Tropical Neon Cuff

I’m spending my ‘weekend’ working on some crafty non-bead projects, so I just have a quick update for you today. If things work out, I’ll share the results of my experiment next week!

One thing that was bound to come up during the destash quest were those wonderfully abundant mother of pearl chips that we’ve seen time and time again. I’ve completely depleted the supply of square shaped beads that are suitable for neckwear, which leaves only a few options for working with these beads.

The cluster cuff that I made last time turned our really well, so I decided to give it another shot, and use up some forgotten seed beads at the same time. I combined neon orange with hot pink to start, which looked great together - and not much else. For just a hint of contrast, I had to part with a few white-lined aqua beads, which turned out just right.

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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Bead Color Ideas: Mockingjays

When I first began to look for common three-color palettes to explore in beads, I imagined that there would be plenty of inspirations to choose from. Neapolitan ice cream and ribbon candy were easy targets, but it wasn’t long before I had to choose larger palettes and split them up into groups of three. This month, I have a solid three-color palette for inspiration, and it might be one of my favorites to date.

If you’ve been anywhere near a television or computer in the past year or so, chances are you’ve heard of The Hunger Games, either as an upcoming film, or as a fantastic series of dystopian teen novels. When I first learned about the books by Suzanne Collins, there was already a lot of hype. All three books were on the market, and schools everywhere were putting The Hunger Games on reading lists. I decided to give it a shot, and ended up losing a lot of sleep, staying up all night to devour each book.

The books themselves offer an interesting palette of black, red and blue that would look fantastic in beads, so in anticipation of The Hunger Games movie release this week, I went looking for some matching trios. The red was quite difficult to imitate, because it’s actually an orangey tomato-red. Only one of the palettes I mixed comes really, really close, but they all look fun anyway.

First we have The Reaping - an all seed bead palette with three different finishes. The matte transparent ruby AB 11/o seed beads were one of my first picks, because their shimmer is so reminiscent of the cover of Catching Fire, even if the color is a little too pink. For some extra drama, I added noir lined aqua AB long magatamas - the shape gives a totally new look to lined seed beads. These intense colors are backed with simple opaque shiny jet black 8/o’s.

The sky blue shade of the Mockingjay cover was almost as difficult to match. For Panem, I started with some turquoise blue art nouveau coins that almost do the trick, and have just the right touch of mystery. Dark orange fiber optic cat eyes look wonderfully fiery against the matte black seed beads.

I couldn’t resist building around some red white-heart beads, which have an intensity that can’t be ignored. Tribute stands out from the rest with the addition of a Swarovski Elements cosmic triangle in jet black. A handful of pretty turquoise seed beads adds a soothing quality that ties the black and red together.

So it’s true that inspiration can come from anywhere, and unexpected color combinations can be made widely appealing through popular association. Have you ever used inspirations from fiction in your work?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
Suzanne Collins and Scholastic
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Bead Grab Bag Giveaway and Contest

This year’s beading challenge, to destash all of my not-new beads, is coming along really well, and has resulted in some fun new designs and inspirations. One of the purposes of this mission is to lighten the size of my bead stash, in preparation for a big move later this year. Even though I’ve also been doing more frequent giveaways, things are not going as quickly as I would like.

Recently, I went through all of my extra seed beads, broom beads, and assorted bits, and created some fun Czech and Chinese bead soups, and now I want to find new homes for them. There are six prize packs in all, each one with three helpings of bead soup, an assortment of findings, and cord or ribbon. Each winner will also receive two PDF beading tutorials of their choice.

With six winners, the one comment-one entry style of giveaway that we usually do just doesn’t seem that fun. Instead, we’re going to have a little contest with Pinterest!

How to Enter:

1. If you do not have a Pinterest account, you can request an invite, and create some boards to organize your pins.

2. Follow one or more of my pinboards so that you can "share" your entries. (You can stop following after the contest closes if you like.)

3. Pin any image from Inspirational Beading or The Sage’s Cupboard, and include the tags @Mortira #Beading in the description, so that I can find your entry. Every pin counts as an entry, and you can enter as many times as you like!

Six winners will be drawn and announced on Monday March 26th. The contest is open to readers from Canada and the US.

Pinning Tips

1. Before you start pinning, create some pinboards with different categories to help you organize your finds. Check out the Pinterest help guide for just a few pinboard ideas.

2. You do not have to download the Pinterest bookmarklet to enter this contest. On ArtFire, just look for the Pin It button to clip any image from a page. You can also find lots of previous pins from Inspirational Beading to use. Repins count as an entry, as long as you include @Mortira #Beading in the description.

3. Just for fun, here are some fantastic pinboards that you might like to follow:

Lampwork Beads pinned by Artbeads.com
Colour Palettes pinned by COLOURLovers.com
Cool Jewelry Displays pinned by FusionBeads.com

If you have any questions about the contest, leave a comment here or email InspirationalBeading@gmail.com.

Good luck, and happy pinning!

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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Favorite Techniques: Friendship Bracelets

Today my guest is Michele of Quiet Mischief - a fantastic two-artist team creating stunningly intricate and clever jewelry designs.

Inspirational Beading: What is your all time favorite beading or jewelry technique?

Michele: I make friendship bracelets, which may seem pretty simple. I mean, everyone's made friendship bracelets, right? You get a few threads, make overhand knots for a while, and you're done. But the truth is that there's a whole world of knotting that most people who make the bracelets never get to. My current favorite technique is the second one I learned: alpha knotting. It is most known for making it easy to write words in a friendship bracelet, but I like it more for the ease of making pictures.

Inspirational Beading: How do you first learn to use this technique?

Michele: I first learned about the alpha style from my mother, who is the source of most of my craftiness. She had taught me how to make friendship bracelets when I was little, and when I showed a renewed interest in my late teenage years she showed me the tutorial she had found on the internet on how to knot letters into a bracelet. Later, after trying to use the traditional knotting style to make a bracelet with a flower pattern, I returned to the alpha technique and found it to be much better at accomplishing what I wanted.

Inspirational Beading: Of all the creations you’ve made with this technique, which one is your favorite?

Michele: This is a tough choice, but I have to go with my (currently) most technically advanced bracelet: my American flag bracelet. I designed the whole thing myself, including a couple of new techniques to make it possible. It's as accurate as I can make it, down to the 13 stripes and 50 stars.

Inspirational Beading: Can you share any tips for getting started with this method?

Michele: First of all, I recommend already having some practice with the traditional friendship bracelet knotting technique. Inconsistent tension (some knots too tight, some knots too loose, few just right) will be much more obvious in an alpha bracelet, so it's best to get those problems out of the way beforehand. Once you're ready, start with simple letters or pictures and use only two colors until you're more comfortable with the technique.

Inspirational Beading: Do you have a favorite material or color to use it with?

Michele: Most people who do friendship bracelets stick with embroidery floss, other craft thread, or hemp. I have also tried knotting with yarn, ribbon, and leather cord. Leather cord is fun because it's so new to me and everyone else, and I love knotting ribbon chokers, but for alpha bracelets there's nothing like good old embroidery floss. I use DMC brand and appreciate the huge range of colors available to me.

Inspirational Beading: If someone had to choose to learn only one technique, would you recommend this one?

Michele: Probably not. As much fun and versatile as alpha knotting is, it's rather difficult to master and much more so if one doesn't have a foundation in the traditional knotting style.

Inspirational Beading: In your opinion, what is the best way for beginners to learn this technique?

Michele: One of my long-term goals for my craft and my business is to write my own friendship bracelet book. Until that comes out, this friendship bracelet tutorial is the most comprehensive I have yet seen, with pictures and videos to illustrate the step-by-step instructions.

You can see even more amazing micro-macramé, and delightful sculptural duct-tape jewelry at Quiet Mischief on Etsy and DeviantArt, plus stay in touch with artists Michele and Lissi on Facebook and Twitter. Michele also offers plenty of tips and insights into crafting and jewelry business on her blog, Quiet Mischief and Company.

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading and Quiet Mischief and Company
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Inspired by Birds

Earlier this week I took a little inspiration from peacock feathers, and had a blast with the beautiful colors and patterns. Today I thought it would be fun to take things a little further, and find some inspiring birds for spring.

How helpless we are, like netted birds, when we are caught by desire! by sandrayara featuring evening bags

birds by shonagon featuring black jewelry

What’s your favorite bird? Has it ever inspired a fun beading design?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading and Friends
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