I've had a little time to do some artsy things now that I don't work on Fridays. Tonight I finished a very complicated bracelet made of seed beads and crystal rivolis. This was a very challenging pattern, and it took me weeks to finish. I really love the punkish, glamorous, glittery character of the piece. It's a pattern from one of my favorite bead designers, Laura McCabe. I suspect this piece would be ranked as an "expert beader" level design, "Bead and Button" magazine does not rank skill levels on their patterns. Probably a good thing, as I might have been intimidated by a ranking. One thing I really appreciate about doing a project like this, is that it reminds me that I have never assumed that I could not make something that I wanted to make. I'm not being boastful, it's just that I have always been able to decide what I want to make and then go about doing it. I haven't acknowledged my ability in a very long time. It feels really good to be producing something again!
Last Friday I took apart a glass decoration that had rotting feathers and fringes all around it. I just took some old beads that were a bit bigger than I like using, strung them onto the bottom and came up with a nice garden decoration.
Next I decided to dig out some junk from the basement and put together this:
It's an old bowling ball. I glued on glass pieces left over from a stained glass project and flat marbles. I had grout that was salvaged from the garbage at Home Depot (my brother in law used to work there...I don't dumpster dive!) I've never done a grout project and this was a bit tricky! I should have glued glass way under the ball, because grouting was harder over that large area on the bottom of the ball. If the grout starts to fall off..I'll know why! But, it was fun anyway and used up stuff that was collecting dust in the basement.
I've decided that I'll continue to try to take something out of the basement on Friday's and make something out of it. Should be fun!
3 comments:
i love love this bracelet! may i ask you what colors of beads you used? i would like try to make something like this! and can i contact you if i have ??? about making it?
Hi Valeria, Thank you for the comment! I used a pattern called "Ropes and Rings" from the April 2010 issue of Bead and Button. The colors are iris black, iridescent purple and two different sized silver beads. I'll post a better picture on the blog. I used rivolis that are somewhat rainbow colored, if I made this again I think I'd use purple. It's quite challenging, but now that I've done a few more patterns I think it would be easier. It's just like me to choose something really complicated to get back into a hobby! I checked out your blog...very nice work! You would probably not have as many issues with this bracelet that I had..and it would probably take you less time! Let me know if you have more questions.
thank you for reply. i see you made another one! i love it also! but this one is best one i think. and i saw this B&B before but their bracelet did not catch my eye. i still have some other projects i want to do before to get to this one. and you asked me about my bangle bracelet. i can give you pattern. it is easy. and i use fire polished beads cause crystals are expensive. write me at valerval@usa.com or contact via etsy. and i like your bangles. are they from B&B also?
and i have couple good web stores to get beads.
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