Crystal Ball Charm Necklace

A few years ago I bought a couple feet of silver curb chain, meaning to use it in some kind of necklace, but since then it had only been gathering dust in my findings box. So when the time came to put one of my new Crystal Ball beaded beads into jewelry, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to dust off that chain.

I wanted this necklace to showcase the beaded bead, so I decided against adding other beadwoven components to this piece. Instead, I paired it with an assortment of Czech glass beads and Swarovski crystals in matching colors, and sorted those off into little charms running up and down the length of the necklace. I also added some of them to a little tassel dangling off the end of the beaded bead.

Next time, I think I'll try using a slightly thicker chain so that it will be easier to add the charms, but at this point I'm pretty satisfied with this first attempt. I'm keeping this one for myself, so you might just spot me wearing it at the Bead & Button Show next week :)

New Pattern and Kits: Crystal Ball Beaded Bead

A new beaded bead pattern, plus kits are now available at my website. I've named it the Crystal Ball beaded bead because once it's completed it ends up very round. I also like how it is hollow yet completely self-supporting; indeed, it's one of the most solid structures I've ever beaded.

The first kit is in several shades of dark purple, with a hint of green supplied by some dichroic-lined seed beads that I found in Japan:

The next kit uses the new rose peach shade of Swarovski crystal with the AB2X finish, completed with permanent-finish galvanized seed beads and more purple seed beads. I just can't help adding purple beads to my designs...

The Crystal Ball beaded bead pattern and its kits are available at beadorigami.com, and I'll also bring some to the Bead & Button Show next week. Also, today is the last day to use the coupon code memorial15 for 15% off of your purchase!

New Rivoli Kaleidoscope and Crystal Helix Kits

Four new beading kits are now available at my website. First up is a kit in crystal AB and sapphire for the Rivoli Kaleidoscope design. The rivoli pendant crystals decorating the outer edge of the pendant have the AB coating on one side, and I wove this pendant with the AB side facing the back:

The next kit is also for the Rivoli Kaleidoscope design, and features a combination of fern green, copper, and amethyst. Unfortunately, I recently learned that Swarovski is discontinuing the crystal copper color for the rivoli pendant, so this will be a limited edition kit:

The next kit is for the Crystal Helix beaded bead, in several shades of lavender with a hint of silver:

The final kit is also for the Crystal Helix beaded bead, in shiny purples and green patina. I first tried using this color combination for a pair of Pagoda earrings, but I thought that this color palette could use some silver, so I added a few silver seed beads when I beaded this set:

The Rivoli Kaleidoscope kit makes one pendant, and the Crystal Helix kit makes one large and two small beaded beads. Both kits are available at my website.

Remember that through May 29, use coupon code memorial15 at checkout for 15% off of your entire order. The coupon is valid for both patterns and kits!

Memorial Day Sale

What better way to kick off a summer of beading with a sale? Through May 29, use coupon code memorial15 at checkout for 15% off of your entire order at www.beadorigami.com. The coupon is valid for both patterns and kits!

What are you going to create this summer?

Crystal Ball Beaded Beads

I finally finished putting together the kits for my Bead & Button Show classes, so I gave myself a brief respite from kit-making to play with a new design:

It's a rather big dodecahedral beaded bead with sparkly crystals and several different kinds and colors of seed beads. I'm particularly drawn to this design because it's hollow and completely rock-solid, which are two principles that I always strive for (but don't always accomplish) when I design beaded beads.

I like it with dark purple crystals or blue zircon crystals, but I took a leap into orangey-pink and tried it with rose peach AB2X crystals, one of Swarovski's newest colors in their Spring/Summer 2013 Innovations launch:

I've been calling it a Crystal Ball beaded bead, but I know that isn't a particularly original name. Perhaps I should call it something different? What do you think?

New Disco Ball Kits

Three new kits for the Disco Ball beaded bead are now available on my website. The first is in black and silver in a scheme I like to call Little Black Dress, because it will go with just about any outfit:

The next is in a Red Velvet color scheme:

And finally, I put together this kit with peach freshwater pearls. Since freshwater pearls vary so much from batch to batch and can be difficult to re-order in the same shape and color, this kit is going to be a limited edition:

Each kit contains enough beads and thread to create two Disco Ball beaded beads. However, with the same beads in this kit, you can elect to create five beaded beads in the smaller octahedral variation, or you can mix it up and make one regular Disco Ball and two smaller variations. Here's a picture of the smaller variation using the Little Black Dress kit:

Disco Ball beaded bead kits are available at my website, and include all the beads needed to create the design, a beading needle and thread, and a PDF of the pattern for the design (available for download as soon as you finish checkout!)

Scenes From the Kit Production Line

I've been busy working on putting kits together these past few weeks. I took a few shots of my desk during that time. This is what it looked like after sorting tila beads:

And here it is before sorting 11° seed beads

Petals for Tila Garden Pendants:

Bags of bead caps:

Swarovski crystal "icicles" for Ice Queen kits:

Silver and gold seed beads:

They're so shiny, I can see my camera reflected in these beads:

OK, back to work!

Crystal Tila Garden Pendant

I finished one more Tila Garden Pendant to prepare for the Bead & Button Show. Unfortunately I won't be able to offer this version as a kit, but I wanted to see what it would look like with crystal flowers:

I think it looks quite blingin' indeed. For those who are interested, I'll go over how to weave this variation in the class.

Seats are available for the Tila Gardens Pendant class in two sessions on Friday, June 8, in either the morning or afternoon. More information about Bead and Button Show class registration, along with general information about the show can be found here.

Purple Velvet and Jet Cubed Tilas Necklaces

To wrap up this series on alternate colorways for my Bead & Button classes (check out my other two posts here and here), I present the Cubed Tilas Beaded Bead Necklace in two additional colorways. First up we have this version in purple velvet with dark blue transparent AB tila beads, one of my favorite colors of seed beads:

Next up we have this version in black and bronze, with a touch of emerald green. I usually use some kind of silver in my jewelry, so creating this version was a nice departure into a silver-less color scheme:

Seats are still available for the Cubed Tilas Beaded Bead Necklace class on Sunday, June 10 at the Bead & Button Show. More information about Bead and Button Show class registration, along with general information about the show can be found here.

Candy and Jeweled Tila Garden Pendants

I finished the alternate colorways for my Tila Garden Pendant class at the Bead & Button Show. The first is this version with matte AB drop beads in bright, candy-like colors for the flowers:

And the other is this one in jewel tones, which I actually finished a while ago:

Seats are available for the Tila Gardens Pendant class in two sessions on Friday, June 8, in either the morning or afternoon. More information about Bead and Button Show class registration, along with general information about the show can be found here.

Harvest Queen and Night Queen Necklaces

I finished the two alternate colorways for my Ice Queen Necklace class at the Bead & Button Show. The first is the fall colors version that I previewed last week, the Harvest Queen:

And the other is a black and silver combo, with a touch of dark blue, that's great for any season. I'd like to think that it's fitting for the Night Queen:

The Ice Queen Necklace class will be on Saturday, June 9, from 9 AM to noon at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, WI. I'd love to see you there!

Beaded Bead Sets in the Shop

In the time that I've been beading, I've woven several beaded beads that haven't made it out of my bead box and into jewelry. So I decided to list some of them my Etsy shop. Click on any of the photos below to learn more about each set.

First up is this Disco Ball and Double Bubble Jacks set in black and silver:

Next we have this solo bronze and green Teardrop Bubbles beaded bead:

And finally, a set of Squared Circles beaded beads using Swarovski crystal pendants, in crystal AB for some rainbow goodness. These would work great in a wedding necklace:

As always, more info about each design can be found on my website.

Beadwork's 15th Anniversary Beaded Bead Contest: Stargazer Beaded Bead

I finished my take on the next beaded bead in Beadwork's 15th Anniversary Beaded Bead series, Florence Turnour's Stargazer beaded bead:

This beaded bead showcases the cube version of Florence's stargazer technique, which uses what I'd describe as a modified lace overlay securely woven over just the faces of the beaded bead, showing off the round beads at the edges. This effect is especially nice with the round crystals called for in the original pattern. For my version, I used Swarovski crystal pearls for a more muted effect.

This technique can also be applied to other polyhedra as well. Florence also made the octahedral and (stunning!) dodecahedral versions and shared them on her blog.

The Stargazer Beaded Bead pattern can be found in the June/July issue of Beadwork Magazine. More information about the 15th Anniversary Beaded Bead Contest is available on the Beading Daily website. Check out my versions of the previous beaded beads in this series here and here.

Fall Colors for the Ice Queen Necklace

I've been working away on class samples and kits for the Bead & Button Show next month. For my Ice Queen Necklace class, I decided to make up kits in both alternate color combos that I previously mentioned. Here's a sneak peak of the fall colors version:

I think this palette would work well for summertime jewelry too.

The Ice Queen Necklace class will be on Saturday, June 9, from 9 AM to noon at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, WI. There are still seats left for this class... Will I see you there?