Playing with Beads

I have been playing....I know I have tons to do, but playing with beads is more fun!!  I learn so much.  Here are some of my creations.  You will notice that nothing is complete!  Enjoy!



netting with embellishment



netted beads



back of triangle weave bezel




front of triangle weave bezel



new channel bracelet idea




my donut...what will I ever do with it?





three bead herringone




RAW beads



leaf chain




large flower




small flower



I now have to figure out how to combine some of these ideas to make beautiful wearable jewelry!  No more playing with beads for a while, though.  Laundry, photographing, downloading ETSY pieces, and about ten other things are calling me!!!

Bead Embroidery

Last August I went to The Southern Bead Retreat in Callaway Gardens, GA.  The instructors were great and I learned a lot.  One of the instructors was Sherry Serafini working with bead embroidery.  In her class, I made this beautiful cuff.  I learned about cabochon attachment and bead placement.  Sherry loves to work with glitzy materials in an asymmetrical way.  This is typically not how I work.  I tend to be be very symmetrical and not as glitzy.  But I am learning!

Until that class, my only forays into bead embroidery were backed cabochons.  Below is the first one I made.  My father-in-law made the cabochon for me.  I love green, so malachite was perfect!  Since this one, I have made a couple more.  One of which sold just recently!

This Christmas, I received a book on bead embroidery and this fired my creativity again.  I have completely finished one project and am currently working on a second.  The first project is called "Dark Winter Night".  I used snowflake obsidian as the main focal stone.  I even added some crystal bicones to add some necessary sparkle for the twinkly stars at night!  You can hopefully see some of Sherry's influence, but not too much!  I would not want to copy her work! 

In the work in progress, I used two stone cabochons that I found while at the bead retreat.  They matched in colors, but one had more circles while the other one had stripes or lines.  I tried to repeat these elements in the surrounding beadwork!  I have so enjoyed doing these!!!