Bracelet: Tri-po

Finished another bracelet that I've been wanting to do for some time.
I've been wanting to use cube beads and use brick stitch, since I think those two are a great combination together.
So last week when my order of 20g of 4mm black opaque and 20g of 4mm red opaque AB cube beads arrived I decided on making this one.

Now, I were wondering a bit over the design on how to make it a bit more special, and then it hit me to make a set of different pyramid units and then stitch 'em together overlapping the space, so the bracelet still would follow a straight line.
I do remember that I've seen this particular design a bit here and there on the web, so, no it's not my original idea :)

For the clasp I decided on just adding a pair of 8mm black glass pearls on the top and the bottom of one side, and then on the opposite side a pair of loops where the glass pearls would fit into.

I must say that I like the retro sort of style this bracelet brings. And compared to using seed beads the cube beads really makes the bracelet stiff and also thick and also reminds of a cuff when wearing it.

Bookmark Finding

Yeh, I just couldn't resist to buy one of these cute bookmarks where you attach a bead or whatever to it. The price for the finding is really great and it also look pretty :)

I worked on these cute little shellfishes this weekend just cause of boredom :o
I really liked how this dark blue one turned out so when my bookmark finding arrived this morning I decided on attaching it together with a little heart bead that I randomly had received in a bead mix some time ago.

Isn't it just adorable? :)

Bracelet: Venus

Last night I managed to figure out what I wanted to do with some 12mm twisted bugle bead in amber with a frosted AB finish.
I managed to figure it out by playing around with some other beads, and some two toned 4mm czech glass beads that I ordered last week.
I thought the combination of amber looked so nice together with the two toned beads I wanted to make something with them.

I ended up making a bracelet using both right angle weave and ladder stitch and some fringing.
I know, it can look like the center parts of the bracelet is made separately but it's made with one single thread.
First I simply started out by picking up two 11/0, one bugle, two 11/0, one 4mm, two 11/0, one bugle, two 11/0 and one 4mm. Then I went back through the beads again until I ended my thread from the second bugle bead on the opposite side of where I first started. Here I picked up three 11/0's and began working my ladder stitch; I went back through the 11/0 I ended my thread from + one of the three 11/0's I just added. And so it progressed until I had a full stripe of two 11/0's, one bugle and two 11/0's. In total I worked my units so that I had 6 rows. Then I began fringing the unit and when that was done I began all over again so that I could make another unit :)

When I had the desired length of my bracelet I added a gold plated toggle clasp ^^;

Necklace: Amphitrite

I manage to complete the project I've been working with this week on Friday. I know, I know, I'm a bit slow at posting once in a while.

When I were browsing through Marcia DeCoster's book, "Beaded Opulence", I came across a project named "Etruscan Treasure" on page 61 that gave me the idea for this necklace. At least for the pendant itself.

I'm lacking in a lot of things when it comes to this book (the projects in the book calls for a lot of crystals etc.).

And as you can see I attached a paper bead in the chain, where I ended up writing my initials :)

I decided to use the idea of shaping metal wire into a shape that I would bead around later. The instructions in the book called for metal wire in 14gauge? which I don't have, so I decided on using the 20 gauge wire I have and make two identical shapes, and then wire them together with a 24gauge wire so the wire would keep its shape.

I used 11/0 seed beads to the entire piece in navy blue opaque and in bronze.
I also used a 14mm swarovski rivoli in saphire that I've been having laying around for some time. To attach the rivoli in the center I first made some peyote straps on the left and right side, which I embellished with some moonstone chips together with 15/0 bronze seed beads. To make the rivoli sit even sturdier I sew through the top and the bottom of the pendant with some seed beads to the rivoli.
I also embellished the center just above the bail with some seed beads and dagger and drop beads n bronze to personalize it more.

The chain I made with circular herringbone stitch.

This was a christmas present for my mother in law as well :)

Paper Beads!

I finally received my Diamond Glaze in the mailbox yesterday (actually I had to go to the post office to get the package, but wha-evah :P). I have been planning on making some paper beads since I saw some tutorials on YouTube and that's why I bought some Diamond Glaze :).
To those that doesn't know what Diamond Glaze is, it's a sort of glue that crystallizes the surface they are applied to. It can also be used for some book scrapping or whatever that includes paper. It can be replaced as resin if you want to cover up some pictures or photos in a jewelry setting, since when it's dry it also creates a dome effect.

The tutorials I first saw only showed how to make the beads, and not the strips so I were slightly confused and my brain doesn't really work at the moment with measuring and figuring out stuff where I have to calculate a bunch of shite, lol.
So later I came across this awesome tutorial that showed the whole process from a blank paper to the finish product.
The tutorial is made by "Beyond Bracelet" and can be accessed by clicking here.
She also show how to color the beads yourself if you want any specific color scheme for the paper beads.

For my very first paper beads I decided on recycling. Instead of using fresh white paper I snatched a commercial magazine we've received in the mail some time ago. Then I picked out a page where I liked the colors. My first paper beads ended up being about 2.5cm (1 inch).
After that I wanted to make some that would be smaller. Again I chose to work with the same magazine, I just chose a different page with a different color setting. These ended up being 1.5cm (15mm).

After those, I decided on experimenting a little. I took another commercial magazine, one that was thinner and measured out the size I wanted on the front cover. Then I cut straight through the whole thing. I let each stripe of this magazine still stick together since I wanted to try making some really thick paper beads from them.
The result ended up exactly as I wanted it, and I actually ended up making two of the same.


So what to make with paper beads?

I guess you can do some stringing necklaces or bracelet with 'em. I suppose that you'll also feel a bit awesome, specially if you're using old magazines or whatever that would normally go to the trash, since making paper beads is kinda recycling, lawl.
I decided on using the first beads for a simple RAW bracelet with a toggle clasp, crimps, 2 4mm bicones and some 9/0 seed beads. I tried using 11/0 seed beads at first, but the holes in the paper beads were too big and the beads would just end up inside of 'em.

With the two thick paper beads I made, I made a pair of earrings using some 4mm fire polished glass beads in Capri Blue above and below the paper bead since the head of the head-pin was too small.

Next thing I want to try is coloring my own beads from scratch, but I'll post that as soon as they are done, and when I have some more pretty daylight to work with for photos :)