Sue Beads

It's hard to believe March is already over when it seems like it just began - it's time for the Component of the Month challenge again!  This month, Caroline of Blueberri Beads provided our inspiration.  Here's what I received - a very cool luna moth pendant!  You can't see in this photo, but the bronze overlay is very shiny.  I was having a hard time deciding what I had to match the pendant when I remembered these beads from my inventory for Bead Fest - they'd go great with Caroline's moth!  Here they are together, just waiting to be made into something wonderful! This necklace consisted of a lot of wire wrapping - which I seem to be into lately.  I used bronze seed beads with both my lampwork and the african metal beads I had on hand.  I used bronze wire, that I slightly heat patinaed.  I had a sweet little bronze clasp I had ordered a while ago, to go with seed beading projects, but it went perfectly with this project! ...

When I posted my necklace design with Jenny's Component of the Month, I used kumihimo braid.  I make a thin braid with C-lon and didn't want to use a bulky end cap, so I decided to figure out how to wire wrap the ends.  Some people were interested in seeing a tutorial on how to do this, so here it is!  The one I made for the piece was a messy wrap - here I'm going to demonstrate a fairly neat wrap! This tutorial is really similar to any wire wrapping you would do with ball chain, rhinestone chain, or any material that doesn't have a clear and viable loop. Materials Needed:  Kumihimo braid, 6-8" patinated copper wire Tools Needed:  Two pair chain nose pliers, round nose pliers, wire cutters, embroidery scissors Here is the braid and the wire.  I think I used 22 gauge wire - it needs to be strong enough to hold your cord, but workable too!  Slide your wire into the middle of the braid - make sure that you get it in between stra...