I ♥ Triangles

After reading Mandy's blog Beads For Brains : 365 (day 163) where she had created a triangular weave bracelet. I started to think about how I got to love bead triangles?

Right angle weave has always been my preferred beading technique and for some unknown reason I had never strayed away from the basics of using anything but 4 beads. It had taken me some time to be more adventurous and it wasn't until I came across Mu's beautiful designs from her blog Centperle.

The design Bailar calls for size 6 and size 15 seed beads. On checking my bead stash I realised I lacked the required beads so I plumped for czech size 5 olive seed beads with a bronze size 9.

Mu's great talent for relating a pattern in diagrams avoided the need for translation, making it simple to start and create the lattice backbone of the bracelet which I then proceeded to embellish as per her instructions.

This bracelet is a top favourite of mine, as it helped to make me more experimental and introduced me to triangular weave. So I would like to say thanks to Mu for the use of the pattern and her inspiration.

What a racket...

Just a quick posting as promised version 2 this is more old fashioned style racket I thought the brown beaded frame looked a bit like wood. This was created using czech size 9 seed beads the handle is in an ivory matt and the frame in a silver lined transparent brown with a slightly cloudy / milky semi transparent (not sure what colour you would call it) bead for the strings.



This one measures approximately 40mm x 20mm and depth is 5mm.

Anyone for tennis?

In tribute of Wimbledon I decided to bead a tennis racket. After Googling for a possible pattern and being unable to find what I had in mind. I turned to creating my own design in 3D right angle weave. I was quite happy my creation as it turned out pretty much how I expected.



I used size 11  metallic nebula blue toho seed beads for the frame and crystal frosted toho seed beads for the strings. It measures 35mm x 15mm I think it will make a good bag or key charm.


My husband made a couple of points about making the handle more realistic so I am in the middle of creating another tennis racket... version 2 which I hope to finish tonight and post a picture of the result very soon.


Now I just need a tennis ball, any ideas?

Pink Floral Set

Finally I have finished some work in progress. I made the layered flowers into a necklace by attaching them to some waxed cotton cord with a lobster clasp extender fastening. I made this for a friend at work who was going on holiday to Florida this weekend.



I then used some larger beads size 6 matsuno it said on the packet, and made a similar layered flower and finished it with a peachy pink 4mm glass pearl. I then threaded it onto memory wire with a mix of glass pearls and firepolished czech beads to create a matching bracelet. I was really happy with the design and as was my friend; so I am feeling very positive and can't wait to create some more floral designs.



Please excuse the pictures, they are not the best as the lighting yesterday here was terrible and didn't improve all day. But I wanted to share them anyway.

Doubling up

This title takes me back to my student days and a summer job where I was tasked with doubling up, where all I did for a whole shift was placing one piece of bread dough on top of the other and squashed them together. In the case below I have taken one peyote flower and put it on top of another to create a more firmer and structured flower compared to the single flowers in my last post.



Mandy from Beads for Brains:365 asked me a couple of questions so I thought I would provide some more detail about these pieces for those interested. The peyote flowers are quite floppy but if you make another layer off set from the first layer this helps to make the piece more structured.

The flower above is made using light cream nymo thread and Ivory Cream Ceylon 11/0 Toho Seed Beads from beadservice for the base flower and size 15 silver lined opalesque jonquil beads (which I bought quite some time ago) from Fusion Beads for the inner flower. The base flower spans 30mm at its widest whilst the inner spans 20mm.

Finishing the flower with a central pearl or crystal would help keep its shape and if the petals have a tendancy to flip up or fold over just use a few well placed stitches to fix the inner layer to the base layer (clear thread would be better for making these more invisible).

Pinky Peyote Floral

I've been dipping into Liz Thornton & Jill Devons book The Beaders Floral once again. I love this book especially the peyote flowers they are so dainty and easy to make. The one below is done using toho size 15 seed beads in matt pastel pink from Robins Beads.

I was so happy with this one I decided to make a few more in a range of pinky peachy colours and using size 11 matsuno seed beads (these beads have been sat unused for some time so where they came from... your guess is good as mine).

I plan to make a few more for my master plan, which I hope to share soon once completed.

Greens

My favourite blog is Operation Tackle That Bead Stash it is full of information and inspiration for bead mad people like myself. Each month they have a mood board and invite all to create something inspired by the colour and the images they provide. May's mood board is shades of green. This month I am working towards participating as I struggle with green as I seem to have quite a few green beads which I never use.

On viewing the mood board one of the images struck a chord with me. I have some lovely green czech seed beads from my local bead shop.



One of my favourite bead weaving techniques is 3D Right Angle Weave (RAW). The bracelet below is one of my 3D triumphs which I love the feel of as the crosses are so sturdy so different to how the material type feel you get when weaving a flat sheet of RAW.

And here is the work in progress I haven't done much so hopefully I will complete it before the end of the month.

Scottie Dog Charm

One of my favouring all time beading stitch is right angle weave (RAW) especially using it to create 3D pieces. When beading a bracelet of crosses last year my husband glance over and for a moment he thought they were little dogs. He then asked me could I do a scottie dog? So as always keen for a challenge I picked up my needle, thread and beads and suprisingly came out with something similar to this little guy below who is 2nd generation.

My friends mum saw my phone charm (the original) and thought it would be a great little gift for a friend of hers. I used size 8 seed beads in this one and the chunky little red guy below but it looks great using size 11 too.

Good Friday

It was a very good Friday even if I missed posting yesterday.

My best friend Amanda was up from London who spent the day with me and the boys. We had a lovely picnic in the back garden and then a trip to our local park in Wakefield (across the road from home).

As there was plenty to do at the park we were there for most of the afternoon. We went on the miniature train run by local enthusiasts, a great ride for only 20p each. Then it was over to a bouncy castle and onto the play park where the slides are a favourite for Ben and Alex. On a day like that we couldn't go without eating ice cream and feeding the ducks, swans and geese and then finally exhausted we all went home.

Ruffled Ring

Its about time I finished off some of my work in progress (WIP) as it is getting out of hand. Here is a ruffled circular peyote piece which I beaded over a year ago just sat in a bag of WIP. It is quite a structured piece with a good ruffle effect due to the tension been kept nice and tight with rapid increase of beads on each row. 

After rooting through my findings box I came across a sieve ring that I picked up in London again well over a year ago. So the end product as you see below is a ruffled ring finished off nicely with a Swarovski bicone.

I was more than happy with the result. I just need more rings now to try out some variations on this theme.....can't wait!!!!

Happy friend

It was my first day back at work today after a week off it was a shame to leave the boys after such a lovely week. But on the flip side it was great to see all my friends / colleagues at work.

I finished a bracelet for my friend Jemma last night; using a pattern of Marcie Abney it was in last years June/July edition of Beadwork. It came in handy as my friend wanted an interesting bracelet to go with a new dress she had bought. I only had size 9 czech seed beads but it still has worked a treat I also added a press stud clasp rather than finishing it with the beaded toggle .

To say she loved it would be an understatement. There were many compliments on this from my other friends at work. Thanks to  Marcie Abney, please if you like this you should see more of her inspirational work on her fabulous blog la bella joya.

Easter Bonnet

Last week I was asked by my mother in law to decorate and Easter bonnet for my husband's grandma. I gladly accepted.

Time does fly when you have a deadline and although I had grand plans unfortunately time did not permit me to fulfill them.

First I created a flower braid using a pattern from Liz Thornton & Jill Devons book The Beaders Floral. Then I added some individual flowers including a daffodil using the herringbone variation from the same book (if you can make it out in the centre of the picture below).

It was looking rather pretty but not very easter like, so I popped on some feathers, chicks and a bunny I quickly sewed together from the kids craft box. And my finished product was not quite what I hoped but my husband's grandma was satisfied.

Birthday Boy

Its been a fun and sunny day just perfect for Alex my youngest birthday.

Good Start

I'm off to a good start 2 posts in one day.

I am on holiday from work for a few days for my boys birthdays. We had a lovely sunny day at home which involved playing with lego. I have forgotten how much fun lego is.

Here is Alex with the castle I made him. This is a 2 player game the aim of which is to create the strongest castle so that your lego people are not knocked over when the lego ball is thrown at your castle (its a game my husband played when he was a boy which my eldest Ben has soon become addicted to). Alex insisted on having a door after I had finished building it so luckily I incorporated a hatch door on top.

Here is the winner. Again I had to make this one too. Chewbacca is inside he was the only guy standing at the end I just couldn't knock him over.

First post.. and introduction.

I can't believe it's the eve of my youngest son's birthday and he is 3 years old tomorrow which means it has taken me 3 years to bite the bullet and start the blog I intended to write back on my maternity leave.

Here are my boys now playing happily in the garden today.

What made me take this leap? What is this all about?

Its all about trying something new and challenging myself. Here is my chance to show family, friends and anyone interested what I create and the experiences I encounter. But that said I will just have to see where this takes me.

Just a little bit of my bead weaving work there will be much more to come.