Beading Arts

Earlier this month, I showed you some beadwoven bails that I was working on to top off and embellish my bead embroidered pendants.  Well, I found another one that I like very much in Diane Fitzgerald's book  Shaped Beadwork .  On page 33, Diane shows a double-layered triangle with an opening in the middle.  Instead of stitching the whole thing together around the edges, I stitched only the top edge.  Since the two layers are joined in the middle around the opening, that forms a nice little tube along the top for your necklace strap to go through. I found through experimentation that the size of the entire triangle needs to be enlarged from Diane's instructions.  It's simple to do this, just adding as many more rounds as you like.  An alternative, which is what I did in the sample shown here, is to just peyote stitch increases along the top edge of one layer, and then zip it to the other side.  That keeps the entire bail smaller, but...

Available! Leave me a comment I bought this set of polymer clay and resin cabochons from Mary Anne Williams Knapp at one of her online trunk shows.  There were so many different color possibilities that it took me awhile to decide.  I don't usually sketch out a pattern for myself before I begin, but in this case, with all the spirals and interweaving, I needed to do that, but not with the chosen colors. I simply grabbed some different colored markers and sketched the pattern, keeping a chart of which color was used in which order.  Then it was much easier to recreate it in the colors I wanted without having to draw it on the foundation fabric, fumble around, or rip out sections. If you want to learn how to make bead embroidered pieces, I show you how to do it with over-sized beads and lots of pictures in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story .  There are also free instructions there for back stitch, edging brick stitch, and more. ...

Available!  Leave me a comment Once more, I've turned to my favorite metal clay artist, Jennifer West of Off the Grid Designs .  Jen made both the focal and the charm, which feature dandelion fluff.  I used one of the beadwoven butterfly bails that I stitched on vacation for this piece.      Further instruction on making bead embroidered pieces can be found in Every Bead Has a Story , where the first chapter is free to download. Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. 

Image via flickr Here is a guest post from Resin Obsession !  They have all the materials you need for your resin projects.  The links throughout the tutorial are not affilate links, and I have not been paid to share this project with you.   We’ve all seen Pandora beads. Trendy and stylish, these unique beads can be customized on bracelets or necklaces for endless combinations. They are beautiful and fun to collect. But did you know you can create your own? There’s something very satisfying about creating your own beautiful jewelry, and even more so when you get compliments on it! Here, we will give you all the details you need to know about making your own Pandora-style beads with resin. This project is also appropriate for beginners. New to making beads? Head over to our tutorials to learn more about how to make your own beads and other must-knows for beginners! Tools you will need for this project: Mixing cups Rubber gloves Stirring...

Available!  Leave me a comment Once more, I have combined pieces by the talented Amy Mealey and Jennifer West !  I just love the look of raku and metal together, don't you?  I was tempted to use mostly turquoise colors again on this one, but I seem to be stitching a lot of those lately, so it seemed to be time for a change :-) The focal is bezeled with peyote stitch and a final row of right angle weave (RAW).  The bail is one of the ones I stitched on vacation .  You can see more of them and get links to the instructions at the link above.  Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. 

You know that most of the time, I like to just stitch a square stitch loop onto the back of my bead embroidered pendants, like the one shown below: If it's set down low enough, it doesn't show on the front, and if you want it to show, you can set it up higher or even weave it off of the edging brick stitch row on your piece.  Instructions for stitching these can be found in chapter 3 of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story .  But today, I want to look at some other forms of bails! While I was on vacation recently, I took along just enough beads to stitch up these triangular (and one cylindrical) bails.  Here are some sources for the instructions for these fancier bails: How to make beaded beads with brick stitch Shaped Beadwork  by Diane Fitzgerald (book review and link) Page 20 - triangle Page 25 - elongated triangle Update : Page 33 - an open-centered triangle Shaped Beadwork and Beyond  by Diane Fitzgerald (book review and link) Page 40 and...