I'm Moving

I just successfully migrated this blog to adventuresofabeadaholic.wordpress.com. Yay! I won't delete this blog but I will be posting new content on the wordpress blog. 

Bead Crochet Revisited

Wow I seem to be touching this blog only once a year. 

Been busy again and now I'm having a bit of time to myself. Unfortunately I haven't been able to continue working on my queued / planned beading projects lately. 

I did start to work on a bead crochet rope bangle project, and after at least a dozen trials and errors, I think I have finally come up with a pretty good output. 

I started doing bead crochet ages ago but the widest I've done was only 8 beads around. This time I'm attempting a 15-around project. 

After a lot of bumpy (really ugly!) starts this is what is looks so far. 

As you can see I started out with a sort of "tail" (not the thread tail) made up of non-beaded single crochet stitches also done in a spiral of the 15 required stitches, just so I have something to hold on to. I found this technique on Pinterest and it's from a Russian website. 

What this "tail" start also does is it fixes up that crucial beginning row of beads so that it all lines up quite nicely immediately as you go along. 

This is how my initial attempt looked like: 

As you can see the first row at the bottom is all gnarly. It would have been tricky to join this end to the finished end in an invisible join, which I'm planning (hoping) to do. 

I'm using a jonquil light yellow and a blue shade size 11/o seed bead color combination. Will post the pattern as soon as I can find it again (and find out if I'm allowed to do so). 

By the way, if you notice my beads are al diagonal instead of flat like it would usually lie in most of the English tutorial sites that I've seen, and even on Bead and Button Magazine tutorials and articles. I got a bit intrigued with this diagonal technique, which I scoured Pinterest for. 

I found a tutorial on a Spanish website (will update this post to include that link) that shows how it's done. 

Basically the main difference is that instead of bead slip stitches, it uses single crochet stitches and that causes the beads to lie at an angle. It's quite different and  I like it. 

Now I still have yet to find a tutorial for an invisible join in this technique. Will keep you posted. 

Queen of the Sea Necklace

Been ages since my last post and I had been quite busy the past weeks (months!). Although I was also busy making projects, tried to squeeze in the time as much as I can.

Made this necklace which is called Queen of the Sea. It's a pattern by Jenny Van.

I remember the first necklace I attempted to make was also a design by Jenny Van. I like her designs.

This was quite tricky for me. When I finished it the arcs twisted and wouldn't lay flat.

I ended up reinforcing the joints and pulling them tighter. It has to be tight and firm or else it would flop and twist. That seemed to do the trick.

Been Away

Responded to a comment today about my bugle bracelet and I realized that I haven't posted anything in almost a year now! 

I took a little break from beading because I had to concentrate on work, had been so busy with that for a few months. I was working on a couple of projects but I didn't have the time to document the process :-( 

Now I'm a bit distracted (sheepish) with other fiber arts too. I guess I was just looking for something that I can do even while I'm in bed, that wouldn't necessitate me going over to my beading nook anymore. 

I dabbled a bit with loom knitting for a while and now I'm doing some Tunisian crochet. This is technically a beading blog though, so I'm not sure you guys will be interested in what I'm doing now. 

But I will be going back to beading soon. I still have a stash of all sorts of things that I really want to put to good use, and besides I also really want to get into soutache. I also haven't even tried the new beads available out there now, like the Duos and such. I'm so out of the loop! 

Trying New Things : Soutache

Happy new year everyone!

I've sadly neglected this blog for far too long. I had been busy with work and really wasn't able to do much crafting until the last few days.

I have been fascinated with soutache. It looks so lovely. Somehow it always looks intricate and fancy and oh so pretty. So after doing some research on what soutache braid to get, I bought some from beading.pl. They are an online store in Poland but you can email any questions and they'll reply in English. They were so helpful too! Me being a complete newbie in soutache, haven't even seen the braid in real life before, and yet I was soon able to get my soutache stash soon.

And here is my initial attempt:

I realized that my tension was too loose and this made the piece kind of soft. I also used Fireline initially and realized that this is probably one of the few instances that Fireline isn't quite the best option. I think it's because Fireline tends to be stiff when it gets "folded" and sticks out in the wrong places along the shaping stitches. Just my two cents though. I don't consider myself a soutache expert, of course.

Then I tried Nymo and this drapes quite nicely. I never liked Nymo for my usual beadweaving but I have to say it seems to be perfect for soutache.

My succeeding attempts:

Still not even. It sure takes a lot of getting used to especially when joining to make the "lollipop," or even just shaping the braid to create a gentle curve.

At any rate, I was able to work on better tension and this doodle seems to be better coordinated:

Then I got all excited and did embellishment already without adding any backing yet.

More soutache adventures to come!

By the way the soutache braid I got from beading.pl is composed of viscose and is the Pega brand. It's nice and does not fray too much. Although I haven't tried any other kinds of braid yet (rayon or polyester), I think this viscose kind is just great.

CRAW Bangle

This has got to be the longest time it has taken me to finish a bracelet. And not because it's too difficult. I've just been so busy lately.

But I love cubic right angle weave and this bangle is my own design. I guess the reason why it's taking longer than usual too is because I'm adjusting as I go along.

I'm now using my new Tulip size 13 beading needle and I love it! It's quite tricky to thread though, as the eye is quite small. It's also shorter than the average size 12 beading needle. And it's so sharp! I pricked myself a few times as I wasn't used to the length. It takes getting used to.

But it feels really lovely, it doesn't bend yet it's very flexible. Another marvel from Japan. They make so many cool things there.

This is the bangle so far. I placed a bezeled 14mm Swarovski rivoli as focal bead. I have a few gaps in between the Craw bands where I'll put 4mm bicones in the same color as the rivoli. Then I'll put a continuous CRAW band for the final layer.

Netted Crystals

Haven't been blogging for a while but I have been beading. :)

Did this bracelet a couple of months ago. It's made using a simple netting technique, from a pattern called Crystal Suspense by Gwen Fisher and Florence Turnour, from the Best of Beadwork book.

I used 4mm rondelles and size 15 seed beads alternating with size 13 Charlotte single-cuts.

I love this because it works up really fast. You can finish it in a couple of hours, maybe less if you work fast enough.

The pattern was for a bangle but I actually ran out of rondelles so I made it a bracelet. I used a bead cap at both ends, put a flexible wire in the center of the tube and crimped it with the clasp.

The finished bracelet. It's one of my favorites, I like wearing it and people have noticed it. It's simple yet elegant.

Floral Inspiration Bracelet

This next bracelet was from a design by Callie Mitchell featured in Bead and Button Magazine. The inspiration for this bracelet is the mimosa flower, which looks like a fireworks burst.

Its main base is a double St. Petersburg stitch, which uses size 15s as the main bead and 11s at the ends before another 15 to bring the thread back into the stitch.

The center spine uses 11s as well.

The spine is then embellished with 4mm bicones between two 15s, alternating along the 11s along the length of the spine. In my bracelet I used 23 bicones.

The end of the toggle is then composed of the "mimosa" feature, with dainty bead strands mimicking the thin needle-like petals of the mimosa.

The finished bracelet. The other end of the toggle is a 6mm x 11mm Swarovski crystal top-drilled teardrop crystal that should fit tightly into the hole made by the "mimosa" part of the toggle.

Bugle Bracelet Number 3

Decided to do another bugle bracelet and I definitely love how quickly this stitch works up.

I made a bangle this time and even without a tube or wire at the center I think it's firm enough.

I alternated a metallic brown rocaille with pink at the center, and used silver lined size 15s in between.

The bugle beads I used are a caramel color with a rainbow sheen.

Here's the finished bangle. I really love this pattern.

Finally!!!

Finally finished the green herringbone bracelet a couple of days ago. Been so busy with the office but I'm happy I was able to make some time for beading again.

Here it is.

Herringbone progress!

Finally some progress! 48 inches of Fireline got me about one and a half inches of the Herringbone Highway bracelet. And around an hour of leisurely beading. Not bad at all. :)

Been so busy the past few weeks and when I get home I'm usually too tired to start beading because I just want to sleep. Hopefully I can work on this bracelet an inch at a time somehow! :)

Bugle Bracelet #2

Made a green version of the bugle bracelet. This particular stitch is definitely one of my favorites now. But I have to say that the bugle beads have to be 6mm. Or, alternatively, if longer bugle beads are used, more seed beads should be added to the round as well. This compensates for that.

I used bead caps again at the ends. To reinforce the bead caps and prevent them from moving out of place, I sewed through the flutings of the bead caps and through the beads underneath to fix them in place.

Not sure if you can see here how I fixed the bead caps. I also don't have a crimping plier (not locally available and I don't use it too often) so when I flattened out my crimp bead, I filed the corners just to get rid of the sharp edges.

Bugle Bracelet 2

Making a second Bugle Bracelet with different colors. It really works up quite quickly.

In contrast, the Cellini spiral takes long to make. The one I started took so long to finish and when I closed it up into a bracelet I discovered that it was too short. My bad, I got too impatient and didn't really measure. It would have been pretty though if I did it properly. Oh well.

The second Bugle Bracelet on the top is made from 6mm blue twisted bugle beads and size 11 Japanese round seed beads. This time with green and gold beads.

Bugle Bracelet

Been busy the past few weeks and I haven't been able to make anything. Started again last night and finished this Bugle Bracelet today.

It's from a pattern from Bead and Button Magazine October 2011 called "Russian Wraparound" by Carolyn Cave.

I decided to use two colors for the round size 11 seed beads instead of three.

I'm using 6mm twisted bugle beads.

The bracelet is done in a Russian spiral and is fairly easy to understand once you get the pattern. It also works up quite quickly and it's very pretty. It's now one of my favorite spiral stitches.

Here is the finished bracelet. I placed bead caps at the ends, and I ran flexible wire through the middle of the bracelet so I can crimp the ends. Then I used jump rings to attach the clasp, which in this case is a toggle.

Cellini Spiral

My first attempt at a Cellini spiral. It was quite confusing at first as I had a number of references. Ended up going with Beth Stone's version in More Seed Bead Stitching. It was straightforward enough and I think I did it right because the end result does look like a spiral :D

Starting out can be confusing.

Halfway through. Will make this into a bracelet.

Tube bracelet finished

Been down with the flu for the past few days. Felt better today so I decided to finish this tube bracelet as it seems to be taking me so long already.

So I added "tube parts" to the rest of the components so that each component in the "spine" now had a "tube part."

It now kinda looks like a solid tube this way.

At this point I was already improvising and wasn't referring to the pattern anymore.

The next thing I did was to close up one end.

To close this end I added thread so that I came out of the green bead and made another component to join with the other one on the opposite side.

This is the loop end of the beaded toggle clasp.

This is how it looks from the side.

Now before I can close the other end I have to fill the tube with the cherry quartz beads strung on flexible wire. I pulled it tight on the end that was already closed.

When I did this, the bracelet itself had to be clasped. If it was strung while the bracelet was straight and then closed up on the other end, you wouldn't be able to bend the bracelet around your wrist.

Here I saw that I lacked a cherry quartz bead at the end so I added one more.

I closed up the other end by using crimp beads, snipping off the wire and slipping it back through the last cherry bead on both ends. I made sure that everything was nice and snug. The bracelet still has to be clasped when closing the other end and crimping both ends.

The finished bracelet.

I actually added one more loop to the loop side of the clasp so that it could be worn looser. I made this for an 8-year old but the second loop will ensure that she can wear it even when she's a bit older.

Tube Bracelet part 3

Finished the "tube parts" and simulated the beads strung up in the middle.

It looks okay laid out straight. But when in a circle (which is how it will be worn anyway) I think it might be better to fill out the rest of the "tube parts." The cherry quartz beads will still be given enough peek-a-boo exposure.

I used flexible wire to string the cherry quartz beads to give the bracelet more structural support at the core.

Tube Bracelet part 2

Been busy the past couple of days so I haven't had a lot of time for beading. But I do squeeze in whatever spare time I can.

Continuing with the tube bracelet, the pattern called for 6mm stones for the center instead of strung seed beads as a design option.

What I had were 10mm round cherry quartz stones so I modified the pattern a bit. The "tube" is now made up of four components across instead of three. This includes the component in the "spine" part of the bracelet.

In the pattern, it showed that the "tubes" were formed on every component on the "spine". I'm making it every other component for now and will see how the string of cherry quartzs look in them.

Tube Bracelet

Making a bracelet from a pattern designed by Antonio Calles (Bead and Button). I actually started making this bracelet a few weeks ago and ended up joining the components to make a ring and earrings set.

First two components, joined as you go along.

I'm using Nymo thread size D now. I've attempted to for a long time but after reading a lot of forums I learned the proper way to use it.

Nymo thread has to be conditioned. It has to be pre-stretched and waxed with either beeswax or Thread Heaven. I read in one forum that it can actually be ironed lightly so that the wax bonds better with the thread. I never tried this before and I think it works!

I put the prestretched and waxed Nymo under a piece of fabric, like a handkerchief. Then I run the iron a few times across, on a medium heat setting.

When I'm done the thread doesn't fray as much and doesn't tangle at all. I used to avoid using Nymo because of the fraying, but this fixed that.

One way to avoid fraying is to just avoid sewing through the thread itself. This will be a big help when you have to unravel for some reason. This is pretty annoying when the thread is frayed.

Here is the finished bracelet base. I'm making it for an eight year old so it's a bit shorter than it says in the pattern.

The next part of the bracelet is to create the tube.

Herringbone Highway

This is a pattern from the December 2011 Issue of Bead and Button magazine. It's called Herringbone Highway designed by Aryd'ell Hotelling.

In my variation I made only one "lane" instead of the two called for in the pattern. I also used materials I had available.

I'm using 5mm faceted Carnelian round beads with 5mm freshwater pearls for the center of the "highway".

I don't have size 6 seed beads so I used size 8s but strung a 15/o before and after it to fill up the gap.

I used an 8mm round red agate for the toggle.

The finished bracelet.