beads – Dramatic Lyric

Learning to Bead

I love learning new things! The possibilities are so exciting, the materials are so beautiful, and the stimulation of learning something new makes my brain so happy!

I recently visited a friend. While we talked I crocheted and she beaded. I was fascinated. So I went home and looked through a bunch of beading ideas on Pinterest and came across this tutorial from Sonysree. Since this was a new activity for me I wanted to use materials I had rather than buying new. I wasn’t sure if I would love the process or not, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on materials only to have those materials sit in a box for the next few years. I had seed beads and larger round beads that went together well enough, so I got started.

I had trouble getting the beads to string nicely on my needle, so I switched to a flosser for most of the beading, and it worked surprisingly well!

I made the bracelet with nylon thread from my stash, but when I tried it on it was rather floppy. By this time I had learned more about thread materials, so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some Fireline and a large eye beading needle. Then I cut the bracelet apart and put it back together again.

The original bracelet made with nylon thread is on the left. I re-strung the bracelet with Fireline on the right, and it lays much better.

With the bracelet re-strung I added a clasp and then made some matching earrings for good measure. Gunmetal/silver is not really my colour, so I boxed the set up for a future birthday or holiday.

I really enjoyed the process of making this bracelet, and I went out and bought some more beads for another project right away! Stay tuned for more beadwork!

Kumi-what-oh?

I somehow managed not to tell you about my exploration into Kumihimo braiding! In February I decided to try something new, and that something was Kumihimo. I looked it up and watched some videos and then I bought some beads and a Kumihimo disc and tried it out.

I wanted to start with black beads, fade into peach, and then fade back into black, so I did some math and wrote down the order I needed to string my beads on. The round Kumihimo I was making had 8 strands, so lines 5-8 were a copy of lines 1-4. In order to keep the very long strings under control you wind each strand around a bobbin. I didn’t want to make a huge investment in this craft since I didn’t even know if I would like it, so I cut out a few pieces of cardboard and used them as bobbins. They tangled a little, but worked very well for the most part.

In the end I had a very lovely necklace. I had bought some clasps, but didn’t want to bother gluing them on, so I tied the ends into a square knot and wrapped the knot with wire. Easy and effective.

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I would definitely recommend trying Kumihimo braiding. It takes a good bit of time to make something like this necklace, but it’s easy to learn, the materials can be as costly as you want them to be, and the finished products are striking!

Spinning Innocence

Earlier this year I made a goal to finish my WIPs, which I then proceeded to ignore. New projects are just so much more beguiling! I did manage to finish one thing though.

While digging through my spinning stash, I found a partially filled bobbin and a few ounces of superwash BFL. The bobbin went back on the wheel and I busied myself with spinning the singles. When it cane time to ply I wanted to do something a little different, so I pulled out my bead stash and decided to add peach glass seed beads and a few rose beads from my wedding.

Do you see the problem in the picture? I strung about 8 ounces of beads on a single. It was bound to be unmanageable and eventually break. Once it did break I changed my tactic: I only strung an ounce (ish) of beads at a time, breaking the single every time I needed to add beads, and rejoining as I plied. It wasn’t the most enjoyable of plying adventures, but look at the resulting yarn!

So lovely! I ended up with 280 yards of DK weight yarn, and it is oh so soft. I would definitely recommend spinning with superwash BFL. It is a dream to work with, although you do end up with quite a lot of fiber stuck to your clothes. I don’t have a plan for this yarn yet, but for now I am content to leave it as a skein of innocence.

New and Improved

Hello again, friends.

Today I want to tell you about some new items I have added to my shop. Regrettably, it has been quite a while since I’ve made time to update my shop on Etsy, but no more! I aim to add more items every week or so for a while to gear up for Christmas.

I recently added this ribbon rose hairclip.

Pretty flower, mostly cooperative hair... — Pretty flower, mostly cooperative hair…

These snowmen are available as a necklace or earrings (or both).

And here are some snowmen for the button lovers among us.