Simply Seeds {Peyote Star Earrrings}

Yeah, I've been on an earrings making spree this week whenever I've been feeling it. This time I made three pair of earrings from Beadwork Magazine, the June/July 2012 issue. I thought this design was so cute and yet so very simple. They are made with circular peyote stitch and the design is by Barbara Richard.

Also I'm going to add that this might be the very final post I make here on my blog before I go on vacation to Sweden. Me and my boyfriend are departing from Brussels next week, on Wednesday the 29th of August. We're going to be back the 7th of September, so there's most likely not going to be much posting, since I also decided not to take my laptop with me :)
My bf also got his hands on a camcorder last week, so I'm gonna have fun recording our trip and I might show some stuff, heh.
We're going to almost as far north you can get, and then we're going closer to the Norwegian border to look at the national park near Abisko together with my grandparents. My bf hasn't really seen the true nature of Sweden yet, the big woods and the high mountains as last time he was there we were at the north-eastern coast :)

If I don't post anything more this week, I'm wishing everyone a fabulous summer, even though it's almost over, I hope that everyone had a wonderful summer ♥

Bugle Core Earrings

Last week I bought a copy of Bead&Button Magazine, June 2012 issue 109 since I got recommended to get that magazine if I would want an easy tutorial about Bead Embroidery with Soutache braids.
While reading this wonderful magazine (I have to point out that this is the very first time I've gotten myself a copy of Bead&Button, cause of the simple reason that I haven't been able to find a way to purchase the magazine digitally.) I came across a really easy but also fabulous tutorials which incorporated 3mm bugle beads, 1.5mm cube beads, 11/0 cylinders, 15/0 seed beads and 4mm bicones, designed by Barbara Klann.
The techniques used are basically circular peyote and herringbone stitch.

Of course I had to try out this one, they looked so cute in the magazine and I got pretty eager in making my own interpretation of this design.
I decided to work with pretty dark color (can't blame me, that's me; me and dark colors, lol). The bugles I used are in a violet color and are by Miyuki. Now I didn't have any 1.5mm cubes but I had 1.8mm ones from Matsuno, so yeah... only one way to find out if those will work! They did work :3
For my dangle (the design by Barbara is a bit different) I used a cubic zircon tear-drop crystal in amethyst, and I also added a 4mm Swarovski bicone in the same jet color for the ones I used in the center of the piece.

My version of "Blue Star" bracelet.

Phew! It's been really, really warm over here for the past weeks. We've had over 40°C during this weekend, else it has ranged from 30-35°C, and inland like I live here in north-central Belgium, there is barely any wind, or no wind at all. So yeh, the weather hasn't really given much inspiration for many things, besides laying down and die, lol.
However, a couple of days ago I found this really cute and also free pattern which incorporates twin beads. I wanted to have a try just to take part of my mind away from this heat-wave.

The pattern can be found here. The pattern is pretty simple and uses twin beads and 11/0 seed beads and is worked in a circular peyote stitch.
For my version I went with some lighter pink shades, since I wanted to use up some of the very last bit of the twin beads in the pink pearly color that I have. Then I added some 11/0 seed beads by Miyuki in light rose pink and rose pink alabaster to kinda keep the shine.
To add something a little bit more personal, I made my own hook-clasp for this bracelet, and imo it looks kinda neat o lol.

Netted Bracelet

Yesterday I decided to play a bit with beaded netting. I wanted to create a simpler bracelet using this technique.
It's not really that hard, the most of the work actually is to do some mathematics, depending on whgat sort of netting you want. I stuck to the most basic one; three beads. Which meant that I had to pick up an amount of beads that are divisional by 4. The most simple way to be honest is just to pick up 4 beads at a time until you have the desired length you want, plus about 2.5cm (1"), and then add additional 3 beads again before you go back through the beads strung and begin on the netting.

Since fall is approaching I decided to work with red beads. The bracelet is in a transparent red color with an iris finish to 'em.
When the bracelet was done, before I'd attached the clasp I felt that it was a little bit too simple. I know, "less is more" as they say. But I got this feeling when I looked at it that is really needed something a little extra. So earlier today, I sat down and began to play around with circular netting, until I got this little rose like flower that I really like. And then it was just to measure where the center of the bracelet was, and then attach it :)

Bead Embroidery Earrings III

In one of my previous posts, I showcased a couple of cabochons and beads I've made with polymer clay, on a color line pattern.
I decided to take some time off from my main project to actually complete the pair of bead embroidery earrings I had planned for the tear drop cabochons I made. I'd actually already glued the cabochons to the foundation since I made them, lol. I though this was needed, heh.

I already had a plan for these cabochons, and the idea was to use white beads with different kind of surface finishes to them, to make the colorful cabochons "pop". In my own opinion, I think I succeeded and I'm very happy with the final result of them.
I bezelled the cabochon using peyote stitch, with 11/0 seed beads by Matsuno in opaque white with an AB finish. For the final rows of peyote I used 15/0 seed beads by Miyuki in white opal. Then to add some sparkle, I used 4mm firepolished Czech glass beads with an AB finish. The 3mm bugles I used are by Myuki with  a pearl effect finish on the surface.

Necklace: Dagr black/white

If you remember the post I made with my very first lariat necklace I've ever made, it was called Dagr, created with netting by using some Czech seed beads in a bead soup consisting of gold, silver and copper lined beads.
Well, I had a wish from a client in Sweden, and she liked the necklace, but she wanted it in different colors. She came with the wish of something in white, black and grey.

I set out to make a bead soup of these three colors, using different shades and finishes of 11/0 seed beads.
The colors I used in the soup are: opaque black, black matte, gunmetal matte, opaque white, opaque AB white, transparent frosted white, crystal silver lined, and pastel grey.
I actually like how the soup ended up looking and I have some left of it so I might use it for something else in the future; I was thinking free-form RAW, since I've been wanting to give it a try for quite some time now.

BTW - 1st of August

So this week I have a bead embroidery project in process that I wanted to share. This is how it looks so far, when I took the photo earlier today. Now, I'm a little bit further on it, heh.
This piece I'm showing here is one piece that I'm going to attach to a collar, which I'm going to do last. Reason to why I'm starting on the collar last is cause I need a bigger ultrasuede piece for the backing, as it is way to big for the standard size which is being sold in most beading stores, and I don't want to "PATCH" anything together, I just want one solid piece so the backside also looks perfect. I searched around Etsy some time ago after retailers on Ultrasuede and I finally found someone that just seemed awesome; Suedeshop. I bought two bigger pieces, one in my favorite backing color; Violine and one for this necklace I'm working on; Country Cream.

The feeling I wanted to reach in this piece is more of a baroque, Victorian kind of style. And I decided to incorporate a small cabochon which is a portrait of Marie Antoinette, since she's such a big style icon, representing that area. Me personally am not really a huge fan of a person that did what she did, which lead to her being decapitated, heh. Still, I choose to incorporate her into the peice :d

The center part is a heart shaped rose quartz cabochon, which I bezelled  using some 11/0 delicas and 15/0 seed beads. Then we have a 14mm Swarovski rose rivoli, which is surrounded by 4mm Swarovski pearls. Then I "painted" a feather to the left side of the rose quartz.

I'll probably post more updates as it progresses :)