Monday, October 17, 2016

Ziggy cuff

My latest contemporary geometric beadwork project is this bracelet, designed by Heather Collin.  I love that Heather uses two different sizes of rick rack in this bracelet.


When I work from a tutorial, I almost never use the same color pattern.  I couldn't imagine this bracelet in any other color scheme, though.  Luckily, Heather was kind enough to list her colors in her tutorial.

And the best part about the bracelet?  It's reversible!


Because it is double sided, the bracelet takes a bit longer to bead.  The end result is totally worth it, though.

As always, Heather's tutorial is easy to follow.  You can find it here and you can see more of Heather's patterns in her shop, here.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Just a few more beaded beads

I wanted to show you the last of the beaded beads I made using Cindy Holsclaw's patterns.

First up is the Tila Garden Pendant.  I really like the way this bead uses tila beads to make little walls around the embellishments.


In my last post, I mentioned that many of Cindy's beads have the same base structure.  The tila garden pendant also starts with a dodecahedron.  The tila beads make it a bit trickier, but luckily for me, I was a pro at dodecahedrons by this time.  :)

It really is a gorgeous bead.


The final beaded beads I have are from Cindy's Raindrop Flower Necklace.


This necklace features four different types of beaded beads, including a stunning pendant that encloses a swarovski pearl.


I only used three types of beads in my necklace because I wanted to make an extra of the medium beads.  I think it will make a great pendant.


I love the finished necklace.  


If you are interested in any of Cindy's patterns, they can be found here.  They are all very clear and have illustrations and photos, which help tremendously.  I'm not sure you could go wrong with any of them.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

More beaded beads and charms

In my last post, I mentioned that I have been working on more patterns from Cindy Holsclaw.  I am almost up to my ears in beads and charms.

I think my favorite bead is the supernova pendant.


As I was  beading trough these beaded beads, I realized that the base structure is the same in many of Cindy's beads.  The embellishments are what makes each one different.

Once you've beaded a few dozen dodecahedrons, it becomes easier and you can whip through the base structure and get to the good part.

One of the things that makes the supernova pendant different is that the embellishments sit on the corners rather than on the sides of the structure.  This means that there are twenty embellishments instead of fifteen.

Also, the pendant is embellished with crescent beads, making the bead look like it's exploding out.


I really want to make a few more of these.

I also finished the charms for my sakura bouquet necklace.

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I had been eyeing this pattern and kit for almost three years now and was so excited to have a chance to work on it.

There are four different types of charm.  Each is beaded with a similar technique and they work up very quickly.  

Cindy's tutorial provides several inspiration photos.  This arrangement is similar to one in the tutorial, using all forty charms in the kit. 


Did I mention that the kit makes *forty* charms?  I can't wait to finish the necklace.  :)