Lapis Blue

The change from daylight savings time in the fall always makes me a little blue which inspired me to list this cuff bracelet and earrings in my etsy shop and to share them here. I will be adding more blue items in my shop.

I love lapis blue, cobalt blue, sapphire blue, any shade of blue. I think it is the favorite color of most people. These items are bead woven in right angle weave, with the earrings in circular right angle weave. It was quite a trick to get the beads on both sides of the base; I bent and broke more than a few needles. I just needed to make the base a little larger and then fill in with tiny seed beads to hide the spaces between the beads. The cuff has size 15 charlotte lacy edging on it, my favorite part to do. I wish I made it smaller -- it fits a 7.5 inch wrist, not mine! Somewhere there is a woman who is the perfect fit for this cuff bracelet. Are you that person?

August

I listed this bracelet and pair of earrings today as a set. I cut the price of the combined two items by $10 and eliminated a shipping fee on the earrings. This is a Swarovski Night Blue Pearl bracelet that is connected with tiny hematite charlotte beads. The earrings have a Swarovski hematite crystal bicone, a sterling silver round bead, and a night blue pearl. This bracelet is a little larger than average, fitting an 8 inch wrist. There is another night blue pearl bracelet with faceted crystal rounds that's a 7 in my shop. I like to make similar items in different sizes; kind of how a painter does a series on a theme.

I started on the bracelet in the new fall colors since my rosaline pearls are in the mail. I picked up some tiny beads for embellishment at my local bead shop that are close in color and match in finish in case the Muse tells me to add more embellishment. I need to photograph them in process for you.

I loaded more photos on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/KRDesigns11 including the Night Blue Pearl items and Platinum Pearl ones. They are in a set called Right Angle Weave.

I had the most views in my shop in the month of July since I started in February. The end of the month was slow or I would have had a phenomenal month, view wise. Is that a word? Spell check wanted it as two words. What would I do without spell check?

Look for the EBW challenge entries soon.

Mother's Day Showcase & Earrings Promotion

The photos are of additions to my shop today. The left side is my final pair of earrings in the April promotion. Since I have a Mother's Day Showcase slot, I decided to keep the prices promotional for one more day.

The right side is a cream pearl and crystal ab bicone bead bracelet in right angle weave. I use gold with cream. It is a classic bracelet style I enjoy making that's under $200 and have sold through the Illinois Artisan shop in Chicago. It can be made with any beads; these are Swarovski.

I worked on my challenge item for the Etsy Beadweavers Team today. The theme is colors imbeded in insects. I chose the damselfly. Materials include different finishes on the delicas and two turquoise, orange and lime green colors. Like I'm ready for the islands. So far it is a combination of a couple of stitches and free form. It will be listed on Wednesday.

The Big Reveal for the Use the Muse contest is Thursday, May 6 according to Artbeads.

Right angle weave

Thanks for the comments. Welcome new follower and all. The banner is a free form peyote bracelet I made inspired by a seed bead mix called lilacs in springtime. I loved lilacs in my Grandmother's back yard. I have a new memory card for my camera, but Photoshop Elements is not working the way it used to so maybe I should send it to bed without any potato chips as a bedtime snack!

It is only fair to let you know I didn't make the bracelets posted a couple days ago immediately after reading Jeannette Cook's Beadwork article. My first multiple row right angle weave bracelet was made with Miyuki size 11 beads with two beads on a side and has 5 rows. The next bracelet I used delicas because I felt comfortable with the stitch. I have photos of the front and back of the bracelet to show here. I will list it for sale in my shop, http://KRDesigns11.etsy.com/

I used Czech size 4 mm rounds in a clear green to match the minty green seed beads. I had some vintage beads which I put down the middle row using a white opaque seed bead to stitch each bead on. These beads are larger than the right angle weave space so the bracelet isn't flat on the bottom, but it does lay flat on my wrist. If you made a bracelet using only the 4 mm Czech rounds, you won't have this issue. The closure is a peyote stitch bar and loop toggle, but you could sew on (with beads) a metal clasp.

Let me know how your bracelet turns out if you decide to try it. I love right angle stitch. You can practice getting the sides even; it's easier to do than peyote stitch. Unless you do two needle right angle stitch.

More on Right Angle Weave Bead Weaving Stitch

I searched for the photos of bracelets I made inspired by the Beadwork Magazine article written by Jeannette Cook which I used to learn right angle weave multiple rows. If you haven't looked at her work or found the article with pictures, she created a painting with crystals on a base of right angle weave. I also learned how to leave space open for a button hole.

The two scenes I decided to create were based on Monet Waterlilies and a Sunset. I'm going to let the pictures be the post. The photographs show the front which is crystals; the back is 12 x 50 rows of right angle weave using Miyuki delica beads with 2 size 11 beads on a side. That's almost 600 Swarovski 4 mm bicones. The button on Sunset is seed beads in peyote in the round.

Jeannette Cook's article inspired me. See my previous post for her shop url.

Right Angle Weave Stitch

Today I finished a Night Blue Swarovski pearl bracelet done in right angle weave stitch. It has hematite color size 15 charlotte seed beads connecting the pearls. Swarovski makes great glass pearls; freshwater ones and Chinese glass pearls often have tiny holes and excess coating on the hole ends. This makes for not a fun experience--picture me with my awl trying to get the holes larger.

Charlottes are seed beads with one side sliced off to give it a facet and more sparkle. These are very small beads. I often use the same style clasp in my work unless it is an artsy piece when the closure is usually a beaded one. Using the same clasp means I can order multiples and save money on the purchase price of each.

I like right angle weave stitch a lot and this style seems to be more popular and affordable than my one of a kind projects. I will take the blue one to the Illinois Artisan Shop in the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. I have a photo of a white pearl with silver charlottes and a sterling silver toggle clasp that I will put in this blog. I can either keep my commitment to myself to blog daily or take a photo of the blue one.

I am grateful to Jeannette Cook for her article in Beadwork Magazine teaching right angle stitch. If you want some eye candy, check her out. She has kits and instructions for sale. http://beadyeyedwomen.com/

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the bracelets I made inspired by her article.

Thanks to my first two followers from etsy. I learned how to "heart" a shop and to become a follower on a blog.