Finally back into beading...

Even though I am still battling this dreaded cold I've now had for three weeks I have managed to get some beading done this week!

It feels wonderful to finally be beading again.

I had a day off work yesterday due to a public holiday and managed to get quite a bit done on my
Retro Daisies bracelet which is one of the projects for

Project 6 of Beading Babes.

The above bracelets aren't mine - just a reminder as to what the Retro Daisies bracelet looks like.

Mine has been stitched in my usual, predictable colours! 

I just need to make a few more daisies and then attach them to the bracelet base.

On the weekend I will make a start on the Ripple Effect cuff.

I already have my cabochon picked out so I just need to match it with some beads and I can get started.

Quite a few of the Beading Babes are currently working on their cuffs and doing an amazing job!

Pop on over to the Facebook page to check out their progress shots.

Speaking of the Beading Babes Facebook page, a big welcome to all of our new members.

The group is now 189 members strong and I am really looking forward to reveal day to see everyone's pieces.

Speaking of reveal day, just a reminder that the date is set for 

Sunday 2 September

Happy Beading!

♥

2012 Battle of the Beadsmith - my entry revealed!

Now that the first round of the 2012 Battle of the Beadsmith is under way

I can finally reveal my entry.

A Nomad's Journey 

The large metal focal piece as well as the metal charms at the bottom were actually from a necklace I bought specifically to pull apart for this piece.

I had already decided that I was going to use the main cabochon and the metal component underneath it so when I saw the necklace I knew I had to have it to deconstruct!

I've used brass beads, seed beads, lapis and coral beads and the cabochons are made by an Australian clay artist, Natalie Fletcher-Jones, at Peruzi.

Voting is now underway and although I am  not confident I will get past Round 1, I can't wait to see the results.

If you haven't already treated yourself to a visit to the Battle of the Beadsmith Facebook page then be sure to pop on over and take a look at all of the entries... a whopping 80 of them!

Just click here and you will see that the photos are organised into "battles".

Enjoy!

Happy beading!

♥

2012 Battle of the Beadsmith - DONE!!

I finally managed to get my Battle of the Beadsmith piece finished, photographed and emailed for entry with 2 days remaining!

What a huge relief...I am still trying to figure out how I ended up being so organised getting my entry in with two days to spare!

Unfortunately we aren't allowed to share photos of our pieces yet, I think not until at least all of the 80 or more entries have been received, so to wet your appetite

here's a sneaky peek at my piece.

Don't get too excited though...there isn't a lot I can show you!

What I can share with you is:

1. The piece is called A Nomad's Journey

2. It features 3 handmade clay cabochons

3. It also has some brass components

4. And lots of seed beads!

~*~

A big thanks to Steven Weiss for pulling this competition together.

There is chitter chatter that there will be a competition in 2013 but for now I will reflect back on my groovy badge Steven created for me to promote the competition.

Happy beading!

♥

Vintage Dreams

This is a not so sneaky peek at my entry in the 

Fire Mountain Gems Jewelry Making Contest - Seed Beads. 

Introducing

Vintage Dreams 

This is quite a large collar measuring around 7 inches from top to bottom...quite an eye stopper!

Wish  me luck!

♥

Busy..busy...busy

Sorry I have been a bit absent over the past week or two.

Life in general as well as my creative side have been keeping me extra busy lately.

In addition to that I've been super busy at work.

Then add to that my birthday last week!

Here's an update on what I've been up to.

My Birthday

Tuesday 22 May was my birthday...yep another day older. 

Someone at work wished me happy birthday and then actually asked me how old I was turning.
I didn't mind and quite openly told them...I have always taken the attitude that you are as old as you feel. 

Some days I feel 39...some days I feel 59!

Can't say lately I've felt 19!

It's funny how the older you get the less people ask you how old you are.

It seems like it's an internationally known faux pas to ask someone their age the older they become.

Anyhoo apart from having to spend the day at work I had an enjoyable day.

I got a bottle of perfume I have wanted since December, Orange Sunset by Hugo Boss, and a gift voucher for a facial and massage...mmm!

I also got Heston Blumenthal's Fantastical Feasts cookbook.  

I can't say I know a huge lot about this guy other than he cooks some crazy food but my sister loves him so she bought me a copy lol!

~*~

Beading Babes 

My Beading Babes ~ Project 5 pieces are coming along. 

I had a bit of trouble finding some discs for the Nefertiti necklace until I realised I had some in my stash that just might work...and so far so good! 

They are slightly oval and a little larger than the required 14mm but they seem to be working and I have to say I am loving this pattern and design.

I've also received my 3mm beads for the Four Leaf Clover cuff and will be making a start on that this week.

The feedback on both designs has been fantastic and the buzz on the Beading Babes Facebook page has been great!

Keep up the great work guys!

~*~

2012 Battle of the Beadsmith 

I've actually started two pieces for my entry as I couldn't decide which design I preferred.

They are completely different colour schemes and overall designs. with a totally different feel to them
...like completely different!

If you haven't checked out the Battle of the Beadsmith Facebook page then check it out as all of the details of the competition are there as well as some serious bead eye candy from the participants.

Steven Weiss of Beadsmith has been having fun creating awesome badges for us featuring our work.

He turned a photo of my necklace

into 

this

How ridiculously cool is that!

Closing date for entries is 10th July so I need to get moving!

~*~

Fire Mountain Gems Jewelry Making Contest (Seed Beads)

I have also been frantically working on my entry for the Fire Mountain Gems seed bead contest.

I had always planned on creating a piece but then life kind of got it the way and I decided not to make anything.

I then received an email from Fire Mountain Gems reminding me of the competition and encouraging me to enter so the last 2 weeks have been spent creating a collar piece.

My little man was home sick today from school so I got to do some serious beading...probably around 6 hours worth so I am now nearly finished. 

I just now need to finish off the edging and then attach the necklace component and it's done!

I have to say I am pretty pleased with the final result considering I came up with the design and created the piece in around 2 weeks.

Nothing like a deadline to get your creative juices flowing!

Entries close 31st May so I still have a few days up my sleeve to make any necessary tweaks as one does at the last minute!

~*~

So that's what's been keeping me busy and blog free for the past few weeks.

How have you been keeping?

♥

Trying my hand at Soutache...

I've been admiring the art that is soutache for some time now.

One of my favourite artits who dabbles in this form of bead work is Miriam Shimon of CieloDesign.

I've always been intrigued by this type of beading, wondering how the pieces come together.

As I love bead embroidery I figured I would probably enjoy this too so am going to jump into the deep end and give it a go.

I found this great free tutorial at Lo Scrigno dei Gioielli so thought I'd use that as a how to guide.

My first fork in the road was what thread/braid to use.

As I am one that likes to do everything by the book I had to know what the correct braid was to use...down to how many mm's wide it is, what it's made of whether it be silk or cotton or any other fibre known to man and lastly where to buy it!

As you can see I got myself a lovely assortment of braids in a beautiful selection of colours.

I am thinking that braids can be nearly as addictive as beads as they come in an assortment of colours.

Next was to choose what cabochon I was going to use.

I wasn't sure whether it was going to be easiest to start with a larger cabochon, a simple oval one, whether one with edges would be easier...but in the end I couldn't go past this gorgeous cabochon I have had for some time now.

Not only do I adore this cab but the fact that it matched some of my braids I bought without any planning made it the perfect choice.

Now I just need to choose my beads to compliment this gorgeous cabochon...and then I can get started!

Watch this space to see how my soutache pendant comes together!

The current issue of Bead & Button magazine also has a pair of soutache earrings which I am thinking of including as one of the pieces for Beading Babes ~ Project 5.

Can't be that hard right (famous last words)!

♥

My first bead embroidered cuff

This is my very first bead embroidered cuff, which you may have already seen in a few of my recent My Creative Space posts...
...but this time...finally finished!

Please click on images for more detailed view of the beadwork

I have used an Eagle Eye Agate cabochon as the centre piece and then some gorgeous 

Desert Picture Jasper tear drop and oval cabs adorned with a mixture of seed beads, cube beads, delicas, Czech glass beads and wooden beads.

I wore it on the weekend and it was so comfy to wear... the deer leather I backed it with is super soft.

I can't wait to make another cuff and as mentioned in a previous post, I've already purchased the cabs!

If you love bead embroidery haven't already treated yourself to a copy of Sherry Serafini's new book "Sensational Bead Embroidery" then I suggest you do so.
This book is full of bead embroidered eye candy and definitely an inspiration.
Thanks Sherry!
I hope I have done your book justice...

♥ 

My Creative Space

I've been working on this cuff for the past few weeks and finally it's starting to take form.

I've used an Eagle Eye Agate cabochon as the centre piece and then some gorgeous 

Desert Picture Jasper tear drop and oval cabs.

These cabs have such an earthy, dare I say, organic feel to them. 

I've used an assortment of seed beads including cube beads, delicas and wooden beads as well as some gorgeous tigers eye czech beads.

The decision I have to make now is whether to attach the piece to a metal cuff base or keep it as a softer bracelet style cuff.

This is my first attempt at a beaded cuff so not sure what the better option is but am leaning towards a softer cuff ...for the time being...until I play around with some cuff bases.

Don't you love the way the sparkle of the beads showed up in this out of focus shot I took...

♥

Eye of the Tiger

Firstly, please excuse the corny title.

I couldn't think of anything else remotely imaginative for a post relating to tigers eye!

This pendant is a piece I started some time ago and finally managed to finish.

The focal piece is a Marsha Neal ceramic cabochon and it is surrounded by tigers eye cabochons, tigers eye rounds and seed beads.

I was originally going to string the pendant on a beaded rope but decided the chain simplified the piece and drew more attention to the pendant itself.

I also beaded two tigers eye cabochons to match the cabs used in the pendant which I was originally going to turn into earrings but I decided a ring was in order instead.

I have never created a beaded cabochon ring so am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Only problem area was that I didn't have the right kind of ring base so I ended up having to sew the cab to the base which was quite difficult so will remember this for next time!

I've also learnt that a hand model I am not!

♥

Patience is a virtue... or so they say...

There are so many techniques I have been itching to try for such a long time.

But sadly every new technique takes money to set up and time to learn and I just don't have enough hours in my day to be learning all these new techniques in addition to doing the things I should be doing like keeping my house clean and sleeping which is apparently a necessity!

Oh how I wish there were more hours in the day!

A few years ago I did an evening class in making lampwork beads.

It was so much fun, although I did find that flame a bit scary at times.

I still have the beads I made. I don't show them to many people.

As bad as they were I figure they were still made by me which has always inspired me to give it another go.

I treated myself to a PMC (Precious Metal Clay) Hot Pot a few years back.

Would you believe I am still yet to use it?

Why?

Because I am too scared to use the clay in fear that my piece will turn out a disaster and that I will waste the precious clay.

Silly I know... how is one to learn if they don't have a go?

I love the look of wire, particularly antique copper.

During the Bead Soup Party I saw so many incredibly beautiful pieces created with copper wire.

I love the look of wire and seed beads which is something I would love to start incorporating into my seed bead pieces.

Only one problem.

Wire and me don't get along!

I am so uncoordinated when it comes to working with wire and tools.

I just find the whole process very fiddly and messy but a process I would like to master and soon!

A friend just told me "don't be too timid...the wire knows".

I think she's right!!

I'd love to start making my own sterling silver rings incorporating my own glass fused cabochons.

I have been admiring the work of Belinda who has just started out in this type of art.

She has taken to it like a fish to water and I am hoping I do too!

~~~~

Are there any new techniques you are just busting at the seams to try but have to put on the back burner for just a wee bit longer, because of time or perhaps money?

They tell me patience is a virtue but I don't know about that!

♥

This one's a keeper

Here is a bracelet I have been working on for a few weeks and which I recently shared a preview of in My Creative Space.

It's created using those very addictive Sparkly Wheels by Melinda Barta which you have been seeing a bit of lately.

I absolutely love the versatiliy of these wheels and the way they can look completely different depending on the colour combination you choose.

This time I have used gorgeous Tigers Eye and Picasso mix 3mm fire polished beads and size 15/0 seed beads as well as some round Tigers Eye beads.

I absolutely adore this colour combination and the Tigers Eye and Picasso mix beads have become a firm favourite of mine.

The cabochon is Tiger Iron (however it was sold to me as Tigers Eye) and has been beaded and backed with brown leather.

I normally back my pieces with Ultrasuede but lately I have been enjoying using leather. I think it gives the piece a  more professional look.

The leather I have used however is a bit thick so I had a bit of trouble getting the needle through but got there in the end!

I've just ordered a 1 pound bag of deer leather scraps which should be perfect for backing smaller sized cabochons. I've been told that this leather is super soft so I can't wait to use it.

I have to admit I have been wearing this nearly every day.

I think a necklace to match is in order.

Isn't it nice when you make yourself a piece that you adore.

♥