Hi Elise

I used the continuous thread method on my first bracelet and am using the make 1, and add , for my second. As far as using a 4mm Bicone-I didn't use that, but Alex mentioned a seed bead on each side of it to hide the thread, but my thought on that is, it's gonna be too bulky for the center space. Do you have an 8/0 or 6/0 seed handy, that you can use for the center? It might work. I also used PowerPro in mine as that is my thread of choice, and thankfully isn't showing up too much on my finished piece. It isn't showing to much on my second pieces either. I figure if worse comes to worse, I will use a colored Sharpie to color the threads that do happen to show. (little sneaky trick of the trade)

I also want to mention that the continuous thread path, IMO, is easier and a lot less hassle. Once you get the rhythm, it just flows. I hate having to weave all that thread in and cut it and rethread, and all that happy crap. Trust me, when we started this challenge, I started and tore out and fussed with it, and that's when I wrote Sandra and asked for her help. I love her work and am happy she came through for this challenge.

I hope I start feeling better soon. This cold has got to stop and the pain, I try to deal with. Wish I didn't need meds, but it's the only way I can make it through the days without pain and crying all the time. Beading is my therapy so to speak, as it keeps my mind focused elsewhere.

Thanks for thinking of me. I hope I helped some.

It seems to look best if the center bead pops into the circle and fills the space, without distorting the shape of the circle.

I'm planning to use the Toho One-G thread (which is similar to Nymo). I used Crystal Fireline on the stars that I was making, and I'm making a peyote tube bracelet with PowerPro 10# test.  I usually try different threads when I start a project, and often find that I prefer one over another. If you're using crystals, you might want to use one of the fishing lines (either PowerPro or Fireline), for the added strength they provide (there's less chance that the cystal will cut the fishing line). I have a slight preference for PowerPro, which comes in white and moss green. Fusion Beads carries the moss green color, which is a little harder to find.

I haven't had any time to sit down and bead yet this year, but am hoping to get back to it soon.  Rhonda

Hi Dorrie, you gem! I know where I've been going wrong! That little line - add the number of beads you want in your base row and the first bead for the second. I've been missing that bit out. Thanks for finding that tutorial for me. I have 1 book and 1 magazine with the directions in it but kept going wrong.

I'll keep trying. I'm playing around with 3 bead netted tubes at the moment. Hoping to make a key tassle using a russian spiral as the middle section. I'm doing the loop in peyote (I hope). We'll see how I get on.

Thanks so much for the tut and the encouragement. I'm not the fastest at picking up directions for the weaves and there are so many I really like the look of!

All the best

Michele

Michele, If you can find Carol Wilcox Wells' books in Scotland, I highly recommend them. The instructions and diagrams are excellent.The Art and Elegance of Bead Weaving is inspiring, but when I learned the Peyote stitch, I also started referring to Creative Bead Weaving. The instructions/ diagrams seem to make learning a new stitch that much easier.

The first three rows are the hardest. I find the 2-needle method for starting things easier, plus it's easier to control the tension. For tubular peyote, I use one needle, but usually take remove the first few rows after I've done a few inches.

I know what you mean about learning new stitches. So many stitches, and never enough time! Cheers, Rhonda

Good for you, Michele. I tried to figure out what problem you were having and I had a feeling it was the issue of your first row of beads is actually rows 1 and 2. I had problems with that when I was learning. It will go so much easier from here now. Just remember that extra bead at the end. I know you are gonna be fine. Any other help that I can give you, let me know. If I can't help, I will find someone who can.

Please share that pattern you are doing now with the net and the spiral when you are done. Sounds pretty. It sounds to me like you have the creative bug in you. (I am still looking for my bug) Keep on beadin'.

Cheers!!!!!!

Seedbeadz:

Michele, If you can find Carol Wilcox Wells' books in Scotland, I highly recommend them. The instructions and diagrams are excellent.The Art and Elegance of Bead Weaving is inspiring, but when I learned the Peyote stitch, I also started referring to Creative Bead Weaving. The instructions/ diagrams seem to make learning a new stitch that much easier.

The first three rows are the hardest. I find the 2-needle method for starting things easier, plus it's easier to control the tension. For tubular peyote, I use one needle, but usually take remove the first few rows after I've done a few inches.

I know what you mean about learning new stitches. So many stitches, and never enough time! Cheers, Rhonda

Thanks Rhonda, I'll have a look for those two books. I managed to make the peyote loop. I'm not sure it is the best loop to use for this little 'play' but it is solid!

Cheers
Michele

eeyorefan:

Good for you, Michele. I tried to figure out what problem you were having and I had a feeling it was the issue of your first row of beads is actually rows 1 and 2. I had problems with that when I was learning. It will go so much easier from here now. Just remember that extra bead at the end. I know you are gonna be fine. Any other help that I can give you, let me know. If I can't help, I will find someone who can.

Please share that pattern you are doing now with the net and the spiral when you are done. Sounds pretty. It sounds to me like you have the creative bug in you. (I am still looking for my bug) Keep on beadin'.

Cheers!!!!!!

Believe me, I'll come running : ) The 3 bead spiral (russian variation) is based on the tutorial on Ruby's Beadwork site. It is a short tube (probably could have been shorter!) about 2.5 inches or so long. Finish off the end. Add a loop - I used peyote but perhaps something a bit more round would work better so I might tear out the loop. Then at the other end do a fringe with a 'ball' just below the end of the tube. I've seen other 'key tassel' patterns but I wanted something a bit more like the sumptuous wool/thread ones. I've just started the tassel part and it needs a fair bit more adding to it. I'll post up a more detailed explanation once I've got a bit further.

I have done 5 strands so far going straight down. The 'knot' or 'pinch' of the tassel is a lampwork spacer bead with a reasonable sized hole. I've stacked some metal and larger seed beads to hold it in place. Continue through the lampwork bead and just do beaded strings as long as you like (with a 'turn around bead' and going back up through the strand to anchor it back into the bottom of the tube).

I've started doing beaded lengths winding round the top part of the tassel (above the lampwork bead section) to fill out that bit and make it look more like a ball. I have seen beaded beads used for this bit which is probably a better idea but I don't want to tackle that just yet.

I decided on a key tassel because I did a short tester length of carnival blue (11) with abalone metalic cube (toho). I thought it was nice but wanted to start on a necklace which is to be a combo of russian spiral threaded onto beadalon 49 with lampwork beads and sterling caps and spacers (possibly as a 'Y' necklace). I'll finish the key tassel first though. : ) and post a pic when I'm done.

Cheers
Michele

Can't wait to see it, Michele. I learned the spiral when I started beading, but really didn't make alot until this past summer. I gave one necklace to my best friend and she told me she receives tons of compliments and comments. I guess I should start doing more with them than hiding them in my box of finished pieces. Can you elaborate on the netting you are doing?  I have a bunch of plain spiral bracelets and necklaces that I could add to. I have some with plain button clasps, that need something more and the netting may be the trick.

Thank you. Have a great evening, Michele. Let me add my e-mail for you. crocdor@yahoo.com . Write me if any questions. Okay?

Happy New Year to all !! I haven't had much time or energy to come back to this forum or thread since mid December. I had been reading about the challenge and waffling about whether to join up but since it sounds like there are some of you that are only having the time to start now, if it's okay I'd like to add my name. Dorrie, I hope your cold/flu is going away. Mine hit on December 18th and pretty much knocked me flat since then. I'm just coming around now. The revised pattern is great and since I've only been beading a short while I'm sure it will help. Andrea, I checked out your website - awesome stuff you are doing there - I almost decided not to join the challenge after looking at your creations! I can't keep up to that kind of work. Hope everything's okay with you, haven't seen you post for a little while. When you spend one evening catching up on the posts you notice these things. I really enjoy reading your posts, especially the ones between you and Dorrie. Rhonda, I downloaded the pattern for the stars. Too late for Christmas but will make some cute little earrings in different colourways for any time of the year. To everyone else who have posted pictures and advice on the challenge - great work and thanks for all the encouragement to each other. That's what finally made me decide to jump in. My bracelet will probably be pretty plain but that's okay for now. I thought the idea of making the sample into the Christmas necklace was excellent. I also checked out a few of other websites - everything is so inspirational. What a great group of beaders. Glad I found this forum. Hope I can live up to the challenge, I hope the pictures don't start popping up automatically after January 15th so that we can choose not to look at them until we are finished. I think I read that but I read so much tonight, I can't remember it all - 8 pages of posts is a lot to absorb. Bye for now, I hope to be able to check back more often now. Lynn (tnkrbell)

Hi Lynn,

Happy to hear from you. Take the challenge as far as you can. It isn't a contest, but something fun to keep the seed beaders busy and happy. This forum is used for troubleshooting also. Any help you need, we will pitch in and do our best too get you through it. As far as me and Andrea, it's been a fun time and I don't want it to end. I met a few great people through this challenge and I hope Andrea finds time to start a new one.

By the way, Lynn, with you recently starting to bead, I think you can do the personal challenge that Andrea set for me. It will help you learn more stitches and you will gain confidence from it. If you want to try this challenge, feel free to write me at my e-mail. crocdor@yahoo.com . I will help you as much as I can. Okay?

Hi Dorrie,

I have posted one of my 3 bead spirals here - it is called Ruthenian Flower Pendant and Russian Spiral necklace. (LOL) Can't remember whether I posted it in Show you Work or Seed Beads!

I tend to use for the first two beads similar or toning colours rather than contrasting colours. The 'russian' variation changes the 3rd bead to something a bit bigger and 'faceted' instead of the number 2 bead being the 'point' or contrast bead.

I've used triangles in the necklace - black diamond - to add sparkle rather than lots of colour. In the key tassel I used a cube - metalic abalone - which is more toning than contrasting with the carnival blue seed beads. Also no. 1 and 2 beads are the same.

I've only used a button clasp once - using a kit by Lynn Davy which was a netted collar with petals and some embellishments. Her original has lots of embellishment - I only did a bit of embellishment on the central petal and a ribbon to weave through the top curve of the necklace. I did see some gorgeous buttons on BeadBabe.com that I thought would be lovely to have just in case (LOL) I have a lot of beads and things just in case!

I've not tried any other kind of spiral. I haven't been able to figure them out . . . yet.

Thanks for your email.

x Michele

Hello Ladies,

Happy New Year! Sorry I haven't been around much, but you can epxect that to continue for another week....I have 2 weeks of work, housecleaning, bill paying and everything else backlogged, burning the candle at both ends and there's not much left of me at this point. I've had to ignore my necessities for two solid weeks and need to get back on track. Bear with me, please.

 Lynn (Tinkerbelle), happy to have you! I'll put you on the list of participants! I'm sure you won't have problems finishing this Challenge on time, it really is very quick to work up, as well as easy to figure out. Unfortunately, pics WILL start going up on this thread on January 15 - I've been sitting on mine for over 3 weeks and will post it up ASAP. The pics will also go up separately on a thread I'll create apart to group everything together, but the only way I can keep track of so many entires (thus pics posted) is to have people post them in a reply to this thread, so I can see them in Active Topics and take care of getting them on the new thread yet to be created. Thanks so much for your nice compliments! Please don't feel intimidated by any of us, we're all here to play and have some fun, maybe learn something along the way! Also, don't be thinking I produced anything like what's up on my website for this Challenge....I made what I consider to be nice pieces, but nothing I spent gobs of time and dedication working on....my Challenge pieces are un-encumbering :).

Dorrie, you are creative. You have tons of creativity in you and if you didn't you wouldn't be attracted to beading, or any other artistic hobby for that matter. We're just exercising your creativity, taking it to another level, that of designing your own work. It's not at all easy, and if you think I was able to make even just one piece exactly as I imagined it to be when planning it all out, you're wrong! Every single one started off as one thing, and ended either being slightly different or entirely different. Designing is also about taking your work in another direction when the original concept can't be translated in beadwork to achieve what you want to achieve with the skills and materials we have at the moment. I wanted you to bead up those components, then put them together because in doing so, you are creating a design. You can take that personal challenge as an exercise and apply it to anything. Make different kinds of components and attach them....design basics, and once you feel comfortable doing that, you'll also be inspired, and when you're inspired, ain't nothing can stop you, you'll be cranking out designs MUCH faster than your little fingers can bead them up, believe it! Love you tons....and I know you have it in you, you're much more awesome than you think :)

To Elise - you were haing problems with the 4mm bicones as center beads? It was you? I can't go back to read because I'm afraid I'll lose my post LOL! In any case, I used the 4mm bicones to replace the size 5 beads in one of my bracelets, and had no problem. The bicone sits above the ring of size 8 beads and though I have a bit of thread visible, its not enough to be an issue...I doubt I can even get the tip of a marker in bewtween the beads to color the thread...and I used dark bicones. You might have had problems because of the shape of your size 8 beads surrounding the center....I don't know what beads you tried with, but I used Japanese seeds...the Dynamites from FMG, fat and squashed,  but the sides are straight. If you used anything with rounder sides, it could either cause your 4mm bicone to push the circle out of shape when you try to tighten the bicone down or make your bicone sit so high that too much thread will show at the ends.

 Rhonda, Michele, Dorrie, Alex, everybody, a hello and thanks for keeping an eye out here for those having questions! I'm around and will check every day as usual - just need some time to regroup and get back to normality. :)

Do you think that maybe we could start a seperate thread for the pictures?  Pretty please?

Because I don't want to look at the pics until Feb. 15, but it would be nice to still be able to read this thread for any tips, tricks, or solutions to problems that people might run into along the way.

Cat

 

beadiecat:

Do you think that maybe we could start a seperate thread for the pictures?  Pretty please?

Because I don't want to look at the pics until Feb. 15, but it would be nice to still be able to read this thread for any tips, tricks, or solutions to problems that people might run into along the way.

Cat

 

Uhm....I have reasons for deciding things were best done this way, the first one being that I hate untidiness...this thread for example is extremely untidy, and that's one of the reasons I want pics posted first here SEPARATELY. The other thread will contain only a first post grouping all the pics, then just comments.

I'm willing to compromise, so I will edit into the first post that people are to post ONLY LINKS to their images here (without using the image tags). That way if you don't want to see it, don't click. I'll take the links and make the pics fully visible on the new thread.Howzat?

 Have a nice day!

Good morning all!! I seem to be having trouble with the line spacing in my posts. It all ends up looking like one big paragraph even though I do put one or even two lines between paragraphs. Dorrie & I have been trying to solve it and no luck so far. It looks fine on my screen. Weird problem. Thanks for letting me join up so late Andrea. I can't wait to see the pictures but I'm glad you are going with the link because I don't want to peek until mine is done. I hope to get going today. Hope everyone has a great day.

Hi Lynn,

Your morning is my early evening, so I get a kick outta hearing "good morning" at 6pm LOL! Sounds like you have some kind of browser issues, I'm on IE and am not experiencing problems with spacing on the posts.

Glad to have you with us, the more the merrier! The deadline was completely indicative, people can join this Challenge up until a week before the deadline as far as I'm concerned....any closer and I'll have my doubts as to the capability of submitting the finished pieces in time - but up until February 7th if anyone thinks they can commit, they're in!

Have a nice day, I'll have a nice evening

Thanks for the compromise.  The links to the pictures sounds like a great idea.

Cat

Great Cat, I'm glad that works for you!

 Everybody, please note that the following has been added into the first post on page 1, under the "Submitting Pictures" heading:

 LINK TO IMAGE -   Please DO NOT post the image, just post the link, images will be fully visible on a separate thread. This is so as not to influence other participants still working on their designs.

Have a nice day!

Hi All!!!

Andrea, You're back!!!! Yayyyyyy!!! Missed you. I hope all is settling down for you.  I'm sorry we got this thread all untidy. It was the holiday's!!!!!! We'll get it cleaned up for you. I am having a problem getting started on my little personal challenge. This is where my creativity get's hung up. I know kind of in my mind what I want to do, but I can't get get it out, plus the color palette is not coming. What is wrong with me??? I so badly want to do it. Actually, I want to bead anything and I can't figure out what I want to do? Ever feel like that? It's making me nuts!!!

  Michele, I hope things are working out for you. I love your Key tassel, Michele. I think I got the way that pattern works. I can do the Russian Spiral, but I was watching QVC one day and they had a seed bead necklace, they were selling for an outrageous price and I was like, I can do that. Gues what? I did.  It is a spiral rope done with herringbone that looks like...Rope, but not as spirally looking as the Russian. Does that sentence make sense? Anyway, I have a bunch of those also that I could probably net around.

Lynn, how's it going for you? Getting things figured out forum wise and bead wise? Not still sneaking beads in on hubby, are you???? I just got an order from FMG a couple days ago, so I'm happy, but stuck on making anything!!! Don't know what I want to do. My daughter's Christmas gift of the FMG gift certificate disappeared really quick.LOL

Anyway, I am gonna try to chill and hope I can get to working on the Andrea personal challenge. Andrea, if you get a minute and need me, you know how to get me.

Take care all.

 

Hi Dorrie!

 

Actually, I want to bead anything and I can't figure out what I want to do? Ever feel like that? It's making me nuts!!!

Yes, I have those moments too! Either I have my head so crammed with ideas that I can hardly wait to finish one thing to start another, or I have an existential void in my head which can go on for days. And to think I  sketch my designs in a notebook when they get to be too many in my head, something I do to be able to go back and make the piece in those moments of "what do I do-ness"...yet even my own designs on hold in those moments don't appeal to me....I have yet to make one of my sketched "reserve designs". If you're feeling uninspired, don't force it. Step back from anything major for a day or two, and make something totally simple and just for fun...a beadie critter, a pendant, brooch or pair of earrings, or try swtiching from beadweaving to bead embroidery for a simple project. Disconnecting from attempting a more challenging project when you're not feeling overly inspired helps immensely. You'll be able to go back to it with  a fresher approach either after a brief pause in beading or a beading for fun/silly project. 

There's another aspect of my design process which I haven't shared yet, but might help to open  another dimension for you. When I  am kind of stuck and uninspired, and incursions to examine and play with my bead stash don't do the trick...I'll kick my imagination into gear on another level, not involving beads....I think of a name for my project first, something which sounds catchy to me, doesn't matter at all what it is. It's like giving yourself a theme, you think up the name and more often than not the design comes quickly. The act of choosing the name before elaborating your design is in itself inspiration, and source of inspiration. If the beads don't inspire you, the name you choose will, more often than not. I'd say at least half of the stuff I've produced until now started out with a name, before ever even becoming a design, let alone a piece of finished jewelry!

Hope that offers you another perspective on how to handle these moments of inspirational rut . Have a great day sweetie!

Edited to add two things:

1. I finished my second bracelet, now that I have my beading time back

2. No need to tidy up the thread, this is a comfortable sort of untidiness. As long as the new thread with the pics is kept tidy, I'm a happy camper LOL!