Reader Showcase

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

ingrid@38 — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:59:37 GMT

These are all gorgeous, green glass is yummy. And what a variety of designs! Very impressed.

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

SeaBeads — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:24:07 GMT

Hi Val,

It's a bracelet. Although the effect of Cellini spiral is fabulous, the work is tedious and boring.

I do hope the surgeon can help you although the thought of cutting tendons makes my stomach ache. Read somewhere else that you were really ill today. So sorry to hear that.

Studio ready yet?

Hugs from Karin.

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

Valbeads — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:15:00 GMT

The top one has the emerald in it, Karin. Is that a bracelet or a necklace? Doesn't matter, I demand you give it to me, right now! (lol) I really love the colors!

Quick update- I have an appointment to see my orthopedic surgeon next week to check on my thumb to see if anything more can be done to ease the pain; maybe cut the tendons.

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

D.M.Z — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:11:35 GMT

Karin, one of the first things I noticed about the announced Pantone colors were all the varieties that they put under Emerald.........all sorts of shades, so you are well within the Emerald group with your items.Your Helix is divine, just so springy, and I like the zigzag ones too, of course spirals are always great because they just make me grin..........love them all.

The beaded bead that I adore is for moments when you just need to do some "mindless" stitching. It is a Leslie Frazier bead that takes 36 seed beads 11/o and 12 firepolish 4mm.......that's all, so a great beaded bead to use up dribs and drabs of colors.......that is why I went so nutty, I had lots of small quantities of beads at the time.

The pattern was in Art and Elegance of Beadweaving (Carol Wilcox Wells) which is a great book overall. Donna

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

SeaBeads — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:23:33 GMT

Unlike you, Donna, I didn't make a lot of greenies. The Dangling Disks one I posted 2 weeks ago is but not much Emerald in it. The Cellini spiral bracelet I already posted a few months ago in the Gallery.

The zigzag one is very soft and delicate. It almost feels like fabric, cloth, very silky. I found the pattern when I started beading somewhere on the internet. It's a Chevron technique and was designed by J. Cobear. That's all the information I have about this pattern.

And I don't mean to be mean (I don't want to rub it in about the stiff fingers) but the African Helix is one of the few greenies I made. When I started beading and found the African Helix I was lost forever. This stitch is so incredible. The fact that the lime green line goes the other way. I never got over this one.

Your beaded bead looks very nice, Donna. Did you develop that one yourself?

I hope there's Emerald color in them. I'm not sure what shade of green is Emerald. I did my best.

Greetings from Karin.

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

Teresa Webster — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:05:10 GMT

I think I like the group with the bracelet that has the beaded leaves. They are all really nice though.

Teresa

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

HoneyBeads — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:47:14 GMT

Wow great work! I love the colors and the leaves!

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

Calico3 — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:53:04 GMT

Wow! They're all great.

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

D.M.Z — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:55:16 GMT

Karin, the bright multi-color fat bracelet is out of Mastering Beadwork (Carol Huber Cypher) and was to be worked in African Helix. I loved that beauty from the moment I saw it, and that was the final reason for me to buy the book also.

However.........I have rather stiff fingers, always have been that way and I just don't have enough hands or toes or teeth to successfully pull off African Helix. So after much whining and drooling and tearing apart I decided to convert the pattern to a Russian Spiral which looks similar but your thread path actually goes through a bead instead of looping around it. That I seemed to be able to hold the tension on ok. I made samples until I was dizzy, trying to get the Helix effect out of the spiral and finally got most of the look right. Then it wanted to stretch out because of it's loosness, so I rolled microfiber as a core around a wire core, added bead caps and glue and there it is. Only ten times as difficult as it should have been. Oh, and two sizes of 6 colors of seed beads which I normally don't even use.......... Then you just embellish the center section with all sorts of doodads.

Ottercat, I also love those RAW bracelets, they are made in those smaller sections and then joined and embellished. They made nice little projects that I could take with me and work on for short periods of time. I have one half done, yellow firepolish base with a very vintage looking green and black embellishment, it's in my UFO drawer at the moment.

HDChiky and Val...........yep the Laura McCabe (Fairie Vine necklace that I made into a bracelet) pattern is simpler than it looks but works up faboo. She knows what she is doing for sure.

Thank you all and come on post yours here too. This post was to be for ALL our EMERALD items. Donna

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

HDChiky — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 03:11:36 GMT

Ohhh my, I love them all... but, me thinks the 'fairy bracelet' is my favorite also. Beautiful work Donna.

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

ottercat — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 01:38:32 GMT

tcwhit:
to me it's become everyday blah-blah, in the beginning I was all googley-eyed and full of "Oohs" and "Ahs". Does this happen with all you (us)?

With me, yes; but that's when I try something different. I think that happens with everything (crafts, art, food, places, etc.)

Ottercat

01-27-13 (1737 PST)

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

ottercat — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 01:33:40 GMT

Wonderful!! If I had to pick just one, it would be your first RAW bracelet; it reminds me of celtic knots (sections). Thanks for sharing!

Ottercat

01-27-13 (1732 PST)

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

tcwhit — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:19:24 GMT

As I stare and stare, I get so many workable ideas flitting about in my head. Now I just need to 'capture' one of them, to make it hold still long enough to think the whole thing through. I always fall back to a RAW base. Perhaps that's actually good, but I've done so many in that manner that perhaps I'm tired of it, and maybe others out there (the people at this fund raiser) are going to look at it in the same way I did at first. Where as to me it's become everyday blah-blah, in the beginning I was all googley-eyed and full of "Oohs" and "Ahs". Does this happen with all you (us)?

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

SeaBeads — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:18:34 GMT

Hi Donna,

They're all delightfull and my absolute favorite is the first, the fat colorful spiral plus centrepiece.

Greetings from Karin.

Re: An Emerald "Variety Pack" of designs

D.M.Z — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:01:52 GMT

TC...............that was one of the easier ones. I don't remember a specific designer or pattern, it was something we did in an open beading session or a class at our local bead shop. If there is a designer to attribute to it, I am so sorry but I don't know who it was. I could have seen it in a magazine..........dunno. I have some lampwork beads done by Nancy Robinson (somewhere in New England) and I wanted to use them in something special looking, this is what I found.

Anyway it is on Accuflex or Softflex wire, string the clasp end, make the overall bracelet wrist sized plus a bit, string the (in my case) black 8/o Toho beads to almost the center, put on the lampwork bead, then string the equal number of beads out to the other end, attach the other end of the clasp. I added a bead cover also. Then with either Nymo or Fireline (black in my case) attach fringes by coming up between a bead (leaving the end bead empty) then going back down through that same bead, come up the next, etc. End at the lampwork bead. Start another Nymo or Fireline on the other side of the lampwork and ditto.

I felt that one pass through was not enough fringe and my fringes with the large lucies sort of fell over, so I added another full pass of shorter fringes using only black 11/o beads. Some of the original row of ends of the fringes have large lucies, some have a small lucie and a bead, some have a colored drop bead, some have just a picot of three contrasting color beads. When you look at my bracelet, one side of it has an extra row of fringes, one side does not.........you really cannot tell and I couldn't decide which I liked better, now I couldn't do much except take all the fringes off and start again. Which being obsessive AND compulsive I may do. Also I'd make the fringes with the large lucies with fewer 11/o's as a stem. I used 8 and that is why the large lucies flopped over so much. Live and learn. Donna