Collections: Black and Red

Last week I showed some interesting mystery gems, and asked for some guesses as to what these strange red and black beads could be. There were lots of fantastic replies, but the debate goes on! Are they turquoise, jasper, magnesite, polymer clay?

Perhaps our giveaway winner, Alison B, will be able to tell once she has the whole set of mystery beads in hand. Congratulations to Alison for winning the draw, and thank you to everyone who stopped by to take an educated guess!

With all the fancy names for dyed and man made beads on the market, it’s hard to tell the true nature of a stone unless you’re willing to melt, cut or smash it. But the main thing is that beads should be beautiful, and the red and black mosaics fit the bill.

Here are my favorite handmade picks of the month, in gorgeous, sassy and trendy red and black:

I also had a look around one of my very favorite image communities, deviantART.com, and found these amazing works:

Red, Black, and White Doodle by ~Ithelda on deviantART


red and black by ~deardark on deviantART


Black and Red by ~Metalluz on deviantART

The simple and classic combination of colors is very inspiring - you can do whatever you want with beads in a small set of bold hues. Happy beading!

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
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Blue Ivory Lampwork Pendant

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to start trying new beads. Particularly unique beads, like handmade lampwork pieces. My goal is to try something new every month, and make something fun with these new treasures.

In January, I purchased three gorgeous pieces from Silver River Glass Works. I immediately fell in love with this gorgeous focal bead. The layers of ivory, and black, accented with cool blue are so pretty. I wanted to pair them up with some cute blue and green spacers, but when I saw the focal up close, plans changed.

I wanted to really highlight the simple palette of the pendant, and I thought that adding green into the mix would make things a little too busy. So I’m saving them for later - perhaps they’ll make a great bracelet. To go with the focal bead, I chose a palette of seed beads and fire polish in blue, black and light beige. The jet lined crystal seed beads fit it perfectly!

The dilemma with such a great focal piece, is deciding between an elaborate design that will do it justice, and a simple design that will let it stand out without becoming unaffordable. I eventually decided that simple was best, and added a twist to my new favorite pendant design.

Instead of adding just a single ring of seed beads around the fire polish accents, I went back for a second round, and caged the fire polish within four rows of beads. The results are so much different than the typical “reverse daisy chain”. I love the way the beads seem to orbit together.

Now to find just the right method for the blue and green spacers!

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
and Silver River Glass Works
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A Flicker of Inspiration: Crystals

If you put ten random people into a room, and asked them to define the word crystal, chances are you’d get ten different answers. If one of those people happens to be a beader, they would probably be thinking of crystal beads - maybe even the classic and versatile Swarovski bicone.

Today I thought it would be fun to look at the unique shapes and colors of natural crystal formations. These amazing structures are formed by natural elements under just the right conditions, and have long captured human imagination.

1. Cristalli di Ametista 1, 2. Pyromorphite cavern, 3. Caverns of Sonora,
4. Crystal King, Ohio Caverns, West Liberty, Ohio, 5. Blue Crystals,
6. Ice Crystals #3, 7. Crystal World 2, 8. Amerthyst geode, 9. formation...,
10. Crystal Formation - Smithsonian, 11. formations of organic materials,
12. Quartz Crystal Focus Stack 2, 13. Blue Crystal Formation

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading and Big Huge Labs
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A Bracelet a Week: Hot Chocolate with Tilas

The last few months of winter are so fickle. The weather frequently tempts us with sunny days and warm winds, then reminds us how much time there is before beach season comes again, with plummeting temperatures and flurries.

One of the best ways to chase away winter blues is with comfort foods. Not only are they usually a good way to warm up from within, but filling foods appease those hibernation instincts that make you want to pull a blanket over your head at the first sign of snow.

For this week’s bracelet, I wanted to capture the comfort of a big mug of hot chocolate, complete with swirls of cream and mini marshmallows. I think a hot drink with a big heart in it is an instant mood booster.

I was very excited to get a chance to try out some Tila seed beads from Artbeads.com, but I didn’t want to get too carried away at first. I convinced myself to keep it simple and try using them with techniques I like. So, I added some of these beauties to rows of herringbone weave in warm chocolately shades of brown and beige.

I used three shades of brown seed beads for the base - dark beige, terracotta, and red brown. Instead of using just white Tilas for the marshmallows, I also added some in dark beige, to match some of the creamy beadwork rows, and help all of the elements blend together.

The way the herringbone curves around the increases really captures the fancy cappuccino cream look I was going for. And I’m happy to report that Tilas are just as fun to work with as they look!

I would like to thank Artbeads.com for providing the beads used in this piece. Inspirational Beading has not received paid compensation for including Artbeads.com products or reviews in this blog post. I have shared my honest opinions about the products used in this design.

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
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Bead Giveaway: Mystery Gems

Sometimes things that we love as kids can carry over into adulthood. Remember goody bags? Sometimes you get them at birthday parties, or buy them in the candy section of a convenience store. And discovering what was inside was very exciting.

Now that I’m all grown up, I still get to experience that excitement once in awhile, with bead grab bags. I try to time my bead shopping so that I can take advantage of the grab bag sales at Auntie's Beads. There’s nothing like a combination of new beads and mystery beads to make getting the mail an uplifting event.

Because I’m so particular about the types of materials I use, it’s only inevitable that some of the goody bag beads will be out of my range. So what can I do with them but pass them on to some worthy beaders? My most recent grab bag was filled to the brim with all kinds of goodies in black and red, and they are so pretty. They deserve to be enjoyed!

There’s a lovely set of black and red acrylic beads,
and wire wrapped clasp hooks. These pieces were easy to identify,
but the rest are a bit of a mystery.



These two drilled stone focals are pretty,
but I can’t tell them from rocks.

A strand of black 6mm rounds could be onyx or black jade. I’m 99 per cent sure that the smaller rounds are coral. The third strand has me totally stumped. I couldn’t find any other stones like it. They could be a composite, or even polymer clay!

Win These Beads

Leave a comment with your best guess at the true identity of any of these mystery beads. I'm especially curious about the black and red strand, but take your best shot at any of these beads for a chance to win them all!

If you don’t have a Blogger profile with email enabled, be sure to leave a contact link in your comment - like a shop or website.

For an extra entry, leave another comment with a link to a blog post or Tweet you've made about this giveaway.

One lucky winner will be drawn at random on Friday February 18th.

Good luck!

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
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