I thought I'd share this post with you here on my personal blog, in case you didn't get to see it on the AJE blog.
It's just been too cold to make beads in my basement, so I have been concentrating on making beaded ropes with spiral stitch. In addition, I've been exploring texture within the spiral stitch rope and using different clasps. I thought I'd show you some of my experimentation today!
The very first spiral stitch rope I worked on is in the larger photo - I
used an awesome cab by Diana Ptaszynski, and the colors I used were
perfect! I then made spiral stitch ropes to go with my own ammonite
cab, my own lampwork heart bead, and ceramic pendants by Diana and
Lesley Watt. I love how they all turned out. They were all made using
only size 11 beads in two colors, with the exception of the one I made
with my lampwork heart - I used one single color on that rope, and
although it's hard to see, the beads have a really great rainbow effect.
In this photo above, you can see what pattern you get when you use only
size 11 seed beads. This is pretty basic, easy to stitch up, and fun to
do. You can get a lot done in a short period of time!
I decided I wanted some more texture in my spiral ropes, so for the next
two pendants (from White Clover Kiln) I used size 11s as the base row,
and used a pattern of a 15, a 15, an 8, a 15 and a 15 for the spiral
row. I also used buttons for the closures this time, instead of toggle
clasps. The first button was a sort of flower pewter design that matched
the pendant, and the second button was an antiqued copper button that
matches the color in the pendant perfectly!
In the photo above, you can see the texture that the different size beads lend to the design.
These two photos are closeups of the pattern of beads and the texture.
You can achieve awesome looks with this pattern - imagine how many
combinations of bead colors you could use!
I think right now, this is my favorite pattern for spiral stitch!
Finally, I used a base row of 8s and a spiral row of 4 11s in this example that was my CoM for February from Melissa Meman. I love the colors I used, and I love the angelite I used to accent Melissa's wonderful copper clay pendant. However, the stitch of using 8s and 11s is too loose for me; I maybe have a control issue, because I just can't stand the looseness of this pattern.
The spiral row just doesn't lay nicely on the 8s based on the pattern of
three size 8 seed beads and four size 11 seed beads. This pattern was
learned from Jill Wiseman's Beaded Ropes book - I think it would be
better if I hadn't followed the directions exactly and instead of going
through three size 8 beads whenever I was stitching a new row, I should
have gone through 4 size 8 beads. I think that would have made the
stitch tighter. I'll try that if I ever do another rope in this pattern
of beads.
Finally, I made some clasps and bead caps the other day, so I thought
I'd show you a photo of them! I was pretty happy with the way they
turned out! These are the bead caps - I made them out of the cutout
section of the clasps! I textured them, punched the holes, dapped them,
antiqued with liver of sulpher, and then tumbled for a couple of hours.
I love the heft and richness! I will be making more for sale in my
etsy store.
I was clasp deficient, so I made some copper clasps. I punched them out
with my pepe disc cutter, punched the middles out, textured, dapped,
antiqued and tumbled. The toggle bars are made from FREE 12 gauge
electrical wire I got from Jason from a job we were doing - I formed
them, hammered the ends, antiqued and tumbled these as well. I love how
the hammered ends look. Two sizes will also be available in my etsy
shop too!
And finally, my next project - this clasp held an envelope together on a
card Jason got me for Valentine's Day! It's all the more special
because we were in Sint Maarten when he gave it to me (Dutch side).
Thanks for stopping by today and seeing what I've been up to since I haven't been making glass beads. Are you learning anything new?
Susan Kennedy
SueBeads Etsy Store
SueBeads Web Site
SueBeads Blog
It's just been too cold to make beads in my basement, so I have been concentrating on making beaded ropes with spiral stitch. In addition, I've been exploring texture within the spiral stitch rope and using different clasps. I thought I'd show you some of my experimentation today!
Finally, I used a base row of 8s and a spiral row of 4 11s in this example that was my CoM for February from Melissa Meman. I love the colors I used, and I love the angelite I used to accent Melissa's wonderful copper clay pendant. However, the stitch of using 8s and 11s is too loose for me; I maybe have a control issue, because I just can't stand the looseness of this pattern.
And here's the necklace I made with it! I used some of my favorite
beads, turquoise teardrops, turquoise tubes and freshwater pearls,
separated by silver beads. I used two figure 8 connectors to connect it
to the heart. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out!
Thanks for stopping by today and seeing what I've been up to since I haven't been making glass beads. Are you learning anything new?
Susan Kennedy
SueBeads Etsy Store
SueBeads Web Site
SueBeads Blog
Comments
Bonne continuation ! Soraya. http://savannah-charms.com