Friday, April 30, 2010

More Copper Earrings

The saga continues... I'm still working on copper and loving it! Here are more earrings and my first coiled ring... made of #18 & #24 raw copper wire, semi-precious gemstones, and MOP shells.
My seed beads, thread and needle has taken a back seat but I'm looking forward to bead stitching in the coming weeks to work on my entries for this year's State's Fair, Re: needle & thread constructed jewelry category.
Enjoy beading everybody!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Barter With Linda

Stones and glass beads

Charms, bead caps, metals beads, toggle clasps & findings

Seed beads and earwires

Beading book by Paolo Bottoni (in Japanese)

The photos below are my "metal" stash organized by type and color. Selection will be included in the barter.
Charms
Spacers
Beads, spacers and charms
Toggles and clasps
Chandelier earring components, crimps and findings
Assorted bead caps

Monday, April 26, 2010

April 2010 Bracelet Swap

Here are the bracelets I made and received from BD's Bracelet Swap, due on April 16th. My recipient partner is Andrea from NM and the photo below is what I made for her. I had to mail her bracelet early last month coz I know I'll gonna be busy a lil bit busy this month.
And my sendee partner is Inca from Norway. She made me this lovely kumi bracelet in my fave tones. This is my first kumi jewelry and I absolutely love it. Thank you so much Elin! The shades and look almost matches my "Circle of Tree" necklace.:)
I hope everybody's having a happy beading Monday!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Copper Earrings

I'm still very much in love with copper, and wirework so to speak. After all the callouses were gone, I was back practicing my coiling and bending again. I worked on few earrings last week and these 2 are my favorites. I've been making my own copper findings as well, but I will need to get lower guage for my earwires. Anyhoo, the focal points of these earrings are MOP coins. Me and DH love the second set.:)

We had DH birthday gathering yesterday at SIL's house, and one of the DVD's he got as a gift was "Avatar" which I had to watch right away. If you haven't seen this movie, you should! It's soooooooooo good, not to mention I was drooling over the jewelries of the avatars. Yeah, I got inspired!
Beadily yours!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Other Winner Is...

... CHRISTINA MARIE, who happen to be on a road trip when the drawing was made! I decided to draw another name for the avatar fun at Beading Daily and here're some bits and pieces I came out with for the prize:

And here's the fob I made for Lina.

Update: I was notified by Lina and Christina that they both received their goodies already!

Monday, April 12, 2010

And The Winner Is...

... (drum roll) LinaG

Congratulations on winning the "2010 Photo Avatar Contest" at Beading Daily Lina. Many thanks to Sheila for doing the DRAW. And our anonymous sponsor is Michelle Mach. Thanks so much for donating a great prize (to be agreed upon by Michelle and Lina) Michelle.

Since we had so much fun, I will be doing another draw for a second prize winner which will be announced at the forum tomorrow morning. Thank you so much to all who participated and everybody who joined the discussion. I had so much fun and it's a great feeling to finally put faces behind the names/ID's... like a puzzle being completed. I think we can say we are all winners!
I will do the same contest every year (second week of April), but maybe next time the main requirement will be to use a recent photo, at least a year old.:) What do you think?
Hope everybody's having a great beading Monday!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

BEADING DAILY: Photo Avatar Contest

The contest for the above will end tonight... and here's some of the findings I came up with as part of the prizes. I'm still digging, and stitching though. A strand of 8"x6" chinese crystals will be included as well... plus a SURPRISE PRIZE from an anonymous sponsor which will be revealed tomorrow.
I'm a recycler junkie... I try not to throw something I can still use. One thing I love to recycle are altoid tins, and they're perfect to use as portable sewing kit container. Moreso, a 3.5" stork scissors fits perfectly inside.
A variety of toggle clasps and findings!

Bead caps in various sizes and colors. These always come handy in my projects. And of course, ear wires and leverbacks! For a wirework challenged like me, I can't live without them in my stash. LOL

I will try to update this post later for more photos ladies and gentlemen. In the meantime, if you haven't join the FUN, check out the details here at Beading Daily.

Have a great beading day everyone!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Another Version Of Circle Of Tree And A Sketch Of A New Project

Whenever I make something that I like, and intended as a gift, I ended up making a second piece. Though I made some changes on this "Circle of Tree" necklace so it won't be exactly the same as the one I made for my friend.

If only I can finish a jewelry as fast as I sketch, I could have had thousands of pieces made. This necklace and earrings set is supposed to be the project I'll gonna do today but DH doesn't like the assymetrical effect. I'm still undecided what beads and gemstone to use for it so I gave it a rest... I have other sketches and projects to choose from anyway. Sorry for the poor drawing, I don't draw well... that's why I can't wait to have a jewelry design software. At the moment, I use my Pattern Maker Pro for flat stitches like peyote, brick, etc.

I love having a notebook and pencil nearby so I can easily sketch the idea that pops in... I wonder if you do the same. I think it's also a great way to keep track of our inspirations when designing. I do have lots of "poor" sketches like this but I love the fact that I can look through them when I need an extra boost.
How about you, do you have a sketch pad?

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Another Wirework Set

I need to practice my looping so I started another set this morning. In-between chores and eating, I managed to finish the set around 1:30PM. I had to try it on right away to check the drape, which was nice IMHO. I'll need to take another shot on my mannequin so you can see the drape of the scallops too.
Technique: basic wirework
Materials: glass pearls, rondelle crystals, wood beads
and antique bronze
I would love to read your comments so don't forget to drop a line or two. Critiques are always welcome. Have a great night everyone!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Simple Wireworks

Finally got into the groove of wireworking! Here's the bracelet I made last night using milk glass flower beads and coiled wire (silver, guage 20) as spacers, with toggle clasp closure. Far from perfect but I love how it turned out.
Insomia attacked last night so I dig into my stash and worked on this swan set. It's made of crystals, glass beads and antique brass chain, being swans as the focal points. The matching dangling earrings are 2.25" and 3" (tip to tip) lengths. I've been thinking of making these set and am sure glad I gave it a go last night. It's so easy and fast to do. I wasn't still sleepy when I get it done, around 3AM. LOL
And finally, more dangling earrings made of crystals, seed beads, pearls and head pins with lever backs. Lately, whenever I need an instant gratification project, I make earrings! I think I already have almost 100 pairs of earrings made since January 2010... Watch out as I'm going to sell (almost) all of them to benefit the needy kids back home.

I'm a (very) novice wireworker so tips and hints would be highly appreciated. I can see myself doing it often in the near future. Leave a comment as I love reading them.

Have a great beading weekend all!

Here Comes Some Stash...

... that I acquired recently from various online sources, which are mostly crystals, freshwater pearls and semi-precious gemstones - around 60 strands. I'm still waiting for another 60 or so strands, as a result fo impulse buying.
Crystals, Freshwater Pearls, Semi-Precious Stones,
Mother-of-Pearls, Horn, Shells
I've wanted to try wireworking for a long while, so I made a simple bracelet last night (photo on my next post) and DH kinda like it. Knowing that I don't have much wires in my stash, DH took me at Menards this morning where I got most of the stash on the left photo, while the other wires were from Walmart and ebay.
Various Guages of Wires: Ranges from 34 to 16 Guage
Copper, Silver, Annealed Steel, Enameled Steel and Brass
The other night before going to bed, I reminded DH that we will check some copper at the barn (in the backyard, where lots of unwanted stuffs are) in the morning. Unfortunately, it rained kinda hard so we decided to stay inside and by the time the rain stopped mid-afternoon, the lawn is so muddy. DH realized that there are some copper dumped at the side of our house when the electric company changed our electrical post, so he grabbed a couple lengths. The downside is, the copper's so big... I think 10 guage (see left photo). Good thing DH handed me a wire stripper, cutting is so easy with it. I told him I'll gonna keep it in my tool box. LOL I now use it even when cutting my smaller wires. When wegot home earlier, I immediately got busy with my new copper wires (guage 16) and made some coiled components (see right photo). I had to stop when my right fingers got sore... plus my middle and ring fingers got blisters. LOL I might wait a few days before working with wire again.

While in town earlier, I also got some jewelry boxes, felt and plastic mini-boxes that I couldn't resist. They're the perfect size for my beads and components.
Jewelry Boxes, Plastic Mini-Boxes, and Felt
How about you beady friends, what stash did you get recently?