Beady Little Blog

Booth Pics

2008-05-24T02:48:00.000-07:00

Some booth shots from Winchester, VA. The second show of the Spring Money Drain Tour. S'okay, though, things will look up soon.

Beaded Beads

2008-04-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

The flipping things are driving me mad. They're fun to make and now I'm obessing. They are three sizes of beads. 8/0 (small) 11/0 (smaller) 15/0 (poppy seeds) You start with the biggest and add rows of smaller ones, and end up with a cone. Then you flip it over, and do the same thing on the other side. Push the coney ends in and TA DAH. You've got a beaded bead. I've been told they make cool focal beads, or you can use them anywhere you'd use regular beads. Right now, I'm just making them. If you order any piece of maille, I'll give you one free. For the love of the bead, you see.

Yummy Glass

2008-03-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

These beads came from the Fort Washington Beadfest in 2005. They were freebies in the 'welcome bag'. I've hoarded them a long time, and now they're a bracelet. I need more. I want more. I have to have more. I'm on a quest for these beads.

Yikes! Stripes!

2008-01-27T04:37:00.000-08:00

Remember that jingle? Yikes Stripes, Fruit Stripe Gum!! I hadn't thought of that in years, but a nice lady on eBay has these awesome striped beads, and used that for the title. I couldn't resist, because of the colors...OH the colors!! Purples, reds, greens, yellows, CHARTREUSE for goodness sakes! All in these lovely stripes. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I had to have them. Here's the end result: Flat peyote stitched, 8/0 yikes stripes beads, and 11/0s as the matte black edging, and toggle I made. Yum.

Christmas Pretties!

2007-12-28T13:04:00.000-08:00

I made these for Mom for Christmas this year.

Lapis & Copper, with a Lapis & Copper pendant (won on eBay!)

And Poppy Jasper, Carnelian and crackle glass beads in a nice smoke color.

She loved them both, and wore the Lapis all day on Christmas.

New Stuff!

2007-11-29T11:40:00.000-08:00

Finally posting some new stuff. Too bad I haven't figured out the camera yet. Everything is a tad blurry.

Another style of Japanese 12/2 earrings. Can be done in purple, blue, green, red, gold, black, silver or copper. Czech glass drops just for fun.

October Forum challenge necklace: It's an aquarium stone with peyote stitched size 15/0 beads as the bail, and fringe. Czech glass drops on the ends of the fringe to finish, and purple lined blue square beads for the necklace. Whew.

Tiny little crazy Japanese 12/2 bracelet. Anodized aluminum rings in gold & red.

Japanese 12/2 bracelet-Comes in purple, blue, red, kelly green, black, gold, silver or copper. Made from aluminum rings (unless it's copper)

Japanese 12/2 Earrings- They come in red, black, kelly green, purple, gold, silver and copper. Same construction as the bracelet, aluminum rings. Swarovski crystals to end the fringe.

Japanese 12/2 Anodized Aluminum bracelet detail:

If you'd be interested in any of these, please email me.

The Last One

2007-11-27T06:14:00.000-08:00

Buy Handmade

2007-11-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

As you can see, on my sidebar, there's a new button.

In these times of lead scares, shoddy workmanship and imported EVERYTHING, why not buy your gifts from real people? There are tons of us out there who make beautiful things, with our own little hands, in our own homes and studios. Not some nameless, faceless sweat shops or factories. We love what we do, and you will too.

Support your local (and not so local) crafters and artists this holiday season. It'll make you feel good, as well as helping out a person, not a corporation.

Falling into Fall

2007-09-23T02:44:00.000-07:00

Fall is going to be CRAZY busy this year! Every single weekend from now until Thanksgiving The Beadwhisper is booked with craft shows. It's nuts, and I don't know what I was thinking!

Sadly, I haven't been keeping up with the photos of any new work, so I've go nothing pretty to add to the blog right now. I promise it won't be three more months before I post anything again. I'm working on the other website now, but it's a slow go too.

Happy Summer!

2007-06-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer Everyone!

It's our favorite time of the year, and we're extra busy at Beadwhisperer Central.

Busy in the garden (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers & watermelons, OH MY!)
and busy at the workbench. We have gotten ourselves into several shows this summer and fall, and have many new projects to show off.

The chain maille beast is taking on a life of it's own, and I'm planning on using it in several different incarnations. My favorite, and still champion, the Japanese 12-2 will be showing up in earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. Those pesky European weaves are still giving me fits, but they'll be making a couple of appearances as well. Wire has wound it's way into the Beadwhisperer repertoire and I'm bending and twisting up some really cool creations. Some will be wire, others will be wire with beads.

Of course, I'm still having the mad love affair with seed beads, and that love affair has produced some amazing (and time consuming) necklaces. Bracelets seem to be the big seller this year, and with that in mind, I've made DOZENS of bracelets, in all types of beads, natural stones, Swarovski crystals, pewter, copper, and glass, glass and more glass! Ask Joe about the Blingy Special, which is copper and silver lined beads on chain maille. (I made an experimental one, and it sold before I could even get a price tag on it!) I can't help but to go back to necklaces, and I'll have some really great semi-precious gemstone necklaces on the boards too. The always popular necklace/bracelet/earrings sets are always in stock. If you don't see a particular stone you like, just ask, and I'll custom design one for you.

Copper, brass, pewter, and aluminum are the metals du jour, being that the sterling prices are escalating almost as fast as gas prices.
Glass? Oh we have glass. Very soon we'll have blown glass pendants from a very local, very talented glass artist. I cannot wait to play with some of those! We've also got some feelers out for some awesome polymer clay beads from a local artist. He's got something special with these cuties, and I have my fingers crossed that we'll be able to acquire a 'few'. Whew! All that talking about jewelry makes me yearn for the bench, so I'm going to wrap this up with our schedule of events. Stop by for a visit! June 16 - Seaside Heights, NJ - Arts on the Boardwalk (Combined with Joe's birthday on 6/15, this is going to be a LOT of fun!)

July 14 - Caledonia State Park, Chambersburg, PA (Arts in the forest!!)

July 27 & 28 - The Honey Pot Cabbage Roll, Nanticoke, PA (Second annual Honey Pot Fire Company benefit festival. Buy a cabbage, roll it down the hill and win a prize! Food, music, fireworks, crafts and games of chance. It's going to be a BLAST!)

September 29 - Mercersburg Townfest, Mercersburg, PA (I love the hometown crowd)

September 30 - Crafty Bastards - Washington, DC (An alternative craft show sponsored by The City Paper of DC)

October 13 - The Festival of Leaves, Front Royal, VA (Worth the trip, beautiful scenery, and wonderful people)

October 20 - Farmers Fair, Dillsburg, PA (Tractors, food, crafts, more food, and more tractors, it's a great time)

Thank you!

Happy, Happy, Bead, Bead,
Amy & Joe

Ch-Ch-Chaanges!

2007-04-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

I've been learning new things, and expanding my beady horizons lately. This expanding mindset will be spilling over to the Beady Little Blog.

I'm trying my hand at making websites, and with the help of some friends, I think that soon, the Beady Little Blog, will be the Beadwhisperer's home page.

Stay tuned. Look toward the East for swearing and gnashing of teeth as I learn about HTML.

Mookaite

2007-03-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

Mookaite jasper is found only in Australia. From Mooka Creek in the Kennedy Ranges near Gascoyne Junction which is about 100 miles inland from the Western Australian coastal town of Carnarvon.

I introduced some mookaite jasper with ocean jasper rondelles and tea stained bone tube beads to create and interesting and colorful bracelet and necklace set.

NEW PICTURES!

2007-03-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

Vintage Czech glass diamonds, with 'flame quartz' spacers

Another multistrand bracelet. Blues, purples & silver

Copper Byzantine chain maille with agate & goldstone spacers

A variety of bracelets. All kinds of stones from my stash!!

Maille, maille and more maille. The left side are two pair of Japanese
6-1 earrings, the middle is a box chain made with titanium and copper links,
and the right side is another example of Japanese 6-1, this time with
purple and blue anodized copper and aluminum links.

Dyed chalk turquoise barrels and dyed mother of pearl tabs

Whew! Botswana agate surrounded by dyed gray seed pearls,
seed beads and spotted 'E' beads. I worked on this labor of love for
almost two years!! When I saw the middle focal bead, I knew
I had to do something special with it. It just took awhile to get
to that point.

Photo Challenge!

2007-03-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

I belong to a beading forum that is chock full of amazing and talented people. They give me such inspiration and encouragement with my beady endeavors.

Yesterday they posted a forum wide challenge. We are to take a picture we like, and make a piece based on the photo.

This is my photo:

Obbie & I went to Skyline Drive in Virginia last summer, and this was one of the views. It was just a great weekend, and when I see this pic, I'm always reminded of how Obbie was so amazed at the views.

I better get working!!

Wearin' O'The Green

2007-02-23T05:21:00.000-08:00

But did they have green chain maille in mind? Doubtful.

The maille is byzantine weave, made from 20 gauge, 1/8" ID green anodized aluminum rings, and the beadwork is 15/0 seed beads. The whole thing came from the Jan/Feb issue of Beadwork magazine, but I modified the hell out of it. Enjoy.

Update!

2007-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. Here are some goodies I've done lately:

For a secret beader exchange on one of the bead forums where I post. I made the clasp too! Green glass beads all around. The drops are green glass, and the body of the necklace is green triangle beads.

A spiral stitch bracelet for my Aunt. Sadly, she lost it a week after she received it. It's unfinished here because I was looking for a good clasp.

Two spiral seed bead bracelets and a chain maille one keeping them company. Cat scratch courtesy of Barney or Maxx. The seed bead bracelets were gifts from a friend, chain maille by me.

The Epic beaded collar. Too bad the picture isn't better. It's purple, red, green, gold and turquoise. Sounds scary, but they all came together very nicely.

I did this for a benefit auction in 2006. Too bad the people who I donated it to didn't tell me if it sold. They didn't thank me either. Oh well.

Stay tuned! There are more chain maille goodies to take pictures of, and some deeevine beadwork to come!

Mmmm...purple!

2006-07-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

The latest amulet bag. It's missing something on the flap, but I cannot come up with anything right now. Purple suede, with various blues on the trim and fringe. The necklace is silver beads, blue cats eye, and amethyst.

Booth Pics

2006-07-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

These pics are from the last show I did.
Click on them to embiggen.

Purple Lace & Leaves

2006-03-31T05:45:00.000-08:00

This started on a slow afternoon at a show. I did over half the dangly leaf things a different way, and hated them, so I ripped it all out and redid them with the silver leaves. It will be getting matching earrings, and maybe a bracelet.

Oh, of course it's for sale.

Ocean Jasper

2006-03-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

This is for the secret beader on the beading forum. I liked it so much, I made me one. Ocean jasper is my new favorite stone. The colors are amazing, and each bead is like a little work of art. Trust me, the pictures don't do it justice.

How glad will I be when I FINALLY use up all those damn heart toggle clasps? Jeez.

Right Angle Weave & Ndeble Herringbone Bracelet

2006-02-14T07:40:00.000-08:00

Oh joy, this one just gave me FITS. I'm still not overly wild about it though, but for now I'll keep it. Sooner or later though, it's likely to be cut up and the beads reused. Click to embiggen.

The stitches are Right Angle Weave (RAW) and Ndeble Herringbone. Hate 'em. Really I do.

The middle section is light blue glass drops lined with purple. I got the 'recipe' for the bracelet from the August '05 issue of Bead & Button magazine, page 85. For the record, I started it the Saturday before the Superbowl, and got about two inches into it. The rest was finished from 2/11/06 to 2/12/06. Lots of breaks for bitching and grumbling. I finished it up with the clasps on 2/13/06.

If I make another one, I'll use better seed beads, like Delicas because I think by using regular seed beads, it is crooked in some places.

January Bracelet

2006-01-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

This bracelet was made protesting January and crappy weather. I was just playing around.

The beads in it are bigger than regular seed beads, but not huge. They're matt in texture, and color
lined as shown below:

Christmas Bracelet

2005-12-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

I made this bracelet for our friend Sue. She stayed with my Mom over Christmas.
It's venetian milleflori glass with gold filigree balls and a gold filled clasp.

My Mom is requesting one of her own now.

Click to enlarge.

Pretty In Pink

2005-11-29T04:57:00.000-08:00

Custom order for a nice lady in Oklahoma. I was very pleased (if I do say so myself) with this one. I'd like to make more, in purple and green.

The Purple Set

2005-11-29T04:54:00.000-08:00

Made from all the shades of purple in my bead boxes. Plus lots of old crystals and various and sundry other beads from all over. This was purchased the first time out, and the lady liked it so much, she ordered a red one for her sister.

The Red One

2005-11-29T04:53:00.000-08:00

The red brother to the purple set earlier. This was hard for me because I don't like red, and I don't use it much in my work. I was surprised to note that I had a bunch of different colors of red beads! Amaaaaazing!! I think I'm done with this particular style of necklace and bracelet.

Adventurine Necklace

2005-11-29T03:00:00.001-08:00

Just a little old thing I threw together for a party. I didn't have anything to wear, jewelry wise (riiight!) It's aventurine and smoke colored AB Czech glass crystals. I might shorten it so I can make earrings to match. FOR SALE.

Tigers Eye Amulet Bag

2005-11-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

This took a long time to make. Years actually. I made the leather pouch a couple years back, and lost interest. In digging thru my boxes of beads, I discovered it, and decided to finally finish it. It took a week to make the strap just the way I wanted it. And probably another two weeks for the fringe and edging. It has found a home with a sweet person in Arkansas.

Secret Beader Gift

2005-11-29T01:04:00.000-08:00

I made this for the secret beader exchange on the one bead forum I participate in. It's made from Czech glass beads of all kinds of pinks. I hope Amanah likes it as much as I did when I was finished with it.

More New Stuff

2005-11-29T01:02:00.000-08:00