Dragon scales

bobs and bits

During vacation I played with shapes.  I've still got to string some of these into a necklace.

little blossoms

stealth squares

Next up, I'm working on stitching a band of peyote to a metal cuff lined with leather.  I've never done this before and am a little worried about the execution.  Last night I glued the leather to the cuff (which I also made from a piece of brass) and stitched the peyote band to a piece of Lacey's Stiff Stuff.  Today I'm hoping to join the two pieces in a fashion that looks moderately professional.  I checked the web for directions and was horrified to find many said to glue the beadwork directly to the metal band.  Using glue (I used that E-6000 stuff and hate the smell) for the leather or ultrasuede backing is bad enough, but I could not bring myself to smear glue all over my sweet little Delica band.

source

Do you know a great way to attach a peyote (I know the above is loom woven) strip to a metal cuff?  I read that there should be something in between the beads and the metal.  Give me a little advice if you have some experience with this.

Sleeping Babies

Coltrane and Mingus sleeping back to back

Mingus napping alone on the couch

and little later he curls into a strange ball

...while Coltrane stretches out on the floor.

Galaxy Beads

I guess February 2010 was a good month for beading magazines because the Bead & Button Feb 2010 also has at least three designs I stitched.  This issue was just about the time I started bead weaving and two of the very first pieces I made came from its pages.

my second piece - a cute Beth Stone herringbone bracelet

a Smadar Grossman design

But all the time I was going through the pages of this issue, I had my eye on the Galaxy Bead by Gill Slone.  It seemed impossibly complicated and so far past what I might ever be able to do.  This fall I thumbed through all my beading magazines and saw the pattern again.  And it didn't seem that complicated!  It appeared to be something I could do.  So I rolled out a couple of Galaxy Beads.

in sapphire and silver

in heliotrope, bronze, and pearly white

My continuing love affair with Beadwork Feb/March 2010

During the fall I made three bracelets from the Beadwork Feb/March 2010 issue.  My first was this piece by Lynn Davy , the next was this Carole Ohl Kaleidescope Quilt Cuff, and the third is a yet to be photographed brick stitch cuff by Rachel Nelson-Smith.

little peyote triangles

From these triangles I went on to the peyote squares in another Carole Ohl design, Camelot Cross.

the first colorway...

...and the second

I've got to give this a try using some stones instead of crystals.  I love making the super sparklies, but I really don't wear them as much as pieces made with more down to Earth materials.

Adiós 2011; Bienvenido 2012

I am ready to welcome in 2012 and bid farewell to a difficult year.  Below is one of the pieces I have finished, or almost finished, but never got around to writing about.  Many more are in need of photos, and I have developed quite a UFO box with bits of beadwork and twisted wire.  I have an array of peyote tubes wired with loops waiting to become a long necklace.  There is an entire garden of miniature flowers of every shape and size with any number of Russian leaves sprinkled among the blossoms.

Straight out of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding is one of my UFO's.  I've only beaded one earring so far.  I made both hoops from 20 gauge sterling wire.  I formed them on the largest part of a ring mandrel, then hammered with a rawhide mallet to harden.  I found a link through Mandy at Beads for Brains to a free Russian site which had the design on which I based this brick stitch monster.  Of course I can't find it at the moment.

a little scale: the blue bicones are 4mm

I love the golden 15/0 beads along the edge.  They are actually crystal lined dichro. They photograph a bit darker than they appear in person - to the eye they seem to be a softer golden tone.

 I did learn one very important detail: work both earrings at the same time - go row by row on each so they will actually match.  Right now I figure I have at least nine months to finish the second earring I probably won't need it until Twin Day during Spirit Week at school when the Spanish department is planning to all dress as Frida Kahlo.  Six Fridas (seven if the ASL teacher plays along, or eight if the guy who teaches Latin will also, but he is more of a Diego - LOL) roaming the halls.

Maybe it is my view of all the camellias in the yard flowering in every shade of pink, but I usually don't go all pastely as I have with these earrings.

  I have tried to think of resolutions for this new year, but what it comes down to is being free from pressure.  I need to allow myself to create whatever I want.  I tend to worry so much that I kill a piece or project before I've even begun.  Who cares if I make huge gypsy glam earrings and only ever wear them around the house!  What fun I will have vacuuming and washing the dishes all decked out in my jewels.  I made these because I had worked on a few brick stitch bracelet patterns and I wanted to try out the stitch in a different form and with larger beads mixed into the rows.  Mission accomplished.  Maybe I'm resolving to have fun free from editing.  Now that sounds like a worthy resolution.

Cold Connections: copper cuff

A cuff I made a few weeks ago in the Florida Society of Goldsmiths' beginning metals class - cold connections.  We learned to rivet and tube rivet.  The first class was an introduction to metals and we sawed, textured, and soldered.  The third class in the series is coming up in a few weeks and we will learn to basic bezel making.  The 1 1/2 drive to Tallahassee is always worth the trip.