Spoke Bangle Finished!

Finished the Anna Elizabeth Draeger designed Tila spokes bracelet!  This photo is not the best - the Swarovski crystal pearls are deep purple and the crustals on the outide are smokey.

This was a GREAT project - cubic right angle weave (CRAW) with the two-hold Tila tile beads - very architectural!

More Sabine

Sheherazade.  This design is from Sabine's book, my colorway :).  Sold it at auction to benefit the Marjorie Kovler Center for Treatment of Survivors of Torture - I am thrilled to know that a Bosnian survivor is wearing it now, courtesy of her husband!

File under: Inspired by Sabine Lippert

So, I've been obsessed with Sabine since I took a class with her at the Bead Show two years ago - she is really a brilliant designer and.... architect, I guess.  And she is super nice.  And prolific, and generous with her designs.  Check her out on her blog or her web site.

I never have the patience to go all in with her designs, but I love making one little component then throwing it in a chain.  I am a huge fan of her method for bezeling rivolis and other items... elegant, quick(er) and clever clever clever.

A little "La Fleur" from Beaded Fantasies:

A medium "La Fleur":

In this case, I made a few adjustments and "downsized" her Amazon Jewel Pendant pattern also from Beaded Fantasies...

Hobo Glass Necklace a la Fi

For years, my friend Fiona and I have been big fans of glass artist Teresa Silbert at Hobo Glass.  I am an especially a big fan of her glass rings.  Fiona made a great necklace with them as well as her now much sought out "Fi Squared" bracelet.  I riffed off of her work with the below piece, using size 15 seed beads in a two-drop herringbone stitch as the chain, with random color bands to highlight the gorgeous colors Teresa brings out of the glass.

Here are some pictures that show Teresa's work better:

My Challenge Piece for Etsy Beadweavers in August is POSTED!

After being a member for months, I have finally entered by first Etsy Beadweavers Challenge!  The prize for winning is picking the next month's challenge.  There are 12 challenges per year and I am inspired to start entering more of them afte rthe fantastic experience I had making this piece.  There are about 250 beadworkers from all over the world on the team, which is moderated by several wonderful bead artists.

I am really proud to say I designed all of the beaded beads here save one, the red netted bead which is her "Easy Netted Bead" from Diane Fitzgerald's Netted Beadwork.  The rules of the challenge state clearly that I have to have designed the piece and not used any pattern or tutorial, but this is one easy beaded bead that I needed to balance the rest, so I thought that would be OK since the entire rest of the necklace is 100% Jobi (at least to my knowledge)!

The challenges really force me to create something "outside the box" so I hope to do many more in the future.

Let me know what you think!

A little sample of stuff that has sold

The above design was the best seller at the Trunk Show for earrings.  I made several in different color-ways and they all went lickety split.  They are just a right-angle-weave cube of 6mm Swarovski pearls with a netted embellishment.  Easy beaded bead!

Tried my hand at one of the popular "wrap" bracelets (above) and have since sold every one I have made!  They are very fun to wear and work up quickly, but I prefer my fiddly bead weaving, sadly.

I posted the brown embroidered piece above when I did it long ago, but it actually sold so I am posting it again.  I'd like to make another but am having a hard time finding the right stones.

These little butes sold to my lovely next-door neighbor.  I love orange and gun-metal.

Melissa's Necklace

37 inches of odd-count tubular peyote in.... candy apple red.  Cherry red.  Come hither red.  Naughty lipstick red.  Mmmmmmm.  My horrible photography does not do this color justice.  Sadly, bought this tube of beads from a sale bin years ago and have no idea what they are or if I'll ever see this awesome red again.