Rose Vine Necklace

Focal Bead by Toastie Beads

When I was at the craft show I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I found this lovely gem of a lampworked bead. I've never really felt much fondness for lampwork before then - yes, I've admired the pretty colours and such, but I've always found them terribly expensive. I can't say how much the glass canes, and fuel for the torch and all the other bits and bobs cost - I've never seen the raw materials for sale anywhere. This one, however, grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I had to have it. Talk about impulse buy.

Thankfully, my imagination, a quick trip to the somewhat-local bead shop, and a healthy dose of courage, I dove into some freeform netting. I was hoping to get an open, organic-feeling necklace that would still support the weight of the bead. I picoted a few leaves into the mess, and actually found 3mm firepolish beads that nicely echoed the colours on the focal, so I dotted them around as well. Check out the overall shot, and a close-up of of the sides below.

PS - Thank you, Anna, for the impromptu photo shoot today after school!

Geometry Experiment #1

For years, I've been hooked on netting and all of those possibilities. (If you think netting just creates diamond-patterns, check our Sandra D. Halpenny's site!) I've been curious to try different things, so after I found the instructions on how to make the triangles you see here in yet another magazine, I decided to give it a shot. After all, it was peyote, and I started with peyote.

Hooked! This was so fun to make. The square is me trying to see if the same 'formula' could be applied to other geometrical shapes with straight sides. It was very tight, but it worked. I'm going to be tweaking the bead count a bit and see if I can't come up with something more flexible.

The design was random, and totally mine! The chain is simple, cross-woven strands, with the occasional beaded bead to pull in the dark bronze colour a bit more. The tubes are six beads tall and four beads wide, and the tiny beaded beads are covered 'flying saucer' shaped plastic clear beads I've had kicking around for years. My first attempt at doing beaded beads too! Thanks to Jeanne for helping me figure out what kind of chain would work with this. Clasp is a beaded peyote toggle and peyote loop.