Amethyst Caged Octahedron Beaded Bead Pendant

I wove this octahedral beaded bead from Japanese seed beads and the amethyst beads I bought at the Rings and Things show last week. I just had to make something with the amethyst right away and this beaded bead works up relatively quickly. Combined with a wire-wrapped sterling silver headpin and a cord, it makes a lovely little pendant!

I had originally thought to use some Palladium-plated seed beads in the color scheme for this bead, but settled on the colors in one of Margie Deeb's many color schemes. I highly recommend both of her books on color for beaded jewelry! She also has a free monthly newsletter and a Podcast. This particular color scheme is in The Beader's Color Palette.

Rings and Things Roadshow

Last week I stopped by the Rings and Things roadshow that was in town for the day. I was familiar with the Rings and Things website as well as their very informative guide to gemstones, but I had never ordered from them before. I was very impressed with the quality of the stones and pearls present at the show, as well as how each item was labeled; the country of origin was clearly labeled on each item, and dyed stones were marked as such. I have had mixed luck in this department at other gem shows.

Here's a picture of what I took home for my stash. As a beadweaver, I'm always looking for round, uniform stones to weave into my work, and I was quite impressed with what I found. I'm not sure what I'm going to make out of each strand, but I have some beaded bead plans for the amethyst!

Bead Star Finalist!

Great News!

I made the Bead Star finals! One of my entries, Lavender Splendor, is a finalist in the seed bead category!

This is the second annual Bead Star contest, run by the folks over at Interweave. The techniques used in the entries are restricted to stringing, crimping, simple wirework and simple knotting. Since I primarily work in beadweaving, it was a huge challenge to come up with an exciting design that fit within the contest parameters. This is the first contest I have ever entered so I am super-excited about just making it to the finals! Winners are determined by an online vote, and the winning entries are published in a special edition Bead Star magazine.

A big shoutout to Gwen for mentioning this contest on the Starving Jewelry Artists forums, and to Fireweed Beads for the beautiful Czech seed beads used in this piece.

There are a lot of great entries in all the categories, so go VOTE at www.beadstar.com!

New Earrings and Pendants

I made a few new pendants the other day to put up on my Etsy store. I think I like this one the best out of the new set:

I'm also experimenting with earring designs and made some simpler octahedron earrings. I like how light and versatile these earrings are.

I also forged the earwires by hand; these one don't poke you behind your ears!