Beaded Flower Necklace

I found this video from Kelly, of Off the Beaded Path, for this Fun Floral Necklace. It requires SuperDuo beads, 11/0s and 8/0s. That’s it! It is fun to make, too.

Kelly gives the option of making the flower components all the way around, or making the chain-like components and as many or as few of the flowers as you like. I chose to make five flowers, and the rest chain. I made 14 chain components for each side on the red necklace, and wanted it a bit longer so I made 15 on each side for the gold necklace.

The Ingredients: Black SuperDuo beads, Black and White striped 8/0 beads, and blue 11/0 beads.

Making the flowers is easy! String 8 SuperDuos into a circle and add an 8/0 in the center.

Add an 8/0 between each top hole of all 8 SuperDuos.

Add 3 11/0s between each 8/0.

Each flower gets ONE connector, made of 2 11/0s, a SuperDuo, and 2 more 11/0s.

Flowers are joined together by adding 11/0s to the side of one flower that doesn’t have the connector to the connector of the next flower.

After all your flowers are joined together it’s time to work on the “chain”!

The chain is basically a variation of the connectors – very easy and quick. You can even mix it up, like I did here, by using a few 8/0s in place of some of the 11/0s.

The video shows each step in detail. The whole necklace works up in a few hours!

Beaded Bracelet “Cyprus”

I made all three of these bracelets today…they work up very quickly and are pretty fun to do!

I came across this older post from Madame Bijou for her Cyprus bracelet. It didn’t take much thought to figure it out – she uses what looks like some 6/0 beads in her bracelet, I used some cubes to make the brick stitch triangles because I have so very, very many of them.

Make a brick stitch triangle with 7 cubes or beads on the bottom row, working up to two in the top row. Coming out of one of the two top cubes, make a loop of six 11/0 seeds to connect your jump ring and go back through the other top cube. Work the thread back down through the triangle and exit the first cube of the bottom seven.

Add your first row of beads – use bigger and different sized and colored beads, separated by two, three, or four 11/0 seeds. You will need to measure your clasp, and the size of your triangle. Add together the clasp size and the triangle size times two to figure out how long to make your connecting string of beads. I made some a bit longer than others (just a teeny bit) so that some of the strands overlapped – but you could make them all the same size if you want.

When you have your length of beads, start making the other triangle. Make a ladder stitch of seven cubes.

So make the other triangle, adding another loop of six seeds at the top to connect the other side of the clasp. Weave the thread back down the other side and come out at the end cube on the opposite side of where your bead string is.

Like this! Now just fill in the center five cubes going back and forth. I used about ten to fifteen seeds to begin and end each bead strand, and worked the bigger beads in to the middles. When you get to the end of a bead string, just go up into the cube you end at and come down out of the cube next door.

It’s really easy, and I love anything that uses up bead soup beads. The first one I made had silver cubes, black 8/0 seeds, and some assorted bicones and confetti glass beads. I made it a bit too short so I had to use a HUGE clasp.

Second bracelet used a blue colored mix of cubes, an 11/0 Czech seed bead mix called “ghostly apparition”, bicones and blue cats eye beads.

And the third bracelet used a white, silver, grey cube mix, the same Czech seeds, and some black and silver beads along with red cubes and red bicones. Again I messed up and made too short, so luckily I had another huge clasp on hand. These bracelets look quite fancy, but were really easy to make. I am still working on my bead weaving skills, so doing the brick stitch triangles with those big old cubes was great practice for me.

Serpentine Necklace

I live with my husband and my 22 year old daughter. My husband is pretty useless in giving me feedback on things I make, mostly because he enthusiastically proclaims “It’s beautiful! So pretty!” about EVERY SINGLE THING I show him. The daughter is good at giving feedback about what 22 year olds like, but unfortunately for me it is usually big chunky pieces that are basically just STRUNG. And right now, I’m not into ‘just strung’. I like to put a little time and effort into things, rather than just simply stringing some beads on a cord. I feel like I’m cheating! If I ever decide to actually try and sell some stuff, it will work in my favor that the pieces that the young girls seem to prefer are the easier, simpler things.

But to my point! My best gauge of things I make seems to be wearing pieces to work and seeing how many comments I get on it. I work with the public, I see hundreds of people every day. And when I wore the gold serpentine necklace to work last week, boy did I get a lot of comments on it! It does take a bit of time, but it can be done in one night ( my favorite time frame – some time required, but yet still the gratification of a finished piece that same night!). It is also very versatile – you can use any number of combinations of seed beads and 4mm’s.

I used an article entitled “Custom Cool” from the August/September edition of Beadwork magazine which was a serpentine chain by Melinda Barta. I will post the screenshots below of the 2 page spread. The instructions call for 11/0 and 15/0 seed beads, and 4mm beads. I needed a project that was easy to remember and repetitive for a trip I was taking where I needed something to do. But I messed up and brought 8/0’s and 11/0s by mistake, and it came out just as nice, maybe even better! So you can use either 11’s and 15’s, or 8’s and 11’s on this project.

working the second pass of four….

On 6 feet of thread, center 5 11/0’s, half the clasp, 4 more 11/0’s. Cross through another 11/0 and knot the strings together. You will have 3 feet of thread on each string. Let one hang loose! You will be using the other thread to string 4 11/0s and one 4mm until you have the length you need. REMEMBER: this necklace will be bunching up, so you need to make it longer – each set of 4 seeds and one 4mm will make 3/8″ of finished necklace. I used 42 sets to make a 16″ finished piece. Add a stop bead when you reach the end, and move your needle to the other thread. ONE MORE NOTE: Usually instructions call for a certain length of thread and I have a ton left over; in this one I fell short every time so 6 feet is a CONSERVATIVE estimate…you may want to go a bit longer than 6 feet.

Finished passes one and two.

Now you are going to add a 15/0 between each 11/0 with the second piece of thread. For each set of 4 11/0’s, you will add 3 15/0’s. So go through the 4mm, through the first 11/0, then add a 15, go thru next 11, add a 15, go thru next 11, add a 15, then go thru the last 11, the next 4mm, the first 11 of the next set, and continue. Go all the way down. Time to get ANOTHER 6 feet of thread! Center it through the loop and clasp so that you have two more 3 foot pieces ready to go!

After pass 2 the necklace should start to zig a bit…

Pass number 3 – adding more 15’s between the 15’s that were added in pass 2

Thread number 3 will be adding 4 more 15’s to each set. You should have 4 11/0’s and 3 15/0’s in each set. We will now add 2 15’s between the first and second 15 of the set, and 2 more 15’s between the second and third 15 of the set. It sounds confusing but its really not. Go through the 4mm, the first 11, the first 15. Add two 15’s, and go through the second 15. Add two more 15’s and go through the third 15, the last 11, the next 4mm, and continue. If you look at the diagram on the screenshots below, you will say AHA. So when you finish the third pass, each set will have 4 11’s, and 7 15’s.

another look at pass number 3 – each set should have 4 11/0’s and 7 15/0’s.

The final pass! Switch your needle to the last 3′ piece of thread. THIS time, the final addition is an 11/0, in a DIFFERENT but complimentary color, between the 2 sets of 15’s that you added last pass.

Last pass – add a different colored 11 between the 2 sets of 15’s that you added last pass.

So this time you will go thru the 4mm, thru the first 11, thru the first 15 of pass number 2, thru the first 2 15’s you just added. String your new 11. Then go thru the second set of 15’s you just added, the last 15 from pass 2, the last 11, and the next 4mm. WHEW! Things start getting snug here, but the necklace really should be zig zagging pretty good by now.

another look at pass number four

Finally check the length, if you want to add to it you can totally do that now. Otherwise make the other loop and clasp and trim away!

gold serpentine necklace using 8/0’s and 11/0’s. And 6mm polymer beads.

So that’s it….I used some 6mm polymer clay beads from Ali Express – 200 polymer beads for under $4 – they are so cute, too. They look hand rolled (slightly imperfect) which adds to their charm, imo.

And here are the screen shots to the actual article:

These instructions also have an option to make two separate chains, each one a half of the necklace, which you then join together with a pendant or drop in the center. That’s what I am going to try today!

Beads and Flowers from one Polymer Clay Cane

It all started with this cane, which is just a skinner jelly roll of white and pinks, and pinched into a sort of petal shape. I followed this tutorial for a polymer flower and used two sizes of the cane, larger petals for the outer part, and smaller petals for the inside.

Use the old “bend the eye pin” trick so that it will not slide out of your finished work.

Start adding petals to a circle of pink on top of your green base. My flower has WAY less petals than the tutorial flower! That’s par for the course….I am very impatient. My first flower came out so pretty! But HUGE! I mean absolutely huge, like what am going to do with THIS??

I also broke off a petal and glued it back on. Oh well, another refrigerator magnet! Or……

attach it to an electric candle! I bought this candle at Big Lots last week, intending to maybe polymer clay cane it, but when I got it home it turns out it is made of wax! So applying cane slices and baking is pretty much out, I suppose. So voila! Big Flower finds a home!

I did make a second, smaller flower and put it on a cord and wore it to work.

So I had a bunch of cane left, and decided to turn it into an actual flower cane.

I like to cover wood beads with cane slices. Besides saving on clay, they are guaranteed same size and the hole is already taken care of. I found out the hard way that you need to use wood beads that are finished in some way; unfinished raw wood beads makes the clay blister. I buy painted wood beads from DC&C Crafts, packages of 80 beads for $1.50 and they work beautifully with polymer clay.

I made two sizes of flowers on my beads, and then strung them with colored wooden beads for some bracelets.

So two projects, one cane. And I still have about four inches of cane left over!

Wednesday Beading Projects – Bracelet “Dara” and Necklace “Cindy”

This week on my Wednesday day off, I made two beading projects. Okay, I lie…I started the necklace on Monday night but I FINISHED it on Wednesday. I am trying to use some of the round pearl beads that I got in the mail this week. So the first item is a Dara bracelet from this Beads Magic pattern.

I used 8mm coral and turquoise colored beads, along with 4mm corals, 6/0 clear seeds, and rainbowy blue 11/0 seeds.

Next Up: Beaded Necklace!

This necklace is from another Beads Magic pattern for the necklace “Cindy”.

This necklace used 4mm black pearls, 6 and 8mm pink pearls, pink fringe drop beads, and pink and black 11/0 seed beads.

Both of these pieces were quite easy to make….the necklace was definately not the type of thing I usually make, but it came out interesting and was fun to weave.

Three Strand Tila Bead Bracelets

I have so many beads that I have bought in the past year that I forget what I even have sometimes. Then I stumble across something and say “Oh Yeah! I forgot about these!” Which I am sure everyone does, especially if you have the beading bug. I came across a bunch of Tila beads that I had bought on sale through Amazon months ago. So, inspired by this “Berrylicious” Bracelet pattern at Red Panda Beads (they have a TON of color examples on the page!) I whipped up a few variations.

One was made with Red Picasso tila beads and some light blue pearlescent 6/0’s, and the other has light blue tilas, purple seeds and tibetan silver tube spacers.

My only problem is….I made them too small to fit on MY wrist 😦 – hopefully my daughter will like them!