Leather & Spice Necklace

Spice up a few pieces of leather, left over from your wraparound bracelet perhaps, with a mixed assortment of semi precious stories and trinkets. Add some silver or copper heishi, accent with a few more crystals and stir in a couple interesting focal beads to produce your very own OOAK necklace. Each design will be a chance to reflect your artistic voice and even tell a story. Have fun doing what you like best about beadwork.. the exploration of your unique creativity. Rest assured that no matter what the supllies for this piece cost you, it still won't be even close tot he $498 price tage that was attached to the inspiration piece.

Wire Knitz Cuff

All this prettiness in just a couple of hours! The beauty of Wire Knitz, a new wire knit product, from SilverSilk, is that is can be manipulated in so many ways. Look for a few new versions in the coming days. By adding little tiny "belt loops" at each end I can change the bracelets I wear with the cuff. Small Antique Brass snaps will be added to the outer edges to help hold the wide cuff in place.

This particular focal bracelet was created with a few simple twists of the wrist using wire wrapping techniques to hold the flat glass discs into place. The leaves were attached using headpins with lampwork glass as the heads, awesome eh? A very clever artist, Starr May created these for me...all of her other glass pieces may be seen at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Plam Desert, CA.

Christmas Spider

After hearing about the legend of the Christmas Spider from my friend Joann and that it was good luck to have a spider in your Christmas Tree I designed and created this lovely and friendly spider for my tree. Consisting of vintage gold beads, 8mm Swarovski pearls, 12mm twisted gold bugle beads, all intertwined on 26 gauge wire. The link below will take you to the story of the Christmas Spider, suitable for printing.

http://www.santalady.com/xmasgame/stories/spider.html

Dawn's Starfish

Since my daughter created a new logo for her swimsuit business, Deuce Reversible Swimwear, we've been on the hunt for great looking starfish charms. These beautiful Starfish are from Ruby Tuesday in Long Beach. The fun shell chain is also from them and availiable on line. Wire wrapped pearls add to the sea foam look. Check out the lobster clasps at each end, so it could be worn as a bracelet or a necklace. The crystals are Swarovski Pacific Opal Briolettes.

Vintage Rose Runway

Vintage Blossom Earrings

These beautiful vintage Rose Blossoms were found by Monica during one of her buying sprees. This is just a simple version of a pair of earrings created by using traditional bead embroidery techniques. For some great ideas and wonderful instructions refer to the books by Jaime Cloud Eakins, one published in 2005 Beading with Cabochons and the new book, Dimensional Bead Embroidery. Both are comprehensive in the study of more traditional bead embroidery, long attributed to the American Indians. You will learn much from both the text portion and the schematics of the book. The photos are beautiful and well lit so all details are very clear. The Project portion of the newer book will give the novice beader clear and precise instruction about placement and color theory. The experienced bead artist wil revel in the design possiblilties and clever edge treatments and connections.These earrings began with the Vintage Glass pieces placed on Stiffy Stuff, which were then surrounded by the rose and mint colored seed beads. Turquoise leather suede was used as backing...a bit tough to stitch through at times, so I used my chain nose pliers to help pull the needle sometimes. The earrring post was glued inbetween the layers of backing before the edge stitching was finished. Three dangles hang from the center bottom beadwork, each supporting another vintage crystal. The smaller crystals are 3mm Swarovki Bicone Crystals.If you are in the Palm Desert area, stop by Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations to see these and other beautiful vintage glass cabochons. She has some very detailed pieces in bright colors and others in soft colors such as the ones featured here. Coming soon are Bead Kits and a patterns for two versions of these beautiful earrings.