Chain of Hollow Beaded Beads for I Might Make That! Monday

Source: bead-patterns.com via Geneva on Pinterest

This is going to be quick, since it's almost 11 on Sunday evening, but I'm determined to get back to my regular Monday feature (and hopefully soon to my other regular one--Need a Laugh Wednesday.)

I spottend the above pattern on Pinterest recently. What's interesting about it is that is not a series of individually made beaded beads, as most patterns are. It's a chain of netting stitches that you make as one continuous piece, forming the beads as you go, which I think is pretty cool.

The pattern is free, but you do have to download it from a site called Bead-Patterns. (But you don't have to register or create an account or anything.)

And thank you, everyone for the well-wishes last week. It's good to be back.

Serving up leftovers for Need a Laugh Wednesday

It never fails that whatever I choose as my topic for Need a Laugh Wednesday, invariably I later find something brilliant on that theme I wish I had included. So I'm serving up leftovers today.

My very first Need a Laugh was devoted to Beading Humor, so here's another serving. (I think I saw this on Mortira's Inspirational Beading Facebook page last week).

That was followed by some grammar gibes. So here's another heap o' snark:

Source: mlkshk.com via Geneva on Pinterest

And here, let me freshen your coffee:

Source: media.photobucket.com via Geneva on Pinterest

When I featured cat humor, I meant to include this video. At the time, our rascally kittens were really into unrolling the toilet paper roll every chance they got, and I was sure they would graduate to this trick. Luckily, they haven't yet!

Jennifer and Jim kept getting huge water bills. They knew the bills weren't representative of their actual usage, and no matter how they tried to conserve, the high bills continued. Although they could see nothing wrong, they had everything checked for leaks or problems; first the water meter, then outdoor pipes, indoor pipes, underground pipes, faucets, toilets, washer, ice maker, etc., all to no avail. One day Jim was sick and stayed home in bed trying to rest but kept hearing water running downstairs. He finally got up to investigate and stumbled onto the cause of his high water bills.

Source: youtube.com via Monica on Pinterest

And who among us has not mixed different leftovers together to create something new? Behold, a serving of combined grammar-cat humor!

Source: mlkshk.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Some seasonal Pinstrosity:

http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-to-help-husband-hazards-halloween.html

And for dog lovers (all pet lovers, really), I'll share this link, which was whipping 'round the Web a month or so ago and is both funny and sweet: My Dog the Paradox.

Introducing Need a Laugh Wednesday

For many in the Beading Blogosphere, midweek humpday means Bead Table Wednesday, a charming custom that I believe was introduced by Humblebeads' Heather Powers about 18 months ago. Although pics of messy spaces are welcome, I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that broadcasting to the world the junkheap that is currently my desk would be singularly dispiriting.

So I'm introducing a new way to celebrate midweek--Need a Laugh Wednesday.

Each Wednesday I'll post some humor related to a particular theme. To kick it off, I thought it only appropriate to take on beading and jewelry-making. (And my witty husband said I should title this entry "Needle Laugh Wednesday.")

Spotted on Pinterest:

Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Heather on Pinterest

and

Source: beadedlaughter.blogspot.com via Geneva on Pinterest

This one has been making the rounds. I think I first spotted it on Pearl's the Beading Gem's Journal over the winter:

I've shared this before, but it's worth repeating--I spotted in on Jean Campbell's site:



And now, ta-DAH, the debut of the very first meme ever created by ME.

(That's Bryce Harper of my hometown Nationals, for you non-baseball fans out there.) Go ahead--share if you like it!


Have an urge to create your own meme? Here's a template for the UthinkIdo meme. And others can be found at the Meme Generator. 


If you have your own favorite meme, cartoon, wry remark, whatever--related to the week's theme, please share it in the comments. I will be creating a Pinterest Board for Need a Laugh Wednesday and can post others' contributions there!

And don't forget to sign up for a chance to win a Bead Soup book! Click here for the contest!

More buggy beauties for I Might Make That! Monday

Steampunk bug bead tutorial by Christi Friesen

A couple of months back, I did a roundup of eek-free beaded spiders for my Monday feature. It got a lot of page views--who knew it would resonate? Then a few weeks back, this book popped up on a lot of craft sites. I think I spotted it on CraftGossip and was going to blog about it, but then Mortira at Inspirational Beading and a few others beat me to it.

Beaded Bugs by Nicola Tedman 

So instead, I'll blog about some other cool insect beadwork I've spotted on Pinterest, Etsy, Artfire and elsewhere. Some are tutes and some are here for inspiration. (So amusing to discover that Googling "beaded beetles" turned up dozens of blinged-out Volkswagon images but no decent scarab patterns!)

So let's start with the top photo. It's Christi Friesen's steampunk bug made of polymer and clock parts. Most polymer work does not interest me, but I love the look of mixing it with metal. The free tutorial is very detailed, with lots of photos.

Here's a free flat-peyote pattern for a butterfly its designer calls "Three Roses."

Beading pattern from The Glass Butterfly

I like that it shows enough detail that you could do very realistic color gradations if you wanted.

Here's a cute pattern for a beaded ladybug pendant from Craftsy. It's not free, but here's the link to it.

These butterfly earrings are from Anthropolgie (no longer available). No tute, but with the right filigree component, I think I could concoct something similar.

Pearl of The Beading Gem's Journal did an excellent roundup of dragonfly jewelry tutorials last year, so I won't duplicate her efforts. 

The beauty below is not a tutorial, but I'm a fan of Ornan Volokh (a/k/a Snivli) and her blog Beads Fantasy and I have featured her work before. (You'll need Chrome or Google Translate, unless you happen to read Russian.)

Winged Insect byOrnan Volokh/Snivli

Everything below is offered up as more design inspiration. 

Beaded grasshopper by Spirys

Copper lacewing insect hairpin
by Sue Runyon Designs via Artfire

Source: etsy.com via Annie on Pinterest

A beaded leather bib necklace from lovisetto's Etsy shop. She has several variations for sale. 

PhD Beads makes jewelry out of real insect wings and resin.

P.S. My apologies if this post is displaying funny. Blogger seemed to be having issues when I wrote this, and the type was not looking normal in the page previews.

Anyway, for newcomers, the archive of my IMMT!M feature can be found by clicking the link in the top right corner. 

Oh yes and I bead, too

Its been months since I posted pics of anything I created. Truth is, with work and school demands and my beading space still in "mid-transformation" (that's my euphemism for the chaos), I haven't had much time to make jewelry.

I may get started on my Artfire bead swap project this evening--maybe while watching the NCAA finals. (That probably makes me sound like more of a hoops fan than I really am, but my bracket is still in the running in my office's pool. I won last year and bought my crafts show tent with the winnings!)

Anyway, I did make this necklace and earring set and donated it to the silent auction at the Interfaith Family Project's Purim festival in early March.

Last year, in addition to donating something to the auction, I also had a little table set up to sell things and did quite well. But I wasn't up to it this year--I haven't had the chance to beef up my inventory since I sold almost every major piece I had at my office's Christmas crafts show (nice problem to have, right?)

16 tama, no waiting

My recent haul from Braidershand.com

Mail call!

At long last I was able to place an order with Braider's Hand to get eight more 70-gram tama to go with the eight I already have. So many of the braids featured in Jacqui Carey's and Rodrick Owen's books require 16 tama, and I really wanted to explore them. They are frankly more interesting.

Although I experimented with 16-tama textile braids when I took a kumihimo workshop with Rodrick, I was using tama furnished by the workshop.

I'm looking at the 16-tama designs with a beader's eye. Although you can make textile braids as thick as you want by adding more threads to each tama, you can't do that with beaded braids (that is, if you're putting beads on every strand, as I tend to do). I'm also looking to do more thick and thin braids, and braids that truly marry the fiber and the bling,

The book pictured here is Makiko Tada's Comprehensive Treatise of Braids VI: Kumihimo Disk and Plate. Tada is perhaps the world's leading authority on Japanese braids, and she invented the foam disk as a portable marudai. I did not own any of her books--they're not on Amazon, they're not cheap, and I think some may exist only in Japanese. But the folks in the kumi-2 Yahoo! group seem to refer to her books more than any other. Braider's Hand has several, and I bought this one on a leap of faith, without being able to see inside.

I wish I could show you pics of some of the extraordinary work within the covers, but the book says no reproductions are permitted without the author's written permission. But trust me, they are amazing. The book is in English and Japanese. I would not consider it the best book for a rank beginner, but if you've had some kumi experience, you should be able to follow the diagrams and the charmingly erratic English.

It may seem odd to buy a book that uses the disk (both round and square) when I've "graduated" to the marudai, but it's become clear to me that I will continue to use both methods to braid. They both have pluses and minuses. (On the marudai, you can braid twice as fast, because you're moving both hands at once, but beaded braids are a little trickier. The foam disk has the advantage of being portable--you can braid in the car or while watching TV [without the clacking of tama bothering a spouse--ask me how I know.] )

Now all I need to do is find some time to do some kumi. Over the weekend I got approved up for Pinterest, and oh my, that sucked up more hours than I will confess in public.