Inspiration

Inspiration from nature - my brother was here for a really overdue visit - and we found these beauties hanging out down by the lake - it was a nice surprise for me since last year we only had one bloom! Isn't nature amazing?

Alternative start for Viking Knit Weave

When weaving a viking knit piece I used to use the "petal over the dowel" method to start my weave until I ran across this method (and I wish I could remember where I saw this so I could give credit where it's due)which is SO much easier, IMHO. I still use the wooden dowel to weave around but now I use staples as the starting loop. I included a picture of the "set-up" to make it easier to understand. (except the photo does not show the heavy duty staples I actually use). I divide it into five parts, put the staples equi-distance apart, and then just start weaving. Once done weaving, I use the long starter piece of wire to weave through the end loops then remove the staples and tighten the weave, then draw the whole length through the drawplate. SO much easier!

More Fun with Murano!

Another set of gorgeous Murano beads from my LBS - I couldn't resist - the colors are amazing! I used some of my (dwindling) stash of vintage crystals, a few topaz colored Swarovski crystals, some 2xab jet Swarovski crystals, twisted up some gold artistic wire to use as links and added a really fun hammered goldtone toggle clasp. I did a lousy job capturing the sparkle in the crystals - and I took a million pictures of this before I was even close to being satisfied with the picture. *Sigh*. Sometimes, it seems to take more time to photograph a piece than it does to make it!!

Heralding Spring

Where does the time go? I haven't had a lot of time lately to make jewelry (2 10 month old puppies, maybe?) but I found these beautiful soft green Murano foil beads at my LBS and went crazy with the wire! I used 18 gauge (non-tarnish) gold artistic wire and made some "squiggles" and a couple of spirals; wrapped some Czech beads, some Swarovski crystals and a couple of faceted teardrops and added a couple of each in between each Murano bead. The bracelet has nice movement and, more importantly to me, looks like SPRING! (yes, we do still have snow on the ground!)

Where oh where has my Muse gone?

I've been in a major slump lately - not sure if it's because of the overly long, hard winter (here in Maine we still have more than two feet of snow on the ground), the extra work created by the addition of two nine month old puppies that have to be trained (every minute of every day - but they are a JOY to hang with) or what it is, but my Muse seems to be on vacation. I sit down each day and try for inspiration but the well is dry! I even made a special trip out to my LBS (the fantastic Beads on the Kennebec) and got some beautiful new beads, but that didn't even help. So, to try and get myself over the slump, I took out the memory wire and some beads and started making bracelets. Guess what?.....it helped, I think.

I started out by making one with the last of my vintage glass pearls and some blue Swarovski cubes - it's bling at it's best!

For the next one I used some pink Celestial Crystals in various sizes along with some really versatile gold spacers:

This one has some beautiful turquoise nuggets, silver cube beads and long silver tubes:

And the last couple I used some seed beads along with some other beads for simple color blocks.