Category Archives: Beads

My last beaded journal page is done

Well, talk about getting down to the wire! With the 2008-09 Beaded Journal Project poised to begin tomorrow, I have completed my last page of the 2007-08 year, my November 2007 page. With my annual jewelry show in November, that whole month is dedicated to preparing for my show. Instead of creating my November page in December then, I was inspired to jump right into my December page at that time. So, November never got done until now. However, I always had what I wanted to create, a tribute page to my greyhound Buddy, in my mind. It was just a matter of getting the fabric paper to put in my printer, updating my printer cartridges and getting started on it.

I’m so glad to be finished with all of my pages. I feel a great sense of accomplishment even though I finished late. Now it is time to turn my sights to the new year and start on my first bracelet!

The Birth of a Freeform Peyote Bracelet – Part 3

I’ve done some more work on my freeform bracelet and it’s slowly but surely getting wider. Because of the different size beads I’m using, it’s starting to lean to one side on the left end. This will work to my advantage, however, because I want to add a coin shaped freshwater pearl and was looking for the perfect place to put it.

It fits perfectly in this little spot right here. Once I add it, I’ll just bead around it with a loop of beads. This loop will eventually be incorporated into the rest of the bracelet as will the large pearl. In this way, you may add anything you’d like to your piece.

I’ve been adding pearls here and there. I also love to add “bridges”, a loop of beads that cross over from one side to the other. This gives the surface of the piece wonderful texture. You can choose to leave the loop as is or add some more beads to it on your next pass around.

At this stage, I will add the larger beads/objects and then assess which parts of the bracelet need to be built up more. You can leave the edges wavy and uneven or try and even them up before you finish the piece. Also keep in mind that if you add to the ends, it will increase the length of your bracelet, of course. I usually start with a 6 inch length so I can add to the ends without worrying about it getting too big. Another thing to keep in mind is what type of clasp you’d like to add. This will add length to the bracelet as well.

If anyone is being inspired to create their own piece, please let me know. I’d love to see photos!

Studio Wednesday

In my studio today, I worked on my last 2007 beaded journal page, my November page. Well, truth be told, it was such a gorgeous day weather-wise that I brought my beadwork out on my deck in the sunshine and enjoyed the fresh air. This is a photo of my greyhound, Buddy, who passed away in August 2001. We adopted him from Greyhound Friends in Hopkinton, MA, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to rescue greyhounds, take care of them and find forever homes for them. Also, to spread the word about them and their plight.

Greyhounds are such amazing dogs, enduring the hard and challenging life of racing at the track. They are usually “retired” after a couple of years of racing because it is so strenuous on their body. Very sadly, most of them are destroyed after they can’t race anymore. In ancient times, greyhounds were the revered pets and hunting dogs in Greece, Italy and Egypt, not used for how much money they could make for their owner.

Buddy, whose racing name was “Paris Boy”, was retired at age 2 1/2 and soon after came to live with my family. The first week he lived with us, we discovered that he had absolutely no idea what stairs were. We lived in a ranch house and it wasn’t until we visited my in-laws down the street and he got excited and walked up their deck stairs to greet them that we discovered he didn’t know how to get back down. My SIL got his front and I got his back and together we lifted him gently down the stairs. Poor guy was petrified. He also was afraid of rubber balls which we found out when we tried to play catch with him and he ran away in the opposite direction of the ball. One thing that he greatly enjoyed was to go into my daughter’s room and methodically take all of the stuffed animals off her bed back to his “nest” of blankets in the living room. We discovered this upon returning to the house one day to find him in a pile of stuffed animals. He was very happy that day.

I’m not really planning my beadwork ahead of time with this page. I was just going with the flow of the beads in the moment and found myself creating a pair of wings for Buddy’s heart. Well, they’re supposed to be wings. There’s some white space at the top and bottom of the photo so I’ll fill that in with some beads. I’m hoping to be finished with this page in the next day or two as the 2008-2009 BJP starts on September 1st.

For this new BJP year, I’ve decided to create journal bracelets, probably 1-1 1/2 inches wide x 6 inches long. With an ultrasuede backing, I’ll secure each one over a metal bracelet blank. I haven’t chosen a theme other than to make each one into a bracelet. My intention is to create a piece based on whatever I’m feeling at the moment. I’ll sew on one bead at a time and see where it takes me.

The Birth of a Freeform Peyote Bracelet – Part 2

Here is what I’ve accomplished today. You can see how I am starting to place the beads in such a way so that the colors are drifting into each other. This will soften that striped look. Because I’m using various size beads, the bracelet starts to get a bit wavy but I can adjust that as I go along by where I place the beads and how many I place.

Sometime I place 2 same size beads at once to fill in a space.

To add a larger size 6 bead, I sandwich it between smaller size 11 beads and make a little bridge by skipping more than the usual one bead.

Or, instead of staying on one side of the bracelet, I can move to the other side by placing size 15 beads (the lighter ones) across the top.

I love to add pearls because they give a lustrous, organic look. Another little bridge. Play with the placement and see which beads work best. Follow your inner voice.

Sometimes bridges can go across to the other side. Those green chips are peridot. I found them at a bead show I went to last spring. The clarity is amazing.

A closeup of one side.

And the other side.

If you want a thinner bracelet, all that’s left to do is to add beads in such a way to even it out and then add a bead/button and loop clasp. The clasp is beaded in a freeform way so that it fits right in with the rest of the bracelet. Because I’m having such a wonderful time with this, I’ve decided to continue beading and make this bracelet wider. Stay tuned for more progress…

The Birth of a Freeform Peyote Bracelet – Part 1

When I woke up yesterday morning, I discovered that the power was off. That was strange because we hadn’t had any storms overnight nor was it terribly windy. I called the power company to be told that they were working on the wires up the street and the power would be restored by 10am. Ok, I guess I could wait for my cup of tea until then. I waited patiently, writing 3 pages of Morning Pages and doing a little reading in my current book, Happy for No Reason. 10am came and went and I called the power company again only to get their automated power outage line. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had called in. Without lights, there was no working in my studio so I brought some beadwork out on the deck where there was plentiful sunshine. The power came back on about 7:30 last night when I was out having dinner with a friend who I hadn’t seen in 3 years.

So, what did I do yesterday, you ask? Out there on my sunny deck, another freeform peyote bracelet was born.

I chose 9 different beads in various sizes – 11s, 8s and 6s – and strung about 10-15 beads of each color for a total of 6 inches. I used 2 of the beads twice in my strand for a total of 11 sections. I always string an even number of beads on a neutral color Silamide thread. Silamide is a twisted 2-ply prewaxed thread that has been used by dressmakers for years. Here’s some great information about it. I’ve been using this thread for years now and I really like it. I used to always use Nymo but it tangled too much on me even when I waxed it. I think that the best thread to use is whatever you feel comfortable with and works well for you. Before I added all of my beads, I added one bead, leaving a 6 inch tail, and looped the thread around to go through that bead again. This creates what is called a “stop” bead which prevents the beads from falling off your thread.

In peyote stitch, I added the second row of beads, stopping to tighten every 3 beads or so. You can see how the sections are more accentuated now.

I then added a third row.

From now on I will start adding beads so that the bracelet doesn’t look so striped. I do this by drifting the colors into each other. In my next installment, I’ll show how I do this.

I absolutely love this way of beading. You don’t have to follow a pattern, only a technique and even then, you will be improvising on the technique here and there. Every freeform piece you create is totally unique and expresses your voice, what you were experiencing, thinking of and feeling in the moment. What colors shall I use? Shall I put this color next to that color? What size beads? The more sizes you use, the more textural and wavy your piece will become. It’s a wonderful way to experiment with different beads. There isn’t a right way or wrong way to do it. Just get in the flow and add one or two beads at a time and see where the beads lead you.