Olga's English Blog

I really enjoy reading her blog..http://lovingbead.blogspot.com/

Olga Pavlova Check out her website and blog!

Silly blogspot won't let me add her blog to my site, so will promote her this way.
http://pavlova.us/ and http://diary.pavlova.us/ Olga Pavlova! Please visit her site- the blog is not in English, but there are plenty of good translation pages out there. Beadwork is beadwork in any language!

Bloomin'

Sometimes we just have to have flowers in our lives. I have collected glass and lucite flowers for some time now, but have been reluctant to use them. This version of Stacked Sparkle (April Bead and Button magazine) has a double stack of beaded leaves and glass flowers along both edges. I tried just one row on each edge, but it wasn't enough. You can see pearls and Czech faceted rounds peeking out here and there. This is going to be a fav of mine, I can tell already.

Curly Curl How To

The above is with the curl pulled out, so it is more of a swirl

and will have a beaded bail at the top, and some sort of focal

hanging from the base, perhaps a beaded rivoli in heliotrope?

Thanks to Stacie (Whytefeather- you can see her blog thumbnail at the bottom right of my main page) asking questions, there is this step by step word explanation of which beads were added to make the spiral.

I LOVE questions about how things are done- and think that sharing ideas and patterns is a blessing. Of course, I respect those who make a living doing this, and their right to keep their ideas to themselves, but for my own, I just have to share them.

Here it is, in a nutshell, a very LARGE coco-nut shell, the rows and colors and styles (oh my!) that were used. A few tips are scattered throughout.

The only trouble I had was getting the two largest rounds, the 8mm and 6mm beads to be the actual beginning of the 'flat' peyoted piece. They just wobbled around. So, I did the 3mm cubes in Gold AB matte and the 3o in the gold AB as the first two rows, then immediately went back to the outside edge of the 3o gold AB, added a row of light amethyst 6mm, then on top of that added the 8mm glass chandelier rounds. At this point, it was a more or less flat piece of peyote 13 beads wide, and 4 beads deep.
Working the needle and thread back down to the 3o gold AB, I began another peyote row at that point with the 6o Czech green seed beads, then added the 8o red-gold hex, then a row of 8o triangles in blue-lined purple, next row was the blue satin S/L 8o Japanese style tube( tho not delica, think they are Matsuno), a row of green satin S/L 11o Matsuno, then a row of 11o Czech blue AB matte, a row of 13o matte gold charlotte, and finally, on what is a heavily curved piece, a row of pale peach/green 14o Matsuno.
This should be a total of 12 rows of peyote on what would be a flat piece, if all the beads were the same size. The beads getting smaller with each added row makes it spiral.
Alternating the Czech with the Japanese seed beads gives more of a curve to that spiral.
Turning the piece over, I added a row of gold 14o seed beads to the pale peach 14o of the previous, pushing it to the other side as I went, then added a row of bronze 13o to that gold row, beginning the building of the other 'side'. Now a row of matte gold AB Matsuno, green satin S/L 8o Matsuno, 8o light amethyst triangles, bronze 3o, dk blue matte 3mm cubes.

I then took the thread through the 6mm amethyst rounds of the first row, attaching the blue cubes to it with peyote stitch, and up through the 8mm glass afterward, to pull tight and make sure they stayed in place.
Turning the piece over, I saw the gold AB 3mm cubes had pulled loose from the amethyst, so redid the peyote holding them to the 6mm amethyst rounds, to pull the work tightly together on both sides.

If I had not chosen the 6mm and 8mm round beads for my outside, this process would have been much easier, and would have looked more like the photo I remembered. But it would not have been so interesting looking, so am happy I did.

All the triangles used were the smooth-edged variety- don't recall the manufacturer-sorry.
Thank you for asking questions, Stacie- nothing makes me happier than someone wanting to learn a new process!!

Remember to click on the pics to make them full-size, then right click and 'save as' to save to your computer, which allows you to print them out, number the beads rows and recreate, if you so wish.

SPRING!

I so want to see green, all the greens, from the lightest yellow-green of the new leaves on the elms to the deepest blue-green of our mosses. I am tired of grey, white and black. I want blue, Carolina blue skies, not the misty half washed-out tired grey-blue they have been all Winter, when they weren't just nasty old dark. Not even a color, just dark.

So, as the weather is snowing yet again, and Nature has yet to hear my plea and respond, I decided another bracelet, in Spring colors, was needed.

Here it is!

Now, for some flowers...

Curly Curls

curl

What do you get when you peyote long strips, and have the rows of beads graduated in size, from smallest to largest? Why, a curl, of course!

The more size differentiation, the better the curl.

The longer the original strip, the longer the curl.

Why I made these is a story, or a couple of stories, unto themselves.

The Pigtail, so named because, well, it looks like one, was an attempt to do the Peeking Pearls pattern using different sizes of beads, rather than separating a box of 11o Dynamite beads. Lesson learned; the outside diameter not changing is what makes it into a necklace or bracelet, rather than a pig's tail. Changing that diameter brings on a curl that makes it unfit to wear as such, but could be a cool focal. Still working on that one.

The fatter curl was an attempt to recreate a curl I saw once in a photo, and that was from an advertisment for that class. It looked double sided, sort of, so I started with the largest seed beads, did a couple of rows, then went back to the outside and added the 6mm and 8mm rounds. Then it was back to the inside, and adding more and more rows of smaller and smaller beads, finally ending with 15o charlottes. I then used that base row of charlottes to begin adding my other side, building off it in the opposite direction; toward the larger beads. I tried to match up sizes, but change colors, and sometimes styles. When I got to the 6mm rounds, I took the last row on the 2nd side through that row, attaching the two side together at that portion.

Remember you can click on any pic to make it full size.

While this may not be exactly what that class and teacher had in mind, I like it alot, and are going to add a beaded bail to the 'top' and perhaps hang a nice Swar at the base, then put it all on a rope, or maybe even a chain.

What kind of curl can YOU come up with??

Deco Bracelet

With a huge bow to Lisa Kan, and her Bead Romantique book, I altered her Deco Necklace pattern, which called for 5 unit rounds, to 3 unit rounds, and did a simpler clasp. Being mostly wire-challenged, I gave up trying to make decent loops for the amethyst drops ( after breaking two of them!), and hung them on snake-shaped headpins, adding Swar 4mm and Czech roundelles. It was fun and easy to make, and will become a favorite of mine to wear...I just love slinky bracelets!

Who Wants to Go Shopping For Beads?!

The turquoise and dyed agate square are from Alice's Lace and Fabric Shop, in Whittier, NC, right on US 74 West. No website, but a wonderful place to stop for seed beads, loose stones, all sorts of Native American bits like feathers, turtle shells, leather and stone pipes, plus the only fabric shop for 60 miles either direction!

The Raku Button came from the John C Campbell Folk School gift shop- $4!!

The rest of the beads come from Birdsong Beads in Andrews, NC- a really cute shop with surprising goodies every time I go!

Gotta Have 'Em Beads and What to Do With Them

You know the ones I mean...the ones you have no clue as to how you will use them, you probably can't afford to buy them right now, but you go ahead and add them to your stash, taking them out now and then to admire, then put back into hiding?

The sharp-edged faceted AB beads, both in oval and triangular shapes, were just those beads a couple of years back. They had just hit the wholesale market, and at the wholesale show in Franklin, NC, they screamed 'buy me'!! Wouldn't you know, that was not a good money year for us, and I had pooled my little bit of 'extra' cash, plus a tiny amount on a credit card, just in case. The show had just opened, and it was in the new steel frame building, that was covered with a permanent sort of building-shaped tarp. The steel interfered with cell phone service, as well as any of the vendors being able to use their credit card machines. This poor younger woman not only had to put up with me drooling all over her new style glass beads, but then to add insult to injury, couldn't even run my card to let me buy them! I was heartbroken, didn't have enough cash, and turned to leave when she offered to take my number and run it later..usually that is something I prefer to not do, but I let my greed for those beads take over, and walked away with squares, triangles and oval rectangles in two colors!

She was as good as her word, ran the card after the show, and mailed me my receipt.

I never knew what to do with the beads until I ran into these 3 hole, 3 bump greenish purple Czech pressed glass beads from Silver Armadillo!

Voila! This necklace practically made itself!

I had to add a couple of Czech ovals to fill in, but had exactly the right number, in the right colors, to do that.

It fits like a dream, and is blingy enough to satisfy any Mardi Gras cravings!

Enjoy!!

Free Pattern

I hope this gives everyone time to get something done in time for Memorial Day, or the 4th. Use it as a pendant, a brooch, earrings, or 'fill in the spaces' and repeat the pattern for a bracelet! I wanted more stars than stripes, to show that the States, and the People, are in charge of creating Peace, both within our Nation, and as part of this Earth. The star at the bottom bleeds into the top white stripe, to show that the States have to be part of the binding up, or healing process...the white stripes surround the red, to show that Healing must surround what we do to maintain Peace, rather than bloodshed being our focus, as a Nation and a People.
Enjoy this free pattern by clicking on it to make it full size, then right click to open menu, then chosing 'save as'. Please give credit but use the pattern as you wish. Thank you!

Sparkle A-Bridged

Cindy of beadlady.biz fame had these marvelous copper penny 11o beads (#481), and I wanted to test their finish as to stability. Another Stacked Sparkle form bracelet was called forth, but put a 3 bead bridge over and between the crystals, as well as alternating a single bead with the 3 beads called for, in the final step of the pattern. These are the very outside beads. Having 3 beads in every space made it ruffle up, but alternating with a single bead lets it lie flat.

The 8 mm magnetic copper clasp came from Flamingo Beads in Florida, and are super strong.

Oops! She's a Puzzle

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I can't believe I never posted pics of the finished Mask, from The Beadin' Path's challenge of 08!I guess Kurt's mom getting sick, then finding out she had cancer, the MRSA from installing the port for chemo, etc, just derailed me. I had my nose to various grindstones, and it just slipped by. Here are some pics to enjoy. I do not regret any moment spent beading it.

Wonder what these will be?

These are ready to work with..

These two dimensional beads were what started the whole idea.

Thanks to Genny, of New Bel fame, I now have these lovelies to play with- she came up with and shared her pattern. Whatever will they be, and what will the final product look like? Stay tuned for developments! Hint: the next step involves Sharon Solly's RAW around a bangle technique.

Here are 2 of the WT swap pieces!

These went to Bev Moon in TN!

When you need to laugh so hard...

that you p your pants, check out http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ .
The first time I ran into her site, I stayed up to 4 in the morning, laughing and crying! Did I need it? YES! Did I scare all the animals so they ran into the bedroom and hid from the perceived source of insanity? YES! Did my DH come out to see what the heck I was laughing at, then stay up from 2-3am laughing along with me? YES!!
Was it worth it? HELL YES!
And it was, and still is healing...laughter truly is the best medicine.

PEARL SPARKLE

A varation of the Stacked Sparkle by Michele Skobel in the April 10 Bead & Button Magazine, I wanted something with a little less bling, so added glass pearls and matte 15o to the mix. Also am not a big fan of metal clasps, so did up a toggle and loop of the same beads.

I really like the results! Hope you do, too.