Food themed bracelet fun

My inner child is an island girl who was kidnapped and brought to live in Michigan. Don't misunderstand me, I love my home and can't imagine living anywhere else, but Michigan's weather is all wrong this time of year. It is supposed to be warm. Tropical even. We are a peninsula surrounded by water, right?

Until Mother Nature rectifies this, I spend this time of year looking for ways to brighten spirits. The Busy Book was an involved project and the knitting on my needles is a somewhat involved pattern that I like but is progressing slowly. I needed something yesterday that would be completed in one sitting. What should I do?

Aha! On one of the trips to Joann's for Busy Book supplies I bought cards of beads on clearance. It was time to make bracelets! I'm sure these aren't appealing to everyone but I like color and I like whimsy...that inner child thing again.

Here is one about sea life. Sea horses and starfish aren't found in the water near me, but they could be once Michigan becomes tropical. I'm not holding my breath, but I do remain hopeful.

Despite my aversion to snow being on the ground, on top of houses and especially on top of car (my car! ), I think snowmen are cute. Add that I wear a lot of blue and you'll see why the snowmen beads needed to come home with me.

This card of beads has been in my craft room since before Christmas. I paid full price for them (gasp!) because the idea of coffee and donuts made me smile. Pink helped. I've been in a pink frame of mind lately, maybe to counterbalance gray skies?

And last we have fast food delight, burgers and dogs. I know the hotdogs don't show well in this photo but those somewhat oval things are dogs in buns. The red and yellow you see on them are ketchup and mustard.

Some women have what others may think is a surplus of shoes. Some might have a purse addiction. I have jewelry that dates back to when I was 16. Hmmm, does that make it vintage?

The sun has come out since I began writing this. Hubby has gone to an indoor driving range (he has spring fever too) and I see tulips and daffodils leaves have appeared overnight. If I had known making bracelets would have brought all this on, I would have made them weeks ago! Mother Nature must like fun bling too!

 



Turquoise necklace

A necklace in the April 2012 edition of Bead and Button Magazine was the inspiration for my new necklace. The original necklace and ordering info for the pattern if you can't locate that issue of the magazine is here. With concern that the turquoise stones that I used might become a bit heavy, and not knowing how they compared to the size briolettes mentioned in the pattern, I wove a two chain repeat between them. That and not using two different colored seed beads were my only variations.

Here are the components

A close up of the beading in progress

And the finished necklace on yours truly

Sorry that last photo is a bit grainy. I'm blaming hubster since I took the other shots and he isn't standing here reading that I am blaming him.

Most of my beading projects are simple line bracelets strung on beading wire. Those are made to satisfy an urge to put certain colors together and to have a quick project. Sometimes when I have a labor intensive project of another sort going on, making a bracelet or a greeting card is a big boost. This was a nice balance for me, more complicated than a line bracelet but not as detailed and time consuming as some projects I've undertaken as shown here.

Now that I have beading supplies put away, I have no excuse not to tackle a few sewing projects that shouldn't take long. Stay tuned! 

Three bracelets

Stringing simple beads for a bracelet is nothing challenging but sometimes I just need a quick project for instant gratification. Not to mention needing more bracelets.

* Ahem *

I think the pink one will stay as it is. The black and yellow one will be redone after I find something that I like better to go between the yellow beads and the round black ones. The small and medium crystals that are filling in currently to make the bracelet long enough to wear are black but just not "doing it" for me. I'll figure something out on my next trip to the bead store.

The bracelet on the lower left is a stretch bracelet made of felted balls with seed beads attached. These were sold as trim in packets at a craft store. I tried spacers between the balls but decided I liked this look best. It may not be worn often as I don't know how well it will hold up, but was very inexpensive and will be fun to wear when I go to my knitting group.

If a gal is going to have balls, they should be cute and colorful, don't you agree?

Did I just hear a gasp? A groan? C'mon people, surely you aren't surprised!

I must be a magpie

Another day in blogland, another confession. If you've read here awhile or know me personally what I am about to say isn't news. I like jewelry. I like fine jewelry. I like costume jewelry. I'd probably wear a necklace made of gum wrappers if I chewed gum. Does gum still come in those foldable wrappers?

In addition to liking shiny objects, it is said that magpies like to talk. I looked that up in a reference book and sure enough, my picture was there right by the definition.

Last night I had my jewelry pliers out to fix something. As long as they were out, I decided to go for some instant gratification and make a few bracelets. Many of the crafts I enjoy take days or weeks to complete. Once in a while it is nice to finish a project or two in one sitting.

First I made a sedate bracelet with Hematite rings with glass pearl-like beads inside and between them. Sometimes I don't want over the top sparkle. This bracelet will fit those times.

I haven't worn much purple in the past but I found that deep purple (the color, not the band) looks ok on me. I've been wanting a bracelet with green and blue in it, along with some purple. A simple linear bracelet isn't much of a design challenge, but I like this because I can stack it with a few others if that is the mood I'm in.

And lastly, we have full blown Magpie. This is the kind that will make Bill raise his eyebrows ever so slightly. After all these years I know he is thinking "you honestly like that???" but he is gracious enough to just smile and say "that's nice dear" while trying not to bite his tongue too hard.

With sewing waiting, two knitting projects barely begun and an ABC scrapbook in the planning stages with only a few images printed so far, making these bracelets scratched a creative itch. And they'll definitely up my bling factor.

Thinking over this magpie business, my sons are very lucky they were named for their father and grandfathers. They could have been Heckle and Jeckle!

Where would I be if not in a rush?

'Tis the season for hurrying and scurrying. I have a delusional feeling that I am somewhat on top of things, but only if things go smoothly. Any hiccup in a day's activities could set the dreaded domino effect in motion, but for the moment, things are going well. (I just jinxed myself, didn't I?)

I doubt I will around to blog until sometime next week. I feel a twinge of guilt because reading blogs and writing here does bring me joy, but a little time away isn't a life sentence. Many of you are caught up in frantic activities too and we'll all be able to kick back a bit and enjoy reading and posting more next month.

Before I disappear for a few days, I would like to share my recent jewelry creations. This bracelet is for a very good friend. If I said old friend, I would mean that the friendship is old, not that she and I are aging. Not one bit!
The earrings are for her daughter and daughter-in-law. The snowman pendant on the right is for me. It matches earrings I made last year.
There is a story behind the bracelet. It was sold as a kit at Mary Maxim's, a wonderful craft store in Port Huron, MI. They also have a store in Canada and have thriving catalog and internet sales (Mary Maxim online). I saw the bracelet, liked it, didn't examine it closely, and bought it all the while yakking away to my sister-in-law. When I pulled the kit out a few nights ago to assemble, I thought I had a simple bracelet of beads to strand on wire, a quick project.

Wrongo!

See this bead? There are three of them on the bracelet.
That is a pearl with six strands of tiny seed beads wrapped around it east-west, and then a strand a green seed beads circling the pearl north to south. This really isn't hard, but it is time consuming and round seed beads on a round pearl are slippery little suckers!

Seed beads are tiny which means the beading needle has a very small eye. Threading the needle can be the worst part of the project. This shows you how small the beads are, and the needle I find easiest to use. The eye is very long, the needle flexes to open, and it saves me a lot of grief.

It starts with 4 gold seed beads, one red, and 4 more gold on beading thread wrapping around the pearl. The spring-like device is holding the loose end of the thread.
One wrap made, another loaded on the needle.
The red and green beads are larger than the gold. It is partly a design function, and partly to make it easier to pass the needle through again when adding the green beads.
Six wraps made, now to wrap around the middle of the pearl.
The beading thread went back down through 4 of the gold and one red bead, then through a green one. The path through the remaining red beads alternated direction (up and down) and when finished, the thread worked back through 4 gold seed beads to meet the thread's other tail at one end.
Ready to knot. A tiny drop of glue or Fray Check seals the knot. After it is dry, the tails ends are cut. They should be cut carefully. Don't go through the thread actually holding the beads together as I did. For three beads, I strung these things four times.
I finished one bead at night. Tiredness was a factor in calling it quits after just one bead. The other two were completed much more quickly the next morning, even with clipping the wrong thread and rebeading one all over again.

I enjoy making these, but only when I am in the mood to do so. If I had to make them, it would make me twitchy.

As we close in on the last 10 days before Christmas, I hope none of you are getting twitchy. I hope your plans go smoothly and we all have wonderful holiday memories in the making. We may have to blog about them after the fact, but we'll have them nonetheless.

Peace to all...

Craft Tools: Beading

I have always loved jewelry. Doesn't matter whether it is made with precious gems, semi-precious stones, wood, clay or macaroni....I love it and probably have a few examples of it.

I wish I had a photo of my first bracelet. I was in grade school and already a fan of Carol Duvall. She was originally local to Detroit TV and had a brief segment on afternoon programming. With her as inspiration, I saved red pistachio shells, keeping them matched, and glued them onto fishing line. Because the red on the shells was a dye, it began to bleed with the glue (probably Elmer's) so I coated the shells with clear nail polish. I thought I was a genius, and quite fashionable, too.

A few years ago I revisited jewelry making, but I went a bit more upscale and took a class. That led to buying tools, beads, wires, beading thread and on and on.
The blue and beige rectangular mats are what I work on because a dropped bead stays put rather than rolling off the counter and going into hiding once it hits the floor. I sometimes empty a container of small beads into the blue tray because it has a funnel and stopper at one end, making it easy to put the beads back into a container. The tweezers on top of the tray have a ball shaped end to them, good for holding a single bead. The small blue box that is open is called Thread Heaven. It is a wax used to strengthen beading thread, shown in the flat spool within the bag behind the Thread Heaven. Behind that and to the right of the stand of tools is beading wire. I use that on most bracelets. The containers along the wall hold some of the beads I've acquired. The gray tray in the photo below is good for making a bracelet or necklace an exact length, and also good for symmetry if you are making a graduated necklace with a large motif or bead in the center and want to be sure of your pattern repeats on either side.
The two most basic tools are a wire cutter and a crimper. I've found my husband eyeballing my wire cutters but I remind him that these are MY tools, just as he reminds me of what is his if I nose around the garage.
If you look at stand of beads closely, you'll see a special bead at the end next to the clasp ends. If not covered by a decorative bead or cover, you will see a crimp bead. Originally barrel shaped, the crimp bead has the beading wire running through it east to west, through the clasp end, and back through the crimp bead again, this time west to east. The bead needs to be squeezed tight to hold the clasp onto the string of beads without the wire pulling out. The opening near the tip of the crimper tool is an oval. The next opening looks like a smiling mouth. Go ahead, use your imagination and look again. With the crimp bead in place on your bracelet, you use the smiling opening first by centering the crimp bead within the jaws of that smile and squeeze. Now the barrel shaped bead has trapped the wires but looks flattened. Give the wire a quarter turn and center the flattened bead in the oval opening, squeeze again and you will have rounded your bead again, somewhat anyway, and that part is done.

This bracelet was in Monday's post. It is a good example of a simple string of beads on beading wire with crimped ends at the clasp.
Still a simply strung bracelet, but with two strands held together every few bead lengths by a bar shaped bead designed for holding two strands together. The colors in this bracelet each are symbolic of a color designated for cancer awareness. Proceeds from this kit (bought at a local bead store) went to cancer research.
This next bracelet was done with beading thread rather than wire. To form the design, thread passed through each bead more than once. Tiny seed beads for the loop closure with a large crystal on the other end. This technique is called a right angle weave.
One of my favorite although time consuming things to do is Peyote stitch, another form of bead weaving. Here is a Santa bracelet in progress. See the white thread at the bottom? And a close up of Santa's face.

The finished bracelet always gets a lot of attention when I wear it. There are two types of white beads in his beard, two beiges in his face and two reds in his had, the better to catch to the light.

This is the same type of bead, called Delicas, in their tube. Now you know why that magnifier is among my beading tools. You can imagine what the needle looks like. It is so fine, it doesn't photograph well.

Occasionally I bead something other than jewelry. This was a project last year, a beaded ornament.

And lastly, tying yesterday's post to this one, a combination of knitting and beading, a scarf that was knit with beads strung onto the yarn.
Are you bedazzled now? Or just afraid to walk barefoot in my house lest you step on a bead or a needle? I always wear shoes or slippers and Bill has calloused feet. That might be the secret to our happy marriage!

Christmas jewelry

After being AWOL for a few Fridays, I am happy to be back with a few finished projects at week's end. Please click on the logo to the left to see who else is participating on Finished for Friday and what they've accomplished.

I've been busy the past few weeks and making progress on projects, but unable to post about them for various reasons. Two are gifts and I don't want to spoil the surprise as the intended recipients would surely guess my intention if they saw them.

A few weeks ago I bought beads to make Christmas earrings and a bracelet. Here is what I have done so far.

The snowmen are not glittered, but a very white silver bead that is textured. The hat is a small black crystal and two opposing black sequins. I have given them to someone already and hope I can find those beads in bulk to make more snowmen and try a few other ideas.

The stacked packages earrings did not photograph well at night against a surface. The color is off and nothing beats sunlight shining on a Swarovski crystal. This photo better shows the true colors of the cubed beads.

With the bracelet, I was hoping for a look of Christmas candy, the red and white swirled peppermints that are wrapped in cellophane that flares at each end of the candy.

I couldn't have them butted up to each other because the bracelet wouldn't flex and the idea of candies was lost. I use a clear bead inside the fluted one, a silver bead and the garnet disk for spacers, but still am not convinced that this is the look I want. I have six candy units in all, and I am going to try stringing them on a cord with either knots inside the fluted beads to keep them in place, or unobtrusive beads as spacers and turning them into a necklace.

Maybe that finished project will become another Finished for Friday!