The Bead Spot

It’s been another slow beading week as I work on an unrelated freelance project, but I’ve had a few ideas hanging out in my brain. I’ve had plans to use these tubes in a bracelet that incorporates seed bead squares between the tubes: Because I haven’t had time to focus on beadwork while I’m at home, I found myself thinking of variations of the original plan as I was driving to pick up my daughter a couple of days ago, such as arrows instead of squares, or maybe even stringing the tubes onto a loom and beading around them. I'm just not sure what type of clasps to use. Hopefully it looks good when it’s complete. Just gotta finish the freelance project so that I can get back to beading.

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. ...

In the interest of saving beads, I go through phases in which I deconstruct some of my beadwork.  That's what I’m in the middle of right now. I'd like to turn a few of these bracelets: into three-row (or more) daisy-chain bracelets I've seen in one of my bead books but have never tried. I like the way they look in the book, but I don't have enough of the beads I want to use without taking apart the single daisy chains. So I deconstruct, starting with the blue and white one. I still have a few "daisies" to demolish before I can start putting it back together again, but I'm eager to get going. Do you ever deconstruct your beadwork? Tell me about it in the comments section.

Over the last week, I finally got my first sale through  my Etsy store ! I sold a flute my uncle made several months ago. I first listed it back in August, and after the listing expired the first time without a buyer, I have to say, I was starting to get a little discouraged. And then, this past Saturday afternoon, I picked up my phone after taking a short nap, and I nearly fell over when I saw the notification that one of my listings had sold. I had to read it two or three times to make sure I wasn’t misreading it. That afternoon, I got the flute all packaged up for it’s trip out to California, but then I had to wait for Tuesday to roll around before I could get it in the mail. (Monday was Presidents Day.) I cannot tell you how excited I am, even now, days later! Ever since I started listing back in August, every few days, it seems, a visitor to my shop would "heart" one of my items for sale, but I have to admit, I was starting to think no one was every going to ...

I had big plans to make heart-shaped jewelry to list on my Etsy shop for Valentine’s Day. Now the holiday is only three weeks away, and I have yet to map out a pattern or even to decide if I want to make a bracelet or earrings or a necklace. Instead of taking time on my days off from work to make progress, I’ve been basking in the downtime, and now I kind of regret that. Here’s hoping that the rest of this week is productive enough that I’ll have something to list by Sunday. If not, I might as well just focus on creating something for the next holiday: St. Patrick’s Day. *** Thank you for stopping by. Though I've had a craft-less week, my 6-year-old hasn't. My most recent post on another blog I manage, "Shrinking Carbon Footprint," talks about how my daughter makes crafts of "trash." Find it here .

Screen grab from a Facebook group for seed bead fans. I recently joined a couple of beadwork-related Facebook groups. I love seeing what people make in my feed mixed in along with posts about which of my high school classmates recently became a grandparent. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to look for some FB beading connections sooner. The best part is that I can get feedback fairly quickly. If I'm working on a project and cannot decide between two shades of green, I can post a photo of what I have so far and the two colors, ask for other group members to weigh in, and within a couple of hours, I'll have enough responses to feel like I'm making the best choice. But there is a small downside: Most of the people in the group, I feel, are much more skilled designers than I am, and I cannot help but feel like an amateur compared to them. But I also feel like they inspire me.

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 ,...