The Crimson Moon

Things to do in 2012

TheCrimsonMoon — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:13:13 +0000

Ah, it’s that time again. When the year is almost over many of us start thinking about what we wanted to do this year but didn’t and what we’d like to do next year. I’m not really one for making big goals because it’s disappointing when things don’t go as planned so I would rather make small acheiveable goals. Note that these aren’t Resolutions. I don’t like using that word, it’s so…well…resolute! So, in no particular order, here is a list of things I would like to achieve in 2012…

1. Rock, Gem & Bead. First off, I really want to make it to the Rock, Gem ‘n’ Bead Show at Chepstow Racecourse in January. This was on my 2011 list, I did make it and had a fantastic time not only meandering through the beads but also meeting my wonderful beady friends!

2. Book Reviews. I’m committing myself to writing one book review for the Operation Tackle That Beadstash blog each month. With 34 beading books on my groaning shelf there’s no excuse really!

3. Bead Fantasies. Still with books, I want to try and make at least one thing from each of the four books in my set of Bead Fantasies. I’ve had these beautiful books for a few years and have never made any of the projects. But I have to admit, the instructions do look pretty difficult so I’m not beating myself up about never having delved right in. It will be a challenge.

4. Macrame. Yes another book. I bought Beaded Macrame Jewellery some time ago and really wanted to learn how to make the projects in the book but somehow I just haven’t got around to it. Such a shame as it would be a great way to use some of my orphan lampwork beads.

4. Orphan lampwork beads. I just have to find a way to start using these!

5. Redecoration. This year, sooner rather than later, I want to get my bedroom completely redecorated and reorganized; papered, painted, new carpet, curtains, desk, maybe a bigger wardrobe (to fit my beads and clothes in), the works. It feels very cluttered at the moment and as I do most of my beading in my boudoir, cluttered is not good for my creativity.

6. Organization. It’s no secret that one of the things I’m really bad at is being organized. I don’t really miss a lot of things but I’m always rushing around at the last minute keeping my fingers crossed that birthday gifts will arrive through the post in time, just making that appointment with a minute to spare, things like that. Must try harder!

7. Wasting Time. Kind of linked to number six, I really want to try and make more of my time. I seem to waste so much of it online to be perfectly honest, browsing around various websites and forums, clicking links to things that look interesting. Then I switch off the damn computer only to realise that I didn’t actually get around to doing what I switched it on for in the first place! I also get suckered in with ‘this will improve your Etsy shop’ etc. Actually I’ve already made a start on number 7, leaving a few groups and deleting some websites from my ‘regular haunts’ toolbar that are just a waste of my time. Time is precious and we should use it wisely. *snort*

8. Giveaways. Wow I’m on 8 already, congratulations if you’ve made it this far! I’d really like to start doing a monthly giveaway on my blog. This depends on me achieving numbers 6 & 7…

9. Stonehenge. The biggie (which I probably shouldn’t add to my list because I will be dissappointed if it doesn’t happen) is that I would love to visit Stonehenge. Being a Pagan, Stonehenge holds a special place in my heart and I’ve been completely fascinated by it since I was very young. It’s been my lifelong dream to visit it, which is crazy because it’s not that far away!

10. Etsy. Lastly, but not leastly, I want to fill my Etsy shop with lots of brand new goodies. I’ve already got some ideas of new things to bead so this one should be a doddle.

Now I can’t end the post without a picture of some sort so here’s a sneak preview of something I made recently for a group swap. I can’t show you the whole thing until we have the big reveal when everyone has received their swaps…

So that’s it, my last post for 2011. Wishing everyone love, health and happiness for 2012!

Happy Winter Solstice/Yule!

TheCrimsonMoon — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:00:14 +0000

Wishing you all a very happy Winter Solstic/Yule!

Stonehenge

“Yule is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were “wassailed” with toasts of spiced cider.”
- Yule Lore

Ocean Wave

TheCrimsonMoon — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:43:53 +0000

Sorting through my beads this week I came across a strand of these gorgeous turquoise beads that I totally forgot I had! They were a real treat as I won them in a giveaway but as they’re quite big and not the sort of beads I usually work with, I stored them away in a box to await that spark of inspiration. As soon as I saw them again I knew exactly what I wanted to do – with two of them at least ; )

I’ve combined them with some of my ‘Atom Beads’ which I’ve made from Japanese seed beads in a mix of blues and greens to match the wavy ovals. These are the smallest beaded beads I’ve made so far measuring 8mm in diameter and have a tiny 4mm core. They’re really quick to make but quite fiddly as you can probably imagine!

I’ve just popped these Ocean Wave earrings in my Etsy shop.

3 for 2 on all my tutorials!

TheCrimsonMoon — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:13:20 +0000

A quick post just to let you all know that all of the beadweaving tutorials in my Etsy shop are now permanently three for the price of two – purchase two tutorials and you can choose another one absolutely free! Here’s a quick look at all of the tutorials I have available at the moment, new tutorials will be coming in 2012 : )

I made it to the Front Page!

TheCrimsonMoon — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:38:42 +0000

No not the front page of the newspaper, the front page of Etsy! My winter’s heart pendant was featured in this treasury by KathysJewelryForYou and it is a wonderful wintery collection, I was delighted to hear that it had made the much coveted front page.

British Sellers on Etsy: Treasury Challenge 4

TheCrimsonMoon — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:55:48 +0000

This is my first attempt at the team treasury challenge and I had so much fun making this! Basically you’re given an inspiration item and you have to make a treasury around it. This time the item was this gorgeous felted bowl from TheFuzzyFeelingEtsy…

The pebbles in the photo and the blue of the bowl made me think of oceans and beaches so that’s the theme I went with. Don’t forget to drop by our team blog!

‘All Across The Ocean’ by TheCrimsonMoon

thatfuzzyfeeli… $6.50	FridayStudios $17.00	Puffafish $10.00	lorisworld $18.00
LaLaFelt $4.00	EarthLab $42.00	aprilisforever $13.00	SoundsLikeRain $30.00
LAccentNou $28.00	jonathanleeves $4.50	SarahSeaGlass $18.00	Nuresma $48.50
KathrynCrocker $15.00	doriwallace $8.50	seaurchin $5.00	ME2Designs $20.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Book Thongs & Treasuries

TheCrimsonMoon — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:19:09 +0000

This week I’ve stocked my Etsy shop with more book thongs including some brand new colours! Most of them are mini bookmarks, designed especially to fit paperbacks or small diaries and journals up to 8″ in height but if you spot a colour you like and would prefer a regular size just give me a shout : ) From just £2.00 each they make great stocking fillers!

I’ve also been having fun making treasuries on Etsy, here’s a few I made this week…

‘Purple Moonflowers’ by TheCrimsonMoon

CyberMoon $17.00	EmersonBindery $30.00	BlackDaisyDesi… $22.00	MissVioletLace $118.90
moaningminnie $39.50	ColorfulDesign… $14.95	Blythaholic $209.00	whimsyfunk $10.00
ButtonedArt $75.00	joanyg $40.00	owenlana $23.00	Raceytay $25.00
krystarka $6.00	susansheehan $28.00	sparksoffire $30.00	WeddingLab $39.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

‘Soft Green and Cream’ by TheCrimsonMoon

katrinshine $21.00	TutusChicBouti… $65.00	PrinceDesignUK $39.00	FirebirdJewell… $21.00
KnitFrekkles $78.00	fishandlotus $10.00	littlemisslool… $98.00	LoveFuzz $33.00
themagpiesdaug… $19.95	BiscuitScout $690.00	AlchemyLampwor… $10.00	Lori411 $29.00
DreamsFactory $45.00	buechertiger $12.00	BitsBeadsAndBu… $2.75	jjevensen $120.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

‘Raspberries And Chocolate With Lashings Of Cream’ by TheCrimsonMoon

HoneyBeeHolist… $6.75	Dianthusa $20.00	SweetlyScrappe… $3.25	thefinelime $30.00
CedarTreeFarmS… $10.00	Katiedidonline $8.00	franticaboutfr… $20.00	GardenOfBeads $10.00
thecardboardma… $28.00	SueGregor $70.00	JeannieMacaron… $15.00	CreazioniDelCe… $3.50
BigFish $7.00	MyissaG $50.00	bedbuggs $31.00	AmericanMadeJe… $20.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Lunar Eclipse

TheCrimsonMoon — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:59:01 +0000

Sometimes I really enjoy the process of photographing my work , especially if it’s a nice day with plenty of light. But sometimes it feels like the biggest chore in the world! In the Summer it’s great to be able to make something and photograph it the same evening. But in the Winter it’s a completely different story and around this time of year if I don’t get to that windowsill by about 2pm that’s my chance gone until sun up the next day.

I’ve been thinking of investing in a set of lights for some time so a couple of weeks ago I thought, what the hell, let’s go for it. Not wanting to spend too much I headed for Ebay and got a really good deal on a set. In all the excitement I didn’t check the measurements properly and so I had quite a surprise when my equipment arrived. The lights, currently taking up most of the space on my desk looking like something from War of The Worlds, are huge! But boy they are bright, perfect for showing up all the details in my beadwork and I’m really happy with them.

But the biggest surprise I had was when I opened the light tent – tent being the right word, I could practically go camping in it! It’s much too big for my tiny beading but not a disappointment as I only really wanted the lights anyway and the tent just came with them. I’m happy to stick a couple of pieces of greaseproof paper to them to filter the light, it actually works quite well. Folding the tent up again was a scream, I had to look on the internet to find out how and this was the best tutorial I found. Still a challenge but I got it in the end.

I’ve been really busy this week, packing up orders, working on commissions and trying to update the photos in my Etsy shop. But I have found time to make a new necklace. Lunar Eclipse is one of my Colossal beads in shades of red, on a length of black waxed cotton cord and you can find it here in my Etsy shop : )

Happy Hallowe’en/Samhain!

TheCrimsonMoon — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:24:47 +0000

Halloween by Jerry

Making a Bead Mix

TheCrimsonMoon — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:52:18 +0000

Seed bead mixes are one of my favourite things to work with, especially when I’m making a beaded bead! There are many fabulous bead mixes available from both Toho and Miyuki but I have to admit that really enjoy making my own. Today I’m making one of my Colossal beads and need a custom mix so I thought I would take this chance to show you how I go about making them.

First I decide on a colour way. More often than not this is just two colours but today I’m making a three colour mix. I start by selecting my colours, this one is going to match the October Moodboard challenge over on Operation Tackle That Bead Stash which is red, white and aqua.

Rather than just select three boxes of beads in those colours, which can end up looking too solid, I prefer to pick out maybe three of four shades of each colour to get a more blended effect. I also like to combine different bead finishes to give variation in texture and depth. In the mix below there are opaque, transparent, colour-lined, lustre, milky, matt and frosted beads. A couple of them also have an AB finish which adds a little touch of sparkle. You may notice that I haven’t added any silver-lined to this mix, this is because I didn’t want to make my bead look too sparkly. Silver-lined can be very overpowering so when I do include them, I use them sparingly.

Here’s a list of the actual colours I’ve used, in case you’re interested…

Top row: Milky Aqua, White Lined Aqua and Dark White Lined Aqua.

Middle row: Matt White, Lustre White, Transparent Rainbow Crystal ABand Frosted Transparent Crystal.

Bottom row: Transparent Darkest Red, Frosted Transparent Ruby, Opaque Pepper Red and Transparent Rainbow Raspberry AB.

As you can see in the photo above, I’ve tried to pour out the same amount of beads for each of the three colours as I want them to be evenly balanced. But sometimes I will want more of one colour than another, it depends on the effect I want to achieve.

Here’s the finished mix after being scooped into a grip seal bag which was sealed and shaken until the beads were evenly distributed…

And here’s the finished bead! I’ve just strung it simply on some waxed cotton cord. I wear one of these pretty much constantly, they’re great to ‘play’ with (if you’re like me and constantly play with your jewellery!) and the waxed cotton cord stands up to wear and tear really well. Peppermint can be found in my Etsy shop.