Another Flower Bead Crochet Bracelet

Designer Jewelry - Another Flower Bead Crochet Bracelet

Sometimes my designs come from combining two different things that I've done. One of my bead crochet bracelets that I've done in the past, used variegated colored thread with crystal glass beads. The design of the bracelet came from the thread not the beads. This weekend I finished a bracelet that used the same concept. I had some pressed Czech flower beads that were a beautiful shade of purple, and I wanted to make the body of the bracelet match that color. Not having seed beads in the exact color, I noticed that one of the two-ply nylon cords that I had was an exact match. So instead of using purple glass seed beads, I used the clear seed beads with the purple thread. The bracelet below is the result:

This is what the bracelet looks like when it's on your wrist:

Please visit Need for Beads see what else I have for designer jewelry!

New pattern published

This pattern is going to look very similar to the picture at the top of my blog. And for good reason...

The watch band below is one that I designed in response to a challenge made to create a watch band that was adjustable. I started with the bead crochet tube, and then used some techniques to add wire to the ends of the tube. When I was done with the bracelet, I donated the watch and the band to charity.

That was years ago. I had always intended to write up the pattern. However, other bead ideas flooded into my brain and I never got around to writing up the pattern. With one of my customers asking for the watchband, I finally put the instructions onto paper.

This week, I published the pattern for this piece on my website. I am currently experimenting with different colors of seed pearls and Myuki drops.
I am always fascinated by the way the different colors make a piece so distinct from another based upon the same size beads. and then of course, I experiment with different size beads. For instance, I made the same type of band using white pearls just a little bit larger and got this result:

The difference is subtle, but the first watchband in the top picture looks more blue than the band in the bottom picture which looks more white. Because the white pearls are a little bit larger, they stand out more in the watchband,
and of course, the band is just a little bit thicker around the wrist.

Gail H. Devoid, Ph.D

Need For Beads, Inc.

http://www.tarnhelm.com/NeedForBeads

Mailto:gdevoid@tds.net

New Amulet Bag Completed

While I am working on customer orders and new designs, which are the types of work that go quickly, I try to have a long term project going. If I don't, I make mostly bracelets, or my customers wait too long for their orders to be fulfilled. Worse yet, new patterns don't get written up!

Below is one of my long term projects. I break the project down into parts and that helps me finish the project instead of creating a UFO (Unfinished Object) I complete maybe three of these big pieces a year:

Aten's Disk and Ankh

Like most of the bags I make, this one has a pattern on both sides. I was going to do a different strap until I saw how well this modified herringbone stitch went with the design.

The purple iris Delicas provide great contrast to the gold plated beads. With that finish widely available, I was able to use twisted Miyuki bead bugles and Czech daggers for the fringe. This fringe gives the piece a fluid movement.

My next bag will have spring flowers. Hopefully, the long winter months will allow lots of time for beading!

I also did a matching bracelet. Simple and quickly done, the bracelet complements the necklace when worn together, yet is beautiful enough to wear alone.

The bag has the same clasp shown in the bracelet. Even though the strap in the necklace is long enough to just put it on, I used a matching clasp so the strap design went in the same direction. This carries forward the V-shape design of the fringe on both sides of the necklace. Another reason for using a clasp: The pattern used for the strap would not connect the beginning pattern to the end very well. The clasp solved both issues!

I did manage to design a few new bracelets using my favorite stitch, which is bead crochet. Below is one that uses Miyuki drops and this shows first the side view and then a closeup of the bracelet from the top, or how it looks when worn:

Gail H. Devoid, Ph.D

Need For Beads, Inc.

http://www.tarnhelm.com/NeedForBeads

Mailto:gdevoid@tds.net

Bead It Forward

Breast Cancer Squares for Bead It Forward

 

These squares were done by BSNH members to send to Jeanette Shanigan for her 2008 Breast Cancer "Bead It Forward" project (see the article on Jeanette in the December 2007 issue of Bead & Button titled "Beading for a Cause"). The theme of the beaded quilts for 2008 is "Roses". The squares for the quilts are sewn together by Jeanette, mounted and framed, and then auctioned at the Bead & Button Show. All proceeds from the auction go towards research for prevention and cure of breast cancer. These squares are not all the squares donated by generous BSNH members; some other squares were mailed to Jeanette separately and have become part of several quilts. The squares below, however, should be together in one quilt because Jeanette sews them together in the order they are received, and these will be sent as one shipment. I worked most of today to take pictures of these squares, and I have a great appreciation of all the work Jeanette does for this effort. She not only takes pictures of the squares, but then sews them together, mounts the quilt, and frames it.

The picture above is a composite of all the squares and gives an idea of how the squares would look in a quilt. This may not be how Jeanette sews them together. The quilts, as well as free patterns to make rose squares, are on her website at http://shanigansbeadshenanigans.com/BCQuilt.html. To see closeups of the work below, click on the thumbnail. I managed to do two squares, and hope to do at least one more before the April 1st deadline.

Beaded squares for Breast Cancer Project 2008

Linda Rheault	Linda Rheault	Bette Abdu	Bette Abdu	Gail Devoid
Gail Devoid	Paulette Mason	Nancy Cassidy	Deb Fairchild	Sue (Cinnamon) Cannella
Sue (Cinnamon) Cannella	Sue (Cinnamon) Cannella	Sue (Cinnamon) Cannella	Sue (Cinnamon) Cannella	Sue (Cinnamon) Cannella

New Bracelet from Need For Beads

I saw a great pattern in the Dec. 2007/Jan. 2008 issue of Beadwork Magazine written up by Michele Anderson and decided to give it a try. I used my loom made especially for Delicas, and the warp threads were long enough to knot the end of the fringe. But since I used fireline, knotting the ends was just as difficult and took as much time as sewing in the warp threads would have. The picture below shows the results:

Shimmering Tapestry Bracelet

I also changed the toggles on this. I saw Party Girl Necklace by Robin Cowart in the same issue of Beadwork Magazine, and knew I could modify the beaded bead to my project. I used 4mm Swarovski crystals, Japanese Delicas that match the pink beads in the band, and sewed up a beaded bead. It collapsed. So, I opened it back up and put in a black faceted 6mm glass bead, and the bead fit perfectly. Now I had a toggle that matched the band and was sturdy.

Here's the bracelet flat so you can see the pattern of the band and the beaded beads better:

Shimmering Tapestry Bracelet with Beaded Bead Toggles

The next one I am going to do with the pattern of the band will be in a different color, and I will use a no-warp threads method. I'll do this using the Versa Loom by Sova Enterprises. Although I will fold over the ends and embellish on top of the loomed band, I want to create a closure that brings the embellished ends closer together. I'll probably do that at the Bead Society of New Hampshire's March Bead Retreat.

Meanwhile, I am working on my Aten's Disk and Ankh amulet bag pattern, as well as getting ready to replenish my stock of finished pieces.

New Amulet Bag Completed

I've finished the amulet bag on which I have worked over the last two month. This is one of my patterns, and I wanted to see how it would look with a strap that employs this new stitch I stumbled upon. The strap is very fluid, and seem to work very well with the bag.

I lined the bag with white jacquard fabric, and the white brightens the colors in the bag considerably. The fringe worked up quickly as the long bugle beads make things go along fast.

Here's the other side of the bag, which is the fire that the wizard has started with his magic wand:

The snap closure keeps the bag shut and add a little extra something to the Wizard side of the bag, while it hardly shows on the Fire side. The bag is made entirely of Japanese beads, Delicas for the body of the bag and fringe, and Miyuki bugle beads and 8/0 hex beads for the fringe accents. I used crystal fireline throughout the bag.

It's time to start another big project!

More work with two new stitches

I've been doing some more work with my "This Way and That Stitch" -- this time I did a necklace using amethyst stones for the center. I wanted to get the look of amethyst in it natural state when inside a geode, so I surrounded the dark stones with a lighter lavender vintage Czech seed bead, and highlighted the outside with a crystal silver-lined triangle 8/0 bead. The effect was really very good. We took a trip up to Enfield last weekend, and stopped by Gemstar Gemstone. They have amethyst geodes for sale, and I put my necklace next to one. I have succeeded in getting the effect I wanted. And then going through my stash of sterling silver clasps, I found one that matched really well. Here's the necklace.

Let me know what you think.

I've been doing some more work with my "Porcupine Stitch" too (and no, it is not a slip stitch bead crochet tube). I had a dichroic piece around which I beaded a bezel. It's been on my worktable for months. Getting beads to match the colors, I use the stitch to create a necklace and a bracelet and finished both with silver plated clasps I bought at the 1st Innovative Beads Expo in Concord, NH. The show was well-attended, and we beaders are delighted to hear that the show will be coming back again next year. Hopefully, the show will get as big as the ones held in Massachusetts.

Here's the necklace and bracelet set:

This weekend, I'm busy redoing some of my amulet bag patterns. I lost some of the older Bead Cellar Software files when my harddrive failed on my notebook. So, bead by bead, I am re-creating them from the graphs I had in the pdf files. Then I am updating the patterns to include a bead map for tubular peyote. The Wizard and Fire amulet bag was probably the hardest, so I did that one first. I also started beading that bag, this time as a tube. It is such great fun to see the Wizard's feet form, and the Fire start up. Here's that pattern as a flat piece.