CRAW rope - Peach

I spent the last two days working on a cubic right angle weave rope.
I wanted to get some more practice working with CRAW so I decided on making an opera length necklace that you can fold in double around your neck, or make a know with... And other stuff, lol.

I decided on a pretty simple pattern when I made this. I wanted 10 units of CRAW and then a 6mm glass pearl in the same color.
The seed beads I used were 11/0's and in peach with a frosted AB finish, and I think this works as an advancement to flatter the 6mm glass pearls I added. It kinda makes 'em stick out a lot more then if I would have been using just peach opaque or transparent :)

I just managed to get a hold of these gorgeous glass pearls when I went to the craft store in the nearby city; they had a 50% discount on everything jewelry related that they had stuffed in a box. Of course I had to dig my hands in there... And I made some other treasuries then just these beads! :D

Wrapped Bracelet

Mhmmm...
I haven't been able to get my mind off of these wrapped bracelets for quite a while. I mean... They are all over the web, and have been at least since the beginning of last year - They probably been around longer but last year is when I began paying attention, lol!

I had this dark blue/grey cotton cord laying around since last spring and I decided to actually put it to some use, together with some blue roundel beads that I have been meaning to use for... Well, something.
That something happened to be a wrapped bracelet in the end, heh.

It wasn't really that hard to make once you got a hang of it. There are a lot of different tutorials out there, all you need to do is use Google. I didn't really use any specific tutorial for reference since I watched a few videos about it to see how people made them in their own way, although they are pretty much the same; all of the tutorials for this bracelet :)

CRAW Star

Okey, so I was bored, and I was too lazy to even bother about making a 3D beaded star using this tutorial that I found on how to make 'em.
The simple reason to that was that I had to create two separate stars using right angle weave and then stitch 'em together.
I had tried my hands on this last month and for some reason I screwed it up and some of the units on one the stars was way out of what it was supposed to be.
So I laid this project on ice...

Yesterday I began to ponder about the 3D beaded star again and I couldn't help but thinking how it would end up if I would use cubic right angle weave instead of simple, flat right angle weave. It ends up into a 3D shape when stitched together anyway, no?

And yarp! It worked, I have now I perfectly beaded 3D star hanging in a key-chain from my bag, lol.


It wasn't really enough with just the cubic right angle weave to get the star tho. When everything was stitched together the star was kinda loose and way too flexible. What I did to give it a more solid shape is that I added a few beads on each side of the outer sides.
I did the same for the inner edges, but I had to remove the beads again, as that made the star look too much like some sort of flower, and that was definitely not what I was trying to get, heh.

Handmade Polymer Clay Beads

I purchased one year of Bead Magazines iMag last week and it's been like christmas to be honest :D
Not only do I get to read the issues that are getting released this year, but I can even browser back and read ALL the previous issues as well! So awesome! :D

*cough* Anyway.
I read one of their back issues and saw this great article about polymer clay beads and how to keep their shape so they won't have that annoying flat edge they normally get if you just put them on the surface you stuff in the oven with the clay. Corn flour, was the answer! I decided to create two different types of polymer clay beads and then fill the plate I put 'em in with the corn flour. And heck, it worked! Now I have perfectly rounded beads :)

The first 6 beads I made are aprox. 14mm and I sat and slowly and carefully carved out the decoration pattern I wanted on 'em. When these were baked and had cooled down and hardened I added some acrylic silver color on them, which I smeared out, so it would fill the uneven parts, and the holes in the beads. I then wiped off the color with a napkin until the only thing of the color that remained was in those gaps and holes.

For my second type of beads, I actually used some left over clay from the bigger focal polymer clay bead I created by using a carving technique. I first made a cane of a base color, and then I used two other colors to layer them around it. I then carved away clay here and there so I would get all the way into the other color layers, to make them appear to the eye. I then shaped it into a cylinder and made a hole.
The smaller beads made with the left over clay are aprox 10mm, and the only thing I did with these was to measure them into equal sizes, using eye measurement and then roll them into balls.

I used varnished on all the piece from FIMO when I was satisfied with them, after they had cooled down and hardened :)

Choker: I Desire You

Phew!
After almost two weeks of work it is finally done :)

I created this choker especially for a contest on DeviantArt, hosted by Supernatural Art, Psycho Artist United and High Quality Art.
The contest is called "I wish you were here" and has a love/valentines theme around it. To access the contest directly for more information, click here.

I sketched the design for my piece out a couple of times before I decided how I wanted it. I already knew I wanted to have a bead embroidery heart as the focal for the entire piece. After already working on the heart for a while I decided that I should add two small pieces of St. Petersburg chain on each side, to connect to the heart.
The reason to why I chose a St. Petersburg chain is cause I find that it looks kinda romantic and dreamy in some sort of way, lol. That's the best way I can explain it *cough*.

I used a bunch of different beads, besides 11/0 and 15/0 seed beads for the heart; bicones, 4mm rounds, czech glass beads in different shapes.


In the design I had also drawn out some dangling bead strands that I would add. I wasn't sure before the basics of the piece were finished if I would add this. Altho, in the end I decided to add them, since it game more life to the choker and made it less... naked =P

As for the back and the attachment of the choker...
I added a chain, so it would be able to fit a lot of neck sizes :)
I used a lobster clasp, as well...
I decided to add a little Czech glass heart for weight in the chain.