Many times I have written about the soothing feeling beads have. That is why I made this beaded cube some time ago using peyote stitch. Peyote is very suitable for making 3D items because the sides ‘zip up’ easily. I filled it with cotton wool so it is soft and squeezable. It is a nice item to fiddle about with. And the six sides provide a good way to experiment with color combinations.
As I am living on a boat, I am very close to nature. Water, wind, tides and last but not least, night skies. Especially in this time of year, the night skies are quite spectacular. It is not strange that they influence my jewelry.
I found some very shiny golden beads. When I opened the box it appeared to be so called ‘nugget’ beads which I had not anticipated. Their lovely glimmer is only imminent when you look at them sideways, so that is how I used them in this bracelet. In this way they look like bright stars in a moonless night.
This design is a few years old now but I still like to do it in a different color combination at times. I love it because it is one of the few designs in which seeing the thread adds to the design. The round shapes look like wheels because of it.
This beaded bead I designed to put on a zip of a rather boring fleece jacket to pimp it up a little. But you could also use it as a pendant or make a pair and wear them as earrings.
Simple design with crackle beads this week because I did not have a lot of time.
Bracelet in R(ight) A(ngle) W(eave) with turquoise preciosa heartshaped glass beads sewed on. The hearts are actually darker in colour than they appear in the pictures. I tried everything on my camera to get the two blues right but I did not manage to capture them, alas.
My friends know about my bead addiction (it is hard to hide it!) and they sometimes bring me beads as a present when they have been abroad. Those are often beads that I would not choose myself. But the funny thing is that they inspire me to bead different things than I would normally do, which is great!
I named this necklace after the friend who brought me these tiny dagger beads. Thanks very much Sharon. And my darling niece Julia was willing to pose for this necklace.
And now, for something completely different……….. a chain maille (also spelled ‘mail’) bracelet! Chain maille is again (like most beading techniques) an ancient procedure that was supposedly invented by the Celts.
I was introduced to this technique by Zina, a Dutch beader and very crafty girl who has her own Youtube channel ( http://www.youtube.com/user/HoneyBeads1) to teach others how to bead. One of her tutorials was about some earrings which contained a little bit of chain maille. I tried it and was so intrigued that I went looking for more on the internet. This particular variety is called Byzantine chain maille. And here is my first attempt at it.
I combined the chain with two focal beads and the wire clasp I designed a couple of weeks ago.
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