Rikkis Teleidoscope

My first experience with memory wire. Pretty easy and uncomplicated. The best thing is you need no clasp of any kind. As far as color goes it seems I can’t get away from purple.

I’m still trying out color combos and I’m having fun. I never would have thought that purple and turquoise are such versatile colors.

Tomorrow I need to wear something pink to work. I haven’t got that many pink clothes, which is surprising seeing that I really love pink. Anyway, I need something pink and a necklace was the answer. The centerpiece is one of the little balls I made at the felting class the other day. If this won’t qualify tomorrow I don’t know what will.

I experimented with this one a bit. I wasn’t really sure how this would work out, but actually it did ok. I used tons of leftover beads and threaded them more or less randomly, always with a silver rocaille bead in between. The length is not 100% the same and the fastener is a bit impractical the way I did it. So next time I’ll have to do that a bit differently.

For the Stretch Magic bracelet from a couple of posts below I made a matching necklace. It is rather short so that it even shows with a rather high neck line. It looks great with jeans and a white shirt or blouse.

When I saw those bead trays for the first time I wondered what they were good for. Very soon after I discovered that especially for people who need to remove all their supplies when they are done for the time being it can be extremely useful. With curious kids running around I can’t leave half finished projects lying around, so a bead tray seemed to be an ideal solution.

A couple of days ago I got this tray and am really happy with it. Trying out what works and what doesn’t was much easier and when I had to remove everything, the beads could stay on the tray until next time. Very convenient!

A short video on how to use a bead tray can be found on eHow.

I wanted to try out bracelets with Stretch Magic, because I find those stretch bracelets quite nice and easy to use. No fiddling with a clasp etc. I was just a bit apprehensive about the knot, since I’m not sure that they wouldn’t open again. I got some Stretch Magic today and looked around on the net for some instructions. The shop I got it from says to knot and add a drop of glue to secure it. Didn’t like that idea. At byPatrice.com I found some instructions for Stretch Magic bracelets that presented another idea. Patrice uses a bigger bead at the end, threads both ends through it and finishes with a crimp bead. Good idea! I did the same with my first bracelet, only I used a crimp tube, since my crimp beads were too small, and added a crimp cover on top of it.

Patrice suggests to thread the beads without cutting off the string so the beads won’t get lost. Sensible advice, but I had some difficulty in visualizing how to thread them, since I need to end up with the middle bead at one end of the string. So, just in case there is someone else out there who is equally challenged I came up with this little threading instruction. I’m sure I will have to come back to it again, next time I want to create a bracelet.

In a book about jewellery making I saw that felt and beads go very well together. I had no idea what material to use to create felt balls or other shapes, how it’s done and how much work it requires. So yesterday a friend and I went to a felting class. I only was interested in knowing how to do things I could actually use for jewellery, so, whereas the other participants did intricate flower designs for a vase or a wall decoration, I was just happily sitting there creating little balls, . I have no time for dust catchers. That teacher probably had never seen a least demanding student. Admittedly I didn’t get a lot done in three hours, but with all the chatting going on this is not surprising.

This is what I came up with:

I think I still need to considerably improve my shaping skills but for a first try I’m quite happy with them.

I was busy again. I made this green and black necklace for a colleague. I’m still only trying out stuff.

And while Corin was busy playing with wooden beads I made this cute little bracelet that matches the necklace from the other day.

We went to another beading class where I made this necklace. It fits my hippie style perfectly.

On a German swap site I swapped a bunch of beads, it was just a large batch and I wasn’t sure what would be in it, except I knew there were a handful of large pink ones. After going through them all (I felt like Aschenbrödel who’s sorting out, what was it, peas?). One of the beads in there is this one:

Isn’t this the cutest little bead ever? Totally love it.

I’m just practising at the moment, trying out color combos, various beads and see what I like. So, this is what I came up with…

I recently started to take an interest into making jewelry with beads. I once got two necklaces that a friend crocheted for me and thought I might like to try that out. However, it turned out to be way too delicate for me, so I gave it up again without even trying. I had a look around and found this book by Sarah Withers “The encyclopedia of Beading techniques” which turned my attention to wire jewelry.

My next step was to buy a little craft kit with all the materials to make your own necklace, which turned out to be a bad move (more about this in another post). So a friend and I decided to go to an evening class to learn how to do it properly. We went to the Perlenmarkt where Bianca showed us some techniques and everybody could choose the kind of necklace they wanted to create.

This is what I came up with:

I had a bit of time left, so I decided to make a second necklace which didn’t take a lot of time. I’m not altogether happy with the fasteners, but for the first couple of necklaces I suppose I don’t want to be too particular.