OTTBS finish-a-long

Following last month's OTTBS finish-a-long sucess, I thought I'd join in again this month. I have a bracelet that I started a month or so ago. It came about after getting some free twin beads from the facebook page of Preciosa. I decided that I wanted to join the twins with jumprings and finally settled on a design similar to 6 in 1 chainmaille. The twin beads take the place of the smaller 6 rings. Here's how it looked. (Please excuse the slightly goose pimple arms! Its a little chilly today and I don't put the heating on if its only me in unless it gets majorly freezing)

Now I like this look but the problem is, its not very stable. The twins flip and the rings slip under each other. A bit of a shake sometimes rights it but not always. I decided to live with it for a bit but it got on my nerves so I decided I would have to do something about it. Then I didn't!

So that brings me to this month's finish along project.... sort out this bracelet. I picked up some delica drops and size 8s thinking that popping some on the edges would solve my problem. I've started but am not sure. The drops weren't working so I've been adding 4 size 8s to the outer rings. It has not completely solved the stability issue, but it has greatly improved it and it might be even better if I carry on. The look is quite different though, much less open. Here's the bit I've done so far.

What do you think? I'd appreciate any thoughts or ideas. I'm torn at the mo. Do I: carry on with it and live with it a bit; try and find another way of sorting it; or just frog it and do something else with the beads?

xxx

EDITED to add this picture so you can get a better idea of what's going wrong with the whole stability issue!
PS. Its really tricky to take a picture of your right arm with your left hand when you're right haded. Soemone didn't think that through properly!!

February Crafting

Hello all and welcome to March! Hope your February was fun filled.

My February has been busy. There are maths exams tomorrow and over the next few days so I've done a load of tutoring recently. Crafting wise, its all been beading/jewellery making.

Here's a roundup of everything I made in February.

I finally caught up with the OTTBS earring challenge. Here are weeks four through nine:

Week four: These star earrings are made from a fab pattern by Jean Power. If you want to make your own beaded stars, you can get the pattern from Jean's website.

Week five: Crytal hoop earrings. I made these for me using 3mm fire polished crystals. I also wrote a free tutorial for these. It's here if you missed it.

Week six: I made these for a friend's birthday. They are made with dyed purple freshwater pearls and sterling silver wire in a herringbone weave.

Week seven: A quick little make as I'd gotten a few weeks behind again. These are lava rock and sterling silver. I'll probably list them in my Folksy shop at some point in the near future so if you want them, give me a shout.

Week eight: Another fairly quick make to catch up. These are facetted red aventurine drops and sterling silver. I decided to oxidise these. Again, these will probably end up in my shop soon.

Week nine: I made these to match my OTTBS beadalong project (see below). I used the same beads as in the bracelet but used abalone rounds instead of chips. Sorry for the not so brilliant photography! Too lazy this morning to set everything up properly! 

I finally finished my anemone cuff (based on a BWG project by Stephanie Burnham). Thanks to the OTTBS beadalong I felt compelled to actually finish off all that fringing. I used press studs as a fastening to give it an almost invisable join.



Really chuffed to have finally finished it but not sure when I'll actually wear it! Although I have got the earrings to match now too....

All my other beading this month has been curtesy of Gillian Lamb's beaded crotchet workshop I went to at Stitch'n'craft. It was my first time a their studio and I had a fun day. It was a little over an hour away but not a complicated drive. Becs of Bead by Becs fame was also there. It was great to meet a fellow OTTBSer. By the end of the day we had both gotten the hang of it and had two crotched ropes on the way. I finished off both of mine over the weekend.

The top one was the first I started at the workshop and is a necklace made using 3mm toho cube beads. The bottom is a bracelet made with three different colours of size 8s and delica drops.

My next crochet project was flourite chips. This was much fiddlier than the regular shaped beads but I love the result. Its a little big for me but I'm keeping it! I'll just have to be a little careful when wearing it!



And that's everything I made in February...well everything I completed. I did play about with some donut beads, as you may have read on my last post, intending to make something for the OTTBS February moodboard but it didn't go brilliantly so I didn't get round to entering this month. There were 36 fab entries though- you can see them here if you're interested. 

Creating aims for March? Well I'll be exam marking along with tutoring so not sure how much creating time I'll get. I want to keep up with the earring challenge plus I have a couple of UFOs I'd like to get done. I'd also like to sort out my Folksy shop. I've kinda taken a break from it and left it on its own for the past 2 to 3 months so I've got loads of delisted stock and, as I haven't been listing, I haven't had sales. Not sure if I'll get round to sorting that out though. We'll see.

Have a fun March everyone, whatever you're up to.

xxx 

Beaded donut frustration!

Yesterday I decided to have a go at making little beaded donut shapes. Its not somthing I've done before. I had a vague idea about how to go about it so decided to try and figure it out without instructions/diagrams. I don't tend to have any difficulties following tutorials but as I want to develop my beawork I thought it would be beneficial for me to experiment myself.

The first two I made were okish but I didn't find them too easy to zip up so I took a break for lunch and posted on the OTTBS facebook page that I'd been experimenting but was now going to look up how to do it properly. I knew there was some instructions in Laura McCabe's Creating Jewelry with Swarovski. Mary and Donna in OTTBS offered some very helpful comments so, after a slight detour to make a helicopter, sock puppet, playing cars and a lovely roast dinner with my nephew and inlaws, I spent the rest of the evening having another go. It did not go amazingly well.

Here are all 5 rings I made. OTTBSians may recognise the colours. I've been using 15s and 'delicas' (not actually sure they are delicas but a note about that later).

1. This one was made by stringing 40 delicas as the first 2 rows of a peyote strip. I then added 4 more rows of 15 and 2 of delicas. I joined the short ends of the strip together like brick stitch and then zipped the delicas together. It was a little tricky to zip up so I thought mabe I neede a bigger diameter. Plus I though I may as well work tubular.

2. This one was made by stringing 50 delicas and tying into a ring and working even peyote. Then 4 rows of 15 and 2 of delicas before zipping up. Ok ish but the symmetry is of (on this and no.1) Because I have an even number of rows of delicas and 15s, the wides point of the donut falls between rows and it would look better if it was on a row.

3. Mary suggested I work from the center and then alternate from side to side. Also she and Donna gave suggestions on starting numbers. This one was made by starting in the middle with 48 15s (and therefore giving 24 'up' beads). The final donut has 5 rows of 15s and 5 rows of delicas. Its not very ring like so I decided to decrease the starting amount of 15s and go back to 8 rows in total.

4. Very unring like! This one is 3 rows of 15s and 5 rows of delicas (started in the middle of the 15s). I initally strung 32 15s.

5. Probably the best so far. This one is 5 rows of 15s and 3 rows of delicas (again, starting in the middle of the 15s). I intially strung 48 15s.

Still not particulary happy. In Laura McCabe's book she uses charlottes, 15s and delicas and works from the centre of the biggest beads and zips up the smallest. I know its easier to zip up the larger beads so I'm going to stay doing that but maybe I should be using 3 different bead sizes? I don't actually own any tiny Czech charlottes so maybe I could use 15s, delicas and 11s?

I don't know. It was a frustrating evening making me think I really shouldn't have booked onto Laura's course in June after all.
:o(

But I WILL work on it and get there. I need to experiment more and possibly dig out more books to see if there's more instructions in them. Any hints or tips you have would be most appreciated.
:o)

xxx

_____________________________________________________________________

A note about cylinder beads: Are there rubblish quality cylinders in the same way as there are rubbish quality seedies? I assumed they were all good but the green ones I've been using are quite irregular in height. The cylinders I have that I know are definately delicas are pretty regular so I'm wondering if these no-named ones I've had in my stash for ages are actually something else. I can't remember when and wher I bought them. The blue aren't tooooo bad but I thought I got them at the same time! 

Crystal hoop earrings tutorial

Well, as some of you know, I am currently participating in the Operation Tackle That Bead Stash earring challenge of making a pair of earrings every week for a year. I'm a little behind already (oops) but these are my week 5 earrings. I decided to jazz up a pair of old silver coloured hoops with 3mm fire polished crystals.



They're pretty easy to make so I thought I'd write a tutorial.

You will need:
A pair of hoop earrings- mine are 25mm in diameter
Enough 3mm crystals to go around both earrings- I used 48 in total (they are the lilac mix from RB Beads)
Clear beading thread (I'd recommend fishing braid like Fireline but I didn't have any and the monofilament fishing line I used is holding up fine so far!)
Beading needle

You need to work out how many crystals you need per earring. Lay them out around the hoop to check. Different sized hoops will require a different number of crystals. My hoops are 25mm in diameter and 24 crystals fit around perfectly.

Cut a length of thread, about an armspan length as you'll be using it doubled. This amount should be enough to complete the entire hoop unless they are enormous! Thread both ends through the eye and hook the looped end over the earring.

Thread all the beads you need for one earring onto your thread in the order you'd like. I used 3 different colours in a repeating pattern. Hold the crystals against the earring. Loop the doubled thread under the hoop and pass the needle through the last bead you added.

Loop the thread under the earring again, between the beads, and then go through the next bead. (Red thread path.)

Keep looping the thread under the earring, between the beads, and then go through the next bead until you get to the last bead.

After exiting the last bead, loop the thread under the earring and pass the thread back through all the crystals.

Remove the needle and cross the two threads under the earring and knot them. Cross the threads over the top of the earring and knot again.

Rethread the needle and pass the thread back though several of the beads before cutting the excess. You can add a dab of clear nail polish to the knots if you like.

Repeat for you second earring and you're done :o)

I'd love to see any earrings you make using this tutorial. You can leave me a link here or on my facebook page.
Any questions? I can be contacted via email: gemma[at]damselflygemma[dot]co[dot]uk

If you wish to share this tutorial, you may do so, but please link directly here. Do not publish it elsewhere. You may use a picture for the purposes of linking only. You are welcome to sell earrings made using this tutorial but please take your own photos!

January crafting

Happy February everyone! Time for me to look back and see what I achieved crafting wise in January.

There was felt flower bouquet making for my friends' wedding. We made the majority of the flowers late last year but we but the bouquets together earlier this month. Here is one of the bridemaid bouquets, all four bouquets we put together one Sat evening and three flowers I made the day before. Sorry for the poor photography, wasn't really paying attention when clicking.

 

I also made four pairs of resin earrings as gifts for the bridemaids.



All other crafting this month has been beading. I made this choker for the OTTBS January moodboard. See all the fabulous entries here. Its square stitched in 15s and adapted from a pattern by Lynne Soto. Its a little tight so I should probably add a couple more rows if I want to be able to breathe in it!

I also made these three pairs of earrings for the OTTBS earring challenge. We're supposed to be making one pair a week so I'm a little behind. Ooops! More details about each pair can be found in my flickr set.

Well that's all the creating I completed in January (I think). I did experiment with some other bits but they're not finished yet. Maybe I'll get them done this month and you'll see them in the next roundup post.

xxx

Giveaway Time!

Hello lovely readers. Hope you are all well :o)

Time for a giveaway here on Damselfly Gemma. Technically this giveaway is celebrating the fact that I got my 100th sale over in my Folksy shop late last year...I've just been a bit late organising it!

I have decided to give away three heart themed pieces of jewellery as valentines day is approaching. This giveaway will run in a similar way to others I have had. I will do a draw for each item separately so you need to leave me a comment saying which of the three pieces you would like to win.

Here are you choices:

1) Frosted glass heart beads and sterling silver earrings

 

2) Blue resin drops with iridescent hearts and sterling silver earrings

 3) Pink glitter and black lace resin heart pendant with sterling silver bail

To enter:

Leave me a comment saying which of the three draws you would like to be entered in. One choice only please! Oh and make sure I have some way of contacting you if you win!

Open worldwide but as I will be paying the postage I will be sending the cheapest way possible ;o)

Closing date: 23.59pm Sunday 29th January (UK time)

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Thanks to all that entered. I used a random number generator to select the winners (Elloria's Boutique, Charters and Say it Says). Congratulations :o)

Beading courses: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced?

What do you think constitutes a beginner, intermediate and advanced beader?

I ask because I've recently discovered (via the OTTBS facebook group and Becs) that there is a shop/studio not too far from me that offers exciting beading courses. Its called Stitchncraft. Amongst the many, many exciting courses are a few by the fantastic bead artist Laura McCabe. Now her 1 day courses are already fully booked but she does have a couple of 2 day courses entitled 'Masterclass Beaded Sculpture' that are for advanced beaders only who are proficient in all the basic stitches.

The course is £120 (excl. materials) which is very cheap considering you get 12 hours of tuition from a beading master but I do not consider myself an advanced beader so I doubt I will be booking it. Besides which I have masses of books and tutorials here at home that are gathering dust.

It has got me thinking though. What is an advanced beader? Competitions often describe an advanced beader as someone who has been beading for over 5 years. Well I certainly fit in that category but I do not consider myself advanced, maybe intermediate? I first started beadweaving in my early/mid teens I think, with a kit from Spellbound beads that I picked up at a craft fair in the NEC when I used to go with my Mum. Not long after I acquired Carol Wilcox Wells' Creative Bead Weaving. My copy is not the newer edition but is dated 1996. So, time wise I started to learn beadweaving at least 15 years ago. But, I have not actually done a lot of beading in that time! I have an okish knowledge of the basic stitches but occasionally need to dig out one of my many books to remind me how its done. I have never been on a beading course but have learnt through books, magazines, bought tutorials and the internet. I don't struggle following instructions but haven't actually done many complicated designs. The most complex kit I have purchased and completed is probably the dragon necklace kit from Spellbound beads. I did this at least 5 years ago and did not struggle with it.

I did not do much beading during my A levels or whilst at uni. I probably did no beading at all when I was teacher training and whilst I was a secondary school teacher. (So that's 3 years when I don't think I touched my beads). Just before I started my teacher training I joined the Bead Workers Guild and found a group in Totton that I used to attend but the teaching malarkey put a stop to that and I let my membership lapse. After leaving classroom teaching and moving into private tuition I have now rediscovered time for beading and am really enjoying it again. Last year I came across OTTBS and am loving being part of that group. They're all wonderful at encouraging and sharing. They are really making me want to bead loads and I have been beading a lot more since finding the group. They are making me want to go on courses to meet other beaders and develop my beadwork....which leads me back to my initial question! Am I a beginner, intermediate or advanced beader?!

One thing for sure, I need to actually have a go at some of the many projects I have in books etc! Although this will mean buying more beads as much of my stash was bough on the cheap and the quality is not good enough for beadweaving.

I also want to continue with resin and silversmithing and more....to be honest, I like being a Jack of all trades, master of none!