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March 28, 2009 - Although it took a few weeks, I prepared copper jump rings for my next creation. When the wound spring of copper was cut, I noticed that several burrs were created. I had to spend a lot of time tumbling the rings, using a cup de-burrer, tumbling again, before I couldn't even begin to create the bracelet below. This is the standard Byzantine pattern, with a clasp easily made from the same copper wire.
More rings are on the way. We are trying some new cutting techniques in an effort to avoid burrs. In the next piece, I hope to use some stone druks.
Next week I will be on Mona Hair's online radio show as her featured jewelry artist of the week. Mona plays some beautiful music that she has the rights to use, shows pictures of the work done by featured artists, and has videos that she plays during her show. Mona runs her show through www.nowlive.com and started this venture a few months back. She now has thousands of fans listening every week and almost two dozen people calling into the show. Once the show was over, the recorded show is then put up on YouTube.
To get to the radio show, click on Mona Hair's Online Radio Show.
I hope you will join us next week for the show and become the next Mona Hair fan.
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!
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
