One Kiss Creations Beaded Jewelry: January 2015

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Watch Bands

Last Spring, I was in an antique store in Milford, PA and bought 4 old metal watch bands. Two are silver tone, one gold tone, one copper tone. A week later, I was in Target and saw Timex watch bands on clearance and bought them. It took a while, but I started what has been simmering in my mind for too many months. A gentle but unknowing nudge from Liz finally got this project off the ground.

First up is the RED HOT Timex band with a Square Stitch panel:

Size 8 brown seed beads, size 8 turquoise picasso seed beads, size 11 matte cream seed beads, red picasso super unos

Next is a Brick Stitch creation on a silver tone metal band:

size 15 turquoise seed beads, size 11 cream matte seed beads, size 11 & 8 black matte seed beads, size 8 red seed beads, czech beads

The final watch band bracelet for now (I still have a few left and will certainly pick up more as I find them as I am having Fun with this!) is a mix of inspiration from Cynthia. She taught me a half-hitch knot with hemp and gave me this bracelet bar component from Blu Mudd.

I had no intention to blog today, but...Snow. If not for snow, January would have only had one blog post. So I guess it is good for something :-)

Stay warm, dry, and on solid ground, my friends!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Slight Learning Curve

I decided to shrug off responsibility yesterday and had a 15 hour bead-a-thon with myself. I saw a twisted Brick Stitch on Pinterest. So I followed the link to a free tutorial in some language other than the one I speak. The photos were good so I tried it based on photos alone. I was several hours in, wondering when it would get curly when it dawned on me that maybe I wasn't supposed to use all the same size seed beads! So I gently forced some curls with my hands ~ the ribbon of bead work happily submitted to my coaxing ~ then I added some fire polished beads for interest and decided for the first time in my life to make a bangle. Voila!

I went back to the bead table and ran size 15 down the outside and size 11 up the middle, thinking it would bring on an instant curl. Again, it needed to be coaxed. I went for earrings this time.

Nothing but snow so I think it will be a day of beading, cocktails, cooking, and cribbage. Tomorrow is looking like it might be the same kind of day.

What are you working on this weekend?

Saturday, January 10, 2015

A Time To Stitch 6 : Charts

The first post of 2015!!! If not for this Hop, I am not sure when I would have posted again. I am not highly motivated these cold, grey days in winter. But here we all are, ready to Hop around, see some beautiful beads at this Using a Chart Event:

I decided to make a few 1.5x1.5" squares for the Bead-It-Forward charity that takes these little squares and turns them into little quilts, ornaments, and shadowboxes. Once they are finished, they are auctioned off and all the proceeds go to Breast Cancer charities. You can find the guidelines for donating here. Amy of Amybeads now runs Bead-It-Forward and I used her free patterns. They seemed like charts I could read. And I could!

One thing about reading charts, at least for me, was the S.L.O.W. pace of the project...that, and as Cynthia and I discussed for the picture graphs, there is no allowance for the occasional spirit bead! There is not a more "oh deary, deary me" feeling than when you get 2/3 done with a little square and you see a mistake way back in row 6.

When I set out to make some of the squares, I instantly grabbed size 10 delicas. Still not sure why my mind went there, but it did. Here is what my square looks like:

photographing beads with an AB finish is so AAARRRGGGHHH

When I measured it, it was larger than the guidelines required. It took me way too long to figure out I needed to use size 11 delicas. No excuses other than my brain stopped functioning for a few days. So here is it along side the proper size delicas, so you can see the size difference:

Here are the next few I did, threads still on until I get them mounted on the Lacy's Stiff Stuff, as per the guidelines:

love this AB Matte!!!

All these dragonflies were done in 2 Drop Peyote. I broke out of that and into Square Stitch to do a Hummingbird. While the Square Stitch charts are easier to read since the rows line up perfectly, the piece takes longer to do and there is more thread visible. Here is it held up to a snowy window ~ love the glow it gives :