My Version of "Egyptian Cuff"

I finished my version of Shelley Nybakke's "Egyptian Cuff" yesterday - the pattern is available online from Beadwork Magazine.

 Bracelet stitched by Sweet Freedom Designs (pattern by Shelley Nybakke)

The pattern calls for stitching the bracelet with 11/0 seed beads and approximately 140 3mm Swarovski bicone crystals.

While I have a huge selection of 11/0s, I have a dearth of 3mm bicones - and only 3 colors where I had at least 140 crystals to play with!

I was none too thrilled with those 3 colors, but paired them up with some 11/0s the best I could, and stitched up the first section of the bracelet, and just wasn't excited about any of the outcomes:

Left: a purple sample using 8/0 seed beads & 4mm bicones; 

Right: galvanized silver 11/0s with turquoise AB 3mm bicones, crystal AB 11/0s with amethyst AB 3mm bicones, and gold-lined opal 11/0s with Caribbean Opal bicones. 

However, I have tons of 4mm crystals, so I decided to step up to 8/0 seed beads and 4mm bicones, and see how the pattern worked, and it stitched up perfectly!

My favorite of these initial trials was the purple/purple combo on the far left - but it seems like everything I'm stitching lately is purple, and I wanted to get out of my "purple rut." It finally hit me that I could use 2 colors of bicones in the pattern, one for the RAW segments, and another for the connecting strands. Duh.

I stitched up a RAW sample with Gold-lined Opal 8/0s and Chili Pepper 4mm bicones, and loved it. I paired it with Indian Sapphire 4mm bicones, and I really liked the combo.

detail, Egyptian Cuff stitched by Sweet Freedom Designs (pattern by Shelley Nybakke)

While the pattern stitched up perfectly with my step up to 8/0s and 4mm bicones, it did cause each of the RAW sections to be almost 1.5 inches wide. I dropped down to using 11/0s for the connecting strands, in an attempt to decrease the size a bit, but it still turned out to be way too small with just 6 RAW segments, so I added a 7th RAW section, which makes the bracelet a little too large for an average wrist, even with the tube clasp I chose to use. Sizing wouldn't have been an issue at all if I had used the 11/0 seed beads and the 3mm crystals, as each of those RAW sections was only 3/4 inch wide!

The RAW technique used in this bracelet was, coincidentally, the same 3-D Right Angle Weave as that in the Amphora Beaded Bead by Marcia Decoster that I was stitching when last I blogged!

New Necklace and Earrings

As the owner of a bead shop, I make a lot of projects featured in various beading magazines, so that customers can see the designs worked up (they often look so different than they do in the mags!) and get ideas about colors, etc. My latest necklace and earring set all started when I was working on one of these bracelets...

This particular bracelet, a right angle weave (RAW) design, was featured in the October - November, 2013 issue of Beadwork (yes, I'm a little behind on my to-do list!):

RAW bracelet featured in Oct-Nov 2013 Beadwork

 RAW bracelet featured in Oct-Nov 2013 Beadwork

I chose some very luxe-looking, opaque, turquoise and bronze 8mm Czech firepolish beads, and paired them with metallic bronze 3mm Czech firepolish beads, and just love the result. It's so rich-looking, and everyone who sees it just drools over it!

As I was working it up, I was intrigued by the zigzagging shape, and once I completed the 3rd RAW unit, I had a little V-shaped beaded unit in my hand that started my brain thinking about other design possibilities. By the time I had added the 4th and 5th units, I knew that I would be making a necklace from these units.

After completing the bracelet, I started stitching up 3-unit segments with this pattern, using the same beads. I finished by stitching one 5-unit segment.

I tried many different ways to connect these RAW units before hitting upon the one I finally went with: lustrous 12mm bronzite rounds. I then placed genuine turquoise rondelles at the back to complete the design, and chose a Vintaj Natural Brass S-hook and chain for the closure:

Turquoise and brown handwoven necklace by Sweet Freedom Designs

 

detail, Turquoise and brown handwoven necklace by Sweet Freedom Designs

closure, Turquoise and brown handwoven necklace by Sweet Freedom Designs

Then I stitched up a couple of one-unit segments for the earrings, adding the netting embellishment to both sides, so there's no "back" as the earrings sway and move:

Turquoise and bronze handwoven earrings by Sweet Freedom Designs

The necklace and earrings are available separately in my Etsy shop!

Right angle weave

I used bamboo coral (in unusual little bicone shapes!) in this right angle weave, and I really like the result - I have done this pattern many times, with pearls, and with Czech glass in various styles, sizes, and shapes, but had never tried anything else.

Black and red always look so dramatic together!

This bracelet is available in my Etsy shop.

Sunday Afternoon Bracelet

I made this right angle weave bracelet Sunday afternoon:

It was created with gorgeous, shimmery AB2x Czech pressed glass squares and AB2x Miyuki seed beads. It closes with a purple square glass button I found on a dress in my closet; the button was such a perfect match for the colors and shapes in this bracelet that I impulsively snipped it off the dress and worked it into the design. It makes the purple in these glass beads pop!

Is anyone surprised that this bracelet is in my current color obsession? Loving these colors lately!!

I took photos when I got to the shop this morning, and this yummy bracelet is now in my Etsy shop.

Jen's Pind Linkage (JPL)

JPL (Jen's Pind Linkage) is one of my favorite chainmaille weaves. It yields such a nice, tight, spiral weave, and in my opinion works well whether done in one color, multiple colors, round rings, square (wire) rings, and more.

In this photo, you can see 3 very different JPLs I have done:

The top chain was made with 16g gold-filled (round) rings, the middle one with 18g bronze rings cut from square wire, and the bottom one is a tricolor chain in 20g rings (copper, gold-filled, and sterling),

This is another photo of the 20g tricolor JPL:



I enjoy working with color so much that I made another 20g tricolor JPL to compliment the chain-bezelled raku cabochon now available in my Etsy shop.

I chose turquoise, blue, and burgundy rings for this chain; they pull out the gorgeous colors in the raku cab.

Here's a guided tour of the creation of the 18g bronze square JPL:

Getting started: big pile of rings, and a clasp.

The weave is established, and now I just have to keep it going until I reach the finished length:

Halfway done!

Finished:

Detail of finished weave:

I believe this square version of the JPL would make a great bracelet for a man - particularly if stepped up to 16g square rings.

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!