Ocean’s calling

beading in progress

Enjoying blue beads again, I am working on a new wrap in aqua colors.  Here are pictured some seed beads in tubes and the tray, the tiny needle used for the peyote stitch fringe, and two handmade beads on a stainless steel rod.

The royal blue wrap was made earlier and I have the basic strand assembled for the aqua blue necklace.  It has three handmade Aura Sun Arts beads in the seafoam blues that remind me of tropical oceans.

seafoam blues with a bit of fringe

Here it is with the ruffled fringe of smaller seed beads added on.  I may add some fringe to the right side of the strand just to see how that looks.

I have not been to the beach in a long time, but I take a look at Hempstead Beach on Long Island New York, by webcam when I want to pretend.

Click on either photo for a closer view.

Survivor goes Mayan

mayan style bracelet with jaguar carving

This season’s episodes of Survivor:  Redemption Island are taking place in Nicaragua.  The black and white spiral design called the Hunab Ku is featured on playing pieces in the game, such as tiles that were broken in a recent contest.

Many years ago I took a trip to Belize and read up about the Maya before the trip.  I was able to visit Tikal and some of the barrier islands for snorkeling, sea kayaking and camping.  The slate carving of the jaguar was a souvenir.

Later I created this peyote stitch bracelet with seed beads using that motif for the central design.  The beads are slightly rectangular in shape so the design came out oval instead of perfectly round.  Sorry, these are not for sale, but you can click for a closer view.

Boxwood lion carving

Carved wooden lion bead, with wooden knot bead at neck

This week we have a special carved boxwood bead in the form of a guardian lion, sometimes also called a Fu Dog.

It has a sweet face with beady black eyes and an open mouth, looking up at the wearer.  The back of the bead has the signature of the artist.  It was purchased some years back at a fine bead shop called Hands of the Hills on Mercer Island, WA, that has unfortunately since become wholesale only.

Another carved wooden bead sits at the back of the neck.  Click on the image for a closer view.  The necklace stringing is a subtle gradient of browns; incorporating seed beads with a sprinkling of larger beads.  It is 24 inches long with a three inch tassel.

This one is promised to a good home but a similar piece would run $125.00.

Fire bead in a woven choker

fire bead in peyote stitch woven choker

Finally finished another woven seed bead choker this week.

I call this series Fire beads because of how great they look in full sunlight – like they are on fire!  Translucent ambers and blues with glimmers of gold and lots of encased air bubbles make this handmade Aura Sun Arts bead special.

The focal bead colors are repeated in the seed beads along the necklace, in shades of amber and brown, with flecks of gold and a scattering of blues.  The bead weaving technique, using upholstery thread and a tiny needle, is called the peyote stitch.  With it you can create patterns or completely freeform pieces, it is much like knitting.

Browns and blues just naturally complement each other, it’s a good team.  Here is another shot to show the detail on the end clasp.  Some of the beads were just 1mm in size, it made this one more challenging.  It is 15.5 inches long.  $250.00.  Click on each photo for an enlarged view.

fire bead with bubbles

Spiral peyote choker

Spiral peyote choker

Today’s necklace features an Aura Sun Arts lampworked bead with blues and traces of gold.

The necklace is 16.5 inches long, and is strung on stainless steel beading wire, with a tube of spiral peyote stitch seed beads embellishing each side.  The seed bead work is done with a tiny needle and upholstery thread.  Click on the image for a larger view.

Weaving the beads and thread is somewhat like making running bond brickwork.  You will have a string of beads with alternating beads standing taller, and you add the next bead between two tall neighbors.  I have used seed beads of three different sizes here, which makes the pattern more free form.

The Wikipedia article on brickwork has some interesting terminology for bricks, like soldier, sailor, shiner and stretcher; all names for how the bricks are placed in the wall.

The bead weaving is a slow process which makes this style more expensive, resulting in a price range of $90.00 to $120.00 for this one or similar necklaces.

String ’em up

After a summer of bead making, when the cooler weather arrives, it is time to string up your creations into wearable jewelry.  There are so many ways to do this, but the very simplest is to wear a bead on a ribbon or leather cord.  Another easy way is with flexible beading wire and crimping tools.  With a crushable tube of silver (a crimp bead) you can secure the wire to the end clasps to finish your strand.

Finished strand of beads with loose seed beads

Here I have a blue green center bead I made with some companion beads – seed beads and some slightly larger beads for more color and contrast.

A variation on this would be to have three or more strands of smaller beads holding that larger center bead, the multi-strand necklace.  Next time I will have a knit tube of seed beads forming the necklace to show off, stay tuned.

private reserve: multistrand necklaces

tubular seed beads with focal bead

There are many different styles for stringing beads into finished pieces.  These are not for sale, but are examples of my work.

This one shows a focal lampworked bead with a choker made of seed beads, woven in peyote stitch into a tube.  Mo approved.  These will be fun to make in a rainbow of colors.

multicolored multistrand

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On the left is a set of multicolored seed beads; coral, turquoise, deep blue, with chips of opal and chunks of coral interspersed.  The multistrand necklace has a coral focal bead, and the peyote stitch bracelet has coral buttons.  Click to see entire view.

brown buddha

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On the right, is  a multistrand  seed bead necklace in a gradient of browns, interspersed with brown pearls and larger brown faceted glass beads.  Click to see the matching earrings.  I did not carve the lovely boxwood Buddha bead, the signature on the back might be Japanese.

best of 2008 blues

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Lastly, a single strand that has the best of the blue beads I made in 2008 during classes at Glass Expressions, in Burien, WA.  The clear and frosty beads are quartz.  Also shown are matching earrings.

Click on any of the photos for a larger view.

Private reserve

There are some things you make that are really fun,

seed bead bracelets

but take so long to make or are so special you can’t ever consider selling them.

These peyote stitch seed bead bracelets are about two inches wide and at twenty or thirty hours apiece are not a practical item to try to mass produce.  But making them is much like knitting, just a needle, thread, and picking up the next bead to fit in the pattern, or the next color that calls out to you.  I had fun weaving these while watching TV, until a certain black and grey kitten arrived at my house and I had to hide such temptations.

The black and white one is a Mayan design called the Hunab Ku, a spiral that shares the wisdom of the yin and yang symbol.

If you click on the image you can see them at full size.  By starting the weaving with a row of black and white beads or a very high contrast set of colors, it helps to keep the pattern straight until you get the rhythm down.