Some bits and pieces

Before I show you a few bits and pieces I’ve made over the past week, I’d just like to wish everyone a very happy Yule/Christmas!

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Here’s what I’ve been up to bead-wise. This is another of my Fairground Attraction pendants, inspired by the phrase ‘Eye of the Storm’. I love watching those ‘freaky weather’ programs on TV and I remember someone once saying that they looked up once the first wave of the storm had passed and saw a circle of blue sky. Now I don’t know if this is true or not but I thought it would make a great pendant!

These type of earrings are very fashionable at the moment so I thought I’d make my own version using beaded beads. I love this first pair a lot, they’re made using Toho metallic silver seed beads and silver plated findings. These are for sale in my Etsy shop along with a tutorial to make your own beaded beads just like these.

And for these I’ve used my favourite shade of seed beads, metallic abalone iris. These are gorgeous and have a multi-coloured effect without being too gaudy. I used mostly matt beads and then did a couple of rows in the middle with shiny beads in the same colour. You can just about make out the little bit of shiny in the photo!  And I think the antique-gold plated chain goes nicely with these beads : ) These should be in my Etsy shop very soon.

Bat Your Lashes

Did you know that the Bumblebee Bat is the world’s smallest bat with a wingspan of only 6″, while the Flying Fox is the largest with up to a 6ft wingspan? The little beauties below are made from pewter and only have a 1″ wingspan! I wanted something between the bat and the earwire and after trying out various beads and colours I decided to go for some simple chain maille in Sterling Silver. Bat lovers can wear these all year round, they’re not just for Hallowe’en! They’ll be in my Etsy shop and on my website later on tonight : ) 

 

And talking of Hallowe’en, I’ve got a couple of freebie cross stitch designs to share with you today. One is a glowing pumpkin with bats and for those who love something a bit scarier there’s a design of the late great Brandon Lee as The Crow. This has to be stitched on black aida but the finished effect is amazing. I designed and stitched this for my sister several years ago and it still has pride of place on her wall!

>> Click here for the “Brandon Lee” chart <<

 

>> Click here for the “Happy Halloween” chart <<

Confiscated!

I made these earrings for one of the reader’s challenges in Bead magazine, where the theme is Outrageous Earrings. The name of the theme made me think of the collection of unusual earrings I had in the early 80’s, including minature globes, tiny Rubiks cubes and even plastic toilets! I remember wearing a pair of big white plastic triangles to school one day but the teacher quickly confiscated them : (

So as a tribute to my rebellious old earrings I decided to make something similar with seed beads. This is my first time peyote-ing triangle shapes and after several attempts I found that the trangle was still too small so I stitched together the three sizes I had made. Not quite the same as the original earrings but I love ‘em all the same. I hope you do too!

Florence and Arabella

Here are a couple of pairs of earrings that I made recently. The idea for these started when I was trying to design some woven bead caps using the bronze beads and herringbone stitch. But try as I might, I couldn’t get the last row to stay flat. In the end I decided that I really liked the frilled effect and made another pair!

Florence is bronze cylinder beads with green rutilated quartz. Arabella is made with size 15 metallic silver seed beads and gorgeous faceted black onyx.

Chips with everything

I’ve been very busy lately so I’ve not had time to post for a while! I’ve given my website a bit of a makeover, so rather than having all the info on one page each item now has it’s own little space with just sneaky thumbnails on the main pages. No more pop-up images! I’d love to know what you think.

 Here’s my latest batch of beady bits and bobs. I’m trying to use my vast collection of semi-precious gemstone chips in different ways, rather than just stringing them. I’m sure there must be tons of other ways to use them, ideas on a postcard please…..

Odessa is made from Citrine chips on a peyote base of Miyuki seed beads. I love this bead mix, it’s called A Touch of Teal.

 

Pan is Peridot chips on a peyote tube, topped and tailed with Swarovski crystals. It was meant to be one of a pair of earrings but it was so difficult getting my needle through the beads in the tube that I couldn’t bear to make another. So I made it into a pendant instead!

 

Last but not least is Katiyana, which is a square of matt black Toho beads in peyote stitch again with Snowflake Obsidian chips. This one is my favourite, you know how much I like black & grey so it was hard not to put it in my jewellery box! The name means ‘night snow’ in Inuit which I thought was not only appropriate for this piece but also a really pretty name.  All are available on my website ; )

Long time no post

Oh dear. So it’s true. There is such a thing as too much beading. See, I overdid it while I was recuperating last week and gave myself a right pain in the shoulder! So I decided to have a rest for a while and it’s getting better. I can’t survive without doing something crafty though, so I did some sketching instead. I’m quite pleased with my drawings but I always seem to leave them half finished so I’m reluctant to show them to the world at the moment! Instead, here’s some earrings I made last week…..