I made some square chips for my mom to use in her Christmas trees. I liked them so much that I thought I’d make a necklace out of them. Here’s what I did last night:
I’m planning on using the spacer beads on the left between the square chips. I used filagrana rods to make the square chips. I think it gives the beads a more airy look. Now I need to make about double the number of square chips to make a whole necklace.
My mom made these yo-yo Christmas trees. They are different sized yo-yos threaded onto a steel mandrel that I made a glass star on the top.
I think they turned out pretty cute considering I don’t usually like stuff made out of fabric yo-yos.
This was going to be a bracelet. That was before I goofed up the placement of the end caps. Instead of tearing it apart, I changed it into a necklace.
I added another piece of leather cording onto the other side, and viola, it’s a necklace. I did add the dangle after as it seemed kind of plain. I kind of like the mish mash of different beads. I might make another necklace all out of different beads. Great way to use up extras.
I decided to make a bracelet to go with the black and white necklace. I thought I didn’t have enough beads for it and was going to make more later but I decided to see if I could make it work. Since I wanted to use smaller beads for the bracelet, I ended up using more plain spacer beads so it worked out.
I finished another one. I really like the colored pencil piece but I did a bad job on the silver part and had lots of issues that I ran into. Mostly because I didn’t plan well. I’m not one to draw things out, I design as I go and it usually works out but in this case, not so much. One of the rivets got too close to the bail and I had a hard time hammering it without bending the tube bail. Then I used a dull drill bit on the bottom hole. It kind of mushed the silver around and left a rim. It’s hard to fix problems like these after I set the colored piece and sometimes working on it further just makes it worse.
The colored piece is raised off the silver 1mm. It’s hard to tell in the picture. I didn’t take a picture of the back as it’s too ugly to show. Guess I’m keeping this one for myself. Bummer. 🙂
I finally got enough black and white beads made to make this necklace. I decided to use sterling silver in this piece as it just makes black and white look so much better. It’s challenging working with just two colors, along with clear. I really wanted to add another color but resisted as I think these two colors look so striking by themselves.
So far I’ve cored 4 beads. I’ve had some big holed beads sitting around for a while. Since I’ve been using the same tubing on the colored pencil pendants, I got to a short end and wanted to use it up. It sure is hard to cut tubing with a short piece with a tube cutter. I should have just cut it in half, then I’d have two bails for other pendants, then start with a new rod for cording the beads. Lesson learned.
These also show the bad attempts at silver glass beads. The third on doesn’t have any silver glass in it, just got it cored. The other three are silver glass. Other bead makers so amazing things with silver glass, I’m happy is I get a decent color out of them.
This is the last one I plan to make for a while. I like making them but need to move on to other things. Plus, they start looking all the same to me. Taking a break will be good as I tend to come up with new ideas/designs if I stop making something for a while. I also want to try adding wire hair and glass bead arms. Have to get that all engineered in my head first.
I really like this bouncy figure. Maybe it’s the colors.
I was able to finish up the two Little People figures with the three legs tonight. I thought I wouldn’t have enough components made but fortunately it all worked out.
I really like the one on the right and want to keep it for myself but I already have 5 of them and that’s all that will fit on my shelf that the cats can’t get to. I want to make one more for another friend and this will be all I make for the time being.
After the raffle of my Little People figures at the Beads Of Courage event, a couple people asked me if they could buy some figures since they didn’t win them. As I said before, I’m not selling these. Fortunately, the people that want them belong to my play day posse. (yes, that’s what we call our group) We have most of our play days at their houses and we use all their equipment – which is way more than I have so I get to play with hydraulic presses, rolling mills, and the flat lap grinder to name a few. I am really grateful that we all get together, share ideas, supplies, projects and techniques and very happy they like my figures. So, I’m making two more sets of them so they can have a pair each. I got enough components done to make two of the bouncy ones.
I still have the three legged ones to make. Will be working on more components tonight.
Mewkittie Creations 