B&B Bangle with a catch

Charming photography, don't you think? My honey is doing a great job, wait 'til I find him a great camera, then he'll have a good time!

This bracelet, constructed with 3mm Swarovski Pearls, Tila Beads and 4mm bicones has a circular bead path and tension is key here to help form the shape. From the January issue of bead & button, this piece caught my eye, but alas, I don't wear bangles well. So, my change-up or "catch" is the magnetic barrel at each end, which I covered in cirular peyote.

This particular magnet is simple in shape and has a deep hole in which to sink a head pin, crimp or stop bead. A circle of sixteen (16) Delica Beads forms the even count base for the build up. A set of twelve rows covered the whole magnet and hides it fairly well. Now I'm on the look out for a cube shape that might mimic the outside shape of the bracelet.

Orange Sunburst Earrings

A classic and yet innovative look at bezeling those beautiful Swarovski Crystals. Led by the influence of Laura McCabe, these sunburst earrings were just the right accessory for a beautiful friend for her Birthday Bash. Adding yet more bling, the row behind all the bicone crystals supports one more row of bling, top drilled bicones in 6mm Hyacinth. The center Rivolis are 16mm Chili Pepper, the crystals for the otuside bursts are Sunflower, FireopalAB and Indian Red. The seed beads used were DB 043, DB603 and gold334. The little picots were created using size 15 seed beads in #471, make sure they are permanent or duracoat.

Notice the backs of the Rivolis are completely closed. The method for this enclosure involves a series of shifts from one stitch to another. The circular peyote moves to the back and after two rows of size 15 seed beads, a repeating stitch of one bead up and one bead down is worked around the circle. This sets up the next stitch which is a three bead netting, which sets up again for either another row of netting, with a skip, and then peyote with one bead to close the tips. I find it rather important to close the back of the Rivolis or coat them to protect them and prolong the life of the crystal. Small tiny nicks in the back (often called flea bites in crystal) actually affect the front of the stone and interfere with the reflection of light. We want our Swarovski's to last as long as they can and keep their brilliance!

For more on these beautiful crystals, check out Laura McCabe's book, creating beautiful Crystal Jewerly with Swarovski. Of course, check out my classes at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Palm Desert, where I show you a quick start with two needles and you can find those tiny, tiny size 15 vintage one-cut seed beads as well as lots of colors and sizes in Crystal Rivolis.

Oh, and I made these to be interchangable as well....look closely at the connection of the two earrings components. The links holding them together can be removed and each piece could be reattached to a new earring finding, making two sets of earrings. Add a bit of bling on the bottom of each and ta-da, a new look for both...one casual, one fancy.

Tila Beauty

What a fun new bead is the Tila! I have had a great time developing new pieces using these beads in the most unsual ways. This piece involves peyote, square stitch and right-angle-weave, just to keep it simple! The most exciting part is that I haven't seen this version any where yet, so I'm happily submitting this item to a bead mag and we'll cross fingers and hope it sees the light of day! Of course, it will be on my roster of classes at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations for those more adventurous students. The beads here are Tila beads, 4mm fire-polish and size 11 seed beads built using one-G thread, altho' I would also us Fireline or Wildfire.

A big plus...my daughter, Dawn and her friend, Jessica both admired the piece, so it could be a hit! Maybe Dawn would wear one in grays and black???

Happy Easter Week

Look at what the easter bunny did to my egg! Almost like an oversized beaded bead. This ornamental covering was supposed to include pearls, but the ones on hand didn't have the right type of holes. So, to improvise I used small mini drops instead and a did a varigated colorway. Umm, could be a useful idea for next year. I would have to start sometime in February!

This combined a peyote base row, right angle weave and netting stitch.

Back of Captured Crystal Earrings

Shown here are the backs of the Captured Method for covering the Rivoli. A basic start of 5 or 6 beads in the center and then circular peyote growing out towards edge it provides a simple method of covering the delicate foiled backs of these crystals.

Two Rivoli Earrings

Another day, another way...to capture and showcase Swarovski Crystal Rivolis. Here displayed as earrings, the Blue/Purple set above are captured with the technique made popular by Nikia Angel. Made with an 18mm Rivoli in Meridian Blue and Sapphire Bicone 5328 crystals using a netting stitch. A quick, rather painless way to wrap up a rivoli surrounded with 4mm Crystal bicones. See Beadwork magazine, Summer 2010, for more details.

The second set of Earrings are competely covered in the back with circular peyote and then points of 3.4mm Mini drop glass beads are set around the perimeter. All created using size 11 Delica cylinder beads and size15 seed beads. This pattern is my original design and is one of many classes I teach at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Palm Desert, CA. As I get more tech savvy I hope to offer this as a downloadable pattern, with more to come.