many, many tries over the past months, successfully made a peyote beaded bead! It's not particularly pretty, I just used beads I had on hand, and aside from a tiny bit of visible threads, I'd say it looks pretty damn good! It was exciting when I got to the end and saw that it really was going to come together.

In addition to that, I made one more ring inspired by this months Moodboard over at OTTBS. I'm kind of proud of this one- it's rather clever, I'd say! Go figure it's just a tiny bit too small for my fingers; now I can't wear it! Ah, well. It was fun thinking a bit unconventionally while I made it.

Overall, a pretty awesome day! I started working this evening on something I've never tried before: structural right angle weave. I'm going with a concept that's been done before, so it's not necessarily that creative an idea, but I'm just testing my ability for now. I'll post the results tomorrow when I've finished!

For now, here's Neo and Trinity holding hands (paws?)

'Til Next Time!

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to the first post of my blog! I've decided, after a week of ravenously browsing the web for as many beading blogs as I can find, that I'll dive in and give this blog thing a shot. I've been inspired, perhaps.

Since this is my first post, I figure I'd post what's been keeping me occupied currently. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of finding Operation Tackle That Bead Stash, a lovely blog with monthly 'Moodboards'; a collection of images featuring color combinations intended to inspire new beading creations, hopefully with the end result of using up some of the stash every beader inevitably has. This month's Moodboard had me very busy yesterday! Here you can see my boy Neo with my first creation inspired by it; an embellished right-angle-weave bracelet in purple, teal, and green (reminds me of a peacock!).

After the bracelet, I really got into the spirit of using up my stash with these two fun little rings. The one with the green band used up all of those green seeds I had left, save for just one! The tiny purple crystals surrounding the blue bead were also a good use of my stash- those six beads were the only ones of that type I had!

The other ring used up a good bit of my teal delicas- a good thing, since for some reason I have three tubes of those beads. (Why? I hardly ever use them! I guess I just really like the color.)

Overall, I'm surprised how much this month's Moodboard has inspired me; purple, green, and teal are generally not colors I like to see together (they seem almost too playful for my tastes), but I've come up with not one, but three different projects using them- and I'm not done yet! I plan on at least one more ring, this time with a purple band, using the tube of delicas you can see above.

I'm kind of glad I found Operation Tackle That Bead Stash when I did, at the end of the month. That means that a new Moodboard is right around the corner. I'm excited to see what it is!

Oh, and a final note: I highly recommend joining their Facebook group. I recieved a very warm welcome, and from what I can tell, it seems to be pretty active.

'Til Next Time!