The Mermaid's Tail

I finished my freeform peyote bracelet, and I absolutely love it. I think I have worn it everyday since I finished it! The beads on the band glimmer in the light, the colors remind me of the ocean, so I have named it "The Mermaid's Tail." I enjoyed making this piece, and may design something similar, but I will be keeping this one.










The teal biwa pearl I encorporated into the closure looks sort of like a tail fin, I think.

Makeshift bead mat

I finally finished the freeform peyote bracelet I started in class last Thursday! I worked on it a good part of Sunday, and into the wee hours last night, and it is completely done except for the clasp (which is waiting for me in one of my many bead boxes at home - a perfectly matching stick pearl!)

Last night after supper, I lugged all the necessary stuff down to the cafeteria to begin my beading vigil, and started hauling stuff out of my 2 bags and 1 tool box (why does it take so much stuff?), and discovered that I had left my bead mat up in my room. As any beadweaver knows, one simply cannot spread out piles of seed beads without a beadmat, so I struggled with the decision to pack everything back up and go back up for the mat, and then realized that my green fleece hoodie would make a perfect makeshift bead mat.

And so it went.

You'll have to wait until I get home, attach the clasp, and take some proper photos if you want to see the finished bracelet. (it'll be worth the wait... I promise!)

One down, one to go

The first week of school is over, and I made some fabulous stuff!

I wasn't even enrolled in wire-wrapping, but I managed to sneak in a private class with one of the wire-wrapping teachers yesterday, and made this incredible bracelet. It is extremely heavy - made with 12 gauge gold-filled wire and 14 gauge sterling silver wire. A little hard on the hands to fabricate, but totally worth it - it is stunning.

Check out the clasp I made for it:

I'm keeping this one for myself! I would say I'll never take it off, but I will be elbow deep in the kiln tomorrow, slumping bracelets, so I can't wear any metal jewelry for the next few days.

This picture shows the freeform project I worked on in class last week. I didn't get to start it until Thursday afternoon, so I didn't complete it before class ended.

I got quite a bit more done on it today, but the clasp I want to use is back at home, so I can't completely finish it 'til I get home.

This isn't the greatest picture, but the beads I chose for the band shimmer like a mermaid's tail, and this one may be another project I can't let go of.

I need to turn off the computer, as I have some reading to do before fusing class in the morning.

6 more days until I can pick Bailey up at the kennel - I miss my baby!

What a week!

Crazy busy!


My biggest accomplishment was completing this freeform peyote cuff bracelet, which I have named Firewheel. I started it several weeks ago, completed half of it, then put it down and just couldn't make myself pick it up again. Not sure why - I had never done freeform peyote before, and it was a lot of fun! Maybe it was because I felt pressured to finish it - it was designed for the April EtsyBeadweavers Challenge, and the deadline was fast approaching! The theme this time is Fire and Flower, and voting will begin April 7 @ the EBW Blog. I hope you'll visit the blog and vote for your favorite (me!)

It took me over 45 hours of beading to complete Firewheel, and it is now available in my Etsy shop. Other challenge entries can be seen on Etsy by searching the tag and title section for EBWC.

I made this gorgeous beaded necklace this week, using lampwork discs from bluhealer and fabulous mint green vintage lucite beads. I also made a cute pair of matching earrings. I will probably list these as a set either tonight or tomorrow - I have never listed my matching earrings and necklaces together before, and the earrings always sell, leaving the necklaces behind. Thought I'd try pairing them up this time.


In addition to finishing the freeform peyote cuff, I have been a busy busy beadweaver this week. I have been on a right angle weave kick, and made this copper-colored cuff on Thursday, listed it on Etsy that night, and it sold on Saturday afternoon!



I made and listed this gorgeous woven cuff on Monday - it is another right angle weave, this time with shell-pink freshwater pearls, hot-pink metallic seed beads, and mauve Czech fire-polished crystals, and complemented by an antique-look button. This is a knock-out combination of colors and textures!

I also taught a spiral beadweaving class on Friday afternoon, and ended up with a great bracelet myself - green and blue matte square and round seedbeads plus grey-green Czech crystals. Haven't listed this one yet, but it is a great casual bracelet for jeans.


I took another wire-wrapping class last Sunday, this one on rings. We did two very different techniques.

One involved cutting several pieces of wire, then binding them together with more wire, then forming the loose ends in the bundle around the stone. This makes a great looking ring, and the technique can be adapted for either a bead or a cabochon, but I am going to have to work on modifying the pattern a bit, because it calls for having 8 wires in the bundle, which makes the shank 8 wires wide, and that is too wide for my short stubby fingers!

Remember how I posted awhile back about having found a tutorial on the internet on making a wire-wrapped ring, but I wasn't happy with the way mine had turned out, so I was going to ask the wire-wrapping teacher about it? Well, I had asked him about it a couple of weeks earlier, and his answer had been "practice, practice, practice." So, I was really surprised when he changed his mind about the second ring style he was going to teach on Sunday, and decided to teach this very ring that was be-deviling me! He taught it in a different way from the tutorial, and I achieved a better result, and got quite a few pointers along the way.

These are the 2 rings I completed in class on Sunday. The one on the left is the second technique. There is a lot less formal wire-wrapping in this style, as the wire is more casually wrapped around the base of the bead.




I took my new knowledge home, and made this cute ring - now available in my Etsy shop.

And that's it for my week. Whew!