February Crafting

Ummmm....nothing at all! I can now share with you my excuse though. Remember I said I have been somewhat poorly? Well, its dragging on somewhat but for a very exciting reason. Major creation on the way, due around 11th September. :o)

I am starting to feel a little better now (I'm 12 weeks) so hopefully I'll be up to creating again very soon. I may even do some beading today, though I am feeling a little queasy at the minute. Better get back on the earring case too. I'm massively behind now, ooops!

Happy March everyone. Hope you're all as happy as I am (hugging toilet incidences aside).

Gemxxx

OTTBS: Bead, Book and Bounce- The Art and Elegance of Beadweaving

This post is a little delayed. Blame illness and blogger playing up, sorry!

The fourth book in The OTTBS Bead, Book & Bounce (info about our book review projects can be found here) is The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving by Carol Wilcox Wells.

 

 

 

I have had this book in my collection for many years, possibly since it first came out. I bought it because I loved her previous book, Creative Beadweaving. Despite the fact that I've owned it for about 10 years I haven't actually done a lot from it! Naughty Gemma! Its not because I don't like the book though, its fab.

 

The chapters in the book are: beaded beads; chevron chain; crocheted ropes; herringbone stitch; peyote stitch; and spiral rope. I find it a little odd that beaded beads comes first as some use peyote which you're not officially taught about until later but it was fine for me as I had learnt about the various stitches in her previous book.

When flicking through the book for BB&B I decided quite quickly what I was going to make. When I first got the book I made a couple of bracelets using the instructions for the 'Zigzag necklace' by Rebecca Peapples. I made them with cheap bugles though so they only lasted a few minutes before cutting through the thread. Its always a project I meant to return to. Other things I had previously done from the book were a couple of 'Rainbow necklaces' by Carole Horn. I made them with 15s, delicas and 11s. I ended up making 2 to save a friend from snaffling mine! Here's a pic of my 'Rainbow necklace' made quite a few years ago.

I also used the instructions for the twisted herringbone rope in 'Choker with a secret' by Leslie Frazier to make a pen. I can't find it at the minute but basically I just covered a refill with the tube. This book is where I first learnt about twisted herringbone I think and there are recipes for a few other twists that I would like to experiment with.

So, on to my new version of the 'Zigzag necklace'. I love the used of short and long turns in this pattern to create the zigzag shape, its really clever. I have changed the pattern slightly. Rebecca used 2 drop peyote but I've used 3 drop. There's a bit in the valley of the zigzag where the pattern puts one bead behind an identical bead. I've just used 1 bead here rather than stacking the 2. I used 15s rather than 11s and the accent beads I've used are 2mm firepolish. I found it very handy that the graph is provided as well as the diagrams as I used it to colour in my pattern. The diagrams are really easy to follow. To be honest I didn't really read the instructions, it was clear enough from the diagrams!

Its not quite finished. I was delayed a little while because I ran out of the firepolish then illness has wiped out my beading mojo somewhat. I haven't decided yet whether its going to be a bracelet or a choker. Its currently bracelet length. I also need to decide how I'm going to close it. Rebecca uses a button and loop for a clasp but I'm not sure I want to do this. I quite like the thought of making it look seamless but not sure how I'll achieve this. Pondering required! Here it is so far anyway.

Whilst waiting for more firepolish to arrive I decided to have go at some beaded crochet. I first found out about beaded crochet from this book and really wanted to have a go. I must emphasise that I was not able to learn it from this book. I tried several times and always ended up in a mess. I eventually learnt from a workshop over at Stitch'n'craft. Now I know though I thought it would be great to have a go at some of the projects in here. I was visiting my parents for New Year and as this involves a 3h40min train trip it seemed an ideal project to take with me. I strung up the beads whilst at my parents and crocheted the whole bracelet on the trip back. Its the Eye beads pattern by Martha Forsyth, Pat Iverson and Kathryn Black. I decided to use just 3 colours rather than 7.

I did make a stringing mistake, which I didn't discover until I was stitching it up. Its not majorly obvious though so I decided to leave it. Its a 72 bead repeat so I was bound to make a mistake somewhere, I'm surprised it was only 1.

I really like the spiral in Three bead spiral bracelet by Carol Wilcox Wells so this one needs to be added to my ever growing to do list. That and some beaded beads. I think this book was probably the first place I'd seen them. I've dabbled a little but don't think I've actually made any from this book yet.

I do like this book but I think I got more benefit out of it because I'd read her previous book. Whilst I was not an experienced beader when I first bought my copy I think I was more able to access it because I had some idea about what I was doing.

Pop along to the OTTBS blog to see what others thought of this book.

The current BB&B books we are working on are Japanese Beadwork by Sonoko Nozue and Beaded Fantasies by Sabine Lippert. I own both and haven't done anything from either so I hope to continue to join in with this project assuming my mojo returns. Hope you can join in too!

Gemxxx



January Crafting

Happy February lovely readers. I hope you are all well. I've been somewhat under the weather myself but nothing serious, just hanging about and leaving me with no energy which is somewhat annoying. Ah well, never mind.

 

I did a little crafting in Jan but not a huge amount due to aforementioned lurgy. Just not been in the mood for the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately I can't show you all I've done yet though. One is a present and another is for BB&B (hopefully revealed in a few days). I can show you a pendant I made for someone as sort of a commission after she saw a pendant I made some time ago on my facebook page.

 

Here it is. Its a resin pendant with dandelion seeds, approx 2 inches across. I made the mould for it as I didn't have anything big enough using "vinamold". Great stuff that can be melted down and reused.

 

 

I have also been doing the earring challenge again. Readers from last year may remember that I was attempting to make a pair of beaded earring a week for all of 2012 as part of an OTTBS challenge. I did not succeed! This year I am not going to limit myself to just beading, hopefully there will be some beading, resin and silver work as a minimum. Unfortunately I am ALREADY behind. Oooops! I'll catch up when my energy returns but here are the 3 pairs I have made so far.

 

 

 

 

Almost everything in the first pair, including the fab instructions for the beaded beads, came from Pam Gordon of Westcoast Gems and Beads. The instructions and most of the beads came from Westcoast's 'beads of the month' Feb 2013 kit.

 

The second pair are stud earrings made from resin and tiny watch parts.

 

The third pair are resin and dandelion seeds.

 

The first 2 pairs are not for sale, the third pair should eventually go in my folksy shop, should I ever get it up and running again! If you want them though, the easiest way to get hold of me is probably via my facebook page.

 

 

I think that's everything I can show you at the mo. Hopefully February will be a little more creative.

xxx 





Goodbye 2012, hello 2013

Hello lovely readers. I hope you had a fab end of 2012/beginning of 2013. Regular visitors may have noticed I didn't get around to my roundup posts for Nov or Dec but then I was very busy with real life and didn't make anything. :(

 

Hopefully 2013 will start as creatively as last year and continue for the whole year this time! I have already finished something so will have at least one thing to report at the beginning of Feb.

Other plans I have are to continue where possible with the OTTBS book review project, Bead, Book & Bounce (info here- we are having a little break but will be up and running again soon). I'm also hoping to have another go at a year long challenge. I'll be doing earrings again as I didn't get very far last year. Oops. Others in OTTBS are doing pendants or rings. Some crazy people are doing more than one!

 

Also, did you see my post last year about my pay-it-forward giveaway? At the time of writing this there are still two places up for grabs. Who fancies getting a present from me? Details here.

 

I'm also going to be going on a bead retreat this year! Majorly exciting!!! A long weekend of beading and nattering with like minded folk, most of whom I've only 'met' on facebook. Going to be muchly fun. :oD

Hmmm, what else. Not sure.....

Catch up again soon
xxx

Pay-it-forward Giveaway

Hello lovely readers. Hope you are all well. I am good but considering hibernating till spring....did we miss autumn? Brrrrr!

 

Today's post is all about a pay-it-forward giveaway. I have entered a fab giveaway from the lovely Nancy of www.nedbeads.blogspot.co.uk. Because I'm going to get something from Nancy, I will be making goodies for three people. So who wants something from me? If you want to join in you must also agree to make something for 3 people within a year and they will have to agree to the same and so on, spreading the handmade love around!

 

I have no idea what I'll be making yet. Could be anything from a handmade card, to jewellery to decoration to who knows what! I'm not going to tell you what I'm making you either so hopefully it will be a lovely surprise when it arrives. I am happy to post worldwide.

 

So who wants to play? The first 3 people who comment saying they want to join in will get some sort of handmade item from me within the next 11 months (I was a bit of a slow coach actually getting this post up!)

 

Gemxxx

OTTBS: Bead, Book & Bounce- Little Bead Boxes

Welcome to this month's Bead, Book and Bounce, a beading and book review project we are taking part in over on Operation Tackle That Bead Stash. This is the third review in the series and we are reviewing 'Little Bead Boxes' by Julia S. Pretl. (Check out the introductory post over on OTTBS if you want to know more about the BB&B project.)

 

Now when Clair announced this book as our project I did not own the book. Oooops! I may have bought it just so I can play too. It didn't help that several members of our facebook group showed us loads of gorgeous boxes they'd already made. They can be viewed here (you need to be a member of the group to view pictures, I think, but anyone can request to join us, so please do!) I had seen this book in the past but never bought it because I'm not sure what I would do with all the little boxes if I made them but I decided that the construction techniques would be invaluable to learn. I decided to try it out on the kindle. First time buying a crafting book on it. It was fab that I could read it the instant I purchased it but it was occasionally faffier to use than a print book would be and the layout didn't always make total sense.

I would not recommend this book for the beginner. You could do with being very familiar with peyote stitch as that's what they are all based on. You could also do with a stash of delicas. The instructions are fab, as are the diagrams, but it is fiddly. There are times when you know exactly what you are supposed to be doing but you're really not sure how you are going to achieve it. I have been beading for many years now, and beadweaving in particular for at least 16 years and I did not find my first box easy to make, in particular the hem. Beads breaking were a major problem. Its a high tension project and I ended up making unpicking and restarting the hem on the box 3 times and on the lid at least 5.  Julia does suggest a way to replace broken beads but in my opinion it never looks right and its best just to pull the whole thing back to your broken bead and start again. It really turned in to a labour of love I'm not going to let this &^$£* thing beat me!

 

But I got there! Eventually...
I was hoping to get a couple of them done for this review but I only just finished my first one this morning so no time to get another out before this review needed to be published. I decided on the 'Star' box. Partly because I loved the design and partly because Julia says that the pentagons lie the flattest. I decided I didn't want feet. Personally, I'm not convinced on the look of them. I might change my mind though. All delicas for this box were from the lovely Rachel of RB Beads.

 

 

 

To make it, especially as I mostly read the pattern from my kindle, I tended to use the word maps (all box designs are given in word map and diagram form). Sometimes, I did use the kindle reading app on my laptop though when I needed to see the images in colour. One major tip though, actually sit down and read the book before jumping in with both feet. A large proportion of the book talks about the general box construction. The 'patterns' don't really make sense unless you understand how the boxes are put together. I read these parts of the book several times to get my head around them before even selecting my beads and which box to make. The patterns then made much more sense. Its probably the first book in many years that I've actually read the technique bit before actually starting!

 

So will I make more? Probably, yes, when the memory of the frustration of breaking beads on the hem fades! It does feel great to actually have finished it, especially given the pain it was at time....literally....fiddly and high tension = many stabbings of Gemma with needle. Oh and make sure you have a few needles to spare. I broke 3 doing this one box alone (I used size 13 short needles.) I would recommend short needles and a heavily used wiggly one is VERY handy for the hems!

 

Oh and I suppose I better make more seen as though my finger has just slipped on Julia's website, ooops. Well she is having a sale today and 'Blue Bloom' and 'Olive' are soooooo pretty. ;o) 

 

Check out other members boxes and reviews here!

 

October Crafting

Sorry to report, but hardly anything! The only thing I've finished were the hairsticks I showed you in my last post. I have done a little bit of beading this month but nothing finished. Hopefully will finish my BB&B project for the reveal in a couple of days time.

Better get beading.....
xxx