Bone Pendant

I bought two of these lovely bone cabochons, one in ivory and the other in an earthy brown color. I was hoping to be showcasing them both together, but the brown fella has been giving me some trouble.
When you wrap a cabochon with tubular peyote, you have to get the count of beads just right, otherwise your wrap will be too tight, or too loose and the cab will just fall right out.
Now, both bone cabochons are the same size (supposedly anyways) so I thought the count of beads for the brown one would be the same exact count as the first one I did but noooooooo, it's not as easy as that. After 3 failed attempts and several hours down the drain, I put it aside and decided I'll do it later...
I do have one lovely pendant to show off though.
This bone cabochon is wrapped with matte black delica beads in peyote stitch, and smaller toho seed beads to hold it in securely. Then I beaded a bail large enough so that the pendant can be strung on a cord or chain.


On a side note - www.artbeads.com continues to torment me! They are having a dollar days sale and LOTS of seed beads are on sale for $1 per pack...that's up to 50% off for some finishes and sizes. You would think that I could just buy a couple packs but I racked up a "window" shopping cart of over $80. But I'm not buying any....nope. Must...use...existing....stock. It's harder than it sounds!
My name is Joanna, and I am a beadaholic.

Waves

Lately I've been trying to use beads I have on hand rather than buying on a whim. So far, so good. My biggest temptation has got to be artbeads.com. Every once in a while they'll send me an email with a great deal on the latest colors, sizes, shapes of seed beads and it's rare that I don't pick up a few bags of little beady goodness. Luckily for my wallet, it's been over a month since I've perused thier website.
These wavy bracelets were woven from Toho seed bead mixes I have had on hand for awhile. Yay me for using existing stock!

Purple Waves

Weaving in peyote stitch with different sizes of beads will give you a great texture. Both bracelets were woven with Toho beads in sizes 11 to 6.


Dragon Scales

This is my first bracelet attempt with a button clasp and it came out purrrrfect. The loop is secure and tight, the button will not go through the loop unless it is tilted sideways and pushed through the slot. I used a metal button with an intricate dragon design on it - makes for a great focal point.



Matching Pendants

I didn't feel like picking up my bead colors...so I just kept on beading. I'll be throwing in the pendant for free when you buy the matching bracelet. Fun!

Holiday Delights

I wove these little lovelies over the weekend, realizing that December is here already!

This bracelet is a simple weave, finished off with a gold wire guardian and a gold-plated swivel clasp. I LOVE the swivel clasps, because your bracelet never gets twisted.

This little "Christmas Bell" was woven around a wooden bell shape with toho seed beads, sizes 11 and 15. I included a woven loop bail, and for the "bell" I used a swarovski glass pearl.

I entered this pendant in the Christmas competition on craftjuice.com. Vote for me HERE.

Doesn't red, green, and gold simply look great together?

I am in love...

...with my freshly built lightbox, and the man that built it.

My husband (and knight in faded patchies as I like to call him) was quick to the rescue when I got frustrated with my lack of quality pictures. When I mentioned the lightbox he was excited to make it, he loves a good project. And I love a good picture...it's a win/win! Lol.

He says there's lots of things he could have done better but I think it came out great. He used diffuser panels on 4 sides, and some concoction of wood framing/velcro allowing it to be broken down. He even dug out an old 3 headed adjustable lamp from the shed for me to use. I have to find some cooler white light bulbs to use, but I took some test shots last night with some bulbs from around the house and I'm quite pleased with the preliminary results.

I have lots of work ahead of me. As any creative person knows, taking photos of your work is NOT the most fun part, and can take lots of time. However, I am determined to get fresh, crisp photos of my entire stock of goodies.

Speaking of fresh, I stitched up four pairs of earrings yesterday...it was addicting. I have done a couple pairs over the course of my beading days, but for some reason yesterday I just couldn't stop! I don't know why I haven't made more of them, they're so fun and there's lots of room for versatility. Here are 3 of the 4 that I got photographed so far:

Yes I KNOW it's winter, but I can't seem to stop playing with bright colors. Purple and green especially, they're one of my favorite color combos. This pendant is a funky half-beaded bead, with a full beaded back. The center is a pretty swarovski glass pearl, and woven around it is delica and toho glass seed beads.