Round Robin doll going home!!

The Jungle Dolls Round Robin @ Beaddreamz yahoogroup is coming to a close this Dec 15, and I worked hard getting Jo Adam's doll finished and ready to go home early! There are many gifts I have still in my head that need to come out and get into my hands, so they can wend their way to friends and family, so Orchis, the beads, Diane Fitzgerald's The Beaded Garden and I sat down for a two day marathon, in between cooking for eight! LOL!

I hope you like the results!

Beaders included; Dian, Gail, Jo, Sherry, Ruth and myself.

I can't wait for mine to come home- she is going onto the tree..

Come join the next Round Robin at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beaddreamz/ and have some beady fun!

And, as always, click on either photo to make it full-size.

Challenge at Beadmavens!

You have until November 28, 2010 to enter this challenge, and it is open to all, internationally!

http://www.beadmavens.com/Bead_Mavens/Challenges.html

Just email the photos of your piece(s), along with a paragraph about it or them- how easy is that?!!

I just had to enter my Ice Queen's Delight!

Not about beading, but a bit about BLING

Ah, what can you say? Thousands and thousands
of Swarovski crystal rhinestones?? No 'accidents'
allowed!! If you've had 'too much', please do it
over the railing, outside!!


For the more 'gentile' among us.



Awwww, you could get in some great toilet-training
with this one, or make them hate fish, whatever!



Not only fun, but supposedly the 'correct' positioning?
yeeee-hawwww!


If you like snakes, this is for you!

Calling all Rolling Stone fans!!

Acoustically sound??

After we were pissed on, and pissed off

who wouldn't want to return the favor??

Who says bathrooms have to be 'boring', especially the more functional bits? I know I would be hands-up for one of these urinals or toilets, but the Swar-covered one???LOL! That would be a cleaning nightmare!

Another 'donut', or perhaps a fritter??

Donuts have holes in the middle, fritters are bumpier, but both are delicious!

This just cried out for a rivoli in the back, and the 3mm Czech FP held it perfectly with a bit of netting.

Now, what kind of strap should I make????

More corrections- what's in a name?

See, it isn't only beading we learn from other beaders....

Laure is from Belgium, and is female! The spelling with Laurence is female and Lawrence is male.

Ta-dahhh!

In the USA, it is Laurie for both male and female, Lauren for female and generally Laurence or Lawrence for male. Though all rules are off since the 1960's!!

There! Your fun for today.

Bead for me...I am off to the Emerald City to visit my oldest and her baby Taylin, our first grandchild...wonder if he will be a beader when he grows up?

SO much better now

After culling the size 8 beads as I went, beginning with the thinnest, then adding the wider on the outside rows, I get a nice, stable, flat donut beginning!

Hooray!!

More of this and that

This is what happens when you get beads that just scream to be used in herringbone, but you want to embellish afterward! Swar 4mm gold glass pearls, purple velvet Swar bicones, Czech reproduction button. Gifted to Bebee G of NC/FL!

Playing around with teaching myself RAW 3D, using el cheapo Chinese bicones, came up with this lovely cross, which will be part of a Christmas gift to a close friend. See, you CAN make something nice with those bicones- $1 for a 16 inch strand!

Riza C, a fairly new beader (since April 2010!!!) did the top two using the Alhambra pattern by Sabine Lippert. I like how she used the semi-precious Chinese Turquoise, Turquoise R/S, Indian Jasper and Autumn Jasper in hers.

The top of the three is Jan Wasser's Diamondback pattern, done with Indian Red and Indian Pink Swar bicones, the other two are Alhambra variations, original pattern by Sabine Lippert. I wish the 3.4mm fringe drops on the black and silver (Miyuki) didn't lose their silver coating, or that I had used the FP version, but I still like it. The charlottes are Tierra Cast, and they are holding up beautifully, though now that we are using our gas logs for heat, have to keep all the silver that I cannot put into the tumbler to clean in ziploc bags, because they tarnish from the sulphur in the propane. The stones in the black and silver are black tourmaline (the 8mm), smoky quartz R (6mm faceted) and black agate D (4mm). The lighter bracelet uses the glass pearls from FMG- not Swars, but they are holding up nicely. Both of these use the C clasps from Claspgarten, and I highly recommend them as easy to put on, yet do not come apart during wear.

Happy Moon, indeed! Face by Solly Creations, Kato clay with alcohol ink, embellished herringbone base. Gifted to Riza C of Bryson City!

What have YOU been up to?

Correction!!!!

Laure's blog is
http//laurebijoux.canalblog.com

I got a personal reply- so very kind and sweet! It is wonderful to hear from another beader on the other side of our world.
I didn't realize that most beaders there use Miyuki and Toho brands, almost exclusively. Here, we fight to find suppliers that carry those brands of seed beads in prices we can afford, or think we can afford. Charlottes are hard to come by, as are the Czech seed beads. Interesting, when you think of how much closer the Czech Republic is to them, than it is to us.
Again, I thank Laure for sharing the donut pattern- it is pretty, and teaches much while attempting it.
What I learned last night; all size 8 beads are not the same- the Matsuno brand gave me fits, as it was not only uneven in width from hole side to hole side, but also very tubular, with thick walls. I went to the Miyuki, which also had much width differences, but the walls were very thick as well. If I had culled so that the thinner width size 8 were in the first row, then the thicker used on the second row, I would have gotten it to lay nicely. However, see the photo for the wobbly look!!
If I am good at nothing else, I am great at frog-stitching (pulling out the beadwork!). So, I do love the color combo that is happening and will pull out and try using the thinner Miyuki on the inside row and the thicker on the outside. If that won't lay nicely, I am going to use a Toho, which I KNOW is very uniform in width from end to end.
I laugh when I realize now how quickly and easily the first donut went- I didn't even pay attention to the size 8 beads and it was nice from the start. My bead choice on that one? Toho!!
I am determined!!
Why not try creating your own?
Laure has posted the directions in pdf format on her blog, in 5 parts, with both photos and written directions. Using yahoo's babelfish gave me MUCH better translation than did Google.
Happy Beading!

Gotta love the glass!

What is it about dichroic glass that is so fascinating? Is it the color

play? The depth? The sheer extravagance of both? Whatever it is,

I am in love with dichroic glass!

Not all is created equal, and it takes a certain eye to put combinations

of color, metallics, size and shape to create a really special piece. I am

lucky to have such a person in my dear friend, Sharon 'Harry' Solly,

of Solly Creations! She was 'just playing around' with dichro, and I was

gifted with this amazing peacock patterned piece.

Being the Queen of Procrastination ( it is really how I manage to collect

and ahem, sit on my treasures, so to speak - a la Smaug the Dragon

from The Hobbit- you can imagine that I surprised even myself when

I created both the netting for the glass AND a herringbone-based

bracelet within days of receiving the piece!!

And I adore it!

Hope you enjoy! Click on any photo to make full-size.

Whoa, where HAS the time gone?

I could have sworn it was only a week or so since I last posted, but there I go again, beading away and not paying attention!
We have a new challenge at Beaddreamz http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beaddreamz which will run for a year, ending December 31, 2011. Those who wish to take part will bead either one or two pieces every two months, and use either current or older Bead & Button magazine patterns or Beadwork patterns, if they subscribe or buy those magazines. Free links to patterns that both magazines offer are to be published at Beaddreamz in the Files section, for those who do not get the magazines, to use. It promises to be fun, and I have to admit, I was one who never made any of the projects. Now I not only use them as inspiration to jumpstart my own creations, but enjoy making some of the patterns just as they are.
Well, for those who know me, as close as I can come!!



As you can see by these photos, I ended up accidently taking liberties
with Laure's free pattern, offered by her on her blog
http://laure@canalblog.com . My donut's two sides did not match up,
so I zipped them up nonetheless, added the inside components
as best I could (if you try this, make sure your size 15s have large holes!),
and love the result. It will do double duty as both ornament on the tree
and as pendant, hanging from silk ribbon.
Thank you, Laure, and I hope you forgive the changes! I hated to tear the
beadwork apart, but are
already working on another that will be correct, as well as translating from
the French to American English. I will be happy to share that translation, if you want it!
Click on either photo to make full-size.

Happy Fall!

Fall is here, though going fast, and Callie Cat

is sleeping with her Big Kitty, by the fireside!