It's been forever....Beadwork!

I haven't posted here for some time because most of my work I post at my polymer clay blog. Beadwork and polymer clay blend themselves within my work, sometimes I can't decide whether to post them in my beadwork blog or my polymer clay blog. I may have to decide to give this one up....check out the links on the left. The PC blog is the one I most frequently update. New pics there!

Sea Urchin Necklace....

Just one teeny glimpse of what I've been up to with some of the urchin pieces I made.

Polymer Clay Sea Urchins and Starfish beads

Polymer Clay Sea Urchins and Starfish beads
Originally uploaded by Tina Holden

A few of the beads I've been making.....

SALE!

I have things on Etsy that are going to expire in 2 DAYS!! I've decided to not relist them, but just put them all at HALF PRICE. Am hoping someone will catch this deal. Well, I'm tired of looking at them, but those prices are pitiful and would be worth keeping them and actually bead something with them. Problem is...I don't have time! Hope YOU do....

Roses are red and corals are too....

I had this "What IF" moment. What if I made something RED! Red is such an unusual colour selection for me because I just can't see 'red'. Blue, green and purple are my most often used colours. People have been asking me to bead them something red, but then there aren't very many red stones out there. I have some Apple Coral which is dyed. I'm usually in search of natural stones, but most these days are colour-enhanced aka dyed. So, I chose Coral and red jade. The Coral is sponge coral and as far as I know. The red jade is dyed. I used 5 strands interwoven. Even the camera pics up red from the shadow the items cast. Whatcha think? Does red work for you?

Pearls of wisdom

...wherever the saying came from, not sure, but wearing pearls is just as nice. The 5 strand braided cuff bracelet is extremely comfortable with its magnetic clasp. The necklace is adjustable....
Can't decide whether to list on etsy or to take to the local gallery...On etsy you'll be sure to get it for much cheaper...

Me and Wire

Since having my tutorial published in this months PolymerCAFE, I have not gotten queries about my project, but about my wire items in the Gallery....(click on the image to take you to the table of contents (pdf. format) that shows the bracelets I'm talking about)


Well....here they are too. The reason I sent them to the Gallery wasn't for the wire, but for the imitative or Faux beach pebbles. A lot of people swear up and down that they are real, until I tell them that I made them. And then they still protest, until they agree that they are too light for the real thing. I'm waiting to hear back from Step by Step wire to see if they are interested in publishing my tutorial that I'm working on. I have never seen anyone do wire macrame before. I also do this for necklaces and earrings. It came naturally since my husband makes gorgeous macrame hemp jewelry with, I swear, the most perfect kind of knots....so even and smooth. I've already been doing 'viking knit and braiding' and wire crochet too, so I had to try macrame. I started making these a couple of years ago and instead of just the single row have started to make two row ones as well. The Editor of Step by Step is away for a few days, so I'll have to see what she says when she comes back. If not accepted...well, there is always Etsy. I sell a few tutorials there, including polymer clay projects and beadwork and will be adding more in near future, so why not Wire. Wanna know how to do this?...or the rocks?...??
Back to work....see ya!

Welcome to my Spring and Summer blog!

FREE BEADING SOFTWARE!

This blog is about those teeny little beads and if you like them BIGGER...those too, lol. I'll not be only blogging about beads, but wire too. Gotta start somewhere though and what better than with 'free software'
Above is one little pattern I did on a simple freeware program by Leah Kramer. Thanks Leah for having made this available to us! I think this is beadworks best kept little secret. There are many great beading software programs out there, but unless you are really, really into loomwork and weaving, you may want to opt for freeware first. This one by Leah works well. There is another nifty one by Easy Bead Patterns to download. Here is a screen shot of that program:

Another Blog...about Jewelry!

I decided to get back into beadwork for a while. So why am I starting another blog?
Because the other one is strictly about Polymer Clay. Gosh, it isn't as easy as picking ones own name anymore, even in blogger! Couldn't pick my own name without a DASH! Ironic, eh?
Anyway, I felt the need to separate the two because polymer clay takes precedence during winter, the other during summer. Here we are in Spring and I've packed my clay away. I've made enough focal pieces to keep me going for awhile and now it's time to do some stringing. Will be posting often and put up some pictures too. Not tonight though. It's late and I'm tired. Just got back from an all day trip which included 7 hours of driving....yawn.
See ya tomorrow!