Wardrobe Inspiration: Spring Crunch

I didn’t expect to have quite so much fun with the Pantone-inspired spring bead picks this week, but once I got going it was hard to stop. By removing the least inspiring color – Rose Quartz – I was left with 9 gorgeous colors to experiment with. Three color trios just weren’t enough! It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a fashion collage, and I always like to play with different jewelry styles to see how they’ll look in an ensemble. Pantone colors are one of my favorite inspirations for the Wear It Twice collage, which features one great statement necklace and two outfit options to showcase it with.

Spring Crunch by mortira featuring flower home decor

I decided to start the first palette with Green Flash, which I think had a lot more potential than just an aquatic-looking palette. I was really wishing for a more orange-y color to work with here, which I think would have made for an awesome tropical themed palette. Instead, I added Buttercup yellow and Lilac Gray for a rather crisp and fresh palette. This trio really brings to mind the first flowers of the season, as well as those first few shoots of wild grass and the subtle sunshine of spring.

The necklace I found is so delicious with loads of chunky yellow beads in a multistrand design. I also included some lovely leaf earrings and a super chunky lavender bangle. It was rather difficult to find garments and accessories that were close in hue to Green Flash. For the casual outfit I ended up subbing Buttercup for a pale crème yellow top. The green frock dress is definitely my favorite of the two, and would make a gorgeous backdrop for our necklace.

Multistrand necklace tutorials are always easy to find – the trick was choosing just a few to share this time! My favorite is a wonderfully chunky multistrand necklace by Restyle Restore Rejoice featuring multicolored stones. This one would be super easy to adapt to any palette that you like. The best feature is the variety of textures and shapes in the strands, which really brings out the beauty of the beads.

To get a look that’s a little more similar to our Buttercup necklace, this turquoise necklace project from Panda Hall is a great way to go. I love the suede cord straps and the easy seed-bead gather. You could also do this project with a spreader bar. I’d love to try it with some wood or tagua hoops to anchor the strands.

I wasn’t able to track down any faceted bangle tutorials, but I did find one amazing polymer clay project that would look gorgeous in our palette. This tutorial is by CW Art and is featured in the Craftster forums. The two-tone design is great for showcasing a favorite palette. I’m particularly fond of the striped embellishment!

For the leaf earrings, I found a wonderful embellished earring project on Fire Mountain Gems that uses leather scraps and an assortment of tiny beads. This design would be so easy to adapt for your tastes and stash. Just picture it in bright green with little aqua dew-drop crystals, or perhaps some lampwork ladybugs!

What’s your favorite color palette for spring or floral inspired projects?

Mortira

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Tutorial: Vintage Marble Pendant Project

I was recently screening beading videos for my Excellent Beading Tutorials Playlist when I spotted a thumbnail for a wrap bracelet project that I couldn’t resist. I was pleased to find that the tutorial itself was actually really excellent – one of the best I’ve seen – but it was really the materials that intrigued me. The instructor was using the most marvelous palette of multicolored glass rounds, and I found it instantly inspiring.

The mixture of opaque and transparent glass reminded me so much of vintage toys, especially those pictured in search-and-find books like I Spy. I wanted to capture those elements in a necklace, using little more than a handful of colorful druks. For this project you can use any found object or toy-themed focal that you like, such as a drilled die or domino tile. Since I didn’t have a suitable toy pendant, I made my own bead-covered bead with a classic rubber ball pattern.

For the druks I combined the most marble-like colors that I had including: opaque red, white, black, and yellow; transparent brown, purple, green, and blue. You’ll need about 48 druks. For the beadwork I used amber horn rondelles, lustered rootbeer 8/o’s, and transparent medium topaz 11/o’s - all for a golden look to represent old clockwork toys, but any metallic-looking hue will do. Last but not least you’ll need some beading thread and a button of your choice.

1. Attach a stop bead to a comfortable length of thread, leaving a 10 inch tail. Pick up one 11/o, one 8/o, one rondelle, your focal, one rondelle, one 8/o, and, two 11/o. Add one 8/o, one 11/o, one druk, and seven 11/o.

2. Stitch up through the druk bead again, and gently pull snug to wrap the last seven beads around the outside of the druk. Pick up seven 11/o, and stitch up through the druk again to add a second loop of beads around the outside.

3. Pick up one 11/o, one 8/o, one 11/o, and one druk. Repeat step 2, and continue the pattern to add a total of six druks with double loops of seed beads.

4. Pick up one 11/o, one 8/o, four rondelles, one 8/o, one 11/o, and one druk. Repeat the druk pattern again, adding seed bead loops and rondelles until the strand reaches half of your desired necklace length, less one inch. Be sure to add at least one druk with loops at the end of your strand to make a secure finish, ending with an 8/o seed bead.

5. Pick up enough 11/o seed beads to make a loop for you button. Stitch back down through the last 8/o added, and through the following beads to exit from the bottom of the last druk added. Weave up through one of the seed bead loops and back into the clasp area. Pass through the clasp loop at least once to add strength, then weave any remaining thread into the chain and trim.

6. Remove the stop bead from step one, and pass up through the 8/o, rondelle, and focal bead. Weave the thread into the chain and trim.

7. Attach a stop bead to a new length of thread, leaving a 10 inch tail. Skipping the 11/o, stitch up through the bottom beads and the focal, and exit from the topmost 8/o. Repeat the steps above to add a second chain of druks and rondelles. You can make a mirrored pattern, or go freeform –either way looks great! Attach your button with a few seed beads at the end, then weave in all remain thread and trim.

Though the palette would be a little less gold, you could also make this necklace with stringing wire and crimps for a super fast gift project. A single strand design would also allow for a side-drilled pendant. If you're working with a found object that can't be drilled, you could give it a wire-wrapped a bail.

Do you have a favorite found object theme for jewelry?

Mortira

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Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading

Work in Progress: A Hint of Cobalt

This week I’m wrapping up a couple of pendant projects, including a new multistrand piece featuring a ceramic focal from the Blueberry Cove Beads Autumn collection. I love the earthy finish on the beads, and I wanted to dress it up with some similar hues and a splash of color. I couldn’t resist pairing up Autumn Tucson gold with cobalt blue. I think a little brown iris for the third strand will work nicely, and then I’m in the mood for a new herringbone fringe piece.

The shell pendant project turned out pretty well, though the glass daggers don't have quite the same impact as the baroque pearls I used in previous variations.

We haven’t yet finished our new embroidery pendant. Most of my beading gets done late at night, and I’m sorry to say that I keep forgetting to ask for the final two color choices on this one. I’m looking forward to an actual two-day weekend coming up, so hopefully I’ll be able to get some daytime beading in a finally finish this one.

What are you making right now?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
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Fall Jewelry Colors Part One

Although the colors that we associate with the seasons are very much ingrained, there can be subtle differences in our ideal palettes, influenced by anything from our childhood experiences to the region in which we live. So although we often think of oranges and yellows as traditional fall colors, it’s certainly not unusual to incorporate greens, purples, and even blues.

This year, the Pantone fall color line up for women’s fashion is definitely unconventional. There isn’t a trace of orange at all, and there is an abundance of red and magenta apparent in colors like Aurora, Sangria, Mauve Mist and color of the year, Radiant Orchid. Even the Royal Blue hides a tiny hint of pink. Compare it to the fall palette for 2010, which includes nearly a full rainbow of colors, and this mix looks a little jarring at first. But is it really so strange?

In a new seasonal collage series this month, I’m taking on the challenge of mixing Pantone picks into trios that look more traditional than the entire palette at a glance. When mixed in the right proportions, any colors can be made to create a certain look or mood, and I hope to do just that - making fall fashions work with all these pinks and purples. Each collage will feature a fabulous statement necklace as always, and a few choice accessories to help inspire great fall designs.

I decided to go with an easy color first, and started my experiment with Misted Yellow, which does look like autumn all on it’s own. After eliminating a few more obvious colors, and ensuring I had enough left over to make two more trios, I finished the palette with Radiant Orchid and Cognac. Then I set out to make purple look at home in October!

Octoberberry by mortira featuring watercolour paintings

Finding the right hues wasn’t an easy task. Misted Yellow was particularly tough to match without accidentally going too pastel or beige. Cognac’s soft and chocolaty look was difficult to uncover under mounds of rich leathers and orangey browns. Finally I had some pieces that I was happy with, including a gorgeous statement necklace with metallic purple chain that almost perfectly matches Radiant Orchid. The hints of yellow sealed the deal. Though it doesn’t match in the least, I still couldn’t resist includin a bright yellow bangle, with a dark amethyst druzy in the center.

To create some of these jewelry styles, check out these tutorials and inspiration projects!

1. DIY Woven Chain Collar Necklace by Honestly WTF

2. Mustard Flower Earrings Project by Beadaholique

3. Bracelet Thread Bracelet Tutorial by Operation Overhaul



4. Sweet Blackberry Collar Necklace Project by Fusion Beads

5. Purple Charisma Necklace Tutorial by Artbeads.com

6. Faux Amethyst Druzy Ring Project by Beadaholique

The purples don't quite match the radiance of this year's leading color, but you get the idea!

And for an extra dose of inspiration, these are my favorite Polyvore sets featuring some of today’s picks:

Cairo by rellenj featuring a black white dress

Venice by rellenj featuring purple home decor

What do you think of the new Pantone line up? Which colors say ‘fall’ the most?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading and Friends
Pantone and Bibhu Mohapatra
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The Ugly Stepsisters Necklace

Sometimes bad news can also be good news, if you look at it the right way. It’s always a bit amusing to ponder whether or not making it into the finals for the Ugly Necklace Contest would truly be a good thing. Perhaps it’s great to be incapable of making something truly hideous.

This year’s finalists were recently chosen, though they won’t be unveiled until later this fall. I had really hoped that my concoction would make it into the voting round this year, so I'm a little disappointed. It was definitely a thrill to learn that I made it into the first draft - a little farther than last time. I’ll need to go back to the drawing board and think of ways to layer on even more ugly for the next contest.

For the 2014 Ugly Necklace Contest, artists were asked to include two strands in their piece, along with at least 75% beads overall. This worked out really well for the design that I had started planning long before the new rules were announced. Keeping with my favorite practice of pouring a lot of my unfinished projects and leftover scraps into my Ugly Necklace entry, I decided to use a pair of beaded doll dresses that I had experimented with. I had a brief phase where I really wanted to make non-wearable beadwork, and I thought tiny clothes would be a fun place to start. The beadwork turned out great, but the dress designs definitely did not.

Since the dresses were so ugly to start with, I thought they’d make a great contribution to my entry. I also wanted to find a way to include as many of my leftover bead baggies as I could. After so many years of beading, I had a huge collection of them. What better way to use them up?

I thought Ugly Stepsisters would make a great name for my necklace, so I reinforced and decorated the bead bags with magazine cut-outs of eyes, lips, and shoes to give it a Cinderella theme. Bringing that particular section together was a lot of work, especially stitching through it, but it was totally worth it. To complete the strands, I incorporated some herringbone rope, leftover bead mixes, recycled sari silk, cotton cord, and some of my least favorite beads.

Voting for the world’s ugliest necklace begins in early November, through December 15th, 2014. Check out Land of Odds to see previous winners, or learn more about entering a piece in the next International Ugly Necklace Contest. I promise you'll have a blast!

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Spring Jewelry Colors: Part One

One of the best things about changing seasons is the abundance of inspiration that comes along with it. With spring just around the corner, now is a great time to start planning fun summer jewelry designs and color palettes. Before too long, butterflies and flowers will be our muses again!

This year I want to try something a little different with jewelry and fashion collages inspired by the spring color picks from Pantone. I’m always really intrigued by the designers’ sketches using the signature colors for women’s fashion, and this time around I’ll be using them as a springboard for jewelry ensembles, rather than dividing the season’s palette into separate trios.

To start things off right, this week I’m working with a palette including the Color of the Year, Radiant Orchid. This trio and sketch was created by Jackie Fraser-Swan, and also includes 2014 colors Hemlock and Violet Tulip. I was instantly drawn to the print dress with hints of lime green, not to mention the challenge of blending these three colors together for two different outfits with the same jewels.

A gorgeous multistrand necklace is perfect for just about any outfit, and I couldn’t resist going with the Hemlock hues of green opal. I didn’t find a dress that was quite as stunning as Jackie’s, but the purple print crepe dress I came across was a great substitute. On the other side of the scale I chose jeans and a simple top with a really fun orchid jacket. It was difficult to locate pieces with the same dusty blue as Violet Tulip, and I found the palette was really calling out for more blues. A few splashes here and there really helped to ground the very airy greens and purples.

Spring Radiant by mortira featuring a chain necklace

Here are some fun jewelry tutorials to try for a similar look:

Pastel Braid Bracelet Tutorial by Into Mind

Tahitian Blue Café Romance Necklace Project by FusionBeads.com

Three Strand Stone Necklace by Crafts Unleashed

DIY Pastel Neon Crystal Bib Necklace by A Girl, A Style

Multilayer Spring Necklace Project by Runway Hippie

Timeless Turquoise Bracelet Tutorial by Artbeads.com

Swarovski Elements Butterfly Earrings by Fire Mountain Gems

And my favorite Polyvore collages featuring this week’s picks:

Demeter by taylorlovesmaggie featuring a nail polish

Untitled #7 by lfp97 featuring a crochet necklace

Something Quick For a Breezy Tuesday by arjanadesign featuring shirts & blouses

Are you getting ready for spring designs? Which colors do you turn to for pretty pastel jewelry?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
Pantone and Jackie Fraser-Swan
Collages Hosted by Polyvore.com
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Tropical Daisy Pendant

Sometimes the simplest things are best when you’re looking for something new to make. Simple palettes, simple stitches, and simple shapes. I’ve been in the mood to make a new multi-strand necklace in the same style as the chameleon pendant, with overlapped bead strands and beaded anchors. It wasn’t until I thought of making the multi-strand section with daisy chain that a real idea started to form.

I’ve also been looking for an opportunity to use up some nearly finished bead colors, and I thought a combination of blue and orange would also make the perfect base for some new natural beads I had. I combined my seed bead selections with a large and uncomplicated sono wood pendant, and lovely, rich brown Rudraksha seed prayer beads from Happy Mango Beads.

Although there are several different components that make up this necklace, they all stitched together quickly for a great instant gratification kind of piece. I’m especially thrilled with how well the Rudraksha beads look against the matte aqua druks - the contrast of colors and textures is gorgeous, and balanced by the round shapes.

It was definitely fun to go back to classic daisy chain, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it as part of a larger design again. This is one of those pieces that turned out exactly the way I pictured it - a little boho with a hint of cottage. It's the kind of necklace you wear when you're reading Jane Austen outdoors.

Do you have a favorite quick project or stitch?

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
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Wear It Twice: Winter Lava

Unless you happen to attend a lot of holiday parties, winter isn’t exactly the best time of year for statement jewelry. In colder climates, we spend so much of our dressed-up time in heavy coats and layered clothes, where large and bulky jewelry has no place to stand out. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t pretend!

For this month’s fashion collage, I decided to do a little fantasy dressing, by combining a big and colorful statement necklace with winter fashions in warm cream and red wine. The bright turquoise and lava bead multi-strand piece that I found was the perfect way to rebel against the cold! With some simple garments, sassy boots, and a lot of leather, the necklace looks right at home - like a ribbon on a Christmas package.

Winter Matte by mortira featuring a v neck vest

Whether in natural colors or brightly painted, lava beads add a lot of fun texture to a jewelry design. Here are some fun lava bead projects to try:

Bead Embroidered Lava Necklace by Beading Arts
Knotted Ceramic and Lava Bead Necklace Project by Vicki O'Dell
Crystal and Lava Bead Necklace Tutorial from About.com Jewelry Making
Volcanic Bloom Lava Necklace Project by Artbeads.com
Jurrasic Necklace by Beadaholique

If you can’t find lava beads at your usual bead shop, you can also make your own faux lava beads from polymer clay.

Here are my favorite Polyvore collages featuring this month’s picks:

Turquoise Eyes by marastyle featuring long cocktail dresses

Hot Stuff by rchmsj6 featuring john lewis

Black leather by marastyle featuring skinny leg jeans

Color Illusion art with fashion set by lindacaricofe featuring viva la diva

Do you have a favorite necklace style to wear in winter?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading and Friends
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Is This Thing On?

Have you ever looked at your work space and felt like you’ve just stumbled out of a weird dream, or come back from a long vacation, or that you just have no idea what’s going on? This is the feeling I get whenever I start a project that gets away from me. I start avoiding beads without even realizing it, until it seems like I’ve lost track of my talents. It’s a lot like that feeling that you’ve forgotten to do something really important, but can’t figure out what it is.

A while back, I started a new herringbone rope necklace, with the plan that it would gobble up all of my miscellaneous 11/o seed bead remainders. I mixed together all the reds, yellows, greens, and blues, and cut into one of my new black hanks. Everything was going great, and then I started to get a little bored. I started worrying about how exactly I was going to add one clasp to two ropes. Before I knew it, I was avoiding beading, and even planning blog posts left me feeling drained.

So, I decided it was time to take a rest from this project - refresh and restart my creativity. I pulled out my strand of wasabi green diamonds, and worked on a multi-strand necklace, similar to the one featured in this month’s fashion collages. I needed something funky for the backdrop, and I thought it would be refreshing to use up a whole lot of my very precious tortoiseshell druks.

I was still dragging my feet a little, feeling creatively drained, but the new necklace turned out great. I tried going back to the color blocked rope project, but I just didn’t feel it. I’ve decided to leave it on the tray for those middle of the night emergency beading situations, when I still have half a movie left to watch, and I don’t feel like digging out new beads when another project is finished. Eventually I’ll find the right mood and moment to finish it, but for now, I think I need to make a striped cuff or something really ‘me’.

I'm not sure what this could mean for the destash challenge. I only have a few months left, and the remaining beads have yet to inspire me. I'm determined to finish, but I have to find a way to make the beads work for me, instead of working against them.

Have you had any beading mishaps or creative slumps lately? What do you do to get past them?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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Jewels and Bugles

Have you ever had a finished project turn out even better than you had hoped? For my most recent destash piece, I wanted to tackle the huge amount of transparent crystal bugle beads in my stash. As usual, I didn’t want to attempt weaving with them, so a multi-strand piece was the most efficient way to use up a lot of them fast.

I added a few other elements from the destash tray, including the last remnants of my ruby red rice beads, and ruby red pinch bicones. I’ve also got quite a few nearly finished packets of hex cuts and cube beads, so I grabbed some pretty teal blue hexes. All I needed was some seed bead bumpers, and I thought I had just enough silver-lined topaz for the job.

I liked the palette, but it wasn’t until I started building the first strand that I realized just how pretty all of the beads looked together. Instead of stringing beads at random, I used a repeating pattern of 4 hexes for every ruby bead, and the results were beautiful. The more strands I made, the better they looked. And by the time I was finished, I only had a finger full of gold seed beads left, and most of them were wonky - perfect!

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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Wear It Twice: Blue Oasis

Have you ever felt like you were in your element? Or that you had found a great groove? As I write, there is a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead on my desk, and a new encyclopedia of the classic world, including a volume devoted to Ancient Egypt. Add these to the fact that I just finished Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid (highly recommended if you have school-aged kids), and I am in a fantastic mood for creating for the pharaohs. I want to surround myself with white linen, turquoise and lapis blues, and beautiful sandy browns.

I thought I would get this week started off with a fun Egyptian collage, and I scoured through some of my favorite items on Polyvore to create a cool desert oasis. I have so many amazing collar necklaces set aside, but the one that caught my eye today is a simple multi-strand lapis piece, made just across the Mediterranean from my favorite place.

Oasis by mortira featuring wooden jewelry

I couldn’t find any pleated linen pieces that I really liked, but I did find a gorgeous blue and white chiffon wrap dress with a beautiful asymmetrical shape. To this I added some beaded sandals, a peacock feather bangle, and a selection of pretty turquoise and sandy toned earrings.

For an everyday look, I started with an aqua blue pleated top and sandy brown slacks. A leopard print bangle and strappy heels give the bright blue top lots of room. For earrings, I included some simple silver hoops or dangly feather medallions. Each outfit needs a little something extra, so I added a beautiful print scarf from my favorites, and mini messenger bag.

The handmade and vintage variation has lots of beautiful blue beads:

And here are my favorite Polyvore sets featuring some of today’s picks:

359. I've always been pretty independent by valdete featuring a military style coat

Untitled #12 by dyankova featuring leather jewelry

Tree of Life by lalakay featuring steve madden boots

Meryl Streep by stylerocking009 featuring a short sleeve dress

Cleopatra for Ashley by xlaurenx featuring an onyx bangle

Where do you turn to boost your creative vibes?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading and Friends
Polyvore.com and Etsy.com
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