COMING SOON - The Story on the making of my Battle of the Beadsmith entry 2015

My Starman Trendsetters earrings called "Sunray"

I have previously mentioned being a Starman Trendsetter and today I can show these
new earrings I designed for them. They are called 'Sunray'.

I am also happy to say these feature in the latest Starman catalogue also, happy dance.

The tutorial is now listed in my Artfire store, just click on the image above

or the Artfire link on the side bar.

Working with the new Czechmates Crescent two hole bead

As you may know I am a Starman Trendsetter, which means I receive newly designed beads and I get the chance to play with them and see what I can create.

How good is that?

Image 1 - Here is the newly released Czechmate Crescent two hole bead. Like a Moon shape aren't they?

Having had a lot of other commitments to get done I had not had much time for just sitting and bead playing. So when I made the time I picked the Crescents to play with. Also me being me, I had to have some bright colours also.

My aim here is to show you the different looks you get with the placement of the crescent. Image 2 - on the right - you have the crescent ends pointing upwards.
When I reached this point I felt it was okay BUT worried about the points catching on other clothing or scratching someone.

Image 3 - on the left - The pendant was taken back to the bezel and this time I added the crescents in with the end points facing downward. It made for a tighter, more compact design, no points to scratch anyone.

BUT - I wasn't happy with the result.

I felt you couldn't see the back layer of green fire polished beads enough.

Image 4 - on the right - I placed the crescents with the inside end tucked under the mauve size 11/o seed beads. I felt the result was interesting enough and went ahead finishing off the pendant

BUT - I had a nights sleep and woke thinking "I can do better". So, again, the pendant was taken back to the rivoli bezel.

Image 5 - on the left - I needed to increase the circumference for adding in the crescents. I could do that using seed beads but decided I wanted a rigid and 'instant'  extension so I went with 3mm bugle beads (hard to see in the pic).

This gave me the larger circumference I wanted also a greater angle to the crescents for adding the fire polish and the round beads.
When adding in the orange beads I could see the green fire polish weren't going to be large enough. as the circumference has increased more than expected. I was happy with that so a colour change happened and I was able to add in a blue 5mm dyed howlite round bead.

So the end result was great curves, great showing of all beads in each layer and an attractive pendant.  I shall sleep soundly tonight.

Starman Trendsetters

Last year I applied and succeeded to be a Starman Trendsetter - read my post dated August 18 for more information.

Above are two of my designs made for Starman Trendsetters and alongside is a closer look at the pendant. I hope you like them

Two more of my designs are not being shown as yet. I am very excited to say one will become a free tutorial handout and the other will appear later in the year in a publication.

I am doing the Happy Dance !!

On January 13th the British beading magazine Bead & Jewellery - 44th Diamond issue was released.

I am thrilled to say there is a four page story in the magazine about my jewellery journey, also showing some designs I have not shown before.

The proof pages are listed here for you to take a look at.  

If you are wanting to purchase the magazine digitally or hard copy you can click on the image above and you will be taken there OR copy and paste the link below

http://www.beadmagazine.co.uk/magazine.html

Teaching at Jellybeads in Mogo, NSW

Last Saturday I taught two short classes in a shop called Jenny Jellybeads in a town called Mogo, on the south coast of New South Wales. 


The town of Mogo was born with the discovery of gold in the 1850’s in the cabbage tree creek. At its peak in the gold rush days Mogo had several hotels and churches, a host of shops and a public school. However the boom was short lived and Mogo gradually declined to become a sleepy backwater.

In the 1980’s Mogo became home to a small group of artists and craftspeople, some of whom still operate in town today. Mogo has continued to evolve, attracting people with sophisticated creative flair. Mogo’s architectural heritage has been maintained with shops and dwellings being built to compliment the surviving miners cottages.

These buildings are now galleries and speciality shops brimming with traditional and modern art, exotic and unusual artefacts, elegant jewellery and home decor, ceramics, collectables, antiques and cafes. This rare blend of contemporary style with old world charm brings a rich cultural feel to Mogo offering visitors to the area a most enjoyable shopping experience in a relaxed atmosphere.

Here are some of the ladies in the class, starting with the shop owner Jenny
(on the right in green) then there is a designer well known in Australian beading circles Christina Armstrong (in red), Judith Brodie (in coral)  and 
Elca Cooper (in turquoise) - also wearing one of my flower necklace designs.

We had a great time, a lot of laughs and enjoyed the day - or so they told me - I hope they weren't just being nice. LOL

Jenny is hoping to promote Summer Workshops in her store each year and I am very pleased I could be part of her plans. It is most definitely worth keeping an eye on what's on in her shop. http://www.jellybeads.com.au 

I almost forgot - what did I teach?? I taught my "Mojo" earrings and my "Blooming Spikes" ring. The tutorials for each are now in my Artfire store - click the link on the right.

"The Victor's Laurel"

    I want to release as many tutorials as I can this year as I shall

be retiring from my part time job. I reckon it is time to put both feet into

one camp - meaning concentrate on jewellery.

First up is a necklace that I designed in 2010 and the tutorial has been requested by a number 

of Facebook friends over the last couple of years. 

My "Laurel" necklace because it reminds me of a laurel wreath.

The tutorial has instructions for both images. Click on the first image and it will take you to my shop. 

Happy 2015 to all

The ending of 2014

I have been thinking about 2014 - something I tend to do to complete one year and 

become ready for the next.

This year I achieved a goal I set some years before - travel and teach my designs in U.S.A.

I met and made new friendships with some lovely people.

I came home elated yet somewhat exhausted from all the preparation and travel and

wasn't sure I wanted to do it again in a hurry.

I asked myself what do I want to do now? and realised I didn't want to do a damn thing for awhile.

So I didn't !!

Having been a goal setter and on-the-go for so long I started to feel somewhat "lost". I needed to remember 

what I did before becoming besotted by beading and bring that back into my life and live the two together.

It has been six months since I came home and I am only now starting to think about what I want next.

So my conclusion for 2014 is - the successful ending of a journey in the first half

AND 

the re-acquaintance of my life "pre-beading" in the last half.

I now feel ready to set new goals and I believe it has started to show in my latest designs. 

So on that note I would like to share with you my last design for 2014 

I call the white "Rose of York"

One goal I have set for 2015 is to keep my blog posts going more regularly.
Happy New Year 
Everyone

I hope it is a wonder-filled year for you!

Making a Two sided Seed Bead Ring - like a donut

                                                                             Yesterday, another designer posted up on Facebook her preference for going from small seed beads to large beads when working a ring. I agreed with that except in the cases of making a bezel.

I happened to be wanting a two sided ring of beads for a new design idea. I did the small to large equation by doing 5 rows of 15s then on each side of the 15s, I did three rows of size 11s. I ended up with the image on the left. The centre is too large I think I did too many rows of 15s - it is buckling and not sitting correctly.

Rather than repeat this problem I strung 11s then did two rows of 11s, moved my thread into the inside and did 2 rows of 15s. I then added a third row of 15s and when completed I did NOT step up into the last added row. I remained where I was and did 1 row of 15s by "stitching-in-the-ditch".                      From the stitch in the ditch 15s I did one more row of 15s and 2 rows of 11s - see right side ring above.

I now have a perfect circle and by stitching-in-the-ditch the centre is perfectly round, rigid and firm.

I then did some extra peyote rows of size 8s, on each side of the ring. I then zipped the two sides together.                                 

On the left you have a side which is a little concave but certainly not a problem.


On the right you have the opposite side which is a little convex, also not a problem - in fact making it great for further embellishing.

I will be making my seed bead rings this way in future. I hope you can benefit from this little experiment.