First forays into soutache beadwork

I ordered a few types of soutache cord after seeing myriad gorgeous photos online and was immediately overwhelmed with indecision. I've seen other bloggers write that rayon cord doesn't snag while stitching, but the polyester can sometimes cause trouble. I got a few colors of both and didn't realize I'd ordered such a hot pink shade of the polyester. It isn't a color I would normally have chosen and, being the more potentially problematic of the two types, I figured I wouldn't lose out much if I used it as my soutache guinea pig. Most of the beads in these little pieces are acrylic, which I also tend to stay away from. The combination of the two materials made me worry a lot less about what mistakes I might make and, as a result, I had a lot of fun being adventurous in my color scheme and shapes! Here are the results so far!

I did find that the polyester dimpled in some places, but I think that's as much my inexperience and too-tight stitching as it is the cord. The metallic gold cord was also a bit challenging because the outer layer seems to be made of a thin, woven, plastic-y material and I was worried about puncturing the strands and causing fraying. My worries didn't seem to manifest themselves, though, which was a relief. I think I did alright considering these were my very first attempts. I learned the hard way to stitch the cords together before fixing them to a cabochon bead, as you can see on the middle piece. my big white stitches are showing themselves off. I'm still really happy with the experiment and I hope I can one day be as fearless with all my materials and not just the ones I know I'll use once in a blue moon.

Nymo necklaces

These are the other necklaces I've been working on recently. They're strung on various colors of strong Nymo thread. I love the delicacy and the wide range of color possibilities and I'm having a lot of fun incorporating gemstone beads with high-quality size 15/0s!

This first one was created this past Christmas. It features hand-cut diamond shaped garnet beads, gold-plated size 15s, a freshwater pearl and gold finding clasp and a red and green jasper drop focal.

Silver nymo, hand-cut peridot rondelles, matte platinum 15s, gold findings and a freshwater pearl focal.

A look at the clasp.

Silver nymo, aquamarine rondelles, "silver night" Swarovski Xilion bicones, and a handmade focal of dark nickel and smoky quartz drops. I call this one "Derisann"

That's all for now! I've got two more nymo necklaces to photograph and probably many more to make. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading!

Where have I been?!

I've spent the last year and some change in Seattle, fell off the radar and then stayed down there in the sub-radar quiet. My apologies to those of you who checked on the blog and wondered if I'd simply abandoned it.
Here are some of the new things I have to show. Please excuse the low quality phone-pictures. There was a period of about half a year where this was all I had.
First off are these fun little earrings:

 

Next is this hemalyke and freshwater pearl chain-bib necklace I've named Andromache. I've found I'm really fond of this gunmetal-and-gold

color combo!

            

Delays and news

So sorry I haven't updated! The Etsy shop is still empty with only a few days left til Christmas and I haven't put up any new pictures but things have been picking up crazy momentum over here. The most prominent new development is that I'll be moving to Seattle in January! Coming from a small hometown, the move is pretty intimidating but it'll be an experience and I'll actually be close to bead stores (not to mention a fantastic cosmetic brand named Fyrinnae)!
I've been experimenting with a few more techniques and have sold a few items since my last post. I made a pair of ombre freshwater pearl cluster earrings and was so excited to wrap them and send the present on its way that I forgot to take pictures. Maybe I can get a picture of them on the wearer instead.
Here are the things I did manage to finish and photograph amid the pandemonium.
First is Jess, an eyepin magnesite chain with copper findings.

Then comes Vienna, another eyepin chain made of mother of pearl. The grapelike focal is made of glass and moonstone beads.

The last necklace I completed is a silver Sewanee angel coin. I wanted it to be wearable and so I bezeled it in Sewanee's university colors and hung it on a silver chain.

So that's all for now. The world didn't end and the family events are still coming, there are presents to make and sweaters to wear and people to wish well so enjoy the holidays! Til next time.



Distractions

More necklace pictures today. This is Iris, the colorful 10-strand bead crochet with dyed mother of pearl discs and glass beads. And the loop closure at the back with a fun blue bead drop and small silver shell.

I may have one or two more crochet necklaces on my mind but I think those will have to back off for now to make room for some more distracting ideas. I'm enjoying playing with different types of multimedia chains but I miss my seed beads and I have more than a few thoughts growing in my sketchbook.

My attention is also being diverted by the Coheed and Cambria concert on Tuesday :) and I'm getting increasingly excited about it. I plan to have one more post up with another completed necklace before then and when I return from Nashville on Wednesday I'll get to work stocking my Etsy shop. It's been neglected for quite some time, as the pieces I wanted to put up for sale were sold locally! In my excitement I've left the poor little shop unstocked but I think I've settled into a more regular pace now and I plan to pay much more attention to it.

But it's a Sunday morning and work beckons and makes me wish I could work in a New Mexico crafts store instead. Thank you to anyone who stops by to read what I write or to look at the pictures, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Catching Up

I'm sorry I haven't been posting recently. I've been keeping busy experimenting with new beadwork projects, decorating the tree, hiding from the Black Friday mobs. I know I keep promising real posts, but then I seem to get behind again until the step-by-step pictures are forgotten and uncaptured and my regular updates are nowhere to be seen. So it looks like this is another post that will consist primarily of pictures, without much text and description. Please bear with me.

First, I stumbled across the pattern for June Huber's "totally twisted triangle" and decided to have a shot at making one. I thoroughly enjoyed it and once learned, the pattern is easy to remember and can be done and redone without a need to repeatedly look at the instructions. A good on-the-road project, as I've found out.
Peyote stitch bezeling was one of the first techniques I learned and I wanted to experiment with a fun, eco-friendly source. Thus, the Bacardi party pendant was born. It was my first real foray into fringe.

Then I got sucked into my current obsession, which seems to be bead crochet necklaces. This first one, which I've named Aurka, is made of mother of pearl chips and a vintage mother of pearl button as the focal. The clasp is also a square mother of pearl bead with two little seashell findings. I had a lot of fun making it, although I only learned the basics of crochet at summer camp and have now forgotten how to do anything but the most basic chain. I'll work on that.

 

 

 

 

The last necklace I completed was Yllis, another bead crochet bib-style necklace, this time made of citrine chips, moonstone, glass beads, Tohos, glass pearls and freshwater pearls. It's all done in a peach-black-white color palette I'm very fond of. The clasp is another vintage button loop closure with a fun pearl dangle down the back.

 

 

 

I think I have a few bead crochet necklaces left in my system before I move on to something else but Aurka is already sold so I suppose that a few more projects in the same style can't hurt too much :) and I plan to try out a few more thread colors. Again, thanks for reading! Anyone else out there playing around with bead crochet?



Opening shop!

I opened my Etsy shop today! So far the only necklace listed is Kura and I suspect she's rather lonely in there but I'm using all my free time today to work on my current project and I hope to have it up, photographed and listed withing the next two days.
In the meantime you can find the shop here :)
Thanks for reading!