New Balloon Box Beaded Bead Kits

Two new kits are now available for the Balloon Box beaded bead at beAd Infinitum. The first is in this gorgeous deep blue palette which I've named Pandora Sapphire:

The second is in a Turquoise Patina palette, because, even though the beads are glass, everyone can use a little turquoise: 

Both kits can be found on the beAd Infinitum Patterns and Kits page, and include the full pattern, a needle and plenty of thread, and all the beads necessary to complete the project. 


Finally, a special thanks to everyone who commented on my Winter Illuminations Necklace. I'm happy to report that my sister is well and relatively far from the disaster area in northern Japan. If it is within your ability, please consider donating to the American Red Cross to help with the disaster relief. 

Dodecahedral Balloon Box

I finally finished a work of beaded art that I had been meaning to get to for a while. It's a dodecahedral version of my Balloon Box design.

The colors are from Margie Deeb's The Beader's Color Palette, specifically palette #48, "Persian Pottery." At over an inch and a half in diameter, it's too big to incorporate into jewelry, but it would be very appropriate for an ornament. I think it would look really nice in red and gold, or perhaps dark blue and silver. 

The structure is hollow and solid like the original Balloon Box. The overlay of seed beads in this piece uses the same bead count and sizes as the original, but if I make this dodecahedral variation again I'll probably change this up. As it is now, a little bit of thread shows between the seed beads in the overlay, which can happen when using the same technique for different polyhedra. It shouldn't be too difficult to fix though. 

What's your favorite type of variation? Size, shape, color, or all of the above?

Eclectic Beaded Bead Pendant

Remember those Balloon Box beaded beads that I made with extra fringe drop seed beads a few months ago? I finally got around to incorporating them into jewelry in this eclectic pendant:

The larger Balloon Box beaded beads are accompanied by some medium-sized beaded beads constructed from classic round Japanese seed beads, both 3.4 mm and 2.8 mm Miyuki drop beads, as well as peanut-shaped Japanese seed beads. I liked how I was able to incorporate all three of these uniquely-shaped seed beads into one beaded bead, but they show just a little too much thread for my taste. They eventually served as prototypes for the mosaic beaded beads that I made for Marcie's Margie and Me color challenge last month.

A couple of basic cube beaded beads, constructed from 3.4 mm Miyuki drop beads, complete the pendant. 


The Balloon Box beaded bead pattern is available at beAd Infinitum if you'd like to make your own!

Jewelry for the Craft Show: Old and New Designs

Between weaving beaded beads, forming a few dozen pairs of earwires, and folding origami gift boxes, I'm almost ready for the craft show tomorrow. I took the time to re-create a few popular pieces which sold out from my Etsy shop a while ago, such as this Light Clusters beaded bead earring and pendant set:

I also decided that I could part with this springtime-themed necklace that I created this past year, featuring a Balloon Box beaded bead and two smaller Double Bubble Jacks beaded beads:

Finally, I made earrings out of the extra Pagoda Charms that I made for my Ice Queen Necklace. I've also made a few new Pagoda Charm earrings that I haven't had the chance to photograph, and I think I'll bring the materials to make more at the show if anyone is interested in a demonstration. 

 

The knit-one-one holiday craft sale is on Saturday, December 11, from 10 AM to 4 PM at the knit-one-one studio in Berkeley, CA. Check out the knit-one-one blog for more information about all the artists participating in this show. I hope to see you there!

Christmas Berries Set

I've added two new pieces to my Artfire and Etsy shops. This pendant is woven in my Bubble Box beaded bead design, and features gorgeous green freshwater pearls and metallic Japanese seed beads:

I used the same materials to create matching earrings, in my Double Bubble Jacks design:

Both of these pieces will be available for sale this weekend at the knit-one-one holiday craft sale on Saturday, December 11, from 10 AM to 4 PM at the knit-one-one studio in Berkeley, CA. Check out the knit-one-one blog for more information about all the artists participating in this show. I'd love to see you there!

Craft Show on December 11

I'm participating in a craft show at the knit-one-one studio again this holiday season. The show is on Saturday, December 11, from 10 AM to 4 PM at the knit-one-one studio in Berkeley, CA. I really dig this little show; it's an intimate gathering of about 12 local artists featuring everything from textiles to jewelry, papercrafts, ceramics, and even chocolate! Check out the knit-one-one blog for more information about all the artists participating in this show. I can personally vouch for the ceramics from KoideStudio - I have two of her kitty mugs and they are the cutest mugs ever :)

Here's a sampling of some of the items that I'll have for sale: 

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

Balloon Boxes with Bubbles

I've been experimenting with my newest beaded bead design, the Balloon Box. I actually made this blue and pink beaded bead a while ago to match some lampwork beads I was incorporating into a necklace. I ended up going with a different beaded bead design for the necklace, so this one became a pendant:

But more recently I came up with the idea to incorporate Miyuki fringe drop beads into this design (maybe it was from all the fun I've been having with Gwen's new Ionic Polyhedra pattern!). By replacing 24 of the seed beads with fringe drop beads, I ended up with these modified Balloon Box beaded beads:

Neat huh? 

Actually, the above two beaded beads have one key difference. Can you see it? 

Look closer... Can you see it now?

Give up?

OK, I'll tell you: these two beaded beads use different sizes of Miyuki fringe drop beads. The one on the left uses the classic 3.4 mm drops which have been on the market for some time now. The one on the right uses the brand new mini drop beads, aka 2.8 mm drops, which became available earlier this year. 

Here's another view of the beaded bead on the left, with the 3.4 mm drops:

And the one on the right, with the 2.8 mm drops:

It's a subtle difference, but it was more noticeable when I was weaving both of these beaded beads; the larger drops make the finished beaded bead look a little bit fuller, and they also cover the thread nicely as well. The smaller drops are a little easier to weave into this design, but more of the thread shows in the finished beaded bead. 

So, for this Balloon Box beaded bead variation, I'm going with the larger fringe drops, which is fortunate because these beads are made in a wider variety of colors and are also more widely available at this time. I made another one of these Balloon Box variations in blue and precious metal colors, to match some "Luna" Venetian beads I've had kicking around in my bead box. 

I'm not sure if this beaded bead quite matches the Venetian beads though; it ended up much more blue than I had planned. 

Anyway, even though the 3.4 mm fringe drop beads worked best for this variation, I'm not giving up on the 2.8 mm drop beads; these are just too cute to keep locked away!  

Balloon Box Pendants in the Shop

I listed a few new pendants in my Etsy shop. All three of these pendants use the Balloon Box beaded bead design.

Here's one in purple:

Shiny brown:

And turquoise glass:

All three pendants are available in my Etsy shop. The Balloon Box Pattern is available at beAd Infinitum if you'd like to make your own.

New Pattern: Balloon Box Beaded Bead

My newest pattern, the Balloon Box Beaded Bead, is available for purchase!

You might remember the post I made about this design earlier this year. I began designing this beaded bead with the goal of using larger 6 by 9 mm Czech teardrop beads instead of the 4 by 6 mm drops that I usually use. The resulting design is so fun to make! I could easily make a half dozen of them in an afternoon without getting bored. As I mentioned in the previous post, they work well as both necklace components and as solo pendants.

This design is also quite amenable to variations. I experimented with making 5- and 6-fold variations, using crystals instead of drop beads, and also using drop-shaped freshwater pearls. I love how the pearl version of this design turned out:

I incorporated these pearl Balloon Boxes into a pearl-themed necklace. The focal is the 5-fold version of this design:

I couldn't bear to sell this necklace, so it became a mother-of-the-bride gift for my Ma :).

The Balloon Box pattern is currently available at beAd Infinitum, alongside my Circle Starburst pattern and a few dozen of Gwen and Florence's mouthwatering beaded bead designs. For more Balloon Box images, check out the beAd Infinitum Galleries!

As always, I'd love to see your own Balloon Box beaded beads!

Balloon Box Beaded Beads

Artbeads declared December as their month of Silver & Glass for their blogger partner program, and seeing as it's now January, I'm quite tardy in posting my contribution...

For this set of projects, I decided to sample some of their "medium" 6 by 9 mm Czech glass teardrop beads for some beadweaving experiments. My prior teardrop beaded bead projects use the smaller 4 by 6 mm Czech teardrop beads, and I wanted to see if I could make a beaded bead from the larger teardrops.

I'm totally stoked about the result! These beaded beads make great solo pendants as well as neat necklace components, and they're so fun to make too! I've named this design the "Balloon Box":

I used the "German Purple" shade of Czech glass teardrops for the above beaded bead, as well as some 2 mm round sterling silver beads and Japanese seed beads. Here's one in "Medium Amethyst/Copper":

And here's one in "Medium Turquoise/Picasso":

I had so much fun with these beaded beads that I made three more of them for a necklace, combined with some Bali silver hollow swirling wire beads and additional Czech glass beads and silver beads from my own stash:

The beaded beads in the necklace are in the same German Purple shade of glass that I used in the first pendant, but I changed the colors of the Japanese seed beads to a darker hue:

And finally, I made a simple pair of matching earrings with the Bali silver beads:

I'll definitely be making more of these Balloon Box beaded beads in the future!

Full disclosure: The Czech glass teardrop beads, 2 mm round sterling silver beads, and Bali silver beads used in these projects were received as a gift from Artbeads.com. No payment was made for the review of these products.