New Kits for Rivoli Kaleidoscope and Tila Garden Pendants

New kit colorways are now available on my website for the Rivoli Kaleidoscope and Tila Garden Pendants. The first is a Rivoli Kaleidscope in a color palette I call Passionflower. It was really popular at the BABE! show last month, so I only have a couple of them left.

The next is the result of a color theory experiment in cool analogous colors that I call Tropical Oasis.

Finally, this Tila Garden Pendant reminds me of a colorful garden surrounded by a classic white picket fence. It took several attempts with these colors that all led to this final result, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

The previously-available colorways for both pendants have been restocked as well. Also, like the Tila Garden Pendant, the Rivoli Kaleidoscope Pendant now comes with its own sterling silver chain, so you can wear it as soon as you're finished weaving it.

Snowflakes Bracelets in Beadwork Magazine

Are you getting ready for the holidays? I'm getting ready by creating some Snowflakes Bracelets, fresh out of my newest pattern in Beadwork Magazine:

These bracelets feature the new 2-hole Czech twin beads, and they also work well with SuperDuo beads too. They're related to my Squareflake Earrings pattern, but instead of using the 4-fold symmetry seen in the earrings, they use the 6-fold symmetry seen in real snowflakes. These bracelets also use drop-shaped seed beads (either 3 mm magatamas or 2.8 mm drop beads) instead of rivoli crystals, as the sharp rivoli crystals can get caught on sleeves quite easily when used in a bracelet.

Several other design possibilities are achievable from this bracelet design. The individual snowflakes make a great pair of easy earrings, and I think they'd look great in a choker-style necklace too. 

The Snowflakes Bracelet pattern can be found in the December/January 2012/2013 issue of Beadwork Magazine.

What kinds of beadwork designs are you working on this holiday season?

Beadwork's Beaded Bead Contest

Today's the day to enter Beadwork Magazine's 15th Anniversary Beaded Bead Contest! While I can't enter, I wove at least one of each of these beautiful beaded beads, and I blogged about all of them here, here, here, here, and here. Here are just a couple of them:

Entries will be accepted at this link between now and 4 PM MDT on Friday, October 26. Online voting will take place between October 26 and November 5. Best of luck to everyone!

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

The final beaded bead in Beadwork Magazine's 15th Anniversary Beaded Bead Series is now published; the Dewdrop Beaded Bead, by yours truly.

This design features Miyuki's two-hole tila beads as well as two sizes of drop beads, which can also be substituted for round seed beads for a more sleek look to this design. Melinda writes about this and other variations on these beaded beads in her Editor's Note in the same issue of Beadwork Magazine, and Pixiloo already wove a gorgeous red version using this substitution. You can see images of it on her blog.

I wove one of these Dewdrop beaded beads in the silvery metallic color palette that I've used for the other four beaded beads in this series. I went with some matte metallic grey tila beads for this particular beaded bead, however Miyuki recently released a bluer shade of this tila bead which I think would look even better in this color palette.

Here's my complete set of all five beaded beads in this series (I tried weaving Gwen's Cube Cluster with triangle seed beads instead of 3 mm fire polish beads, but I'll switch back to the fire polish beads the next time I weave this one; the triangle seed beads don't fit quite as well).

I'm busy working on several kits for this design, which will be available on my website very soon. The kits will feature an expanded pattern, as well as a special surprise :).

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, here, here, and here.

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!