Lately, I've been packing a 'bag-o-beads' with me whenever I am away for the weekend or on vacation. I find that there is always downtime. Whether that is a lazy morning with a cup of tea or late afternoon waiting for the family to assemble for the evening. That is the perfect time for me to get lost in stitching. Just feeling the beads in my hands and relaxing.
On my recent trip to Mexico I was practicing a Cellini spiral (or as I like to call it a Bernini). There is something freeing about a stitch that has troubled you for so long; when something just clicks and it feels like you've unlocked its secrets. For this one, once I realized it was just a simple peyote stitch it no longer seemed so complicated. After I had the first couple of rows in place, I would just slip a pencil or thin pen into the center of the beadwork and follow the peyote around in a circle.
There was one other thing that saved me many times from pulling out the beadwork. Because this is a twisted pattern (yes in oh so many ways) you can lose count on what bead size or color comes next. Just remember that the bead you are coming out of is the bead you are adding next. After that, it became a lazy stitch in my hands.
Yesterday was a lazy day. I was suppose to be starting on a massive turquoise project, and I do mean massive. Someone has asked for the mother-load. Complete with multi-layered necklace, multi-strand bracelet and of course earrings. My only advice is, for god's sake please don't wear it all at once.
So while I pushed my beads around the table, and pulled out a focal or two to consider, I set it all aside and went off for some mommy-daughter time. All those beads were giving me a serious headache.
I let my 9-year-old pick the nail color, and pick she did! It seems to be the color of the season ... somewhere between Dior's waterlily and Essie's mojito. Just for fun, I checked out toes on my way in to the office this morning, and sure enough this minty sea green seems to be the color of choice. At least at this point for the summer.
My youngest is a veteran nail salon patron. She wasn't shy about asking to add a few flowers to her nails. She has likely been to the salon as many times as I have in my life (almost). Frankly, I never went before I had girls. But I admit it, as much as I'm not girly ... my girls are. And so we go and get our nails done. Flanked with a daughter on either side of me, I confess, I do love my 'girl time' with them.
I'll get back to the turquoise tomorrow.
One of my friends asked if she could bring someone over to meet me, and have a run through my jewelry designs. Apparently she had seen my work on Etsy and wanted to meet me. Wow. Sure!
Her friend had a string of watermelon tourmaline already strung with the stones grouped by color. 'This is how I want the colors' she informed me. Well ok then. I guess she knows what she wants! Tourmaline is one of my favorite stones. I love how it looks (right) like a real slice of watermelon. She wanted a necklace with a connector large enough to hang her glasses from, but also a second connector she could use if she wanted to doubled it up. That was a new one for me, and I really wasn't sure how I was going to do that?
I pulled out a pile of my beading magazines to flip through. I stuffed a couple in my bag to study on my daily 1-hr train ride. I went searching online, but nothing was calling out to me. I decided to put the project away. Several weeks went by before it hit me. Actually as silly as it sounds, it came to me in a dream. Yes I dream about beads.
I realized that I wanted a pattern that could loop through from one connector to the next. I decided that my existing toggles, loops, connectors, etc ... just were not going to be what she was looking for. Sigh.
I decided to create my own out of hammered silver. I cut a few inches of 16 gauge silver and pulled out my Wiggig. Love that thing. Before I picked up this little device I was forever hunting through the house for a tube or pen that I could bend the wire around. My designs always came out a little too 'free form' (yes the air quotes indicate the amateurish outcome). But now with my Wiggig I love to create silver charms. With just a couple of whacks with a chasing hammer, charms become a simple and fun way to customize a pattern. She did really like the design, and the pattern gave her the versatility she was looking for. This time she showed up with another bag, and so I'm on to my next project for her.
Do you ever get beader's block? Where you have one element, but just can't think of how to design around it?
I was having trouble trying to figure out how I was going to design a bracelet around this red fabric button. The color red was stumping me. I don't seem to use much red in my patterns, which I find strange since I really love the color. I went digging through my stash only to find that I did have a string of coral, but I wasn't sure the reds were going to work together. The coral is such a deep color that I worried it would completely overpower the focal button.
I stared at the pile of coral for awhile. Sorting it by size, matching it to various other beads .... then I realized I could look for inspiration from my recent New Zealand trip. I got to thinking about the beautiful view of Auckland's North Shore. Each morning my sister and I would walk along beach looking for shells and checking out the sea life in the little estuaries that sit in the volcanic rock. You can see Rangitoto out in the middle of the Auckland Bay -- a dormant volcano -- that left behind all kinds of nature along the shore.
I went back at my stash to rethink what I should pair the coral with and ran across an old string of cowrie shells. One of my daughters used to love this necklace, but had long since abandoned it to one of my many bead drawers. Perfect! I had my beachcombing idea. I had also picked up a new pattern on my trip that I thought was a fun. It's called Garden Bracelet by The Bead Hold which I altered to be more of an underwater garden theme.
So without further ado, I finally have my 4th installment of the bracelets I'm designing for a friend who makes these beautiful buttons. I'll be back with the 5th and final design shortly ... once I find some more inspiration.
Materials:
1. Navajo: Miyuki seed beads, Beauty button
2. Elizabethan: black banded agate, onyx, Miyuki seed beads, Beauty Button
3. St Petersburg: Miyuki seed beads, Czech beads, Beauty Button
4. Neptune: coral, Miyuki seed beads, cowrie shells, Beauty Button
On my recent trip to Mexico I was practicing a Cellini spiral (or as I like to call it a Bernini). There is something freeing about a stitch that has troubled you for so long; when something just clicks and it feels like you've unlocked its secrets. For this one, once I realized it was just a simple peyote stitch it no longer seemed so complicated. After I had the first couple of rows in place, I would just slip a pencil or thin pen into the center of the beadwork and follow the peyote around in a circle. 
