Gone fishin'

I'm away on vacation (no, not really fishing, and not to Bead & Button, like everyone else in the beading stratosphere--I'm visiting relatives out West with my daughter), so there's no I Might Make That! Monday today.

I'll resume next week. Enjoy your Memorial Day and happy start of summer, everyone!

RAW-bezeled chatons for I Might Make That! Monday

Fusion Beads' Red Baubles

A short but sweet post this week--found these cute bezeled earrings as a project on Fusion Beads' website recently. What makes them different is that the bezel is right-angle weave, not brick or peyote stitch, which you see a lot more often. Another difference is that the centers are 8 mm chatons, not rivolis.

Link to the step-by-step tute, which has pretty detailed illustrations. The tute can also be downloaded as a PDF.

Bowdabra's Formal Necklace

I'll throw in one more pattern that came my way via Craft Gossip. It's from a site called Bowdabra, which sells gizmos for making bows.

Yes, it looks like lots of other multistrand necklaces, but what makes this one different is it uses a product I've never heard of, Ribbon to Bead. This is a spool of ribbon that has wire on the ends specifically designed for stringing it through beads (with 2 mm or larger holes). And no, I don't think you need to purchase the mini-bowdabra to make the ribbon flourish. It looks like some silly infomercial product.

Has anybody ever tried Ribbon to Bead or seen it sold anywhere?

Girly beaded spiders and more for I Might Make That! Monday

Beaded spider from Shawkl

Arachnaphobes, stay away!

Last October, I spotted a pattern for a beaded spider--I think it was on CraftGossip. I didn't save the link, but in Web-surfing this weekend I stumbled across the creator of those beaded spiders and the tutorial that accompanies them.

Beaded spider from Shawkl

These beauties are from Kathy Shaw of Shawkl. What I like about them in that they're girly, not Goth. Not the least bit  Halloween-y. Just a nice alternative to the dragonflies and butterflies you see everywhere. Kathy Shaw's tute is here and is linked to caption of the rose-colored spider, below, as well.

Beaded spider from Shawkl

These appear to be freestanding spiders, to be used as ornaments or whatnot, but you could easily wire a pinback to them. She has other tutes on her site, too (mostly sewing/quilting/embroidery), which is how I landed on her page to begin with.

Cabbage rose from Shawkl

Check out this darling cabbage rose, for example. I won't tell you what it's made from. Click here to see. I think a cute mixed-media necklace could be made by sewing a dozen, each cupped by a bead cap at the base, onto ribbon or kumi braid, along with lots of pearl and crystal dangles.

Here are some other beady spiders for inspiration:

This green fellow here is from So Crafty; there are instructions for a couple of different variations, plus a video. I like the unbeaded legs effect:

So Crafty spider

And from Etsy (it's sold; I wonder if the buyer wore it as a bride?):

Bridal Spider from Souldier

This one here is getting pretty meta: a beaded spider in which one of the beads is a beaded bead. Whoa.

Meadow Treasures via Alibaba.com

Here's a netted ornament that is inspired by "the legend of the Christmas Spider." Hmmm. Not familiar with that legend. But it does explain why so many of the spiders I'm finding are ornaments, not jewelry. Excuse me while I Google.

OK, I'm back. For those as ignorant as me, a version of the Christmas Spider legend can be found here.

And here's a steampunk bad girl spotted on Pinterest. L-O-V-E this one.

Source: Uploaded by user via Kimi on Pinterest

OMG, the Pinterest search for "beaded spiders" turned up some amazing beaded spider webs. I'll post a couple, but then I really have to stop. Really.

Source: threedeadkings.tumblr.com via Kelli on Pinterest

Source: ehow.com via Liz on Pinterest

(For blog newcomers, the I Might Make That! Monday Archive can be accessed by clicking the IMMT!M link in the top right corner.)

Follow the path

Follow the Path

Just treated myself to an e-book--Lori Anderson's wonderful Follow Your Path: Ideas and Inspiration for the Creative Blogger. She's having a sale this weekend in which you can get $1 off.

Of course the writing and creative wisdom are amazing. Her regular readers would expect no less. But the photos are capital-letter AMAZING. It's truly a feast for the eyes.

Lori's blog was one of the first I started reading when I got into jewelry-making. I met her at a crafts show a year or so back, and she is as warm and generous in person as she is in her blog. She, very kindly, became one of my first "followers."

For procrastinators out there, it'd make a great Mother's Day gift--it's instantly downloadable!

Asian knot tutorials for I Might Make That! Monday

Whoops, Monday's arrival caught me off-guard. I didn't have an IMMT!M post ready and the weekend got eaten up with other commitments. But luckily in my inbox today was Fire Mountain Gems' e-newsletter and some great tutorials on Asian knots using these plastic gizmos.

Fire Mountain Gems Asian Knot Tutorials

 
Click on the link in the caption to go to the page. The step-by-step pics are great!

Red and brown and peacocks!

A while back, I signed up to get emails from Artbeads, although I have never actually ordered from them. A few days ago they featured this red and brown bead mix in one of their promotions. Isn't this yummy? I didn't know I liked red and brown together until I saw this! Now I want to make a multistrand choker kind of like this one but in cherry and chocolate.

Red and brown Swarovski palette from Artbeads.com

Also in my inbox this week was this lovely peacock collection on Artfire. Since I recently wrote about my love for peacock hues, I just had to share. (Click on the caption to go to the live page, if any of these items catch your fancy. This is a screenshot, not a live-linked treasury.)

Peacock Strut Artfire collection

Dutch spiral and a mystery solved for I Might Make That! Monday

Well I'm still cranking out that class assignment, but I didn't want to miss another I Might Make That! Monday, so here, quickly, are a few patterns I've spotted 'round the Web lately that have struck my fancy.

My original plan was to find a tute on Dutch spiral to share, because it's a stitch I think that has a cool effect and I've been meaning to try it. However, I only had a few minutes to surf the Web, and didn't come up with anything I immediately liked that also came with instructions. So I'll share some links to tutes, and I'll share some images I pulled off the Web, but they don't go together.

A basic Dutch spiral tutorial can be found on About. com and a variation of it at the Beading Banshee (I don't mean to be critical of this second design, it's just that the photograph isn't well lit, so it's hard to see the pattern in these dark beads.)

Dutch spiral necklace from the Bead Society of Cape Cod

And here's a lovely example of Dutch spiral that I found on the blog for the Bead Society of Cap Cod. The group apparently featured this stitch in its March meeting.

The necklace below uses Dutch spiral as a gigantic beaded focal, strung on cord. I found it at Shibori Girl, and it's featured there in several colorways. She got the original as a kit (unfortunately, she doesn't list the source), and then made several others from her own beads.

Dutch spiral necklace from Shibori Girl

And since I promised a double edition of IMMT!M last week, I'll throw in this pattern, featured recently on Beads Magic. It's called Bilberry; I didn't see a designer listed. It's simple but elegant.

Bilberry from Beads Magic

But wait, there's more! A few weeks back I featured this mystery pattern, below, and asked if anyone could identify it. Well, it took a few weeks, but the lovely Pam has unearthed the source. Since she added her comment a few weeks after the I published the post, I thought readers might not have seen it.

Her eagle eyes discerned that this was made with beading wire, not wire wire. That sent her to the Softflex website, where she found the instructions here. Thanks, Pam!

(Although I doubt that I will be making this with the 24K beading wire that is recommended--it sells for $36 for 30 feet. )

Softflex necklace

No "I Might Make That! Monday" today--I'm on deadline

The above image came up when I Googled "ink-stained wretch."

I'm cranking out my team's final digital communications plan for my master's class. I promise a double feature when I resume blogging next week.

An ostentation of peacocks

Source: piccsy.com via Geneva on Pinterest

A flock of peacocks is called an "ostentation," "party" or muster, depending on which Google hit you believe.

I love all shades of blue, but I really think peacock blue is my favorite hue these days. I began collecting peacocks recently on Pinterest. At first I was collecting only beadwork, but I branched out to purses, scarves and other works of art and craft.

These shoes, for example. I couldn't even stand up on those spindly heels, much less walk in them. But a girl can dream, can't she?

Source: fashion.onblog.at via Geneva on Pinterest

Apparently lots of others are fascinated by peacocks, too. Many Pinterestesses (I just made that word up!) have boards devoted to them.

When I was my 20s, I was hugely into Flannery O'Connor (into that Southern Gothic thang, y'all), and one thing I remember about her is that she raised peacocks for a living. That is the sum total of my knowledge of the actual birds.

But this is a jewelry blog, so let's show off some beady peacock bling.

Source: kerrieslade.co.uk via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: abalorios.net via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: beadpatterncentral.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Dyed pearls from Martha for I Might Make That! Monday

Dyed pearl and ribbon necklace
from Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart certainly doesn't need any promotional help from me, but this tute is old enough that I thought it might be new to readers.

At this link, which dates back to March 2008,  Martha shows how to use plain ol' Rit dye to custom-color glass pearls. It looks easy-peasy, and there is a video as well as written instructions.

I think it would be cool to make a lot of pearls with varying saturations of color for a monochromatic color palette--just by simply leaving them in the bowl of dye for longer and longer intervals.

There are separate instructions for threading the dyed pearls onto the ribbon. Lots of people have done this, but I like the twisted effect of hers. I also adore the richness of her chocolate version, above, and how the pearls have been dyed to match the ribbon perfectly.

I do love pearls, both freshwater and fake.

Crocheted ribbon earrings

And here's a bonus tute for crocheters (unfortunately, I am not): crocheted ribbon and pearl earrings. Wouldn't they be cute to pair with the ribbon necklace? They are from Valerie for Mommy Tyme Gifts and showed up on FaveCrafts.

P.S. I've noticed I've gotten a few new followers recently. Welcome! If you're new to this weekly feature, an archive of past I Might Make That! entries can be found at the link in the top right-hand corner.