Giveaway and Sale - Two Days Left!

Only two days left in my tutorial sale and Artbeads gift card giveaway! All of my beaded bead tutorials are 15% off through my Etsy shop! Here's my newest tutorial:

I don't do sales very often, so this is a great opportunity to get a deal on a new design! The tutorials will reset to their normal prices at 11:59 PM PST on December 31, so don't delay!

I'm giving away a $25 gift certificate towards all kinds of beading supplies and tools, sponsored by my good friends at Artbeads.com! To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on my previous blog post by 11:59 PM PST on December 31, letting me know what kinds of beading techniques you'd like to try in the new year. Make sure to either leave your e-mail address in the comment, or make sure that that your Blogger profile includes your e-mail address. Alternatively, you can leave a link to your Etsy shop and I'll convo you to contact you. One winner will be randomly chosen and notified via e-mail on January 1, 2010. The gift certificate will be delivered via e-mail directly from Artbeads.

Good luck!

New Ideas, Giveaway, and Sale!

At the end of the year I like to try new and different beadweaving ideas. I think it's because I spend so much time on my own designs that I don't have enough time to try other projects, but since I'm usually on vacation around Christmastime, I like to use this time to take a vacation from my own beading ideas as well. Last year I made a beaded box from a project in Julia Pretl's book Little Bead Boxes, a significant departure for me since I don't work with delica beads very often. This year I received Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence for Christmas, and I'm having a great time perusing this book for projects I'd like to do this holiday.

What kinds of beading techniques would you like to try in the new year? Between now and the end of the year, I'm offering two opportunities to broaden your beading horizons:

First, all the beaded bead tutorials in my Etsy shop are 15% off through December 31. New to beaded beads? Perhaps you'd like to try the delicate Light Clusters:

Or maybe you'd like to try a more advanced design? Perhaps you'd like the Teardrop Bubbles:

And then there's alway my newest design, the Squared Circles:

I don't do sales very often, so this is a great opportunity to get a deal on a new design! The tutorials will reset to their normal prices at 11:59 PM PST on December 31, so don't delay!

Second, I'm giving away a $25 gift certificate towards all kinds of beading supplies and tools, sponsored by my good friends at Artbeads.com! To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this blog by 11:59 PM PST on December 31, letting me know what kinds of beading techniques you'd like to try in the new year. Make sure to either leave your e-mail address in the comment, or make sure that that your Blogger profile includes your e-mail address. Alternatively, you can leave a link to your Etsy shop and I'll convo you to contact you. One winner will be randomly chosen and notified via e-mail on January 1, 2010. The gift certificate will be delivered via e-mail directly from Artbeads.

I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone wants to try in the new year! Good luck!

Merry Christmas Ornament!

I make at least one Christmas ornament for my Mom every year. One year I made her an entire set of origami snowflake ornaments out of fancy textured paper, but lately I've been into making beaded ornaments. Here's this year's ornament:

This ornament features a Squared Circles beaded bead and a Circle Starburst beaded bead, both woven from medium-sized Czech glass lentils and fancy Japanese seed beads. It was hard to get a picture of it on the Christmas tree since the tree casts so many shadows, but I think this one gives an idea of how it looks in tree-context:

A tutorial for the Squared Circles beaded bead is available in my Etsy shop, and I'm currently writing a tutorial for the Circle Starburst beaded bead. I meant to get it done before Christmas, but I've found that the busy holiday season is not conducive to writing!

In the meantime, I hope you have a warm, happy holiday!

Season's Greetings!

Double Bubble Pearl Experiments, Revisited

A few months ago I reported on my attempts to incorporate freshwater pearls into my Double Bubble Jacks beaded bead. I found that drop pearls that are slightly larger than 4 by 6 mm worked best in the original pattern outlined in the Double Bubble Jacks tutorial, while using pearls that measured 4 by 6 mm or smaller resulted in a more squishy beaded bead.

In response to my findings, Gwen of BeAd Infinitum gave an excellent suggestion on how to better-fit the smaller pearls to the design by removing four seed beads from each pillar. I gave it a try with the same peacock pearls that I used in the second bead in my original experiments, and here's the result:

I'm happy to report that it works out great! The bead is much less squishy, and it does a better job of showing off the pearls!

This variation also works well with other smallish teardrop-shaped freshwater pearls. Here's a pair of earrings with some peach-colored drop pearls that I bought at the last Rings and Things roadshow:



Finally, I made a pair of earrings and a bracelet using this variation to match the Bubble Box pendant made with pearls in the same color scheme. Both of these pieces are available in my Etsy shop:





I can't wait to try this variation with some green pearls I bought at the BABE show! Much thanks to Gwen for the excellent suggestion!

Craft Show This Saturday!

I'm participating in a craft show this Saturday, December 12, from 10 AM to 4 PM at the knit-one-one studio in Berkeley, CA! The show will feature about 10 local artisans, who will be displaying all kinds of crafts including jewelry, textiles, pottery, and papercrafts! The show will take place in the intimate knit-one-one crafting studio at 3360 Adeline Street, Berkeley CA, so it's a great chance to do some holiday shopping without the hassle and crowds of the malls.

I'll be bringing a wide selection of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets to the show, as well as some print copies of my beaded bead tutorials. In addition to the pieces available in my Etsy shop, here's a sneak peak of some of the items I'll have on sale at the craft show:

If you're in the area, I'd love to see you there!

SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway - Ending Tomorrow!

The SATeam promotion is ending tomorrow! Until 12/6, anyone who purchases an item from any of the participating SATeam shops will be entered in a drawing to win this beautiful charm bracelet, featuring handcrafted charms from over 25 individual team members!

A list of the participating shops can be found at the SATeam blog, and you can also find sale items by searching for SATEAMWRIST at Etsy. Remember that at my shop, this promotion is valid for each jewelry and tutorial sale. This promotion ends tomorrow, so search SATEAMWRIST without delay!

I'm a Bead Star Contest Winner!

I must confess: I've been keeping a secret for months... Remember way back in May when I announced that my Lavender Splendor necklace made the Bead Star finals?

Well, I'm happy to announce that this piece won an Honorable Mention award in the seed bead category! Better yet, it's now a published project in the 2009 edition of the Bead Star magazine, along with 44 other award-winning Bead Star designs! This is the first time that my beadwork has been published, and it's super-exciting to see my work in print!

The 2009 Bead Star magazine goes on sale in bookstores nationwide on December 8, but you can pre-order your copy at the Interweave online store. There are some seriously beautiful designs in this magazine. All the project use only simple techniques such as stringing, crimping, knotting, and basic wirework, so jewelry makers of all levels can enjoy creating the projects in this magazine.

Congratulations to all the winners!

New Tutorial - Squared Circles Beaded Beads

I just finished my newest beaded bead tutorial - the Squared Circles beaded bead:

I like how this design works with both Czech glass lentils as well as Swarovski crystal circle pendants. I used the air blue opal shade of these crystals for these very wintery earrings:

This design also works with both larger lentils and crystals, as well as oddly-shaped "ovaltine" beads such as those in the focal beaded bead in this necklace:

This necklace features Squared Circles beaded beads as well as a variation of my Circle Starburst beaded bead woven from "ovaltine" beads. Czech firepolish beads and freshwater pearls complete this grey necklace.

Remember that the SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway ends on 12/6, and until then anyone who purchases an item from any of the participating SATeam shops will be entered in a drawing to win a beautiful charm bracelet valued at over $400! At my shop, this promotion is valid for each jewelry and tutorial sale, so it's applicable to this new Squared Circles beaded bead tutorial too :). Search SATEAMWRIST at Etsy for other fabulous sale items!

SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway - Only 8 Days Left!

The SATeam promotion is ending soon! Until 12/6, anyone who purchases an item from any of the participating SATeam shops will be entered in a drawing to win this beautiful charm bracelet, featuring handcrafted charms from over 25 individual team members!

A list of the participating shops can be found at the SATeam blog, and you can also find sale items by searching for SATEAMWRIST at Etsy. Remember that at my shop, this promotion is valid for each jewelry and tutorial sale. There are only 8 days left in this promotion, so search SATEAMWRIST for all the fabulous sale items!

New Lentil Beaded Beads

I have a soft spot for lentil glass beads. Maybe it's because I like teardrop beads a lot too. I've been working on incorporating them into beaded beads for close to two years now, and it's been such a challenge to engineer a solid beaded bead structure without the lentils flopping all over the place! After many attempts (resulting in many ugly prototypes), I've finally come up with some structures that I'm happy with.

The first is about 16 mm in diameter, and is completely hollow. I've named it "squared circles" since the circle-shaped lentils form a cube-like structure, and I thought it was a rather quirky name :). I made three of these beaded beads for this necklace:

This necklace also features some of Melissa Vess's beautiful lampwork beads. I was happy to find that the high-luster lentils ended up matching the lampwork beads perfectly!

This design is so versatile; it also works very well with Swarovski circle pendants. Here are two in a pair of earrings:

The other structure is much larger (24 mm!) and was much more difficult to design. It took lots of work and experimenting before I finally constructed this design to my satisfaction, as the prototypes to this beaded bead were either too squishy, or so stiff that completing the structure was physically impossible. I named it "circle starburst," and made it into a solo pendant in a Southwestern color palette:

I hope to complete tutorials of these designs before the end of the year, and I'm working on incorporating crystals into the circle starburst design as well. I'm trying to come up with a special holiday deal for these tutorials, so keep an eye on this blog!

Crystal Wrap Earrings and Artbeads Coupon Code

The other day I received a package in the mail from Artbeads.com, which was a surprise since I wasn't expecting anything from them at the time. They sent me a copy of their lovely 2010 inspirations calendar, which will make a great addition to the wall right next to my bead desk, as well as a coupon code to share with my friends and blog followers! The coupon code is scf10p-artbeads-0424, and is good for 10% off an entire order! Since the code is valid until the end of the year, it's great for your holiday shopping needs!

Speaking of Artbeads, I just finished the last part of my series on using a sampling of their Swarovski crystals in my designs. For this project, I chose some jet 4 mm bicone crystals. Not exactly an original bead to work with, as bicone crystals are ubiquitous in the jewelry-making community. However, these crystals are cut in Swarovski's new XILION cut, which features a larger number facets on each side of the bead that also alternate between small and large facets. It's a subtle change, and it's worth noting that these XILION crystals (article #5328) are completely interchangeable with the old #5301 cut in beadweaving designs. However, since Swarovski is completely replacing the #5301 bicones with the #5328 line by the end of the year (since the new cut is much more difficult to imitate by competitors), I figured that now is the best time to get used to the new design.

Anyway, I wove some beaded beads out of these crystals and three different sizes of Japanese seed beads to create a pair of earrings. I've been tinkering with this design for a while, and I have some other versions of this design featuring different combinations of seed beads in my Etsy shop.

I also made two more pairs of earrings in purple velvet and silver, and in aquamarine champagne and purple. These two pairs feature the old #5301 bicone crystal cut. Can you spot the difference?

Now that I look at them, I think that using the 4 mm jet crystal is not the best way to show off the new cut. Next time I'll try using a larger size bicone, perhaps in an opaque opal shade.

Full disclosure: The 4 mm #5328 jet bicone crystals used in the first pair of earrings were received as a gift from Artbeads.com.

Rings and Things Roadshow, Fall Edition

Last Saturday I attended one of Rings and Things' last bead tour shows of the year. By this point, I really should have used more of the beads I picked up from the last time I attended one of their bead shows, but I just couldn't help myself. Here's what I picked up:

From bottom to top, we have rose quartz, bloodstone, smoky quartz, onyx, lapis, dyed red freshwater pearls, and then even more freshwater pearls. I also picked up some Swarovski crystal 4 mm bicones; they had a surprisingly large stock of the new 5328 bicone style in addition to the old 5301 style, as well as the new cyclamen opal color.

I like how even the round stone beads are, since evenness is very important in the type of beadweaving that I do. I'm sure that the lapis is dyed, but it's so pretty that I don't care.

I was really happy to find drop-shaped freshwater pearls in peach, pink, and white at this show. Now I can continue my teardrop pearl experiments with additional colors! These pearls came at three colors to a strand, and although I like all three colors I wish they had come in strands of one color each.

The pre-holiday bead shopping doesn't stop here... The BABE show is this weekend and it's always been one of my favorite bead shows. If you're planning on going, check out their website for a coupon!

New Jewelry in the Shop - Earrings!

I listed a few new pieces in my Etsy shop:

First, a pair of black and silver mini Disco Ball earrings:

Next, a pair of black and gold Double Bubble Jacks earrings:

Finally, a pair of red and gold Swarovski crystal earrings:

Remember, until December 6, purchase of any item in my shop (both jewelry and tutorials) enters the buyer into a drawing for this beautiful bracelet made by over 25 members of the SATeam! Check out our team blog for more information!

SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway!

The SATeam is having a fabulous promotion! Between 10/26 and 12/6, anyone who purchases an item from any of the participating SATeam shops will be entered in a drawing to win this beautiful charm bracelet, featuring handcrafted charms from over 25 individual team members!

This is one seriously beautiful bracelet...

Can you guess which charm I contributed? ;)

A list of the participating shops can be found at the SATeam blog, which will be featuring a participating shop every day for the duration of the sale. You can also find sale items by searching for SATEAMWRIST at Etsy.

At my shop, this promotion is valid for each jewelry and tutorial sale, so you can enter this drawing by purchasing either a handcrafted piece of jewelry or instructions on how to make your own beautiful creations!

Happy Holiday Shopping!

New Jewelry in the Shop - Fall Colors!

I listed a few new pieces in my Etsy shop:

First, a pair of mini Disco Ball earrings in fall colors:

And a matching Caged Octahedron pendant:

And finally a Double Bubble Jacks freshwater pearl pendant:

Tutorials for the Disco Ball and Double Bubble Jacks beaded beads are also available in my Etsy shop. Thanks for looking!

Crystal Bubble Experiments

Long before I tried using freshwater pearls in some of my teardrop beaded bead designs, I had always wanted to try these designs using Swarovski crystal pendants. So, when Artbeads asked me to sample their line of Swarovski crystals, I gravitated towards some clear crystal 7 mm briolette pendants (Swarovski article # 6007) to try in my Double Bubble Jacks and Teardrop Bubbles designs.

Here's the Double Bubble Jacks beaded bead with crystals, which I turned into a charm on a bracelet:

And here's the Teardrop Bubbles beaded bead with crystals, which I turned into a solo pendant:

The resulting pieces worked up very well; in terms of shape and structure, the Swarovski 7 mm briolette pendants are completely interchangeable with the 4 x 6 mm Czech teardrop beads called for in the tutorials. I did however use fireline (4 lb-test) instead of nymo thread when constructing these beaded beads, as the edges of the holes of crystals can cut nymo thread very easily. This even happened with the 4 lb-test fireline while I was constructing the Teardrop Bubbles crystal pendant, so next time I'll use the slightly thicker 6 lb-test fireline, or maybe even wildfire thread.

Next time I'll also try a color palette with more contrasting colors, since this clear crystal and light blue palette doesn't really show all the details in these beaded beads. Granted, I was going for a wintery snowball look which I think I achieved, but it's easy to lose sight of the seed bead pillars among the many facets of the crystals in these pieces. I also found these pieces very difficult to photograph, and the resulting photos still look a bit dark, but if I increased the exposure the beaded beads became overexposed very easily.

Anyway, in summary, I was happy to discover that these briolette crystals work very easily in these designs. I'm also looking forward to including Swarovski crystals as alternative materials for my upcoming beaded bead tutorials.

Full disclosure: The 7 mm clear crystal briolette Swarovski pendants used to construct these pieces were received as a gift from Artbeads.com.