Venus in transit and other fun stuff

photo from
 www.space.com

So who saw Venus make her way across the sun yesterday?  While i can't claim to have watched this celestial phenomenon in its entirety, i did crush an exposed cannister of film, yanked the innards out, rushed upstairs to catch the sun before it set behind the trees, and actually spotted Venus on the face of ol' Sol.  Pretty freakin cool!  (i'm also proud of myself for having remembered in time!)

Back in bead land, stuff is still happening though, it seems (and it could be real) at a slower and slower pace.  I have been working on all the in-progress projects and am prepared to provide you with a pictorial update of a couple of them.

First, the kyanite necklace.  As you may remember, the consensus was to continue with links instead of beads and i had found some "mystery metal" beads to incorporate into the design.  Here's where we are with this project.  Quite time consuming to make each little link, i must say!  But lookin good, i think.

The next question is:  kyanite centered or off-centered?  The answer will determine where i place the clasp which will likely be a hammered hook and eye combo.  The final length will be about 18".





 


Then the beadpoint.  o.m.g.  This is gonna take a while.  In fact, this is probably gonna take so long that i will only. ever. in my lifetime. do this one project.  But what a project!  Check this out and tell me it's as cool as i think it is!

And, finally, i made another pair of earrings!!!  WOOT!  These are actually for my friend who had her 59th birthday last weekend.  Margie is one of the craziest people i know.  True to her own self.  Constantly in musical motion.  Party on, my friend!  And i hope to see you some day real soon!!






Supplies:
(2) small dyed magnesite peace signs
(2) 4mm Swarovski crystal beads - clear AB
(2) ball tip head pins

Thread 'em up and twist a loop at the top.  Peace!

earrings alert

It's Memorial Day weekend, Sunday to be specific, so i hope you are spending good quality time with family and friends and giving a moment's thought to the men and women who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy.

Update on the kyanite necklace.  The consensus vote was for hammered links and i have to agree but i'm not satisfied with just links.  It still needs substance and interest.  I'm thinking i want to stay with metal. I like the seeds.  They're just too small.

So we've had these mystery metal beads at the shop for some time.  You can see the strand in the top right corner.  I bought them from one of the itinerant African traders that waft through from time to time, always on their way to somewheres else.  They're not real elegant; the holes are kinda large and the seams are obvious but the color is good, and adding a bead to each link will sort of mimic the kyanite bead/link effect and give weight and interest to the links around the back of the necklace.

On the right side are three links using the metal beads and hammered effect.  On the other side is a hammered link with a metal bead and seed beads.  Dunno.  Not quite there.  But getting closer!

  

Annnnnnnnd i made a pair of earrings!  What a great day!  These are 10mm glass rings and 10mm silver jump rings attached to post earrings.  Light and swingy in fun colors!  Just right for summer and oh so easy!   Gotta love 'em.  Check back soon.  I'll have a photo of my progress on the beadpoint.  It is soooo coool!! 

kyanite continued

Well, we needed that rain but it sure let loose for a bit!  And we lost power at the shop.  And i voided a valid ticket.  <sigh>  But on the bright side!  Voyager Beads is in da bead house!  Through Saturday.

As for the kyanite necklace, i hauled it to the shop today to figure out a way to finish it.  I only need 8" or so of length and i don't want to get too tricky and take away from the kyanite beads.  I did find some pretty little tri-cut glass beads in the trunk show offerings that had potential.  No little kyanite rounds.  Nothing else.   hmmmm.  Then i remembered these brass seed beads.  These are little 11/0 round seeds that have been plated with brass.

Got some plated stringing wire - bronze - by SoftFlex and a couple of gold-filled crimp covers.  And this is where i am with it.

Which way should i finish this?  With the brass seeds as on the left?  And i'm thinking bring them all the way around the back of the neck to the beads on the right and crimp to a hammered hook that will hook into a link.

But i can't shake the idea that i should just go all the way around with hammered links, ending in a hammered hook.

What do you think?

beadpoint and more

We just got these in at the shop...Lucite flowers and leaves in complementary color combinations are too cute!  There are 60 pieces in each package.  (From the really nice folks at The Hole Bead Shoppe in Bartlesville OK) 

Anyways, onward.  I've been working fairly steadily on the beadpoint project and now have 6 entire rows completed!  woohoo!  .It's a s-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-w process.  And i'm limited to working during daylight hours because i can't see at night without cheaters AND the  handheld magnifying glass that comes with the OED (a teeny tiny print dictionary).  Total eyestrain.  But!  i can see the pattern beginning to emerge and i'll tell ya what it's pretty cool!  And i really like the frost opaque seeds for this project.  Just don't look too closely at the stitchwork.
eh. 

So while i'm waiting for daylight, i found these kyanite beads lying on my dresser amongst all the other beads and trinkets and dust. My first thought was to make earrings but that's so yesterday. (just kidding!) I picked out some 18ga NT brass wire and linked three or four of the beads with simple loops. That wasn't it. The brass and the gauge looked good with the kyanite but the loops were plain and uninspired. hmmm.

So i hammered them. Sweet! Now i just have to decide how to make this long enough for a necklace. I need about 8-10 inches. More hammered links? Seed beads? Small, like 4mm, kyanite rounds knotted on silk? Leather? wheeeee! the possibilities are ENDLESS!  Check back.  Maybe i'll finish this one!

yet another project

Remember these?
(just checking!)

So in order to break up the potentially boring row-by-row narration of the beadpoint project, here's another little something i've been working on for, oh, a while. 

These seven strands of button pearls came from the Gem and Mineral Show here in KCMO a couple of years ago.  They are a beautiful peacock color about the size of a half pea, in the 4-5mm range.  Button pearls are domed on one side and kind of flat on the bottom.  They are often half-drilled for use in earrings and pendants.  They can also be side drilled and strung for bracelets.
The strands i bought are drilled top to bottom so they "stack" when strung, with the flat bottom sitting on the domed top of the next pearl.

Anyways, my first idea was, naturally, the most difficult and time consuming:  knots.  omg.  Them are some little pearls!  And there are lots of them!  So i quickly backed off that idea, but, liking the drape that silk gives, i used silk cord and just strung the pearls.

In the photo you see the pearls and the card with the silk, but what the heck is that other stuff?  It's French wire, or bouillion.  It's tightly coiled wire that's used to protect the silk from abrading against the rings of whatever closure you are using.  You snip off a short piece maybe 3/8" or so, then run the needle through and.....hold on....isn't a picture worth 1K words? 

See the silvery stuff at the end of each strand?  French wire.  We did a repair wherein we reknotted three or four strands of a TIFFANY thankyouverymuch turquoise necklace and TIFFANY thankyouverymuch had used the French wire. 

I'll have to extend the length a bit so i'll attach chain or something from the ring to, most likely, a hook and eye clasp. 

That cute little finding that the pearls are attached to is a TierraCast piece.  TC makes really nice quality cast pewter findings, charms and beads in several finishes.  We carry a selection at the shop. 

That's all i've got for ya.  Thanks for stopping by!  You might check in again to see if i've actually finished anything!

butterflies and beads

And we're back.  First, for the earrings crowd.  The components for this pair were given by a friend from beads she scored ok bought at Bead Blast. For all her Tim Burton-inspired jewelry and art designs, at heart she likes butterflies and rainbows, too, i think.  This pair of Fanged Butterflies is dedicated to you, C.

Supplies:
(2) butterfly Czech glass beads with AB finish
(2) blood red Czech glass daggers, top drilled
22ga black copper core coated wire
ear wires

Because the daggers are top drilled, use a briolette wrap to secure them.  Continue to run the wire up through the butterfly beads and make a wrapped loop to end.  Attach to black oxide ear wires.  Wear after dark.


And now for an update on the beadpoint project.  Much like the Big Dig of Boston, this is a project that is filled with a lot of preparation, false starts, dead ends, and the dream of making the world a more beautiful place.

(left photo)  First step.  No, not first.  Should maybe have been first; fourth or fifth, actually, but who's counting?  The assembly of the floor stand is done.  I probably have the cloth backwards or upside down but i'm going to work with it like this.  And no way will i be able to see the pattern from that distance but i should be able to configure it so it sits closer, much closer.  Bead dishes will have to sit on a nearby table. 

(right photo)  Close up of beadpoint.  I restarted the design using white Nymo instead of the black.  MUCH harder to see the thread but it looks a lot better.  I've got one short row finished and am starting up the second row.  Neato!!!  No countdown of rows for this project.  We're just going to be happy with the emerging design.  As for needles, i'm using a #12 sharp at the moment but i'm going to try a #10 beading once i remember to pick some up at the shop.

Getting that first row was, um, challenging. Why is it that the first count yields 92 beads and subsequent counts yield fewer? Or more? I had to get that first row correct so the next rows will also be right.  geez.  eyestrain.

Kente cloth is a woven textile traditionally made by the Ashanti people of West Africa.  Its origins go back centuries.  More than just a pretty blanket, the strips of kente cloth are visual representations of cultural traditions and ideologies, and a tangible symbol of wealth and prestige.  For more information, visit the website of the Midwest Global Group

i love the colors! And the geometric designs appeal to my symmetrical bent.  Here's a list of the seeds i'm using for this project.  They are all Japanese seeds but you still have to cull the occasional oddly cut bead.  I started with full tubes (about 27gms/2900 beads-can that be right?) of each color.


11/0-F402A        white opaque frost

11/0-F401           black opaque frost

11/0-F399J        dark purple frost

11/0-F399H       dark blue frost

11/0-F143B        green transparent frost

11/0-F411         green opaque frost
11/0-F404         yellow opaque frost

11/0-F405         orange frost opaque

11/0-F408         red opaque frost


That's all for now.  Or, that's enough for now!  What's on your beading table?

well hello there

my it's been a long long time.  how'm i doin?  oh well i guess i'm doin fine.  it's been so long and now it seems that it was only yesterday.  ain't it funny?  how time slips away?

On the bright side!  i've had time to think about this here earring challenge and this here blog.  It's obviously obvious that i am not gonna meet the 365 Challenge and i'm okay with that.   <sigh>   We had it going on for a good little while! and it was great fun! and there will be more earrings!  But now, wander with us and let's see where the beading path leads.

One thing that has captured my beady attention is beadpoint.  Beadpoint is needlepoint with a bead on every stitch.  A little bead.  A little 11/0 seed bead.  A very little bead.  Little beads and little holes in the 14 count aida cloth.  Why am i doing this?

photo from TheStitchery.com

Because a friend gifted me with a needlepoint floor frame like that one in the photo here.  Beautiful oak with wooden knobs for all the adjustables.  I can't just let it sit there! but needlepoint is not my thing.  But beads are!  So i'll try beadpoint!  This'll be great!  And, you'd think, easy.  Got beads.  Aaaahhh.  Need pattern.  Need pattern that i like.  And that will work with beads.  aaaaahhh.  Took forever but i found something.  Got the cloth.  Prepared the cloth.  Attached it to the frame.  Hemmed.  Hawed.  Hemmed again.


And finally, tonight, i tried a line of beadpoint.

Took me long enough to do this one stretch that i estimate the project will take 232 hours.  Not counting any non-stitching time.  Just threading the needle will take countless hours.  Pulling out bad stitches will take countless more.

Anybody else really excited?

But it's sooooo cool!!!!!

However, i don't like the black nymo thread 'cause it darkens the beads which i thought would work but it doesn't.  So i'll be starting over with white nymo thread. <sigh>

And, yep.  That's the pattern to the right of the framed cloth.  92 by 116 beads.  Did i mention they are little beads?

I know.  Another big idea.  And we know how well i followed through with the last big idea, right?  But ima gonna start this because I CAN!!!  ha ha ha!  Hey.  i already have a second pattern.  And a plan to chop this first pattern into bite-size pieces if necessary.

Off we go!