The Bead Spot

Last week, I was taking apart one of my daisy-chain bracelets . This week, I'm reworking it into a three-row daisy-chain. That's how I've been spending the last 20 minutes each night before I go to bed, working on this bracelet. After I had already deconstructed its predecessor, I remembered that I had it for sale at my Etsy shop , so I deactivated the listing. My sister noticed and sent me a text: "Did you sell your bracelet?" "No, I just deactivated it because I took the bracelet apart." "Oh, well," she answered. "It was in someone's cart for about three days. I was hoping you'd sold it." I about fell over. I had no idea it was in someone's cart. Odds art, the person who had it in his/her cart wasn't going to buy it anyway, not after it had been sitting in the cart for three days, but I'm still a little bummed I didn't notice it was in someone's cart before I took it apart. ...

Armed with the light/magnifier my husband recently bought for me, I am back at trying to take photos of beadwork . I spent most of Monday night putting the light and the camera at different angles, and I think I finally see some improvement, though I have a ways to go. Here is a side-by-side comparison. On the left is a photo I took last fall. I took it outside in natural light, but the shadows are way too deep. The photo on the right is the one I took using the light my husband gave me. I think the image could be sharper, but it's more true to the colors of the pumpkin earrings I made. I'm working on it; I'm determined to get the hang of this. Etsy shop additions I've added a couple of new items to my Etsy shop, both made by my older sister. She's been doing beadwork longer than I have, and I think she's got a great eye for design. Here are photos of her creations. If you're interested, please pop over to my Etsy shop, Beadwork and Woodwinds ,...

Ten years ago, I took an introductory drawing class with the idea of being able to use the skills later at my job, which called for me to occasionally create a graphic or illustration. I really enjoyed the class, and I learned a lot about creating depth and perspective with shadows. I did some drawing in the months that followed, but eventually, my drawing journal wound up in a drawer amid my craft supplies, and there it's sat for the past eight or nine years. Until this past weekend, that is. An itch to draw again has been following me around over the past few months. I'll see a lamp post or desk or flowers in a vase, and think, "How would I draw that? What would I need to do to show the light? How could I show the reflection on the side?" etc. So on Saturday, I took out my journal, grabbed a charcoal pencil, and attempted to draw my daughter from a photo. I learned two things as I sketched: (1) At the time I drew the stuff that was already in my journal, I...

"What We Want, What We Need." Artist Jeffrey Gibson (born 1972) at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas For the first time since our daughter was born, my husband and I went to an art museum earlier this month, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. It was a trip I've wanted to make ever since the museum opened its doors back in 2011. Though the collection was smaller than I thought it would be, the trip still did not disappoint. One of my favorite works was a beaded punching bag sculpture titled "What We Want, What We Need" by Choctaw artist Jeffrey Gibson. According to the Crystal Bridges website , "in this work, seemingly contradictory positions are blended equally and harmoniously, demonstrating Gibson’s philosophy that varied cultural influences generate new ideas and creations." The museum also has on show an exhibit of blown glass by Dale Chihuly, an artist I first learned about while taking...

As I tried to figure out how to make feather earrings a few weeks ago, I finally had the chance to do some in-depth work with Beader's Canvas  software. The Pluses Size Adjustments : One of the biggest challenges in plotting out a pattern by hand on graph paper is that all beads are not made the same, but all squares on graph paper are. Some beads are perfectly round, some are wider than they are long, and some are longer than they are wide. That means that a pattern will vary according to the type and size of bead used. Beader's Canvas allows for that, with the dimensions for Miyuki beads, including Delicas, and Toho beads already programmed in. Users can simply select the type (I used Delicas) and the size of the on-screen graph automatically adjusts. If you aren't using Miyukis or Tohos, you can manually enter the dimensions needed. Stitch Switch : I first started the feather project in square stitch, but unhappy with how all attempts were turning out, I sw...

For years, I’ve kept a sketchbook, and when I have a fully formed (and drawable) idea for a beadwork project, I’ll scratch it out on paper. As I strive to turn my hobby into a little more of a money-maker, though, I’ve wondered about the other ideas I have, the ones that aren’t yet patterns, just general thoughts I have about things I can make in the future, such as “Kids Halloween bracelets,” or “Halloween wall hangings.” I’ve decided to write down such generalizations on the top of a single notebook page, then periodically, I can flip through the book and think a little more about the specifics. Then in the space below, I can write things like, “witches flying” or “rows of pumpkins,” etc. My hope is that this will help me to always know what my next project will be.

While trying to decide how to best make the green bracelet work, I had yet another idea -- this one for a black bracelet, also in the herringbone stitch. The design kind of springboarded off the idea for the green. I'd like to make something that's multi-colored, too, but I'm not sure what yet or what type of stitch.

I have a lot of beads in primary and secondary colors, but very few in shades such as pink and neon green, such as these (pink) and these  (green). I think shades such as these would appeal to children more so than the primary and secondary hues I have, and I'd really like to expand my variety of kids bracelet designs. Of course, this will be AFTER I complete the right-angle weave bracelet. (Side note: I worked on it again on my lunch break yesterday. I'm really enjoying using that time to do some beading. I love my little girl more than anything, but it's nice to have that time without having to worry about her knocking beads over. I don't know why it never occurred to me to do that before. The only bad thing: My lunch break is only an hour.)

I am half Cherokee, and while not all of my projects have a Native flair, I do like to add it to a lot of my work. I like to look at the works by other Native Americans on Etsy . There are some pretty awesome pieces there.

I started over immediately after I discovered my mistake in the door hanger I'm making for my daughter, but into row 3, I realized the tension was way too loose, and I don't think it was doing to get any better as I moved along. So, I've unraveled my second attempt and have moved onto my third, which is good, because I made a few adjustments this time around. I wasn't too happy with the shade of blue I used the first two times, so I switched to one that has a little magenta in it.  I decided to work from the bottom to the top instead of from left to right. By doing this, I realized that it was going to be much smaller than I had planned, so I modified the pattern. I switched from nymo thread to monofilament, which should give the hanger more stability. The drawback is that it might not be suitable for a door hanger because the interior doors in our house are hollow, and monofilament will make the hanger heavier. If that's the case, though, it will just go o...

I'm in the mood to get started on some projects, so I've been thinking quite a bit about how I'd like to do the door hanger for my daughter's bedroom. My plan right now is to make it in colors similar to the ones in this shirt of hers: The biggest reason why I want to use similar colors to this is I'm getting a little tired of pink everything. While there is some pink in the shirt, it doesn't dominate.

I haven't been doing much beading lately. I found this thing called Facebook that's been taking up far too much of my time. But now the novelty has worn off, and I've started to miss my looms and charts and colored pencils, so I think one of my New Year's resolution will be to spend a lot less time checking status updates and seeing who has recently posted photos and a lot more time with my beadwork. Happy New Year!

Earlier this evening, I was sitting in my kitchen waiting on the turkey filets I had bought from Walmart to finish baking when I had an overwhelming urge to write something. So here I am, writing my first post in quite a few months. I had no idea it had been as long as it has since the last time I did this. Life, you know. Anyway, here is a quick update on what I've been working on. • First, there is this: This is the same gourd stitch bracelet I mentioned in previous posts, and yes, it's still a work in progress. I am only a handful of rows away from finishing it, but I noticed that it seems to bow a little across the top. I can't decide whether I want to pull another string through it to try to tighten it up that way or if I want to just pull out the stitches and begin again. Decisions, decisions. My husband says it's not noticeable. As a matter of fact, he says he can't see what I'm talking about. However, I think he is trying to spare me fro...