Happy Fourth of July

I have been working on the Cellini spiral bangle bracelet and have almost 6 repeats completed. It will take at least 12 repeats before I can connect it. That's 16 beads times 16 for one repeat times at least 12 or 3072+ one at a time beads. If I worked on it continuously, that would take me at least 16 hours, at more than 3 beads per minute. My body could never take the repetitive stress of beading the same stitch that many times in a row, so it takes a while to complete. No sweat shop labor here! I'm a tough task master, but beading is FUN for me.

Some people mistake the stitch for bead crochet, but I could complete about 16 bracelets (slight exaggeration) in bead crochet in the same amount of time if I didn't get bored doing it. Crochet stitches require tiny movements in the hands. The needle thread movement in the Cellini spiral requires your arm extend the length of the thread you are working with (LONG)--sort of like practicing your tennis swing--plus the pattern in bead crochet is usually 3 same size beads which is much simpler than 16 beads in various sizes in the same order. Maybe I should create a bead crochet bracelet as part of my demonstrating what I do at the Art Sprees. I have one coming up July 15 and 16 at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago.

I ran out of beads for my July challenge entry and so did my supplier, even if they could get them here from Wednesday in time for me to finish by Monday's deadline. They are being shipped now since I called 9 shops to locate some. Also the button for the closure for my latest free form brick stitch bracelet should be in my mail box on Tuesday.

I've taken a little break from beading to work on Facebook, read magazines, and live life.

Dutch Spiral Necklace and Earrings

Earrings of the day are Swarovski green and purple flower earrings. They look spring/summer to me.

I added the dutch spiral necklace which has Swarovski black diamond ab bicones as well as the delica beads which are miyuki 107 transparent grey iris which are similar to the black diamond color. This is my creative heart shaped display for necklaces. If you want to learn more, the listing should be above under my blog banner.

Dutch spiral is similar to peyote stitch except some of the beads increase and decrease (the delicas) and do not connect to the previous row. Counting is important so that it drapes well. Also the beads used vary in size starting with an 8 (I used a double delica columnar shape bead) which is a great place to hide knots and several size 10 and then the delica beads. Use uniform size of beads for the ones that increase and decrease to get a beautiful spiral curve. You always know which bead to pick up because it is the same as the one you are coming out of from the previous row.

I have used a variety of stitches to finish off the spiral, but find the strung crystals and silver to be preferable. You really can't see the sides and back of a necklace, so spending extra time beadweaving there just makes the necklace more costly. Besides the crystals are lovely. This stitch is a lot faster than the cellini spiral.