Resin Bauble Slider Challenge

A few weeks ago, Lorelei Eurto found these awesome resin bauble sliders at Michaels.  They came in peach/purple (below) and aqua/teal.

Lorelei saw a great deal of potential in these little sliders and challenged her readers to see the same.

I was in the midst of my bead soup blog party projects, but an idea came right to mind and I had to join.  The kiddo and I took a quick trip to Michaels, grabbed a few packs of sliders and made it home in time to start dinner.

I wanted to make little beaded pom poms to sit around the sliders and gradually move out around the band of a bracelet.  Unfortunately, as it sometimes (well, usually) happens, my great idea didn't work as well as I thought it would.

I ended up going a different route and I am very pleased with the results.

I used two of the sliders together as a bracelet focal.

I'm a green and purple kind of girl, so when I grabbed purple and peach seed beads, I grabbed some light green pearls and teal seed beads as well.

I beaded the bracelet part of Marcia DeCoster's Rising Sun bracelet and attached the bands to the sliders

These sliders are incredibly light.  I was able to use fireline to attach the sliders to the woven band and it's very secure.  I would not have tried this with a heavy metal slider.

I love the look of Marcia's band with the sliders.  The bumps are a perfect fit with the little resin bubbles.  The band is a bit uneven because the first and last bubbles are not even.  You can't tell when you are wearing it, though.

The bumps look like little flowers, which makes me think of the bracelet as a small corsage.

(You can find more of Marcia's designs and kits on her website.  Marcia's first book, Beaded Opulence, is a great source for right angle weave projects -- every project is beautiful.  I am eagerly awaiting Marcia's second book, Beads in Motion.  If the cover is any indication, the projects in this book will all be show stoppers!)

I used the last slider as a necklace focal.

This came together on the spur of the moment.  I started looking for purple pearls and came across these peach ovals.

Later, I saw the purple pearls and Chinese crystals.  They all seemed to want to play together.

I restrung this necklace three or four times before I was happy with it.  Stringing, you see, is something I typically avoid.  I have a hard time deciding which beads to use or not use.  I am *much* more comfortable with my beloved seed beads.

That said, I think my frustrations were worth it.  I love how this necklace turned out.  I love the slider/seed bead focal.  I love the purple and peach (which I would never have put together on my own).

When I showed her the necklace, the kiddo looked at it with a critical eye, then ran upstairs and grabbed the extra sliders.  She said, "this will make it even more beee-u-ti-ful, mommy" and arranged the other sliders on the necklace.

I took a few pictures and came up with this the next day.

This is totally the kiddo's design.  I added the herringbone strips to connect the sliders.  Again, the sliders are so light that the small beaded links can keep them in place.

I finished the necklace with twisted herringbone ropes.

I like that the ropes mimic the curves on the focal.

I *love* how this turned out -- number 19,594 why the kiddo is awesome!

Lorelei, thank you for such a wonderful challenge.  I would never have noticed these sliders and I have had a blast working with them.  They are so versatile and I can see similar sliders in many other designs.

Please take some time to visit Lorelei's blog or follow the links below to see what the other participants did with these sliders.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

Lorelei - our host

Lola
Denise McCabe
Mustard Bead
A Polymer Penchant
Pearl and Pebble
Peacock Fairy
Beads for Busy Gals
Dawn Williams
Shirley Moore
B Street Studios
Sally Russick
Pamela770
Erin Prais-Hintz
Heather Powers
MirandAck
Lily
Karen Firnberg
Tanya  -  you are here
Mary
Rosebud101
Ann
Toltec Jewels
Micha
Terri