Serendipity

I'd carefully selected beads for a project and placed them in the depressions in one of those artists' palettes when I was overcome by a fit of klutzivity and dumped the whole lot. OMG - what a mess! But wait... while I was picking them up, lightening struck! Wahoo!

I needed to make a ring for the Ohio Beaders' "ring along" and a piece of flat peyote for the ArtFire Beadweavers' peyote month; so using my accidental "bead soup" I made a ring on a peyote base. Now no one can even talk to me because I think I'm absolutely the cleverest person in the world. LOL!!!

Here's my ring - hope you like it:

You can check out the ArtFire Beadweavers Guild here, and here, and you can see all the Ohio Beaders ring along challenge rings here.

Alive and Well Underground

Gee it's been a while, hasn't it? I've been all kinds of busy this past month and had cataracts removed from both eyes (and doing well, thanks ;-D), but did manage to get a few things made and join the ArtFire Beadweavers' Guild swap challenge. Each swap participant has a swap partner and they exchange beads, then each makes something from the beads they receive. Here are the beads I received:

Wow! That's a lot of red, eh?

And here are the beads I'll be mailing off tomorrow - I hope my swap partner, Krafty Max, will like them:

Here's my favorite of the things I've made since the last time I posted. It's a pendant and I hope to get the rest of the necklace finished soon. So many projects, so little time... sigh

Straight or Boxed?

All but one of the basic bead weaving stitches fall into two categories, which I like to call “straight” and “boxed”. The two straight stitches are peyote and herringbone - for these stitches, you pick up and pass through new beads once, then pass straight through beads in a previous row once.

The initial portion of the bracelet below is done in peyote stitch.

The boxed stitches are ladder stitch, square stitch and RAW (right angle weave). To make these stitches, you will pass through each bead several times, making a sort of box as you add beads.

The bracelet below was stitched in RAW, then embellished with pearls and picots.

The one stitch that doesn’t quite fit either category is brick stitch, although it has features in common with both straight and boxed stitches. Brick stitch’s best qualities are that it lends itself very well to increases and decreases, and leaves no thread showing on the sides.

So what difference does it make? Well for one thing, the fewer times you pass through each bead, the faster your work will go, and if you make a mistake and have to “reverse bead” it will be faster and easier to undo as well. For another thing, the fewer times you pass through each bead, the more drape your work will have; this could be either good or bad, depending on the look you want. Finally, if your thread should break after a piece is finished, you will probably lose more beads with the straight stitches.

The free form pendant on the necklace below combines peyote, square and brick stitches for a highly textured piece.

Now get on out there and bead! ;-D

My Flower/Fairy/Angel

This year I'm incorporating a lot of polymer clay work in my jewelry. The other day I made this pendant for the Year Of Jewelry Project. It started out as a polyclay fantasy flower but I got carried away making the beaded leaves. They were so big they looked like wings! Live and learn LOL! So now I'm calling it my Flower/Fairy/Angel pendant.

Peyote vs Brick Stitch

While working on a bracelet that was part peyote and part brick stitch, I got to thinking about the differences in these two look alike stitches and thought I’d share my thoughts with you. So here's a graph you can use to make a pretty little iris, and if you stitch it both ways you'll see the differences for yourself.

Here are some differences I noticed, maybe you'll find others:

• Peyote is more difficult to start than brick stitch and it’s harder to keep your tension consistent in peyote than in brick stitch. On the other hand, stitching in peyote is considerably faster and it’s easier to “unstitch” peyote than brick.

• If you have trouble with odd count peyote, brick stitch might be a good alternative.

• Brick stitch decreases beautifully and, like peyote, can be worked on both sides of the first row.

• Brick stitch yields a firm surface while peyote yields a more flexible surface that drapes nicely. One or the other may be more desirable, depending on the application.

• When I joined a piece of peyote to a piece of brick stitch I was surprised to find a very slight difference in the way each piece reflected light; like velvet but less obvious.

• Running a row or two of brick stitch at the end of a band of peyote firms up the edge nicely. This is especially useful when you want to attach a clasp.

• Peyote graphs may be used for brick stitch by turning them sideways (and vice versa).

Happy stitching to all of you in 2012!