Work in Progress: Quick Stitches

Working multiple projects at once is becoming the norm in my workspace. I seem to be constantly juggling different designs and working on quick projects in between photo days. Right now I’m putting together the project for our next Master Class lesson in circular peyote stitch. From there we’re going to look at a whole bunch of variations on tubular peyote before working our way back to more flat variations like odd count and freeform.

This weekend I didn’t quite have the energy to start a big side project, so I decided to go with something easy that I could make while tuning out to favorite flicks. Since I had just pulled out the packet I’d put together for an ankh pendant, I thought it would be nice to finally use it. The orange glass beads from Blueberry Cove’s Autumn bead box have been great. The finish is really doing all of the work for me.

What are you making right now?

Mortira

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Copyright 2016 Inspirational Beading

Geek Jewels: Donna Noble

The first design in my new challenge series was a quick project that I couldn’t wait to start. When I decided to start a new series inspired by my favorite nerdy themes, the very first inspiration that came to mind was my favorite Doctor Who companion, Donna Noble.

Donna was one of the toughest and funniest of all the ladies to travel with the Doctor. She was my favorite right from the start, and continued to be awesome right until the sad, irreversible end. Donna was incredibly stylish, and often rocked lovely gray and purple ensembles to compliment her ginger locks. It was this palette that I wanted to use for my inspiration, which would prove to be the biggest challenge. An overall design was easy to envision – most of her best outfits included a big pendant or opera length necklace.

I started by pulling out every single gray and purple bead that I had in my stash, just to see what my options were. While I was sorting, I spotted a recycled bottle glass pendant that I thought might come in handy. Sure enough, it was a perfect fit to outline a pretty gray shell butterfly. All I needed to do was add some chain.

I stitched up a quick St. Petersburge chain with white-lined black and purple-lined Rosaline, then suspended the bottle pendant from the chain, and the butterfly from the pendant. The double loop on the butterfly helps to keep the chains in place, and everything looks as sharp as the best temp in Chiswick.

So the first design in the new series is complete, and I’m pretty happy with the result. I have lots of other character inspired designs in mind, and I’m working on a list of some even more obvious inspirations that my fellow geeks should enjoy.

Are you a Whovian? Who’s your favorite companion?

Mortira

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Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading

Work in Progress: Colorblock Contrast

This week I’m working on a new fringe necklace, and I cannot wait to see how it will come out. I wanted to try the new shell pendants in my surprise pack from Blueberry Cove Beads; the shape and color is gorgeous, and the pendants are just the right size for really bold fringe. I pondered a few different palettes, but decided to go with a strong contrast in blue for the rope base.

As I was looking over my blue seed bead stash, I realized that I had several different shades of blue in opaque rainbow finish, so I thought it would be fun to combine them in an ombré type pattern. All I have to do now is decide on a color for the fringe strands!

The pendant that I was working on last week turned out kind of amazing. I love how the three chain colors work together, and how they highlight the finish of the ceramic focal. Unfortunately, I was so engrossed in what I was watching as I finished the necklace that I forgot to cap the strands with the second druk. (Thanks a lot, Cracked.com!) I think perhaps I’d better stick to watching movies I’ve already seen while working, just to be safe.

On the plus side, I was planning on keeping this piece for myself, so I’m not too worried about it. Nobody’s going to see the missing druk while I wear it!

What are you making right now?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
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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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Work in Progress: Ocean Pendant

Greetings to my fellow beaders after a much too long absence! My work schedule has been scrambled around quite a bit these past few weeks, and it’s has totally derailed all of my other schedules like sleeping, beading, and writing. I’m going to have to work out a new way of planning out my free time, but for now I’ll just have to play a little catch-up.

Although I didn’t have time to write anything special to celebrate the official release of Ancient Worlds Modern Beads today, I have been able to do a smidge of beading here and there. I’m almost finished a new spiral rope pendant featuring one of the carved bone shells that I added to my stash a while back. Originally, I was just going to go with a plain rope, but I found that the combination of colors made the rope look too naked, so I added some fringe beads and magatamas to bulk it up a bit. All that’s left is to construct the various components and then I can move on to something new!

What are you making right now?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
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Halloween Skull Pendant

I’ve made a bit of a tradition of whipping up a simple necklace to go with my Hallowe'en costumes each year - which gives me a chance to make a little something for myself, while trying out techniques or materials that I wouldn’t normally use. Last year’s rifle pendant is still my favorite, although I lost the necklace somewhere. I’m still pretty annoyed about that, but I made up for it a little by throwing together an old daisy chain with another toy gun just in case I’m in the mood to wear it.

This year’s necklace was quick and easy to stitch up, especially because I had just the right focal waiting, as luck would have it. Months ago we were set on going as The Doctor and Donna Noble from Doctor Who, but changed our minds. My son decided on Pinocchio from Shrek, leaving me with a tough choice to make. I toyed with a lot of different ideas, until I realized that all of them required wearing a skirt or dress. I was running out of time when one of my favorite YouTube channels, albinwonderland, posted a tutorial for skull makeup.

When I realized that I could just paint my face and wear whatever I wanted, everything else fell into place. I decided to go a little more scary than posh, and thought it would be easiest if I told people that I was going as a lich. That meant I needed a phylactery – a magical object to store one’s undead soul. And I just happened to have a Swarovski crystal skull hanging around to do the job.

I didn’t manage to get a good photo until the end of festivities, when most of my makeup was smudged, but I think it turned out great. We had a fantastic Hallowe'en, and now I’ve got another great necklace for my stash.

Do you like to dress up for Hallowe'en? What did you go as this year?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Vintage and Retro

My bead tray looks a bit chaotic this week. I’m just getting started on two new projects and wrapping up another all at the same time, breaking my one project at a time rule and then some. Now that school is out for summer we have a lot more time to ourselves here, so we’re finally getting a new embroidery pendant underway. Since I do most of my beading at night while my helper is sleeping, the pendants are built slowly over several days, making them perfect for nights when a project is done, but it’s too late to start something new. I was told very matter-of-factly that we would be using one of my new hieroglyph tab beads in the new pendant, so that’s where we’ve started.

I’ve also got a new full-project tutorial in the works, featuring some awesome neon seed beads and daggers from The Best Beads. The matte transparent finish is perfect for the neon colors. Like other transparent glass beads, they draw lots of light in, but the matte finish seems to hold it in place, giving the beads an intense electric glow.

I was able to try out some of my new Miyuki fringe beads in a secret project earlier in the week - although I chose them for the color rather than the shape, so for now I’ve only seen what they can do as ordinary drops. I’m hoping to incorporate them more thoroughly into some flat or tubular beadwork, which I think they’ll be perfect for.

What are you making this week?

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Work in Progress: Relaxing Rings

It is so good to be back! I was hit with a really wretched cold awhile back, and was couch bound for days. Even when I’m feeling up to it, I never do beadwork while sick, so I’ve fallen way behind on designs, posts, and everything else. Now that I'm back to normal, I've got my to-do list before me and I’m working on catching up.

Going back to work really knocked the wind out of me for a second week, so I’m taking it easy right now with some super easy beaded rings for my top secret project. The big reveal is just around the corner, and I can’t wait to share the news! Meanwhile, I’m up to my ears in projects.

On the last bead tray, which seems like years ago already, I was working on some new embroidery pendants. Although I haven’t yet had the time to finish stringing the new medallions, I did finish my second fish leather experiment, and it turned out great! I wanted to do something a little more special than just a simple sliding knot for this piece, which includes one of Kristal and Cynthia’s designer seed bead mixes from Artbeads.com, so I went with a spiral rope necklace instead. Check out the Bead & Button blog for my full 'review' and thoughts on fabulous fish leather.

What are you working on this week?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Medallion Pendant Collaboration

It’s time to reveal the secret behind my new line of bead embroidered pendants! So far this ongoing project has been one of my absolute favorites, and I hope to continue it for as long as I can. It all depends on my new beading partner.

Several weeks ago, I was reading an article about a mother-daughter art team that creates the most unusual and exciting sketches. First Mica Angela Hendricks takes some portrait inspiration from vintage photos. Then she lets her daughter fill in the rest of the picture with her limitless imagination. Mom adds a bit of color and an amazing work of art is born.

I loved the prints, but it was the collaboration that really caught my attention. I immediately wanted a piece of that creativity for myself. I turned the idea over and over, hoping to come up with an teamwork method that I could use with my own designs. Then I had it! Embroidered medallions are quick to make, and offer a design process that would allow me to involve my favorite munchkin without expecting him to work a needle.

He was really excited at first, and it only took a few seconds for him to make his first selections. We start with the focal bead, which he chooses from 3 or 4 options that I provide, rotating through my collection of coins and cabochons. Then he picks a felt color and the first round of seed beads. One by one he selects all of the following rows, and I keep on adding color until he tells me it’s done.

Not only has the project been a great way for us to do something together, but we’re both learning a lot. At his age, the names of colors are particularly interesting, and it’s fun to watch him catalogue them for future reference, then bring them out again when it’s time to choose the next round. Robin’s egg is a favorite right now.

For me, it’s been another experience in letting go, just like with the Ugly Necklace series. There have been a few times when I thought his color choices crazy, until they absolutely worked. I've learned to be a lot more trusting, and it’s awesome to be able to say to him “You made this, and it’s perfect!”.

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Many Medallions

This week I’m working on a variety of projects all at once, and they’re all a bit of a secret. If everything goes well I’ll be able to reveal some interesting new embroidered medallion pendants next week, and I can’t wait to show you how that experiment turned out. There's a special twist to the design, and I can't remember the last time I was so happy beading. More on that to come soon!

I’ve also got some test projects going, and those won’t be revealed for several months. It’s hard to keep a secret when it involves beads, but this one will definitely be worth it. I can tell you that the piece I’m testing this week includes a combination of several different stitches, and some lovely zebra pearls. I’ve been eager to use those for a long time now, and this piece was the perfect place for them.

What are you working on this week?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Ankh and Feather Pendant

No matter how much experience we have with our beads and color palettes, sometimes when a new design is started, we just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best. Even when the first few inches of beadwork look great, a finished piece can fall flat. Sometimes a sample that looks mediocre becomes an amazing design.

I was determined to use a dual palette of elemental colors with black and white accents for my Ma’at pendant, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t look so great in the finished design. I chose olive for earth, aqua for water, red for fire, and royal blue for water. They looked great together on the hanks with black and white for accents, but had yet to be proven in the design. Furthermore, the trouble with double St. Petersburg chain is that you have to wait quite a while before seeing how the final pattern will look. Whenever I have doubts, I usually start the second row of stitches after finishing the first thread, just be sure that everything will look alright. Even though I used this precaution with Ma’at’s necklace, I still wasn’t sure how I’d like it in the end.

Once both chains were connected and the bone ankh pendant was on, I was relieved to find that the palette and pattern were just as good as I had hoped. Ma’at is all about balance and harmony, and I like the way the colors enhance the feathery look of St. Petersburg chain, and play well with each other.

Finishing this necklace was a little tricky, because I didn’t factor in bead sizes when decided which color to start with. The olive green seed beads have tiny holes, and when it came time to zip the first rows together, I ended up having to switch to a size 13 needle just to get the job done. Luckily, I didn’t break a needle in the process!

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Rings and Pendants

Something rare is happening on the bead tray this week: multiple projects. I try to make a habit of finishing one design before starting the next, as difficult as it may be - unless a piece that I’m working on is incredibly tiresome and unlikely to have a satisfying end. Right now I’ve got a bit of an assembly line thing going.

First I have a new set of four medallion pendants. After gluing on the backing and setting them aside to dry, I got to work on a quick quartet of herringbone rings to pass the time. The pendants all have bead centers and some interesting color combinations. My favorite so far is the lime green with stripes, which looks so much like a caterpillar even my bead helper remarked on it. I’ll leave the final judgment until they’re all snipped and trimmed.

With my first ever craft show coming up at the end of this year, I’m hoping to build up a good supply of beaded rings to bring with me. Rather than spend weeks working at nothing but rings - which would interfere with the Egyptian gods challenge, barely on schedule as it is - I’m planning to make them in small batches along the way. I started by choosing some favorite colors and mixing and matching until I got combinations that I liked. Perhaps some new pattern ideas will immerge!

Last week’s ombre lariat is ready to go, and turned out fabulous. I can’t believe that I was so determined to have a continuous rope design - this is so much better.

What are you working on this week?

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
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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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How to Make Bird’s Nest Jewelry Tutorials

Perfect for spring, and ideal for Mother’s Day, there’s nothing quite like a beaded bird’s nest pendant. They are quite possibly the cutest things you can make with wire, and offer so many fun possibilities for personalizing jewelry. You can make them sentimental with Swarovski birthstones, pretty with pearls, and make realistic looking eggs with turquoise or Picasso finish glass.

Although a pendant is the most obvious place to put a little nest of bead eggs, they’re also great for earrings or bracelet charms. Larger versions of the wire wrapped bird’s nest can be made into brooches, and tiny nests make for sweet rings. Here are some fantastic tutorials for making your own bird’s nest jewelry.

A classic three-egg nest with a neat wrap,
by Sarah Ortega.





A more organic look with wire twists,
by Cathe Holden at Just Something I Made.





Even more fun, add a leaf for cute earrings in this tutorial from Artbeads.com.





If you prefer hooks to pliers, these bird's nest earrings
by Mrs. Micawber are made with crochet.






This neat and tidy bird's nest project from
This Lil Piglet lets the beads shine.





A perfect imitation of robin's eggs,
by Beadaholique.





The shape of the beads and number of wraps create a very realistic nest
in this tutorial from A Single Sunbeam.





Wider wraps and loose tension provide a more airy nest
in this pendant project from The Wired Tree.





This tutorial on Lisa's Craft Blog includes tips
for embellishing a pendant with charms, chain, or ribbon.

If you’re not into the simple pendant-and-chain look, or you want a little more challenge, these jewelry projects would make the perfect backdrop for a beaded bird’s nest or two.

Precious Petals Vintaj Earrings by FusionBeads.com.





Decoupage Bird Bracelet Tutorial by Retro Cafe Art Gallery.





Birds Fly Necklace Project
by AuntiesBeads.com.





Birds Nest Bracelet Tutorial
by HandmadeFashionJewellery.com.





And I couldn't resist including this adorable
upcycled bird's nest ring tutorial by SaltTree.

Have you tried the wire-wrapped bird's nest technique before? What’s your favorite type of bead to use in your nests?

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Bead Wish List: Donut Focals

I am a huge fan of chunky focal pendants, and the un-bead - beading components that don’t have (or need) a hole for stringing in the traditional sense. Although I don’t have much cause to use them in my designs, the donut is one of my favorite types of bead eye-candy. The smooth shape and unique beading possibilities make them incredibly appealing.

The donut pendant is a common shape for semi-precious stones, but you can find donuts in just about every bead material out there - from glass to resin. Here are some of my favorites:

Decoupage Wood Donut from Artbeads.com





Wooden Donut Rings from Hemp Beadery





Cobalt Czech Glass Donut from Fusionbeads.com





Greek Ceramic Donuts from Textures





Czech Glass Tiger Stripe Donut from Beadaholique





Aqua Freeform Resin Donuts from yukidesigns





Rusty Red Porcelain Donuts from Happy Mango Beads





Raku Copper Ceramic Donut from FabBeads





Murano Style Glass Donut from Auntie's Beads

Do you like to use donut pendants in your beadwork? What’s your favorite technique to pair them with? If you’re a fan of the DIY approach, you might like to try the hollow polymer clay donut tutorial from Fulgorine.

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Crocodile Tail Pendant

Following your creative instincts and creating new designs on the fly is a great way to stay productive and surprise yourself with new ideas. But planning out new projects in advance can pay off, too. I recently made a list of stitches that I had yet to share in the tutorials segment on Inspirational Beading, and as soon as I added Dutch spiral to the list, an idea started to form.

The combination of three bead types, and plenty of room for accents, seemed like the perfect place to start design inspired by the Egyptian crocodile god, Sobek. Although I’ve been sticking pretty close the the alphabet for the Egypt challenge so far, I couldn’t resist skipping ahead to get started on this necklace.

I decided to use some of my mother of pearl chips to represent crocodile teeth, with greens and some black lined topaz for a background. After a few inches of spiral, I decided I didn’t like the green iris and topaz together, so I switched out the brown for a soft cream instead. As I worked with the new palette, I also realized that it wasn’t going to be enough. A few sharp and curved shells would have the fearsome look I wanted, but it needed something more.

I took a look through some photos of real crocodiles, and a picture started to form - shells as scales. I got to work right away on a triangle pendant with embroidered shell chips, and everything fell into place. Sobek’s necklace turned out exactly as I had hoped. The shell fringe in the Dutch spiral has the toothy look that I wanted, the mix of greens and fish-belly white looks reptilian and scaly, and the pendant provides an anchor that helps it all to stand out.

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