Fish Leather

The necklace I am showing today is made with fish leather. The royal blue salmon skin was imported from Iceland. The people who sell it were the speakers at the last Upper Midwest Bead Society meeting. It was interesting to learn about how the fish skin is processed. The focal beads are enameled copper from C-Koop Beads. I bezeled the two enameled pieces with large royal blue crescent shaped beads and seed beads and added a faceted drop to the bottom cab then sewed them onto the leather.  Next I added two bezeled  glass cabs as accents. I did use bead backing behind the leather to stiffen the piece and help it support the weight of the beads.When I was done applying the focals I glued ultra-sued to the back to cover the stitching. I edge stitch seed beads with daggers at the bottom to finish the piece. The straps are bugle beads and seed beads in a herringbone pattern. Blue crystal rondelles and silver cones finish the straps. I chose a silver toggle clasp as the closure. I had fun working with something unusual. I hope you like it.

Miriam Haskell Challenge

A Grain of Sand bead shop is offering a Miriam Haskell inspired challenge. They sold a kit with vintage beads and asked participants to make something inspired by Miriam Haskell's designs.The picture above is the parure (set) that I created for today's reveal.

When I think of Miriam Haskell jewelry I think of floral component based pieces so that is what I made for the necklace focal. To make the necklace I started with the round filigree from the kit. I stitched some of the black seed beads from the kit and a 4mm black round in the center, then I made loops of the pearly white seed beads that were a free gift with my kit to form the black and white flower. I also stitched some of the black seed beads into leaves. I was inspired to make this flower by one I saw in my Miriam Haskell book that was a bracelet center and was a Robert Clark design. I found a large brass flower in my stash and embellished it with more of the pearly white seed beads and used a matte light yellow glass flower center. I attached these two flowers to a larger filigree piece. Next I attached two pale yellow enameled flowers each in a different shape and with a different black glass flower center. The finishing touch for the focal was 5 small matte light yellow glass flowers. The straps were made with the large black faceted nailheads from the kit plus some I already had. They were spaced out with the black seed beads from the kit and black size 6 seed beads. I saw straps in my Miriam Haskell book which were made with black fire polished beads spaced in this way. Most of the Miriam Haskell pieces that I have seen are very colorful so black was more unique. I used the black faceted clasp from my kit for the closure.

Next came the earrings. There were a pair of floral inspired metal pieces in the kit which I used as my earring bases. I glued black Swarovski crystals into the indentations and hung one of the yellow set crystal from the kit on the bottom to keep with the color scheme I had going. Earwires was all that was needed to complete these simple earrings.

I used the large yellow cabochon with the crescent shaped holes to create a pin. I wired one of the yellow AB crystals to the center. It is surrounded by small black round beads. I created a harness with wire on the back. To this I attached three of the yellow set crystals so that they hung below the cabochon. Next I punched a pair of holes in the metal bow from the kit and used a pair of oval jump rings on each side to attach the embellished cabochon to the bow. I used wire to attach a pin back and this creation was done. I had fun creating these designs. I am working on another pin and I have a bracelet design in my head too but they will have to be finished after the challenge is over.This is the second of their challenges that I have participated in. I guess I neglected to post pics of what I did the first time. I will do that later. I have been neglecting my blog because my camera is not working and pics from my phone are large which makes them harder to look at on-line.

I am proud to say that I participated in the 2017 Toho Challenge. This is what I created. I love the flower center made with two colors of crescent beads. The tan and brown leaf above it adds drama. The straps are right angle weave are embellished with the blue crescents, tan 3mm melons and seed beads, and 5mm elderberry melons with seed beads. A hand stitched clasp finishes the straps. When I submitted the piece it did not have the fringe. Thanks to Jean Erickson for teaching me this at the UMBS fall retreat. It is the perfect finish for this necklace. I have wanted to do twisted fringe for a long time but my results were less than spectacular. Now I have got it. A broken arm kept me from beading for a while but now I am back and I will try to post more frequently.

I created this bracelet as my second design for the Potomac Bead Challenge 2017. I used a Potomac exclusive crystal rivoli for the center. Seed beads form the bezel. The surround is created with Arcos Par Puca, Ava's, Rounduo's, and dragon scale beads. Seeds beads, delicas, and bugles were stitched to the ultra-suede next in bead embroidery style. An Ava and Rounduo accent each end. Copper firepolished beads were used on the edges. A pair of copper cup buttons and seed bead loops form the closure. I hope you like it. I am pleased with how this design came out. It is very different that what I saw in my head at the start. You can see all of the designs submitted for the challenge on Potomac Beads facebook page. You can vote for your favorite design by liking it.

Potomac Bead Company is having a design challenge. This is the first piece that I created for it. I started with a tree agate cabochon. I used Ava beads and rountrios with seed beads to bezel it. The fringe hangs from more of the ava beads. Three hole beams and seed bead picots form the straps. The closure is a cup button and seed bead loop. I hope you like my design. You can vote for your favorite on Potomac beads design challenge facebook page.

Bead Peeps Blog Hop

Today is the reveal for the Bead Peeps Blog Hop. We were given a partner with whom we exchanged beads.  Then make something with the beads that you received. My partner is Tina Pawass. Her blog is https://freebirdsinnovations.blogspot.com Thank you for being my partner Tina. I enjoyed getting to know you.  My camera was not playing nice when I tried to photograph what she sent so I will just have to tell you about it as I go. She sent the two ceramic ovals that I turned into the pendant. I used petrol blue pearls as a frame for the ceramic ovals. Next I stitched cobalt blue size 11 triangle beads around the pearls. Cobalt blue and white size 15 seed beads form the inner rings of the bezel. I used the white two hole triangles from my package at the bottom of the pendant. I finished the rest of the pendant edge with  stitched crown points trim. The bail is twisted bugles and white seed beads. I chose to suspend the pendant on a silver curved tube. The blue 6mm rounds were in my package. I turned them into the straps for my necklace with the silver links that Tina sent. The closure is a toggle clasp from Tina. I had fun making this necklace and I hope Tina likes it.

This is a closeup of the pendant so that you can see it better. Please check out what Tina made with what I sent her at the link above.  I always enjoy seeing what two people made with the same beads but I forgot about that part of the hop. Thank you Linda Anderson and the other administrators for hosting this challenge. #BeadPeepsSwapNhop17. Here is the link to Linda's blog where you can see all of the amazing designs that the other participants made http://fromthebeadboard.blogspot.com/

BSBP BeadHoarders Blog Hop 2017

The amazing Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ is having the Bead Soup Blog Hop again. This time it is called Bead Hoarders Edition. We were asked to choose beads that we had been hoarding because they were special to us. This is one of the most important days in my year. Lori assigns us a partner and we exchange beads. Then we create something with them and post what we created on our blogs. Today is the reveal. This year my partner is Sharyl King. She will be posting on her Pinterist page which is https://www.pinterest.com/sharylk/bead-soup-blog-hop/  She makes beautiful lampworked beads. I am in awe of people who do this. I hope one day to do it myself. Sharyl sent me some of the first lentil beads that she made. She said that they remind her of spring. I agree. The picture above is what she sent. I felt honored to receive these lovely bead and I wanted to create something special with them. Here is what I created.

 

Bead embroidery is my favorite technique so that is where I started. I wanted the lentil to be able to turn inside the focal pendant so that both sides could be seen. I chose the colors that Sharyl used in the bead as my inspiration. I stitched areas of each color and combined them all in the top portion. Bead caps accent the center bead and fringe finishes the bottom of the focal. The straps were stitched in spiral rope technique. They are finished with bead caps, white lentils from Sharyl and light blue crystal rondelles. I used a hook style clasp for the closure. The light blue lentils from Sharyl became earrings to go with this necklace. I added bead caps, white fire polished rounds, light blue flowers, and white drops. I am pleased with the outcome and I hope you like this set too.

This is a close up of the focal.

 

Sharyl also sent four jasper beads that she had hoarder for years. She said that she could not decide what to do with them. I started out to create a wire worked pendant, but as you know beads sometimes have a mind of their own. I ended up putting three of them on headpins and attaching them to a chandelier finding to create the focal for my second necklace. I had some tiny fire polished rounds that matched the jasper perfectly in color so by adding them and hematite colored triangle seed beads to the headpins I was off and running. I had purchased a necklace last year at the Bead and Button show that was the same mottled green as the jasper and by reworking it I had my necklace. It had gold bead caps which I replaced with silver and I changed the beads that were between the glass ovals with smoky quartz ovals and gray discs to better match the jasper beads. I again chose a hook style clasp. I also made earrings to match. I hope it pleases Sharyl. You can check out what I sent her and  her amazing beads by clicking on the link above to her Pinterist page. Please click on Lori Anderson's link to see the other participants designs. I think you will be amazed by all of the talent this ladies have. Thank you Lori for being a wonderful hostess.