Mulit Five Wrap macrame bracelet

 

Really, truly, I have been working on lots and lots of new items! We have been so busy with our two new grand babies in the family, that all things social media have been on the back burner.

So to start again, I'm sharing a few items of the wildly popular macrame technique! 

The latest of my newest items is this lovely multi wrap bracelet...I think we'll keep seeing the stacked bracelet look carry on well into the summer and fall of this year. And all things organic will play a huge role in the accessories market.

This piece is full of interesting beads; shell cut as sequins,which are added with a cross weave technique, matte copper beads, rhodium plated hex glass beads and a few pearls thrown in for good measure. Also, a few fire polish glass beads. The button is one from my own vintage collection, a high domed pressed glass shape with a touches of gold. I made this wrap with several added cords, so it's a bit fuller than the ones my students are making in class...

Speaking of which, this has become the most popular class...who knew we'd still be so involved with macrame, a throwback to the 70's! Ahhh, but so much more chic!

Come join us in all the fun at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations.

Fandango Earrings

What happens when a spiral goes spiraling out of control?  Well, you can always make another and call the both of them a pair of earrings!

Which is exactly what happened here. A simple task, to make a Cellini spiral Ring, became so much more than that when an experiment with bead size and count went a little oversized. The extra large bead sizes caused the ring to lay a little bit flatter than I had hoped, but my Bead Chicks (my beading network) encouraged me to carry on and figure out how to use them anyway. The next challenge was to recall what steps I had taken to make them as they were and replicate the same again...only this time in mirror image since I wanted to have them hang as a pair.

Well, it helps to take good notes while you are working...that could be lesson #1. A few photos along the way would have been lesson #2. So now to make yet another pair or two..perhaps in green and blues and another in blacks and white with a pop of red! Anything could be used as the drops, a larger bead count to start the first row would create an even longer pair. This pair included several color of Delica beads, a couple colors, including that color of the year Tangerine Tango,  in size 11 seed beads, one size 8 hex seed bead, one size 6 seed bead and of course the cute Vintage Czech Glass Yellow Drops!

We'll see what happens real soon! 'Til then I've been wearing these and getting loads of compliments. A great way to use up those left over bits from other projects or a bead soup, too!

I'll be wearing them at Monica's Quilt and Bead tomorrow, so stop by and take a look! Ohhh, I see a new class on the horizon...

Twin Denim Wrap

These denim colored "twin" beads are gorgeous when used with peyote stitch. A new product from Preciosa Ornela, they come in so many delectable colors. A precious glass from the Czech company that has been around longer than Swarovski...nice, smooth double holes on each side of an oval shaped bead. Sized somewhere between an 11 and a 8 seed bead since both seem to tuck up easily next to the open space left at the end of a row.

Free patterns are readily available online at the Facebook page for Preciosa Ornela.

This bracelet was created using simple even count peyote stitch. Made twice as long as needed so it could become a wrap bracelet...well, just because anything worth making is worth doing twice, right??? Plus, it makes that piece so much more modern and of the current times. An easy change of the beads created the diamond shaped pattern, this way I was able to use two small tubes of different colors for the whole bracelet. Like the picot stitch on the edge? When you are ready to turn in to the next row of peyote, pick up the three beads needed for the picot at the same time you make the turn. Here three (3) size 11 seed beads were used, another possibility would be a size 11, a 3.4mm drop and a size 11 seed bead. A view of that one later in the week!

Double Decker Wraparound

Okay...so here's the first of many wraps I made along our trip to Utah! Hey, you gotta learn how to use those ten to twelve hours in a car wisely! More on my personal tips for a stable setup in an other post.

This wraparound bracelet was created especially for a dear young lady who is a Master Wig Maker and hair dresser for the Shakspeare Festival in Cedar City. She loves owls and I thought the colors suited her well. The cubes are 5mm Hex glass beads from Miyuki, the leather is brown round 1.5mm and the owl bead is a new item from TierraCast, a findings company usually well represented in most bead shops. This wrap was concieved with a slightly different approach, more of a loom stitch rather than a half hitch around the leather, multiple cords were set up and then the three rows of cubes were stitched all at the same time. It was quickly finished and the gift was nicely appreciated.

As you can probably tell, yes that is the dashboard as my surface for the photo...and as a testament for the smoothness of the ride, I do believe we were traveling at a steady 75mph when I shot the pic!