Starving Artists: Starving Artists -> subeeds' Blog

I got the cherrywood cab beaded and done. Now to remember to get it in the mail Mon.. Got the ornament drapes done, too-at least I think I have. I may have 1 or 2 more left in me if the right color combos grab me. For my next trick, I have a teardrop shaped turquoise cab to work with. This is for me and it's special because it was a gift from a friend. I was skimming over my beads the other day. I have several types of seed beads called "turquoise" yet none of them seemed to go with the cab. I guess the color turqoise is in the eye of the beholder. It's drilled at the top and I can't decide if I want to bezel it or just create a beaded chain for it to hang from. Decisions, decisions. LOL!

I need to send her on vacaton for a while. I have a lovely cherry burl cab from Taz I want to bead. I know that I'm going to bezel it with some topaz Ab Delicas (I think) and I haven't figured out the chain for it yet. Maybe a spiral. I'll know by the time I get the cab beaded.

I am so hoping that there are lots of bracelets on the way. What a great bunch of people !!

I am so excited that 16 people have said they will make bracelets for this. I hope more decide to make a pink bracelet. There are a lot of stories in the news that move me, but nothng like this story has. I wonder what it is about her story? Having lost a lot of people in my life to assorted cancers, I don't think that's what it is. Maybe it's the fact that she was a very giving beader. Maybe it's the fact that there isn't anyone to carry on her work. I think about this at odd times of the day and before I go to sleep at night. I don't know why I am trying so hard to figure it out. I should just let it go and get as many pink bracelets made as I can.

I am stll struggling with these beaded cabs for the seed bead challenge. The only reason I can come up with for the problems is that the cabs are thin and don't have very big domes on them. So with this in mind, I'm going to continue attempting to bead these things-right up to the challenge deadline.

As with every "diary" I've ever started, this one has ended up neglected, too. I've been working on beading cabs for the seed bead challenge. The first one didn't go well, but the second one is ok. I put those aside to work on some pieces I'm doing for someone who sent me some beads she no longer has a use for. I hope she likes them. When I get those done,I'm going to try to figure out what kind of necklace to put the cab on-the one I'm happy with. Then I will re-do the one I'm not happy with. Hopefully, both will be done by the deadline. LOL!

These are the beads I used in the blue bargello necklace:
Dyna Mites-Transparent rainbow clear, turquoise and aqua
Delicas-Morning sky
Ornela czech 11's-Sky blue
I also used 4mm fire polished czech AB crystals for the accents and Nymo D.

I got it done-finally. I'm not that happy with it, but it will do. It was a more ambitous peyote project than maybe I should have tackled. QWhen I was done, I saw the assymetrical way the closures lined up and was't happy. There are other mistakes. It took almost 3 times more thread than the directions called for, so it makes me wonder if the other directons aren't off a bit too. I'm thinking about trying one in the Turnaround Fire necklace colors, but don't know if I have all the right size beads in the right colors. If not, I'll find some colors that will work that I have. I think this will be the first of several bargello beasts. LOL!

This piece started making me crazy the day I started to pull the beads for this project together. I wanted an icy, light blue look. The beads I had ordered, filled the bill, but were so close in color, they defeated the whole bargello idea. So, I pulled out all my blue beads and came up with ones to use for this. I'm still not happy with the contrast and the bargello effect, but it will do. I made 3 practice segments-working on the stitch and color combos. I am determied to do this-after all, this piece is the reason I was so anxious to learn peyote. It's abut 1/4 done. I was hoping to get the right side finished today, but had to add thread. That always slows me down. I hate addng thread to necklaces. I worry that it will break where the thread is added, even though I seal my knots when I am done and weave the thread back through until there's no more room in the beads. For some reason, I have a hard time finding a rythmn with this pattern. I wonder what other surprises are in store for me with this piece.

I'm going to use this blog for hints, tips and other trivia that relate to seed beading. Hopefully some of the hints will help you and some of the ut-ohs will prevent you from doing the same thing!! About the only thing I can think of right now is-wax your thread!!! If you think it needs waxing, don't do another row, because you will get a knot-wax the thread. It's a bad habit of mine. I hate adding thread-especially to a necklace, so I will work with yards and yards of thread. After a few rows, I'll think, I need to re-wax this-nah,says self,and on the very next row, I will get a knot that would try the patence of a saint. So if you think you need to wax the thread, go for it!