Beaded Eggs

Last week I wrote about a truncated hexadecahedron, or "The Egg," made from modular origami units. As you might imagine, this polyhedron can also be made with beads.

This beaded egg is made from potato freshwater pearls at a diameter of just under 4 mm, and measures just over an inch long. Unlike the origami egg, the beaded egg has one bead on each edge of the polyhedron, instead of one on each corner. This means that I needed to use 72 beads, instead of 48 origami modules, to create the completed structure.

It's hollow and sturdy too, which is always a plus in my book. 

This one is made from 3 mm aventurine rounds for a slightly smaller overall structure.

Finally, I used irregularly-shaped potato pearls at a size of about 5 mm for this beaded egg. The result is a little bit irregular but it's an interesting effect.

Do you enjoy seasonal beadwork for the springtime? 

Ionic Cubes and an Octahedron

I had the pleasure and privilege of testing Gwen's new Ionic Polyhedra pattern, and I ended up with a nice handful of these fascinating beaded beads. I began with the Ionic Cube, the first Ionic Polyhedron in the pattern:

I used smoky quartz round beads that I had kicking around from a previous Rings and Things Roadshow shopping spree, which led me to create this beaded bead in a nice fall palette with metallic and copper-plated seed beads, plus some goldluster green fringe drop beads. I think that the copper-plated seed beads are a little bit bright right now, but in my experience these seed beads tend to oxidize over time, so this beaded bead should look nicely color-balanced after a little while.

This design was really satisfying to make. It starts out a little loose and squishy, but ends up very stiff and sturdy by the time it's complete. I found this aspect particularly satisfying considering that it's completely hollow.

I also made some matching Mini Ionic Cubes, which are explained in the pattern as variations:

These little beads are right up my alley; they're small, cute, and work up really quickly. In addition to looking nice as a pair of earrings, I think that five or seven of them would work well in a choker or princess-length necklace.

I made two of them and strung them with the regular Ionic Cube, along with more round smoky quartz beads and Japanese seed beads. I even added my own little touch to the Mini Ionic Cubes... Can you tell?

I haven't yet decided what to do with my second regular Ionic Polyhedron. This one is the Ionic Octahedron, for which I used firepolish Czech glass beads and more matte Japanese seed beads:

I'm thinking that it would make a nice solo pendant, but I might want to incorporate it into a necklace with other beads... I think I need to mull it over a bit more.

The Ionic Polyhedra pattern is available at beAd Infinitum, and it explains, in great detail, how to make these and other polyhedra in both the mini and regular Ionic forms. Florence wrote an interesting post on the evolution of this design, which is a must-read for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes development of new beaded bead ideas. For more examples of Ionic Polyhedra, check out Gwen's beaded beads here here and here. Her Ionic Rhombic Dodecahedron, shown on her blog, is particularly fantastic!

Accomplishment is...

A freshly-made pile of sterling silver earwires. I make them in big batches every so often, and it's not exactly my favorite jewelry-making task, so completing a batch always makes me feel so accomplished :)

Speaking of completing jewelry, here are a few more pieces that I've made for the upcoming Craft Sale this Saturday:

While I was digging through my stash over the past few weeks, I found the this piece, half-completed, so I decided to finally finish it. The greener beaded beads are made from Japanese seed beads and large aquamarine chips, in a style that's not too uncommon but it's not a beaded bead style that I usually dabble in. Unlike most gemstone-chip beaded beads, these ones are not constructed on a peyote tube core. The smaller purple beaded beads are simple drop cubes, and the larger ones are a precursor to my Bubble Box design. The piece is strung with additional aquamarine beads, Czech glass, and rose quartz.

Here's the flyer for the Craft Sale - click on the image for additional details. I'd love to see you there!

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!

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!